Suzannah

Music Theorist in Residence: Suzannah Clark

On the 25th and 26th of March 2019 I attended a two-day gathering at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, organized by The Dutch-Flemish Society of Music Theory (www.dfsmt.net) in cooperation with The Conservatory of Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam and KU Leuven University. Special guest was Suzannah Clark of Harvard University. She is well known for her magnificent book Analyzing Schubert (info).

The topics were:

  • Analysis of 19th century (art) songs (Schubert, Liszt)
  • Sentence structures in Haydn's string quartet Op. 76 nr. 4
  • Theory of Harmony in the 19th century (focusing on Gottfried Weber (1779-1839) and Arthur von Oettingen (1824-1916).

This is a link to a Spotify playlist I created.

In this archive file you can find a program and preparation sheets of all the sessions, so you get an image of the kind of questions we were trying to answer.

Schubert

schubertWe analyzed "Trost" (D. 523) and "Schwanengesang" (D. 744, btw unrelated to the cycle D. 957). Related to "Trost" we discussed things like form of the song setting in relation to the poetic text, notable harmonic features (modulatory aspects), key areas, the logic behind Schubert's harmonic choices. The discussion was repeatedly connected to the poetic text. It was a beautiful example of analysis serving knowledge about music and musical performance.

In "Schwanengesang" attention was payed to the layout of the text by the poet (Johann Senn) and the layout of the text found in most of the CD booklets(!).

We discussed the most appropriate analytical method for the interpretation of the harmonic language. In general three perspectives were used: Schenkerian analysis, roman numeral analysis ("functional"), neo-Riemannian theory (focusing on ways to describe the transitions between chords, symbols are placed between chords and not below them. In a way you can see the transition from one chord to the next as a transformation of which there are different forms, which can be combined to different cycles). In this way aspects of tonal coherence can be visualized/represented. 

Liszt: die Wasserrose

lisztThe topic of the poem of the Liszt song ("Die Wasserrose") has a connotation with "Schwanengesang": a swan swimming around the water lily, at night, the moon shining, the swan singing....  We had a very interesting discussion about the way Liszt uses tonal space, tonal areas and musical texture to reflect the "spaces" depicted in the poem with keywords like "swan", "moon", "flower", night", "circling", "singing", ....

Resulting in three tonal areas which are third-related (mediants...). Very colourful chord changes in which mediant relations play an important role. Fascinating.

Haydn: Op. 76 nr. 4

haydnSentence structures were analyzed departing from the standard models analyzed and theorized by William E. Caplin in his book Classical Form: a Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven (info)

During the sessions about the Haydn string quartet, we were very fortunate to have the Cheng Quartet to play the musical examples, and what's more: to demonstrate different possible approaches resulting from the analytical discussions and in that way provide a possibility for comparison in real sound. They did a wonderful job!

Two lectures were delivered on Gottfried Weber and Arthur von Oettingen 

The explanation of "Weber's rest" in a figure from his "Versuch einer geordneten Theorie der Tonsetzkunst". In this treatise he is exploring the connection of triads and seventh chords to the degrees of the major and (harmonic) minor scale.

Weber2

The title "Weber's rest" refers to his use of a "rest" in stead of the augmented triad one expects on degree III in (harmonic) minor. The augmented triad does not have a place in Weber's concept of major-minor tonality. Which in itself could be considered "odd". Weber even called the augmented triad "ein Unding". 

Weber is, together with people like Fétis and Choron, important with regard to the musical-theoretical discussion about tonality, key and harmony in the 19th century, a period in which dramatic changes in harmonic language and idiom took place. 

Harmonic dualism

oettingenArthur von Oettingen is one of the representants of a theoretical approach to harmony and tonality known as "dualism". This theory of tonality views major and minor as diametrically opposed by arguing that the harmonic centre of a major triad is its root, that of a minor triad its 5th. The origins of dualistic theory go back to Moritz Hauptmann. orthotonophoniumVon Oettingen is also known for the so called "orthotonophonium" an harmonium with enharmonic keyboard on which it is possible to play triads with perfect major and minor thirds and perfect fourths and fifths; in other words in just intonation. Other dualists were for example Moritz Hauptmann, Hugo Riemann, Siegfried Karg-Elert and Vincent d'Indy. With his approach von Oettingen devised a beautiful symmetrical system in which triads, scales, and cadences are incorporated. Theorists of course love patterns.

In short: two days packed with interesting topics, high density of information and a lot of suggestions for reading and studying. A BIG "thank you" to Suzannah Clark and John Koslovsky who played a key role in organizing this interesting event, as chairman of the Dutch-Flemish Society of Music Theory.

Interested students: join me for the next one! I am willing to introduce you to the topics and provide reading and studying material, so you can really benefit from participating!


Some additional reading for "Liebhaber": all accessible with your subscription of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (www.kb.nl).

Cohn, R. (1999). As Wonderful as Star Clusters: Instruments for Gazing at Tonality in Schubert. 19th-Century Music, 22(3), 213-232. doi:10.2307/746799 

Tonality. (2002). In T. Christensen (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory (The Cambridge History of Music). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bernstein, D. (2002). Nineteenth-century harmonic theory: The Austro-German legacy. In T. Christensen (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory (The Cambridge History of Music, pp. 778-811). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521623711.027