Dissertation Index



Author: Jones, Jr. Melvin E

Title: Key Classes and Textural Dissonance: An Instrument-Specific Study of the Idioms, Textures, and Structures of Selected Early Romantic Music for the Guitar (1799-1850)

Institution: Indiana University

Begun: March 2002

Completed: August 2004

Abstract:

This dissertation undertakes a variety of approaches, both traditional and new, to early Romantic music for the six-string guitar. Specifically, this dissertation explores the means by which the textural and registral limitations of the instrument itself result in a unique set of voice-leading and structural schemata, and how these schemata relate to the music for other instruments of the time. Of primary importance in this regard is the introduction of the key class, an original classification scheme introduced in Chapter IV, that studies modulation from an instrument-specific viewpoint. From the perspective of the key class, compositions can be understood in part through a narrative of textural dissonance and resolution, which often can amplify and elucidate the deeper tonal structural levels.

This focus of this dissertation is twofold: historical and analytical. Chapter II establishes the historical context for the instrument, its composers, and its music, paving the way for the analytical study that follows. Chapters III-VI comprise the analytical section, considering works for the guitar by composers such as Giuliani, Sor, and Legnani, both in solo and ensemble contexts. In many instances, isolated examples are taken, but several case studies, which view complete works, as representatives for the complete body of literature, are also undertaken.

Keywords: texture, register, timbre, sonority, key class, modulation, guitar, Legnani, Giuliani

TOC:

Chapter I Introduction
Chapter II The Instrument and Its Context
Chapter III Guitar Idioms: Register, Sonority, Texture, and Harmony
Chapter IV Modulation and Key Classes
Chapter V Instrument-Specific Analyses of Sonata Form: Issues with Key Class, Register, and Recapitulation
Chapter VI The Guitar in Ensemble Settings
Chapter VII Conclusion
Appendix:
Part One: Voice-Leading Analyses of Selected Works
Part Two: Complete Scores of Selected Works

Contact:

M. Rusty Jones
138 Fine Arts Building
School of Music
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia MO 65211
e-mail: jonesmel@missouri.edu
phone: 573..884.4683
fax: 573.884.7444


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