Until recently, Schubert's sonata forms have been treated as the partially successful products of a classicist who often misunderstood his models. The development of sonata form in his early string quartets, though, raises serious questions about such a view. The quartets (ca. 1810 to 1816), constitute the composer's first concentrated work in large-scale instrumental music and include some of his earliest compositions in any genre. The first sonata-form movements all lack the most basic features of the structure, specifically a clearly delineated subordinate theme and subordinate key in the exposition. The evolution of Schubert's sonata form from 1810 to 1816 consists of an expansion to encompass such necessary tonal and thematic contrast. This process, however, does not lead to a close imitation of the Classical prototype but rather to a highly original reinterpretation of the form. By the end of 1814, many of the distinctive tendencies in his writing are already evident. These include (1) unusual modulatory strategies dependant upon tonal ambiguity and surprise, (2) the first signs of an intensely lyrical quality in the thematic material, (3) complementary, as opposed to derivative, thematic relationships, in which the musical discourse is divided between two contrasting motivic regions connected by underlying harmonic links and (4) a widespread allusiveness in his handling of harmony, which allows an initial harmonic event or "sensitive sonority" to become increasingly significant as the music proceeds. Ultimately Schubert's innovative approach to sonata form, while weakening the Classical attributes of clarity and conciseness, infuses a new atmosphere into the structure, making it the perfect vehicle for the expression of Romantic sentiment.

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Este trabalho irá discutir o emprego da forma sonata na música atonal da primeira metade do século XX a partir das análises das seguintes sonatas para piano: Opus No. 1 de Alban Berg, Opus 33a de Arnold Schoenberg e a Sonata 1942 de Cláudio Santoro. Em comum estas obras apresentam seu plano estrutural de forma sonata resultante de procedimentos composicionais desligados do sistema de funcionalidades do tonalismo. O objetivo será verificar como a forma sonata pode ser estruturada a partir de técnicas dodecafônicas, qual a relevância do uso desta forma clássica para a técnica empregada e através de quais procedimentos construtivos esta forma se faz possível dentro de uma linguagem atonal, já que se origina da realização da harmonia tonal tradicional. A pesquisa fundamenta-se em ferramentas analíticas e em corpo teórico desenvolvido na área musicológica nas últimas décadas, principalmente. Como conclusão irá apresentar os elementos composicionais e conceituais que conectam as obras entre si e com a tradição clássica da forma sonata, além de apontar para a ocorrência de técnicas composicionais importantes para o desenvolvimento da música a partir da primeira metade do século XX. / This thesis studies the use of Sonata form in the atonal music of the first half of the XXth Century, based in the analysis of the following Piano Sonatas: Alban Bergs Opus 1, Arnold Schoenbergs Op.33a e Claudio Santoros Sonata 1942. These works share procedures of developing structural plans similar to Sonata forms that use compositional procedures disconnected from the functions of the tonal system. Our main purpose will be to verify how a Sonata may be structured after dodecaphonic techniques. Other goals is to evaluate the relevance of the use of a classical form for the method of the dodecaphonic technique, and what are the developing procedures that allow this form to be employed in the atonal language, since it originated in close connection with the traditional tonal harmony. The research is based in analytical techniques and in the body of knowledge developed by recent musicological analysis. As a conclusion it presents the compositional and conceptual elements that connect the three works and also each of them with the classical tradition of the Sonata form. Besides that it points also to the use of compositional techniques important for the development of the musical language after the first half of the XXth Century.

In the summer of 2008, over two days, my wife and I hiked the Maligne Range (Skyline) trail, situated in the Canadian Rockies near Jasper, Alberta. The 45-km trail begins in a pine forest at Maligne Lake but soon rises above the tree line. From there it winds its way across two successively higher mountain passes. In between lies a sprawling meadow speckled with colourful flowers and criss-crossed by glacial creeks. At the halfway point, the trail switchbacks steeply to the very top of the range, a vantage point that affords spectacular views in all directions. But a storm set in just as we reached the peak. Unwilling to serve as lightning rods, we broke out into a run, finding shelter only as the trail drops off quickly on the other side of the range. The breathtaking views, ruggedness and diversity of terrain, whistling marmots and sense of isolation all left a strong impression on me. I was especially delighted to realize that the very topographical contour of the trail provides a basic plan for a large-scale sonata-form structure, one that builds up in waves of tension, culminating in a fierce storm at the top: the development. In a similar vein, after the stormy material subsides (as in Beethoven’s Sixth), the descent, recalling the ascent, but now abridged and in reverse order, serves as varied recapitulation. The result is a one-movement symphony in the tradition of Sibelius’s Seventh and Barber’s First. Essentially tonal, the harmonic language is enriched with polytonal accents, modal alterations, complex chords and the colouristic usage of collections and twelve-tone techniques. Polymetre, multi-stranded canons, metric modulation and controlled aleatoric techniques enliven the rhythmic plane. The work’s structure is organic, developed out of limited yet contrasting thematic material, with all programmatic elements assuming abstract structural roles. The symphony’s bright orchestration and rhythmic vitality is indebted to composers of the modern Russian school; its emotional sweep and extremes, to Shostakovich; the scoring and harmonic content of certain dissonant chords, to Varèse; and its sense of drama and breadth, to Beethoven and Sibelius.

In the summer of 2008, over two days, my wife and I hiked the Maligne Range (Skyline) trail, situated in the Canadian Rockies near Jasper, Alberta. The 45-km trail begins in a pine forest at Maligne Lake but soon rises above the tree line. From there it winds its way across two successively higher mountain passes. In between lies a sprawling meadow speckled with colourful flowers and criss-crossed by glacial creeks. At the halfway point, the trail switchbacks steeply to the very top of the range, a vantage point that affords spectacular views in all directions. But a storm set in just as we reached the peak. Unwilling to serve as lightning rods, we broke out into a run, finding shelter only as the trail drops off quickly on the other side of the range. The breathtaking views, ruggedness and diversity of terrain, whistling marmots and sense of isolation all left a strong impression on me. I was especially delighted to realize that the very topographical contour of the trail provides a basic plan for a large-scale sonata-form structure, one that builds up in waves of tension, culminating in a fierce storm at the top: the development. In a similar vein, after the stormy material subsides (as in Beethoven’s Sixth), the descent, recalling the ascent, but now abridged and in reverse order, serves as varied recapitulation. The result is a one-movement symphony in the tradition of Sibelius’s Seventh and Barber’s First. Essentially tonal, the harmonic language is enriched with polytonal accents, modal alterations, complex chords and the colouristic usage of collections and twelve-tone techniques. Polymetre, multi-stranded canons, metric modulation and controlled aleatoric techniques enliven the rhythmic plane. The work’s structure is organic, developed out of limited yet contrasting thematic material, with all programmatic elements assuming abstract structural roles. The symphony’s bright orchestration and rhythmic vitality is indebted to composers of the modern Russian school; its emotional sweep and extremes, to Shostakovich; the scoring and harmonic content of certain dissonant chords, to Varèse; and its sense of drama and breadth, to Beethoven and Sibelius.

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Many have noted nineteenth-century composers' tendency to undermine crucial formal boundaries normally found in eighteenth-century sonata forms. This dissertation examines phenomena that undermine the demarcation between the expositional secondary theme and closing section. In this document I refer to such events as "S-C Complications." In their Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata (2006), James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy argued that this point of articulation plays a much more crucial role than that of merely forming a boundary between S- and C-space. Rather, it serves as the goal for the entire expositional trajectory, a goal whose presence is felt from the very outset of the movement. The authors refer to this moment as "essential expositional closure," or EEC. In this dissertation I attempt to show what role EEC in Hepokoski and Darcy's sense plays in nineteenth-century movements featuring S-C Complications. I conclude that nineteenth-century composers were very likely aware of the EEC's genre-defining status since they consistently and systematically undermined it. Further, whereas in the late-eighteenth-century repertoire S-C complications were rarely employed, in the nineteenth century they became more normative, and thus non-deformational. In addition to discussing the phenomena's dialogic relationship with eighteenth-century norms, I also address their effect on tonal structure and formal syntax, concluding that S-C Complications frequently have the effect of expanding closure beyond the scope of one cadence. For practical reasons I have limited the scope of this study to non-concerto movements written primarily by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.

Thesis (M. Mus.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Music Theory, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Sept. 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 41). Also issued in print.

Thesis--Universität zu Köln, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references.

Scholars and performers have long wondered when and why Beethoven composed an alternative ending to his string quartet, Opus 130. The original, the Grosse Fuge, was an immense and heavy multi-sectioned fugal finale; the second was a much shorter and lighter hybrid sonata-rondo form finale. The second finale was the last substantial piece Beethoven composed and is reminiscent of earlier dance-like 2/4 Allegro finales composed by Beethoven, likely influenced by Haydn. This style is seemingly incongruous with our current understanding of Beethoven’s late style, centered around foreign harmonies and forms, with expansive thematic material. While research on this topic has been extensive, including studies in biography, source material, reception history, and harmonic and formal analysis, it has not led to a fully adequate understanding of this second finale. My study aims to provide a fresh understanding of this movement through the examination and evaluation of the later stages of its composition. The major sections of revision found in the composing score, Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, MS Autograph 19c, and the autograph fair copy, Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, MS Grasnick 10, are closely studied here for the first time. In order to highlight important steps in the creative process, I have selected four heavily revised areas from each of the sonata-form sections of this movement as shown in both manuscripts. My interpretation of these revisions is based on comparison to parallel sections in both manuscripts and the final version, as shown in transcriptions of these passages from the sketches along with accompanying images of the original pages. For each of these sections, I attempt to suggest the order in which Beethoven made his revisions, and I discuss their formal, thematic and harmonic implications. As a whole, these revisions reveal Beethoven’s concern for economical treatment of thematic material, especially motives from theme 1a, and a concern for playing upon the harmonic and formal expectations of his audience. The voicing of theme 2a in the exposition and recapitulation, and the voicing and texture of theme 1a in the development, the false and authentic recapitulations and the coda are analyzed in terms of momentum, sectional balance, texture, and dramatic tension. I suggest that further study of these sketches and related primary source material might help to revise our notion of Beethoven’s late style.