Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The “Rebuff Chorus” In 1960–2000 Pop Music, David Heetderks

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

In some verse–prechorus–chorus (VPC) songs from 1960–1990, the prechorus sets up an expectation for tonic arrival, only to have the subsequent chorus reject this tonal implication and either withhold tonic resolution, abruptly change to a new key, or contain a passage whose relation to the previous one is tonally ambiguous. I call this event a “rebuff” chorus. Formal analysis and intertextual comparison show how rebuff choruses use absent-tonic passages or modulatory “breakout” passages in order to swerve away from the implications of the previous section. The formal device often transforms the expressive effect of the chorus from arrival and sincerity …

Review Of Coherence In New Music: Experience, Aesthetics, Analysis, By Mark Hutchinson. (New York, Ny: Routledge, 2016)., Orit Hilewicz

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

A review of Mark Hutchinson's book from 2016, Coherence in New Music: Experience, Aesthetics, Analysis.

Developing Variation In The Late Work Of Morton Gould And Why It Matters, J. Wesley Flinn

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

American composer Morton Gould (1913-1996) was remarkably consistent stylistically over the course of his compositional career; this project examines certain motivic transformational techniques used in two of his last works, Stringmusic (1993, winner of the Pulitzer Prize) and Remembrance Day (Soliloquy for a Passing Century) (1995). These techniques, which can generally be filed under the principle of developing variation, are: 1. Mirroring and reversal; 2. Rotation; 3. Motivic expansion and contraction; 4. Additive sets; and 5. Asymmetric injection. After an overview of each technique, I give a full analysis of the fourth movement of Stringmusic using the approaches described …

Intriguing Interpretation Of Dyads In Common-Practice Tonal Music, Yosef Goldenberg

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

The study offers a systematic exploration of situations in which dyads in common-practice tonal music change their meaning, when repeated or as pivots. The most common such situation is thirds that serve as either the upper or the lower pair of consonant triad members, most often with the tonic as one of the options. Sometimes, however, an implied harmony turns out to be dissonant. Occasionally, dyads other than thirds are also subject to reinterpretation. In exceptional circumstances, dyads do not imply complete harmonies.

The Early Schenkerians And The "Concept Of Tonality", John Koslovsky

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

This essay investigates the role that a single expression played during the years when Schenker’s ideas began to disseminate en masse, the so-called “concept of tonality.” In particular, it examines how three key Schenker disciples—Oswald Jonas, Felix Salzer, and Adele Katz—used the expression to promote his/her own vision of Schenkerian analysis and pedagogy during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. While considering the writings that gave birth to the expression, the essay also points to the common sources these early Schenkerians drew on in forming their narratives around Schenker, and it goes on to explore the divergent paths those narratives …

On The Slow Movement Of Brahms's F-Minor Clarinet Sonata: Thirds-Cycles, Diatonie, And Todesangst, Edward Klorman

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

The slow movement (Andante un poco adagio) of Brahms’s Sonata in F Minor for Piano and Clarinet, op. 120, no. 1, poses two significant challenges for a Schenkerian analysis: (1) pervasive, surface-level rhythmic displacements throughout the A section obscure the relationship between melody and bass; and (2) the B section is organized as a major-thirds cycle, a procedure that has often been regarded as incompatible with the underlying Diatonie of Schenker’s framework. This study develops two plausible interpretations of the ambiguous A section, of which one is selected for its clearer alignment of outer-voice counterpoint with formal function. …

Essays From The Fifth International Schenker Symposium (Part I), William M. Marvin

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Do It Again: Sequences In Gershwin And Kern’S Popular Songs, Maxwell Ramage

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Melodic sequences can create musical unity, enhance extra-musical drama, and make a piece memorable. In constructing their popular songs for Broadway and Hollywood, Gershwin and Kern both employed melodic sequences, but did so in mutually differing ways. This article opens with a broad-brushed comparison between the composers’ most popular songs and finds that Kern had a greater predilection for sequences than did Gershwin. Next, I closely analyze several songs by each composer in order to specify differences between the two songsmiths’ approaches to sequence. It is determined that Gershwin often reserves melodic sequence for musical climaxes, whereas Kern tends to …

Concise Manual Of Harmony, Intended For The Reading Of Spiritual Music In Russia (1874), Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, Liliya Shamazov (Ed. And Trans.)

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Preface To Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, Concise Manual Of Harmony, Intended For The Reading Of Spiritual Music In Russia (1874), Liliya Shamazov

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Connecting Analysis And Performance: A Case Study For Developing An Effective Approach, Annie Yih

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Although theorists and performers both engage in score study, we often say that performers “interpret” and theorists “analyze” because, in general, performers are more interested in interpreting the meaning of the music, which usually involves extracting and projecting the mood, character, or drama in the music, whereas theorists focus on understanding the structure of the music. Recognizing that there is need for connecting the practices of analysis and performance, the author suggests developing an effective approach to this concern. It is proposed that both theorists and performers understand structure as process, and that this particular process expresses the unfolding …

Russian Pitch-Class Set Analysis And The Music Of Webern, Philip A. Ewell

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Prompted by a live performance of Webern’s Op. 6 in Moscow, in 1965, brother and sister Yuri Kholopov and Valentina Kholopova began to analyze the music of Webern; from 1965 to 1970 they wrote two books thereon. Working from scores and a few writings by Europeans (i.e., Stockhausen, Pousseur, Metzger, Kolneder, and Karkoschka), Valentina Kholopova devised a system of pc set analysis, which Yuri later named “hemitonicism.” She first presented her findings to the Soviet “Union of Composers” in the early 1970s, and then published a follow-up article in 1973. In the present essay, the author explicates this important development …

John Harbison’S Use Of Music Of The Past In Three Selected Compositions, Peter Silberman

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

John Harbison’s music is rich in allusions to music of the past. Many of his compositions incorporate excerpts from pre-existing works or newly written passages in earlier styles, predominantly jazz. This article discusses the interaction of pre-existing and new music in three compositions by Harbison (Twilight Music, the Gatsby Etudes, and November 19, 1828), as well as three modes of borrowing used by Harbison (misreading, pastiche, and quotation). Each analysis examines how Harbison transforms pre-existing tonal material to create a post-tonal work, and shows that Harbison’s integration of tonal and post-tonal materials varies depending on the …

Modal Tonicization In Rock: The Special Case Of The Lydian Scale, Brett Clement

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

This article reexamines modal techniques in rock music, using the “problematic” Lydian mode as a test case. I argue that the Lydian scale plays a larger role in rock music than has been previously acknowledged, particularly in songs of the 1970s and ’80s. First, I outline a hierarchy of pitches and chords in the scale, which will aid in recognition of Lydian patterns in rock. Then, I address existing controversies surrounding Lydian interpretations of chord progressions, which will be viewed in light of three “tonal stability rules” necessary for convincing Lydian centricity. This will lead to a general theory of …

Classical Models, Sonata Theory, Equal Division Of The Octave And Two Nineteenth-Century Symphonic Movements: Comparing Analytical Approaches, Howard Cinnamon

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

The first movements of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Brahms’s Third Symphonies are examined from the perspective of earlier models of sonata form (those of Kollmann, Galeazzi, and Czerny). The author demonstrates how they adhere to the models in remarkably consistent ways, and shows how analyses based on the models can prove valuable in the study of a group of pieces with similar unconventional harmonic structures. Aspects of Hepokoski and Darcy’s Sonata Theory are incorporated in each case to show how its conclusions differ from—and how they might complement—those arrived at through the application of earlier models.

Table Of Contents, David Carson Berry

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Canonic Threads And Large-Scale Structure In Canons, Alan Gosman

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

This article introduces the concept of canonic threads: patterns made of alternating dux and comes notes, in which the notes are separated by the time interval of the canon. Canonic threads are developed using as focus pieces Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Schumann, op. 9. Both sets present a compendium of canonic threads, and demonstrate how threads can integrate a theme’s harmonic and phrase-structural constraints into a variation with strict canonic form. The article also considers various techniques that allow an underlying template of canonic threads to function over a wide range of …

Svetlana Kurbatskaya On Serial Music: Twelve Categories Of "Twelve-Toneness", Zachary Cairns

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Published in Moscow in 1996, Svetlana Kurbatskaya’s book Serial Music: Questions of History, Theory, Aesthetics (Seriynaya muzïka: voprosï istorii, teorii, estetiki) carries the interesting distinction of being the first Russian-language monograph devoted entirely to the study of serial music. In the second chapter, Kurbatskaya defines twelve different categories of what she calls “twelve-toneness” (dvenadtsatitonovost’). Considering this source alongside the Russian Musical Encyclopedic Dictionary (Muzïkal’nïy entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’), which includes different definitions for a number of terms that Western readers would generally consider to be essentially synonymous (i.e., serial music, serial technique, dodecaphony, twelve-tone music), one can begin to accept …

Disciplining Knowledge In Music Theory: Abstraction And The Recovery Of Dialectics, Karl D. Braunschweig

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

A critical rethinking of disciplinary tendencies in music theory reveals several important historical moments when the process of abstraction has reshaped aspects of tonal theory in profound ways, notably in the areas of counterpoint, harmony, and form. These moments of abstraction prioritize one musical feature over others, and frequently involve a discursive process of dissociation to solidify the legitimacy of the abstraction and resolve lingering logical contradictions. This often leads to a theoretical and historical distancing from the contexts in which certain practices emerged, and risks severing aesthetic connections between technique and meaning. The resulting imbalance in one or more …

Agency And The Adagio: Mimetic Engagement In Barber's Op. 11 Quartet, Matthew Baileyshea

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings (1936) is undoubtedly the most famous elegiac work of the twentieth-century. We know it from movies, television, and highly publicized memorial services. Yet the music was originally written as the second movement of Barber’s string quartet, op. 11, with a number of interesting connections to the outer movements. This article highlights several recurring gestures throughout op. 11 that suggest the will of an individual “agent” struggling against gravity and weight. It proposes a broad, multi-movement narrative that draws together the three movements with a special focus on mimetic engagement, leading-tone resolution, and the quest for …

In Memoriam Carl Kristian Wiens (1964-2012), David Carson Berry, Andrew Mead, Karl Braunschweig, Gregory Marion, David Sommerville

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Gamut Editors

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Review Of Foundations Of Diatonic Theory, By Timothy A. Johnson, Matthew Santa

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

No abstract provided.

Webern’S “Heavenly Journey” And Schoenberg’S Vagrant Chords, Matthew Shaftel

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

The five Dehmel Lieder (1906–08) act as a bridge in Anton Webern’s musical development. Along with the earliest of the fourteen George Lieder, they represent an initial exploration of a new musical style, while still maintaining substantive ties with the Romantic Lied of Webern’s predecessors. Because the five Dehmel settings are the only songs written by Webern under the direct tutelage of Arnold Schoenberg, they also provide unique insight into Schoenberg’s role as Webern’s teacher at this moment of stylistic shift. This article focuses particularly on the fair copy and sketches of the most extended of the Dehmel songs, …

Fauré, Through Boulanger, To Copland: The Nature Of Influence, Edward R. Phillips

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Using tonal and post-tonal analytical methods, this article examines two early songs of Aaron Copland and compares them with the music of Gabriel Fauré, in order to determine if the notion that the compositional techniques of the older composer had an influence on those of Copland is valid and worthy of further research.

This article is part of a special, serialized feature: A Music-Theoretical Matrix: Essays in Honor of Allen Forte (Part III).

Redating Schoenberg’S Announcement Of The Twelve-Tone Method: A Study Of Recollections, Fusako Hamao

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Arnold Schoenberg recalled that he gathered about twenty of his students in 1923, in order to announce his new compositional method based on twelve tones, which he had kept confidential for nearly two years. His reminiscences about this announcement appear several times in his writings, yet his reference to the date of the occasion varies from recollection to recollection. The reminiscences of his students are not consistent in this regard either, although “February 1923,” identified by Josef Polnauer, has been widely accepted as the date of the meeting. However, this date has become a point of debate in recent studies, …

Schenker’S First “Americanization”: George Wedge, The Institute Of Musical Art, And The “Appreciation Racket”, David Carson Berry

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

A quarter of a century ago, William Rothstein first spoke of the “Americanization of Heinrich Schenker,” meaning the accommodation that had to be made to bring his ideas into the American academy. The focus of this process has largely been on activities following the Second World War. However, the earliest attempt at Americanizing Schenker seems to have come from an American-born pedagogue who had not studied with Schenker or his pupils: George A. Wedge, a theory instructor at New York’s Institute of Musical Art (a precursor to The Juilliard School). He started teaching something about Schenker in his classrooms as …

The Marriage Of Note And Word In Two Songs By The Gershwins, Allen Forte

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

The author investigates various ways in which George Gershwin’s music and Ira Gershwin’s lyrics are ingeniously interconnected in two songs: “How Long Has This Been Going On?” (1927) and “Who Cares” (1931). The music’s melodies, motives, harmonies, and forms are tied to the lyrics’ rhymes, alliterations, and semantic meanings. The author demonstrates that the designs found in the songs are multi-directional: notes refer to other notes and words, and words refer to other words and notes; the relations are symmetrical.

This article is part of a special, serialized feature: A Music-Theoretical Matrix: Essays in Honor of Allen Forte (Part III) …

Multiply Directed Moments In A Brahms Song: “Schön War, Das Ich Dir Weihte” (Op. 95, No. 7), Melissa Hoag

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Brahms’s song “Schön war, das ich dir weihte,” op. 95/7, offers a melancholy setting of a brief text by Georg Friederich Daumer. Several melodic disjunctions figure prominently in Brahms’s setting of the poem; in treating these disjunctions, normative voice-leading expectations are thwarted in ways that never meet satisfactory resolutions. Around these violations are crystallized the central expressive issues of the song, involving ambiguities not only in the domain of melody, but also of harmony, phrase structure, and form; this web of ambiguity is termed a “multiply directed moment.” Other issues in the song include the discursive phrase structure in the …

Classical Models, Sonata Theory, And The First Movement Of Liszt’S Faust Symphony, Howard Cinnamon

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

Recent theories of sonata form compensate for a perceived overemphasis on harmonic structure during the latter half of the twentieth century by emphasizing thematic organization as the determining feature of formal function. The present study demonstrates how an analytical method based on earlier practice can be valuable in the analysis of one of Liszt’s most unconventional pieces, the first movement of the Faust Symphony. Initially, it considers “problematic” passages often thought to deviate from earlier conventions, and by offering alternative readings, it shows how they are actually consistent with those earlier practices. Once clarified, the movement’s large-scale tonal structure, and …