Classical Models of Sonata Form and the First Movement of Liszt's Faust Symphony: The Conservative Revealed
Liszt’s music has often been sited as a paradigm of the Romantic concept of form, wherein program takes precedence over structure and conventional models were limited in their influence in favor of expression. Many authors have made statements like, “[In these works] the unifying and cyclical restrictions of large form could be abandoned . . . . . Inspiration, a sense of sonority and of effect, were more important than the convincing architectonics of large forms.” Others show how conventional procedures may be found in these works, but applications of 19th-century models that emphasize thematic elements and tri-partite divisions cause them to misinterpret aspects of these works and overlook their 18th-century precedents.
This study examines a frequently sited example of Liszt’s approach to form, movement I of the Faust Symphony. Focusing on harmonic structure, it demonstrates how the application of models developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries illuminates aspects of large-scale organization in this piece not previously revealed. It considers certain passages, often seen to deviate from earlier conventions, and shows how they are more consistent with those practices than previously thought. Once clarified, large-scale tonal structure and its relationship to thematic material are compared with earlier models to demonstrate that this work adheres to these models in remarkably consistent ways. In Particular, the relationship between a bi-partite division of form and that of tonal structure will be explored and the application of this methodology to pieces by Tchaikovsky and Brahms will be suggested.
The Quiet Revolution of a B-natural: Prokofiev's New Simplicity in the Second Violin Concerto
In 1934, under pressure to articulate a musical vision for Soviet composers, Prokofiev wrote about his desire for a new simplicity, a style that featured simple melodies and comprehensible form. Although opinions printed during Stalin's regime should be read with skepticism, these words faithfully describe the musical style of Prokofiev’s works from the 1930s. Compared to the modernist sounds of his earlier works, such as the Scythian Suite (1915), Second Symphony (1925), and the Fiery Angel (1919-27), Prokofiev’s new simplicity features a self-conscious return to classical precedents, including classical phrase structures, conventional cadential goals and lyric melodies. In this paper, I present the first movement of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 (1935) as an exemplar of his new simplicity, which features a compelling tension between neoclassicism and modernism.
Prokofiev’s new simplicity style is tightly tethered to its 18th-century muse. Prokofiev recreates a sufficient semblance of the classical style in order to create strong expectations of continuity. These expectations are then thwarted by distinctly transgressive chromatic events. Interestingly, almost every disruptive event in the movement is associated with B-natural, the modally mixed mediant of the G minor tonic. This sonata is not a coherent expression of the sum of its parts. Without the grounding influence of cogent middleground motions, the structural dialectic between keys, an essential aspect of a classical sonata, is severely compromised. Prokofiev’s new simplicity challenges classical conventions of deep-level coherence. Consequently, I hear this style as a modern and satirical misreading of Enlightenment ideals.
Heuristic Symmetries in Carl Nielsen's Fourth Symphony
The issue of tonal design in the symphonies of Carl Nielsen was first taken up by the Robert Simpson, who coined the term "progressive tonality" to summarize Nielsen's tendency to migrate from an initial key or complex of keys to a final clear tonic. Since these seminal analyses, other theorists-most notably Mark Devoto, Harold Krebs, and David Fanning-have advanced the notions of competing tonalities that progress toward a tonal goal in Nielsen's compositions.
In this paper, I propose a model for the tonal organization of Nielsen's Fourth Symphony, in which the important tonal arrivals form patterns that constitute a hermeneutic process, making inevitable the goal of the progressive tonal plan. The basic organizing principle of the tonal plan is symmetry, and the primary musical symbol of this plan is the final cadential gesture of the first and last movements, which combines the sound of a plagal cadence with the tritone resolution that typically accompanies authentic cadences. If this gesture is heard as a combination of plagal and authentic sounds, the cadence represents an encirclement of the final tonic. Thus E stands at the center of the symmetry A-E-B. It will be shown that this fifth-based symmetry expands and intersects with several other symmetric structures throughout the symphony. The effect of these intersections is confirmation of the "Inextinguishable" goal of E major.
Intervallic Reorientation in Dual-Organization Spaces: Interpreting Polymodality in works of Milhaud
The paper proposes an analytical framework for the polymodal/tonal textures in works of Darius Milhaud (Saudades do Brazil and Une Journée). This framework interprets the scalar mismatch across strata (“keys”) as underlying the deployment of dynamic relations between superimposed strata, as well as providing the basis for musical syntax. The methodological approach of the paper, however, redefines the identity of the superimposed strata away from keys, with implied centers, harmonic functions, and root progressions, focusing instead on the intervallic patterns of the scales or segments being combined.
Specifically, the paper proposes a model of scalar mismatch across strata underlying a basic property of modulation: chromatic alterations to a diatonic scale or segment entail the rearrangement of intervallic associations for unaltered tones. As result of these alterations, certain common tones among different diatonic collections exhibit different scalar adjacencies. Such duplicities are often explored compositionally, and they are especially powerful (perceptually) when common tones across collections engage in opposite semitonal associations. In addition, the model systematizes how harmonic relations—across diatonic collections—can be reinterpreted diatonically within a single collection.
This analytical approach reflects a mode of hearing underlying what I might call reorientation. This mode requires that the listener attend to how the intervallic patterns and melodic attractions within one stratum might be (more or less) reversed in another. In this sense, the act of traversing or bridging contrapuntal strata requires a reorientation within each intervallic surroundings. Such mode of hearing retains the integrity of each stratum while providing a way of coordinating a dual organization that does not depend on the perception or analytical account of simultaneous full-fledged keys.