Topics in the Music of Arnold Schoenberg

304 Pages·2013·5.59 MB·English

by  Jessica Narum

Sound and Semantics: Topics in the Music of Arnold Schoenberg

A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
BY

Jessica Narum

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Michael Cherlin and Sumanth Gopinath

August 2013
© Jessica Narum 2013
Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ms. Hella Mears as well as the Center for German and European
Studies at the University of Minnesota for supporting graduate student research. I was
honored to receive the Hella Mears Graduate Student Fellowship, which allowed me to
continue my research through the summer of 2012.
My thanks to the inspiring faculty at the University of Minnesota. For their
incisive questions and helpful comments, I’d like to thank my committee members:
Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, Michael Cherlin, Sumanth Gopinath, and Richard Leppert. As
my advisers, Professors Cherlin and Gopinath read this work in its roughest stages; my
writing and thinking about music have been greatly improved by their continuous help
and encouragement. Thanks also to the administrative guidance from Stan Rothrock,
Laura Krider, and especially Anne Barnes, whose help in the final weeks was
instrumental in the completion of this process.
To my faculty colleagues and students first at Concordia University, St. Paul, and
presently at Concordia College, Moorhead: thank you for supporting and encouraging a
new faculty member studying for comprehensive exams and writing her dissertation.
Warmest thanks to my friends and colleagues from graduate school, with special
thanks to the following: my in-person dissertation writing group, Florian Thalmann and
Brian Schmidt; my email dissertation writing group, Joseph Matson and Kimberley Beck
Seder; and my favorite non-music scholars, Dana Schumacher and Stacey Decker.
Thanks also to the members of the Awesome Book Club and the Chicken Pluckers.
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Jeremy Orosz and I started at the University of Minnesota at the same time,
collaborated during classes and teaching assignments, and studied for comprehensive
exams together. He read early drafts of several of my chapters, and they are better for it.
Thanks to my Holter and Narum families for their love and encouragement. In
particular, my parents, Valerie and Garfield Narum, have always supported me in any of
my musical endeavors and this was no exception.
Last, but certainly not least, none of this would have been possible without the
support of my husband, Colin Holter. He worked some Finale wizardry on the more
impressive musical examples in these pages and edited the audio tracks for the public
portion of my defense; in addition, he offered sound and patient advice in all matters of
research and writing, all while sharing a residence, an office, and a teaching assignment
with me. I am grateful for his unwavering confidence and his patient understanding.
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This dissertation is dedicated to Colin Holter.
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Abstract
Arnold Schoenberg's music consistently invites criticism and analysis, much of
which has used the tools of pitch-class set theory to focus on issues of structure and
coherence rather than considerations of musical meaning. Because these approaches
emphasize Schoenberg's break with tonality they fail to recognize the continuity of this
repertory with its cultural and historical precursors, and thus minimize the extent to
which we perceive Schoenberg as influenced by or in dialogue with earlier composers.
Furthermore, because of their focus on pitch content, they tend to neglect the expressive
potential of this music.
By approaching Schoenberg's music with the tools of musical topic theory, the
connections between this music and its historical and cultural contexts can be
demonstrated and issues of musical meaning can be explored. Part I: Historical
Background explores the historical context necessary for the analysis of Schoenberg's
music. Chapter 1 surveys the analytical trends applied to Schoenberg's music through
their approach to musical meaning; Chapter 2 provides a literature review of topic theory,
addresses critiques thereof, and explores issues pertaining to our understanding of new
topics.
Part II: Analytical Approaches demonstrates four different applications of topical
analysis. Chapter 3 considers the intersection of topics and leitmotiv in Schoenberg's
Pelleas und Melisande to demonstrate how the topics and structure of the various
leitmotivs convey and create associations between characters and ideas in the drama.
Chapter 4 compares the use of the pianto and the chorale topic in all periods of
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Schoenberg's career, arguing that their presence in the atonal and twelve-tone works is
increasingly motivated by issues of program and text. Chapter 5 features an in-depth
analysis of the second of the Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, using the unfolding of the topics
to create a narrative that accounts for the tonal and atonal elements in the piece. Chapter
6 provides a lexicon of the topics in Schoenberg's atonal music which includes
descriptions of the musical signifier and the cultural signifieds, multiple examples of the
topic, and both earlier and later instances of similar passages from Schoenberg's work.

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Table of Contents
Front Matter
Acknowledgements i
Dedication ii
Abstract iii
Table of Contents iv
List of Tables v
List of Figures vi

Introduction 1

PART I: Historical Background 7

Chapter One:
“This is My Fault:” Toward a Hermeneutics of Schoenberg’s Music 8
Musical Meaning and Topical Awareness in Schoenberg's Writings 13
Formalism 23
Intra-work Musical Meaning (ratio difficilis) 34
Conventionalized Musical Meaning (ratio facilis) 37
Conventionalized Meaning in Schoenberg's Music 38

Chapter Two:
Overview of Topic Theory: Developments, Critiques, and New Directions 48
Recent Developments 65
Critiques 70
Identifying New Topics 73

PART II: Analytical Approaches 82

Chapter Three:
Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande: A Topical and Leitmotivic Analysis 83
Individual Leitmotivs 87
Interaction and Influence of Leitmotivs 110
Response to Zemlinsky and the Implications of "Lost Innocence" 122

Chapter Four: 128
Topical Trajectories: Charting the Pianto and the Chorale Topic in Schoenberg's Music
Piantos 133
Chorale Topic 160
Comparison 185

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Chapter Five:
A Topical Approach to the Tonal and Atonal Elements of Op. 11/2 189
Formal Overview 194
The A Section and Inversionally Symmetrical Structures 195
The B Section and the Topic of Being Overwhelmed 208
The Reprise, the Nocturne and a Narrative Overview 216

Chapter Six: 230
Light, Darkness, and Psychic States: The Topical Universe of Schoenberg's Atonal Music
Celestial Light 234
Dark and Supernatural Topics: Ombra, Demonic, Uncanny 238
The Elemental Topic 243
The Step Motive 248
Flüchtiger 253
Dysphoric Marches 259
Traumatic Flooding 263
Parallel Thirds 266
Alto Declamation 269
Expressive Genres 272
Expressive Genre I: Psychic Fragmentation 273
Expressive Genre II: Enigmatic Gardens 276

Bibliography 282
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List of Tables
Table 3-1: Names and groupings of Pelleas leitmotivs in published analyses…………..89
Table 3-2: Comparison of structural elements and figurae of leitmotivs………………113

Table 4-1: Schoenberg’s Traditional Tonal Piantos………………………………........138
Table 4-2: Schoenberg’s Atonal Piantos…………………………………………….…139
Table 4-3: Comparison of piantos and chorales in Schoenberg’s music…………….…186

Table 5-1: Formal Segmentations of Op. 11, No. 2………………………………….…194
Table 5-2: Chart of formal subsections of mm. 29–54……………………………...….209

Table 6-1: Textual and Musical Instances of the Step Motive in Das Buch der hängenden
Gärten …………………………………………………………………………………..250
Table 6-2: Additional Flüchtiger Passages in the Atonal Works………………………258
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