Music 707,
Section 1: Analysis in Relation to Performance; Spring, 2006, 3 credits
Dr. Paul Seitz, instructor; email:
ptseitz@pasty.net
Wednesdays, 5:00 to 7:30 p.m., HFA 212
Week 1 (January 18):
Review of fundamental issues in harmony and voice-leading, with reference to Species Counterpoint: role of ovarall musical goal, completeness of melodic gesture, in cantus firmi (and implications for the assumed goal of musical formal cognition), powerful role of the melodic half-step, eleborative issues in 2nd, 3rd species, role of meter in 4th species. Consider (with score and listening) Mozart's K. 309. movement 1. Discuss specific passages in terms of overall goal-directed motion based on close consideration of outer-voices and voice-leading. Discuss parallelism, recognition of motivic elements, role of change/contrast. Photocopy movement 1 of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and bring this to next class.
Week 2 (January 25):
Discussion of late 18th century descriptions of Sonata Form. Listen to several short movements with formal similarities (if only in micrcosm) to these descriptions: Mozart Menuetto I from Mozart K. 282 Sonata. Also third movement and first movement from K. 282. Discuss described preference for "motive" over "theme," and the distinct elements of a recognizable and distinctive motive. Discuss issues in the "expansion" of the sonata-allegro movement. Discuss article on Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, mvmt. 1, and "debatable" formal issues described therein. Assignment: Write a c. 2 page article, in a typed form ready to turn in, but also be prepared to present this short paper to the class (min of 5 min, max. of 10 minutes per student). Frame the debate in one of the issues raised in the NAWM2 article, and choose a side (even if you're not sure) and present arguments for this position. Possible debateable points include: #'s 2, 3 and 6. Read: Bathia Churgin Francesco Galeazzi's Description (1796) of Sonata Form. Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 21, No. 2. (Summer, 1968), pp. 181-199. Photocopy, and bring to next class, the first movement from Schubert’s G Major String Quartet, Op. 161, D. 887.
Week 3 (February 1):
Student 5-10 minute presentations on one of the "debatable" issues in the NAWM2 article discussed in Week 2. If time, begin consideration of Schubert’s G Major String Quartet, Op. 161, D. 887. Assign one of three articles appraoching analysis of Schubert quartet from different perspectives, for reports in next class.
Week 4 (February 8):
Students discuss ways in which the articles read changed, enriched, challenged, focused their initial analysis of the Schubert Quartet, D. 887. Students present brief description of research topic(s) each would like to pursue as a project, including some initial citations related to the topics. Discussion of the rhetorical implications of some specific Schenkerian-style diagrams with specific reference to the Schubert Quartet movement just analyzed. Begin group analysis of Brahms Op. 118, No. 2. Assignment: Send an email containing: A tentative topic for your large analysis project, including the name of the piece and the composer, a tentative abstract of the paper and at least three initial sources (as complete citations) that you will consult as you begin working on the project.
Week 5 (February 15):
Discussion of homework, including proposed analysis topics and sources. Demonstration of approaches to analysis of several kinds of pieces related to proposed analysis projects: choosing from among (tentatively) Debussy, "Des pas sur la neige," Bartok, "Song of the Harvest," John Adams, "Shaker Loops," and Josef Matthias Hauer, "Untitled Composition, 1952" or Schoenberg, "Minuet" from Suite for Piano, Op. 25.
Week 6 (February 22):
Student Analysis presentations
Week 7 (March 1):
Student Analysis presentations. Assignment: Readings on Jesef Matthias Hauer: In Groves Dictionary on line: "Josef Matthias Hauer", by Monika Lichtenfeld, and the following web pages: Hauer and the twelve-note music, follow all the links under the heading Explanations in detail and relating to the analysis of the short piano piece Deine Wellen umspielten mich (Your waves were playing around me), including the audio of a performance. On the basis of these reasdings/listenings, consider the handout score for Hauer's untitled piano piece (1952), and write a 1-2 page proposal describing a strategy for undertaking an analysis of the piece.
Week 8 (March 8):
Josef Matthias Hauer. Discussions of the analysis (in reading) of Hauer's Deine Wellen umspielten mich (Your waves were playing around me). Students' proposals for strategies for analyzing Hauer's untitled piano piece (1952). Demonstration of one approach to analysis of this piece. Assignment: Read (and create an abstract for) ONE of several articles analyzing short works by Anton Webern: (1) Hearings of Webern's "Bewegt", by Robert Snarrenberg, Perspectives of New Music © 1986, (2) Analysis Symposium: Webern, Orchestra Pieces (1913) Movement I ("Bewegt"), by Elaine Barkin, Journal of Music Theory © 1975, (3) The Structural Role of Complementation in Webern's "Orchestra Pieces (1913)", by Elizabeth West Marvin. Music Theory Spectrum © 1983. ALL READ (and create an abstract for): The Nature of Abstraction: Analysis and the Webern Myth, by Julian Johnson, Music Analysis, Vol. 17, No. 3. (Oct., 1998), pp. 267-280.
Week 9 (March 22):
Discussion of abstracts of the various approaches to analysis of Webern, and discussion of the implications of these very different choices as regards the Johnson article. Close look at the Webern, with all of these approaches in mind. Assignment (tentative): Read all of the following short articles concerning Morton Feldman: Morton Feldman: One Whose Reality Is Acoustic Author(s): Wilson Baldridge Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 21, No. 1/2. (Autumn, 1982 - Summer, 1983), pp. 112-113., Feldman on Wolff and Wolff on Feldman: Mutually Speaking Author(s): Nicola Walker Smith Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 142, No. 1876. (Autumn, 2001), pp. 24-27., A Response to Bohn Author(s): James Boros Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 32, No. 1. (Winter, 1994), pp. 226-227., The Sounds of the Sounds Themselves: Analyzing the Early Music of Morton Feldman Author(s): Catherine Costello Hirata Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 34, No. 1. (Winter, 1996), pp. 6-27., Reminiscences of a Twentieth-Century Pianist: An Interview with David Tudor Author(s): John Holzaepfel Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 3. (Autumn, 1994), pp. 626-636. For the handout score by Feldman, The Viola in My Life (3), discuss (1-2 pages) issues involved in contemplating an analysis of this piece, and how these issues pertain to your (imagined) preparation to perform it, taking into consideration all of the various approaches discussed in the last several weeks.
Week 10 (Match 29):
Discussion of the articles. Discussion of the issues related to potential analysis/interpretation of The Viola in My Life (3). Demostration of one approach at exploring this piece, analytically, including live performance of the work.
Week 11 (April 5):
Begin Presentations of Final Analysis Projects.
Week 12 (April 12):
Continue Presentations of Final Analysis Projects.
Week 13 (April 19):
Continue Presentations of Final Analysis Projects.
Week 14 (April 26):
Continue Presentations of Final Analysis Projects. Assignment for next week: Read the following three articles. Write five questions related to topics from the articles related to issues discussed in class or raised in your own research for this course -- for discussion in the May 3 class: "20th-Century Analysis and Mozart Performance" Carl Schachter in Early Music, Vol. 19, No. 4, Performing Mozart's Music I. (Nov., 1991), pp. 620-626. "Guest Editorial: Performance and Analysis of Music" Jonathan Dunsby in Music Analysis, Vol. 8, No. 1/2. (Mar. - Jul., 1989), pp. 5-20. "Performance Anxiety. Recent Developments in Its Analysis and Management", Andrew Steptoe in The Musical Times Vol. 123, No. 1674 (Aug., 1982), pp. 537-541.
Week 15 (May 3): Comprehensive discussion based on your prepared questions, as discussed in class.