The Contrast Principle, Typicality, and Cultural Longevity in 19th-Century Symphony Slow Movements: A Corpus Analysis

Abstract

The notion of contrast is integral to both aesthetic and psychological accounts of attention and interest. It therefore represents a useful heuristic for understanding contrasting slow movements in Western art music. Based on the observation from music theory that within-movement tonal contrast (mode and key) increased during the 19th century, we assumed that a corpus of symphonic slow movements ( n = 246) composed between 1800 and 1913 would exhibit increasing between-movement tonal contrast when compared to a sample of symphonies composed between 1757 and 1795 ( n = 141). Synchronic analysis confirmed that slow movements contrast with their key-defining first movements. Diachronic analysis confirmed that within-symphony tonal contrast increases after 1800. Each of five style parameters observed for era comparison (changes in use of mode, key, meter, form, and structure) conformed to musicologically distinct yet plausible historical boundaries. Cluster analysis of the post-1800 corpus generated three clusters, with mode (non-)match between slow movement and symphony, printed tempo marking, and key relationship (measured by tonal distance) as the three strongest predictors. Since discussions of style naturally raise questions of influence, we also examined the relationship between prototypicality and composer prominence. To that end, analysis of clusters suggests the possibility of multiple, distinct “Beethovenian prototypes.” Finally, we found that, with the exceptions of Beethoven and Brahms, the most statistically typical pieces lack enduring impact, from today's perspective. Conformity to general stylistic norms thus seems to predict against the cultural longevity of a 19th-century symphony.