Dissertation Index
Author: Richards, Mark C. Title: Analyzing Tension and Drama in Beethoven’s First-Movement Sonata Forms Institution: University of Toronto Begun: September 2007 Completed: April 2011 Abstract: Dramatic, in the sense of “highly intense,” is a quality we often associate with the music of Beethoven, but no theory has attempted to define drama in any systematic manner. This study therefore explores the idea by constructing a theory that distinguishes between dramatic and non-dramatic passages. At the core of the theory is the notion that drama is the result of several types of tension occurring simultaneously. Dramatic passages have a “High” tension level, whereas non-dramatic ones have a “Low” level. Individual tension types are divided into two categories: rhetorical and syntactical. Rhetorical tension types include such features as a loud dynamic, a fast rhythm, and a thick texture, which need no musical context to be expressed. By contrast, syntactical tension types include such features as chromaticism, metric irregularity, and phrase expansion, which always require a comparison of events to be expressed. Only tension types from the same category may combine to form drama. Because this study examines the relationships between drama and sonata form, the analysis of form is a key issue that receives a separate chapter and additional thought throughout. The methodology combines aspects of William E. Caplin’s theory of formal functions and James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory, and is applied to all of Beethoven’s first-movement sonata forms, a total of eighty-seven movements. Each formal unit is analyzed as one of six dramatic “archetypes” that describe a basic outline of High and/or Low tension levels. These archetypes constitute the dramatic structure of the piece. Percentage frequencies of the archetypes were calculated for each formal unit in the movements as a whole, and as grouped by the categories of key, mode, genre, and style period. The greatest distinctions in dramatic structure occur among the three style periods of early, middle, and late, the early works showing a sectional approach with contrasting tension between phrases and the middle to late works gradually becoming more continuous, maintaining the same tension levels between units. A concluding analysis of Beethoven’s String Trio, op. 3, demonstrates the theory’s ability to enrich the interpretation of an individual work. Keywords: intensity, dramatic structure, formal functions, Sonata Theory, style change, late style, symphony style, sonata style, musical continuity, C-minor mood TOC: Introduction Part 1: The Analysis of Dramatic Structure Chapter 1: The Analysis of Musical Form Chapter 2: The Analysis of Musical Tension and Drama Part 2: Dramatic Structures in Beethoven’s First-Movement Type 3 Sonata Forms Introduction to Chapter 3 Chapter 3: The Exposition Chapter 4: The Development Chapter 5: The Recapitulation Chapter 6: The Coda and Slow Introduction Chapter 7: Epilogue Bibliography Appendix A Appendix B Contact: 217 Oakridge Drive, Toronto, Ontario, M1M 2B4, CANADA Email: mark.richards@utoronto.ca Tel. +1 416-265-3172 |