On Derivation: Syntax and Rhetoric

Abstract

All of us know what we mean, or think we know what we mean, when we say that one musical passage is derived from another; yet we may find it hard to come up with a precise definition that will fit all those cases that we consider examples of derivation, and only those cases. I have previously suggested the following formulation: y is derived from x (y<-x), or, to use the active voice, x generates y (x--y), if y resembles x and y follows x' either immediately, as in a consequent phrase, or remotely, as in a reprise. By 'resembles' I mean 'sounds like', with emphasis on 'sounds'; for in this context I have no interest in the type of derivation that can be demonstrated quasi-mathematically but is audible, if at all, only to computers. From the listener's point of view a restriction I shall observe for the present my formulation may seem a reasonable one, and I even rashly claimed that it often offers 'the only objective basis of the situation we interpret subjectively as derivation'.2 The truth of the matter, however, is that of the two stipulations only one the order of the events is really objective; but, as we shall see, it is not always reliable. The other stipulation that of resemblance may be more reliable, but it is anything but objective. No resemblance, except in the case of exact repetition, is precise; most derivation, therefore, is partial, retaining certain aspects of the original and rejecting others. One's acceptance of a given instance of derivation accordingly depends on one's view of the relative importance of those aspects. Not only is the assessment of resemblance subjective; but in addition, the decision as to what counts as sufficient in this regard is based on conscious or subconscious presuppositions. Compare the Minuetto of the 'Jupiter' Symphony with the corresponding Intermezzo of Brahms's Second Symphony. Normally we say that the trio of the Mozart movement is not derived from the initial song-form (although no doubt R6ti could have demonstrated the contrary), but that the first contrasting Presto of the Brahms movement is indeed derived from the Allegretto section. Yet does the Brahms Presto resemble its Allegretto more closely than the Mozart trio resembles its minuet? Or, if you prefer, is it more closely related to, or is it more organically connected