In the musicological literature that has developed around Schenkerian studies in the past two decades, an extremely lively and productive sector of research has been constituted by the study of conceptions of form and aspects of motivic composition, mostly in an often fully successful attempt to reduce the role played by the presence of theoretical postulates considered overly “abstract” such as the Urlinie and the Ursatz. Scholars have concentrated their attention on various aspects of this fi eld of research. While some have compared Schenker’s theoretical conceptions with Arnold Schoenberg’s analytical ideas, others have attempted to refl ect on the concepts of “motivic parallelism” and “hidden repetition”, developing a series of considerations that have led to a critical rereading of Schenker’s early writings, in which the concept of Urlinie had not yet taken on the status of a component of the Ursatz, representing instead a set of structural melodic lines that belong to the intermediate or external level. Within this sector of research, many analysts have dedicated their attention to the German theoretical tradition, aiming at identifying in the scores of the period in question those aspects that could constitute the bases of a modern concept of form. One of the most signifi cant moments can be traced back to the second half of the eighteenth century, that saw the publication of treatises that discussed phraseological and formal aspects of contemporaneous compositions: the Anfangsgründe zur musikalischen Setzkunst, written by Joseph Riepel between 1752 and 1768, and the three volumes of Heinrich Christoph Koch’s Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition that appeared between 1782 and 1793. The greater part of the second and the entirety of the third volume of Koch’s Versuch are dedicated to melodic syntax: how musical phrases and segments characterized by various cadences, durations and functions can be united into periods, in order to organize large compositions such as the symphony, the sonata and the concerto. The analysis of the fi rst movement of Haydn’s Quartet op. 33 n. 1, composed in 1781, will be carried out in two distinct phases. While the fi rst phase will be based on the methodology proposed by Schenker in Freie Satz, the second will also make use of some phraseological and formal indications put forward by Koch in his Versuch. The use of the latter’s principles would seem to be particularly effective, not only because it provides a sort of “historicization” of analytical procedures, but also because it allows the harmonic-contrapuntal structure of a piece to be studied giving particular emphasis to its surface motivic aspects and their relations in constructing musical periods. The essential form in which the most important motifs and fi gurations follow one another, which Koch indicates with the term enger Satz, becomes both the principal source of the prolongations identifi able in the score, and the foundation for inquiry on the deep structure of the piece. In this way, analysis can be carried out, at least in part, without the “tyranny” of the Urlinie, while the results bring out the periodisation of musical discourse as described in the treatises of the time.
Beyond the “tyranny” of the Urlinie. Enger Satz and prolongations in the first movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Quartet op. 33 n. 1
POZZI, Egidio
2011-01-01
Abstract
In the musicological literature that has developed around Schenkerian studies in the past two decades, an extremely lively and productive sector of research has been constituted by the study of conceptions of form and aspects of motivic composition, mostly in an often fully successful attempt to reduce the role played by the presence of theoretical postulates considered overly “abstract” such as the Urlinie and the Ursatz. Scholars have concentrated their attention on various aspects of this fi eld of research. While some have compared Schenker’s theoretical conceptions with Arnold Schoenberg’s analytical ideas, others have attempted to refl ect on the concepts of “motivic parallelism” and “hidden repetition”, developing a series of considerations that have led to a critical rereading of Schenker’s early writings, in which the concept of Urlinie had not yet taken on the status of a component of the Ursatz, representing instead a set of structural melodic lines that belong to the intermediate or external level. Within this sector of research, many analysts have dedicated their attention to the German theoretical tradition, aiming at identifying in the scores of the period in question those aspects that could constitute the bases of a modern concept of form. One of the most signifi cant moments can be traced back to the second half of the eighteenth century, that saw the publication of treatises that discussed phraseological and formal aspects of contemporaneous compositions: the Anfangsgründe zur musikalischen Setzkunst, written by Joseph Riepel between 1752 and 1768, and the three volumes of Heinrich Christoph Koch’s Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition that appeared between 1782 and 1793. The greater part of the second and the entirety of the third volume of Koch’s Versuch are dedicated to melodic syntax: how musical phrases and segments characterized by various cadences, durations and functions can be united into periods, in order to organize large compositions such as the symphony, the sonata and the concerto. The analysis of the fi rst movement of Haydn’s Quartet op. 33 n. 1, composed in 1781, will be carried out in two distinct phases. While the fi rst phase will be based on the methodology proposed by Schenker in Freie Satz, the second will also make use of some phraseological and formal indications put forward by Koch in his Versuch. The use of the latter’s principles would seem to be particularly effective, not only because it provides a sort of “historicization” of analytical procedures, but also because it allows the harmonic-contrapuntal structure of a piece to be studied giving particular emphasis to its surface motivic aspects and their relations in constructing musical periods. The essential form in which the most important motifs and fi gurations follow one another, which Koch indicates with the term enger Satz, becomes both the principal source of the prolongations identifi able in the score, and the foundation for inquiry on the deep structure of the piece. In this way, analysis can be carried out, at least in part, without the “tyranny” of the Urlinie, while the results bring out the periodisation of musical discourse as described in the treatises of the time.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
