Sunday, 9:00 am–12:00
pm
Despite the renewal of interest in nineteenth-century music, the Romantic concerto has remained a neglected topic. The is paper examines one particular aspect of this genre—the establishment of the stereotypical paradigms employed to conclude the first and last movements of the Classical piano concertos and the ways they underwent subsequent modification in Beethoven and later Romantic composers. While during the nineteenth century the final section of first movements concentrated on the evolving tonal role of the "cadenza as tonal interruption" within the last tonic tutti (or T4) and the nature of the forte coda immediately following the cadenza, the conclusions of their finales gave rise to a new procedure that I will entitle the secondary-thematic apotheosis. In addition to Beethoven's last three piano concertos, selected portions of five familiar Romantic pieces in the same medium will be examined: The Schumann A minor, the Grieg A minor, the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor, and the Rachmaninoff C minor and D minor. A chronological examination of these works reveals a continuous line of evolution and mutual influence, both as regards both the first movement cadenza and the last movement apotheosis.
This paper considers various aspects of the “parallel sonata form,” in which the exposition’s modulation is transpositionally replicated in the recapitulation—thus preserving, rather than resolving, the exposition’s essential tonal duality. Three angles are relevant here: First, from a Schenkerian perspective parallel sonatas do not fit the interruption paradigm (since the recapitulation will begin off-tonic), hence must be read as uninterrupted: whether a 3-, 5-, or 8-line will depend on the exposition’s tonal type (P–S relation) together with the transpositional relationship between exposition and recapitulation. Second, such structures constitute “sonata deformations” in Hepokoski’s sense, as extreme departures from generic norms/defaults. Third, from a historical perspective certain parallel practices pioneered by Schubert can be viewed as prototypical, subject to creative extension and transformation by later composers.
While Schubert’s penchant for one particular parallel scheme, the subdominant recapitulation, has often been remarked on, his more adventurous alternatives—such as the dominant recapitulation—have been little analyzed. Schubert’s realization of the scheme’s varied potential hinged on his innovation of the “late-resolving” exposition or recapitulation, illustrated here by two symphonic movements. Later nineteenth-century options included (1) the compositional “problematization” of historically familiar parallel procedures (such as the subdominant recapitulation), as justification for their continued use; and (2) further extensions of Schubert’s innovative procedures—in chromatic scope, range of transpositional options, or (from the “late-resolving” recapitulation) deferral of tonal resolution outside of “sonata space” altogether. These possibilities are illustrated by concerto movements of Schumann and Rachmaninov.
While hierarchic analysis has become a main tool in theories of tonal structure, rhythm and harmony, one field in which the hierarchic aspect of analysis seems to be absent is the thematic field. This paper presents X-bar theory, a syntactic theory from the field of generative grammar, and develops from it a hierarchic theory for thematic organization in music. The theory’s explanatory possibilities are used to investigate the structure of the classical sonata form exposition and the exposition’s inner sections, with examples drawn from Scarlatti, C. P. E. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert. Several topics are discussed, such as the general structure of the exposition, the definition of functions such as first theme, second theme, and closing section, and the crucial role of transitive elements. Terms from the original X-bar theory, such as head, arguments, and adjuncts, are used to define parts of the musical exposition. In particular transitions and other passages within the exposition are viewed as heads of the larger sections, thus being treated as fundamental parts within those sections, and not merely as passing events between more important ones. The notion of three-key exposition is discussed in order to explore the various structural explanations of such an exposition. Therefore, it is not that the thematic level belongs to the “design,” but rather that both design and structure are already apparent at the thematic level.
Salient among Schubert’s compositional attributes is an acute sensitivity to intervallic and modal relationships among key areas and the architectural balance of their deployment. It is widely considered that while this sensitivity enriches his Lieder and instrumental miniatures, it weakens his command of sonata form. His penchant for carrying the modulation scheme of the exposition into the recapitulation such that the tonic serves as goal, rather than source, of that section’s tonal motion, gives rise to the off-tonic recapitulation. This undermines the articulative strength of the return, and in turn compromises the divided structure and the dramatic power that attaches to it.
Schubert was very much aware of the weakening effect his tonal adventures were having on the formal stability of his sonatas, which may account for a six-year virtual hiatus from sonata-form composition. When he returned to the form in the last years of his life, though thematic returns continue to be carried by non-tonic degrees, basic changes in his tonal designs that allow the divided voice-leading structure to unfold became constant.
This paper considers the evolving coexistence of Schubert’s conflicting impulses, one toward novel overarching key schemes, the other toward the tonic-dominant anchored contrapuntal-harmonic structure that defined the form he had inherited. The ongoing tension between the two seemingly incompatible recapitulation procedures that flows from these impulses progresses through a number of forms, from incongruity to concatenation and eventually to integration or synthesis.