As is clear from the title, this thesis presents a comparison of Schenkerian
and Ciceronian principles. The thesis will focus mainly on the characteristics of
the creative process essential for producing a sublime and intellectual work.
Admittedly comparing a Roman lawyer/philosopher (Cicero) to a 20th century
musician/theorist (Schenker) will bring forth many obstacles and will suffer from
numerous imperfections. Stressing the commonalties between two men of time
frames too far apart is an arduous task. I found it most helpful to go about this
problem through three stages: first, by presenting an overview of the lives,
historical circumstances, and careers of the two mentioned figures; second, by
presenting a basic comparison of the two branches of thought; and third, by
dealing with some of the more complicated philosophical issues for a better
understanding of the two doctrines.
Since many of the Schenkerian and Ciceronian principles are heavily
rooted in Platonism, an overview of Plato's theory of 'forms and ideas' is
presented to guide the reader toward a better grasp of the concepts. The reader
may, however, be uncertain regarding the objective of this thesis: is this a
comparison of the two philosophies or an evaluation of them? Of course, in order
to achieve a satisfactory comparison, one must first understand the two
philosophies; this demands an explicit analysis which, in my view, is a form of
evaluation. I have also shown and questioned some of the ambiguities of the two
philosophies without offering any solutions. This will perhaps help the reader to
understand the path I had to take in completing this thesis. I have included these
philosophical remarks in the endnotes. Furthermore, Schenkerian philosophy
reveals many other important influences other than Platonism; although not the
focus of this thesis, numerous references to great thinkers such as Nietzsche,
Spinoza, Hanslick, and Freud illustrate this point.
Much of the presented bibliographical material on the life of Cicero can be
found in the On the Commonwealth and On the Laws. Furthermore, Michael B.
Fuster's Masters of Political Thought has been used as a source of reference for a
great portion of the philosophical interpretations.
Much of what I have presented on Schenker and Schenkerian literature has
been gathered through my studies and conversations with Dr. Benjamin, my
advisor: the most reliable source with whom I am acquainted. This is perhaps the
reason for not including any other philosophical writings on Schenkerian
literature in the bibliography.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11866 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mansoori-Dara, Reva |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds