Formal Functions in Perspective: Essays on Musical Form from Haydn to Adorno ed. by Steven Vande Moortele, Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, Nathan John Martin

Abstract

Formal Functions in Perspective: Essays on Musical Form from Haydn to Adorno. Edited by Steven Vande Moortele, Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, and Nathan John Martin. (Eastman Studies in Music, vol. 127.) Rochester, NY: Rochester University Press, 2015. [vi, 456 p. ISBN 9781580465182. $120.] Music examples, illustrations, index.Almost two decades have passed since publication of William E. Caplin's seminal treatise, Classical Form, in which he proposes a theory of formal functions. defines a formal function as the specific role played by a particular musical passage in formal organization of a work (Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven [New York: Oxford University Press, 1998], 254). However, as disclosed by Janet Schmalfeldt in special afterword of Formal Functions in Perspec - tive: Essays on Musical Form from Haydn to Adorno (hereafter, FFP), had been involved in spirited discussions about formal functions with Schmalfeldt, his colleague at McGill University, since late 1970s, when he translated a treatise on musical form by Arnold Schoenberg's student, Erwin Ratz (p. 435). positive impact of Caplin's subsequent work-including articles that led to publication of Classical Form, treatise itself, and its pedagogically-oriented update (Caplin, Analyzing Classical Form: An Approach for Classroom [New York: Oxford University Press, 2013])-persists in music theory classrooms and conferences across North America and Europe by his numerous students, colleagues, and peers, which gives great cause for Steven Vande Moortele, Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, and Nathan John Martin to edit a festschriftof thirteen essays in Caplin's honor.In their introduction to FFP, editors begin with a simple fact: Few writers have contributed as much to revival of Formenlehre in current English-language music theory as William E. Caplin (p. 1). Yet, they also recognize intentional constraints of Caplin's idiom-specific theory of formal functions (i.e., instrumental music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven ca. 1780-1810): The theory's very richness- its fine-grained delimitation of classical style-entails a corresponding loss of generality (p. 4). Consequently, scholars have started to examine works of other composers outside of late-eighteenthcentury Viennese masters and test theory's versatility. One goal of FFP is to offer essays that open up new analytical and theoretical vistas while continuing to engage with basic themes and commitments of Caplin's work (ibid.).Grouped into six parts (i.e., five groups of two and one group of three), thirteen essays in FFP do not follow each other in a tight chronology of works or theorists (as may be implied by subtitle, which captures subjects of first and final chapters, respectively). Instead, I find it equally useful to group these essays by their general analytical considerations and musical objects to comprehend potential of expanding Caplin's ideas into other repertoires. Seven essays analyze a set of works by one composer to discover something new about composer's style: four essays focus on instrumental music and three essays analyze opera and song forms. Two other essays stand out for their primary focus on shared genres between multiple composers (e.g., one considers a cornucopia of nineteenth-century piano concertos by Field, Dussek, Hummel, Moscheles, Chopin, Cramer, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Liszt). Three more essays relate via their intense analysis of only a single piece or movement. However, Vande Moortele's essay in chapter 13, The Philosopher as Theorist: Adorno's materiale Formenlehre, stands apart from other twelve as it transmits a history of Theodor Adorno's part/whole approach to analysis of musical form in Mahler, Schoenberg, and Beethoven and offers similarities between Adorno's theory and works of both and Schmalfeldt. …