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Formalism

Formalism. What’s the fun?. Formalism, but not “form” alone. That absolute music has neither representational nor semantic content (“pure”), doesn’t imply that musical form is the only artistically relevant aspect other sensuous properties: rhythm, counterpoint melody, harmony, texture

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Formalism

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  1. Formalism What’s the fun?

  2. Formalism, but not “form” alone • That absolute music has neither representational nor semantic content (“pure”), doesn’t imply that musical form is the only artistically relevant aspect • other sensuous properties: • rhythm, counterpoint • melody, harmony, texture • dynamics • tone color (see next), articulation • direction

  3. Schoenberg1874–1951 5 Orchestral Pieces, op. 16, no. 3, “Colors” (1909) Klangfarbenmelodien—“Tone-color melodies! How acute the senses that would be able to perceive them! How high the development of spirit that could find pleasure in such subtle things!” Theory of Harmony, 1911

  4. Wagner (1813–83): Prelude from Das Rheingold (1869)

  5. Ligeti (*1923) Atmosphères (1961) “Tonecolor composition” Tonecolor as primary formal element “Micropolyphony” Cluster Strings divisi: 14+14+10 (+10+8)

  6. Formalism, but not spatial • That music is notated graphically in static and spatial form, is only a metaphor for music’s temporality • adiastematic neume, 10th C

  7. Reliance Building, Chicago (1890–95) Bud Freeman (1906–91) Chicago Style?

  8. Formalism: some common concerns • even for referentialist, music’s formal surface is also a delight • enjoy the story, and the storytelling • even for absolutist, music is like storytelling without “story” • sound events without verbal meaning, unfolding in time • enjoyment through expectation-Surprise/Fulfillment

  9. Leonard Meyer (*1918) • American musicologist and writer on aesthetics • Studied philosophy and music at Columbia University and history of culture at the U. of Chicago, and studied composition privately with Stefan Wolpe and others. • Taught at the U. of Chicago (1946–75) and the U. of Pennsylvania (1975–88) • His Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956) is a landmark in the history of music theory that deals with the problem of musical meaning and the manner of musical communication

  10. Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956) • first major treatise written by a Western music theorist, which relies heavily on psychological insights and psychologically-based arguments • bridge the intellectual gap between formalist and absolutist conceptions of music on the one hand with referential and expressionist conceptions on the other

  11. Expectation and Information • analysis of musical perception and appreciation based on “informational theory” • the more unexpected, the more informative Informativeness Expectancy

  12. Musical Events • micro/syntactical events, e.g.: • chord progressions • I-IV-V– • melodic contour • 1-3-5-7– • macro/formal events, e.g.: • sections • exposition-elaboration– • movements • e.g. Beethoven’s 9th: Allegro-Scherzo (!)-Adagio

  13. Expectation • intrinsic: nature • naturally aroused • spontaneous reaction • extrinsic: culture • culturally accumulated • past tradition

  14. Listening and Expectation • too low (avant-garde) or too high (kitsch) the expectancy=decreased enjoyment Enjoyment Expectancy

  15. Musical Listening • Musical work as sound event, balancing between expectation-Surprise/Fulfillment • dialogue with tradition and cognition • “good” music but unfamiliar culture • Chinese (!) Qin Music • “not-so-good” music but known style • John Field’s Nocturnes • Excursus: Schoenberg on Variation

  16. Formalism:The Joy of Absolute Music • Expectation-Surprise/Fulfillment • a conscious process, but not necessarily self-conscious • thinking about hearing • music is “intentional object,” its appreciation grows with understanding enjoyment thinking, theorizing

  17. Formalism:The Joy of Absolute Music • Expectation-Surprise/Fulfillment • enjoyment decreases with familiarity? • cf. video of World Cup Football vs. Musical Performance • music too complex to be totally absorbed • current appeal stronger than memory • existential rather than functional! • repetition (redundancy) is essential to music form and its specific “beauty” • e.g. Carl Orff: Carmina burana

  18. Carl Orff: Ecce gratum

  19. Problems • formal enjoyment=beautiful? • formal enjoyment without emotion?

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