Completing Mahler’s Piano Quartet: A Study of Unfinished Music, Ethics, and Authenticities

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-178
Author(s):  
Isabella Spinelli
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Piano Quartet ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
A Minor ◽  
A Performance

Performers and scholars have argued for generations over what should be done with musical works that have been left incomplete by their composers. Though many attempts have been made to bring such works to completion, some scholars feel that these fragments should remain untouched because the pieces in question were left incomplete during the composer’s own career. With this debate in mind, I undertook a study and completion of Gustav Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor, a piece for which Mahler composed a complete first movement, Nicht zu schnell, and twenty-four bars of a second movement, Scherzo, when he was a student at the Vienna Conservatory. I began by analyzing Nicht zu schnell in order to understand Mahler’s treatment of motives, form, and harmony. In addition, I studied contemporary works by Schumann and Brahms. Based on my analyses, I then composed a completion of the Scherzo in a style that is, in my opinion, idiomatic of Mahler. After a performance of my completion, seventy percent of the audience responded with five on a scale of zero to six when asked in a survey how closely my Scherzo aligned with Nicht zu schnell. One hundred percent of the listeners ethically approved of the task of completing unfinished music. Adding to the discourse on musical completion, this paper addresses the musicological debate surrounding unfinished music, discusses my process of completing Mahler’s quartet, and assesses public reactions to the ethical issues, such as hubris, that often arise when an alternate composer completes an unfinished work.

Study, Copy, and Conquer

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Hedges Brown
Keyword(s):  
Chamber Music ◽  
String Quartet ◽  
Expressive Power ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Piano Works ◽  
Piano Quartet ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Critical Writings

Schumann's 1842 chamber music exemplifies a common theme in his critical writings, that to sustain a notable inherited tradition composers must not merely imitate the past but reinvent it anew. Yet Schumann's innovative practices have not been sufficiently acknowledged, partly because his instrumental repertory seemed conservative to critics of Schumann's day and beyond, especially when compared to his earlier experimental piano works and songs. This essay offers a revisionist perspective by exploring three chamber movements that recast sonata procedure in one of two complementary ways: either the tonic key monopolizes the exposition (as in the first movement of the Piano Quartet in E♭ major, op. 47), or a modulating main theme undercuts a definitive presence of the tonic key at the outset (as in the first movement of the String Quartet in A major, op. 41, no. 3, and the finale of the String Quartet in A minor, op. 41, no. 1). Viewed against conventional sonata practice, these chamber movements appear puzzling, perhaps even incoherent or awkward, since they thwart the tonal contrast of keys so characteristic of the form. Yet these unusual openings, and the compelling if surprising ramifications that they prompt, signal not compositional weakness but rather an effort to reinterpret the form as a way of strengthening its expressive power. My analyses also draw on other perspectives to illuminate these sonata forms. All three movements adopt a striking thematic idea or formal ploy that evokes a specific Beethovenian precedent; yet each movement also highlights Schumann’s creative distance from his predecessor by departing in notable ways from the conjured model. Aspects of Schumann’s sketches, especially those concerning changes made during the compositional process, also illuminate relevant analytical points. Finally, in the analysis of the finale of the A-minor quartet, I consider how Schumann’s evocation of Hungarian Gypsy music may be not merely incidental to but supportive of his reimagined sonata form. Ultimately, the perspectives offered here easily accommodate—even celebrate—Schumann’s idiosyncratic approach to sonata form. They also demonstrate that Schumann’s earlier experimental tendencies did not contradict his efforts in the early 1840s to further advance his inherited classical past.

scholarly journals Dohnányi und die Tradition Das Klavierquintett Nr. 2 es-Moll, op. 26 (1914)

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 301-308
Author(s):  
David Vondráček
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
Franz Schubert ◽  
Formal Concept ◽  
Antonin Dvorak ◽  
Piano Quintet ◽  
The Third ◽  
Piano Quartet ◽  
Double Function ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Symmetric Structures

Abstract Dohnányi's Second Piano Quintet in E-flat minor was written in 1914 and is less well-known than his first one dating from 1895. The composer has been called a traditionalist, so it is worth examining how tradition appears in this work. The outer movements of the three-movement-form are both elegiac and weighty. The beginning bears the key signature of E-flat major instead of minor, but the keys are changing rapidly as the piece progresses. This is reminiscent of Franz Schubert or of Antonín Dvořák, for instance in his Piano Quartet (op. 87) inspired by Brahms. The third movement's opening is a homage to Beethoven's late String Quartet in A Minor (op. 132). While the latter works on a sub-thematic level, Dohnányi presents an elaborated theme in fugal technique, which in 1914 was a more conservative approach than Beethoven's in 1825. For Dohnányi, the symmetric structures are not a way out of traditional tonality (unlike for Bartók, who also frequently used symmetries), but rather are a way of extending it. The formal concept is no less interesting. The recapitulation of the first movement's material within the third is evocative of the double-function form used by Franz Liszt. While Liszt conflated the traditional multi-movement form into a new one-movement form, Dohnányi – so to speak – concealed the characteristics of the new one-movement form inside a traditional three-movement form. Thus, one could ask if the accusations against Dohnányi for being a traditionalist are justified. Perhaps instead we should reconsider how traditionalism and modernity are situated in our own set of aesthetic values.

Writing the Unwritten: Morris Dance and the Study of Medieval Theatre

1997 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-95
Author(s):  
Claire Sponsler
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Elizabeth I ◽  
Medieval Theatre ◽  
Eyewitness Account ◽  
Set Up ◽  
A Minor ◽  
A Performance

During the course of her summer's progress in 1575, Elizabeth I spent nineteen days at Kenilworth, the Earl of Leicester's Castle in Warwickshire, where she was presented with various entertainments—including plays, fireworks, bear-baitings, water-pageants, acrobatic performances, and dancing—at a cost of over a thousand pounds a day, as part of what has been called “unquestionably sixteenth-century England's grandest and most extravagant party.” Robert Langham, a minor court functionary who wrote an eyewitness account of the party, describes a “lyvely morisdauns” that was featured in this festive show of fealty to the queen. According to Langham, the morris performed for Elizabeth was danced “acording too the auncient manner” and featured “six daunserz, Mawdmarion, and the fool.” The dance was part of a bride-ale procession made up of “lusty lads and bolld bachelarz of the parish” arranged two by two in “marciall order,” who preceded sixteen horsemen and the bridegroom; after the horsemen came the morris dance, followed by three “prety puzels” carrying spicecakes and leading the bride (“ill smellyng” and “ugly fooul ill favord”), who was accompanied by “too auncient parishionerz, honest toounsmen” and a dozen bridesmaids. The procession marched to the castle in the great court in which a quintain had been set up for feats of arms; when these games were concluded, a performance of the traditional Hock Tuesday play from nearby Coventry was enacted. Though these festivities were staged outside her window, apparently the queen did not see much of them because, Langham tells us, “her highnes behollding in the chamber delectabl dauncing indeed: and heerwith the great throng and unruliness of the peopl, waz cauz that this solemnitee of Brydeale and dauncing had not the full muster waz hoped for” (11. 722–26). Elizabeth asked that the Hocktide play be performed again for her on the following Tuesday; Langham does not mention whether or not the morris dance was also repeated for the queen's pleasure.

Modernising musical works involving Yamaha DX-based synthesis: a case study

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMIE BULLOCK ◽  
LAMBERTO COCCIOLI
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Live Electronics ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Live Music ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
Performance System ◽  
And Performance ◽  
A Performance

In this article we describe a new approach to performing musical works that use Yamaha DX7-based synthesis. We also present an implementation of this approach in a performance system for Madonna of Winter and Spring by Jonathan Harvey. The Integra Project, ‘A European Composition and Performance Environment for Sharing Live Music Technologies’ (a three year co-operation agreement part financed by the European Commission, ref. 2005-849), is introduced as framework for reducing the difficulties with modernising and preserving works that use live electronics.

scholarly journals Relativismo na Avaliação de Execuções Musicais

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (27) ◽  
pp. 121-134
Author(s):  
António Lopes ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Musical Performance ◽  
Personal Taste ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
The Many ◽  
Jerrold Levinson ◽  
A Performance

As in other domains of art, the assessment of performances or interpretations of musical works is largely considered as a matter of personal taste. In Evaluating Musical Performance, Jerrold Levinson argues that relativism, in this matter, depends on the many interests with which a performance can be faced, and, consequently, evaluated and assessed. My thesis in this article is that not all interests have the same importance and that there is a “purely musical” perspective that must prevail over the other interests. This way I try to diminish the so called relativism.

Why did some Danish counties introduce breast cancer screening and others not? An exploratory study of four selected counties

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (03) ◽  
pp. 326-332
Author(s):  
Kasper Hjulmann ◽  
Hindrik Vondeling ◽  
Mickael Bech
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Priority Setting ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
County Level ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
A Minor

Objectives:Of the fourteen counties and two municipalities that until recently were responsible for healthcare provision in Denmark, five introduced mammography screening (MS) programs. The objective of this research is to explain this decision-making variation and to gain insight into priority setting processes in health-care provision at the county level in Denmark.Methods:Literature on priority setting in health care was used to derive seven explanatory factors for comparing decision making on MS between four selected counties, of which two had implemented MS. The relative importance of each explanatory factor in each county was determined by analyzing policy documents, supplemented with interviews of selected stakeholders. The results were combined and compared at the county level.Results:Evidence of effectiveness of MS was considered satisfactory and ethical issues related to MS were perceived relatively unproblematic only in those counties that introduced MS. Lack of resources, that is, radiologists, was an additional important factor for counties not implementing MS. Local opinion leaders have played a stimulating role, whereas advisory policy documents at the central government level and even legislation have had a minor impact.Conclusions:The four counties have based their decision making on the introduction of MS on different combinations of a limited number of factors that have been differentially weighted. The pattern of relevant factors in both counties not introducing MS is rather similar. The study elucidates the role of complementary factors to evidence in decision making. Of interest, recent public sector reforms have resulted in the decision to have MS implemented nationwide.

scholarly journals Enescu’s Musical Language in Suite Impresii din copilărie [Impressions of Childhood]

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-95
Author(s):  
Cristina Șuteu
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Structure ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Chamber Symphony ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
Romanian Folklore ◽  
Violin And Piano ◽  
A Minor

AbstractThe musical language of George Enescu (1881-1955) is sprinkled with symbolic valences that carry the imprint of the Romanian musical culture. For more than half of a century (57 years), Enescu wrote musical works inspired by the folkloric tradition. Between the Romanian Poem, written when he was 16 (in 1897) and the Chamber Symphony, when he was 73 (in 1954), Enescu also composed: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 (A major), op. 11 (in 1901), Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 (D major), op. 11 (in 1902), Sonata for piano and violin No. 3, A minor (in 1926), Caprice Roumain, for violin and orchestra (in 1928), Orchestral Suite No. 3 (From the country), op. 27, D major (in 1938) and the programmatic suite Impresii din copilărie [Impressions of Childhood for violin and piano], op. 28 in D major (composed in 1940). The paper presents the temporal-spatial structure of the musical masterpiece which reveals a cyclical thinking based on a presentation of the exterior images, followed by the interior images and a return to the exterior. And by an extrapolation of meanings, I created an analogy with the stages of life: childhood, maturity and old age. This article also deals with elements of the musical language used by George Enescu in a manner that reveals a re-created Romanian folklore in a way which bears the imprint of personality and originality of the composer.

Little Secrets, Big Lies

2020 ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
Simiao Li-Sauerwine ◽  
Diane L. Gorgas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Acute Leukemia ◽  
Emergency Care ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
Parental Consent ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
National Organizations ◽  
A Minor

This chapter addresses the ethical issues surrounding provision of emergency care to minor patients. The highlighted case illustrates a scenario in which a 12-year-old boy is diagnosed with acute leukemia. Recommendations by national organizations are reviewed regarding care of minors. First discussed is the concept of assent by a minor that acknowledges the decision-making abilities and rights of the child, tailored to an appropriate developmental level. This is in juxtaposition to the concept of parental dissent, which also is addressed. Finally, the focus is on care of minors in special situations, including the ethics of emergent conditions when care without parental consent is necessary. Additionally, criteria for emancipated minor and mature minor designations are reviewed.

scholarly journals An Ontological Justification for Contextual Authenticity

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caterina Moruzzi
Keyword(s):  
Musical Performance ◽  
Stable Set ◽  
Stage Theory ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
Natural Outcome ◽  
A Performance

Abstract In this paper I defend a contextualist interpretation of authenticity in musical performance: we judge a performance as authentic not in respect of a stable set of requirements but according to contextually determined factors. This solution is the natural outcome of an independently supported ontological account of musical works: Musical Stage Theory. The aim of the paper is to give new momentum to the debate concerning the notion of authenticity and to challenge a monistic interpretation of authenticity: there is not one authenticity but many.

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