Schenker's "Motivic Parallelisms"

Burkhart, Charles; Schenker, Heinrich

doi:10.2307/843395

Cited by 36 publications

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“…However, these widely shared organicist tenets have themselves yielded, in the last century, a wealth of contrasting views as to the actual musical structures and processes that generate organic unity. Music theorists relate unity, for instance, to a strict harmonic and voice-leading hierarchy stemming from a single high-level structure (Schenker, 1935/79), to the hidden repetition of a few voice-leading or pitch configurations at different structural levels (Schenkerian analysis, e.g., Burkhart, 1978; see also Schenker, 1935Schenker, /1979, to a small number of initial motivic cells, generating an entire musical work through transformational procedures (Réti, 1951), or to the production (at the work's outset) and resolution of a generative imbalance or unrest, represented by the piece's Grundgestalt (Carpenter, 1983;Schoenberg, 1995). 2 In recent decades, the validity of the notion of organic, inner unity for music analysis has come under attack, as proponents of the so-called "new musicology" have revealed its ideological underpinning and called for alternative models for music criticism (e.g., Kerman, 1980;Maus, 1999;Solie, 1980;Street, 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

Growing Oranges on Mozart's Apple Tree: "Inner Form" and Aesthetic Judgment

Eitan

Granot

2008

Music Perception

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MUSIC THEORISTS OFTEN PRESUME that the sections of a musical masterwork match organically, enhancing unity and value. This "inner form" should be distinguished from coherence associated with inter-opus constraints, such as conventional forms. Studies indicate that violating inter-opus constraints hardly affects listeners' aesthetic judgments. Here we examine how violating inner form affects such judgments. Musically trained and untrained listeners heard the intact opening movements of Mozart's piano sonatas, K. 280 and 332, as well as hybrids mixing sections from these two movements while maintaining overall form and tonal structure. Participants rated originals and hybrids on aesthetically relevant scales (e.g., liking, coherence, interest), after a single hearing and following extended exposure. Results show no significant preference for originals, even after repeated hearings. Music training tended to enhance preference for hybrid over original. Thus, inner form and its supposed organic unity, presumed tenets of musical genius, may not affect listeners' evaluation.

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confidence: 99%

Growing Oranges on Mozart's Apple Tree: "Inner Form" and Aesthetic Judgment

Eitan

Granot

2008

Music Perception

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“…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. Part two discusses more complicated analytic situations, and shows the breadth and limits of the analytic approach.…”

Section: Pianomentioning

confidence: 98%

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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“…even though the growth is not entirely consistent-for example, vols. 39-43 (1995-99) were 15 For information and evaluation concerning the foundation of JMT, see the editorial introduction to the first issue (Krahenbuehl 1957), quoted and discussed in his obituary (Burkhart 1997) and reproduced in this issue. See also Forte 1998, 11. 16 The numbering I calculate here is derived from the table of contents: the page number of the last item (usually the index or contributors list, which occupies a single page) minus the number of the first page in the issue.…”

Section: Journal Of Music Theory and Journals Of Music Theorymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Since Schenker's theory became so paradigmatic for the analysis of tonal music, I preferred to identify "Schenker" as a discussed theorist only for articles devoted specifically to Schenker's theory or writings. However, the borders between theoretical discussion and analytical application of Schenkerian theory are ambiguous (e.g., Burkhart 1978).…”

Section: Classification Of Articlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This obituary was a series of no fewer than ten contributions, most of which had a personal flavor (Schachter was the only contributor to include a truly analytical point in his contribution). The second obituary (Burkhart 1997) was dedicated to JMT's first editor, David Krahenbuehl, and was on the border between memories and historiography of the modern field. One might have expected additional obituaries, for example, on the occasion of Felix Salzer's death in 1986.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Journal of Music Theoryover the Years

Goldenberg¹

2006

Journal of Music Theory

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Bibliometric tools and especially content analysis of all 393 articles published in Journal of Music Theory (up to issue 48/1) help to investigate the development of the content of this journal. The articles were classified according to their type, the theoretical aspect, the period of repertoire discussed, and major composers or theorists they were devoted to. Among the major findings, one can trace in a precise manner the centripetal process toward focus on Schenkerian and set theories (and the more recent opposite process), the almost total separation of discussions of tonal and posttonal music, the more recent inclusion of neo-Riemannian theory, the para-academic nature of some earlier areas of interest, the correlation between an established method and the repertoire discussed, the general solid focus on hard-core theory with very few glimpses to interdisciplinary studies, and the slow and partial change that involves metatheoretical approaches. Other aspects include the growth of the journal, its importance, and its editors and contributors.

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Schenker's "Motivic Parallelisms"

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Growing Oranges on Mozart's Apple Tree: "Inner Form" and Aesthetic Judgment

Growing Oranges on Mozart's Apple Tree: "Inner Form" and Aesthetic Judgment

A Theory of Motives for Prokofiev's Music

Journal of Music Theoryover the Years

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