Chopin: The Preludes and Beyond

Description

The first study of this volume looks for reminiscences of Dies Irae in Chopin's works. A great number of allusions and affinities are found in the preludes as well as in Chopin's output. The study also yields insights into Chopin's composition method. These intertextual findings are used in an attempt to establish the extra-musical content of the Second Ballade. Five preludes - A minor, E minor, B minor, A major and C minor - are closely examined, using diverse analytical approaches. A primary concern is to critically assess previous readings, and Schenkerian ones in particular. An analysis of the initial right-hand passage of the F-minor etude from Methode brings up matters of idiomatic and ontology." Cover Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1. Allusions and affinities Tracing an ominous motif Dies Irae as a source of allusions Alluding to Dies Irae; some methodological considerations The notion of similarity; further methodological considerations The investigation and its aims The A-minor Prelude External evidence The B-minor Prelude The E-minor Prelude Preludes in dark moods Preludes in bright moods Summary and discussion Other approaches to integration and symbolism in the Preludes The chronology of the Preludes The question of integral performances In defence of the study of motivic integration The B???-minor Sonata: the first and fourth movements The B???-minor Prelude The Funeral March; its progenitor and congeners The B???-minor Sonata: Scherzo and Trios Other approaches to thematic integration in the sonata The C#-minor Scherzo The C-minor Polonaise and the B-minor Prelude The Second Ballade The F-minor Prelude and the Etude in F minor from Méthode The F#-major Impromptu Extending the investigation Pre- and post-“Mallorcan” works The E?-minor Etude The Finale of the B-minor Sonata and the B-minor Prelude The other movements of the B-minor Sonata Summary and conclusions Chapter 2. Evidence and counter-evidence Making sense of the A-minor Prelude Problems of proportion Uncertainty and expectation Rhetoric and the reality of the contingent The prelude as an impossible object Ominous allusions Tonal analysis An explanatory comparison A bottom/up reduction A non-orthodox tonal reduction Some remarks on interpretation Chapter 3. Music at the analyst’s couch and at the musician’s stand The tonal structure of the E-minor Prelude Retrieving the missing third degree Adjusting the harmonic progressions The stretto passage A melodic recurrence The melodic descents The consequent as a compressed antecedent Some additional remarks Summary of critical observations A clarifying comparison The melodic/harmonic process Escape and resumption Outbreak and dissipation An alternative structural account Chapter 4. Left-hand melody and tonal structure Towards a non-Schenkerian account of the B-minor Prelude Top voice vs. structural upper line A temporary relocation of the structural upper line Clarification of the actual voice-leading Motivic relationships The relocation of the entire structural upper line The tonal structure of the prelude Some connections across registers Formal considerations; structural and focal events The antecedent part The consequent part Intertextual allusions The “foreground” as a structural duet Three “background” structures; conclusions Chapter 5. How could analysis be deconstructed by the A-major Prelude? Some introductory remarks on deconstruction Bass fundaments and harmonic roots Metre and rhythm The phrase structure A digression on manual matters Understanding in terms of melodic reconstruction Allusive content A critical tonal reduction An unconsummated deconstruction of Schenkerian analysis The impossibility of a structural descent How to remove the obstacle An alternative account of the tonal structure Two objections Introducing an “alien view" Focal analysis and prolongational reduction A focal analysis Chapter 6. Reconsidering the C-minor Prelude Motivic structure Harmony and rhythmic patterning Melodic implications A Schenkerian reduction An alternative reduction Formal ambiguity Chapter 7. The phenomenology of fingering Structure and ontology in the F-minor Etude from Méthode des méthodes Nelson Goodman’s notion of musical identity Towards a more comprehensive ontology of the music work Motivic constituents and rhythmic properties Inherent and implied patterns Inherent gestures Fingerings and proprioceptive meanings Some general conclusions Reconsidering the ontology of the music work Chapter 8. From structure to content Ominous allusions and the programme of the Second Ballade A Schenkerian account of the theme Elision or demarcation? The initial period The first section “National martyrdom” and “alienation and powerlessness Narrative elements in the ballade An ominous signifier The ballade as a depiction of existential distress Searching for a literary programme “Switezianka” and the Second Ballade Conclusions Music Examples Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 References