Title: Analyses of Schubert Waltz in A Major, D 779n13
Link: Analyses of Waltz in A Major
Abstract: This article gathers a large number of analyses of a single waltz by Franz Schubert: the anomalous A-major waltz, no. 13 in the Valses sentimentales, D 779. The goal is to make more vivid through examples a critical position that came to the fore in music theory during the course of the 1980s: a contrast between a widely accepted “diversity” standard and the closed, ideologically bound habits of descriptive and interpretative practice associated with classical pc-set analysis and Schenkerian analysis.
Keywords: Lerdahl, Caplin, Hook, Guck, Kielian-Gilbert, Schachter, Justin London, Hasty, Richard Cohn, Meyer, Wallace Berry, Fink, Lochead, Schumann, Ravel, Liszt, proto-background, Edward T. Cone
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Friday, January 15, 2016
Buelow contradances, rising lines: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Buelow contradances, rising lines
Link: contradances
Abstract: Pieces with rising cadence gestures in the contradance collections associated with Johan Bülow, court musician in Copenhagen in the late 18th century. This file surveys all seven collections (more than the article “Rising Lines in Tonal Frameworks of Traditional Tonal Music”).
Link: contradances
Abstract: Pieces with rising cadence gestures in the contradance collections associated with Johan Bülow, court musician in Copenhagen in the late 18th century. This file surveys all seven collections (more than the article “Rising Lines in Tonal Frameworks of Traditional Tonal Music”).
Thursday, January 14, 2016
John Playford, Dancing Master: rising lines: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: John Playford, Dancing Master: rising lines
Link: Dancing Master
Abstract: Musical examples with rising cadence gestures from John Playford’s Dancing Master (1651). This set was extracted from the article “Rising Lines in Tonal Frameworks of Traditional Tonal Music.”
Link: Dancing Master
Abstract: Musical examples with rising cadence gestures from John Playford’s Dancing Master (1651). This set was extracted from the article “Rising Lines in Tonal Frameworks of Traditional Tonal Music.”
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
On Edward Macdowell's "To a Wild Rose": PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: On Edward Macdowell's "To a Wild Rose"
Link: "To a Wild Rose"
Abstract: Historical and biographical background and analysis of MacDowell's "To a Wild Rose." Critique of Schenkerian analysis.
Link: "To a Wild Rose"
Abstract: Historical and biographical background and analysis of MacDowell's "To a Wild Rose." Critique of Schenkerian analysis.
Cotillon after Schubert, with audio: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Cotillon after Schubert, with audio
Link: Cotillon
Abstract: An episode from a cotillon as Franz Schubert might have played it in the 1820s. UT-Austin doctoral student Josh Straub is the pianist in the audio file.
Link: Cotillon
Abstract: An episode from a cotillon as Franz Schubert might have played it in the 1820s. UT-Austin doctoral student Josh Straub is the pianist in the audio file.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Table of compositions with rising lines: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Table of compositions with rising lines
Link: Table of compositions
Abstract: A table that gathers more than 900 examples of musical compositions with cadences that use ascending melodic gestures.
Keywords: Adolphe Adam, Beethoven, Johann Strauss, Schubert, opera, Johan Bülow, Johan Buelow, Donizetti, Fauré, Victor Herbert, Charles Lecocq, Offenbach, John Playford, Richard Rodgers, Rossini, Schmelzer
Link: Table of compositions
Abstract: A table that gathers more than 900 examples of musical compositions with cadences that use ascending melodic gestures.
Keywords: Adolphe Adam, Beethoven, Johann Strauss, Schubert, opera, Johan Bülow, Johan Buelow, Donizetti, Fauré, Victor Herbert, Charles Lecocq, Offenbach, John Playford, Richard Rodgers, Rossini, Schmelzer
Rising lines in the tonal frameworks of traditional tonal compositions: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Rising lines in the tonal frameworks of traditional tonal compositions
Link: Rising lines
Abstract: This article supplements, and provides a large amount of additional data for, an article I publisher nearly thirty years ago: "The Ascending Urlinie," Journal of Music Theory 31/2 (1987): 275-303. By Schenker's assertion, an abstract, top-level melody always descends by step to ^1. I demonstrated that at least one rising figure, ^5-^6-^7-^8, was not only possible but could be readily found in the repertory of traditional European tonal music.
Keywords: Heinrich Schenker, William Rothstein, imaginary continuo, Johan Bülow, Johan Buelow, Schubert, Grieg, Beethoven, Franz Boehme, John Playford, waltz, polka, Josef Lanner
Link: Rising lines
Abstract: This article supplements, and provides a large amount of additional data for, an article I publisher nearly thirty years ago: "The Ascending Urlinie," Journal of Music Theory 31/2 (1987): 275-303. By Schenker's assertion, an abstract, top-level melody always descends by step to ^1. I demonstrated that at least one rising figure, ^5-^6-^7-^8, was not only possible but could be readily found in the repertory of traditional European tonal music.
Keywords: Heinrich Schenker, William Rothstein, imaginary continuo, Johan Bülow, Johan Buelow, Schubert, Grieg, Beethoven, Franz Boehme, John Playford, waltz, polka, Josef Lanner
Monday, January 11, 2016
Kingsbury Hymns of Praise: rising lines: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Kingsbury Hymns of Praise: rising lines
Link: Hymns of Praise
Abstract: Pieces with rising cadence gestures in Hymns of Praise: For the Church and Sunday School. Compiled by F. G. Kingsbury. Chicago: Hope Publishing Co., c1922. A hymn book from my father's collection. Because of their largely 19th c origins, it seemed reasonable to think that hymns in the evangelistic tradition would be more likely than older tunes to have rising cadence gestures.
Link: Hymns of Praise
Abstract: Pieces with rising cadence gestures in Hymns of Praise: For the Church and Sunday School. Compiled by F. G. Kingsbury. Chicago: Hope Publishing Co., c1922. A hymn book from my father's collection. Because of their largely 19th c origins, it seemed reasonable to think that hymns in the evangelistic tradition would be more likely than older tunes to have rising cadence gestures.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Tonal frames in eighteenth and nineteenth century music: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Tonal frames in eighteenth and nineteenth century music
Link: Tonal frames
Abstract: Tonal frames are understood here as schemata comprising the "a" level elements of a time-span or prolongation reduction in the system of Lerdahl and Jackendoff, Generalized Theory of Tonal Music (1983), as amended and extended by Lerdahl (Tonal Pitch Space (2001)). I use basic forms from these sources as a starting point but call them tonal frames in order to make a clear distinction, because I have a stricter view of the role of register.
Keywords: Schubert, Valses sentimentales, Deutscher, D366, Lerdahl
Link: Tonal frames
Abstract: Tonal frames are understood here as schemata comprising the "a" level elements of a time-span or prolongation reduction in the system of Lerdahl and Jackendoff, Generalized Theory of Tonal Music (1983), as amended and extended by Lerdahl (Tonal Pitch Space (2001)). I use basic forms from these sources as a starting point but call them tonal frames in order to make a clear distinction, because I have a stricter view of the role of register.
Keywords: Schubert, Valses sentimentales, Deutscher, D366, Lerdahl
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Complex upper-voice cadential figures in traditional tonal music: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Complex upper-voice cadential figures in traditional tonal music
Link: Complex upper voices
Abstract: Harmony and voice-leading are integrated in the hierarchical networks of Schenkerian analyses: the top (most abstract) level of the hierarchy is a fundamental structure that combines a single upper voice and a bass voice in counterpoint. A pattern that occurs with increasing frequency beginning in the later eighteenth century tends to confer equal status on two upper voices, one from ^5, the other from ^3. Analysis using such three-part voice leading in the background often provides richer, more complete, and more musically convincing analyses.
Keywords: Schubert, waltz, music theory, music analysis, Johann Strauss, polka, cover tone, three-part counterpoint, Home Sweet Home, Neils Gade, Strauss, Strauss family, galop, Johan Bülow, Johan Buelow
Link: Complex upper voices
Abstract: Harmony and voice-leading are integrated in the hierarchical networks of Schenkerian analyses: the top (most abstract) level of the hierarchy is a fundamental structure that combines a single upper voice and a bass voice in counterpoint. A pattern that occurs with increasing frequency beginning in the later eighteenth century tends to confer equal status on two upper voices, one from ^5, the other from ^3. Analysis using such three-part voice leading in the background often provides richer, more complete, and more musically convincing analyses.
Keywords: Schubert, waltz, music theory, music analysis, Johann Strauss, polka, cover tone, three-part counterpoint, Home Sweet Home, Neils Gade, Strauss, Strauss family, galop, Johan Bülow, Johan Buelow
Friday, January 8, 2016
Dance and Dancing in Schubert's Vienna: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Dance and Dancing in Schubert's Vienna
Link: Dance and Dancing
Abstract: This file has six parts: the first concerns dancing in Vienna and dance music genres during the brief period between the Congress of Vienna and the July Revolution in France (1815-1830). The second part brings the focus down more locally to the Schubert-Kreis and Schubert’s improvisation practice for dancing. Part 3 looks even more closely at some of the mechanics of that practice. Part 4 turns to the extant repertoire of Schubert’s dances. Part 5 explores Robert Schumann’s review of D365 and D783 and turns it back speculatively onto D779. Part 6 offers a short list of links relating to Schubert.
Keywords: Schubert, waltz, musical form, social dance, Vienna 1815-1830, improvisation, Litschauer, Wilmot, laendler, ländler, Schumann
Link: Dance and Dancing
Abstract: This file has six parts: the first concerns dancing in Vienna and dance music genres during the brief period between the Congress of Vienna and the July Revolution in France (1815-1830). The second part brings the focus down more locally to the Schubert-Kreis and Schubert’s improvisation practice for dancing. Part 3 looks even more closely at some of the mechanics of that practice. Part 4 turns to the extant repertoire of Schubert’s dances. Part 5 explores Robert Schumann’s review of D365 and D783 and turns it back speculatively onto D779. Part 6 offers a short list of links relating to Schubert.
Keywords: Schubert, waltz, musical form, social dance, Vienna 1815-1830, improvisation, Litschauer, Wilmot, laendler, ländler, Schumann
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Polkas with rising cadence gestures: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: Nineteenth-century polkas with rising melodic and cadence gestures
Link: polkas
Abstract: The polka became a popular social dance very quickly in the early 1840s. Its music was the first to introduce rising melodic frames and cadence gestures as common features. This essay provides a series of examples with commentary. Most pieces come from the 1840s and early 1850s. Variants of the polka—polka-mazurka, polka française, and polka schnell—are also discussed and illustrated.
Keywords: Dodworth, Eduard Strauss, Carl Michael Ziehrer, polka, social dance, Delia Ward, Franz Boehme, Johann Strauss, Stephen Foster
Link: polkas
Abstract: The polka became a popular social dance very quickly in the early 1840s. Its music was the first to introduce rising melodic frames and cadence gestures as common features. This essay provides a series of examples with commentary. Most pieces come from the 1840s and early 1850s. Variants of the polka—polka-mazurka, polka française, and polka schnell—are also discussed and illustrated.
Keywords: Dodworth, Eduard Strauss, Carl Michael Ziehrer, polka, social dance, Delia Ward, Franz Boehme, Johann Strauss, Stephen Foster
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Nineteenth-century polkas with rising melodic and cadence gestures: a new PDF essay
Title: Nineteenth-century polkas with rising melodic and cadence gestures
Link: Polkas
Abstract: This essay provides background on dance in the nineteenth century and then focuses on characteristic figures in the polka, especially those linked to rising cadence gestures. The polka became a popular social dance very quickly in the early 1840s. Its music was the first to introduce rising melodic frames and cadence gestures as common features. This essay provides a series of examples with commentary. Most pieces come from the 1840s and early 1850s. Variants of the polka—polka-mazurka, polka française, and polka schnell—are also discussed and illustrated.
Link: Polkas
Abstract: This essay provides background on dance in the nineteenth century and then focuses on characteristic figures in the polka, especially those linked to rising cadence gestures. The polka became a popular social dance very quickly in the early 1840s. Its music was the first to introduce rising melodic frames and cadence gestures as common features. This essay provides a series of examples with commentary. Most pieces come from the 1840s and early 1850s. Variants of the polka—polka-mazurka, polka française, and polka schnell—are also discussed and illustrated.
Dance Designs in 18th and early 19th century music: PDF essay link, abstract, keywords
Title: History and Theory of Traditional European Tonal Music: Formal functions for phrase, theme, and small forms, following William E. Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford University Press, 1998), summary and examples with related information and data on dance musics and their performance in the same period.
Link: Dance Designs.
Abstract: A study of harmony and formal functions in dance music of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The data and analyses are also intended to supplement the form theory presented in William E. Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Classical Form discusses the different movement types one encounters in the Classical sonata, quartet, and symphony, but because of the meticulous attention given to small-scale, theme units, the theory is also very well-suited to style studies of dance musics.
Keywords: William Caplin, Formenlehre, musical form, social dance, contradance, contredanse, Laendler, Ländler, Mozart, Hummel, Beethoven
Link: Dance Designs.
Abstract: A study of harmony and formal functions in dance music of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The data and analyses are also intended to supplement the form theory presented in William E. Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Classical Form discusses the different movement types one encounters in the Classical sonata, quartet, and symphony, but because of the meticulous attention given to small-scale, theme units, the theory is also very well-suited to style studies of dance musics.
Keywords: William Caplin, Formenlehre, musical form, social dance, contradance, contredanse, Laendler, Ländler, Mozart, Hummel, Beethoven
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