Analytical Variations – Eight Critical Essays on Applied Music Theory

Cover
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Contents
Preface
1 Analytical Variations on a theme by Mozart
	Introduction; apologies and commitments
	Traditional approaches: melody,The motivic structure of the theme
		About motifs
		Melodic contours; elements of counterpoint
		Improvisation
	Traditional approaches: harmony
		Some general remarks on harmony
		Three systems of harmonic analysis
		Harmonic analysis of the theme
		Roman-numeral vs. functional analysis
	Traditional approaches rhythm
		Rhythmic properties of the theme
		Harmonic rhythm
		Rhythm and performance
	Traditional approaches: form
		Some remarks on the study of form
		Formal analysis of the theme
		A bottom/up perspective of the form
		Rhetoric and interpunctuation
		Repeats and recurrences; symmetry
	Semiotic analysis and motivic structure
		Semiotic analysis according to Nattiez
		The first attempt at a semiotic analysis
		The second attempt at a semiotic analysis
		The nature and status of the “coda”
	Melodic implications
		Expectations and implications
		Deviations and implications
		The antecedent
		The consequent and the AA1 period
		The middle section and beyond
		The concluding sections
	Rhythmic structure
		Analysis in terms of accent and grouping
		Rhythmic levels
		Duration vs. emphasis
		Rhythm at the inferior level
		The initial period
		The middle section
		The concluding sections
		Top-level rhythm/metre
		Concluding observations and remarks
	Music cognition
		Narmour’s Implication-Realization (I-R) Model
		Melodic implications
		Harmonic implications
	Tonal reduction
		Schenker’s theory of tonal music
		Schenkerian analysis
		Schenker and Forte & Gilbert: the initial period
		The concluding sections
		The middle section
		Lester’s analysis
		Neumeyer’s bilinear reading; matters of orthodoxy
	Generative reduction
		Introduction
		Grouping structure
		Metric structure
		Time-span reduction
		Prolongational reduction
		The entire theme
	Just reduction
		What is “just reduction”?
		The initial period
		The middle section
		The “coda”
		Compatible upper lines in the initial period
		The entire theme: a monolinear and a bilinear reading
		Returning to Neumeyer’s analysis
		Conclusion
	Focal analysis
		A focal analysis of the theme
	Extra-musical content
		The Order and The Other
		Two extra-musical interpretations
2 In defence of musical ambiguity
	One “motto” or two?
	One path or two forks?
	Can analysis afford not to sit on the fence?
	Reconsidering an “error”
	The possibility of neither/nor
	Ambiguity in the larger reality
	Some general remarks; the politics of ambiguity
3 Mozart out of proportion. Searching for the Golden Section
	Which proportions are musically relevant?
	Matters of musical perception
	Matters of statistical assessment
	Conclusions
4 Hidden repetitions and uncovered parallelisms
	Introduction
	Burkhart and Rothgeb on hidden repetitions
	Conventional tonal motions
	Evaluation and perception of hidden recurrences
	The Satzprobe
	Hidden repetitions as concealed links
	Hidden repetitions and distant associations
	Hidden repetitions and structural unity
	Large-scale integrating recurrences
	Summary and discussion
	Rothgeb’s criticism of David’s Jupiter analysis
	Some comments on Cohn’s essay
5 An das ferne Verwandte. Common ideas, ideas in common
	Hatch: Recurring ideas
	Contours and inversions
	Deep-layer recurrences
	Recurrent ideas within the cycle
	Mediated recurrences
	Matters of similarity and mediation
	Recurring ideas and tonal reduction
	The nature of similarity relationships
	The idea of the recurring idea
	Reynolds: Thematic recycling
	Songs 1–5
	The sixth song
	The coda
	Evaluation
	... was geschieden uns so weit
6 Warum Grillen?
	Warum?
	Grillen
	Auxiliary cadences
	Conclusions
7 Suing a sound-alike
	Originality
	Similarity
	Imitation
	Some illustrative examples
	Riff 1: Originality
	Conventional patterns
	Probability and melodic choices
	Searching for melodic doubles
	Riff 1 and 2: Similarity
	Preliminary considerations
	Similarities and differences
	Riff 2: Imitation
	Music as the art of combination or convergence
	The actual composition process
	General conclusions
	The verdicts and a supreme twist
	A final reflection
8 Schubert’s promising note. Further exercises in hermeneutics
	Introduction
	Some general remarks on hermeneutic exercises
	Some observations on the hermeneutic method
	Cone’s promissory-note reading
	A critique of the promissory-note reading
	Some productive ideas in Cone’s interpretation
	The promising-note reading
	On Schubert’s modulations: Temperley and Pesic
	On gay subjectivity in Schubert: Brett and McClary
	The pervading figure: Kramer
	Schubert’s “fingerprint”: Nettheim
	Some straight exercises
	Performance and hermeneutic interpretation
	Prospects of empirical research
	Conclusion
Music examples
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 2
	Chapter 4
	Chapter 5
	Chapter 6
	Chapter 7
	Chapter 8
References