Synopses & Reviews
The first collection of its kind,
Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis includes twenty-two selections by highly esteemed contemporary music theorists, sixteen of which were written especially for this volume. Featuring work by such luminaries as Charles Burkhart, Edward T. Cone, Allen Forte, David B. Lewin, and Carl Schachter, the book is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate courses in form and analysis. It also serves as an invaluable reference for music teachers, students, and musicians.
Opening with an introduction to writing analytical essays, Engaging Music then presents introductory readings that describe analytical approaches to rhythm, meter, and phrase; pitch (twelve-tone music); form in jazz and rock music; and musical ambiguity. The following essays offer exemplary models of analysis that cover a wide range of composers, from the Baroque (Purcell and Bach) and the Classical (Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart) to the 19th-century (Brahms, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, and Wagner) and the early 20th-century (Bartók, Schoenberg and Webern). The selections explore a diversity of genres--from opera to music for computer-generated tape--and a variety of analytical approaches, from Schenkerian to feminist. The volume also includes analyses of popular music (from jazz to a Sarah MacLachlan song) and of a relatively recent work by Barbara Kolb. A comprehensive glossary defines terms and concepts that may be unfamiliar to students, and a selected bibliography suggests other appropriate readings. Reflecting the broad spectrum of current interests and perspectives in the field, Engaging Music provides a unique window into the multifaceted world of music theory and analysis.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction to Writing Analytical Essays, William Marvin
Part I. Introduction to Analytical Topics and Techniques
Rhythm, Meter, and Phrase
1. The Phrase Rhythm (and willful slurs) of Chopin's A-flat Mazurka, Op. 59, No. 2, Charles Burkhart
2. Hypermeter and Hypermetric Irregularity in the Songs of Josephine Lang, Harald Krebs
Pitch
3. Schenker's Conception of Musical Structure, Allen Forte
4. "Learn to Draw Bob Hope!" Mort Drucker, Arnold Schoenberg, and Twelve-Tone Music, Andrew Mead
Form
5. Analyzing the Unity within Contrast: Chic Corea's "Starlight", Ramon Satyendra
6. Form in Rock Music: A Primer, John Covach
Musical Ambiguity
7. Introduction to Musical Ambiguity, Deborah Stein
8. Attacking a Brahms Puzzle, Edward T. Cone
Part II. Model Essays: Text and Music
9. Figaro's Mistakes, David B. Lewin
10. Motive and Text in Four Schubert Songs, Carl Schachter
11. Isolde's Transfiguration in Words and Music, Patrick McCreless
12. Meaning in a Popular Song: The Representation of Masochistic Desire in Sarah McLachlan's "Ice", Lori Burns
13. In Search of Purcell's Dido, Janet Schmalfeldt
Part III. Model Essays: Instrumental
Performance and Analysis
14. The Presto from Bach's G-Minor Sonata for Violin Solo: Style, Rhythm, and Form in a Baroque Moto Perpetuo, Joel Lester
15. Dramatic Progression in Haydn, Sonata No. 46 in A-flat, Adagio, Marion A. Gluck
Form
16. Formal and Expressive Intensification in Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, Second Movement, Roger Graybill
17. Playing with Forms: Mozart's Rondo in D Major, K. 485, William Rothstein
Pitch
18. Two Post-tonal Analyses, Webern, "Wie bin ich froh!" from Three Songs, Op. 25; Schoenberg, "Nacht," from Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, Joseph N. Straus
19. "This music crept by me upon the waters": Introverted Motives in Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata, Richard Cohn
20. Rounding Up the Usual Suspects?: The Enigmatic Narrative of Chopin's C-sharp Minor Prelude, Charles J. Smith
Texture
21. Texture and Timbre in Barbara Kolb's Millefoglie for Chamber Orchestra and Computer-Generated Tape, Judith Lochhead
Scores
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index