A Guide to Musical Analysis

384 Pages·1992·14.356 MB·English

by  Nicholas Cook

AGUIDETO
MUSICAL
ANALYSIS
Nicholas Cook
w .
W .Norton & Comparry
New York· London
Copyright © 1987 Nicholas Cook
First American Edition, 1987.
First published as a Norton paperback 1992.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 0-393-96255-5
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
W. W. Norton & Company, Ltd
10 Copric Street, London WCIA 1PU
4 5 6 7 890
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments v
Introduction 1
Analytical methods
PART ONE:
1 Traditional methodsofanalysis 7
2 Schenkerian analysis 27
3 Psychological approaches to analysis 67
Whatis meantby a psychologicalapproach?; Leonard
Meyer; Rudolph Reri
4 Formalapproaches to analysis 116
What is meant bya 'formalapproach'?; set-theoretical
analysis; semioticanalysis
5 Techniques ofcomparativeanalysis 183
6 Whatdoes musicalanalysis tell us? 215
PART Two: Worked examples ofanalysis
7 Startingananalysis 237
SCHUMANN, 'AufeinerBurg' (from Liederkreis)
Canticle: SongofSimeon
BRITTEN, 'Pan' (from Six MetamorphosesafterOvid)
8 Analyzing musicin sonata form 260
BEETHOVEN, Piano SonataOp. 49 No. 2 (first
movement)
StringQuartetOp. 18 No. 2 (first movement)
Symphony No. 5 (first movement)
BERLlOZ, Symphonic Fantastique (first movement)
9 Analyzingserial music 294-
WEBERN, Piano piece (Gp. posth.)
Piano Variations (first movement)
STI~AVINSKY, Movements for pianoand orchestra, No. 4
SCHOENUERG, PianopieceOp. 33a
10 Someproblem pieces 335
CHOPIN, Polonaise-Fantaisie
SCHOENBERG, Six LittlePiano Pieces Op. 19 No. 3
STOCKHAUSEN, Klavierstuck III
StimmU".f!
Suggestionsfor further reading 37~
Index 371-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dr Nicholas Routley, Professor Peter Evans and Professor lan
Bent read chapters ofthis book in draft form. Each made many
correctionsand suggestions, and I am gratefulto allofthem. My
thanks go to Tabitha Collingbourne for preparing the figures;
and I am also grateful to Malcolm Butler for pointing out errors
offact andinfelicitiesofexpression.
Acknowledgment is due to the copyright holders for
agreeing to thereprintingofthefollowing copyright material:
Fig. 11 from Heinrich Schenker(ed. Salzer), FiveGraphic
Analyses, Dover, 1969, pp. ~7.
Fig. 12 from Alien forte andStevenE. Gilbert, An Introduction
to Schenkerian Analysis, Copyright© 1982by W. W. Norton&
Company, Inc., p. 202.
Fig. 15 asfig. 11, pp. 32-3.
Fig. 18 chartby W.). Mitchell, from The MusicForum, I,
Columbia University Press, 1967, pp. 166-7.
Fig.20 from ThomasClifton. Musicas Heard: astudyin applied
phenomenology, Yale University Press, 1983, p. 177.
Fig.21 from L. B. Meyer, ExplainingMusic, Universityof
CaliforniaPress, Berkeley, 1973, Ex. 79 (adapted).
Fig.22 as fig. 21, Ex. 80.
Fig. 25 asfig. 21, adaptationofExx. 141, 150, 148and 153.
Fig. 27 as fig. 21, Ex. 155.
Fig. 28 from G. Pede, Serial Composition andAtonality, Paber,
London/UniversityofCalifornia Press, Berkeley, 5thedn, 1981,
Ex. 7.
Fig. 34 from RudolphReti, The Thematic Process in Music,
GreenwoodPress, London, 1978, Exx. 318-21 (withminor
alterationsandadditions).
Fig. 35 as Fig. 34, Ex. 324.
Fig. 36 as Fig. 34, Ex. 331.
_Fig. 37 as Fig. 34, Ex. 338.
Fig. 39 as fig. 34, Ex340.
Fig. 41 Rudolph Reti, ThematicPatterns in SonatasofBeethoven,
Faber, 1965, Ex. 12.
Fig. 42 asFig41, Exx. 4, 11, 10, 7 and 14(amalgamated and
redrawn).
Fig. 43 as Fig. 41, Ex. 3l.
Fig.44 as Fig. 41, Exx. 30, 53, 54, 79, 84, 85and89.
Fig. 45 as Fig41, Ex. 56.
Fig. 46 as Fig. 41, Ex. 97.
Fig. 49 as Fig. 41, Ex. 67.
Fig. 52 from). Kresky, Tonal Music: twelveanalyticstudies,
UniversityofIndianaPress, 1978, p. 71.
Fig. 53 Schoenberg, Op. 19/6(Six LittlePiano Pieces),
UniversalEdition (Alfred A. Kalmus Ltd).
Fig.68 from A. Forte, The StructureofAtonalMusic, Yale
UniversityPress, 1973, Ex. 12l.
Fig.69 shortscoreofStravinsky's Excentrique(no. 2 ofFour
Studiesfor Orchestra). © Copyright 1930by EditionRusse
de Musique. Copyrightassigned 1947to Boosey& Hawkes,
©
Inc. Revised Version Copyright1971 byBoosey&
Hawkes MusicPublishersLtd. Reproducedbypermissionof
Boosey& HawkesMusicPublishersLtd, London.
Fig.71 as Fig. 68, Ex. 122.
Fig.72 as Fig. 68, Ex. 123.
Fig.74 as Fig. 69, full score, bars4~58.
Fig.75 from E. Morin, Essaide StylistiqueComparee, Vol. 11,
LesPressesdeI'LlniversiredeMontreal, 1979, pp. 10-11 and
32-4.
Fig. 76 Debussy, Syrinx,Jobert, Paris. Copyright1927,
renewed 1954.
Fig.77 from).). Nattiez, Fondementsd'unesemiologiede la
musique, UnionGeneraledes Editions, Paris, 1975, pp. 332-3.
Fig.78 as Fig. 77, pp. 334-7.
Fig. 79 from Guertin'sanalysisin ThreeMusical Analyses,
TorontoSemioticCircle, Victoria University, Toronto, 1982,
pp. 51-3.
Fig.80 as Fig. 79, Ex. 8.
Fig. 81 as Fig79, Ex. 9.
Fig.82 J.J. Nattiez, in ThreeMusical Analyses, Toronto
SemioticCircle, Victoria University, Toronto, 1982, pp.
27-9.
Fig. 83 as Fig. 75, Vol. 11,pp. 1lXr-12.
Fig. 84 as Fig. 77, pp. 348-9.
Fig.85 as Fig. 75, Vol. 11,pp. 114-15.
Fig.86 as Fig. 75, Vol. I, p. 98.
Fig. 87 from M. Kassler, 'Explication ofthe Middleground of
Schenker's TheoryofTonality', Miscellanea Musicologica:
Adelaide Studies in Musicology, 1977, p. 80.
Fig. 88 as Fig. 87, pp. 78-9 (adapted).
Fig. 90 song collected by Norma McLeodand reproduced in
'Analysis: TheHerdingofSacredCows?' by M. Herndon,
©
Ethnomusicology, Vol. 18, pp. 219-62. Copyright 1974by the
Societyfor Ethnomusicology, Inc.
Fig. 92 from C. Adams, 'MelodicContourTypology',
Ethnomusicology, Vol. 20, pp. 179-215. Copyright© 1976by
the Society for Ethnomusicology, Inc.
Fig. 93 from articleby M. Herndon (see Fig. 90).
Fig. 94 from A. Lomax (ed.), Folk Song StyleandCulture.
Copyright 1968 by the American Association for the
AdvancementofScience, Washington D.C., Pub. No. 88, Fig.
29, p. 131.
Fig. 95 adaptationofvariousexx. in). Blacking, 'Tonal
Organization in the musicoftwo Vendainitiation schools',
©
Ethnomusicology, Vol. 14, pp. 1-56. Copyright 1970by the
Society for Ethnomusicology, Inc.
Fig. 96 from articleby M. Herndon (see Fig. 90).
Fig.98 re-aligned version ofFig. 90.
Fig. 108 from C. Seeger, Studies in Musicology 1935-75,
UniversityofCalifornia Press, Berkeley, 1977, Table4, pp.
298-9 (part).
Fig. 122 Britten, 'Pan' (No. 1ofSix MetamorphosesafterQvid).
© Copyright 1952by Hawkes& Son (London) Ltd.
Reproduced by permission ofBoosey& Hawkes Music
Publishers Ltd, London.
Fig. 143 Webern, Pianopiecefrom a 1925sketchbook, bars 1
9. UniversalEdition (Alfred A. Kalmus Ltd).
Fig. 147 Webern, Piano Variations, first movement (with
additions), Universal Edition (Alfred A. Kahnus Ltd.).
Fig. 150 Stravinsky, Movements for Pianoand Orchestra, No. 4
(with additions). © Copyright 1960by Hawkes& Son
(London) Ltd. Reproduced by permissionofBoosey& Hawkes
MusicPublishersLtd, London.
Fig. 161 Schoenberg, Klavierstuck Op. 33a, bars 26-8 (with
additions), Universal Edition (Alfred A. Kalmus Ltd).
Fig. 164 as Fig. 161, bars35-9.
Fig. 168 Schoenberg, Op. 19/3(Six LittlePiano Pieces),
Universal Edition (Alfred A. Kalmus Ltd).
Fig. 175.Stockhausen, Klavierstuck 111(bar numbers and
segmentations added), Universal Edition (Alfred A. Kalmus
Ltd).
Fig. 178 as Fig. 175.
Fig. 181 form schemefrom Stockhausen, Stimmunq, Universal
Edition (Alfred A. Kalmus Ltd).
Fig. 182 as Fig. 181.
Wherever possible the musicdiscussed is reproduced in full.
But this cannot bedone in the case ofthe rrrore extended
scores, so here is a list ofwhatis required.
Chapter 2 Wagner, 'Tristan Prelude
Debussy, Puck's Dance (from Preludes, Book 1)
Chapter 3 Beethoven, Pathetique Sonata
Chapter 8 Mozarr, Marriage ofFigaro (No. 1)
Beethoven. Sonata Op. 49/2 (first movement)
Beethoven, QuartetOp. 18/2 (first movement)
Beethoven. Fifth Symphony (first movement)
Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (first movement)
Chapter 9 Schoenberg, Piano PieceOp33a.
Chapter 10 Chopin. Polonaise-Fantaisie
Chapter 10 also requires a sound recording ofStockhausen's
Stimmung (see p. 365 for details).
INTRODUCTION
There is something fascinating about the very idea ofanalyzing music.
For music is surely among the most baffiing ofthe arts in its power to
move people profoundly whether'or not they have any technical ex
pertise or intellectual understanding ofit. It moves people involuntarily,
even subliminally, and yet all this is done by means ofthe most apparent
ly precise and rational techniques. If a few combinations of pitches,
durations, timbres and dynamic values can unlock the most hidden
contents ofman's spiritual andemotional being, then thestudy ofmusic
should be the key to an understanding ofman's nature. Music is a code
in which the deepest secrets ofhumanity are written: this heady thought
assured musical studies their central place in ancient, medieval and
renaissance thought. And though the study ofmusic no longer occupies
quite so elevated a role in intellectual circles, some of today's most
important trends in the human sciences still owe it a debt. Structuralism
is anexample: you don't have to read a lotofLevi-Strauss to realize how
great an influence music has had upon his thinking.
This book is altogether more modest in its purview, however. It is
about the practical process of exarrrirrirrg pieces of rrrtasic in order to
discover. or decide, how they work. And this is fascinating, because
when you analyze a piece of music you are in effect recreating it for
yourself; you end up with the same sense ofpossession that a corrrpciser
feels for a piece he has written. Analyzing a Beethoven symphony
means living with it for a day or two, rrruch as a composer lives with a
work in progress: rising with the music and sleeping with it, you
develop a kind ofintimacy with it that can hardly be achieved in any
other way. You have a vivid sense ofcorrrrrrurricacirrg directly with the
masters of the past, which can be one of the most exhilarating ex
periences that music has to offer. And you develop an intuitive
A Guide to Musical Analysis
knowledge ofwhat works in music and what doesn't, what's right and
what isn't, that far exceeds your capacity to formulate such things in
words or to explain them intellectually. This kind ofimmediacy gives
analysis a special value in compositional training, as against the old
books oftheory and stylistic exercises that reduced the achievements of
the past to a set ofpedagogical rules and regulations. No wonder, then,
that analysis has become the backbone ofcomposition teaching.
Although analysis allows you to get directly to grips with pieces of
music, they won't unfold their secrets unless you know what questions
to ask ofthem. This is where analytical methods come in. There are a
large number ofanalytical methods, and at first sight they seem very
different; but most ofthem, in fact, ask thesamesortofquestions. They
ask whether it is possible to chop up a piece of music into a series of
more-or-Iess independent sections. They ask how components of the
music relate to each other, and which relationships are more important
than others. More specifically, they ask how far these components
derive their effect from the context they are in. For example, a given
note has one effect when it is part ofchord X and a quite different effect
when it is part ofchord Y; and the effect ofchord X in turn depends on
the harmonic progression it forms part of. Or again, a particular motif
may be unremarkable in itselfbut acquire a striking significance in the
context ofa given movement as a whole. And ifyou can workout how
this comes about, then you have an understanding ofhow the music
works which you didn't have before.
It's difficult toimagine that therecouldbeananalytical method that
didn't ask questions about these things - about division into sections,
about the importance ofdifferent relationships, and about the influence
ofcontext. Butin spiteofsuch unityofpurpose, the various methods of
analysis are frequently pursued in isolation from each other or, what is
worse, in acrimonious rivalry with' each other. As often as not an
analyst will adopt one method and ignore or denigrate the others: so
that you get the motivic analyst, the Schenkerian analyst, the semiotic
analyst and so forth. Each applies his particular method to whatever
music comes his way, and at its worst the result is the musical
equivalent of a sausage machine: whatever goes in comes out neatly
packaged and lookingjust the same. This especially happens when the
analyst has come to believe that the purpose ofa piece of music is to
prove the validity ofhis analytical method, rather than the purpose of
the analytical method being to illuminate the music: in other words,
when he has become more interested in the theory than in its practical
application. I don't think it can be denied that this is true of some
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