musical narrative
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Mäetagused ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 91-120
Author(s):  
Karl Joosep Pihel ◽  

This article focuses on the narrative analysis of late-romantic instrumental music. Having adopted the structuralist-semiotic conception of musical narrative as proposed by Byron Almén (2008) as the transvaluation of an opposing hierarchy, and the concept of the musical topic as musical elements with specific stylistic-cultural associations, I analyse the expressive form of Heino Eller’s early symphonic poem “Symphonic Legend” (1923). Narrative logic was found to permeate the musical work despite its collage or suite-like form, as the composer introduces characteristic musical actors that re-appear in different musical contexts. These actors are largely distinguished by musical topics, the conventional stylistic associations related with their musical characteristics as Eller’s piece presents a wide synthesis of styles – from musical impressionism and expressionism to lyrical or chromatic late-romantic; and various topics, such as fantastic, ombra, apassionata, pianto, heroic, and pastoral. Further, I propose a layered narrative structure for the “Symphonic Legend”, as the jarring and abrupt changes in musical material, affect and topic between different movements of the piece suggest shifts in the level of musical discourse and a framed narrative, as proposed by Hatten (1994). The primary order-imposing hierarchy is identified as the pastoral-impressionist topic that acts as the introduction and coda to the entire piece while the transgressive hierarchy is carried by antagonistic musical material associated with fantastical and dysphoric topics (whole-tone scale, chromaticism, fanfare-like brass and ombra) and with the main theme-actor of the piece (a theme strongly resembling the main theme of the first part of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherezade”). While the pastoral beginning and end of the piece (1st and 11th sections) suggest a narrative trajectory of a romance or “the victory of the order-imposing hierarchy over the transgression”, the abrupt shifts that occur between those sections and the middle-sections of the piece suggest that these take place at a different level of discourse, placing the narrative weight in sections 2–10, where the primary conflict seems to be between the antagonistic material and the theme-actor. In the middle sections Eller seems to problematize the typical narrative trajectory of dysphoric to euphoric in 19th-century symphonic poems, as the theme-actor’s heroic apotheosis in the 9th section is undermined by its reprise in section 10 and ultimate inability to be united with the order-imposing hierarchy in the coda, suggesting an ironic narrative. This reading is hopefully the first of many narrative analyses of Eller’s and other Estonian composers’ unique late-romantic and early modern symphonic poems.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Skierka

<p>The presented thesis is an examination of the mythology and literary narrative that is present within the two orchestral tone poems of Bedřich Smetana, Tábor and Blaník, and how ideas pertaining to the examination of Smetana’s compositions may be applied to my own compositional output. In my research, I propose potential source materials, and have a brief discussion about how literary narrative may be applied to musical narrative, particularly with compositions of the 19th century. In the analysis of Tábor and Blaník, I examine Smetana’s use of the chorale Kdož jsú Boží bojovníci and how he utilizes this chorale as the compositional foundation of both pieces, as well as looking at the musical elements and structure that combine to suggest narrative function being present within both compositions.  The latter portion of my thesis contains an analysis of the compositions that I wrote throughout the course of my study that were inspired by, or were direct reflections of, issues and ideas that came up during the course of my research. All of my own compositions presented are based on ideas of mythology and the presence of a literary narrative. Accompanying this analysis, are copies of the scores of my compositions.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Skierka

<p>The presented thesis is an examination of the mythology and literary narrative that is present within the two orchestral tone poems of Bedřich Smetana, Tábor and Blaník, and how ideas pertaining to the examination of Smetana’s compositions may be applied to my own compositional output. In my research, I propose potential source materials, and have a brief discussion about how literary narrative may be applied to musical narrative, particularly with compositions of the 19th century. In the analysis of Tábor and Blaník, I examine Smetana’s use of the chorale Kdož jsú Boží bojovníci and how he utilizes this chorale as the compositional foundation of both pieces, as well as looking at the musical elements and structure that combine to suggest narrative function being present within both compositions.  The latter portion of my thesis contains an analysis of the compositions that I wrote throughout the course of my study that were inspired by, or were direct reflections of, issues and ideas that came up during the course of my research. All of my own compositions presented are based on ideas of mythology and the presence of a literary narrative. Accompanying this analysis, are copies of the scores of my compositions.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-27
Author(s):  
Thea Buckley

Through the verve and beauty of V. Sambasivan’s (1929–97) recitals for Kerala’s kathaprasangam temple art form, performed solo onstage to harmonium accompaniment, Shakespeare’s Othello has become a lasting part of cultural memory. The veteran storyteller’s energetic Malayalam-language Othello lingers in a YouTube recording, an hour-long musical narrative that sticks faithfully to the bones of Shakespeare’s tragedy while fleshing it out with colourful colloquial songs, verse, dialogue and commentary. Sambasivan consciously indigenized Shakespeare, lending local appeal through familiar stock characters and poetic metaphor. Othello’s ‘moonless night’ or ‘amavasi’ is made bright by Desdemona’s ‘full moon’ or ‘purnima’; Cassio’s lover Bianca is renamed Vasavadatta, after poet Kumaran Asan’s lovelorn courtesan-heroine. Crucially, Sambasivan’s populist introduction of Othello through kathaprasangam marks a progressive phase where Marxism, rather than colonialism, facilitated India’s assimilation of Shakespeare. As part of Kerala’s communist anti-caste movement and mass literacy drive, Sambasivan used the devotional art form to adapt secular world classics into Malayalam, presenting these before thousands of people at venues both sacred and secular. In this article, I interview his son Professor Vasanthakumar Sambasivan, who carries on the family kathaprasangam tradition, as he recalls how his father’s adaptation represents both an artistic and sociopolitical intervention, via Shakespeare.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Logan Imans

This paper explores Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata (1919) through the experience of a lesbian relationship—a relationship that extends from the Sonata as experienced by a violist and scholar, to Clarke herself as a performer and composer. Inspired by the work of Suzanne Cusick, I examine the musical elements of the Viola Sonata that invite and enable a lesbian relationship in the music. Such elements include existence outside the phallic economy, porous ego boundaries, and a fluid positioning within the power/pleasure/intimacy triad. A central theme of Clarke’s compositional style is embodiment, which furthers the potential for a lesbian experience of the Viola Sonata through “body-aware” and performer-centric techniques. The poetic inscription for the Sonata, lines from Alfred de Musset’s “La nuit de mai,” serves to further construct a musical narrative of embodiment through the relationship of Poet and Muse. Without claiming that Clarke was a lesbian, this paper sheds light on the Viola Sonata by considering the relationships between performer, composer, and listener in a lesbian musical analysis.


2021 ◽  
pp. 165-182
Author(s):  
Brent Auerbach

Chapter 5.5 serves as the first of two Interludes addressing musical narrative. Following from the original proposition that motives must move and move readers, narrative is established as a necessary mechanism for structuring complete, meaningful analyses. The chapter first rehearses the argument that untexted music implicitly possesses narrative qualities. Evidentiary support is taken from seminal works both from literary theory (Propp, Frye, Liszka) and from the fields of musical semiotics and narrative (Nattiez, Hatten, McClary, Guck, Newcomb, Maus, Schmalfeldt, Almén, and Klein). The interlude continues by presenting four “archetypes” for organizing and animating (ascribing motion to) motivic findings. The first archetype, called BMA-1, communicates the progress of a single motive. The other three archetypes, all forms of BMA-2, model multiple motives or motivic elements in dialogue. The possible interactions are “Non-Engagement,” “Synthesis,” and “Triumph.” The BMA archetypes are demonstrated through discussion of works by Beethoven and Chopin.


2021 ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
Vincent Meelberg
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
pp. 89-167
Author(s):  
Joel Lester

Chapter 3 studies in detail the first movements of Brahms’s three violin sonatas. Each first movement is cast in sonata form—the most exalted structure of the Classical Era. But Brahms did not fill a “sonata-form mold” with formulaic music. Just like his great predecessors whose music he so dearly loved and esteemed, Brahms adapted the outer aspects of the form and the contents of each section to express that movement’s unique musical narrative. The discussions of each movement explore the traits they all share as well as their individual Romantic features. The A-major Sonata’s first movement also provides an opportunity to explore musical allusions to other pieces and how that might affect our interpretations—both as performers and analysts.


2020 ◽  
pp. 9-37
Author(s):  
Thomas Grey

The last of Felix Mendelssohn’s series of popular and influential concert overtures, the Overture to the Tale of the Fair Melusina of 1835 remains the least familiar of these works. It is also the most unusual with regard to formal design in its purposeful confounding of introduction and sonata-form elements alongside the dialogic relation of clearly gendered thematic materials. Such calculated ‘deformation’ of classic and early Romantic sonata form has been understood as a means of generating a kind of musical-narrative content, though the precise relation of formal experiment to such narrative content has remained elusive. This chapter reconsiders the problematic relation of experimental formal procedure to the narrative dimension and the role this may have played in the composer’s subsequent abandonment of the quasi-programmatic concert overture genre, despite his unparalleled artistic success in the field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Ofcarcik

Multiplot forms as described by Garrett (1980) provide a promising route of approach for analysts addressing complex musical works. Although originally developed from a study of Victorian fiction, these forms can also illuminate music, particularly when paired with Booker's (2006) list of seven basic plot types. In this article, I present a model analysis of multiplot musical narrative through an analysis of the finale of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in A-flat major, op. 110, as well as two other Beethoven works: the “Cavatina” from the String Quartet in B-flat major, op. 130, and the slow movement of the Fifth Symphony.


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