Buhler, James. "Informal Music Analysis: A Critique of Formalism, Semiology, and Narratology As Discourses on Music"
AUTHOR: Buhler, James
TITLE: Informal Music Analysis: A Critique of Formalism, Semiology, and
Narratology As Discourses on Music
INSTITUTION: University of Pennsylvania
COMPLETION: May 1996
ABSTRACT:
This dissertation investigates the relation of language to music. In
particular, it probes the manner in which discursive claims on music are
adjudicated: How do we apply critical and analytical language to musical
works and what limits do we encounter simply because this language cannot
be the work itself?
Chapter 1 defines the basic problem field that any representation of
music must traverse and looks especially at the difficulties of
translating music adequately into language. Chapters 2 through 4 offer
critical close readings of Hanslick's formalism, the musical narratology
of Kramer and Newcomb, and the semiology of Nattiez. Each of these
chapters shows how a basic conceptual confusion leads to a loss of
potential insights into the problems of constructing an adequate
discourse on music. These close readings culminate in chapter 5, which
draws on the work of Abbate and Adorno to argue for an "informal" mode of
analysis. Informal analysis is an ad-hoc but still rigorously theorized
analytical eclecticism that is able to appropriate the central insights
of traditional analytical methods while redeploying them so as to
increase critical depth.
Chapters 6 and 7 present "informal" analyses of works by Mahler and
Tchaikovsky. Chapter 6 offers an extensive discussion of the key
ideological presumptions grounding the metaphysics of sonata form. The
informal analysis of chapter 7 serves a dual function. First, it is a
critique of Langer's notion of absolute music, which shows that Langer
must in fact presuppose the priority of program music despite her
explicit intentions. Second, the analysis in this chapter develops a
nuanced theory of musical bombast, where bombast is understood as
something other than a simple sign of artistic failure.
KEYWORDS: Analysis, Semiology, Semiotics, Formalism, Narratology, Critical
Theory, Absolute Music, Program Music, Sonata Form
CONTACT: 511 W. Allen St.
Bloomington, IN 47403
(812) 331-1082
jwbuhler@indiana.edu
AUTHOR: Collaros, Pandel, L.
TITLE: "Quanti-MAS: A Quantitative System of Melodic Analysis"
INSTITUTION: The Ohio State University
School of Music
110 Weigel Hall
1866 College Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1170
BEGUN: June, 1994
COMPLETION: December, 1996
ABSTRACT: The quantitative melodic analysis system, or Quanti-MAS,
facilitates the explication of pitch-class strings in ways which clarify
referential, hierarchical, and serial structures. Not merely a tabulation
of two-note transition frequencies, Quanti-MAS produces graphic analyses
and numerical measurements of voice leading characteristics. The
dissertation begins with an overview of existing analytical techniques, and
continues with a discussion of the "assumption of linear resolution
expectations." The assumption of linear resolution expectations provides
the foundation for Quanti-MAS. A step-by-step explanation of the
analytical technique is provided which uses real musical examples. An
in-depth discussion of Quanti-MAS results correlates data with various
melodic types. A chapter of analyses examines melodic materials from
Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Hindemith, and Collaros. Future
ramifications of Quanti-MAS are explored which include compositional
procedures and extensions to musical parameters beyond melody.
KEYWORDS: music, theory, melodic, analysis, quantitative, Quanti-MAS
TOC: Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: The Assumption of Linear Resolution Expecations and
Quanti-MAS (Quantitative Melodic Analysis System)
Chapter 4: The Standard LRE (Linear Resolution Expectations) Ratio
Chapter 5: Analyses
Chapter 6: Commentary
Chapter 7: Conclusion
CONTACT: 1109 George Court, Apartment 3
Lawrence, KS 66044
e-mail: pcollaro@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
[EDITORIAL NOTE: This dissertation will not be followed through to
completion. The listing will be superseded by another, different
one in a future issue of MTO. Lee A. Rothfarb, General Editor, MTO]
AUTHOR: Mak, Su Yin
TITLE: Structure, Design, and Rhetoric: Variation Procedures in
Selected Instrumental and Vocal Works by Franz Schubert
INSTITUTION: Departments of Musicology and Music Theory
Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
26 Gibbs Street
Rochester, NY 14607
USA
BEGUN: July, 1996
COMPLETION: December, 1997
ABSTRACT: Schubert's compositions often contain formal and
harmonic anomalies that, by virtue of their salience, draw
attention to their expressive character; they thus demand
interpretation on both technical and rhetorical levels. My
dissertation will explore some of Schubert's expressive strategies
by focusing on the functions of variation procedures in his music.
In the analytical portions of the dissertation, I adopt a modified
Schenkerian approach to illustrate Schubert's uses of repetition
and elaboration, rhetorical strategies typically associated with
variation, at different structural levels. At the same time, I
offer interpretations of their expressive potential by considering
the various types of repeated elements as rhetorical topics. I
suggest, further, that the rhetorical significance of repetition
and variation in a number of Schubert's instrumental movements can
be fruitfully examined through comparison with songs that use
similar techniques.
KEYWORDS: Schubert, variation, structure and design, Schenkerian
analysis, motivic analysis, rhetoric
TOC:
1. Introduction and Survey of Analytical Literature on Schubert's
Instrumental Music
2. Models of Variation Procedures
a. Survey of existing scholarship on repetition and variation
b. Types of repetition
c. Identity and difference: variation as altered repetition
d. Strophic variation: repetition as formal determinant
e. Continuous variation: repetition as structural
determinant
f. Motivic parallelism as variation : the influence of design
on structure
3. A Rhetorical Approach to Schubert's Variation Procedures
a: Repetition as rhetorical strategy
b: Style topics: Schubert's ties to the Classical tradition
c: Harmonic and motivic topics: Schubert's innovations
d. Schubert the reader: Vocal models for Schubert's
variation rhetoric
4. Strophic Variation
"Die Forelle", D.550 (Schubart)
String Quintet in A Major, D. 667, IV
"Der Tod und das Mdchen", D. 531 (Claudius)
String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810, II
5. Continuous Variation: The Lament Bass topic
"Die Liebe hat gelogen", D. 751 (von Platen)
String Quartet in G major, D.887
Quartettsatz in C minor, D. 703
6. Motivic Parellelism
"Der Wanderer", D.489 (Schmidt)
Fantasy in C major, "Wandererfantasie", D.760
7. Conclusion: Schubert as Orator
CONTACT: 40 South Goodman Street, #6
Rochester, NY 14607
USA
Tel: (716) 244-3987; Fax: (716) 244-3987
AUTHOR: Mengozzi, Stefano
TITLE: Between Humanistic Ideals and Scientific Thought
in Glareanus's Dodecachordon
INSTITUTION: University of Chicago
BEGUN: September, 1994
COMPLETED: March 1997
ABSTRACT:
In this study, I identify two main components of Glareanus's
thought. The first one is his concern that modal theory be
coherent and exhaustive. Using arguments of a rational-deductive
kind, Glareanus presents his theory as an organic system, in
which modes occupy a specific position within the whole, and
can be compared to each other. The second component of Glareanus's
theory is a marked empirical attitude: in careful testing his new
theory against present and past musical repertories, he examines in
detail a large number of compositions, thus illustrating both
the strength of his system, and the aesthetic value of the musical
work. I argue that Glareanus's critique of his present time and of
the immediate past, his calculated use of rhetorical means of
persuasion, and his philological and interpretive approach to
musical texts bespeak the humanistic orientations of this author;
on the other hand, I suggest that Glareanus's combination of
deductive reasoning with inductive verification, as well as his
search for a systematic and organic theory, recall contemporary
developments in the sciences (Copernicus). The dissertation
also explores the ways in which the problem of mode, and Glareanus's
system in particular, has been discussed in the scholarly literature
of recent years.
KEYWORDS:
Glareanus, modes and keys, humanism and music, music criticism,
ekphrasis.
TOC:
I. Introduction. Glareanus as a Humanist
II. Glareanus and the Modal Tradition
III. The Practice of the Modes in the Renaissance
IV. Glareanus's Path to Music Criticism
V. Between Modes and Keys: a Big Wall or a Thin Line?
VI. The Reception of Glareanus in Italy, between Zarlino and Zacconi.
CONTACT:
Stefano Mengozzi
1358 E. Madison Park Ave., #3B
Chicago, IL 60615-2917 U.S.A.
tel: (773) 548-6385
fax: (773) 753-0558, c/o UC Music Dept.
e-mail: men8@midway.uchicago.edu
AUTHOR: Morse, Michael William
TITLE: "The Tune in Jazz as a Social Process --Prolegomena to a Sociology of Music"
INSTITUTION: York University, 4700 Keele St., North York, Ontario, Canada
BEGUN: IV/91
COMPLETION: IV/96
ABSTRACT:
If a there is a distinctive discipline of the sociology of
music, then its focus and work proceed from conceptions of the
relation between music and society. Existing approaches to this
problem, however heterogeneous, have contended with the
presupposition that music and society are distinct objects and
opposed concepts--an assumption that makes the issues permanently
incoherent. To see music and society in a truly conjunct light is
to see the temporal procedures of music as particular instances
of broader social process.
Historically, sociology has struggled with the relevance of
its broad categorical abstractions to the details of experience.
Thus the problem of the work is the Kantian question "How is
consistent musical particularity possible?" Concrete musical
experience cannot consist solely or primarily in isolated objects
(called "compositions") and performances, but in semantic forms
of life called musicalities. Musicalities represent socially
specific developments of the universal fact of rhythm. Through
detailed discussion of certain key ideas of Max Weber, Wilhelm
Furtw=84ngler, Ferdinand de Saussure, Immanuel Kant, and Talcott
Parsons, the social commonality of rhythm is manifest. Attention
to the history of this concept, together with the exemplary case
of the musicality called improvised jazz, shows the integrality
of music with social life altogether.
KEYWORDS: social theory, jazz studies, rhythm, time, meaning, logic
TOC:
Part One: On the Relations of Music and Society
Chapter One: Conceptions
A. The Problem
B. Conversations
C. Cultural Difference and Rhythmic Space
Part Two: Rhythm as a Basis of Social Action
Chapter Two: Experience and Meaning
A. Saussure's Conception of History
B. Kant's Conception of Form and Possibility
Chapter Three: Social Theory
Chapter Four: The Nature of Rhythm
A. Pulse, Beat, Meter
B. Rhythm as the Shape of Experience
Part Three: The Tune in Jazz as a Social Process
Chapter Five: SONG, the Organization of Musical Experience
CONTACT: Dr. Michael Morse, 76 Ellerbeck Street, Toronto,
Ontario, M4K 2V1
telephone: 416-465-2197 e-mail: MMORSE@YorkU.CA
AUTHOR: Wilkinson, Carlton J.
TITLE: "Symphony in Five Movements: A Presentation and Analytical
Discussion of a New Work in a Symphonic Form"
INSTITUTION: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Graduate Music,
Chapel Drive, Douglass Campus, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903
BEGUN: December 1993
COMPLETION: January 1995
ABSTRACT: By way of the presentation of a new musical score titled
Symphony in Five Movements, problems related to the transference of
traditional forms into a modern-day idiom are analyzed. The use of such
forms by living composers is argued to be anachronistic in the face of
fundamental changes which have occurred in music over the last century.
Some alternative approaches to large-scale form, drawn directly from
works of twentieth century masters, are presented. An overview of the
Symphony in Five Movements is presented and aspects of its particular
forms are discussed. The movements follow both ancient and contemporary
models, including forms generated from a Cantor set as described by
Benoit B. Mandlebrot. The score consists of an introductory Adagio
movement, an Allegro whose form is derived from a historical model; two
movements loosely based on the minuet and scherzo; and a Presto in a
quasi-rondo form. The musical style is influenced in part by the works
of Wuorinen, Moevs, Carter and Boulez. The essay describes: (in Chapter
I) applying traditional forms to modern-day idioms; (II) the overall
form of the Symphony in Five Movements; (III) the special problems
encountered in the use of the Cantor set in movements I and V; and (IV),
some thoughts on the future of the symphony as an art form.
KEYWORDS: Symphony, Form, Fractals, Cantor set, Mandlebrot, Wuorinen,
Moevs, Sonata
TOC:
Volume I:
Abstract ii
Acknowledgments iv
Table of Contents v
Incipit vi
I. The Difficult Issue of the Symphony as a Dead Form 1
II. The Overall Plan of the Symphony if Five Movements 32
III. The Special Problem of the Cantor Set 48
IV. Concluding Remarks 64
Appendices 68
End Notes 73
Bibliography 77
Vita 80
VOLUME II:
Preface to the score ii
Orchestration iii
Adagio 1
Allegro 13
Adagio 37
Calm, still/Animato 57
Presto 75
CONTACT: 20 Roebling Avenue, Trenton, N.J. 08611
Voice: (609) 989-1232
DQCW01A@prodigy.com
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