Music 281: Music Theory III Fall 2017 (T-Th, 9:30-10:45, Bixler 150) Steve Saunders Office: 235 Bixler Phone: x5677; email: sesaunde@colby.edu Class Web Site: http://www.colby.edu/music/saunders/mu281 Office Hours: M-W, 10:00-11:00 am (but feel free to drop in any time!) In the art of music, as in life, motion toward the goal encounters obstacles, reverses, disappointments, and involves great distances, detours, expansions, interpolations, and in short, retardations of every kind. Therein lies the source of all artistic delaying, from which the creative mind can derive content that is ever new. Heinrich Schenker, Der freie Satz [Schenkerian analysis] enables us to listen to a work musically, because by grasping the structural outline of a piece, we feel the full impact of its prolongations, which are the flesh and blood of a composition. The structural outline represents the fundamental motion toward the goal; it shows the shortest, the most direct way to the goal. The whole interest and tension of a piece consists in the expansions, modifications, detours and elaborations of this basic direction. Felix Salzer: Structural Hearning If analysis has been successful it leads to hearing that is incomparably clearer and more comprehensive than it had been before; it never leads to abstraction without sensory content. Carl Schachter, Unfoldings: Essays in Schenkerian Theory and Analysis Overview MU281 is devoted to advanced chromatic harmony and modulatory techniques, counterpoint, tonal analysis, and particularly to the theories of Heinrich Schenker, one of the most important theorists of tonal music. Now, a century after Schenker began to publish his ideas, his theories remain among the most powerful, elegant (and controversial) in the analysis of music. Even those who reject parts of Schenker s thought acknowledge the importance of many of his profoundly original insights, including the ideas of composing-out, prolongation, structural levels, harmonic degrees (or Stufen), melodic fluency, linear progressions, and middleground transformations. We will study some of Schenker s ideas about melody, harmony and counterpoint; his development of the idea of the Ursatz or fundamental structure; his analytical and graphing techniques; and recent developments in Schenker theory. 1
Textbook Purchases Allen Cadwallader and David Gagné, Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). Heinrich Schenker, Five Graphic Music Analyses, ed. Felix Salzer (New York: Dover Publications, 1969). Frederic Chopin, Preludes and Etudes (New York: Dover Publications, 1969). Attendance Class will be conducted seminar style, so you will have frequent presentations and analyses. I will take for granted your grasp of the readings, with the exception of a few of the difficult readings by Schenker himself, so our seminars will often involve extending or refining ideas that you should understand when you come to class. If you need help, let me know in advance, and I ll be happy to meet with you or answer shorter questions via e-mail. Because this is a seminar, regular class attendance is expected. There are no unexcused absences. Each unexcused absence lowers your class participation grade by 5% for the semester. You may have two excused absences for athletic events, illness, emergencies, etc. if you notify me in advance. Grading I. Four analysis projects = 50% of the semester grade The fourth project is weighted twice as much as projects #1-3. II. Two hour exams = 20% of the grade (10% each) III. Final project =30% of the grade (Details TBA) IV. Extra Credit: QQQs (Quick 1-Question Quizzes) There will be 8-10 unannounced QQQs that will require (and reward) careful preparation of the readings. They will typically involve explaining in your own words one of the key concepts from the reading. Grading is all or nothing ; if you get credit on the quiz by demonstrating your detailed mastery of the reading, you earn half a percent of extra credit on the semester grade. In other words, QQQs can boost your grade by up to 5%. 2
Music 281: Tentative Course Syllabus DATE TOPICS ASSIGNMENT (To be completed before each class) Th 9/7 Introduction: Thinking and Hearing, Schenker Style T 9/12 Schenker s Conception of Melody Read: Read Syllabus C/G, xi-xii; 3-4, 15-21 Pankhurst www.schenkerguide.com Freie Satz, v-vi Th 9/14 T 9/19 Th 9/21 Th 9/26 Th 10/28 In the Beginning Was the Consonance : 1 st Species Counterpoint and the Contrapuntal Framework Counterpoint II: 2 nd Species and Passing Tones in Schenkerian Theory Let this Triangle Be Sacred to Him! : Schenker s Bassbrechung and Its Elaborations The Chord vs. Harmony Distinction: Chord Prolongation Techniques Some Linear Techniques: Arpeggiation & Linear Progressions 3 Analysis: 5 mini-analyses (turn in photocopies) Read: C/G, 21-25 Forte, Intro, 41-43 Schenker, Freie Satz, pp. 4 and 9 Analysis: Counterpoint + Chopin f minor Nocturne Read: C/G, 26-29; 34-39 Counterpoint in Composition, 39-47 Schenker, Freie Satz, xxiii-xxiv Analysis: Ständchen + Chopin Etude 10/6 Read: C/G, 41-42; 113 Katz, Challenge, 10-17 Salzer, Structural Hearing,14-15 Freie Satz, 10-11; 14-16; 29-31 5 Graphic Analysis: C Maj. Prelude Analysis: Chopin Preludes in C and G Project 1: Schumann Analysis Due Read: C/G, 56-60; 68-73 Salzer, Structural Hearing, 16-17 Analysis: Ihr Gestirn + mini-analyses Read: C/G, 75-86 Free Composition, 43-45; 73 Analysis: Group presentations on Haydn + Beethoven Sonatas T 10/3 Tonal Structure and the Ursatz Read: C/G: 106-124 Schachter, Commentary, 125-27 Freie Satz, 31-32 Five Graphic Analyses, 32-33 Analysis: Mozart, Die kleine Spinnerin Th 10/5 Interruption at the Foreground Level Read: C/G, 116-20; 176-81 Free Composition, 36-39 ( 87-97) Free Composition, Figure 157 Five Graphic Analyses, 32 Analysis: Haydn Sonata Schubert, G-flat Impromptu
Th 10/10 T 10/12 Exam #1 Hi Neighbor!: Structural (and Local) NNs Read: C/G, 29-30; 97-99 SchenkerGuide, pp. 68-69 Free Composition, 42-3 Analysis: Mozart, Dalla sua pace Brahms, Weiche Gräser T 10/17 Fall Break: No Class Th 10/19 Analysis without Words: Schenker s Graphic Notation Read: C/G: 106=8; 384-401 5 Graphic Analyses, 13-17; 32-33 T 10/24 Middleground Transformations I: Initial Ascents, Unfolding, and Motion to/from Inner Voices Read: C/G: 127-139 Mitchell, Glossary, 260-64 Analysis: Beethoven, Op. 27, no. 1 (I, III) Th 10/26 T 10/31 Middleground Transformations II: Voice Exchange; Register Transfer, and Coupling Middleground Transformations III: More Registral Transformations Project #2: Mozart Vogelfänger Due Read: C/G: 139-46 Analysis: Mozart, K. 457, II Beethoven Sonata, Op. 27, 1 (II) Read: C/G: 147-56 Analysis: Mozart K. 333, II Schumann, Piano Quartet Th 11/2 Strategies for Complete Analyses Read C/G: 212-218 http://www.schenkerguide.com/schematic.html Analysis: Bach Flute Sonata in C, Minuet T 11/7 Th 11/9 Schenker on Modulation: Illusory Keys and Keys within Chords No Class T 11/14 Schenker s Theory of Form I: Structure vs. Prolongation Forms Th 11/16 T 11/21 Schenker s Theory of Form II: Sonata Form Chromaticism I: Applied Dominants and Deceptive Cadences Read: C/G, 55 Salzer, Structrual Hearing, 19-22 Analysis: Schubert Waltz in A Major Project #3: Chopin, Op. 9 #1 Due Monday 11/13 at noon Read: C/G: 116-20; 207-11; 358-65 Pankhurst, SchenkerGuide, 129-30 Freie Satz, 129-32 (( 301, 308-10) Analysis: excerpt IDs Read: C/G: 315-22; 365-73 Analysis: Mozart Sonata, K. 280, I Read: C/G: 48 Aldwell-Schacter, 472-76 Neumeyer/Guide, 25 Analysis: Schubert, Bb Impromptu Mendelssohn, Song w/o Words, 62/1 4
Nov. 22-26 Thanksgiving Break T 11/28 Chromaticism II: Phrygian 2 and Mixture Read: C/G: 156-61; 364-65 Freie Satz, 40-42 Analysis: Mozart, K. 570, Schubert, Am Meer Chopin, D-flat Prelude Th 11/30 Exam #2 T 12/5 Chromaticism III: Augmented 6 th Chords and Deceptive Cadences Read: C/G, 375-76 Aldwell/Schacter, 559-65 Analysis: Beethoven 32 Variations Schumann, Du bist wie eine Blume Th 12/7 Presentations of Final Projects Project #4 Due (Davidsbündlertänze, XIV) 5