Arnold Schoenberg's theory of presentation (Darstellung) attempts to account for how a purely musical idea is made coherent and comprehensible in a piece of music. Three forms of presentation were especially relevant for Schoenberg: developing variation, juxtaposition, and unfolding. According to SchoenbergŐs theory, this last form, unfolding or "envelopment," was the primary method of presenting musical ideas in polyphonic compositional practices of the eighteenth century. He considers unfolding a non-developmental form of presentation where themes are polyphonically combined (usually in the form of a subject and a countersubject in the case of a fugue) in such a way that all structurally significant properties of a particular work can be traced back to the original combination. In this type of presentation, new themes are not introduced, instead, a basic configuration (the "contrapuntal combination") is manipulated in various ways in an effort to realize the purely musical potentialities inherent in the initial combination.
Schoenberg considers all three types of presentation as being capable of sustaining a musical idea in a number of musical languages. In fact, SchoenbergŐs earliest sketch tables for the Piano Suite, Op. 25 provide a clue regarding his use of "unfolding" as a possible mode of presentation in this work. These set tables for Op. 25 enable us to trace the various ways the contrapuntal combination can be unfolded in a twelve-tone context and can, in turn, contribute to an enhanced knowledge of Schoenberg's "method of composing with twelve tones."
"A Heterogeneous Analysis of the Eighth
Piano Sonata, Op. 66 of Alexander Scriabin."
Scott Baker, Florida State University
This paper explores ScriabinŐs Sonata No. 8, Op. 66 using three distinct analytical approaches: motivic analysis, set-theoretical analysis, and Neo-Riemannian analysis. In the absence of functional tonality, the structure of the sonata will be elucidated primarily by investigating Scriabin's use of permutations of motivic cells and their temporal and harmonic relationships to one another. In addition to structural coherence, harmonic coherence will be shown through Scriabin's consistent use of certain pitch class sets (primarily of cardinalities 3, 4, or 5) that are subsets of referential collections established in the opening measures.
Some of the recently developed Neo-Riemannian theories will be applied for the purpose of explaining both voice leading and harmonic relationships between quasi-tonal areas with triadic accompaniment. For this purpose, I intend to draw upon the following analytical studies: Richard Cohn's hyper-hexatonic system (1996), Brian Hyer's four basic harmonic transformations and their combinations on the Tonnetz (1995), Clifton Callendar's concept of splitting and fusing during transformations between triads and seventh-chords (1998), and Jack Douthett's and Richard Steinback's Power Towers and Towers Torus (1998). Finally, a new, more direct notational system for parsimonious (and other) voice leading will be offered that will greatly facilitate the understanding of relationships between consecutive harmonies
Conlon Nancarrow's decision in the 1940s to abandon writing for performers, and instead to concentrate on composing for the player piano is representative of an impulse motivating the adoption of mechanical and electronic technologies by composers during the 20th century. Like composers of electronic and computer music, Nancarrow's aim was to gain greater control over the musical work, transcending the limitations of the human performer in order to achieve a greater degree of structural complexity. Yet this increase in control at the compositional ievel often has the paradoxical effect of producing a sense of disorder at the perceptual level. This paper explores the conceptual tension that exists between the actuality of control and the appearance of chaos, as it manifests itself in Nancarrow's Study #5, and in his later development as a composer.
Most histories of rock music cite early February 1964 as an important date in American popular music-the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show on two consecutive Sunday evenings initiated a craze for British-invasion pop that had a dramatic effect on the development of rock music and caught the American music business entirely by surprise. Reading from most accounts, one might conclude that early BeatleŐs music was very different from the American pop that it so effectively displaced. But analysis reveals that the music of the Beatles engages in a much more complicated relationship with the American pop that preceded it than most writers have thus far detected.
The current paper explores the music of the Beatles and argues that early John Lennon-Paul McCartney songs are very closely dependent on models drawn from American pop of the 50s and early 60s. Songs such as "From Me to You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" employ the AABA formal structure that can be found in much Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building pop. Arrangement strategies are also drawn from this tradition. During this early stage, Lennon and McCartney think of themselves as "craftsmen"--writing songs according to patterns that have proved successful without worrying much about repeating such pafferns. But as the group begins to enjoy its first world-wide success, Lennon and McCartney each begin to move away from the craftsperson model and towards an "artist model." Increasingly, what is most distinctive about a song's structure tends not to be repeated in subsequent songs, as Lennon and McCartney begin engaging particular kinds of formal and harmonic issues.
This presentation will present several examples that chronicle this development in the Beatles music. Musical examples will be demonstrated from the guitar as well as played on tape. The overall point will be to not only show the development of Beatles music during the 1963-70 period, but also to suggest that such analysis forces us to rethink conventional accounts of rock style and its development--a point that extends beyond the music of the Beatles and rock music in the 1960s.
It is well known that displacement plays an important role in Schenkerian theory. As William Rothstein and others have shown, Schenker often used diagonal lines and other realignments to show how displacement creates "inauthentic tones" which do not represent Ihe underlying counterpoint. But despite this excellent body of work, there are still several aspects of displacement which are not entirely undcrstood. What exactly can be displaced? Harmonic tones? Non-harmonic tones? Entire Stufen? Linear segments? And at which levels of generation can displacement be invoked? Is it a strictly foreground transformation, or can it occur at deeper levels as weil? This paper tries to answer several of these questions first by establishing some theoretic guidelines governing the use of displacement, and then by illustrating how these guideiines impact larger analytic issues. Among the topics addressed are Schenker's changing attitude toward displacement, the effect deep-level displacements have on the generarive process, the dispiacement of non-harmonic tones, the status of cadential six-four, and the relationship between displacement and "alternate unfoldings." As the wide-range of these topics suggests, the role of displacement in Schenkerian theory may be more far-reaching than we might expect.
Many theorists, analysts, and performers (some of whom fall into more than one of these categories) attest to the positive impact of analysis on performance. The analytical techniques of Heinrich Schenker, because of their attention to line, direction, and closure, provide a useful tool for the task of relating analysis to performance. A possible Schenkerian reading of J. S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, reveals two prominent and related motivic parallelisms within the prelude. The first of these motives is a partial Ursatz replica, 5-4-3. A linear intervallic pattern always precedes or follows the 5-4-3 descent, and each occurrence appears in conjunction with a long range 5-6-5 neighbor. An examination of the points at which each note of the Urlinie appears or is restated reveals that its first three notes, 5-4-3, occur in situations where a performer would be likely to stress their arrival, and that the final two notes, 2-1, occur in places where it is unlikely that any emphasis will be placed on them. The prominence given to the 5-4-3 portion of the Urlinie combined with the less significant treatment of the 2-1 conclusion creates a motivic parallelism with a middleground statement of 5-4-3. The association of these motivic parallelisms with performance issues reveals the link between an understanding of the harmonic sequence of events within a work and an effective execution of the work. Schenkerian analysis can offer a complete picture not only of the surface of the music, but of the integration of the various levels of the music as well. This paper will use Schenkerian analysis to probe the levels of J. S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 in an effort to come to a better understanding of the work and, as a result, achieve a more informed performance of the work.
Openings, middles, and closings all perform different formal functions in music and therefore require different types of material to support these functions. Distinct musical characteristics are employed to signify which function is being realized and thereby Iocate the material within a specific formal context.
One way that composers work againsl conventions of context is through the dual techniques of dislocation and relocation. With dislocation music is placed in an unconventional context; with relocation, dislocated music is either replaced into its proper context, or is shown to work appropriately in multiple contexts. One piece that is quite significant for a discussion of dislocations and relocations is Mozart's Piano Sonata in D, K. 311, famous for employing what has been labeled a reverse recapitulation.
But the piece's form is remarkable in another respect. For while works such as Haydn's String Quartet Op. 33 no. 5 explores the idea of opening a closing, in K. 311 Mozart explores the opposite idea: closing with an opening. By viewing K. 311 through the broader lens of dislocation and relocation, my analysis will account for the ways that Mozart plays with formal function in this work.
Beethoven wrote the following phrase on the original copy of the score of op. 131, before it was delivered to the publisher Schott: "Zusammengestohlen aus Verschiedenem diesem und jenem." Although he later discounted this inscription as a joke, it may provide clues regarding the compositional process involved in thc creation of op. 131. Close study of op. 131 indicates that the source from which Beethoven borrowed in composing his string quartet is the first book of J.S. BachŐs Well Tempered Clavier.
BeethovenŐs great respect for the works of Handel and Bach is well known. By the age of 11, Beethoven was performing the WTC, so he knew the work intimately by the late stage in his life when the quartet was composed. Of course, the use of fugue and fugal textures (such as the first movement of op. 131 and the Grosse Fuge) is typical of his late style. Several other biographical factors also support the idea that Beethoven was still studying the WTC late in life and could have borrowed musical materials from it.
Specific musical correlations between each movement of op. 131 and Book I of the WTC may be observed. The manner in which materials are adapted from the WTC sometimes involves the use of composite melodies in op. 131. Perhaps Beethoven was referrjng to such a technique when he said that the late quartets included a "new manner of voice treatment." A study of the close relationsflip between the WTC and op. 131 may yield insights about BeethovenŐs compositional methods and the wide-ranging tonal organization of this quartet.
Despite a hundred years of research and scholarship, Claude DebussvŐs Prélude a l'après midi d'un faune remains one of the most analytically challenging works in all of music. One of the primary factors that contributes to its misunderstanding is the highly chromatic harmonic ]anguage used throughout the piece, language which does not appear anywhere else in tonal music. This complex harmonic language has rendered traditional Roman numeral analysis useless in deciphering the Prélude. The Prélude has been described by some as "neither tonal nor atonal". The primary focus of this study is an anahisis of the Prélude using a combination of both traditional tonal analytical procedures and elements of pitch-class set analysis in an attempt to better understand some of the harmonic and melodic gestures within the piece. One particular pitch-class set, Forte type 4-27 plays an integral role throughout the Prélude, to the extent that it can be thought of as a "pillar set". Several of the PréludeŐs vertical sonorities will be examined in relation to this pillar set. In addition to an analysis of vertical set forms, several of the linear/melodic ideas will be examined using a combination of post-tonal procedures and elements of Schenkerian linear analysis, in an attempt to display an internal connection hetween the PréludeŐs harmonic and melodic languages.
That Debussy was closely linked to the literary movement of Symbolism is today generally accepted by the scholarly community; that Debussy developed uncanny musical analogues to Mallarme's paradigm of the treatment of poetic language has seen little attention, most likely because of the obvious differences in artistic mediums and associated analytical tools. This paper outlines the connection between the two by describing how Mallarme's poetic techniques can be understood as a precursor of Debussy's musical techniques. In so doing, we come to see how the musical image stands as almost a preconscious image of what the poem does in the cognitive domain.
The significance of this analysis calls into question other attempts to account for the coherence of Debussy's musical language which too often rely on methods inductively developed from other repertoires. This multiplicity of approaches has engendered an artificial ambiguity inconsistent with Debussy's aesthetic and composiitonal practices. Without recourse to complex theories of structural criticism or speculation and all the problems that attend these approaches, this analytic description of compositional process reveals a common-sense, musical-poetic intertextuality rich in interpretive meanings.
"Nonconformist Keynotes: A Study
in Late Nineteenth-Century Musical Structure"
Daniel Harrison, University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music
Recent work in nineteenth-century harmonic analysis takes a tonal space of twelve equally tempered pitch-classes as a starting assumption. Any enharmonic differences between notated pitches are conformed to this model in order to demonstrate some analytically interesting group properties. While enharmonic modulations and transformations are certainly an important feature of late nineteenth-century composiitonal technique, an unchecked urge rigidly to conform the tonal space just as certainly leads to loss of other analytically interesting features. Relying on recent work in nineteenth-century formal and harmonic expression (Robert Bailey, Leonard Meyer, William Benjamin, James Hepokoski, and Warren Darcy), this paper argues for an enharmonically unconformed tonal space by exploring the consequences of analytically preserving enharmonic differences among keys. In this view, two widely separated keys in a composition, though they be nominally (and even notationally) the same in the conformed model, may be understood and analyzed as different entities. The warrant for such a claim comes from examining the harmonic journey between these two points. The second key--especially in pieces using a typical nineteenth-century "struggle to victory" narrative arc--may be arrived at, set up, and introduced in a way that separates it materially and cognitively from the first key. The paper show that such separation can have great intepretive significance. Hugo Riemann's Tonnetz, currently enjoying a revival in studies of smaller-scale structures, is used to plot key journey's and to show enharmonic separation among keys within works by Lisze, Strauss, and Mahler.