Dissertation Committee for Scott Charles Schumann Certifies That This Is the Approved Version of the Following Dissertation
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Copyright by Scott Charles Schumann 2015 The Dissertation Committee for Scott Charles Schumann Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Making the Past Present: Topics in Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Works Committee: Marianne Wheeldon, Supervisor Robert S. Hatten Byron Almén James Buhler Kathleen M. Higgins Making the Past Present: Topics in Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Works by Scott Charles Schumann, B.Music; M.Music Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2015 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Marianne Wheeldon, whose guidance, expertise, patience, and support was immensely helpful while working on this project. She has encouraged me to consider many different and valuable ways to think about music, and has helped me improve my ability to clearly express these ideas through writing. One of the greatest lessons that I learned from Dr. Wheeldon is that nothing but my best work is ever good enough – I would not have been able to complete this project without her help, for which I am forever grateful. I owe both Dr. Wheeldon and Dr. Robert S. Hatten thanks for helping me develop the original idea for this dissertation during the independent research projects I worked on with each of them in my last semester of coursework. I would also like to thank Drs. Hatten, Byron Almén, and James Buhler for their many lessons, both in seminars and in one-on-one meetings, which have also played an important role in forming the ways in which I think about music in general, and expressive interpretation in particular. Dr. Kathleen M. Higgins also deserves thanks for helping expand my philosophical thought regarding the ways I think and write about music. Thanks to all of the above faculty members for taking the time to serve on my committee, and for offering their critiques and suggestions for improving this project. Finally, I would like to thank the other faculty members from The University of Texas not listed above, in particular those on the theory faculty – Drs. David Neumeyer, Eric Drott, Edward Pearsall, and John Turci-Escobar – for their support and guidance during my time as a student. I am also grateful to the many graduate students who have been in the music department during my time at The University of Texas, who have been invaluable to me as both friends and colleagues. In particular, Alex Newton has been a great friend and source of intellectual stimulation since we both started the Master’s program at The University of Texas in 2009. In addition to Alex, Matthew Bell, Eric Hogrefe, Cari McDonnell, and Allison Wente have formed an important support network during our weekly meetings and writing sessions over the past two years, which were extremely helpful in completing this project. Finally, I would like to thank my family, especially my parents, for their constant love, support, and encouragement over the years. I cannot begin to count the ways in which they have been there for me during my time at The University of Texas, but I would not be who I am today without them. iv Making the Past Present: Topics in Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Works Scott Charles Schumann, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Marianne Wheeldon Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassicism has frequently been discussed in terms of its relationship to earlier musical styles. While a number of scholars, employing a wide variety of analytical approaches, have examined this aspect of Stravinsky’s neoclassical music, only a few scholars have used topic theory to explore the composer’s link with music of the past. Seeking to fill this gap in the literature, this dissertation uses topic theory as its primary analytical approach, examining how Stravinsky’s connections to the past can offer multiple ways of interpreting potential stylistic and expressive meanings in his neoclassical works. Chapter 2 analyzes Stravinsky’s topics and tropes utilizing Robert S. Hatten’s four tropological axes: compatibility, dominance, creativity, and productivity. Each axis examines related but separate aspects of each trope, analyzing criteria related to the musical and stylistic associations of a trope’s component topics along local and global v scales. Studying the different ways in which each of these four axes interact in Stravinsky’s tropes provides a means to arrive at more nuanced musical and stylistic interpretations of these topical interactions. Chapter 3 develops my concept of “distorted topics.” Building on Pieter C. van den Toorn’s discussions of “displacement” in Stravinsky’s music, this chapter examines the composer’s rhythmic and metric manipulations of certain dance topics. Using Wye Jamison Allanbrook’s discussions of rhythm and meter pertaining to dance topics, this chapter examines these important rhythmic and metric characteristics of Stravinsky’s neoclassical works, and explores ways in which these distortions can be interpreted musically and expressively. Chapter 4 analyzes how Stravinsky used topics in four traditional formal models throughout his neoclassical period: ternary form, theme and variations form, sonata form, and cyclic form. First, the form itself is examined in order to determine how Stravinsky both adheres to and subverts the traditional model. Second, I examine the ways in which topics and tropes provide a sense of coherence to Stravinsky’s appropriation of these forms. Using analytical techniques developed in chapters 2 and 3, chapter 4 examines the formal, stylistic, and expressive ways in which topics and tropes contribute to Stravinsky’s manipulations of conventional formal structures. vi Table of Contents List of Examples .................................................................................................... ix List of Figures...................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction: Topics in Stravinsky's Neoclassical Works.........................................................................................1 An Overview of Topic Theory........................................................................3 Playing with Topics: Stravinsky's Relationship with the Past......................11 Topics and Expressive Meaning in Stravinsky's Neoclassical Works..........13 Chapter 2 Topics and Tropes: Applications of Hatten's Four Tropological Axes ..................................................................18 Introduction...................................................................................................18 Combining Topics and Expressive Meanings...............................................19 1. Compatibility ............................................................................................27 2. Dominance ................................................................................................33 3. Creativity...................................................................................................40 4. Productivity...............................................................................................47 Chapter 3 Distorted Topics: Musical and Expressive Manipulation of Dance Topics......................................................................60 Introduction...................................................................................................60 Defamiliarization ..........................................................................................61 Rhythmic and Metric Distortion ...................................................................64 Distorted Stylistic and Expressive Meanings ...............................................69 Distorted Marches.........................................................................................71 Distorted Dances – Sarabande ......................................................................80 Distorted Dances – Waltz .............................................................................84 Distorted Tropes............................................................................................96 vii Chapter 4 Formal Models and Topical Prominence in Stravinsky's Neoclassical Works ............................................................103 Introduction.................................................................................................103 Ternary Form ..............................................................................................105 Theme and Variations Form .......................................................................115 Sonata Form................................................................................................124 Exposition ..........................................................................................126 Development......................................................................................131 Recapitulation ....................................................................................138 Cyclic Form ................................................................................................140 Chapter 5 Conclusion..........................................................................................152 Bibliography ........................................................................................................159 viii List of Examples Example 2–1: Apollon musagète,