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Inward, Outward, and Liminal Spaces in Beethoven

This dissertation builds on the common notion that Beethoven's music sounds inward by grounding this impression analytically. The chapters frame Beethoven's music in terms of inward, outward, and liminal spaces. Inward spaces are slow, lyrical, formally enclosed, and harmonically distant, and they often appear under the aura of what I call a "modulating trill" or a "diffused theme." Drawing on Schmalfeldt's references to inwardness, I describe outward spaces as inward moments that "radiate outward" and note that these restore tonal stability, lost thematic material, and bass notes that had once disappeared. Finally, liminal spaces are passages that quickly juxtapose inward and outward moments, and thus they seem to exist at the cusp between these two spaces. I examine how these passages evolve throughout entire pieces, typically withdrawing deeper within.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc2332610
Date05 1900
CreatorsZuno Fernández, Leonardo
ContributorsCubero, Diego, Heidlberger, Frank, Snyder, Beth
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
FormatText
RightsPublic, Zuno Fernández, Leonardo, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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