Associations and the Establishment of Musical Expression Dissertation
Known by the Company It Keeps: Associations and the Establishment of Musical Expression Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ryan Clifford Jordan, M.A. Graduate Program in Philosophy The Ohio State University 2009 Dissertation Committee: Lee B. Brown, Co-advisor Daniel Farrell, Co-advisor Diana Raffman Sukjae Lee Donald Hubin Copyright by Ryan Clifford Jordan 2009 Abstract I argue for an association theory of musical expression, whereby music acquires its expressive character through associations with extra - musical content. Musical works can be roughly categorized into two groups: absolute works—works, such as Bach’s “Invention No. 13 in A minor” and Scriabin’s “Prelude in B major, Op. 2, No.2”, that are not accompanied by any descriptive title, text, or program—and non-absolute works—works, such as Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and Williams’ Theme from Harry Potter, that are. I argue that the best approach to developing a theory of musical expression begins with an analysis of non-absolute music. Analyzing non-absolute music, I show that musical expression is intimately tied up with associations that stem from those texts, titles, and programs. The benefit of this approach is that it straightforwardly explains not only non-absolute music’s expressive properties, but also how absolute music has its expressive properties. I argue that expression is tied up not only with whole pieces but also with musical elements such as timbre, rhythm, tempo, and melodic gestures. These musica l elements are the same in both absolute and non-absolute music, so associations established with non-absolute music simply carry through to the absolute musical ii works.
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