| Contents |
An overview of twentieth-century compositional styles. The century of plurality: tonal, post-tonal, atonal, and other styles -- The stylistic mosaic -- Pitch centricity and composition with motivic cells. Diatonic collections -- Pentatonic collections -- Analysis 1.1: "La cathédrale engloutie," from Preludes, book 1 / Debussy -- Analysis 1.2: Introduction to Part I, from The Rite of Spring / Stravinsky -- Pitch centricity and symmetry. Interval cycles and equal divisions of the octave -- Symmetrical motivic cells -- Symmetry around an axis -- Symmetrical scales -- Analysis 2.1: "Song of the harvest," from Forty-four violin duets ; Analysis 2.2: "Whole-tone scale," from Mikrokosmos, vol. 5 / Bartók -- Introduction to pitch-class set theory. Preliminary concepts -- Pitch-class sets: orderings and basic relationships -- Pitch-class sets: further properties and relationships -- Analyzing atonal music. Analysis 4.1: Five movements for string quartet, op. 5, III / Webern -- Analysis 4.2: "Angst und Hoffen," no. 7 from Book of the Hanging Gardens, op. 15 / Schoenberg -- Drawing on (and reinterpreting) the past. Analysis 5.1: Agnus Dei, from Mass / Stravinsky -- Hindemith's theoretical and compositional premises -- Analysis 5.2: Interlude in G, from Ludus tonalis / Hindemith -- And inventing the future. Ives and musical borrowing -- Analysis 6.1: "The cage" / Ives -- Analysis 6.2: Diaphonic Suite no. 4, III / Crawford -- Twelve-tone music I: an introduction. Basic principles -- Building a row -- Labeling row forms -- Building a twelve-tone matrix -- Identifying given row forms without using a matrix -- Analysis 7.1: "Contrapunctus secundus," no. 5 from Quaderno musicale di Annalibera ; Analysis 7.2: "Quartina," no. 11 from Quaderno musicale di Annalibera / Dallapiccola -- Twelve-tone music II: invariance, symmetry, and combinatoriality. Invariance -- Webern and row symmetry -- Analysis 8.1: Piano variations, op. 27, II / Webern -- Hexachordal combinatoriality -- Analysis 8.2: Klavierstück, op. 33a / Schoenberg -- Serialism: developments after 1945. Stravinsky and serialism -- Analysis 9.1: "Lacrimosa," from Requiem Canticles / Stravinsky -- Analysis 9.2: Structures Ia / Boulez -- Milton Babbitt's serial methods -- Analysis 9.3: Composition for Twelve Instruments / Babbitt -- Expanding the limits of musical temporality. Rhythmic and metric irregularities in post-tonal music -- Temporal issues in the music of Messiaen -- Analysis 10.1: Introduction, from Turangalîla Symphony / Messiaen -- Tempo as a structural element in the music of Elliott Carter -- Analysis 10.2: Musical characters in Carter's String Quartet no. 2, I -- Analysis 10.3: Stimmung / Stockhausen -- Aleatory music, sound mass, and beyond. John Cage's creative journey -- Analysis 11.1: Winter music / John Cage -- Analysis 11.2: Jeux vénitiens, I / Lutoslawski -- Analysis 11.3: Ramifications, mm. 1-44 / Ligeti -- Where past and future meet. George Rochberg and the use of the past -- Analysis 12.1: Music for the magic theater, reh. 1-17 / Rochberg -- Analysis 12.2: Sinfonia, III ("In ruhig fliessender Bewegung"), mm. 1-20 / Berio -- Simplifying means. Analysis 13.1: Violin Phase / Reich -- Analysis 13.2: De Staat, mm. 1-161 / Andriessen -- Analysis 13.3: Cantus / Pärt -- Into the twenty-first century. The return of the motive -- Analysis 14.1: Spring Song / Thomas -- Analysis 14.2: Asyla, II / Adès -- Analysis 14.3: Ariel's hail / Saariaho -- Conclusion -- Appendix: the list of class sets. |
| Abstract |
This book explores the compositional and musical processes of twentieth-century post-tonal music. The book is intended for undergraduate or general graduate courses on the theory and analysis of twentieth-century music. The aim of the book is to increase the accessibility of post-tonal music by providing students with tools for understanding issues like pitch organization, rhythm and meter, form, texture, and aesthetics. By presenting the music first and then deriving the theory, this book leads students to greater understanding and appreciation of this challenging and important repertoire. Includes analyses of thirty-two pieces by twenty-five different composers, from Debussy and Stravinsky to Kaija Saariaho, Augusta Read Thomas, and Thomas Adès; and exercises at end of each chapter provide a variety of analytical and compositional activities. |
