Romantic Periods

This article examines the transformation of the period in the early Romantic era. While in Classical periods the end of the antecedent phrase is harmonically closed off from the beginning of the consequent phrase, Romantic periods often join the end of the antecedent to the beginning of the consequent, creating an undivided progression. Voice-leading analyses illustrate three different means of joining the antecedent to the consequent: 1) by overlapping the two phrases, 2) by prolonging and resolving the antecedent’s closing dominant, and 3) by ending the antecedent on a predominant. All three procedures involve converting a dividing dominant into a progressive dominant.

Rules Are Made to Be Broken, or the Menuetto of Beethoven’s Op. 2, No. 1

A striking gesture appears at the climax of the first phrase of the Menuetto from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1. This motivic gesture, which may be understood as derived from manipulation of standard voice-leading procedures, has intriguing ramifications that deeply affect the structure and narrative of the entire movement. These features are explored with the aid of Schenkerian analytic procedures, and the analysis is then compared to an interpretation of this same movement by Heinrich Schenker.

Form and Style in Two of Percy Grainger’s Early Works for Military Band

Percy Grainger’s compositions during the early twentieth century represent a unique blend of traditional functional harmony and newer musical techniques. This blending produces a distinct compositional style associated with Grainger, featuring simple forms and textures, melodies inspired by traditional folk songs, extended tertian harmony, and an emphasis on voice leading. Grainger’s works often cross genres and explore various instrumentations and stylistic choices. This paper attempts to further define and explain Grainger’s style by analyzing two of his original works that were arranged for the military band setting, namely Children’s March: Over the Hills and Far Away and Colonial Song. Examining these two works through the lens of harmony, melody, form, texture, and rhythm reveals key aspects of Grainger’s early compositional style. Several stylistic choices were found to recur, including Grainger’s use of counterpoint, voice leading, descending chromaticism, specific patterns of articulations, and tension created by increased note density.

Harmony (Exercises 21–40)

This chapter focuses on sounds that occur simultaneously. The concept of harmony here is broad and has a far-reaching scope; it includes functional and non-functional harmonies, color, and any other approach to simultaneous sonorities. Exercise 21 suggests the implementation of voice leading as a constructive principle through stylistic imitation. Number 22, in which “melody becomes harmony,” proposes the harmonization of a melody using exclusively its pitch content. Exercise 23 incorporates symmetrical harmonies; 24 and 25 use the harmonic series to create harmonies. In 26 the harmonies are built around major and minor triads with pitches in common. Exercise 27 incorporates the use of integer notation; 28 uses scale degrees but not triads. The base of exercise 29 is the 12-tone row; 30 uses the concept of “circle” progression or harmonies that move around the circle of fifths; 31 and 32 incorporate harmonies that move in major and minor thirds; 33 and 34 discuss overlapping triads and polytonality; 35 provides an opportunity to work with pedal tones; 36 incorporates the church modes and 37 the use of clusters (i.e., harmonies based exclusively on minor a major seconds). Exercise 38 is based on harmonic sequences; 39 and 40 discuss implied harmonies and writing “contrafacts.”

A Theory for Parsimonious Voice-Leading Classes

This article introduces a theoretical-analytical model intended to address voice leading in popular music, considering specifically harmonic progressions characterized by dense chordal formations and smooth voicing connections, which is perfectly epitomized in Antonio Carlos Jobim's compositions. New concepts, typologies, preference rules, graphic representations, specific terminology/symbology, as well as an integrated analytical model provide the necessary foundation for the elaboration of a system of classes of parsimonious voice leading (PVL), which form the very core of the proposal. Some analytical application is provided in the last section of the article with the exam of five excerpts of Jobim’s compositions.