Beethoven's Piano Sonata Research Articles

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

[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. …

Jazzing the Classics: Race, Modernism, and the Career of Arranger Chappie Willet

AbstractThe American popular music tradition of “jazzing the classics” has long stood at the intersection of discourses on high and low culture, commercialism, and jazz authenticity. Dance band arrangers during the 1930s and 1940s frequently evoked, parodied, or straddled these cultural debates through their manipulations of European classical repertoire. This article examines Swing Era arranging strategies in the context of prevailing racial essentialisms, conceptions of modernism, and notions of technical virtuosity. The legacy of African American freelance arranger Chappie Willet, and his arrangement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, op. 13 (“Pathétique”) for the black dance band of Jimmie Lunceford, suggests that an account of the biography and artistic voice of the arranger is critical to understanding the motivations behind these hybrid musical works.

Tonality between Rule and Repertory; Or, Riemann's Functions—Beethoven's Function

Should tonality be located in a theoretical principle or in musical works? The quick answer, “Both,” often underestimates the difficulty of mediating between the two. In most reflections one side necessarily takes precedence over the other. Hugo Riemann, whose concept of harmonic function contributed significantly to the discourse of tonality in the nineteenth century, belongs to the tradition that regards tonality primarily as a theoretical principle. His analyses of Beethoven's piano sonatas (1918–19) have been regarded as “exemplary proof” of his theoretical principle. If that is the case, however, the “proof” can only count as partly successful: a number of Riemann's analytical observations required modifications of his theoretical principles to account for the musical processes. This article examines to what extent this analytical exercise in turn exerted an influence on Riemann's theoretical principles, and to what extent Riemann's theory of function changed after this encounter with Beethoven's sonatas. As it turns out, some of the modifications would have threatened the integrity of Riemann's musical system, especially concerning the status of third-relations. (Intriguingly, these aporetic modifications grapple with ideas that have gained currency more recently in Neo-Riemannian thinking.) More generally, complicating Riemann's theory of tonality in this way may help us negotiate the problem of mediation between theoretical principle and musical repertory and examine afresh the dynamic interrelationship between the diverse components that make up theories of tonality.

Late Beethoven and “The First Power of Inspiration” in Brahms's Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21, No. 1

Two critiques of Brahms's Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21, No. 1, written by Joseph Joachim in letters to the composer, show that the form of this work passed through at least three distinct versions. A hitherto overlooked remark by Clara Schumann suggests that the variations were essentially finished by the end of 1858. An examination of the music reveals the influence of Joachim's Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 10, and the variation movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 111, the latter serving as an antecedent especially for Brahms's eleventh variation and coda.

A Century of Memorization Pedagogy

In 1837, eighteen-year-old Clara Schumann performed Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, opus 57 from memory. (1) A century later, performing the piece from memory would have been commonplace, but early in the nineteenth century, performing without the score was viewed as arrogant and ostentatious. It focused attention on the performer and the performance and away from the composer and the music. In the 1840s, only a few years after Clara Schumann's feat, Franz Liszt performed more than half his recitals from memory. (2) Romantic virtuosity was sweeping through the world of music and performing from memory was the act that could inspire awe. People viewed performers playing memorized music as having almost super-human powers. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was common for instrumentalists to perform concerti by memory and for pianists to memorize solo recitals. A pianist performing with score became the notable exception. Commentators began discussing the merits of performing without a score almost at once. Chopin discouraged the practice (3) while Liszt actively encouraged his students to memorize. With conventions moving toward performing from memory, it was not long before the pedagogues, as well as the critics, took up the topic in the periodicals of the time. One of the earliest discussions, appearing in the 1872 volume of Dwight's Journal of Music, concerns whether or not music should be conducted by memory. The author, Ferdinand Hiller, provides both sides of what appears to have been an ongoing debate, and decides in the end that soloists may be excused the virtuosity of playing from memory, but not conductors who: ... have a higher object: that of presenting in the best light the musical picture confided to them. The more they disappear as individuals from before the audience, the better. Nothing is a greater mistake than for a conductor to assume the place of a virtuoso, and attempt to attract the attention of the public to himself personally ... divert[ing] their attention from what, in the eyes of a conductor, ought to be of more account than anything else [the music]. (4) By this point, probably influenced by the great performers of the Romantic era, the practice of performing from memory was being accepted as common. Pedagogical discussions shifted away from whether or not to memorize to the most effective way to memorize. At this point, writers either clearly advocated memorizing, at least in certain situations, or took it for granted. Recently, there has been renewed interest in the debate with a handful of articles written between 1990 and 2001 (n = 7) again questioning the convention of performing from memory. The purpose of this paper is to identify trends in pedagogical writing on committing music to memory to determine whether thinking and techniques have changed during the last 106 years. Articles written by musicians and music teachers and published in English language periodicals or as book chapters were subjected to a content analysis (N = 185). The articles chosen were specifically about memorization; not considered were articles on broader topics that included a passing mention of memorization. While an attempt was made to be exhaustive, it is likely that not all articles on the topic were included in the analysis. The earliest article was the aforementioned 1872 article by Hiller and the most recent was written in 2006 by Oshima-Ryan. (5) As can be seen in Figure 1, the number of articles published each decade varied, with a dramatic increase since 1980. More articles were published in the last twenty-six years (n = 109) than in the entire preceding century (n = 76). A number of journals demonstrated a repeated interest, publishing more than five articles on the topic, including The American Music Teacher (n =16), Classical Guitar (n = 7), Clavier (n = 16), The Etude (n = 17), Music Educators Journal (n = 7), Music (n = 8), and Musical Times (n = 8). …

Fresh perspectives on familiar Beethoven

The 20th century has witnessed a plethora of live and recorded performances of Beethoven's piano sonatas, by a diversity of artists. This reflects the centrally canonical place the sonatas have occupied since the mid-19th century, when figures like Liszt, Clara Schumann, Ignaz Moscheles and Anton Rubinstein began to include them in their public recitals. More recent players have introduced new perspectives on this repertory by performing it on restored or newly built fortepianos. This was pioneered by Melvyn Tan, who rose to prominence in the late 1980s when the historical performance movement began to encompass repertory from the Classical era. Like Tan, the Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam is proficient on both piano and fortepiano, but developed his interest in the fortepiano once he had already established his reputation using modern instruments. 2004 saw the beginning of Brautigam's release of a 17-CD Beethoven cycle whose first five discs, Beethoven, Piano Sonatas, vols.1–5 (BIS CD-1362, 1363, 1472, 1473, 1573, rec 2003–5, 70′, 81′, 82′, 74′, 68′) are the subject of the present review. They include Beethoven's earlier sonatas, from op.2 to op.31, a total of 18 works composed from 1793 to 1802 when Beethoven was between 23 and 32 years old. The sonatas assisted Beethoven's establishment of a reputation as a pianist-composer in Vienna, until his hearing began to deteriorate in about 1798.

Performance, Grouping andSchenkerianAlternativeReadings inSomePassages fromBeethoven’s‘Lebewohl’ Sonata

ABSTRACTIt is proposed that one musically interesting way to characterise and compare different performances or recordings of the same piece is by correlating them with different Schenkerian interpretations through the medium of grouping. This approach is demonstrated through an examination of four ‘either/or’ passages from the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in EMajor, Op. 81a, passages in which at least two Schenkerian interpretations are possible. Schenker's own published and unpublished sketches, among others, are considered alongside recordings by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emil Gilels, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia and Artur Rubinstein. The approach is not meant to be self‐sufficient, but rather to contribute a new set of tools to the emerging multidisciplinary field of performance studies.

Der Tonwille: Pamphlets in Witness of the Immutable Laws of Music, Offered to a New Generation of Youth (review)

Tonwille: Pamplets Witness of Immutable of Offered to New Generation of Youth, vol. 1. By Heinrich Schenker. Edited by William Drabkin. Translated by Ian Bent. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. [xx, 231 p. ISBN 0195122372. $150.00.] Index. Der which roughly translates as the will (desire or egotism) of tone is name given by Schenker to series of pamphlets, of roughly fifty pages each, issued between 1921-24 by Universal Edition that contain essays addressing various topics field of music. Considered by its editor to be a central work-in several respects central work-in Schenkerian canon (p. vii), Tonwille contains three basic types of essays: (1) analyses of individual pieces; (2) essays of theoretical nature; and (3) writings of nature. Each issue, moreover, contains section of miscellany (Vermischtes) containing observations on various aspects of music and politics, although it should be noted that each type of essay commentary is not far from surface (p. ix). content of Tonwille chronicles genesis of probing insights into tonal music for which Schenker is known as well as that of accompanying graphic analytic notation. concepts of Urlinie and Ursatz, for example, are expounded upon detail for first time these pamphlets. former receives its first thorough treatment first issue (The Urlinie: A Preliminary Remark), and latter is mentioned for first time miscellanea of issue 5. Taken together, Urlinie and Ursatz form ultimate conceptual basis of Schenker's view of tonal structure. publication of complete translation of Tonwille by Oxford University Press is laudable achievement; Englishspeaking musicians will now have at their disposal most of Schenker's principal theoretical works (the four Erlauterungsausgaben of Beethoven's piano sonatas and Schenker's early journal essays remain untranslated). Prior to this publication, translations into English of individual essays were scattered throughout scholarly literature, with most comprehensive set of excerpts found Robert Joseph Lubben's dissertation (Analytic Practice and Ideology Heinrich Schenker's 'Der Tonwille' and 'Cantata Harmonia Mundi' [Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1995]), which contains translations of twelve of essays. ten pamphlets of Tonwille have been available one volume since 1990 photographic reprint by Georg Olms Verlag with preface by Hellmut Federhofer. subject of this review is first half of new English translation (issues 1-5); second volume containing second half (issues 6-10) is projected for 2005. In analytical essays, of which there are eighteen this volume, of analysis . . . are generally followed by remarks on autograph materials and early editions, and on editorial issues arising from them; recommendations on performance, relation to both analytical and text-critical discussions that precede them; and finally dismissive survey of secondary literature (p. viii). pieces discussed individual essays include six by J. S. Bach, three by Beethoven, two each by C. P. E. Bach, Haydn, and Mozart, and one each by Handel and Schubert. It is unfortunate that, since present volume contains only first five issues of ten that comprise Tonwille, only two-thirds of analysis of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is present (the final segment occurs sixth issue). theoretical essays, of which there are five, are concerned with such matters as musical structure, history, and perception; but they are more philosophical tone (p. ix). These essays include The Urlinie: A Preliminary Remark, Laws of Art of Music, History of Art of Music, Yet Another Word on Urlinie, and The Art of Listening. political writings include lead essay (The Mission of German Genius) as well as generous sprinkling throughout four sections of miscellany (so much so that, one instance, Emil Hertzka, executive editor of Universal Edition complained that in fourteen pages of 'Miscellanea,' [for issue 2] no topics whatsoever field of music are examined, but only topics field of politics and demagoguery (p. …

Relating Musical Structure and Content to Aesthetic Response: A Model and Analysis of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 110

AbstractA model is presented which aims to show how, for listeners familiar with a given style, aesthetic response to music may be related to its ‘structure’ (as defined in relation to ‘zygonic’ theory) and ‘content’ (the particular perceived qualities of sound that pertain to a given musical event). The model combines recent empirical findings from music psychology with other approaches adapted from music theory and philosophy. Intramusical considerations, which form the core of the model, are positioned within a broader socio-cultural, cognitive and physical context. The new framework is used to inform an analysis of Beethoven's Piano Sonata op.110, which examines in particular the notions of teleology in music and narrative metaphor.

Review: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion

Beethoven's Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion Charles Rosen xii + 256; CD Yale University Press New Haven and London 2002 £20 0‐300‐09070‐6

Beethoven's piano sonatas: a short companion

Beethoven's piano sonatas form one of the most important collections of works in the whole history of music. Spanning several decades of his life as a composer, the sonatas soon came to be seen as the first body of substantial serious pieces for piano suited to performance in large concert halls seating hundreds of people. In this comprehensive and authoritative guide, Charles Rosen places the works in context and provides an understanding of the formal principles involved in interpreting and performing this unique repertoire, covering such aspects as sonata form, phrasing, and tempo, as well as the use of pedal and trills. In the second part of his book, he looks at the sonatas individually, from the earliest works of the 1970s through the sonatas of Beethoven's youthful popularity of the early 1800s, the subsequent years of mastery, the years of stress (1812-1817), and the last three sonatas of the 1820s. Composed as much for private music-making as public recital, Beethoven's sonatas have long formed a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall. For today's audience, Charles Rosen has written a guide that brings out the gravity, passion, and humour of these works and will enrich the appreciation of a wide range of readers, whether listeners, amateur musicians or professional pianists. This book includes a free CD of Rosen performing extracts from several of the sonatas, illustrating points made in the text.

Beethoven's Piano Sonata in F Major Op. 54, Second Movement: The Final Version and Sketches

Beethoven's Piano Sonata in F Major Op. 54, Second Movement: The Final Version and Sketches

Punches, Proofs, and Printings: The Seven States of Artaria's First Edition of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Op. 2

PART 1 PUNCHES, PROOFS, AND PRINTINGS THE SEVEN STATES OF ARTARIA'S FIRST EDITION In 1991, the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies acquired a previously unknown exemplar of the first edition of Ludwig van Beethoven's three Sonatas for Piano op. 2. This copy ([A.sup.1]) is one of three in existence that represent proof states of the edition first issued by Artaria in March 1796. Beethoven marked another copy, now located at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin ([A.sup.3]), with corrections in his own hand. [1] Because Beethoven's autograph is lost and only a few sketches for the work survive, these precursors of Artaria's edition are the earliest extant sources for all three sonatas. Yet few music bibliographers know of their existence. Georg Kinsky and Hans Halm excluded the proof state from their thematic catalog of Beethoven's works. The title page of all three copies misspells the word dediees as dedies (fig. 1a), and this missing quickly distinguishes the proofs from the first issue (fig. 1b), described by Kinsky and Haim as Originalausgabe a. [2] Kurt Dorfmuller's updat e of Kinsky's and Halm's catalog adds only a footnote on Beethoven 's corrected proof in Berlin. [3] Although Beethoven's letters document his frequent requests for proofs, few corrected proofs for Beethoven's early works have survived. [4] The case of opus 2 is unusual, not only for the rare glimpse it offers of Beethoven's earliest editing practices, but also because the proofs exist in more than one copy. The initial purpose of this study was to establish the seminal position of these three copies in the sonatas' bibliographic history. Comparison of the music text in the three copies, however, revealed engraving errors in [A.sup.1] that were corrected in the plates before printing of [A.sup.2] and [A.sup.3]. The Beethoven Center's copy thus represents the earliest extant state of the first edition and is a previously unrecorded source. Discovery of two variants of Artaria's proof ignited a search for other textual differences in seemingly identical copies of Artaria's first issue of 1796. The search extended to the Titelauflagen, issues that were printed a few years later from the same plates but with a replacement title page (fig. 1c). [5] Within these copies were found numerous traces of plate corrections which pre-date the printing of [A.sup.1]. Together, these errors and proofs unveil at least three series of plate revisions before Artaria printed the copies to be sold to the public. Multiple later printi ngs show that demand for Artaria's edition persisted for some years. The later issues manifest gradual assault on the plates, some of which were destroyed and newly engraved. Physical differences in the copies--particularly in paper stocks and watermarks--also suggest that the edition was reissued several times to meet resellers' needs. Thus far we have discovered seven variant states of Artaria's edition. Together, they recount a story of music publishing and trade at the turn of the nineteenth century. The functions of these variant states and the roles of composer, engraver, proofreader, and publisher in the evolving edition are the focus here. For its part, in its publication announcement in the Wiener Zeitung, Artaria extolled an extraordinary diligence for beauty and correctness with the edition. [6] But despite the best efforts of both publisher and composer, the ultimate result was a faulty edition. CHRONOLOGY: FROM COMPOSITION TO PUBLICATION Thematic ideas for Beethoven's opus 2 originated during his youth in Bonn when, in 1785, he composed his three Piano Quartets in E[flat], D, and C major, WoO 36. For the first movement of op. 2, no. 3, Beethoven reworked material from the first and second themes of the first movement of WoO 36, no. 3. A more outright borrowing occurs in the second movement of op. 2, no. 1, which is a revision of the same movement in WoO 36, no. …

“Schenkerian-Schoenbergian Analysis” and Hidden Repetition in the Opening Movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 10, No. 1

A process akin to Schoenberg’s “musical idea” accounts to a large
 degree for motivic coherence in the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 10, No.
 1. My article illustrates this process by means of a synthesis of Schenker’s and
 Schoenberg’s approaches to analysis. I use Schenkerian analysis to identify potential
 motives at various levels of musical structure, then interpret the treatment of some of
 these segments according to Schoenberg’s model. I also show how the primary motivic
 process interacts with other such processes in the first movement.

Non-Tonic Settings of the Primary Tone in Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Beginnings of movements by Beethoven often convey a feeling of instability, tension, and expectation. Frequently, opening themes sound introductory and points of harmonic arrival or resolution are delayed. Among the musical techniques described by Heinrich Schenker that heighten the inner tension of such openings, is the setting of the primary tone of the fundamental line-the first Urlinie tone-by a harmony other than the tonic.' This non-tonic setting heightens the dramatic effect of the primary tone. The primary tone is approached either by a rising arpeggiation or an initial linear ascent, two voice-leading procedures which Schenker described as representing a retardation or delaying at the very outset of the piece.2 A dramatic example of upper-voice arpeggiation to the primary tone is the opening section of the Marcia Funebre from Beethoven's Piano Sonata in Ab major, Op. 26, analyzed by Schenker in Free Composition (Example i). The primary tone cb2 (3) arrives only in m. 17, where it is included within the applied diminished seventh of V. The diagonal line connecting the primary tone with the initial Ab in the bass indicates that the Cb2 of m. 17 is part of a prolongation of the opening tonic chord. In m. 18, the striking diminished-seventh chord is emphasized by syncopation and sf a procedure typical of Beethoven (Example 2). An illustration of initial linear ascent to a primary tone is the opening theme (mm. 1-9) of the Largo e mesto from Beethoven's Piano Sonata in D Major, Op. 1o, No. 3, another passage analyzed by Schenker

Ideas of Closure, Derivation and Rhythm in the Sketches for the Andante of Beethoven's "Pastorale" Sonata Op. 28

Beethoven's Piano Sonata in D major Op. 28 was written in 18o 01 and is one of several works marking the onset of his middle-period style.' While the nickname Pastoral did not originate with Beethoven, it may have been generated by his prominent use of lilting melodies with drone-like, pedal-point accompaniments for the primary themes in the outer movements, as well as by the folk-like style of the Scherzo.2 This study focuses on the second movement, and here Czerny's remarks tell us something about the music's character and also indicate Beethoven's high opinion of it:

Non-Tonic Settings of the Primary Tone in Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Research Article| July 01 1998 Non-Tonic Settings of the Primary Tone in Beethoven Piano Sonatas Roger Kamien Roger Kamien Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Musicology (1998) 16 (3): 379–393. https://doi.org/10.2307/763997 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Roger Kamien; Non-Tonic Settings of the Primary Tone in Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Journal of Musicology 1 July 1998; 16 (3): 379–393. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/763997 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of Musicology Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1998 Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Oscar Victor Sayer Heath. 26 July 1903—16 June 1997

O.V.S. ‘Peter’ Heath was born in London on 26 July 1903. In childhood, he encountered many problems, for he was often ill and he found learning difficult. At the time he may well have been regarded as ‘backward’. Now, with hindsight, we would say that his was a case of remarkable late development. His biographical notes (over 130 pages in his precise handwriting, with a note of apology at the front: ‘The notes are intended to assist the unfortunate Fellow who has to write me up‘) describe his early schooling and the subsequent private tuition which became necessary because of undiagnosed illness. He learned to read at the age of seven, but his reading remained slow throughout his life because he frequently needed to re-read passages. However, he did then have accurate recall of much of the subject matter. His father (Sir Frank Heath, 1863–1946, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), 1916–27) had been a professor of English literature at Bedford College, and Peter had access to a vast collection of books, of which he took much advantage. He also took music lessons and learned to appreciate great music from his mother's piano playing, particularly the Beethoven piano sonatas.

Fullness of Dissonance: Modern Fiction and the Aesthetics of Music (review)

REVIEWS DANIEL C. MELNICK. Fullness ofDissonance: Modern Fiction and the Aesthetics ofMusic. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1994. 159 pp. Music and literature were born together; and, as Daniel Melnick's study postulates , they have been following a similar destiny: the dissolution of Apollonian form into Dionysian dissonance. For Melnick (via Nietzsche), the dissolving of harmonic, coherent form into dissonant fragmentation is welcome, for it awakens human consciousness (or spirit, or élan vital perhaps), challenging it to respond to the discordant nature oftwentieth-century life/art and thereby making the reader/listener a participant in the creative process. Just as he considers Beethoven's piano sonata Opus 1 1 1 the end of classical sonata form, so the author regards Thomas Mann's DoctorFaustus as the coup degrâce to traditional narrative fiction. Writers ofthe modernist era, following the influence oftheir musical counterparts in promoting the demise oftraditional form, created the "dissonant narrative," or "dissonant fiction," a mode ofcomposition that Melnick seeks to define and illustrate in his study. An initial example is extracted from the Author's Note to Heart ofDarkness in which the Conrad, discussing the significance of his novella, uses a musical analogy and, by doing so, anticipates the musicalization offiction by the likes of Proust, Mann, and Joyce. After a concise definition of musical dissonance as "a structure oftones unresolved into the familiar cadences ofharmonic closure" (8), Melnick calls on aesthetic theorists Theodor Adorno and Ernst Bloch to help distinguish the "experimental, destabilizing strategies, which, under the guise of musicalization, assume and achieve the effect of dissonance in the novel" (8). Finding the roots ofdissonance deeply embedded in Romanticism, Melnick traces its development as a musico-literary phenomenon through the nineteenth century, with the Romantic composers Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz, and Liszt and the Symbolist poets Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Verlaine represented in this perspective. Although not numerous, specific quotations are illuminating, especially those taken from Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Inner struggle, desire to transcend or transform reality, impressionism, illusion, irony, ambiguity—all are considered part of the complex legacy ofthe nineteenth century which culminated in the figure and works of Richard Wagner. His efforts to fuse the arts into one form—the Gesamtkunstwerk , his extensive use ofleitmotifs, and, above all, his creation of long chains of unresolved harmonies profoundly influence the course of literature as well as music. In his chapter devoted to Nietzsche and Schoenberg, "Music and the Modern Imagination," Melnick engages the support ofdeconstructionists Derrida, de Man, and Foucault to reiterate Nietzsche's rhetoric in terms oftwentieth-century critical theory. In his examination of Schoenberg's renunciation ofthe triadic harmonies ofthe common practice period, Melnick sees (or rather hears) the composer as the emancipator ofdissonance. An idea which could have been explored in this context is the balance between formalism and dissonance inherent in the codified use ofthe tone row as practiced by Schoenberg and his successors. Although the tone row represents a radical departure from the traditional, it does establish a new, strict format which, while usually imperceptible to the ear (which is busy with all the new dissonance and fragmentation), is obvious in the musical score. In this sense, dodeVoI . 20 (1996): 190 THE COMPAnATIST caphonism successfully continues to counterbalance formal constraints and imaginative freedom. In the tomes ofÀ larecherche du tempsperdu, Proust seeks the transcendence and elevation ofsoul proposed by the Symbolists through the fictive composer Vinteuil 's music, through involuntary memory, through "figure-laden prose" (64), and through "paradoxical metaphors" (65). Melnick posits that Proust's use of the musical idiom is not only structural (contrapuntal leitmotifs), nor only thematic (the role ofVinteuil's music); more significantly for the purposes ofthis study, music provides "an aesthetic and ethic at the core of [Proust's] vision" (61). This vision is defined as the breach between spiritual illumination on the one hand and spiritual corruption on the other, a rift which produces alienation, ambiguity, negating paradox , and dissonant narrative (71). Proust's dissonance exerts a "rending, inspired pressure" on the reader, which evokes a "Dionysian response" in Nietzsche's terms, "enduring insight" in Melnick's (78-79). In the analysis of Doctor Faustus as dissonant fiction, prime importance is given to the influence...

Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E, Op. 109

In his thorough analytical study of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E, Op. 109, Nicholas Marston suggests a unique way of understanding this important work. The book provides an exhaustive study of its sources and an analytical approach to the structure of the sonata itself. The source study is based on a complete transcritpion of all the surviving manuscript sources for the work; the book includes a large majority of the sketches, and parts of the autograph score. The introductory chapter reivews Heinrich Schenker's work on Op. 109. In Chapter 2 Beethoven's letters, conversation books, sketchbooks and other sources are used to build up a detailed picture of the progess of his work on the sonata. The middle chapters form the core of the analytical study in which the sketches for each part of the three movements are analysed in detail, and the relevance of the sketches to the final version is explored. The final chapter extends the notion of 'sketch' beyond Op. 109 and summarizes the results of the study. No stone is left unturned: even Beethoven's previously misunderstood notation of final barlines in the autograph score is shown to be of structural significance. The book is important in several respects. The attitude adopted towards the sketches is postive , approaching them as valid compositional acts and not wrong turnings en route to a perfect final version. As an analytical study the book provides perhaps the most extended Schenkerian analysis of a Beethoven sonata yet published, and offers a rare Schenkerian analysis of a variation movement. It may equally be read as a extension or critique of Schenkerian thinking: it goes beyond Schenker both in its espousal of unconventional 'background' strucures and in its suggestion of a single structural plan for the entire three-movement work.