Variations on a Theme by Paganini: Narrative Archetypes in Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century ...

194 Pages·2015·13.15 MB·English

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2015
Variations on a Theme by Paganini:
Narrative Archetypes in Nineteenth-and
Twentieth-Century Theme-and-Variation
Sets
Gillian Robertson
Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected]
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY PAGANINI: NARRATIVE ARCHETYPES IN

NINETEENTH- AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY THEME-AND-VARIATION SETS

By

GILLIAN ROBERTSON

A Dissertation submitted to the
College of Music
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Spring Semester, 2015
Gillian Robertson defended this dissertation on April 6, 2015.
The members of the supervisory committee were:

Joseph Kraus
Professor Co-Directing Dissertation

Matthew Shaftel
Professor Co-Directing Dissertation

Read Gainsford
University Representative

James Mathes
Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members,
and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university
requirements.

ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project would not have been possible without the unending support and guidance
of my co-chairs, Drs. Joseph Kraus and Matthew Shaftel. My dissertation topic grew out of
directed independent studies that I completed with each of them early on in my studies at FSU.
I want to thank both of them for their invaluable insight, encouragement, patience, and
kindness throughout this process. Dr. Kraus’s close attention to details (both musical and
editorial) heavily impacted this project and his careful instruction and comments helped to fine-
tune my analyses and voice-leading sketches. Dr. Shaftel brought creativity and enthusiasm to
every dissertation meeting and his insightful comments and suggestions, especially in regards
to the “big picture” and the reader’s perspective, were integral to the final project. My writing
has improved dramatically since working with both of them, and I am appreciative of the
thesis-writing exercises that Dr. Shaftel assigned in his Atonal I class. I am also grateful for the
thoughtful and constructive feedback from my other committee members, Dr. James Mathes
and Dr. Read Gainsford. It was a pleasure working with my entire committee and I look
forward to the professional relationships and friendships with these inspiring scholars and
musicians in the years to come.
I am extremely grateful for the time that I have spent at Florida State University. The
theory faculty is comprised of exceptional scholars and pedagogues who have been
instrumental in mentoring and shaping my education, teaching, and research. The collegial
environment fostered within the theory department has provided intellectual and emotional
support during my time in Tallahassee. I would like to recognize, in particular, my friends and
colleagues John Peterson, Brian Jarvis, Cara Stroud, Kim Loeffert, and Judith Ofcarcik. I will
cherish the experiences we shared together and I am appreciative for their positive and
constructive feedback and unfailing support throughout the doctoral program.
To my music teachers and professors during all stages of my education, I would like to
thank you for the integral parts you each played in my musical training and for challenging me
both in the classroom and the practice room. I would especially like to thank Kevin Swinden
for encouraging me to pursue a degree in music theory. Finally, I cannot begin to describe how
grateful I am for my family’s unwavering love and support. My parents, Lance and Catherine,
have sacrificed so much to help me attain a PhD, for which I am eternally gratefully. My sisters,
Heather Anne and Cailin, have always been a source of comfort and encouragement and I
would like to extend my thanks to Heather Anne for helping me engrave the voice-leading
sketches in the Appendices.

iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................. vi
List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... viii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ x
1. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................1
1.1 Purpose and Scope ..................................................................................................................1
1.2 Review of Literature on Theme-and-Variation Sets ...........................................................2
1.2.1 Descriptive/Paradigmatic Analysis ............................................................................2
1.2.2 Schenkerian Analysis ....................................................................................................3
1.2.3 Aesthetics and Other Approaches ..............................................................................5
1.3 Review of Literature on Narratology in Music ...................................................................7
1.4 Methodological Approach ...................................................................................................10
1.5 Paganini’s Twenty-Four Caprices Op. 1, No. 24 in A minor ..............................................14
1.6 Closing Remarks ....................................................................................................................21
2. BRAHMS’S VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY PAGANINI, OP. 35, BOOK I ...........................22
2.1 Historical Overview ..............................................................................................................22
2.2 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................23
2.2.1 Agency and the Fictional Composer ..........................................................................23
2.2.2 Musical Borrowing .......................................................................................................25
2.3 Comic Narrative with a Discursive Strategy of Emergence ............................................27
2.3.1 Order: Paganini’s Theme .............................................................................................27
2.3.2 Topical Transgressions ................................................................................................29
2.3.3 Structural Transgressions ............................................................................................30
2.3.3.1 Harmonic Alterations ......................................................................................32
2.3.3.2 Arpeggiated Ascent ........................................................................................33
2.3.3.3 Uncovering the Urlinie ...................................................................................35
2.3.4 “Brahms’s” Emergent Identity ...................................................................................36
2.4 Closing Remarks and Implications .....................................................................................37
3. RACHMANINOFF’S RHAPSODY ON A THEME OF PAGANINI, OP. 43 ............................40
3.1 Historical Background ..........................................................................................................40
3.2 Narrative Analysis: Multiple Archetypes ..........................................................................41
3.2.1 Order-Imposing Hierarchy and Transgressive Elements ......................................42
3.2.2 A Tragic Interpretation of Tonality ...........................................................................43
3.2.3 Comic Archetypes of Formal Structures ..................................................................46
3.2.4 Comic Archetype of “Fantastic” Collections (HEX, OCT, and WT) ....................55
iv
3.2.5 Comic Archetypes of Background Structures .........................................................69
3.3 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................78
4. EXTRA-MUSICAL NARRATIVES: EXPLORING THE DIES IRAE AND NOSTALGIA IN
THE RHAPSODY .............................................................................................................................81
4.1 Introductory Remarks ...........................................................................................................81
4.2 Rachmaninoff’s Narrative and “Paganini” the Ballet ......................................................81
4.3 The Dies Irae (‘Day of Wrath’) and the Evil Spirit .............................................................85
4.4 The Florentine Girl, Nostalgia, and the “Love Episode” .................................................90
4.5 Conclusions: Comparing Narratives and Considering Formal Boundaries ...............103
4.5.1 Movement I: Introduction to Variation 11 .............................................................103
4.5.2 Movement II: Variations 12 to 18 .............................................................................106
4.5.3 Movement III: Variations 19 to 24 ...........................................................................109
5. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ........................................................................114
5.1 A Consideration of this Study ...........................................................................................114
5.1.1 Summary .....................................................................................................................114
5.2 Introduction to Further Research Possibilities: George Rochberg’s Caprice
Variations for Unaccompanied Violin (1970) ........................................................................115
5.2.1 What Constitutes a Variation? Identity Markers in Twentieth-Century
Theme-and-Variation Sets ........................................................................................117
5.2.2 Issues of Structure, Performance, and Narrative ..................................................127
APPENDICES ..........................................................................................................................................131
A. VARIATION SETS BASED ON PAGANINI’S THEME, OP. 1, NO. 24 .................................131
B. SCHENKERIAN SKETCHES OF BRAHMS’S VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY PAGANINI,
OP. 35, BOOK, I ..............................................................................................................................132
C. VOICE-LEADING SKETCHES OF RACHMANINOFF’S RHAPSODY ON A THEME OF
PAGANINI, OP. 43 .........................................................................................................................147
BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................................................176
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...................................................................................................................183

v
LIST OF TABLES
1.1 Almén’s Four Narrative Archetypes .........................................................................................12

1.2 Overview of Paganini’s Theme and Variations Op. 1, No. 24 ...............................................16

1.3 Summary of Perry’s Characteristics for Paganini’s Modes of Expression ...........................18

1.4 Summary of Registral Space in Op. 1, No. 24 ..........................................................................19

2.1 Monahan’s Four Agent Classes ..................................................................................................24

2.2 Almén’s Three Comic Discursive Strategies ............................................................................28

2.3 Topical References Associated with each Fictional Composer .............................................30

2.4 Summary of Fictional Composers and Transgressive Elements in Op. 35, Bk. I ................31

3.1 Characteristics of Order-Imposing Hierarchy and Transgression ........................................42

3.2 Summary of Caplin’s Criteria for Classifying Formal Units .................................................47

3.3 Relative Formal Structures in Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 ................................49

3.4 Summary of Formal Structures in Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 ........................50

3.5 Common Partitions of “Fantastic” Chromatic Collections ....................................................57

3.6 Functions and Corresponding Rank Values of the “Fantastic” Collections in
Op. 43 .............................................................................................................................................58

3.7 Variations from Op. 43 that Employ “Fantastic” Chromatic Collections ............................60

3.8 Traditional and New Background Structures ..........................................................................70

3.9 Background Structures in Op. 43 ...............................................................................................71

4.1 Rachmaninoff’s Proposed Scenario of the Rhapsody for Fokine’s Ballet ..............................82

4.2 Summary of Original Libretto for Fokine’s ballet, “Paganini” .............................................84

4.3 Brief Overview of the Sacred and Secular Settings of the Dies Irae ......................................86

4.4 Settings of the Dies Irae in the Rhapsody, Op. 43 .......................................................................89

4.5 Summary of Authors’ Mapping Time in Narrative onto Tonal Areas .................................93

4.6 Possible Strategies and Techniques for Nostalgic Moments in Music .................................95

4.7 Continuity between Variations 10 and 19 ................................................................................97

4.8 Nostalgic Moments in Variations 13–17 .................................................................................102
vi
4.9 Formal Boundaries within Movement I: Agreement and Disagreement between the Six
Narratives ....................................................................................................................................106

4.10 Formal Boundaries of Movement II: Agreement between all Six Narratives ...................108

4.11 Formal Boundaries of Movement III: Agreement and Disagreement between all
Six Narratives .............................................................................................................................111

5.1 Select Variation Sets based on the Theme from Paganini’s Violin Caprices, Op. 1,
No. 24 ...........................................................................................................................................117

5.2 Identity Markers from Paganini’s Theme in the Fourteen Required Variations from
Rochberg’s Caprice Variations ...................................................................................................122

5.3 Borrowed Material (Allusions or Arrangements) in Rochberg’s Caprice
Variations .....................................................................................................................................136

5.4 Possible Narrative Models for Twentieth-Century Repertoire ...........................................129

vii
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Generic Transvaluation Profiles of the Four Narrative Archetypes .....................................12

1.2 Harmonic Analysis of Paganini’s Theme, Twenty-Four Caprices, Op. 1, No. 24 ..................21

2.1 Implicit and Explicit Agential Claims at the Level of the Analyst .......................................25

2.2 Schenker’s Sketch of Paganini’s Theme from Op. 1, No. 24 ..................................................29

2.3 Chromatic Tetrachord in Variation 3, mm. 1–4 .......................................................................32

2.4 Phrygian Tetrachord in Variation 4, mm. 1–8 ..........................................................................32

2.5 Chromaticism replaces i–V Harmonies in Variation 9, mm. 1–4 ..........................................33

2.6 Expansion of Opening Arpeggiated Ascent in Variation 1, mm. 1–8 ..................................34

2.7 Registral Expansion of Arpeggiated Ascent in Variation 2, mm. 1–4 ..................................35

2.8 Inversion of Arpeggiated Ascent in Variation 11, mm. 1–2 ...................................................35

2.9 Exposed Urlinie in Variation 13, mm. 1–12 ..............................................................................36

2.10 “Brahms’s” Emergent Identity in Variation 14 (14a), mm. 1–16 ...........................................38

2.11 “Brahms’s” Emergent Identity in Variation 14 (Episode), mm. 17–35 .................................38

2.12 “Brahms’s” Emergent Identity in Variation 14 (14b⇒Coda), mm. 36–83 ...........................39

3.1 Tragic Archetype of Tonality (Low-High-Low Rank Value of Transgression) ..................44

3.2 Nested Comic Archetypes of Formal Structures (Low-High Rank Value of
Transgression) ..............................................................................................................................53

3.3 Distinct Transpositions of “Fantastic” Structures: (A) Octatonic, (B) Hexatonic,
and (C) Whole-Tone .....................................................................................................................56

3.4 Location and Function of “Fantastic” Chromatic Collections in Op. 43 ..............................59

3.5 Types of “Fantastic” Chromatic Collections Featured in Op. 43 ..........................................59

3.6 Introduction of Op. 43: Comparison between (A) Johnston’s Analysis, and (B) My
Analysis .........................................................................................................................................62

3.7 Embellishing Hexatonic Structures in Variation 3, mm. 13–17 .............................................64

3.8 Embellishing Octatonic Collections in the Cadenza of Variation 11, mm. 16 .....................64

3.9 Hexatonic-Structure Substitutions for V–I progressions in Variation 14, mm. 1–6 ...........64

3.10 Hexatonic Substitutions in Variation 20 (B-section), mm. 11–16 and mm. 20–25 ..............65
viii
3.11 Hexatonic Substitutions in Variation 21 (B-section), mm. 9–12 and mm. 15–18 ................67
3.12 Large-scale Prolongation of WT in Variation 22, mm. 1–22 .................................................67
1
3.13 Large-scale Prolongation of Octatonic Collections in Variation 22, mm. 46–60 .................68
3.14 Large-scale Prolongation of WT and WT in Variation 24, mm. 12–21 ...............................69
0 1
3.15 Generalization of Background Structures in Op. 43 (Traditional to New) ..........................80
3.16 Summary of Comic Archetypes of the Background Structures in Op. 43 ...........................80
4.1 Dies Irae, Phrase One ....................................................................................................................86
4.2 Recomposition of the Rhapsody: Removal of Variations 11 to 18 and the Introduction
to Variation 19 ..............................................................................................................................97
4.3 (A) Military Trumpet and Bugle Calls, “Marche pour la parade,” and (B) Military Topic
in Variation 14, mm. 2–6 ...........................................................................................................101
4.4 Rachmaninoff’s Implicit Formal Boundaries of Movement I ..............................................104
4.5 Rachmaninoff’s Implicit Formal Boundaries of Movement II .............................................107
4.6 Rachmaninoff’s Implicit Formal Boundaries of Movement III ...........................................110
5.1 Paganini, Violin Caprice Theme in A minor, Op. 1, No. 24 .................................................119
5.2 Form Model for the Category Paganini’s Caprice Theme ...................................................119
5.3 Harmony Model for the Category Paganini’s Caprice Theme ............................................120
5.4 Figuration Model for the Category Paganini’s Caprice Theme ..........................................120
5.5 Register Model for the Category Paganini’s Caprice Theme ..............................................120
5.6 Marked Interval (Pitch/Pitch-Class Reference) Model for the Category Paganini’s
Caprice Theme ............................................................................................................................121
5.7 Centricity around A (pedal) in Variation 34, mm. 1–2 .........................................................124
5.8 Focal pcs (A and E) in the opening of Variation 48 ...............................................................124
5.9 Moto perpetuo Rhythmic Figuration in: (a) Paganini’s Theme; and (b) Rochberg’s
Variation 45 .................................................................................................................................125
5.10 Marked Intervals from Variation 19 ........................................................................................125
ix