The Gregorian and Roman Offertories

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1 Oxford Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 94 items for: fulltext : make use set works terms resulting takes go mushiswes musthe The Gregorian and Roman Offertories Rebecca Maloy in Inside the Offertory: Aspects of Chronology and Transmission Published in print: 2010 Published Online: May 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ This chapter addresses the historical problem of Gregorian and Old Roman chant by means of musical analysis. Comparative study sheds new light on the relationship between the two dialects and the nature of oral transmission. The Roman verses exhibit a pervasive formulaicism that is lacking in the Gregorian readings. A close analysis of the melodic formulas reveals that the Roman singers respond in consistent ways to features of the text, such as accent pattern and clause length. The close correlation between words and music suggests a reconstructive modal of oral transmission. The findings of this chapter are inconsistent with the traditional view that the Roman versions more closely reflect the eighthcentury state of the repertory. Rather, the evidence suggests that the Roman melodies underwent substantial change during their prolonged period of oral transmission between the eighth and eleventh centuries, becoming increasingly formulaic. A Tonal GIS Steven Rings in Tonality and Transformation Published in print: 2011 Published Online: September 2011 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chapter 2 introduces a Generalized Interval System (or GIS) that models intervals among heard scale degrees. A heard scale-degree is formalized as an ordered pair (sd, pc), in which sd is a sensation of scale-degree quality and pc is a pitch class. Relevant ideas from music cognition Page 1 of 6

2 concerning tonal qualities (or qualia) are surveyed. The various sections of the chapter explore the formal and interpretive resources of the sd/pc GIS, including: familiar and exotic intervals among heard scale degrees; sd/pc sets and set-classes; keys; accidentals; and various species of transposition and inversion. The utility of these theoretical constructs is demonstrated in analytical vignettes on music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Verdi, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and Mahler. The Genesis of the Music William Kinderman in Wagner's Parsifal Published in print: 2013 Published Online: January 2014 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Pre-existing musical motives absorbed into Parsifal include the Dresden Amen formula associated with J.G. Naumann, and the Excelsior! motive Wagner assimilated from Longfellow and Liszt. Wagner s sustained composition of the music during is recorded in many individual sketches whose role is clarified by detailed entries in Cosima Wagner s diary. Numerous fragmentary sketches can be reconstructed into larger worksheets. Much light is shed on Wagner s creative process from study of the musical sketches and drafts. Wagner did not proceed in strict sequential order, but needed to envision certain passages in advance before he could begin writing out the continuous drafts of the music: the composition draft and orchestral draft. As the manuscript sources reveal, the last music written was the second half of the transformation music in Act 1, composed in March Intervals, Transformations, and Tonal Analysis Steven Rings in Tonality and Transformation Published in print: 2011 Published Online: September 2011 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chapter 1 offers an introduction to transformational thought and situates it with respect to Schenkerian analysis. After a brief overview of transformational theory in Section 1.1, Section 1.2 introduces Generalized Interval Systems (or GISs), addressing both their technical Page 2 of 6

3 and conceptual aspects. This section includes a model GIS-based analysis of the opening of Bach's Cello Suite in G, BWV Section 1.3 treats transformational networks, using a model analysis of the Andante from Schubert's Piano Sonata in A, D. 664 for demonstration. In Section 1.4 the GIS and transformational methodologies are contrasted with Schenkerian theory. It is argued that transformational and Schenkerian methodologies are not competing versions of the same kind of music theory but distinct styles of analytical thought, which may interact dialogically in practice. The St. John Passion: Introduction and Part 1 Eric Chafe in J. S. Bach's Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 Published in print: 2014 Published Online: April 2014 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chapter Four introduces the theological character of the St. John Passion: namely John's concern for the identity of the Messiah and its reflection in several parts of the St. John Passion: in particular, the so called Jesus of Nazareth choruses; the opening chorus Herr, unser Herrscher and the aria Es ist vollbracht. It discusses how the structure of the passion mirrors John's account of the passion, comparing Bach's treatment of Part One with that of pietist theologian August Hermann Francke. Martyrdom and Exile: The Narrative of Chopin's F Major Ballade Jonathan D. Bellman in Chopin's Polish Ballade Op. 38 as Narrative of National Martyrdom Published in print: 2009 Published Online: February 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chopin's Second Ballade, Op. 38, appeared in a culture in which operatic styles and strategies were well understood, and at a time when Poland's desperate political situation was on minds of many and Chopin was considered the artistic hope of the entire Polish nation. Operatic and musical antecedents from French opera enable this ballade to be read as a narrative of Poland's recent struggle and martyrdom, with the tragically unresolved national trauma being mirrored in the unique form and off tonic close. Such a reading is consistent not only with what Page 3 of 6

4 contemporary accounts of the piece survive, but also with the way narrative and referential music of the time was conceived and heard. It is in the anachronistic hearings we insist upon today that the piece becomes most mysterious and opaque; when we approach it using the vocabulary of its own time, the narrative is much easier to comprehend. Hearing Konrad Wallenrod: The First Ballade, Op. 23 Jonathan D. Bellman in Chopin's Polish Ballade Op. 38 as Narrative of National Martyrdom Published in print: 2009 Published Online: February 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chopin's First Ballade, op. 23, was the first work in the genre of the piano ballade, and it is clear from the very first review onward that people knew that there was a story of some kind being told. Although it has been hinted since 1900 or so that Mickiewicz's pseudo-medieval narrative poem Konrad Wallenrod provided Chopin with a kind of model, no contemporary document establishes this connection. However, a close comparison of the most dramatic episodes of the poem and the musical styles and compositional strategies of the First Ballade show a striking correspondence. At the very least, Chopin demonstrates a command of narrative strategies far subtler that those of his predecessors and contemporaries. Two Versions, Two Keys, and Certain Poems of Mickiewicz Jonathan D. Bellman in Chopin's Polish Ballade Op. 38 as Narrative of National Martyrdom Published in print: 2009 Published Online: February 2010 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chopin's Second Ballade, op. 38, is a strangely anomalous work that has an entirely unique formal outline, ends in a different key from that in which it began, and is an intriguing mix of attractive, almost popular musical styles and visionary deployment of compositional ideas. Ever since the work first appeared, there have been persistent rumors that there had also been a second, much different version that began and ended in F Major, and that it was in some way inspired by the poetry of Adam Mickiewicz, the founder of Polish literary Romanticism and a sometime friend of the composer. Only when as many of the speculations Page 4 of 6

5 as possible are collected in one place, ordered chronologically, and submitted to a close reading can the few nuggets of probable fact be separated from fantasy and a firm foundation established for further inquiry. Oriented Networks Steven Rings in Tonality and Transformation Published in print: 2011 Published Online: September 2011 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Chapter 3 introduces the concept of tonal intention the directedness of a listener's awareness toward a tonic and defines a species of transformational networks designed to model such intentional structures. Correspondences with the phenomenological idea of intentionality are touched on, as are precedents for the idea of tonal intention in the history of music theory. Oriented networks are defined formally and used to model both abstract theoretical structures such as Riemann's system of tonal functions and specific musical passages. A distinction is drawn between oriented networks whose nodes and arrows are arranged from left to right on the page to reflect temporal order (event networks) and networks that instead exhibit a more abstract spatial structuring that does not reflect musical chronology (spatial networks). A special type of event network is defined to model intentional structures implicit in Schenkerian theory. The chapter includes analytical discussions of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Wagner, and Strauss. The Lingua Franca JOSQUIN S ROME in Josquin's Rome: Hearing and Composing in the Sistine Chapel Published in print: 2012 Published Online: May 2013 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Josquin recedes into the background in this portion of the book, which describes the dynamic musical environment in which papal singercomposers produced many of their most dazzling creations. Chapter 4 begins with an extended discussion of Gaspar van Weerbeke, a contemporary of Josquin whose music displays extraordinary variety; Gaspar emerges as an important figure worthy of much closer attention. Page 5 of 6

6 This chapter also considers masses and motets by Bertrandus Vaqueras, Heinrich Isaac, and Johannes Tinctoris, along with several anonymous works that have much to tell us about the contemporary musical lingua franca. These analyses reveal considerable stylistic heterogeneity in the papal chapel s repertory; they also throw the picture of Josquin presented in Chapter 2 into sharp relief. Page 6 of 6