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2000 Indiana University |
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Abstracts Session I (February 25, 7:15-8:30 p.m.) David Pacun (University of Connecticut): "On the Boundaries of Tonality: Transpositional Combination and Brahms's String Sextet in G Major, op. 36" This paper explores how transpositional combination, a technique developed by Richard Cohn for the analysis of post-tonal music, can afford theorists useful insights into nineteenth-century harmonic practice and, in particular, passages of music situated on the boundaries of tonality. The paper takes as its test case the String Sextet in G Major, opus 36, by Johannes Brahms, whose third movement variation theme has often been cited for its dense chromaticism, fragmentary structure, and novel harmonic shifts. The analysis consists of three parts, examining first surface manifestations of transpositional combination (TC), then middleground instances, and finally the variation theme itself, where TC emerges as a controlling feature of the musical surface and overall form. In part I of the analysis, TC distinguishes between two related yet distinct tetrachords central to the work: one constructed of a perfect fifth transposed by minor sixth (7*8), the other of a perfect fourth transposed by perfect fifth (5*7). Part II explores how both tetrachords spin out contrasting TC-chains or what David Lewin has termed formal layouts: the 7*8 tetrachord unfolds a hexatonic configuration that strongly implies harmonic motion by major third, while the 5*7 tetrachord yields a diatonically oriented chain that resembles a pentatonic formation. Several brief examples demonstrate how these chains or layouts function on the middleground level. Part III then provides an in-depth analysis of the third movement variation theme. By citing evidence based upon counterpoint, registral deployment and surface voice-leading, the variation theme will be shown to progress from a 5*7-based layout to a 7*8-based layout. Given the weak status of traditional harmony in the theme, this TC progression provides a critical foundation for the theme's surface events and overall form. To conclude, the analysis offers an overview of the entire Sextet from a TC perspective. Julian Hook (Indiana University): "Cross-Type Transformations and Generalized Transposition and Inversion" Cross-type transformations are mappings that transform objects of one type into objects of an entirely different type: for instance, mappings from pitches to pitch classes, or from triads to seventh chords. A simple cross-type analysis of an "omnibus" progression demonstrates the considerable analytical potential of cross-type transformations; standard formalizations of transformational theory, however, do not allow for such transformations at all. A brief discussion of the general theory of cross-type transformations will include a variety of examples. Most of these are also examples of GIS homomorphisms: structure-preserving mappings from one Generalized Interval System to another. In a case of particular interest, cross-type transpositions and cross-type inversions may be defined, generalizing the accepted notions of transposition and inversion within a single GIS. Examples of such transformations in the works of composers from Bach to Bartok will be presented, culminating in an example from the piano music of Karol Szymanowski in which cross-type transformations and inversions interact in subtle and complex ways. Session II (February 25, 8:45-10:00 p.m.) Mark Butler (Indiana University): "Turning the Beat Around: Reinterpretation, Metrical Dissonance, and Asymmetry in Techno" The type of electronic dance music known as techno presents an
intriguing problem to the musical analyst. It is often texturally complex,
consisting of many different layers, each of which has a different
rhythmic pattern. When examined individually, however, these patterns seem
quite simple; furthermore, they repeat for long periods of time without
changing. Nonetheless, the experience of listening to techno is neither
simple nor monotonous, for it challenges our perception of rhythm and
meter in a number of interesting ways. Arthur Samplaski (Indiana University): "Boulez is Dead" In his 1952 polemic, "Schoenberg Is Dead," Pierre Boulez proclaimed that anything other than serial composition was useless. Almost a half-century later his position now seems ludicrous, and it remains to ask why a talented and intelligent young composer would want to lead music down such a sterile road. In this presentation I do two things: first, I put forth an epochal but non-teleological model for the evolution of musical style that provides a framework for assessing the place of Boulez and multiple serialism in the history of music. I suggest there exists a set of parallel confluent historical circumstances regarding the development of compositional techniques and larger societal events in the mid-fourteenth and mid-twentieth centuries under which Western art music temporarily "went off the deep end" in both periods; both the Ars Subtilior and serial technique, while in some sense dead ends, contribute to stylistic syntheses that emerge a few decades later. Second, using that historical model I suggest an agenda for music theory as a discipline. To date, music theory has considered notions of organizational function issues of harmonic function, cadence types, prolongation, etc. almost exclusively in terms of the functional hierarchy specific to common-practice era pitch structures. Because of the vast increase in pitch-structural possibilities now available, theories of organizational function must be delinked from specific pitch structures; pitch structures must be viewed as higher-level cognitive constructs atop more fundamental perceptual processes such as ebb and flow of tension and Gestalt principles of closure and good continuation; and we must develop theories of organizational function in terms of these basic perceptual processes, including how a musical element can act simultaneously in different, perhaps opposing, functional capacities along different dimensions. Session III (February 26, 9:00-10:15 a.m.) Lyn Burkett (Indiana University): "Linear Aggregates as Markers for Proportional Divisions in Ruth Crawford's Monophonic Music" In Ruth Crawford's music, it is rare to encounter twelve consecutive notes in a melodic line with no pitch-class repetition; however, Crawford occasionally used twelve-tone aggregates in linear contexts as markers of proportional divisions. These aggregates, which I will refer to as linear aggregates, are carefully placed in a manner that highlights proportional divisions in Crawford's Piano Study in Mixed Accents (PSMA) (1930) and Diaphonic Suite No. 1 (1930). Mark D. Nelson has discussed overlapping pitch and rhythmic palindromes in PSMA; my discussion will highlight Crawford's placement of three linear aggregates in relation to these palindromes. The linear aggregates in PSMA and Diaphonic Suite No. 1 exemplify a maximum melodic dissonance that serves as a type of ornament in the context of the compositions. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of these linear aggregates is that they are nearly impossible to hear in context. Crawford employs them as a means of robbing dissonance of its aesthetic affect, thereby satisfying one of the most important aims of dissonant counterpoint, which is to create a dissonant texture in which dissonance is neutralized to the point that it becomes unremarkable. Andrew Davis (Indiana University): "Transformation as Voice-Leading: Toward a Large-Scale View of Voice-Leading in Atonal Music" Theories and analytical approaches aimed at explaining the voice leading and linear coherence of atonal music have been appearing in the published literature for over four decades. Each has attempted to address the question of how voices move through musical time when they are not guided by traditional tonality and its constituent harmonies. The paper begins with a critical discussion of James Baker's own (1993) Schenkerian analysis of Bela Bartok's Scherzo from the Op. 14 Suite, followed by an alternative analysis which demonstrates that the piece may, as Baker originally suggested, be understood as an atonal work with an underlying structure derived in large part from traditional tonality. That the analysis presented here supports Baker's view of the piece is interesting, as Baker's analysis is marred by its invocation of theoretical premises which cannot be shown to be applicable in the musical context of the Scherzo and by resultant untenable conclusions about the structure of the piece. More generally, the paper speaks to the potential of the transformational voice-leading model to provide a means for describing atonal voice leading across long spans of musical time; in addition, it offers a fresh perspective on the structure of Bartok's atonal music, lending support to the notion that it has fundamentally tonal underpinnings masked by surface atonal, albeit centric and clearly hierarchical, organization. Session IV (February 26,10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.) Christoph Neidhöfer (McGill University): "From Simple to Complex: A Sketch-Based Study of Stravinsky's Compositional Strategies in Movements for Piano and Orchestra" Stravinsky's Movements for Piano and Orchestra has puzzled audiences and analysts alike ever since the work's premiere in 1960. By this time Stravinsky had been using serial techniques for eight years and had gradually moved away from the predominantly diatonic language of his neoclassical style towards a more chromatic idiom. Despite increased chromaticism, however, some of the most typical features of Stravinsky's earlier music were assimilated in the new style until Threni (1958). Tonal centricity, extended triadic harmonies (including simultaneities that contain two or three different harmonic functions), verticalities of set-types [025] and [0257], clear metric structures, and melodic phrase structures derived from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century tonal music still prevail in the works preceding Movements. This paper focuses on the modus operandi of Stravinsky's sketching process most typically found in the manuscript sources for Movements. In particular, the paper shows how Stravinsky derived textures of high rhythmic and serial complexity from simple musical ideas. The paper illustrates that textures of high complexity were generated through an elaborate process of serial and rhythmic transformations and that this process differed remarkably from Stravinsky's earlier sketching practices. The paper will also address more general serial issues in Movements and will provide a rationale for Stravinsky's particular serial choices within the context of the sketching process. Gordon Sly (Michigan State University): "The Relation of Pitch-Class Collection and Formal Design: An Analytical Pedagogy and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms" One of the central problems in designing an analysis course in post-tonal music is defining an analytical strategy that provides a means of access to a musical structure, is accessible to all students, and does not itself require the majority of time allotted to the course to master. Many students will bring to the class little experience in analysis and even less familiarity with this literature, which means that any analytical tools to be used will have to be taught. If, then, the instructor is determined that the focus of the course be the music itself, rather than analytical tools and techniques supported by analysis of a few carefully chosen excerpts, this question of analytical strategy becomes a very troublesome issue. This paper proposes that students be directed to approach a piece with one simple assumption: that changes in pitch-class collection articulate formal design. The most important advantages to this strategy are the simplicity of its analytical apparatus and the means it provides for getting students inside the musical structure and prompting analytical questions that would not otherwise occur to them. The body of the presentation illustrates these ideas in an analysis of the opening movement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. The work's octatonic source set, its octatonic-diatonic contrasts, and its network of durational palindromes are the focus of the analysis. David Smyth (Louisiana State University): "Another Look at Stravinsky's Sketches for 'Surge, aquilo'" Stravinsky's first entirely twelve-tone movement has received considerable analytical attention. Milton Babbitt noted the inversional relationship between the hexachords of its row and the resultant pitch class invariance among hexachords used in the vocal line. Pieter C. van den Toorn discovered "unequivocal" references to octatonic collections and subsets. More recently, Susannah Tucker studied Stravinsky's sketches for the movement. In this presentation, I challenge Tucker's readings of selected sketches, based upon my own study of the documents. I offer an alternative account of Stravinsky's creation of the row upon which "Surge, aquilo" is based, and speculate about his selection of particular row forms (complete and incomplete). The sketches provoke an inquiry which addresses both pitch and pitch class organization, and takes into account contour, rhythm, text setting, and overall formal layout. A more comprehensive reading thus emerges. This page maintained by Michael Toler - last updated July 30, 2003 . |
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