An arrangement of Corelli's sonata for violin and continuo (op. 5 no. 8), transposed to A minor and arranged for viola. Viola part is unedited aside from being transposed; it retains the slurs from the first edition (ca. 1700) and includes no bow direction markings and no fingerings. Continuo part has been arranged for piano; LH part matches the original continuo part but with figured bass markings omitted, and RH part is kept simple to facilitate playing by intermediate level pianists. The viola part includes passages that require shifting at least as high as third position, some of which are notated in treble clef.
Combining musical insight and the most recent research, Kinderman's biography of Beethoven is both a richly drawn portrait of the man and a guide to his music. In analyses of individual pieces, Kinderman shows that the deepening of Beethoven's musical thought was a continuous process over decades of his life. 30 illustrations.
Cadence explores the many ways in which the component parts of a classical composition achieve a sense of ending. The book examines cadential practice in a wide variety of musical styles in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including works by well-known composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and Brahms.
Cadence is a comprehensive examination of how formal units in European art music of the tonal era achieve closure. The book brings together the author's decades-long investigations into cadence, a compositional device that is readily experienced both by musicians and non-musicians, but one that has proven intractable to clear and precise theoretical formulation. Rooted in Caplin's broader theory of formal functions, the book first develops concepts of cadence for music of the high classical style and then extends these ideas to gauge cadential practice in earlier and later style periods. Throughout the study, various manifestations of cadence are defined in terms of their morphology (their harmonic and melodic profiles) as well as their function (the specific formal contexts in which they are deployed). Cadence introduces a host of theoretical concepts illustrated by copious musical examples, all of which contain extensive analytical annotations of harmony, melody and form. Though the book is addressed primarily to music theorists, the many issues of compositional practice raised in this study will resonate with the interests of composers, historians, and performers alike.
Elements of Sonata Theory is a comprehensive, richly detailed rethinking of the basic principles of sonata form in the decades around 1800. This foundational study draws upon the joint strengths of current music history and music theory to outline a new, up-to-date paradigm for understanding the compositional choices found in the instrumental works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries: sonatas, chamber music, symphonies, overtures, and concertos. In so doing, it also lays out the indispensable groundwork for anyone wishing to confront the later adaptations and deformations of these basic structures in the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries. Combining insightful music analysis, contemporary genre theory, and provocative hermeneutic turns, the book brims over with original ideas, bold and fresh ways of awakening the potential meanings within a familiar musical repertory. Sonata Theory grasps individual compositions-and each of the individual moments within them-as creative dialogues with an implicit conceptual background of flexible, ever-changing historical norms and patterns. These norms may be recreated as constellations "compositional defaults," any of which, however, may be stretched, strained, or overridden altogether for individualized structural or expressive purposes. This book maps out the terrain of that conceptual background, against which what actually happens-or does not happen-in any given piece may be assessed and measured. The Elements guides the reader through the standard (and less-than-standard) formatting possibilities within each compositional space in sonata form, while also emphasizing the fundamental role played by processes of large-scale circularity, or "rotation," in the crucially important ordering of musical modules over an entire movement. The book also illuminates new ways of understanding codas and introductions, of confronting the generating processes of minor-mode sonatas, and of grasping the arcs of multimovement cycles as wholes. Its final chapters provide individual studies of alternative sonata types, including "binary" sonata structures, sonata-rondos, and the "first-movement form" of Mozart's concertos.
Richard Dawkins's formulation of the meme concept in his 1976 classic The Selfish Gene has inspired three decades of work in what many see as the burgeoning science of memetics. This study is the first musicologically-orientated attempt systematically to apply the theory of memetics to music. In contrast to the two points of view normally adopted in music theory and analysis - namely those of the listener and the composer - the purpose of this book is to argue for a distinct and illuminating third perspective. The perspective is that of the (selfish) replicated musical pattern itself, and adopting it is central to memetics.
Now available in paperback and with over 10,000 entries, the Oxford Dictionary of Music (previously the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music) offers broad coverage of a wide range of musical categories spanning many eras, including composers, librettists, singers, orchestras, important ballets and operas, and musical instruments and their history. The Oxford Dictionary of Music is the most up-to-date and accessible dictionaryof musical terms available and an essential point of reference for music students, teachers, lecturers, professional musicians, as well as music enthusiasts.