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Aesthetic Functionalism
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive) Volume 3 Volume 3 (2005) Article 8 2005 Aesthetic Functionalism Sven Ove Hansson Royal Institute of Technology, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/liberalarts_contempaesthetics Part of the Aesthetics Commons Recommended Citation Hansson, Sven Ove (2005) "Aesthetic Functionalism," Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive): Vol. 3 , Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/liberalarts_contempaesthetics/vol3/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Liberal Arts Division at DigitalCommons@RISD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive) by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@RISD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Aesthetic Functionalism Sven Ove Hansson About CA Abstract Journal According to the strongest version of aesthetic functionalism, aesthetic value is completely determined by and therefore Contact CA reducible to practical function. According to the opposite view, function and aesthetic value are completely independent of Links each other. Both these views are shown to be untenable, and instead aesthetic dualism is defended. By this, I mean that Submissions some aesthetic judgments that can legitimately be made about an object refer to it under descriptions of its practical Search Journal function, whereas others refer to it, for instance, under descriptions of its physical appearance. Since valuations of the former type are in most cases positively correlated with satisfaction of functional requirements, this amounts to a defense of a radically weakened version of aesthetic functionalism. Editorial Board Key Words Permission to Reprint aesthetic functionalism, aesthetic value, aesthetic dualism, aesthetic judgments Privacy Site Map Publisher 1. -
Schoenberg's Chordal Experimentalism Revealed Through
Music Theory Spectrum Advance Access published September 18, 2015 Schoenberg’s Chordal Experimentalism Revealed through Representational Hierarchy Association (RHA), Contour Motives, and Binary State Switching This article considers the chronological flow of Schoenberg’s chordal atonal music, using melodic contour and other contextual features to prioritize some chordal events over others. These non- consecutive chords are tracked and compared for their coloristic contrasts, producing an unfolding akin to Klangfarbenmelodie, but paced more like a narrative trajectory in a drama. The dramatic pacing enhances discernment of nuance among atonal dissonant chords, thereby emancipating them from subordinate obscurity to vivid distinctness. Thus Schoenberg’s music is strategically configured to differentiate its own pitch material. This approach is theorized in terms of represen- Downloaded from tational hierarchy association (RHA) among chords, and demonstrated in analyses of Op. 11, No. 2, Op. 21, No. 4, and Op. 19, No. 3. In support, the analyses consider: (1) the combinatorics of voicing as effecting contrasts of timbre; (2) an application of Lewin’s Binary State Generalized Interval System (GIS) to melodic contour and motivic transformation based on binary-state switch- ing; (3) Klumpenhouwer Networks to model chord-to-chord connections hierarchically; and (4) the role of pitch-class set genera (families of chords) in projecting a palindromic arch form. http://mts.oxfordjournals.org/ Keywords: dualism, chords, Schoenberg, segmentation, -
The Other Marxism: Georg Knepler and the Anthropology of Music
The Other Marxism: Georg Knepler and the Anthropology of Music Golan Gur All content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Received: 01/10/2015 Accepted: 02/11/2015 Published: 07/05/2016 Last updated: 07/05/2016 How to cite: Golan Gur, “The Other Marxism: Georg Knepler and the Anthropology of Music,” Musicologica Austriaca: Journal for Austrian Music Studies (May 07, 2016) Tags: 20th century; Anthropology; Knepler, Georg; Marxism The essay is part of a larger research project dealing with music and aesthetic culture in the German Democratic Republic. I am grateful to the Royal Society and the British Academy for their generous support of the project in years 2014-2015 in my capacity as a Newton International Fellow at the University of Cambridge. I would like to thank Nicholas Cook for his support and mentoring of the project. I am also grateful to Joanna Bullivant, Ian Cross, Andreas Dorschel, Katherine Hambridge, Marion Kant, Lars Klingberg, and Meli Solomon for their valuable remarks and suggestions on earlier drafts of this essay. I also would like to express my gratitude to John Knepler for reading and commenting on the essay and for providing me with photos of his father. The essay is dedicated to the memory of Christian Kaden who first introduced me to the work and ideas of Georg Knepler. Versions of this essay were delivered as conference papers at the 4th Annual Conference of the Royal Musical Association Music & Philosophy Study Group, King’s College London, and at the Current Musicology 50th Anniversary Conference at Columbia University, New York. -
The Concerto for Bassoon by Andrzej Panufnik
THE CONCERTO FOR BASSOON BY ANDRZEJ PANUFNIK: RELIGION, LIBERATION AND POSTMODERNISM Janelle Ott Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2016 APPROVED: Kathleen Reynolds, Major Professor Eugene Cho, Committee Member John Scott, Committee Member James Scott, Dean of the School of Music Costas Tsatsoulis, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Ott, Janelle. The Concerto for Bassoon by Andrzej Panufnik: Religion, Liberation, and Postmodernism. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance), May 2016, 128 pp., 2 charts, 23 musical examples, references, 88 titles. The Concerto for Bassoon by Andrzej Panufnik is a valuable addition to bassoon literature. It provides a rare opportunity for the bassoon soloist to perform a piece which is strongly programmatic. The purpose of this document is to examine the historical and theoretical context of the Concerto for Bassoon with special emphasis drawn to Panufnik’s understanding of religion in connection with Polish national identity and the national struggle for democratic independence galvanized by the murder of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko in 1984. Panufnik’s relationship with the Polish communist regime, both prior to and after his 1954 defection to England, is explored at length. Each of these aspects informed Panufnik’s compositional approach and the expressive qualities inherent in the Concerto for Bassoon. The Concerto for Bassoon was commissioned by the Polanki Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was premiered by the Milwaukee Chamber Players, with Robert Thompson as the soloist. While Panufnik intended the piece to serve as a protest against the repression of the Soviet government in Poland, the U. S. -
Life's Work. Wagner's Tristan and the Critique of Biographism1
ANDREAS DORSCHEL Life’s Work. Wagner’s Tristan and the Critique of Biographism1 Interpretation would be impossible if the expressions of life were utterly unfamiliar. It would be unneces- sary, were there within these expressions nothing that was unfamiliar. Interpretation, therefore, must take place between these two opposite extremes. Wilhelm Dilthey I. Mozart composed his great G minor Symphony because he was in a dark mood, Schubert set the cycle of poems Die schöne Müllerin to music because he was unhappily in love, Wagner created Tristan und Isolde because he was having an affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, Brahms wrote his Four Serious Songs because he sensed his approaching death: such assertions fulfil all the criteria of biographism. It is everywhere, yet at the same time hardly a reasonable person feels at ease with it. This contra- dictory state of affairs gives us good reason to examine the question of what makes biographism attractive, and what makes it inappropriate. Proponents of biographism attempt to draw conclusions from works about the mental makeup of their authors – and vice versa. In the simplest case this procedure is circular: Mozart wrote his G minor Symphony because he was in a dark mood. What is the evidence for this? The G minor Symphony. And what explains the genesis of the symphony? The dark mood. There may of course be independent evidence of this mood. A composer may have expressed such a mood in letters. However, this hardly makes biographism any more acceptable as an explanation of art. After all, 63 Andreas Dorschel many people get into dark moods, and yet they do not write symphonies in G minor – and certainly not this particular one, KV 550. -
MTO 15.1: Roeder, Animating the “Inside”
Volume 15, Number 1, March 2009 Copyright © 2009 Society for Music Theory John Roeder KEYWORDS: transformational theory, David Lewin, animation, analysis ABSTRACT: This brief introduction describes the contributions to this special issue of Music Theory Online and discusses some outstanding issues in transformational theory. The seven essays collectively address those issues by focusing on the analysis of entire pieces or sections, by using computer animation to help convey the attitude Lewin advocates of being “inside” the music, and by focusing on diverse recent compositions, revealing connections among them. Received November 2008 [1] The impact of David Lewin’s 1987 Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations (GMIT)—the definitive exposition of transformational theory—is evident from the waves of research it inspired.(1) A 1993 conference devoted to Neo-Riemannian theory inspired a special issue of the Journal of Music Theory (42/2) in 1998. Neo-Riemannian theory, which treats triadic transformations and the voice leading associated with them, has since seen productive generalization and application to a variety of music.(2) Another transformational construct that Lewin advocated, the Klumpenhouwer network, became the subject of a special issue (24/2) of Music Theory Spectrum, and has been the focus of numerous contributions to Music Theory Online over the past two years. Lewin’s mathematical approach fostered a renewed appreciation of similar treatments of musical structure, contemporary with and antecedent to his work,(3) and has informed more recent theories of chord structure and relations.(4) The 2003 Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory, by devoting six workshops to various aspects and extensions of transformational theory, recognized all these developments and their importance to the discipline. -
MTO 17.1: Peck, a GAP Tutorial for Transformational Music Theory
Volume 17, Number 1, April 2011 Copyright © 2011 Society for Music Theory A GAP Tutorial for Transformational Music Theory Robert W. Peck NOTE: The examples for the (text-only) PDF version of this item are available online at: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.1/mto.11.17.1.peck.php KEYWORDS: computer-assisted research, transformational music theory, group theory, Klumpenhouwer networks, neo-Riemannian theory ABSTRACT: GAP (an acronym for Groups, Algorithms, and Programming) is a system of computational discrete algebra that may function as an application for experimentation in transformational music theory. In particular, it offers tools to music theorists that are not readily available elsewhere. This tutorial will show how GAP may be used to generate algebraic group structures well known to music theorists. Furthermore, it will investigate how these structures may be applied to the study of transformation theory, using familiar concepts from Klumpenhouwer-network and neo-Riemannian theories. Received October 2010 [1] About GAP [1.1] GAP (an acronym for Groups, Algorithms, and Programming) is a mathematical software package that has great potential as a tool for researchers and students of transformational music theory. Whereas many computer resources are available to music theorists in the investigation of pitch-class set theory and serial theory—pitch-class set calculators, matrix generators, and the like—few, if any, permit users to construct, analyze, and manipulate algebraic systems themselves. Such techniques, however, are an increasingly large part of the transformation theorist’s methodologies. It is often necessary to consider concepts such as the subgroup structure of a group, or to determine a group’s automorphisms. -
MTO 13.3: Murphy, Considering Network
Volume 13, Number 3, September 2007 Copyright © 2007 Society for Music Theory Scott Murphy REFERENCE: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.07.13.2/mto.07.13.2.buchler.html KEYWORDS: Klumpenhouwer network, recursion, self-similarity, Bartók, analysis, inversion, mirror, axis, register ABSTRACT: Notions of network recursion, as they have been designated in music analyses, may be organized into five categories that range from exact self-similarity to self-dissimilarity. This perspective reveals that Michael Buchler’s critique of network recursion does not necessarily fully apply to analyses in all categories of network recursion. An analysis of Bartók’s “Fourths” serves as an example of how network recursion analysis can achieve significant results and avoid most of, if not all of, Buchler’s critique. Received September 2007 [1] In his article “Reconsidering Klumpenhouwer Networks,” Michael Buchler advocates for a stronger perceptual salience of the types of observations that Klumpenhouwer networks afford. In the course of his critique, he presents two criteria that perceptually salient K-net analyses should meet: they should take place in registral space (henceforth, p-space) to an appreciable degree,(1) and they should not endure the perceptual strain of negative isography, i.e. dual- or hyper-inversions (2) (<In >). The price for the former is an increase in analytical exclusivity, since such relationships do not occur as often in the literature. The price for the latter seems steeper, as Buchler explains: “One could avoid the particular phenomenological problem of dual inversion by resolving to employ only positively isographic K-nets, but doing so effectively forfeits one’s ability to produce recursive network structures, and these are perhaps the greatest incentive for using K-nets in the first place.”(3) Part II of this article presents a K-net analysis of Bartók’s “Fourths” from Mikrokosmos that meets both of these criteria. -
Goehr Curriculum Vitae
GOEHR 1 CURRICULUM VITAE. Professor LYDIA GOEHR Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, 1150 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA [email protected] EMPLOYMENT 1995-present. Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University. 1989-95 Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wesleyan University (tenured 1993). 1987-89 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Boston University (tenure-track). 1986-87 Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Nevada at Reno. 1985-86 Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland at College Park. EDUCATION AND DEGREES 1982-85 King’s College, Cambridge University, PhD in Philosophy, Advisor: Bernard Williams, Dissertation: The Work of Music (awarded 1987). 1980-82 Manchester University; 1st Class Honors, BA in philosophy. 1979-80 Exeter University; 1st yr. BA in philosophy; minor in Psychology. FELLOWSHIPS, HONORS, VISITING PROFESSORSHIPS, etc. 1981 Michael Polanyi Scholarship in Philosophy (Manchester University). 1982 Manchester University (Graduate) Research Studentship in the Faculty of the Arts (declined). 1982 Michael Polanyi Memorial Prize in Philosophy (Manchester University). 1982-85 Dept. of Education and Science Major State Studentship to read for PhD at King’s College, Cambridge. 1983 Bursary from the Austrian Government to study German language in Graz, Austria. 1988 Summer Salary Grant, Boston University. 1989 Boston University Humanities Fellowship (declined). 1990-91 Mellon Fellowship, Harvard University. 1992 Faculty Fellowship at Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University. 1992 Special Projects Grant from Wesleyan University in support of Aesthetics: Past and Present [see Publications]. 1995 NEH Summer Institute Grant, University of Rochester: Music and Modernism. 1997-8 Visiting Ernest Bloch Professor of Music, University of California at Berkeley [Ernest Bloch Lectures]. 1999-2000 Getty Senior Research Scholar, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. -
The Influence of Ancient Esoteric Thought Through
THROUGH THE LENS OF FREEMASONRY: THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT ESOTERIC THOUGHT ON BEETHOVEN’S LATE WORKS BY BRIAN S. GAONA DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music with a concentration in Performance and Literature in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Clinical Assistant Professor/Artist in Residence Brandon Vamos, Chair Professor William Kinderman, Director of Research Associate Professor Donna A. Buchanan Associate Professor Zack D. Browning ii ABSTRACT Scholarship on Ludwig van Beethoven has long addressed the composer’s affiliations with Freemasonry and other secret societies in an attempt to shed new light on his biography and works. Though Beethoven’s official membership remains unconfirmed, an examination of current scholarship and primary sources indicates a more ubiquitous Masonic presence in the composer’s life than is usually acknowledged. Whereas Mozart’s and Haydn’s Masonic status is well-known, Beethoven came of age at the historical moment when such secret societies began to be suppressed by the Habsburgs, and his Masonic associations are therefore much less transparent. Nevertheless, these connections surface through evidence such as letters, marginal notes, his Tagebuch, conversation books, books discovered in his personal library, and personal accounts from various acquaintances. This element in Beethoven’s life comes into greater relief when considered in its historical context. The “new path” in his art, as Beethoven himself called it, was bound up not only with his crisis over his incurable deafness, but with a dramatic shift in the development of social attitudes toward art and the artist. -
1 Chapter 1 a Brief History and Critique of Interval/Subset Class Vectors And
1 Chapter 1 A brief history and critique of interval/subset class vectors and similarity functions. 1.1 Basic Definitions There are a few terms, fundamental to musical atonal theory, that are used frequently in this study. For the reader who is not familiar with them, we present a quick primer. Pitch class (pc) is used to denote a pitch name without the octave designation. C4, for example, refers to a pitch in a particular octave; C is more generic, referring to any and/or all Cs in the sonic spectrum. We assume equal temperament and enharmonic equivalence, so the distance between two adjacent pcs is always the same and pc C º pc B . Pcs are also commonly labeled with an integer. In such cases, we will adopt the standard of 0 = C, 1 = C/D, … 9 = A, a = A /B , and b = B (‘a’ and ‘b’ are the duodecimal equivalents of decimal 10 and 11). Interval class (ic) represents the smallest possible pitch interval, counted in number of semitones, between the realization of any two pcs. For example, the interval class of C and G—ic(C, G)—is 5 because in their closest possible spacing, some C and G (C down to G or G up to C) would be separated by 5 semitones. There are only six interval classes (1 through 6) because intervals larger than the tritone (ic6) can be reduced to a smaller number (interval 7 = ic5, interval 8 = ic4, etc.). Chapter 1 2 A pcset is an unordered set of pitch classes that contains at most one of each pc. -
Opera in Miniature
Kurs: DA 4005 Självständigt arbete, 30 hp 2020 Konstnärlig masterexamen i musik, 120 hp Institutionen för komposition, dirigering och musikteori Handledare: Klas Nevrin Ryszard Alzin Opera in Miniature Around my piece Raport o stanie planety for four solo voices and ensemble Skriftlig reflektion inom självständigt arbete Det självständiga, konstnärliga arbetet finns dokumenterat i KMH:s digitala arkiv i Contents Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Opera ................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1. The Genre .................................................................................................................... 4 1.1.1. The Paradox of Opera ......................................................................................... 4 1.1.2. Transformations of the Opera Genre ................................................................... 5 1.2. Opera in Miniature ...................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1. Connection with the Opera Genre ....................................................................... 8 1.2.2. The Ten Movements ............................................................................................ 9 2. Maximalism and Polystylism ............................................................................................. 14 2.1. Maximalism,