Musical Analysis Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

La Barcarolle op. 60 de Chopin fait partie de la dernière période créatrice du compositeur, également appelée « dernier style ». Cette œuvre a suscité de très nombreuses interprétations dans la littérature musicologique, mais l’objet de... more

La Barcarolle op. 60 de Chopin fait partie de la dernière période créatrice du compositeur, également appelée « dernier style ». Cette œuvre a suscité de très nombreuses interprétations dans la littérature musicologique, mais l’objet de cette communication est de proposer notre propre analyse, à la fois formelle et narrative, qui permettra de mettre en lumière certaines nouveautés stylistiques caractéristiques de cette période et d’expliquer les déviances formelles apparentes. Ce double-niveau analytique souhaite en effet investir les aspects techniques du discours musical (forme, tonalités, sections, cadences, harmonies, etc.) mais également son niveau expressif, à travers l’utilisation des topiques musicaux. L’étude de la succession de ces unités expressives permettra notamment d’éclaircir et d’expliquer le parcours de l’œuvre, qui se détache de la forme ternaire si chère au compositeur, avec un retour varié des deux thèmes principaux dans un style héroïque au sein de la dernière section, amenant un sentiment apothéotique. Il s’agit donc d’une stratégie narrative construite selon une concaténation particulière des unités du discours musical, une disposition de type téléologique qui amènera à cette apothéose finale, également retrouvée dans d’autres œuvres du corpus de la dernière période.

The paper proposes a survey through the essential theoretical contribution of J.P. Rameau, beginning with the famous "Traité de l'Harmonie", and enlarged with several other books devoted to the harmonic theoretical thinking, in which he... more

The paper proposes a survey through the essential theoretical contribution of J.P. Rameau, beginning with the famous "Traité de l'Harmonie", and enlarged with several other books devoted to the harmonic theoretical thinking, in which he evolves according to the scientific discoveries of the century.

This paper is about a methodology which wants to represent in an innovative way the musical work’s narrativity and expression according to the moments of tension and detente created by the relations between the different topics. These... more

This paper is about a methodology which wants to represent in an innovative way the musical work’s narrativity and expression according to the moments of tension and detente created by the relations between the different topics. These unities are characteristic figures coming from the historical and social musical legacy and refer to genres and musical styles (march, dances, hymn, etc.). In line with the publications of Robert Hatten, Eero Tarasti, Márta Grabócz and many others, our narrative analyses try to understand the stylistic evolution and the different strategies of Chopin’s compositions. The evolution and concatenation of the topics reveal different identities and itineraries called “narrative structures”. Three models emerge from our analyses: the “complex” structure, the “simple” structure and the and “non-contrasted” structure which characterized all the 21 pieces of our corpus, composed after 1841 and linked to the last style.

Today I finished the Fantasy – and the sky is beautiful, there’s a sadness in my heart – but that’s alright. If it were otherwise, perhaps my existence would be worth nothing to anyone. (Letter to J. Fontana, 20th October 1841) Musical... more

This article surveys the reception of Arnold Schoenberg's theoretical ideas in English-language music theory, with a primary (though not exclusive) focus on their reception in the United States. William Rothstein has chronicled how... more

This article surveys the reception of Arnold Schoenberg's theoretical ideas in English-language music theory, with a primary (though not exclusive) focus on their reception in the United States. William Rothstein has chronicled how Heinrich Schenker's ideas were modified to conform to the American music-theoretical discourse ("Americanization"). The question then arises: Were Schoenberg's theoretical ideas also similarly modified? After a preliminary overview of the availability of Schoenberg's theoretical writing in English translation, four topics in Schoenberg's thought are traced, with a focus on the postwar era: 1) harmony; 2) form; 3) thematic and motivic transformation ; and 4) aesthetics. The American reception of Schoenberg's theoretical ideas has tended to focus on the music-technical dimension of his theoretical texts and has, to a significant extent, ignored the more philosophical and aesthetic aspects of his thought. It has tended to place emphasis on how music is structured and how that structure is unified; there has been less concern with why such unity is important in a broader sense. Dieser Aufsatz gibt einen Überblick über die Rezeption von Arnold Schönbergs theoretischem Denken in der englischsprachigen Musiktheorie, wobei der Fokus, wenn auch nicht ausschließ-lich, auf der Rezeption in den Vereinigten Staaten liegt. William Rothstein hat dargestellt wie Heinrich Schenkers Theorie im Zuge einer Anpassung an den amerikanischen musiktheoretischen Diskurs modifiziert wurde (»Americanization«). Dies legt die Frage nahe, ob auch Schönbergs theoretisches Denken in ähnlicher Weise modifiziert worden ist. Nach einer einführenden Über-sicht über die Verfügbarkeit von Schönbergs Schriften in englischen Übersetzungen werden vier Themenbereiche von Schönbergs Denken in der anglophonen Musiktheorie verfolgt, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf der Nachkriegszeit liegt: 1) Harmonik; 2) Form; 3) thematische und motivische Transformation; 4) Ästhetik. Die amerikanische Rezeption von Schönbergs Theorien tendierte dazu, die technischen Aspekte in seinen Schriften herauszuheben, und vernachlässigte dabei in einem signifikanten Ausmaß die stärker philosophischen und ästhetischen Aspekte seines Den-kens. Die Schönberg-Rezeption in den USA hat also ein starkes Gewicht auf Fragen musikalischer Struktur und struktureller Einheit gelegt; weniger wurde hingegen danach gefragt, warum eine solche Einheit in einem umfassenderen Sinn erstrebenswert ist. In his 1986 article entitled "The Americanization of Heinrich Schenker," William Roth-stein explores the development of Schenkerian theory and analysis in North America in the decades following the Second World War. Reflecting on how Schenker's ideas had been absorbed, disseminated, and, to a certain extent, adapted by the English-speaking academic community in the United States, Rothstein remarks: 1 I would like to thank Severine Neff and Jonathan Dunsby for reading an earlier version of this article and offering useful comments. I would also like to thank the editors of the journal and the anonymous readers for their valuable feedback and suggestions.

This article follows on the heels of one by Holly Watkins, who argues that music, “a subsystem of the social system of communication,” can evoke the organic (the bodily and the psychic) not by forming a self-contained unity of parts and... more

This article follows on the heels of one by Holly Watkins, who argues that music, “a subsystem of the social system of communication,” can evoke the organic (the bodily and the psychic) not by forming a self-contained unity of parts and whole but through the “internal recursiveness” of musical works, their external “recursiveness vis-à-vis other music,” and – crucially – “the knowingness that music displays toward its own operations.” I adopt the premise that music evokes the organic most vividly not through recursive processes in individual systems but through the as-if intentional integration of such processes in multiple systems, of which I concern myself particularly with the harmonic, contrapuntal, and formal domains (or, more precisely, the motivic). I offer correctives to the organicist theories of Arnold Schoenberg and Heinrich Schenker, which similarly concern these domains, and especially to their reception. And I explore this direction through an analysis of Bach’s Prelude No. 7 in E-flat major from book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 852, a singular piece that billows forth like an unfathomable blossom.

Cet article propose une étude approfondie de la Polonaise en la bémol majeur op. 53 de Chopin afin de mettre en avant des caractéristiques essentielles du dernier style de Chopin, qui s'exprime dans les années 1840, période difficile... more

Cet article propose une étude approfondie de la Polonaise en la bémol majeur op. 53 de Chopin afin de mettre en avant des caractéristiques essentielles du dernier style de Chopin, qui s'exprime dans les années 1840, période difficile avant son décès. La Polonaise "héroïque", investie de manière plus traditionnelle mais également par le biais d'une approche plus narrative met en avant une évolution de la forme tripartite, déjà amorcée dans la Polonaise op. 44 et qui aboutira également à la forme téléologique de la Polonaise Fantaisie op .61 qui clot ce répertoire. En effet, l'usage des topiques et de leur concaténation sont particulièrement intéréssants pour comprendre une part de l'évolution stylistique du compositeur dans les dernières années.

O presente ensaio propõe uma análise estética e formal da obra Opus 11/3 (1914) de Anton Webern (1883-1945) sob a ótica da Momentform encontrada em obras como Kontakte (1958-60) de Karlheinz Stockhausen – conceito e peça elaborados na... more

O presente ensaio propõe uma análise estética e formal da obra Opus 11/3 (1914) de Anton Webern (1883-1945) sob a ótica da Momentform encontrada em obras como Kontakte (1958-60) de Karlheinz Stockhausen – conceito e peça elaborados na década de 1950 pelo mesmo.

Con el presente trabajo se busca allanar la zanja que existe entre los abordajes tradicionales del discurso musical y los estudios de performance. Para la realización de investigaciones artísticas sobre performances musicales se debe... more

Con el presente trabajo se busca allanar la zanja que existe entre los abordajes tradicionales del discurso musical y los estudios de performance. Para la realización de investigaciones artísticas sobre performances musicales se debe tener en cuenta dicha expresión como subjetividad cambiante a lo largo de su devenir histórico, construido en las diversas “formas de hacer” que la da a conocer; y como objeto que perdura y es cognoscible a través de la escucha analítica de sus soportes de difusión. Entonces, para el abordaje crítico de los performances musicales resulta importante la triangulación de los resultados provenientes de diferentes estrategias analíticas, con los cuales se deconstruiría un todo único, divisible sólo a nivel epistemológico pero indivisible como forma particular de producción subjetiva. Esto redunda en las relaciones de condicionamiento mutuo existentes entre las expresiones artísticas y su marco generador, así como su uso en la conformación de un discurso performativo propio.

The poem by Victor Hugo "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne" has been, since its publication, a source of inspiration for composers. The two most famous works based in this work are the tone poems by C. Franck and F. Liszt, both composed in... more

The poem by Victor Hugo "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne" has been, since its publication, a source of inspiration for composers. The two most famous works based in this work are the tone poems by C. Franck and F. Liszt, both composed in the middle of 19th century with few years of difference. Its comparison will allow to deepen into the approach of each composer facing the symbolic and poetic aspects of the poem.

Resumo: Discussão sobre os conceitos de hibridismo, musicalidade, fricção e fusão de musicalidades e tópicas da musi-calidade brasileira. O objetivo é refletir sobre a questão da mudança e a transformação nos gêneros musicais, bem como a... more

Resumo: Discussão sobre os conceitos de hibridismo, musicalidade, fricção e fusão de musicalidades e tópicas da musi-calidade brasileira. O objetivo é refletir sobre a questão da mudança e a transformação nos gêneros musicais, bem como a da permanência de elementos e figurações musicais que, por sua vez, carregam consigo nexos sócio-culturais e históricos que, de alguma forma, são experimentados pelos músicos e audiências. Tendo como foco questões da música brasileira, este artigo apresenta a busca de tópicas musicais (" brejeiro " , " época-de-ouro " e " nordestina ") como uma ferramenta para enfrentar o problema das transformações no mundo da música. Palavras-chave: hibridismo; musicalidade; tópicas musicais; música brasileira. Abstract: Discussion about concepts such as hybridism, musicality, friction and fusion of musicalities, and the topics of the Brazilian musicality. It aims at reflecting on the question of the change and transformation in musical genres, as much as that of the permanence of musical elements and figurations that, in its turn, carry socio-cultural and historical connections that are somehow experienced by musicians and audiences. Focusing on questions of the Brazilian music, this article presents the search for musical traces called topics (" brejeiro " [maliciously smart ], " época-de-ouro " [good times], and " nor-destina " [northeasterly Brazilian]) as a tool to face the problem of the transformations in the world of music.

O presente trabalho tem por intenção fazer uma breve análise da Sonata para piano de Edvard Grieg, Op. 7, em mi menor, composta no ano de 1865 e revisada posteriormente em 1887. Tentar-se-á possibilitar comparações entre a estrutura da... more

O presente trabalho tem por intenção fazer uma breve análise da Sonata para piano de Edvard Grieg, Op. 7, em mi menor, composta no ano de 1865 e revisada posteriormente em 1887. Tentar-se-á possibilitar comparações entre a estrutura da sonata dita “clássica” e da presente sonata – uma vez que esta, ao mesmo tempo que possui elementos vários que a enquadram dentro de tal forma clássica, possui outros que desta a afastam. A análise será focada nos aspectos formais e motívicos de 3 dos 4 movimentos totais.

La pregunta por la naturaleza de la música en tanto objeto de conocimiento subyace en la formulación de los constructos que integran los enfoques analíticos e interpretativos de la literatura musical en la academia de occidente. Pero el... more

La pregunta por la naturaleza de la música en tanto objeto de conocimiento subyace en la formulación de los constructos que integran los enfoques analíticos e interpretativos de la literatura musical en la academia de occidente. Pero el interés ontológico no acaba allí. Un camino en paralelo recorrido en el campo de la psicología de la música ha indagado la dimensión experiencial de la música en tanto estímulo sonoro, junto a los mecanismos y procesos de percepción y acción que intervienen en la cognición de las obras musicales. Si bien queda fuera
de toda discusión que la materialidad del sonido percibido y producido define la cualidad musical, sin embargo, una ontología del conocimiento musical basada en la construcción de perceptos no alcanza a brindar una explicación acabada del estatus de realidad en la cognición musical. En este trabajo interrogamos el concepto de realidad cognitiva en la intersección entre los campos musicológico y psicológico, y proponemos una dimensión imaginativa, corporeizada y dinámica
de la cognición musical. Explicamos el modo en que los conceptos del análisis musical se vinculan positivamente con el uso de correspondencias entre diferentes dominios de la experiencia.

One of the most important elements of Anatolian music culture produced by people with their own style and presented to the Turkish music world is “uzunhava” or folk songs with no rhythm. This type classified as laments of the Anatolian... more

One of the most important elements of Anatolian music culture produced by people with their own style and presented to the Turkish music world is “uzunhava” or folk songs with no rhythm. This type classified as laments of the Anatolian people, is a kind of music expressing the experiences and cries of the people, and has no rhythm, a certain seyir and scale, accompanied and guided by folk instruments. One of the important types in this rich “uzunhava” culture in our country is the “Gurbet Havas” from the Teke region. In the literature study, there is not enough research related to Gurbet havas. Accordingly, the aim of the research is to perform computer-supported musical analysis of Gurbet havas. In line with these aims, firstly a literature search was performed in the study and 15 recordings of folk songs which were not distorted were selected from the TRT repertoire and individual archives. Of these selected Gurbet havas, seyir features, frequency of pitch usage, makam analysis and melody graphics created with various computer softwares were analyzed, and suggestions were made for future studies by interpreting the obtained findings.

O trabalho pretende, brevemente, discutir aspectos formais da obra de Rodolfo Caesar e Flo Menezes à luz da discussão sobre o problema da estruturação formal na gênese da música eletroacústica, ao lado do olhar dos próprios compositores... more

O trabalho pretende, brevemente, discutir aspectos formais da obra de Rodolfo Caesar e Flo Menezes à luz da discussão sobre o problema da estruturação formal na gênese da música eletroacústica, ao lado do olhar dos próprios compositores sobre como lidam com a questão da forma em suas poéticas composicionais.
Abstract: this article aims to discuss, briefly, formal aspects of some works by Rodolfo Caesar and Flo Menezes in the perspective of the debate about formal structure in the genesis of electroacoustic music as well as the composers’ view about the form in their own compositional processes

Tempo 216 (April 2001), 46-47

This article discusses the functions of continuous processes in contemporary electronic dance music (EDM), providing an analytical framework for discussing their structural and aesthetic roles in this repertoire. Continuous processes are... more

This article discusses the functions of continuous processes in contemporary electronic dance music (EDM), providing an analytical framework for discussing their structural and aesthetic roles in this repertoire. Continuous processes are musical gestures with continuous changes to musical parameters, rather than discrete, "step-by-step" ones. Examples include pitch slides (glissandos), crescendos, fade ins, accelerandos, and filter sweeps. Continuous processes in this repertoire are created with "continuous controllers" such as sliders and knobs, or are programmed into tracks with "automation curves." Functionally, continuous processes often provide sonic instructions for dancers. They can be used by creators at strategic times to provide ornamentation, orientation (often accompanied by intensification or de-intensification), or disorientation (usually in breakdown sections). This article adds to existing analytical scholarship by drawing a ention to the many roles of continuous processes in EDM, and showing how they contribute to the emotional waves experienced when listening to this music.

In both fields of his creative activity, music and architecture, Iannis Xenakis appears to have used sometimes identical concepts. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the way Xenakis elaborated links between both areas: is it a... more

In both fields of his creative activity, music and architecture, Iannis Xenakis appears to have used sometimes identical concepts. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the way Xenakis elaborated links between both areas: is it a pure ubiquity of the same poietical principle or rather a transfer of a genuine concept of a field to another where it is heterogeneous and totally new? Studying the connections of contemporary works as Metastasis and Couvent de la Tourette, two main principles appear as ubiquitous in both works: the use of permutations and the construction of a proportional system in spatial and temporal dimensions. On the other hand, Metastasis’ glissandi and the Philips Pavilion’s hyperbolic paraboloids, which show up Xenakis’ interest for continuous phenomena, are a matter of transfer and present noticeable perceptual differences from a field to another. Xenakis finally melted both spatial and temporal dimensions in the
« sound cinematic » he elaborated in either electroacoustical and instrumental music in the sixties and seventies. In Persephassa and Windungen, emblematic examples of this cinematic, sound speed in space appears as a new compositional parameter.

scan of opening pages and Introduction

Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss Contrary to popular readings of music history, this essay posits an affinity between Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss based on the kinship of their basic aesthetic stances across stylistic... more

Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss
Contrary to popular readings of music history, this essay posits an affinity between Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss based on the kinship of their basic aesthetic stances across stylistic boundaries. Using a comparative analysis of the opening scenes from the operas Elektra and Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, the author examines similarities of structural and sonic approach in the categories of syntax, ideal of transformative sound, virtuosity, compositional rigour, economy of means and form, arriving at the conclusion that while the richness and beauty of Strauss’s orchestral sound are transformed into a very different sonic world in Lachenmann, they lose none of their significance as ideals nonetheless.

This essay examines not only the transformative process from the literary source (Kabale und Liebe) to the operatic realization (Luisa Miller), but also the compositional and dramaturgical strategies that reveal a new aesthetic... more

This essay examines not only the transformative process from the literary source (Kabale und Liebe) to the operatic realization (Luisa Miller), but also the compositional and dramaturgical strategies that reveal a new aesthetic perspective in Verdi's opera. ln the first part, the role and function of 'offstage music' is analysed with particular attention to its ,spatial, implications. ln the second part, it is argued that Luisa's prayers in the most crucial moments of the opera as well as her gestural and mimetic reactions can be interpreted as a kind of inability or difficulty of verbal expression: this is a sign of the social stratification of the characters of the drama, but also reflects Luisa's attitude towards life and thus, in essence, the inevitability of the tragedy.
Finally, this essay aims to demonstrate that the musical and aesthetic solutions developed by Verdi and Cammarano were used to define an intense and claustrophobic dramaturgy that explores Luisa's psychology, blurring the boundaries between onstage, visual, verbal, and musical aspects.

Artigo sobre quadrados mágicos publicado na Revista Polifonia No 1 em 1997.

Artículo incluido en el libro "Interpretación pianística: Estudios para la formación integral del pianista" publicado por el Cuerpo Académico de Interpretación y Ciencias de la Música, Universidad de Guanajuato / Itaca, ISBN... more

Artículo incluido en el libro "Interpretación pianística: Estudios para la formación integral del pianista" publicado por el Cuerpo Académico de Interpretación y Ciencias de la Música, Universidad de Guanajuato / Itaca, ISBN 978-607-441-390-8