Review of William Caplin,Analyzing Classical Form: An Approach for the Classroom(Oxford University Press, 2013)

Abstract

[1] William Caplin's textbook, Analyzing Classical Form: An Approach for the Classroom, provides a new forum for his theory of formal organization in Classical compositions-one that is accessible to both undergraduate and graduate classrooms alike. Building on the foundations of Caplin's Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, this much anticipated volume, like its predecessor, explicitly focuses on the style established by the composers of the high Classical period (1998, 3); 2013, xv). Prior to these volumes, the ideas of Schoenberg (1967 and Ratz (1973)-Caplin's primary inspirations for his theory of formal functions-had appeared primarily within harmony textbooks.(1) This extraordinary new volume provides advanced undergraduates and graduates an opportunity to be exposed to his theories; it simultaneously taps into the intuitions of music theory students and provides a new vocabulary through which to communicate concepts of form and function.[2] The textbook is equipped with a masterfully designed companion website (found at http://www.music.mcgill.ca/acf) which organizes, by chapter, all of the musical and analytical examples (divided into two groups: examples for "study" and examples for "analysis," all of which omit the annotations provided in the main volume), supplementary work, and listening quizzes (accompanied by solutions). Each example corresponds with a singular audio file through which a user can conveniently find his/her place within the excerpt, on-demand. The compendium of musical examples is truly impressive, adequately representing the gamut of works in the high Classical period, ranging from Beethoven's Piano Sonata in BMajor, "Hammerklavier," op. 106 (341) to Mozart's Clarinet Trio in Emajor, K. 498 (501) and Haydn's "Razor" String Quartet op. 55, no. 2 (159).[3] The following review is divided into two parts. Section I provides a concise summary of the textbook's organization, goals, strengths, and weaknesses, along with a critical commentary on Chapters 1-6. The goals of Section II are two-fold: to draw comparisons to the 1998 volume and to comment upon the manner in which Caplin's ideas have been re-packaged for use in the classroom; additionally, due to the current volume's extensive exploration into sonata form, this section will provide a concise counterpoint to ideas enunciated in Hepokoski and Darcy's Elements of Sonata Theory (2006).I.[4] The book is divided into three primary sections. Following an introductory chapter, the first part, comprising seven chapters (2-8), includes the "principal theme types" in Classical form, building from sentences, periods, and hybrid structures to binary and ternary forms. The blockbuster Part II includes eight chapters (9-16, and 304 out of 698 pages of the main text), treating each of the main sections of the sonata: three sections within the exposition (main theme, transition, and subordinate theme), development, recapitulation, and coda. Finally, Part III (comprising chapters 17-20) considers other full-movement forms: "slow-movement," minuet-and-trio, rondo, and concerto, although this part is significantly shorter than the preceding two.[5] The top-down organization of each chapter is intuitive and pedagogically sound; each one initially provides the student with the distinguishing features of the new formal type,(2) after which the student then experiences the new topics with a short series of questions based on a motivating example (under the subheading of "Let's Practice"). Having laid the foundation, the remaining subsections of each chapter provide a more in-depth exploration ("More Details" and "Final Points") followed by a set of review questions and additional unannotated excerpts for further analysis. This progression of topics for each chapter is valuable, as it not only makes a clear distinction between the "norms" and "exceptions," but also allows a user to choose how far to explore a given chapter. …