1 Intentional Actions: Identifying Musical Agents in Schubert s Piano Sonata in A, D. 959 John Peterson peter2jr@jmu.edu James Madison University SMT 2014 (Milwaukee, WI) Figure 1 Definitions of Musical Forces from Larson (2012) Force Definition Gravity The tendency of a note (heard as above a stable position ) to descend (85). Magnetism The tendency of an unstable note to move to the closest stable pitch, a tendency that grows stronger as we get closer to that goal (88). Inertia The tendency of a pattern of motion to continue in the same fashion, where the meaning of same depends on how that pattern is represented in musical memory (96). Category Gesture Unexpected Event Contradiction of Musical Forces Change of State Repetition/ Restatement Conflict Figure 2 Categories of Intentionality Definition A musical figure, lasting about two seconds or less, which consistently recurs in a recognizable form, and which is therefore marked as significant. A musical figure or passage that is marked by virtue of the fact that it somehow defies the listener s expectations. Motion in opposition to Steve Larson s musical forces: gravity, inertia, or magnetism. Occurs when some dimension of the music has been altered. Occurs when material is repeated either locally (repetition) or in a more large-scale sense (restatement) Occurs when two oppositional musical parameters are presented simultaneously such that competing ideas are suggested to the listener. Example 1 Gesture X (I, m. 1) Example 2 Gesture Y (I, m. 8) Figure 3 Foreground Graph of Schubert, Piano Sonata in A, D. 959/I, mm. 1 22 5-------- 6
2 Selected Bibliography Almén, Byron. A Theory of Musical Narrative. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. Baileyshea, Matthew. Teaching Agency and Narrative Analysis: The Chopin Preludes in E Minor and E Major. Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 25 (2011): 9 38. Cox, Arnie. Embodying Music: Principles of the Mimetic Hypothesis. Music Theory Online 17/2 (2011). http://www.mtosmt.org/ (accessed August 25th, 2013).. Hearing, Feeling, Grasping Gestures. In Music and Gesture, edited by Anthony Gritten and Elaine King, 45 60. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006. Cone, Edward T. Schubert s Unfinished Business. 19 th -Century Music 7/3 (1984): 222 232. Davidson, Donald. Essays on Actions and Events. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Fisk, Charles. Returning Cycles: Contexts for the Interpretation of Schubert s Impromptus and Last Sonatas. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Hatten, Robert. Musical Forces and Agential Energies: An Expansion of Steve Larson s Model. Music Theory Online 18/3 (Sept., 2012). http://www.mtosmt.org (accessed August 25 th, 2013).. Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.. Schubert the Progressive: The Role of Resonance and Gesture in the Piano Sonata in A, D. 959. Intégral 7 (1993): 38 81. Klein, Michael. Chopin s Fourth Ballade as Musical Narrative. MTS 26/1 (Spring 2004): 23 56. Klorman, Edward. Multiple Agency in Mozart s Chamber Music. Ph.D. diss., CUNY Graduate Center, 2013. Kraus, Joseph. Tonal Plan and Narrative Plot in Tchaikovsky s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor. Music Theory Spectrum 13/1 (1991): 21 47. Larson, Steve. Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012. Maus, Fred Everett. Music as Drama. MTS 10 (1988): 56 73. Mele, Alfred R. Introduction to The Philosophy of Action. Edited by Alfred R. Mele, 1-26. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Monahan, Seth. "Action and Agency Revisited. Journal of Music Theory 57/2 (2013): 321 371. Musolf, Gil Richard. Structure & Agency in Everyday Life: An Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Newcomb, Anthony. Action and Agency in Mahler s Ninth Symphony, Second Movement. In Music and Meaning. Edited by Jenefer Robinson, 131 153. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997. Rosen, Charles. Sonata Forms. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988. Wilson, George M. The Intentionality of Human Action. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989.
Figure 4 Narrative Summary of Schubert, Piano Sonata in A, D. 959 3 First Movement (sonata form) Agents introduced, idea of tension between agents established mm. 1 4: introduction of agents. Voice-Leading Agent (V-L Agent) interrupts hypermeter initiated by Gestural Agent. mm. 204 260 (recapitulation): In P zone of exposition, fundamental line descended from 5 3. In recapitulation, motion from 5 6 delays descent until after S begins. mm. 54 58 (S zone): V-L Agent covers descent from 5. mm. 83 85 (S zone): Gestural Agent regains control of piece Second Movement (ternary form) Tension continues mm. 1 8 (A): Gestural Agent begins movement with 3, V-L Agent leaps above gestural agent in m. 5. Note absence of gesture in m. 7 before it returns in m. 8. mm. 1 148 (A/B): V-L Agent reaches over Kopfton 3 in B section, moving from 6 to 5. Gestural Agent is largely absent in B section.
Figure 4 Continued 4 Third Movement (Scherzo and Trio) V-L Agent influences deeper structure mm. 1 16 (Scherzo): Gestural Agent begins phrase with X-related gesture in a sentential phrase structure that establishes A as tonic (mm. 1 4); V-L Agent intervenes, forcing the phrase to cadence in B minor (m. 8). mm. 80 83 (Trio): Gestural Agent returns at beginning of trio and remains present for its entirety. The trio s key (IV in A major) may have been influenced by the V-L Agent since it supports a large-scale 6 neighbors the scherzo s Kopfton 5 (see middleground graph of this movement in Figure 5). Fourth Movement (Sonata Rondo) V-L and Gestural Agents synthesized mm. 1 6 (=mm. 17 24; A section): V-L Agent appears in m. 9, but does not disrupt melody, which returns to 3. The passage continues in A major. m. 1 (A): Gestural Agent begins movement. Note that melody arpeggiates past 5 to 1 avoiding V-L Agent s intervention. mm. 168 220 (end of C): F major (VI) false recap understood as subordinate to C major (III); 5 6 5 motive buried in inner voice. mm. 375 382 (end of mvmt): Gestural Agent and V-L Agent are unified in a single motion.
Figure 5 Middleground Graphs of Schubert, Piano Sonata in A, D. 959 5 a. First Movement b. Second Movement
Figure 5 Continued 6 c. Third Movement d. Fourth Movement