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J.S. Bach's chorale settings of modal cantus firmi pose an interesting problem for the modern analyst: What assumptions'modal or tonal'does one bring to the music and what analytic techniques does one use? Are conventional tonal theories adequate to represent the harmonic techniques used in this repertoire? Are conventional modal theories adequate? Lori Burns explores these questions in her
J. S. Bach's 371 four-part chorales have long been considered a cornerstone for the study of harmony. Now the author, in this monumental study, which utilizes more than twelve hundred quotations from the chorales, breaks new ground by showing that Bach produced his varied harmonies not by random chance but according to a definite system. This totally unique approach to Bach will have far-reaching implications for the modern musician. Not only does the book examine the harmonies themselves in detail, but it relates them to the contrapuntal formal and mathematical background from which the harmonies and attendant discords emerge. The theories and principles underlying Bach's choice and sequence of harmonies are revealed in concise, simple form, to provide an in-depth understanding of the "secrets" of his system of constructing his harmonic edifices. This book reveals his musical genius as few other studies do. Bach employed almost every chord and form of dissonance in his chorales, every form of canonic device and cadence, starkly diatonic harmonizations and extravagantly chromatic progressions, every form of fugal subject and answers in and out of stretto. No other book on the chorales demonstrates the breadth of his artistry and subtlety, no conventional academic study provides the same startling adventure in analysis and insight. Here, for the serious student of the work of this musical giant, is a key to the discovery of new worlds of theoretical and compositional concepts.
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.
Excerpt from Some Notes on Bach's Church-Cantatas Before leaving the chorales there is one point more which ought to be noticed. We often meet several different har monizations of the same chorale, according to the words to which it is set. In several cases five or six versions of the same tune are to be found, and sometimes changes are in troduced even in the melody itself. The well-known Passion chorale O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, which everyone will recognize under its English title, '0 sacred Head once wounded', is found in various works of Bach in nearly a dozen difi'erent arrangements. He sometimes harmonizes itin its original mode, the Phrygian; at other times he treats it in the Ionian mode; most of you will remember the striking effect which Bach produces in the Passion according to Matthew, when, on the final appearance of the chorale, toward the close of the work, instead of ending, as he had previously done, with a full cadence in the major key. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Presents a series of discussions about sixteen choral masterworks, facilitating conductors who perform these works and wish to know them. This work examines compositions such as Bach's "Mass in B Minor", Mahler's "8th Symphony", and more, in terms of textual symbolism, musical structure, and identification of endearing traits of each work.
Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most unfathomable composers in the history of music. How can such sublime work have been produced by a man who (when we can discern his personality at all) seems so ordinary, so opaque—and occasionally so intemperate? John Eliot Gardiner grew up passing one of the only two authentic portraits of Bach every morning and evening on the stairs of his parents’ house, where it hung for safety during World War II. He has been studying and performing Bach ever since, and is now regarded as one of the composer’s greatest living interpreters. The fruits of this lifetime’s immersion are distilled in this remarkable book, grounded in the most recent Bach scholarship but moving far beyond it, and explaining in wonderful detail the ideas on which Bach drew, how he worked, how his music is constructed, how it achieves its effects—and what it can tell us about Bach the man. Gardiner’s background as a historian has encouraged him to search for ways in which scholarship and performance can cooperate and fruitfully coalesce. This has entailed piecing together the few biographical shards, scrutinizing the music, and watching for those instances when Bach’s personality seems to penetrate the fabric of his notation. Gardiner’s aim is “to give the reader a sense of inhabiting the same experiences and sensations that Bach might have had in the act of music-making. This, I try to show, can help us arrive at a more human likeness discernible in the closely related processes of composing and performing his music.” It is very rare that such an accomplished performer of music should also be a considerable writer and thinker about it. John Eliot Gardiner takes us as deeply into Bach’s works and mind as perhaps words can. The result is a unique book about one of the greatest of all creative artists.
Throughout his career, David Lewin labored to make even the most abstract theory speak to the experience of the ordinary listener. This book combines many of Lewin's classic articles on song and opera with newly drafted chapters on songs of Brahms, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Milton Babbitt. Bound together by Lewin's cogent insight, the resulting collection constitutes a major statement concerning the methodological problems associated with interpretation of texted music.