Music 261F: Introduction

Defining the Problem:

Beethoven Op. 111 (1821-22) vs. Ives First Sonata (1902-10)







  • Aesthetic-philosophical considerations:

    1.Changes in the social position of the public arts.

    2. Self-conscious application of traditional structures (e.g. "sonata form").

    3. Synchronic vs. diachronic notion of history (ref. Treitler article)).

    4. The self critical aspect of contemporary art (ref. Greenberg article).

    5. "Absolute music" as a standard (level of abstraction).

    

  • Technical and procedural considerations:

    1. Succession of harmonic event and hierarchy.

    2. Articulation and phrase structure (antecedent-consequent and its demise).

    3. Foreground considerations (melody-accompaniment).

    4. Changes in technical difficulties (ref. to historical instrument).

    5. Traditional compositional techniques: repetition, variation, sequence.

    6. Intervallic identity as a separate parameter from tonal contours as 
opposed to harmonic contours and figurations of the past.

    7. Metric pulse and the rhythmic-metric relationship

    8. Thematicism, itself.




    

    

    These topics will be explored in the first two classes in order to bring focus 
to the dialog and clarify what the course is about.

    

    

    

    Revised: January 10, 2000.