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Dvořák and Subordinate Theme Closure“Positive” Analytic Results for a “Negative” Approach to Romantic Form

Dvořák and Subordinate Theme Closure“Positive” Analytic Results for a “Negative” Approach to... Form theorists have shown increasing interest in applying the methodologies of Caplin and of Hepokoski and Darcy to sonata forms of the nineteenth century. Many of these efforts proceed under the assumption that late eighteenth-century norms continued to influence Romantic sonata form even in the face of nineteenth-century innovations. Vande Moortele contrasts this “negative” approach to an as-yet-unrealized “positive” theory that would derive its concepts directly from nineteenth-century music. A multipart strategy interrogates the positive methodology championed by Vande Moortele and such like-minded theorists as Horton and Wingfield. Examination of Horton’s recent analysis of Brahms’s First Symphony reveals the unacknowledged presence of classical norms casting a “negative” light—although an essential and beneficial one—on his presumably “positive” methodology. A corpus study of subordinate theme closure in Dvořák’s mature chamber music responds both to Horton’s interest in asynchrony between formal design and tonal structure and to his and Vande Moortele’s calls for expanding the range of composers included in these endeavors. Attention to a less studied composer betrays the persistent gravitational pull of classical conventions, in contrast to Horton’s and Vande Moortele’s argument that a Romantic-centered corpus would tend to diminish that pull. Detailed analyses of select Dvořák movements focus on subordinate theme closure but also embrace broader concerns, such as form-functional contrast among P, S, C, and coda; characteristics that signal end-of-the-beginning versus end-of-the-end functions for cadences; the interaction of tonal pairing and formal design; and Dvořák’s recapitulatory reinterpretations of his expositional strategies. The analyses illustrate limitations of corpus study as contrasted with close reading of individual movements. The close readings underscore the need to engage both circumpolar norms and progressive linear developments, even in music written in the last decades of the nineteenth century. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Music Theory Duke University Press

Dvořák and Subordinate Theme Closure“Positive” Analytic Results for a “Negative” Approach to Romantic Form

Smith, Peter H.
Journal of Music Theory , Volume 64 (2) – Oct 1, 2020
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Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Yale University
ISSN
0022-2909
eISSN
1941-7497
DOI
10.1215/00222909-8550783
Publisher site
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Abstract

Form theorists have shown increasing interest in applying the methodologies of Caplin and of Hepokoski and Darcy to sonata forms of the nineteenth century. Many of these efforts proceed under the assumption that late eighteenth-century norms continued to influence Romantic sonata form even in the face of nineteenth-century innovations. Vande Moortele contrasts this “negative” approach to an as-yet-unrealized “positive” theory that would derive its concepts directly from nineteenth-century music. A multipart strategy interrogates the positive methodology championed by Vande Moortele and such like-minded theorists as Horton and Wingfield. Examination of Horton’s recent analysis of Brahms’s First Symphony reveals the unacknowledged presence of classical norms casting a “negative” light—although an essential and beneficial one—on his presumably “positive” methodology. A corpus study of subordinate theme closure in Dvořák’s mature chamber music responds both to Horton’s interest in asynchrony between formal design and tonal structure and to his and Vande Moortele’s calls for expanding the range of composers included in these endeavors. Attention to a less studied composer betrays the persistent gravitational pull of classical conventions, in contrast to Horton’s and Vande Moortele’s argument that a Romantic-centered corpus would tend to diminish that pull. Detailed analyses of select Dvořák movements focus on subordinate theme closure but also embrace broader concerns, such as form-functional contrast among P, S, C, and coda; characteristics that signal end-of-the-beginning versus end-of-the-end functions for cadences; the interaction of tonal pairing and formal design; and Dvořák’s recapitulatory reinterpretations of his expositional strategies. The analyses illustrate limitations of corpus study as contrasted with close reading of individual movements. The close readings underscore the need to engage both circumpolar norms and progressive linear developments, even in music written in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

Journal

Journal of Music Theory – Duke University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2020

References

  • An Analytical Study of the Sketches and Drafts
    Bailey Robert Bailey Robert
  • Romantic Ideas in a Classical Frame: The Sonata Forms of Dvořák
    Beveridge David
  • Dvořák and Brahms: A Chronicle, an Interpretation
    Beveridge David Beckerman Michael
  • Unraveling Schenker’s Concept of the Auxiliary Cadence
    Burstein L. Poundie
  • The ‘Expanded Cadential Progression’: A Category for the Analysis of Classical Form
    Caplin William E.
  • The Classical Cadence: Conceptions and Misconceptions
    Caplin William E.
  • What Are Formal Functions?
    Caplin William E. Bergé Pieter
  • Beyond the Classical Cadence: Thematic Closure in Early Romantic Music
    Caplin William E.
  • Rotational Form, Teleological Genesis, and Fantasy-Projection in the Slow Movement of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony
    Darcy Warren
  • From ‘Concertante Rondo’ to ‘Lyric Sonata’: A Commentary on Brahms’s Reception of Mozart
    Daverio John Brodbeck David
  • Dvořák, Antonín
    Döge Klaus
  • Some Eighteenth-Century Ritornello Scripts and Their Nineteenth-Century Revivals
    Galand Joel
  • Fiery-Pulsed Libertine or Domestic Hero? Strauss’s Don Juan Reinvestigated
    Hepokoski James Gilliam Bryan
  • Rotations, Sketches, and the Sixth Symphony
    Hepokoski James Murtomäki Veijo Jackson Timothy
  • Back and Forth from Egmont: Beethoven, Mozart, and the Nonre-solving Recapitulation
    Hepokoski James
  • Beethoven Reception: The Symphonic Tradition
    Hepokoski James Samson Jim
  • Monumentality and Formal Processes in the First Movement of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
    Hepokoski James Platt Heather Smith Peter H.
  • Sonata Theory, Secondary Themes, and Continuous Expositions: Dialogues with Form-Functional Theory
    Hepokoski James
  • John Field and the Alternative History of Concerto First-Movement Form
    Horton Julian
  • Criteria for a Theory of Nineteenth-Century Sonata Form
    Horton Julian
  • Johannes Brahms as Man, Teacher, and Artist,” translated by Susan Gillespie and Elisabeth Kaestner
    Jenner Gustav Frisch Walter Karnes Kevin
  • Harmony, Form, and Voice Leading in the Mature Works of Antonín Dvořák
    Partridge Daniel J.
  • Formal Fusion and Rotational Overlap in Sonata Forms from the Chamber Music of Brahms, Dvořák, Franck, and Grieg
    Reddick Carissa
  • The First Movement of Brahms’s Second Symphony: The Opening Theme and Its Consequences
    Schachter Carl
  • Cadential Processes: The Evaded Cadence and the ‘One More Time’ Technique
    Schmalfeldt Janet
  • Brahms the Progressive
    Schoenberg Arnold Stein Leonard Black Leo
  • Tonal Pairing and Monotonality in Instrumental Forms of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms
    Smith Peter H.
  • Form and the Large-Scale Connection: Motivic Harmony and the Expanded Type-1 Sonata in Dvořák’s Later Chamber Music
    Smith Peter H.
  • Continuous Exposition and Tonal Structure in Three Late Haydn Works
    Suurpää Lauri
  • ‘Breakout’ Themes in Classical Sonata Forms
    Swinkin Jeffrey
  • Modal Four-Note Pitch Collections in the Music of Dvořák’s American Period
    Taylor Benedict
  • In Search of Romantic Form
    Vande Moortele Steven
  • Beyond ‘Norms and Deformations’: Towards a Theory of Sonata Form as Reception History
    Wingfield Paul
  • Norm and Deformation in Mendelssohn’s Sonata Forms
    Wingfield Paul Horton Julian Grimes Nicole Mace Angela R.
  • An Analytical Study of the Sketches and Drafts
    Bailey Robert Bailey Robert
  • Romantic Ideas in a Classical Frame: The Sonata Forms of Dvořák
    Beveridge David
  • Dvořák and Brahms: A Chronicle, an Interpretation
    Beveridge David Beckerman Michael
  • Unraveling Schenker’s Concept of the Auxiliary Cadence
    Burstein L. Poundie
  • The ‘Expanded Cadential Progression’: A Category for the Analysis of Classical Form
    Caplin William E.
  • The Classical Cadence: Conceptions and Misconceptions
    Caplin William E.
  • What Are Formal Functions?
    Caplin William E. Bergé Pieter
  • Beyond the Classical Cadence: Thematic Closure in Early Romantic Music
    Caplin William E.
  • Rotational Form, Teleological Genesis, and Fantasy-Projection in the Slow Movement of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony
    Darcy Warren
  • From ‘Concertante Rondo’ to ‘Lyric Sonata’: A Commentary on Brahms’s Reception of Mozart
    Daverio John Brodbeck David
  • Dvořák, Antonín
    Döge Klaus
  • Some Eighteenth-Century Ritornello Scripts and Their Nineteenth-Century Revivals
    Galand Joel
  • Fiery-Pulsed Libertine or Domestic Hero? Strauss’s Don Juan Reinvestigated
    Hepokoski James Gilliam Bryan
  • Rotations, Sketches, and the Sixth Symphony
    Hepokoski James Murtomäki Veijo Jackson Timothy
  • Back and Forth from Egmont: Beethoven, Mozart, and the Nonre-solving Recapitulation
    Hepokoski James
  • Beethoven Reception: The Symphonic Tradition
    Hepokoski James Samson Jim
  • Monumentality and Formal Processes in the First Movement of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
    Hepokoski James Platt Heather Smith Peter H.
  • Sonata Theory, Secondary Themes, and Continuous Expositions: Dialogues with Form-Functional Theory
    Hepokoski James
  • John Field and the Alternative History of Concerto First-Movement Form
    Horton Julian
  • Criteria for a Theory of Nineteenth-Century Sonata Form
    Horton Julian
  • Johannes Brahms as Man, Teacher, and Artist,” translated by Susan Gillespie and Elisabeth Kaestner
    Jenner Gustav Frisch Walter Karnes Kevin
  • Harmony, Form, and Voice Leading in the Mature Works of Antonín Dvořák
    Partridge Daniel J.
  • Formal Fusion and Rotational Overlap in Sonata Forms from the Chamber Music of Brahms, Dvořák, Franck, and Grieg
    Reddick Carissa
  • The First Movement of Brahms’s Second Symphony: The Opening Theme and Its Consequences
    Schachter Carl
  • Cadential Processes: The Evaded Cadence and the ‘One More Time’ Technique
    Schmalfeldt Janet
  • Brahms the Progressive
    Schoenberg Arnold Stein Leonard Black Leo
  • Tonal Pairing and Monotonality in Instrumental Forms of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms
    Smith Peter H.
  • Form and the Large-Scale Connection: Motivic Harmony and the Expanded Type-1 Sonata in Dvořák’s Later Chamber Music
    Smith Peter H.
  • Continuous Exposition and Tonal Structure in Three Late Haydn Works
    Suurpää Lauri
  • ‘Breakout’ Themes in Classical Sonata Forms
    Swinkin Jeffrey
  • Modal Four-Note Pitch Collections in the Music of Dvořák’s American Period
    Taylor Benedict
  • In Search of Romantic Form
    Vande Moortele Steven
  • Beyond ‘Norms and Deformations’: Towards a Theory of Sonata Form as Reception History
    Wingfield Paul
  • Norm and Deformation in Mendelssohn’s Sonata Forms
    Wingfield Paul Horton Julian Grimes Nicole Mace Angela R.