In a few Classical era works, an entire composition, or a large section thereof, ends with an imperfect authentic cadence (IAC), completing the harmonic motion back to the tonic, but... ▼ Read More

In a few Classical era works, an entire composition, or a large section thereof, ends with an imperfect authentic cadence (IAC), completing the harmonic motion back to the tonic, but deferring melodic closure until later. This study will examine this technique in selected works by Muzio Clementi (Opus 34/2), Joseph Haydn ("Rider" Quartet) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Opus 110), demonstrating how such closing gestures give the impression of full completion despite the absence of a literal PAC. In sonata movements, if a subordinate theme concludes with an IAC, this formal unit fuses subordinate theme and codetta functions, which I call Subordinate Theme→Codetta, analogous to Main Theme/Transition formal fusion posited by William Caplin. If an entire movement ends thus, subsequent movements must provide the missing melodic completion---otherwise, we have what Charles Rosen terms a "Romantic Fragment": a composition that is literally complete, but syntactically and rhetorically inconclusive. ▲Read Less

The attraction of music by Eric Ewazen (b. 1954) partially stems from the expressive interweaving of multiple nineteenth- and twentieth-century influences. Part I of this article documents how the form... ▼ Read More

The attraction of music by Eric Ewazen (b. 1954) partially stems from the expressive interweaving of multiple nineteenth- and twentieth-century influences. Part I of this article documents how the form and tonality of Ewazen's sonatas draw on aspects of classicism, romanticism, impressionism, folk song, Americana, rock, and even film. Part II analyzes Sonata No. 1 for Flute and Piano. While all three movements invoke traditional formal types, each embraces a fluid approach to tonality at the small and large scale. The first and third movements resolve the main conflict through modal transformation in the coda. The second embraces the simple idea of two perfect fifths as the generator of motive, progression, and tonal centers. The second and the third share sonorities and motives. This analysis documents aspects of the style of one significant living composer, contributing to study of the form and tonality of contemporary art music. ▲Read Less

William Grant Still occupied a singularly exalted place in American music during the 1930s and 1940s. His music was recognized as being emblematic of American music and life both in... ▼ Read More

William Grant Still occupied a singularly exalted place in American music during the 1930s and 1940s. His music was recognized as being emblematic of American music and life both in the United States and abroad. He himself argued that his music combined a variety of influences to produce a style that reflected the diversity of American life. Still's Fourth Symphony, subtitled "Autochthonous" encapsulates his mature style and its subtitle suggests a musical language deeply rooted in American idioms. The assuredness and craftsmanship of the symphony, however, belie Still's earlier struggles to find his voice and to reconcile competing perspectives about the relationship of Black artists to European and modernist art forms. Still's Fourth Symphony offers his solution to these problems by triangulating the European common-practice, international modernist, and African and African-American musical styles. The first movement incorporates the three influences deeply into its compositional fabric and I employ a variety of analytical techniques to illustrate its stylistic pluralism. I argue that the movement articulates a view of American autochthony that is paradoxically pluralist and conclude by assessing the success of Still's symphony from this perspective. ▲Read Less

Perhaps the most memorable character in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail is Osmin, the grumpy harem overseer whose angry antics receive some of the cleverest dramaturgic settings in the opera. Analysts... ▼ Read More

Perhaps the most memorable character in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail is Osmin, the grumpy harem overseer whose angry antics receive some of the cleverest dramaturgic settings in the opera. Analysts often seek to identify moments in which Osmin's music assumes a narrative function, taking their cues in part from a letter in which Mozart explains the dramatic justification for his bolder choices of key and meter as expressions of Osmin's rage. And though commentaries of this sort are illuminating and comprise much of the literature on Osmin, they generally neglect to account for the metric phenomena of the musical dramaturgy. This essay demonstrates how Mozart uses varied phrase structures, hypermetric deferment, and text-setting as dramaturgic tools in the portrayal of Osmin's discomposure across his three solo numbers. ▲Read Less