Schoenberg's Concept of ruhende Bewegung
In an unpublished document, cataloged as T51.18 at the Arnold Schönberg Center (ASC) in Vienna, Schoenberg writes that one can distinguish between two types of movement (Bewegung) within a musical composition: accelerating (beschleunigende) and retarding (verzögernde). Schoenberg also mentions a third type, which he deems theoretically unnecessary—static motion (ruhende Bewegung). Though initially dismissive, he discusses ruhende Bewegung further in a second unpublished manuscript, cataloged as T53.06 at the ASC. This manuscript shows that he considers tremolo and pedal point as technical means that might bring about ruhende Bewegung. In addition, he names Wagner’s “Waldweben” from Siegfried as an example of the concept.
This paper contextualizes Schoenberg’s brief comments in T51.18 and T53.06 among his other writings in order to flesh out the concept of ruhende Bewegung. The analysis of these texts suggests that exact repetition and unchallenged harmonic content can serve as important components in ruhende Bewegung. A passage from “Waldweben” demonstrates that Wagner employs these elements in combination with each other to bring about a static texture. The paper further applies the concept of ruhende Bewegung to the analysis of Schoenberg’s own works, particularly “Mondestrunken” from Pierrot lunaire.The "Objective and Subjective" in Analytical Transcription
Thirty years ago writing in the journal Ethnomusicology, Nazir Jairazbhoy addressed the issue of whether “automatic” transcription via such machines as the Melograph could more “objectively” represent musical structure than the “subjective” transcriptions produced by an individual using pencil and paper, concluding that the latter provide greater insight into music as apprehended by the human ear. New sound technologies over the past 30 years have provided more advanced tools for analyzing sound but the usefulness of these tools for revealing musical structure in any comprehensive way are similarly limited. New technologies do, however, provide a range of digital “pencil and paper” techniques that may be used for a practice of analytical transcription whose goal is the representation of musical structure. This paper will briefly consider two existing analyses of electronic works with no score, one by Robert Cogan using an “automatic” technique and another by Rainer Wehinger using a kind of “pencil and paper” technique. The two analyses will be considered in light of Jairazbhoy’s critique of such practices. Next, I will introduce the idea of “analytical transcription” and show how digital representation, using graphic and animation software, can be used by an analyst to represent structure. An analytical transcription of Eleanor Hovda’s 1988 string quartet “Lemniscates” will demonstrate the process, goals, and results of “analytical transcription” using digital graphic representation