Schoenberg – Schenker – Bach. A Harmonic, Contrapuntal, Formal Braid

Abstract

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 the 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 J. S. 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. Dieser Artikel folgt einem Essay von Holly Watkins, in dem die Autorin argumentiert, dass Musik, »a subsystem of the social system of communication«, das Organische (das Körperliche und das Psychische) nicht durch die Bildung einer in sich geschlossenen Einheit von Teilen und Ganzem, sondern durch die »internal recursiveness« von Musikwerken, ihre äußere »recursiveness vis-à-vis other music« und-was entscheidend ist-durch »the knowingness the music displays toward its own operations« hervorrufen kann. Ich übernehme die Voraussetzung, dass Musik das Organische nicht durch rekursive Prozesse in einzelnen Systemen, sondern durch die quasi-intentionale Integration solcher Prozesse in mehreren Systemen am anschaulichsten hervorruft, von denen ich mich insbesondere mit dem harmonischen, kontrapunktischen und formalen Bereich (oder, genauer gesagt, dem motivischen) beschäftige. Ich biete Korrekturen zu den organizistischen Theorien von Arnold Schönberg und Heinrich Schenker an, die diese Bereiche ebenfalls betreffen, und insbesondere zu ihrer Rezeption. Darüber hinaus erforsche ich diese Richtung durch eine Analyse von J. S. Bachs Präludium Nr. 7 in Es-Dur aus Buch 1 des Wohltemperierten Klaviers, BWV 852, einem einzigartigen Stück, das sich wie eine unergründliche Blüte forttreibt.

Derivação nas variações I a III das Variações Goldberg de J. S. Bach

“…A nossa visão organicista das VG é mais uma camada de organização que garante unidade e conexão nessa obra, unindo tanto o tema com as variações quanto as variações entre si através de derivações de uma pequena célula. É uma abordagem que aumenta a importância do processo variativo e derivativo das vozes superiores 4 .…”

“…A começar pelo tema da chaconne, cujos primeiros oito compassos foram usados por compositores como Händel, Purcell e outros, em grounds, romanescas e outras formas que variam uma sequência no baixo 4. Na sua análise comparativa entre as VG e as Variações Diabelli de L. v. Beethoven, Alfred Kanwischer (2014) evidencia presença de recortes da voz superior da ária em muitas variações 5.…”