Frank Samarotto
College-Conservatory of Music,Cincinnati
Superficial disruptions to the temporal flow of music are rarely the central focus of the theorist. Most analytical approaches to tonal music have tended to emphasize coherence and continuity over conflict and discontinuity. This paper will reverse this concern by proceeding from a concept I have termed temporal disjunction. This analytical tool generalizes the common sense meaning of disjunct rhythms (abrupt changes of durational value) to include any sudden parametric change or denial of expected continuation that creates a wrinkle in the temporal fabric. Rhythmic disjunctions are necessarily violations of the fifth species principle of equilibrium. Schenker ambivalently viewed disequilibrium in free composition as both an awkwardness to be avoided and as a possible source of motivic coherence.
This paper addresses first a passage in the third movement of Haydn's Piano Sonata No.52 in Eb, where a temporal disjunction has origins in the disjunct rhythms of the opening measures, creating a kind of coherence out of the disruption. In addition, the disjunction simulates a change of tempo, suggesting interrelations of different movements.
A detailed analysis of the fifth movement of Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 131 reveals that both unity and disjunction are essential parts of its structure. A possible way of reconciling this contradiction would be to adopt a more complex model of organic coherence based on a tension between two opposite impulses: the centripetal, and the centrifugal. The domain of the temporal in general and disjunction in particular are seen as a crystallization of these two forces.