Musical Analysis

La Barcarolle op. 60 de Chopin fait partie de la dernière période créatrice du compositeur, également appelée « dernier style ». Cette œuvre a suscité de très nombreuses interprétations dans la littérature musicologique, mais l’objet de cette communication est de proposer notre propre analyse, à la fois formelle et narrative, qui permettra de mettre en lumière certaines nouveautés stylistiques caractéristiques de cette période et d’expliquer les déviances formelles apparentes. Ce double-niveau analytique souhaite en effet investir les aspects techniques du discours musical (forme, tonalités, sections, cadences, harmonies, etc.) mais également son niveau expressif, à travers l’utilisation des topiques musicaux. L’étude de la succession de ces unités expressives permettra notamment d’éclaircir et d’expliquer le parcours de l’œuvre, qui se détache de la forme ternaire si chère au compositeur, avec un retour varié des deux thèmes principaux dans un style héroïque au sein de la dernière section, amenant un sentiment apothéotique. Il s’agit donc d’une stratégie narrative construite selon une concaténation particulière des unités du discours musical, une disposition de type téléologique qui amènera à cette apothéose finale, également retrouvée dans d’autres œuvres du corpus de la dernière période.

The paper proposes a survey through the essential theoretical contribution of J.P. Rameau, beginning with the famous "Traité de l'Harmonie", and enlarged with several other books devoted to the harmonic theoretical thinking, in which he evolves according to the scientific discoveries of the century.

This thesis focuses on a particular stylistic period of Frederic Chopin. The 1840s show an important evolution of Chopin’s musical language and correspond to an aesthetic turning point, characterized by a difficult historical and biographical context. All along our research, we will try to build a transversal definition of Chopin’s last style by highlighting the recurrent characteristics of this period. In this purpose, a corpus of twenty-two works will be analyzed through several levels (traditional and formal, semiotic, narrative and thymic), to grasp all the issues of the last period of the polish composer.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à une période stylistique particulière du compositeur Frédéric Chopin. Les années 1840 manifestent une évolution importante dans son langage musical et correspondent à un tournant esthétique marqué par un contexte historique et biographique difficile. Tout au long de ce travail, nous allons tenter d’ériger une définition transversale du « dernier style » de Chopin, en recherchant les éléments caractéristiques récurrents de cette période. Dans ce but, un corpus de vingt-deux oeuvres musicales sera analysé selon plusieurs niveaux (traditionnel et formel, sémiotique, narratif et thymique) afin de saisir tous les enjeux de la dernière période du compositeur polonais.

This paper is about a methodology which wants to represent in an innovative way the musical work’s narrativity and expression according to the moments of tension and detente created by the relations between the different topics. These unities are characteristic figures coming from the historical and social musical legacy and refer to genres and musical styles (march, dances, hymn, etc.). In line with the publications of Robert Hatten, Eero Tarasti, Márta Grabócz and many others, our narrative analyses try to understand the stylistic evolution and the different strategies of Chopin’s compositions. The evolution and concatenation of the topics reveal different identities and itineraries called “narrative structures”. Three models emerge from our analyses: the “complex” structure, the “simple” structure and the and “non-contrasted” structure which characterized all the 21 pieces of our corpus, composed after 1841 and linked to the last style.

Today I finished the Fantasy – and the sky is beautiful, there’s a sadness in my heart – but that’s alright. If it were otherwise, perhaps my existence would be worth nothing to anyone.
(Letter to J. Fontana, 20th October 1841)

Musical narratology is an important item to highlight and understand the narrative strategies of musical works by the study of the concatenation of the expressive unities it contains. In the 19th century, the narrative strategy is often built as a “path which leads the listener from dysphoric elements till the transcendental level (euphoric) through several steps […]. This itinerary often corresponds to the coming-of-age novel or imaginary or initiatory journey […]” (Grabocz, 2009, p. 33). This is also possible in music by the choice of the protagonists, their relationships and their evolution into the musical piece.
In our thesis, which focuses on Chopin’s last style, we study 21 works of the 1840’s to reach a definition of this late stylistic period. Among our corpus, the Fantasy op. 49 in F minor is particularly interesting. In fact, this piece was rather badly received by the contemporary critics, considering “a lack of unity and cohesion” according to Lenz while Schumann found it “full of genius traits, although the whole hasn’t felt to have being bound by a formal harmonious framework”.
However, we consider that this work is a very good illustration of a real mastery of the formal construction and the narrative strategy proposed by Chopin and revealed by the narrative analysis. Composed in the beginnings of the 40’s, two themes serve as a basis of all the progression: the first is dramatic and more and more powerful all along its repetitions which put us deeper into the dramaturgy. The second is more transitional, in an improvised style and presents two kinds of appearance, totally opposite, which carries the auditor into two different atmospheres. The interactions between these two protagonists will build the “plot” of the piece, anchored in this romantic aesthetic, as we will try to show it in our presentation.
This kind of narrative strategy will also be compared with other works of our corpus which present the same kind of strategy but also totally contrary, like the Ballade op. 52 in f minor whose analysis in our forthcoming paper "La Ballade op. 52: une « épopée dramatique ». Entre analyse formelle, narrative et thymique" noticed a totally inverse narrative strategy.

This article surveys the reception of Arnold Schoenberg's theoretical ideas in English-language music theory, with a primary (though not exclusive) focus on their reception in the United States. William Rothstein has chronicled how Heinrich Schenker's ideas were modified to conform to the American music-theoretical discourse ("Americanization"). The question then arises: Were Schoenberg's theoretical ideas also similarly modified? After a preliminary overview of the availability of Schoenberg's theoretical writing in English translation, four topics in Schoenberg's thought are traced, with a focus on the postwar era: 1) harmony; 2) form; 3) thematic and motivic transformation ; and 4) aesthetics. The American reception of Schoenberg's theoretical ideas has tended to focus on the music-technical dimension of his theoretical texts and has, to a significant extent, ignored the more philosophical and aesthetic aspects of his thought. It has tended to place emphasis on how music is structured and how that structure is unified; there has been less concern with why such unity is important in a broader sense. Dieser Aufsatz gibt einen Überblick über die Rezeption von Arnold Schönbergs theoretischem Denken in der englischsprachigen Musiktheorie, wobei der Fokus, wenn auch nicht ausschließ-lich, auf der Rezeption in den Vereinigten Staaten liegt. William Rothstein hat dargestellt wie Heinrich Schenkers Theorie im Zuge einer Anpassung an den amerikanischen musiktheoretischen Diskurs modifiziert wurde (»Americanization«). Dies legt die Frage nahe, ob auch Schönbergs theoretisches Denken in ähnlicher Weise modifiziert worden ist. Nach einer einführenden Über-sicht über die Verfügbarkeit von Schönbergs Schriften in englischen Übersetzungen werden vier Themenbereiche von Schönbergs Denken in der anglophonen Musiktheorie verfolgt, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf der Nachkriegszeit liegt: 1) Harmonik; 2) Form; 3) thematische und motivische Transformation; 4) Ästhetik. Die amerikanische Rezeption von Schönbergs Theorien tendierte dazu, die technischen Aspekte in seinen Schriften herauszuheben, und vernachlässigte dabei in einem signifikanten Ausmaß die stärker philosophischen und ästhetischen Aspekte seines Den-kens. Die Schönberg-Rezeption in den USA hat also ein starkes Gewicht auf Fragen musikalischer Struktur und struktureller Einheit gelegt; weniger wurde hingegen danach gefragt, warum eine solche Einheit in einem umfassenderen Sinn erstrebenswert ist. In his 1986 article entitled "The Americanization of Heinrich Schenker," William Roth-stein explores the development of Schenkerian theory and analysis in North America in the decades following the Second World War. Reflecting on how Schenker's ideas had been absorbed, disseminated, and, to a certain extent, adapted by the English-speaking academic community in the United States, Rothstein remarks: 1 I would like to thank Severine Neff and Jonathan Dunsby for reading an earlier version of this article and offering useful comments. I would also like to thank the editors of the journal and the anonymous readers for their valuable feedback and suggestions.

This article follows on the heels of one by Holly Watkins, who argues that music, “a subsystem of the social system of communication,” can evoke the organic (the bodily and the psychic) not by forming a self-contained unity of parts and whole but through the “internal recursiveness” of musical works, their external “recursiveness vis-à-vis other music,” and – crucially – “the knowingness that music displays toward its own operations.” I adopt the premise that music evokes the organic most vividly not through recursive processes in individual systems but through the as-if intentional integration of such processes in multiple systems, of which I concern myself particularly with the harmonic, contrapuntal, and formal domains (or, more precisely, the motivic). I offer correctives to the organicist theories of Arnold Schoenberg and Heinrich Schenker, which similarly concern these domains, and especially to their reception. And I explore this direction through an analysis of Bach’s Prelude No. 7 in E-flat major from book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 852, a singular piece that billows forth like an unfathomable blossom.

Cet article propose une étude approfondie de la Polonaise en la bémol majeur op. 53 de Chopin afin de mettre en avant des caractéristiques essentielles du dernier style de Chopin, qui s'exprime dans les années 1840, période difficile avant son décès. La Polonaise "héroïque", investie de manière plus traditionnelle mais également par le biais d'une approche plus narrative met en avant une évolution de la forme tripartite, déjà amorcée dans la Polonaise op. 44 et qui aboutira également à la forme téléologique de la Polonaise Fantaisie op .61 qui clot ce répertoire. En effet, l'usage des topiques et de leur concaténation sont particulièrement intéréssants pour comprendre une part de l'évolution stylistique du compositeur dans les dernières années.

O presente ensaio propõe uma análise estética e formal da obra Opus 11/3 (1914) de Anton Webern (1883-1945) sob a ótica da Momentform encontrada em obras como Kontakte (1958-60) de Karlheinz Stockhausen – conceito e peça elaborados na década de 1950 pelo mesmo.

Con el presente trabajo se busca allanar la zanja que existe entre los abordajes tradicionales del discurso musical y los estudios de performance. Para la realización de investigaciones artísticas sobre performances musicales se debe tener en cuenta dicha expresión como subjetividad cambiante a lo largo de su devenir histórico, construido en las diversas “formas de hacer” que la da a conocer; y como objeto que perdura y es cognoscible a través de la escucha analítica de sus soportes de difusión. Entonces, para el abordaje crítico de los performances musicales resulta importante la triangulación de los resultados provenientes de diferentes estrategias analíticas, con los cuales se deconstruiría un todo único, divisible sólo a nivel epistemológico pero indivisible como forma particular de producción subjetiva. Esto redunda en las relaciones de condicionamiento mutuo existentes entre las expresiones artísticas y su marco generador, así como su uso en la conformación de un discurso performativo propio.

This Part 2 describes the various structures of melodies as more complex versions of the metrical structures discussed in Part 1. In this way, the metrical structure and the grouping structure will be integrated into one theoretical entity.

In Chapter 5, the various structure of phrases will be understood as roughly being metrical unit. By returning to the metrical structure for analysis, the various irregular structures are clearly understood as the result of a kind of compositional technique.

In Chapter 6, the details of various phrases will be understood as a combination of metrical structures, as a complication of metrical structures. The way to create such combinations is through syncopation.

The poem by Victor Hugo "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne" has been, since its publication, a source of inspiration for composers. The two most famous works based in this work are the tone poems by C. Franck and F. Liszt, both composed in the middle of 19th century with few years of difference. Its comparison will allow to deepen into the approach of each composer facing the symbolic and poetic aspects of the poem.

[PT]
Um dos paradigmas mais influentes na música contemporânea é o som como material composicional em si mesmo: a expansão das sonoridades, a primazia da escuta e os processos de estruturação que fogem dos parâmetros e formas tradicionais. Este desafio para a análise musical abriu novas possibilidades de abordagem. Pierre Schaeffer desenvolveu uma tipo-morfologia que classifica e descreve os objetos sonoros, inspirando metodologias analíticas especialmente úteis para a música eletroacústica. Lasse Thoresen propõe uma ferramenta gráfica que se baseia na tipo- morfologia schaefferiana, apropriando-se contudo do termo espectromorfologia (apontado pela primeira vez por Denis Smalley). A maior inovação de Thoresen, uma fonte de computador chamada Sonova, é adotada em nossa pesquisa como principal meio ilustrativo. Visamos aqui a abrir um precedente para o estudo da composição instrumental e da orquestração baseado na espectromorfologia, pois a música cujo suporte não é a gravação tem sido pouco pesquisada sob esse olhar, apesar da clara mudança nos paradigmas do último século. Uma abordagem tal, que considera as partituras sem deixar de falar em objeto sonoro, sustenta-se na “desconcretização da sonoridade” (como diria Didier Guigue) e numa revisão dos conceitos schaefferianos. Assim, através da análise de breves exemplos, realizamos uma primeira incursão na qual é evidenciada, ao mesmo tempo, a retroalimentação estético-criativa entre a música instrumental e a eletroacústica, evocando noções como tecnomorfismo e sinal tecnográfico.

[EN]
One of the most influential paradigms in contemporary music is the sound as compositional material in its own: the expansion of sonorities, the primacy of listening and the structuring processes which move away from traditional parameters and forms. This challenge for musical analysis opened up new approach possibilities. Pierre Schaeffer developed a typo-morphology which classifies and describes sonic objects, inspiring useful analytical methodologies especially for electroacoustic music. Lasse Thoresen proposes a graphic tool based on Schaefferian typo-morphology, and borrowing Denis Smalley's original term spectromorphology. Thoresen's greatest innovation, a computer font called Sonova, is adopted in our research as its leading illustrative means. Our aim is to set a precedent for the study of orchestration based on spectromorphology, once non-recording-based music hasn't been researched consistently under this optics, despite the clear change of paradigms in the last century. Such an approach —one that considers the score but still talks about sonic objects— is supported by both the “deconcretization of sonority” (as Didier Guigue would say) and the revision of Schaefferian concepts. Thus, through the analysis of brief excerpts, we conduct an initial research while also providing evidence of the creative and aesthetic feedback between instrumental and electroacoustic music, evoking the notions of technomorphism and technographic signal.

Resumo: Discussão sobre os conceitos de hibridismo, musicalidade, fricção e fusão de musicalidades e tópicas da musi-calidade brasileira. O objetivo é refletir sobre a questão da mudança e a transformação nos gêneros musicais, bem como a da permanência de elementos e figurações musicais que, por sua vez, carregam consigo nexos sócio-culturais e históricos que, de alguma forma, são experimentados pelos músicos e audiências. Tendo como foco questões da música brasileira, este artigo apresenta a busca de tópicas musicais (" brejeiro " , " época-de-ouro " e " nordestina ") como uma ferramenta para enfrentar o problema das transformações no mundo da música. Palavras-chave: hibridismo; musicalidade; tópicas musicais; música brasileira. Abstract: Discussion about concepts such as hybridism, musicality, friction and fusion of musicalities, and the topics of the Brazilian musicality. It aims at reflecting on the question of the change and transformation in musical genres, as much as that of the permanence of musical elements and figurations that, in its turn, carry socio-cultural and historical connections that are somehow experienced by musicians and audiences. Focusing on questions of the Brazilian music, this article presents the search for musical traces called topics (" brejeiro " [maliciously smart ], " época-de-ouro " [good times], and " nor-destina " [northeasterly Brazilian]) as a tool to face the problem of the transformations in the world of music.

O presente trabalho tem por intenção fazer uma breve análise da Sonata para piano de Edvard Grieg, Op. 7, em mi menor, composta no ano de 1865 e revisada posteriormente em 1887. Tentar-se-á possibilitar comparações entre a estrutura da sonata dita “clássica” e da presente sonata – uma vez que esta, ao mesmo tempo que possui elementos vários que a enquadram dentro de tal forma clássica, possui outros que desta a afastam. A análise será focada nos aspectos formais e motívicos de 3 dos 4 movimentos totais.

La pregunta por la naturaleza de la música en tanto objeto de conocimiento subyace en la formulación de los constructos que integran los enfoques analíticos e interpretativos de la literatura musical en la academia de occidente. Pero el interés ontológico no acaba allí. Un camino en paralelo recorrido en el campo de la psicología de la música ha indagado la dimensión experiencial de la música en tanto estímulo sonoro, junto a los mecanismos y procesos de percepción y acción que intervienen en la cognición de las obras musicales. Si bien queda fuera
de toda discusión que la materialidad del sonido percibido y producido define la cualidad musical, sin embargo, una ontología del conocimiento musical basada en la construcción de perceptos no alcanza a brindar una explicación acabada del estatus de realidad en la cognición musical. En este trabajo interrogamos el concepto de realidad cognitiva en la intersección entre los campos musicológico y psicológico, y proponemos una dimensión imaginativa, corporeizada y dinámica
de la cognición musical. Explicamos el modo en que los conceptos del análisis musical se vinculan positivamente con el uso de correspondencias entre diferentes dominios de la experiencia.

O trabalho pretende, brevemente, discutir aspectos formais da obra de Rodolfo Caesar e Flo Menezes à luz da discussão sobre o problema da estruturação formal na gênese da música eletroacústica, ao lado do olhar dos próprios compositores sobre como lidam com a questão da forma em suas poéticas composicionais.
Abstract: this article aims to discuss, briefly, formal aspects of some works by Rodolfo Caesar and Flo Menezes in the perspective of the debate about formal structure in the genesis of electroacoustic music as well as the composers’ view about the form in their own compositional processes

Stylistic pastiche is a standard technique in popular musical theatre. With origins in the early works of Andrew Lloyd Webber (e.g. Jesus Christ Superstar) and other rock musicals of the 1960s, (Hair!), recent shows (The Last Five Years, The Book of Mormon) rely on expansive networks of style references. This paper explores how an analytical understanding of different types of stylistic pastiche may inform composing and arranging practices.

I propose a three-part distinction between different forms of pastiche, with several further sub-distinctions. Firstly, styles can evoke a particular time and place, such as the 1920s jazz era of Lippa’s The Wild Party or late-1970s Philadelphia in Sister Act. Secondly, different styles can underscore or reveal the emotional tone of a song: the Latin inflections of ‘Shiksa Goddess’ (TLFY), for instance, reflect the perceived ‘exotic’ (i.e. non-Jewish) character of Jamie’s new girlfriend. Finally, pastiche often serves a humorous purpose, in three main ways: anachronistic styles are connected with authority figures (‘You’ll Be Back’ from Hamilton); camp connotations (‘Turn It Off’ from TBOM); and, juxtaposition between lyrical content/characters and stylistic associations (‘The All-American Prophet’ from TBOM).

I conclude by relating the analytical findings to my own collaborative practices as an arranger and composer for several original musicals. With examples from The Quest (2017) and Artful Dodgers (2018), I show how the different types of pastiche at the level of both composition (e.g. harmonic/melodic language) and sound-world (instrumentation/arrangement) may add greater depth and nuance to the characters and narratives of the musicals.

This article discusses the functions of continuous processes in contemporary electronic dance music (EDM), providing an analytical framework for discussing their structural and aesthetic roles in this repertoire. Continuous processes are musical gestures with continuous changes to musical parameters, rather than discrete, "step-by-step" ones. Examples include pitch slides (glissandos), crescendos, fade ins, accelerandos, and filter sweeps. Continuous processes in this repertoire are created with "continuous controllers" such as sliders and knobs, or are programmed into tracks with "automation curves." Functionally, continuous processes often provide sonic instructions for dancers. They can be used by creators at strategic times to provide ornamentation, orientation (often accompanied by intensification or de-intensification), or disorientation (usually in breakdown sections). This article adds to existing analytical scholarship by drawing a ention to the many roles of continuous processes in EDM, and showing how they contribute to the emotional waves experienced when listening to this music.

In both fields of his creative activity, music and architecture, Iannis Xenakis appears to have used sometimes identical concepts. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the way Xenakis elaborated links between both areas: is it a pure ubiquity of the same poietical principle or rather a transfer of a genuine concept of a field to another where it is heterogeneous and totally new? Studying the connections of contemporary works as Metastasis and Couvent de la Tourette, two main principles appear as ubiquitous in both works: the use of permutations and the construction of a proportional system in spatial and temporal dimensions. On the other hand, Metastasis’ glissandi and the Philips Pavilion’s hyperbolic paraboloids, which show up Xenakis’ interest for continuous phenomena, are a matter of transfer and present noticeable perceptual differences from a field to another. Xenakis finally melted both spatial and temporal dimensions in the
« sound cinematic » he elaborated in either electroacoustical and instrumental music in the sixties and seventies. In Persephassa and Windungen, emblematic examples of this cinematic, sound speed in space appears as a new compositional parameter.

‘Music’ is the sum of vibrations created by an intelligence. ‘Theory’ is the evaluation of the bonds between these vibrations.

This book proposes a new theoretical model, Tritonet, that provides a unique approach to music theory by reintroducing the ‘Circle of Fifths’. It offers additional components that turn the circle into a musical calculator, which can be used to construct musical structures visually.

Inspired by a three thousand year-old tablet, the book pays homage to past and present music, while looking towards the future with ‘ResTens’ (modular voice leading) and ‘Cyclic Music’ (tonality cycles).

Complete transcription and reconstruction of the canon a13 for Christ and his Twelve Disciples on the Apostles Creed. This piece is found in both the Eton Choirbook and the Baldwin Manuscript. This edition contained both the fully realized canon as well as a modern reconstruction of the original monophonic version of the canon, as found in the manuscripts.

For a recording with a score animation see the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBu66rLAv7I

Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss
Contrary to popular readings of music history, this essay posits an affinity between Helmut Lachenmann and Richard Strauss based on the kinship of their basic aesthetic stances across stylistic boundaries. Using a comparative analysis of the opening scenes from the operas Elektra and Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, the author examines similarities of structural and sonic approach in the categories of syntax, ideal of transformative sound, virtuosity, compositional rigour, economy of means and form, arriving at the conclusion that while the richness and beauty of Strauss’s orchestral sound are transformed into a very different sonic world in Lachenmann, they lose none of their significance as ideals nonetheless.

This essay examines not only the transformative process from the literary source (Kabale und Liebe) to the operatic realization (Luisa Miller), but also the compositional and dramaturgical strategies that reveal a new aesthetic perspective in Verdi's opera. ln the first part, the role and function of 'offstage music' is analysed with particular attention to its ,spatial, implications. ln the second part, it is argued that Luisa's prayers in the most crucial moments of the opera as well as her gestural and mimetic reactions can be interpreted as a kind of inability or difficulty of verbal expression: this is a sign of the social stratification of the characters of the drama, but also reflects Luisa's attitude towards life and thus, in essence, the inevitability of the tragedy.
Finally, this essay aims to demonstrate that the musical and aesthetic solutions developed by Verdi and Cammarano were used to define an intense and claustrophobic dramaturgy that explores Luisa's psychology, blurring the boundaries between onstage, visual, verbal, and musical aspects.

Felix Mendelssohn and Paul Hindemith, composing about one hundred years apart, integrated visual elements, including drawings and illustrated notations, into musical manuscripts they designed as gifts for women they admired. The two documents, illustrating Mendelssohn’s Schilflied (1842) and Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis (1942), are strong declarations of compositional and artistic ideology. This article examines the scores as reflecting, respectively, aspects of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century conceptions of musical composition and form, and their relation to visual media.

NB: Translated by Farshad Moshfeghi for Iran's Music Report Magazine (2012)

Artículo incluido en el libro "Interpretación pianística: Estudios para la formación integral del pianista" publicado por el Cuerpo Académico de Interpretación y Ciencias de la Música, Universidad de Guanajuato / Itaca, ISBN 978-607-441-390-8