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Thesis (M.M.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-67).

This thesis investigates the perceptual and cognitive reality of Schenkerian theory through a survey of relevant empirical research. It reviews existing Schenkerian-specific empirical research, examines general tonal research applicable to Schenkerian analysis, and proposes the possibility of an optimal empirical research method by which to explore the theory. It evaluates data dealing with musical instruction’s effect on perception. From this review, reasonable evidence for the perceptual reality of Schenkerian-style structural levels is found to exist. This thesis asserts that the perception of Schenkerian analytical structures is largely an unconscious process.

This dissertation on Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Op.43 is divided into four parts: 1) historical background and the state of the sources, 2) analysis, 3) semantic issues related to analysis (discourse), and 4) performance and analysis. The analytical study, which constitutes the main body of this research, demonstrates how Rachmaninoff organically produces the variations in relation to the theme, designs the large-scale tonal and formal organization, and unifies the theme and variations as a whole. The selected analytical approach is linear in orientation - that is, Schenkerian. In the course of the analysis, close attention is paid to motivic detail; the analytical chapter carefully examines how the tonal structure and motivic elements in the theme are transformed, repeated, concealed, and expanded throughout the variations. As documented by a study of the manuscripts, the analysis also facilitates insight into the genesis and structure of the Rhapsody. How Rachmaninoff develops his ideas through several notebooks - including sketches and drafts - is described. Later parts of the dissertation deal with programmatic aspects of the Rhapsody. Related to the composer's significant use of the Dies Irae melody, semantic issues concerning "love and death" are taken into account and closely related to the specific structure of the piece. Rachmaninoff's symphonic poem, The Isle of the Dead, is a work which bears some intriguing resemblances to the Rhapsody in its larger structure as well as its ideology. Therefore, an interpretation of this work is provided to show the special relationship between the two pieces. The last chapter presents a discussion of two recordings of the Rhapsody by Rachmaninoff and Moiseiwitsch made in 1934 and 1938 respectively. Comparing and contrasting the different interpretations of each variation in these two historical recordings, this concluding part of the study explores ways in which analysis can be realized through performance.

This dissertation raises problems with the methodology of Schenkerian analysis and attempts to find solutions. Balancing ideological critique, intellectual history, and musical analysis with criticisms of the theory itself, my aim is to argue that Schenker’s conception of his own theory—and in particular of his background Urlinie—has greatly restricted the analytical possibilities of his methodology, including how it is practiced today. Chapter 1 will introduce and summarize this argument as a whole, including some of my musical and philosophical priors. Chapter 2 will explore how Schenker’s assumptions about his theory fulfill what I will (following Nicholas Cook) characterize as a “retrospective prophecy,” which I argue is continuous with the motivated and circular reasoning that propped up Schenker’s problematic wider ideology. Chapter 3 introduces two ideas that combat this tendency and inform my own analyses: the “modified” approaches to Schenker (in the work of scholars like David Neumeyer) as well as “oscillation” between different analytical interpretations (as Marianne Kielian-Gilbert describes work like Joseph Dubiel’s). Chapter 4 attempts to bring these two together, and I argue that this opens the way to a greater degree of analytical possibility than has hitherto been realized. In short, I argue that contemporary Schenkerian analysis has remained too tied to Schenker’s original formulation, to the detriment of the theory, but that not many Schenkerians have appreciated this. Along with attempting to find solutions to my problems, then, I want to convince Schenkerians that there are problems here to be solved in the first place, by showing how the very things analysts find valuable about the theory can be improved through the incorporation of “modified” and/or “oscillatory” approaches.

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Beethoven's rich compositional language evokes unique problems that have fueled scholarly dialogue for many years. My analyses focus on two types of paradoxes as central compositional problems in some of Beethoven's symphonic pieces and piano sonatas. My readings of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 27 (Op. 90), Symphony No. 4 (Op. 60), and Symphony No. 8 (Op. 93) explore the nature and significance of paradoxical unresolved six-four chords and their impact on tonal structure. I consider formal-tonal paradoxes in Beethoven's Tempest Sonata (Op. 31, No. 2), Ninth Symphony (Op. 125), and Overture die Weihe des Hauses (Op. 124). Movements that evoke formal-tonal paradoxes retain the structural framework of a paradigmatic interrupted structure, but contain unique voice-leading features that superimpose an undivided structure on top of the "residual" interrupted structure. Carl Schachter's observations about "genuine double meaning" and his arguments about the interplay between design and tonal structure in "Either/Or" establish the foundation for my analytical approach to paradox. Timothy Jackson's reading of Brahms' "Immer leiser word meine Schlummer" (Op. 105, No. 2) and Stephen Slottow's "Von einem Kunstler: Shapes in the Clouds" both clarify the methodology employed here. My interpretation of paradox involves more than just a slight contradiction between two Schenkerian readings; it involves fundamentally opposed readings, that both result from valid, logical lines of analytical reasoning. In my view, paradoxes could be considered a central part of Beethoven's persona and philosophy. Beethoven's romantic endeavors and his relationships with mentors suggest that paradoxes might have been central to his bravura. Furthermore, Beethoven's familiarity with the politics of the French Revolution and Shakespearean literature suggest that paradoxes in some pieces (including the Ninth Symphony) could be metaphorical representations of his ideology. However, I do not attempt to explicitly link specific style features to extra-musical ideas. Modern Schenkerian scholars continue to expand and refine Schenker's formal-tonal models as well as his concept of interruption. In my view, by considering paradox as a focal compositional problem, we can better understand some of the formal-tonal issues and shifting allegiances in Beethoven's music and take another step beyond the rigidity of some paradigmatic formal-tonal prototypes.

Hymnus Paradisi (1938), a large-scale choral and orchestral work, is well-known as an elegiac masterpiece written by Herbert Howells in response to the sudden loss of his young son in 1935. The composition of this work, as noted by the composer himself and those close to him, successfully served as a means of working through his grief during the difficult years that followed Michael's death. In this dissertation, I provide linear analyses for Howells' Hymnus Paradisi as well as its predecessor, Howells' Requiem (1932), which was adapted and greatly expanded in the creation of Hymnus Paradisi. These analyses and accompanying explanations are intended to provide insight into the intricate contrapuntal style in which Howells writes, showing that an often complex musical surface is underpinned by traditional linear and harmonic patterns on the deeper structural levels. In addition to examining the middleground and background structural levels within each movement, I also demonstrate how Howells creates large-scale musical continuity and shapes the overall composition through the use of large-scale linear connections, shown through the meta-Ursatz (an Ursatz which extends across multiple movements creating multi-movement unity). Finally, in my interpretation of these analyses, I discuss specific motives in Hymnus Paradisi which, I hypothesize, musically represent the crisis of Michael's death. These motives are initially introduced in the "Preludio," composed out on multiple structural levels as Hymnus Paradisi unfolds, and, finally, I argue, are transformed as a representation of the process of healing, and ultimately, catharsis.

From 1831 to 1836, Victor Hugo and Louise Bertin collaborated on an opera titled La Esmeralda. For Hugo, it would be the only opera libretto he would ever write, a mere footnote to his collection of widely admired novels, plays, and poetry; for Bertin, however, it would become her most important work, yet seemingly destined to fade into obscurity like so many great pieces of art. Using Schenkerian analysis, this thesis uncovers the tonal and voice-leading structure of the first act of La Esmeralda. A study of this nature, which operates from the premise that forms as large and complex as opera can be examined in terms of a large-scale structure, is valuable because it sheds new light on the correlation of tonal structure and dramatic organization. Through these methods, Act I of La Esmeralda is read as a background progression from D major (with F# kopfton) to F major, composing-out an F#/F♮ dichotomy introduced in the overture. With reference to several musical-symbolic ideas - including the representation of virtue through the pitch F#, the key of Notre-dame's bells - it is shown how the musical structure of Act I expresses the Hugolian themes of fate and decay.

Orientador: Edson Sekeff Zampronha / Banca: Martha Herr / Banca: John Boudler / Resumo: O presente trabalho de mestrado tem como seu principal objetivo demonstrar que a aplicação de diferentes métodos analíticos a uma mesma obra e sua posterior comparação é uma metodologia eficaz para o estudo da linguagem musical, em particular de uma obra específica e que, através deste procedimento, informações de interesse teórico e interpretativo, que vão além da aplicação isolada de cada método, podem ser alcançadas. Para tanto, foi feita a análise de um movimento de grande duração inserido em uma obra extensa, composta pelo austríaco Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): a Sinfonia nº3. Sobre esta obra foram realizadas três análises: formal segundo Schoenberg e Rosen; motívica, segundo Réti; e schenkeriana, segundo Salzer.Os métodos foram comparados entre si, de modo a identificarem-se as convergências e divergências entre eles; com base nas divergências e convergências, foramindicadas possibilidades de leitura da obra. Ao final, estes resultados foram confrontados com gravações realizadas por grandes orquestras, tendo à frente regentes reconhecidos como grandes intérpretes da obra de Mahler, verifinco como foram solucionados os problemas de divergência analítica e observando, ainda, se as convergências podem ser confirmadas em suas interpretações. / Abstract: The present Master's Degree dissertation seeks to demonstrate that the utilization of different analytical methods to a single opus, and their posterior comparation, in an efficient method for the study of musical language, particularly of an specific opus, and that, through this procedure, information on theoretical and interpretative interest that go beyond the isolated utilization of each method can be reached. Therefore, three analysis of the first movement of Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony were made. The three analysis were; formal, according to Schoenberg and Rosen; motivic according to Réti; and schenkerian, according to Salzer. The methods were compared to each other so it would be possible to identify similarities and differences amont them. Then, based on these similarities and differences, possibilities of reading of the work were indicated. In the end, these results were confronted with recording made by great orchestras, conducted by great maestros well-known as great interpreters of Mahler's opus, verifying how the problems of analytical diffrences were resolved and observing as well if the similarities coud be confirmed in their interpretations. / Mestre