Chopin: The Preludes and Beyond

530 Pages·2013·39.894 MB·English

by  Bengt Edlund

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Bengt Edlund
Chopin
Bengt Edlund
The Preludes and Beyond
The first study of this volume looks for reminiscences of Dies Irae in Chopin’s works. A d Chopin
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great number of allusions and affinities are found in the preludes as well as in Chopin’s
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output. The study also yields insights into Chopin’s composition method. These inter- y
textual findings are used in an attempt to establish the extra-musical content of the Be The Preludes and Beyond
Second Ballade. Five preludes – A minor, E minor, B minor, A major and C minor – are
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closely examined, using diverse analytical approaches. A primary concern is to critically
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assess previous readings, and Schenkerian ones in particular. An analysis of the initial a
right-hand passage of the F-minor étude from Méthode brings up matters of idiomatic s
and ontology. e
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The Author l
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Bengt Edlund, trained as a pianist, has been active as a music critic, and as a lecturer r
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at the Department of Musicology, University of Lund, where he was appointed Professor
in 2000. His main fields of interest are music theory and analysis, music cognition and e
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aesthetics, and musical interpretation. T

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ISBN 978-3-631-64520-8 www.peterlang.com
264520_Edlund_TH_A5HCk PLA research new.indd 1 07.11.13 12:57
Bengt Edlund
Chopin
The Preludes and Beyond
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche NationaLbibLiothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the
internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Edlund, Bengt.
Chopin : the preludes and beyond / Bengt Edlund.
pages cm
ISBN 978-3-631-64520-8
1. Chopin, Frédéric, 1810-1849. Piano music. 2. Piano music 19th
century Analysis, appreciation. 3. Dies irae (Music) Instrumental
settings History and criticism. I. Title.
ML410.C54E25 2013
786.2092 dc23
2013035902
ISBN 978-3-631-64520-8 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-03542-1 (E-Book)
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-03542-1
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2013
All rights reserved.
PL Academic Research is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH.
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www.peterlang.de
Table of Contents
Preface.......................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1. Allusions and affinities. Tracing an ominous motif 13
Dies Irae as a source of allusions........................................... 14
Alluding to Dies Irae; some methodological considerations 16
The notion of similarity; further methodological
considerations........................................................................... 21
The investigation and its aims................................................ 24
The A-minor Prelude............................................................... 26
External evidence .................................................................... 32
The B-minor Prelude............................................................... 33
The E-minor Prelude ............................................................... 38
Preludes in dark moods ........................................................... 44
Preludes in bright moods......................................................... 51
Summary and discussion......................................................... 61
Other approaches to integration and symbolism in
the Preludes .............................................................................. 63
The chronology of the Preludes ............................................. 66
The question of integral performances................................... 71
In defence of the study of motivic integration ...................... 73
The B?-minor Sonata: the first and fourth movements......... 76
The B?-minor Prelude.............................................................. 80
The Funeral March; its progenitor and congeners ................ 83
The B?-minor Sonata: Scherzo and Trios.............................. 87
Other approaches to thematic integration in the sonata ....... 90
The C#-minor Scherzo............................................................. 91
The C-minor Polonaise and the B-minor Prelude ................. 96
The Second Ballade ................................................................. 99
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The F-minor Prelude and the Etude in F minor
from Méthode ........................................................................... 100
The F#-major Impromptu ........................................................ 104
Extending the investigation..................................................... 106
Pre- and post-“Mallorcan” works........................................... 107
The E?-minor Etude................................................................. 111
The Finale of the B-minor Sonata and the B-minor Prelude . 113
The other movements of the B-minor Sonata ....................... 116
Summary and conclusions....................................................... 119
Chapter 2. Evidence and counter-evidence. Making sense
of the A-minor Prelude ............................................................... 123
Problems of proportion............................................................ 125
Uncertainty and expectation.................................................... 133
Rhetoric and the reality of the contingent ............................. 140
The prelude as an impossible object ...................................... 152
Ominous allusions ................................................................... 163
Tonal analysis........................................................................... 169
An explanatory comparison .................................................... 177
A bottom/up reduction ............................................................ 181
A non-orthodox tonal reduction ............................................. 195
Some remarks on interpretation ............................................. 198
Chapter 3. Music at the analyst’s couch and at the musician’s
stand. The tonal structure of the E-minor Prelude .................... 201
Retrieving the missing third degree ....................................... 202
Adjusting the harmonic progressions..................................... 206
The stretto passage .................................................................. 207
A melodic recurrence .............................................................. 209
The melodic descents .............................................................. 211
The consequent as a compressed antecedent......................... 213
Some additional remarks......................................................... 215
Summary of critical observations........................................... 217
A clarifying comparison.......................................................... 219
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The melodic/harmonic process............................................... 222
Escape and resumption ............................................................ 223
Outbreak and dissipation......................................................... 226
An alternative structural account..............................................231
Chapter 4. Left-hand melody and tonal structure. Towards a
non-Schenkerian account of the B-minor Prelude .................... 235
Top voice vs. structural upper line ...........................................235
A temporary relocation of the structural upper line ................237
Clarification of the actual voice-leading ................................ 242
Motivic relationships .................................................................243
The relocation of the entire structural upper line ....................245
The tonal structure of the prelude ............................................248
Some connections across registers ......................................... 253
Formal considerations; structural and focal events .................255
The antecedent part ................................................................. 259
The consequent part ................................................................ 261
Intertextual allusions .................................................................264
The “foreground” as a structural duet .................................... 265
Three “background” structures; conclusions......................... 269
Chapter 5. How could analysis be deconstructed
by the A-major Prelude? ............................................................. 273
Some introductory remarks on deconstruction ........................273
Bass fundaments and harmonic roots ..................................... 276
Metre and rhythm .................................................................... 283
The phrase structure ................................................................ 288
A digression on manual matters ...............................................293
Understanding in terms of melodic reconstruction ............... 295
Allusive content ..........................................................................297
A critical tonal reduction ......................................................... 298
An unconsummated deconstruction of Schenkerian analysis 304
The impossibility of a structural descent................................ 309
How to remove the obstacle .................................................... 313
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An alternative account of the tonal structure ..........................316
Two objections ...........................................................................323
Introducing an “alien view” ......................................................327
Focal analysis and prolongational reduction...........................333
A focal analysis .........................................................................335
Chapter 6. Reconsidering the C-minor Prelude ..........................341
Motivic structure .......................................................................342
Harmony and rhythmic patterning ...........................................347
Melodic implications .................................................................353
A Schenkerian reduction ...........................................................354
An alternative reduction............................................................358
Formal ambiguity ......................................................................360
Chapter 7. The phenomenology of fingering. Structure and
ontology in the F-minor Etude from Méthode des méthodes .... 365
Nelson Goodman’s notion of musical identity........................366
Towards a more comprehensive ontology of
the music work ...........................................................................370
Motivic constituents and rhythmic properties.........................372
Inherent and implied patterns ...................................................373
Inherent gestures .......................................................................376
Fingerings and proprioceptive meanings .................................377
Some general conclusions .........................................................382
Reconsidering the ontology of the music work.......................384
Chapter 8. From structure to content. Ominous allusions and
the programme of the Second Ballade .........................................389
A Schenkerian account of the theme........................................391
Elision or demarcation?.............................................................395
The initial period .......................................................................397
The first section..........................................................................401
“National martyrdom” and “alienation and powerlessness” . 405
Narrative elements in the ballade .............................................410
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An ominous signifier................................................................414
The ballade as a depiction of existential distress ...................416
Searching for a literary programme ........................................419
“Switezianka” and the Second Ballade ...................................423
Conclusions ...............................................................................426
Music Examples ............................................................................429
Chapter 1 ...................................................................................430
Chapter 2 ...................................................................................477
Chapter 3 ...................................................................................485
Chapter 4 ...................................................................................491
Chapter 5 ...................................................................................498
Chapter 6 ...................................................................................507
Chapter 7 ...................................................................................511
Chapter 8 ...................................................................................518
References ......................................................................................527
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Preface
In a way, The Preludes and Beyond is a good title. It doesn’t
promise anything in particular, and therefore it is quite apt.
The eight analytic essays making up this book are not the result
of a determined effort to create a whole, planned beforehand. Quite
to the contrary, these texts were written as independent studies
during a period of about twenty-five years, and they came into
existence due to some spark outside my control - things that I
happened to read or hear about. The idea to collect them between
two covers arose when the Chopin centenary was approaching, but
I didn’t get the job done in time.
But it turns out that the texts have something in common. There
are two themes making for coherence, and the last chapter
eventually brings the reader back to where the first chapter started.
Issuing from the A-minor Prelude, proceeding with the set of
Preludes, and finally extending the investigation to Chopin’s entire
output, the first chapter is a quest for reminiscences of the Dies
Irae motif, and the following ones all deal with compositions
featuring this ominous motif. The second theme in the book is a
critical discussion of analytic theories and methods, and this is
most apparent in the chapters on the Preludes in A-minor, E-minor,
B-minor, A-major, and C-minor. Schenkerian analysis is the main
target, but other approaches are also sifted. The two final chapters,
dealing with the F-minor Etude from Méthode des Méthodes and
with the Second Ballade, are devoted to questions of musical
ontology and hermeneutics, respectively.
Although written independently at different points of time, some
of the texts - especially chapters 1, 2, 3, and 8 - partly touch upon
the same topics. Keeping duplications to a necessary minimum,
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these chapters are written so as to make it possible to read them
separately. Making up for the absence of a subject index, the table
of contents is hopefully detailed enough to allow the reader to find
what he/she may be looking for.
Lund, 18 February 2013
Bengt Edlund
[email protected]
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