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A Semiotic Approach to the Clarinet Quintet of Johannes Brahms By A Semiotic Approach to the Clarinet Quintet of Johannes Brahms by Roberto Mikael Abragan de Guzman A thesis submitted to the Moores School of Music, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance Chair of Committee: Timothy Koozin Committee Member: Chester Rowell Committee Member: Rob Smith Committee Member: Dan Gelok University of Houston May 2021 Copyright 2021, Roberto Mikael Abragan de Guzman Abstract This paper will provide a comprehensive look at Brahms’s clarinet quintet by providing a semiotic approach to the musical analysis. The quintet contains deformations regarding its form, according to James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s study of sonata cycle and sonata form. Furthermore, musical gestures introduced in the initial movement occur sporadically throughout the rest of the piece, creating connections between movements through their reoccurrence. Normative and non-normative events in the form of individual movements and the work as a whole give rise to oppositions that shape elements of conflict in musical narrative. Eero Tarasti’s semiotic analysis along with James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s sonata theory and Edward Klorman’s idea of social interaction in the music will provide methodological approaches in examining the Brahms’s clarinet quintet. The combination of these approaches helps in identifying a narrative that spans the entirety of the piece. Structural points in musical narrative are identified by applying concepts associated with sonata form and sonata cycle, while plot developments in the narrative are correlated with recurring motives and themes. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ..................................................................................v I. Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 II. CHAPTER 1 (First Movement – Allegro) ..................................................................8 III. CHAPTER 2 (Second Movement – Adagio) ...........................................................27 IV. CHAPTER 3 (Third Movement – Andantino) .......................................................40 V. CHAPTER 4 (Fourth Movement – Con Moto) ........................................................50 VI. Conclusion .................................................................................................................57 VI. Bibliography ...............................................................................................................61 iv LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 1.1 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 1, mm. 1–4 ..................................................9 1.2 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 1, mm. 5–11 ..............................................11 1.3 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 1, mm. 4–17 ..............................................12 1.4 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, P1 theme mm. 18-25 ...............................14 1.5 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, Transition zone (mm. 25-35) .................15 1.6 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, S2 zone in the secondary zone (mm. 48-58) ...................................................................................18 1.7 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, S3 zone in the secondary zone (mm. 59-70) ...................................................................................19 1.8 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, First half of the Development (mm. 71-97) ...................................................................................21 1.9 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, segment from the second half of the Development (mm. 98- 107) ....................................................22 1.10 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, Retransition to Recapitulation (mm. 127-137) ...............................................................................23 1.11 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 1, last phrase of the coda (mm. 207 – end) ................................................................................................26 2.1 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, Introduction (mm. 1-8)...........................28 2.2 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, mm. 15-26 ..............................................30 2.3 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, mm. 27-41 ..............................................31 2.4 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, Interlude (mm. 42–51) ...........................32 2.5 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, segment of the B section (mm. 52- 55) ..................................................................................................34 2.6 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, End of B Section Coda ...........................37 2.7 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 2, Coda (m.128-end) ..................................38 3.1 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 3, Introduction (mm. 1-20).........................41 3.2 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt 3, Introduction (mm. 22-33).......................43 3.3 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 3, segment of the Presto (mm. 34- 43) ..................................................................................................44 3.4 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 3, segment of the Presto (mm. 19-20 & mm. 37-37).................................................................................45 3.5 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 3 (mm. 166-end)........................................48 4.1 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 4, Theme (mm.1-32) .................................51 v 4.2 Brahms Clarinet Quintet Mvt. 4, Circling motive that exists in the fourth movement ............................................................................55 vi Introduction The late works by Johannes Brahms provide some of the most beloved pieces in the clarinet repertoire: a trio, a quintet, and two sonatas. Many scholars have written historical information and musical descriptions of the works, creating useful annotations for musicians and audiences. As valuable as these contributions are, a musical analysis of his works can help provide an understanding of the piece regarding the form, key, rhythm, and other musical ideas that the music encompasses. A semiotic approach to the musical analysis of the Brahms clarinet quintet offers comprehensive information regarding the musical gestures in the piece thus creating a narrative. Despite being one of the most important works with this instrumentation, the Brahms clarinet quintet almost never existed. An earlier attempt in creating a chamber work for this instrumentation is said to have happened in 1888. The earlier version of the quintet was discussed in a letter to Clara Schumann; the Frankfurt Museum asked for a concert of Brahms’ music, which included the earlier version of a quintet. Unfortunately, the score for the first version of a clarinet quintet is lost because Brahms deemed the work unworthy of publication and destroyed the score. Furthermore, he considered that the art of clarinet playing had declined during his lifetime. Lastly, the composer had announced his retirement from composition.1 Upon hearing the beautiful playing of Richard Mühlfeld, clarinetist of the Meiningen Orchestra, Brahms came out of retirement to compose works for the clarinet which invigorated the composer’s adoration for the clarinet. In a letter to Clara, Brahms described Mühlfeld as the “nightingale of the orchestra” and that “nobody can blow the 1 Colin Lawson, Brahms Clarinet Quintet (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1998), 31-32. 1 clarinet more beautifully than Herr Mühlfeld.”2 During the summer of 1881, he began work on the Clarinet Trio Op. 114 and the Clarinet Quintet Op. 115. The premiere of the quintet occurred the same year it was composed. The performers included Richard Mühlfeld and Joseph Joachim and his string quartet. Brahms and the musicians took the quintet on tour, traveling through Europe. Bernard Shaw, a critic from the London premiere, remarked that Brahms’ work exceeded his expectations. Friends, including Clara Schumann, claimed that it was a marvelous and heavenly work. The success of the piece generated further collaboration between Brahms and Mühlfeld, which resulted in the composition of the two clarinet sonatas.3 Brahms’ clarinet quintet is a prototypical work for this medium with the string quartet and clarinet performing in a symphonic-like setting. Previous chamber pieces of this form existed, such as the Mozart quintet that Mühlfeld was playing during the concert where Brahms first heard him. Brahms’ quintet contains four movements: an opening allegro, an adagio, a binary form third movement, and a finale, which is the very same model as the Mozart quintet. The study of semiotics in music involves interpretation of musical meaning through examination of signs and signals that can give rise to musical gestures. Some of the different actions that can occur in music may be defined by motivic similarities and differences, keys and how they relate throughout the sonata cycle, different topics that music can characterize and how they evolve, and metric dissonance. The discussion begins with an approach to sonata form and sonata cycles advanced by James Hepokoski 2 Lawson, 32. 3 Lawson, 36-7. 2 and Warren Darcy. Theorists Hepokoski and Darcy’s investigations of various works from the Classical era provides a way to explore musical forms. In their studies, they use the structural zones of exposition, development, and recapitulation
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