Mendelssohn, Time and Memory: The Romantic Conception of Cyclic Form

Mendelssohn, Time and Memory......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Illustrations......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
1 The idea of cyclic form......Page 17
1. End-orientated (circular) cyclic forms......Page 22
2. Non-end-orientated cyclic forms......Page 24
3. Combined- or single-movement cyclic forms......Page 26
Historical context and development......Page 27
The shape of history and historical self-consciousness......Page 29
Subjectivity......Page 37
Organicism......Page 42
Origins and precursors of nineteenth-century cyclicism......Page 46
Beethoven and Romantic cyclicism......Page 48
Cyclic form in Mendelssohn’s early works......Page 52
2 Musical history and self-consciousness: The Octet Op. 20......Page 63
Musical memory and self-consciousness: ‘the Circuitous Journey’......Page 65
The Octet as a phenomenology of spirit......Page 68
Organic growth: the first movement......Page 71
Thematic connections between movements: the Andante and first movement......Page 82
Cyclic recall: the finale......Page 86
The Octet and musical history......Page 96
Mendelssohn and Goethe......Page 103
‘To me alone he told his secret’, claimed Fanny:......Page 108
3 Returning home: The E major Piano Sonata Op. 6......Page 114
The myth of the golden age......Page 115
The Sonata in E major Op. 6......Page 116
4 In search of lost time: The A minor Quartet Op. 13......Page 137
Cyclic recurrence: the introduction–coda frame......Page 140
Internal non-recurring variants......Page 144
Cyclic recurring themes......Page 148
Process of theme b......Page 149
Development of theme a and the converging of both strands......Page 158
The coda......Page 163
Cyclical form and time......Page 165
Ist es wahr? Interpretation and context......Page 171
Opus 13 and Proust......Page 175
5 Overcoming the past: The E Quartet Op. 12......Page 181
First movement......Page 185
Later movements......Page 205
Coda......Page 216
6 Cyclicism in Mendelssohn’s mature music......Page 220
The ‘Reformation’ Symphony (1830)......Page 225
Musical meaning and the challenge of instrumental music......Page 231
Cyclic form in Mendelssohn’s ‘middle-period’ works and the question of intelligibility......Page 237
Symphony No. 3 in A minor (‘Scottish’) Op. 56......Page 244
Cyclic themes and thematic connections between movements......Page 245
Cyclic thematic manipulation and formal process: first movement......Page 250
Interpretative issues: the ‘Scottish’ Symphony as overdetermined......Page 260
Ruins and historical memory: the first movement......Page 265
Rotations and cycles: the A major coda......Page 274
Breakthrough and daybreak......Page 286
Bibliography......Page 292
Index......Page 308