Biamonte, Nicole V. The Modes in Romantic Music
INSTITUTION: Yale University
BEGUN: September 1994
COMPLETED: March 1998 (projected)
ABSTRACT:
A number of 19th-century works, while fundamentally tonal,
incorporate elements of modality. Various Romantic impulses
contributed to this reawakening of the modes: the historicist
preoccupation with the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and an
accompanying interest in older religious music; a growing
regard for folk music, rooted in primitivism and the cult
of nature, in nationalism, and in post-Revolution egalitarianism.
The role of these ideas in the other arts is briefly discussed.
A purely musical reason for the renewal of interest in the
modes, the perceived need for an expansion of major-minor
tonality, is explored in more depth.
I examine the influence of these impulses in the music of
Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin, and others, analyzing
the forms assumed by mode in the 19th century: harmonizations
of a modal melody, whether tonal, modal, or some combination
of the two; the construct known as "modal harmony," comprising
diatony with an emphasis on secondary triads; and incorporation
of a single element of a mode--for example, the "Dorian sixth,"
and whether this is sufficient to qualify a work as modal, or
is merely a temporary modal inflection. I hope to develop a
theoretical framework for mode in a harmonic context, and to
determine the relationship of modal harmony to earlier modal
theory and to harmonic tonality.
KEYWORDS:
mode, modality, modal theory, modal harmony, Romantic,
19th-century, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin
TOC:
Introduction
1: Romantic Ideas
Classic vs. Romantic; Historicism; Religion; Mysticism; Primitivism;
Egalitarianism; Nationalism; Harmonic Expansion
2: On the Modes
Middle Ages; Renaissance; 17th Century; Mode as a Pedagogical
Tool; Romantic Era; Mode in a Harmonic Context; Mode as "Other"
3: Beethoven
Musical Education; Missa Solemnis; 9th Symphony finale; Heiliger
Dankgesang
4: Schumann
Musical Education; "Auf Einer Burg"; Folksongs for Cello and
Piano; G minor Piano Trio
5: Brahms
Musical Education; "Von ewiger Liebe"; "Vergangen ist mir Glueck
und Heil"; Intermezzo Op. 76 No 7; 4th Symphony slow movement;
F minor Clarinet Sonata
6: Other Composers
Schubert ("Der Koenig in Thule"); Chopin (Mazurka Op. 41 No. 1); others
7: Conclusion
CONTACT:
Nicole Biamonte
87 Turtle Bay
Branford, CT 06405
email: nicole.biamonte@yale.edu
phone: (203) 488-9621
fax: (203) 483-1897
INSTITUTION: University of Rochester (Eastman School of Music)
BEGUN: September, 1995
COMPLETED: October, 1997
ABSTRACT:
The issue of how one should or might compare two or more
events in atonal music has been a major concern--either
explicitly or implicitly--in much music theoretical literature
this century. While musical entities related by certain
transformations (most notably transposition and inversion)
have commonly been understood as equivalent, there is to
date no commonly accepted method for comparing
non-transformationally-related musical entities.
In an attempt to bridge this gap, many theorists and composers
have developed similarity measures or other constructs that
are useful for relating two collections of notes (typically
pitch classes). The first chapter of the dissertation provides
a brief history and critique of various works in this field.
The second chapter, which forms the theoretical heart of the
dissertation, introduces several new similarity indices which
take into account the degree of "saturation" that each element
(interval class, subset class, or subset of an interval cycle)
enjoys in a given set class. In order to examine the degree
to which set X is saturated with element x, we compare the
number of x's in X to the minimal and maximal amount of x
that is possible in any set of the same size.
The third and fourth chapters provide examples of how
similarity indices can inform analyses of some post-tonal
music. Chapter 3 is a comparative analysis of the first
movement of Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces for Clarinet
Solo (1920) using eight different similarity indices.
In Chapter 4, the second movement of Olivier Messiaen's
Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (1985) is analyzed through
the lens of one of the similarity indices defined in
chapter 2.
The final chapter of the dissertation addresses some criticisms
of similarity indices in particular and pitch-class based atonal
analysis in general. It also provides the groundwork for
extending the idea of elemental saturation into other domains,
most notably "pitch-space," in which octave-related notes are
not considered equivalent.
KEYWORDS:
Similarity, relations, indices, measures, set theory, Messiaen,
Stravinsky, p-space, pc-space
TOC:
Chapter 1: A brief history and critique of interval/subset
class vectors and similarity functions
Chapter 2: Saturation vectors and associated similarity indices
Chapter 3: A comparative analysis of Stravinsky's Three Pieces
for Clarinet Solo, first movement (1920) using similarity
indices and pcset networks
Chapter 4: Similarity and dissimilarity of set types in
Olivier Messiaen's Petites esquisses d'oiseaux, second
movement ('Le Merle noir')
Chapter 5: Extensions and Conclusions
CONTACT:
Michael Buchler
University of Iowa School of Music
1006 Music Building
Iowa City, IA 52242
Home: (319) 354-0043
Office: (319) 335-1646
Fax: (319) 335-2637
INSTITUTION: State University of New York, Stony Brook
BEGUN:
COMPLETED: August 1996
ABSTRACT:
Questioning the entrenched and monochromatic view of
Schoenberg's historical consciousness, that he saw himself as
history's instrument for the advancement of music, this study
finds Schoenberg's historical consciousness to be multifaceted.
Among these many facets, the most important common factor is
creativity, which should be animated by historical consciousness,
not squelched by it. In this respect, Schoenberg's thought is
resonant with that of Goethe, Kant, Hegel, Wilhelm von Humboldt,
Zunz, Krochmal, Nietzsche, Bergson, Musil, Rosenzweig and Cohen.
Like Schoenberg, each of these thinkers espouses the boundlessness
of possibility, variation and creativity in the world. Yet
Schoenberg's works also bring into relief the conflicted
coexistence of historical consciousness and artistic creativity.
To illustrate the devitalizing aspects of history, Schoenberg's
views are compared to similar views of Rosenzweig and Musil.
Polemics between Schoenberg and those who see decline in modern
art, such as Schenker, Riemann and Spengler, reveal Schoenberg's
antipathy to excesses of history. Nietzsche's The Use and
Abuse of History informs this analysis (chapter one).
We next consider how historical consciousness can foster
creativity. Karl Popper argues that Schoenberg entangled art
with historicist ideology. This view is incomplete because
it neglects the idea which Schoenberg inherited from modern
Judaism's turn to history, that historical understanding
promotes cultural regeneration (chapter two).
To show how works may embody one or more historical
positions, Schoenberg's compositions are considered in light
of his attempts at historical narrative, which are analyzed
with respect to four themes: continuity, discontinuity,
social historyand the phenomenology of creativity
(chapter three).
Affinities between art and history suggested in the work
of Humboldt, Bergson, Croce, Musil, D'Arcy Thompson, Lakoff,
Edelman and Gruber are related to Schoenberg's writings
(chapter four). These findings ground the analyses of four
works: Erwartung, Die glueckliche Hand, Vorgefuehl,
Op. 22, No. 4 and A Survivor From Warsaw (chapter 5).
The Five Piano Pieces, Op. 23, are discussed in terms
of conflicts that arise when aesthetic and historical
assessments of a musical composition disagree, and in terms
of how Schoenberg addressed such conflicts (chapter 6).
Schoenberg's evolutionary and intuitionistic view of
musical perception, as described in Harmonielehre, is
considered vis-a-vis the contrasting evolutionary views of
Mach and Bergson (chapter seven).
KEYWORDS:
Philosophy of History, Essayism, Modern Judaism, Historicism,
Serialism, Atonality.
TOC:
I. On Creative Imagination and Historical
Consciousness
II. On Historical Consciousness as an
Ideological Source
III. The Emergence of Schoenberg's Historical
Consciousness
IV. On the Interaction of Phantasy and
Historical Consciousness
V. Historical Consciousness in Schoenberg's
Music
VI. Schoenberg's Five Piano Pieces.
Op. 23: Judgment and Purpose
VII. Between Pitch Class and "Empfindungswelt"
Selected Bibliography
CONTACT:
Steven J. Cahn
College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati
Box 0003
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0003
(513) 556-7820
fax (513) 556-0202
cahnsj@email.uc.edu
INSTITUTION: University of Wisconsin-Madison BEGUN: May, 1995 COMPLETED: May, 1999 or Dec., 1999 ABSTRACT: This dissertation offers a revised definition of 1960s and early 1970s progressive rock, highlighting select works by the Beatles, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and King Crimson. I argue that the period in rock history from roughly 1966 to 1973 connotes a "progressive" point-of-compass because artists such as those mentioned above developed aesthetic norms demarcated by a high degree of perceptual sensitivity to issues of structure and process, composition and improvisation, content and expression. Ultimately, my objective is to evaluate the working mechanisms of particular pieces, which lead to aesthetic criteria for asserting a theory of progressive rock stylistic "archetypes." The analytical methods appropriated and expanded in this study include (1) generative theories of Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983), (2) implication- realization models of Meyer (1973) and Narmour (1977, 1989), and (3) semiotic techniques of Ruwet (1987, 1966), Nattiez (1990), and Philip Tagg (1982); as well as musicological studies of popular music by David Brackett (1995), Richard Middleton (1990), and Allan Moore (1993), and critical ideas of Andrew Chester (1970). The dissertation is comprised of four chapters flanked by an Introduction and Epilogue. The Introduction presents analytical hypotheses, and examines issues concerning rock music style analysis. Chapter One focuses on avante-garde works of the Beatles and Frank Zappa during the mid-'60s. Chapter Two examines Pink Floyd's large-scale instrumental works from 1967-'71. Chapter Three showcases "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" from Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix, and compares the studio version with live versions, as well as rural and urban blues antecedents. Chapter Four explores compositional formalisms in King Crimson's album entitled Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973). The Epilogue (1) reiterates the basic themes of the study, (2) suggests a set of stylistic archetypes based on the analytical data, and (3) theorizes a revised definition of progressive rock. KEYWORDS: progressive-, psychedelic- rock, popular music style analysis British-, American- Rock, syntactic-, processive- analysis of (p. rock) improvisation in - (p. rock) TOC: Chapter Outline (subject to revision) Prologue: A Revised Definition of Progressive Rock Chapter I: Prototypes and Antitypes: The Beatles and Frank Zappa (1966-'68) Chapter II: Large-scale Psychedelic Soundscapes: Pink Floyd (1967-'71) Chapter III: Syntactic and Processive Strategies in the music of Jimi Hendrix (1967-'70) Chapter IV: King Crimson's Compositional Formalisms: Larks' Tongues in Aspic Epilogue: Archetypes of Progressive Rock, ca. 1966-1973 CONTACT: John S. Cotner 4321 Britta Drive #4 Madison, WI 53711 (608) 278-0787 Advisor: Dr. John W. Schaffer Director, School of Music University of Wisconsin-Madison Humanities Building Madison, WI 53706 musicdir@macc.wisc.edu
INSTITUTION: Technische Universitaet Berlin BEGUN: August, 1995 COMPLETED: 1998 ABSTRACT: The Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis (GENDYN = "GENeration DYNamique"), conceived by Iannis Xenakis (b. 1922), is a comprehensive computational procedure (algorithm) for composing music by synthesizing sound on a computer. To investigate into this rigorous example of algorithmic composition, the working environment of the composer has been reconstructed in order to be able to study the genesis of compositions like GENDY3 (1991). The Xenakis algorithm has made to run in a graphical, real-time environment to allow for immediate inspection of various details of the synthesis process. Musical analysis can thus benefit from the fact that the creative act is fully reproducable "in vitro" thanks to its total algorithmical formalization. Used for the purpose of analysis, the new tool enables the systematic exploration of the "decision space" contributing to a deeper understanding to both the potential and limitations of rigorous algorithmic composition. Alternatives can be explored and side conditions changed in order to ascertain the complex interaction between "material requirements" and compositional freedom, within which the composer originally navigated. The technical possibilities for both analysis and synthesis of Stochastic Synthesis compositions provoke many fundamental questions about computing, listening and understanding, of creation, interaction and aesthetics and of the essence of what is machine music. It is shown that Xenakis, unlike many computer music composers, has no ambition whatsoever to model traditional musical thinking. Instead he realizes his sonic vision in an abstract physical model of sound pressure dynamics yielding higher-order musical structures as emergent epiphenomena. This radical approach which addresses the medium of electroacoustic algorithmic music, i.e. the physics of sound, as well as the computability of sound as being a subject of artistic creation as such, seems to be somehow more valid for a foundation of a "true" computer art than the widespread imitation of human qualities by the computer and the strive for artificial musical "intelligence." KEYWORDS: Iannis Xenakis, Algorithmic Composition, Stochastic Music, Non-Standard Sound Synthesis, Real-Time Systems, Analysis of Computer Music. TOC: Preface Introduction Algorithmic Composition Analysis of Computer Music Computability, Complexity, Creativity The Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis Analysis of GENDY3 The Development of the New GENDYN Program Future Research Conclusion Bibliography CONTACT: Peter Hoffmann, Skalitzer Str. 96 D-10997 Berlin phoffman@inf.fu-berlin.de
INSTITUTION: University of Newcastle BEGUN: January, 1995 COMPLETED: January 1999 ABSTRACT: The study traces the development of Schuman's style with particular emphasis upon his approach to the symphony. Three works are studied in detail, each focussing on significant aspects of his approach to structural delineation and development: Symphonies no. 3 (1941), no.6 (1948) and no.9 (1968). Pitch-class set analysis is employed in the examination of the extended diatonicism of the early 1940's, through to the quasi-serial circulation of the aggregate in the Ninth Symphony. Key analytical concerns include the processes of motivic manipulation that lie behind Schuman's instinctive approach to "autogenetic development," and the changing nature of the symphonic duality as the early diatonicism gives way to a contextual, self-referential motivic vocabulary. >From a theoretical perspective the focus of inquiry is the relevance of different approaches to set-complex relations to the various stages of this stylistic evolution. A number of questions are addressed: To what extent are the generic relations outlined by Forte and Parks applicable to large-scale symphonic works with their stylistic roots in the diatonic/neo-classical tradition? Does Schuman's approach to the symphony reflect a Schoenbergian view of form and structure? Are concepts outlined in Schoenberg's theoretical writings (such as the Idea, the Grundgestalt and developing variation) useful here? KEYWORDS: Schuman, symphony, diatonic, genera, pc-set, developing variation, autogenetic development, Schoenberg, theory TOC: Chapter 1: A brief overview of the musical language of String Quartet no.2 (1937), American Festival Overture (1939), String Quartet no.3 (1939) - stylistic characteristics, formal devices, diatonic collections. Chapter 2: Analysis 1:Symphony no.3 (1941): Passacaglia. The influence of Haubiel and Harris. Harris as teacher and theorist. Formal design. Diatonic collections. Chapter 3: Analysis 2: Symphony no.3: Chorale. Harmonic ambiguity. "Floating tonality". Chapter 4: Influence of the dance: Undertow (1945) and Night Journey (1947) Chapter 5: Analysis 3: Symphony no.6 (1948): Autogenetic Development Chapter 6: Analysis 4: Symphony no.6 : Harmony and structure Chapter 7: Further developments: Credendum (1955), Violin Concerto (1959), Symphony no.7 (1960) Chapter 8: Analysis 5: Symphony no. 9 Conclusion: The developments of Schuman's musical language. The role of generic pc-set theory. CONTACT: R.C. Pye 4 Coniston Road Longlevens, Gloucester GL2 0NA United Kingdom Telephone: 01452 506603 E mail: r.pye@virgin.net
INSTITUTION: University of Michigan
BEGUN: January 1995
COMPLETED: January 1997
ABSTRACT:
Igor Stravinsky's last ballet, Agon (1953-57), is an enigmatic
entanglement of tonal, serial, and twelve-tone compositional
procedures in conjunction with French court dances, classical
ballet, and musical textures reminiscent of Anton Webern. In
sorting out this puzzle, I have undertaken an interdisciplinary
approach, one involving art history, traditional music analytical
techniques, and linguistic theory. In the first chapter,
"Artistic Interminglings: Picasso, Cubism, and Stravinsky's
Compositional Approach," I draw the parallel between Pablo
Picasso's artistic approach during his Cubist period and
Stravinsky's compositional approach, delineating three common
elements between the two artists: context/modelling,
cut-and-paste, and substitution. In the second chapter, "A Day
in the Memory: The Fifth, the Torchbearer, and the Magician," I
take a whimsical look at Stravinsky, the twelve-tone composer.
With the third chapter, I offer two different looks at Agon. The
first encompasses a more traditional m usic analytical
investigation of the ballet, demonstrating how the various parts
work together, creating this cohesive work. The second entails
my borrowing of Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of dialogue as the
fundamental element of communication between human beings. By
considering musical compositions as medium of communication, I am
able to explore Agon as a social act, thus, examining the
relationship between Stravinsky, Agon, and other composers' works
and the effect that they had on Stravinsky's compositional
choices.
KEYWORDS: Stravinsky, Agon, Music Theory, Interdisciplinary
Studies, Bakhtin, Webern, Cubism, Picasso
TOC:
ONE
Artistic Interminglings:
Picasso, Cubism, and Stravinsky'S
Compositional Approach
TWO
A Day in the Memory:
The Fifth, The Torchbearer, and the Magician
THREE
The Post-game Show: An Analysis of Agon (A Drama in Three Acts)
Prologue
Act I. "Agon, In General Terms"
Act II. "An Analysis of Agon"
Scene i. "Stravinsky's Tonal Souvenirs"
Scene ii. "An Analysis of Agon's First Section"
Scene iii. "Agon's Third Section"
Scene iv. "The Ritornello Theme"
Scene v. "The First Pas-de-Trois"
Scene vi. "The Second Pas-de-Trois"
Scene vii. "The Pas-de-Deux"
Act III. "Agon as a Social Act"
Scene i. "The Pas-de-Deux: More Than Meets
the Eye"
Scene ii. "Dialogue, Bakhtin, and the Musical
Work"
Scene iii. "The Application to Music"
Scene iv. "Agon via the Bakhtin Model"
Scene v. "The Pas-de-Deux By Way of
Bakhtin"
Epilogue
Bibliograpy
CONTACT:
Carl Wiens
#3 19991-53A Avenue
Langley, BC
Canada V3A 8H6
wiens5@sprint.ca, or npearson@sfu.ca
phone: (604) 532-9573
[1] Music Theory Online (MTO) as a whole is Copyright � 1998, all rights reserved, by the Society for Music Theory, which is the owner of the journal. Copyrights for individual items published in MTO are held by their authors. Items appearing in MTO may be saved and stored in electronic or paper form, and may be shared among individuals for purposes of scholarly research or discussion, but may not be republished in any form, electronic or print, without prior, written permission from the author(s), and advance notification of the editors of MTO.
[2] Any redistributed form of items published in MTO must include the following information in a form appropriate to the medium in which the items are to appear:
This item appeared in Music Theory Online[3] Libraries may archive issues of MTO in electronic or paper form for public access so long as each issue is stored in its entirety, and no access fee is charged. Exceptions to these requirements must be approved in writing by the editors of MTO, who will act in accordance with the decisions of the Society for Music Theory.
in [VOLUME #, ISSUE #] on [DAY/MONTH/YEAR].
It was authored by [FULL NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS],
with whose written permission it is reprinted here.