On the Nature of Enlargement

Alegant, Brian; McLean, D. M.

doi:10.2307/3090648

Cited by 9 publications

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References 2 publications

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“…See, Burkhart 1978,146-49. For another discussion of motivic enlargement see Alegant andMcLean 2001. 6 See Beach 1984;Beach 1988;Burkhart 1978;Cadwallader 1983 andCadwallader and Pastille 1992;Laitz 1996;and Schachter 1983. 9. essay illustrates each type of motive with an analytic example.…”

Section: Pianomentioning

confidence: 99%

A Theory of Motives for Prokofiev's Music

Rifkin¹

2004

Music Theory Spectrum

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This article develops a theory of motives that provides insight into Prokofiev's chromatic language. Although Schenkerian theory can account for the idiosyncratic chromatic slides in Prokofiev's music, it does not adequately explain why the chromaticism is there. The theory builds upon Schenkerian and Neo-Riemannian principles, and explores the theoretical and analytic implications of three different types of motives, called systemic, functional pitch-class, and non-functional pitch-class. B ECAUSE OF ITS ECLECTIC MIX of traditional and 20th-century sounds, Prokofiev's music has been interpreted from many different points of view, including both tonal and non-tonal analytic methodologies. Schenkerian approaches tend to emphasize the traditional aspects of Prokofiev's music, such as classic phrase structures and conventional cadential goals. 1 Non-tonal approaches, such as that of Neil Minturn, tend to focus on Prokofiev's idiosyncratic chromatic language.2 Minturn's analyses, for example, invoke set-theory to explain Prokofiev's chromatic slides and to associate unordered pitch-class collections. I also focus on Prokofiev's unusual chromatic moments, yet in contrast to Minturn's unordered set motives, I advance a theory of motives that considers pitches as ordered linear progressions -progressions that can have varying degrees of connection to tonal structure.Example 1, from the third movement of Prokofiev's Violin Sonata op. 94, demonstrates a typical chromatic I would like to thank Brian Alegant and Allen Cadwallader for their helpful comments and suggestions. Schenkerian interpretations of Prokofiev's music include shift within an otherwise predictable phrase structure. 3 The background structure, shown in Example 2(c), can be understood as an antecedent phrase in an interrupted structure; the opening tonic moves to a half cadence at m. 17. In measure 8, an Fit-minor harmony, shown with an asterisk, seems sudden and out of context in relation to the surrounding F-major tonic and dominants. Many scholars have called chromatic shifts such as this wrong notes. 4 It is an unfortunate term because there is, of course, nothing wrong about these particular notes. I believe the term has prevailed for more than fifty years because it captures an incongruous effect that many of Prokofiev's chromatic shifts create-as if they don't belong in their tonal contexts. In Example 2, the harmonic motion from F major to F# minor-as triadsseems to snub conventional tonal syntax. Although such chromatic excursions may be uncharacteristic of an eighteenthcentury tonal style, they can often be modeled by conventional Schenkerian methodology. The F# -minor harmony of This piece is also known as the Flute Sonata, op. 94. Prokofiev wrote versions of the work for both violin and flute. A chronological list of scholars who use the term wrong note includesPiano 266 MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 26 (2004) Violin ntp EXAMPLE I. Score of Prokofiev, Violin Sonata op. 94, third movement, mm. 1-17.m. 8 can be interpreted as a confluence of chromatic voi...

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confidence: 99%

A Theory of Motives for Prokofiev's Music

Rifkin¹

2004

Music Theory Spectrum

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“…(The dyads are the cycles of index number 11, or B.) 42 include Rothstein (1980); Mead (1989); Alegant and McLean (2001); and Alegant (2002-3). One harmonization combines the non-overlapping dyads of the rows into tetrachords, with the first one containing the elements at order positions 0 and 1, the second having the elements at order positions 2 and 3, and the remaining tetrachords combining the elements at order positions 4 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9, and A and B.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…41, also makes heavy use of octave doublings.13Rothstein (1980),Mead (1989), andAlegant and McLean (2001) discuss the relationship between the row's intervallic profile and the succession of regions in the first movement; Alegant and McLean discuss the enlargement schemes in the movement; Mead offers a close reading of the exposition and the nestings in the recapitulation.14 The String Trio is thought to have a program as well, one with references to Schoenberg's near-fatal heart attack.having the last word: schoenberg and the ultimate cadenza 41, also makes heavy use of octave doublings.13Rothstein (1980),Mead (1989), andAlegant and McLean (2001) discuss the relationship between the row's intervallic profile and the succession of regions in the first movement; Alegant and McLean discuss the enlargement schemes in the movement; Mead offers a close reading of the exposition and the nestings in the recapitulation.14 The String Trio is thought to have a program as well, one with references to Schoenberg's near-fatal heart attack.having the last word: schoenberg and the ultimate cadenza…”

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Having the Last Word: Schoenberg and the Ultimate Cadenza

Alegant¹,

Mead²

2012

Music Theory Spectrum

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Having the Last Word: Schoenberg and the Ultimate Cadenza brian alegant and andrew meadIn this essay we examine the ultimate cadenzas of Arnold Schoenberg's Violin Concerto, Op. 36, and Piano Concerto, Op. 42, and summarize the main partitioning strategies in these compositions, including two constructs we refer to as dyadic and trichordal complexes. The analysis details the structure and rhetoric of the cadenzas and concludes with a brief reconsideration of the universe of dyadic complexes.*

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“…SLIDE appears in customary fashion, as sideby-side chords and single five-note poly-chords, but its component pitch classes also structure melodies, two-voice counterpoint, and series of chordal roots . Third, the presence of SLIDE on multiple structural levels engages music-theoretic notions of the relationship between detail and larger-scale structure, such as transpositional combination (Cohn 1988), Boulezian pitch-class multiplication (Koblyakov 1990;Heinemann 1998;Losada 2014Losada , 2017Losada , 2019, motivic enlargement (Alegant and McLean 2001), and post-tonal composing-out (Straus 2004(Straus , 2016 . Further, while others have included SLIDE in various groups of chord progressions, I argue that SLIDE has one particularly close voice-leading relative, MAJ3RD (e .g ., Am-C#m), that interacts with SLIDE in significant ways in the piece .…”

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SLIDE in a Leading Role: Pitch Structure in Barrie Cabena’s Sonata Festiva

Sallmen

2023

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Barrie Cabena’s Sonata Festiva (1971) highlights SLIDE, a chord progression familiar from the neo-Riemannian and twentieth-century Russian music-theoretic literatures. Diverse expressions of SLIDE involve chord pairs, single chords, and melodic lines in textural, tonal, and formal contexts, leading to contemplative, energetic, comedic, and triumphant effects. Aspects of pitch-class set theory help to relate SLIDE to other harmonic phenomena in the work.

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On the Nature of Enlargement

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

A Theory of Motives for Prokofiev's Music

A Theory of Motives for Prokofiev's Music

Having the Last Word: Schoenberg and the Ultimate Cadenza

SLIDE in a Leading Role: Pitch Structure in Barrie Cabena’s Sonata Festiva

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