Musicological Explorations Archive
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Publication Lifespan: 1995-2018
Fermata (1995-2002)
Musicological Explorations (2004-2012, 2014, 2018)
ISSN: 1201-6624 (Fermata), 1711-9235 (Musicological Explorations)
History of the Journal:
The journal commenced its publication journey in 1995 under the title Fermata, initiated by music graduate students with partial funding from the School of Music and the Graduate Student Society. This title was maintained until January 2002. In the spring of 2004, musicology graduate students revitalized the journal, rebranding it as Musicological Explorations.
Focus & Scope:
Fermata invited graduate students to submit relevant, previously unpublished articles on historical and systematic musicology, analysis, criticism, interdisciplinary studies, and performance practice. It also welcomed book and record reviews. Upon its revival, as Musicological Explorations it expanded the scope to encourage diverse musicological research, including interdisciplinary work. This mission guided the journal until its final issue in 2018.
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Item Biographies(Musicological Explorations, 2004) Richter, Annett; Star, Allison; Sheridan, DanielItem Reinterpreting the farewell story of Mahler's Ninth symphony: dialectical synthesis in the modern age(Musicological Explorations, 2004) Sheridan, DanielMahler's Ninth Symphony has most commonly been interpreted as a “farewell story”; specifically Mahler’s farewell to the world and resignation to death. How would this story remain viable to a modern audience, long after Mahler's death? How would a modern audience receive this work? Modern society has increasingly commodified music, particularly the tonal repertoire, exploiting the profitability of music. This challenges the 19th century aesthetic of music as an autonomous art. In Mahler's Ninth Symphony there are numerous binary oppositions, such as simple/complex and sublime/vulgar. I read these oppositions as a dialectic between tonal music as autonomous “art for art's sake” and as a commodity for public consumption. This dialectic is presented in each movement of the symphony, with an attempt at synthesis between autonomous ('high') music and commodified ('low') music. Each attempt fails, with one side of the dialectic overtaking the other. The symphony ends in sombre fashion; dialectical synthesis has shown to be impossible and tonal music acknowledges its lack of autonomy. Thus, the “farewell story” of Mahler's Ninth Symphony may be read by modern culture as a farewell to the notion of tonal music as an autonomous art: tonality be it art or popular music, has accepted its commodity character. This problematizes traditional distinctions between “high” and “low” culture. Therefore, Mahler’s Ninth Symphony articulates a farewell that need not be mourned.Item Crosscurrents of performance practice in nineteenth-century editions of Beethoven's Piano sonata in E major, Opus 109(Musicological Explorations, 2004) Star, AllisonThis article examines specific 19th century editions of Beethoven's piano sonata Opus 109 as prepared by two types of musicians: the piano virtuoso/pedagogue and the theorist/analyst. Critical analyses of these two editorial types draw on specific editions from both schools by Franz Liszt (Wolfenbüttel, 1857-61), Hans von Bülow (Stuttgart, 1872), Carl Reinecke (Leipzig, 1886) and Gustav Damm (Leipzig, 1890) in order to illustrate the marked divide in the reception of Beethoven's innovative ideas. These editions represent two often-conflicting interpretations of Werktreue, and thus become repositories for crosscurrents of 19th century performance practice. Moreover, these interpretative traditions reflect a larger polarity in 19th century Beethoven reception: his dual identity as a classical composer esteemed within the newly forming canon, and as an innovator with a view to the future of the piano. Ultimately, a thorough study of Beethoven's autograph, errata, letters, and sketches reveals that there is no one “ideal” edition that matches the Beethoven's intended vision.Item George Caleb Bingham’s river paintings revisited: Music and dance in The Jolly Floatboatmen(Musicological Explorations, 2004) Richter, AnnettAt first sight, the painting The Jolly Flatboatmen appears to depict life on the river in the American West. Upon closer reading, Bingham (1811-79) presents a record of the history of a region here in which music-making was an activity tightly woven into the concept of frontier life – a recurring subject matter which the artist observed frequently in reality. The 1846 version shows eight boat men on a flat raft, two of which are playing music and the central figure engaged in a dance. Art historians have placed this work in historical and political contexts. While it has been valuable to interpret it as Bingham’s personal expression of nationalism in the age of westward expansion, the documenting of nineteenth-century American folklore in The Jolly Flatboatmen deserves more attention from a musicological point of view. As the only paintings showing music and dance, the three versions of The Jolly Flatboatmen (1846, 1857, 1877/78) stand out in the artist’s overall output. By treating this theme repeatedly, Bingham coveys that these events were not just a pastime but that they defined musical folklore in the West. This article examines how Bingham’s Jolly Flatboatmen creates an authentic visual account of music-making in America’s frontier. Drawing upon iconographical analysis, this study explores what kind of music and dance may have been represented here and casts light on the socio-cultural context for a musical practice that contributed to the shaping of musical traditions in nineteenth-century America.Item Front matter(Musicological Explorations, 2004)Item From the editors(Musicological Explorations, 2004) Anaka, Nicole Elaine; Baron-Woods, Kristina; Dalby, Susan E.; Fraser, Robert John; Pynes, Nicholas K.; Robinson, Dylan; Sheppard, RebekahItem Musicological Explorations, Volume 5 (2004)(Musicological Explorations, 2004)Item Biographies(Musicological Explorations, 2005) Banagale, Ryan R.; Baron-Woods, Kristina; Kučinskas, DariusItem Aspects of time in the later music of Morton Feldman(Musicological Explorations, 2006) Jurkowski, EdwardDuring the 1960s, Morton Feldman abandoned the elements of indeterminacy that had characterized his scores since the early 1950s and instead began a remarkable compositional journey in which he relied on his intuition and acute sense of orchestration to create works of ferocious difficulty in which every note and rhythm was notated to formidable precision. Concomitantly, Feldman's composition also became increasingly greater in duration—although given Feldman's life-long predilection for painting, it is perhaps more appropriate to speak of his works in terms of space rather than duration. While it has been frequently acknowledged that Feldman's passion towards Turkish rugs played a vital role in how these expansive compositions from his last decade are structured, in this paper I argue that their design may be more profitably explained by studying the composer's deeper appreciation of the large canvases of such painters as Philip Guston and Mark Rothko. For instance, uncovering Feldman's relationship with these New York-based painters proves valuable to not only comprehend his frequent use of the term "scale" to describe the form and length of these expanded musical compositions (an obviously problematic expression, given its association to portray the visual instead of the temporal art of music), but also the rationale behind his conscious attempt to disorient memory in his late works, an attribute that directs to what is Feldman's crowning compositional achievement—namely, a innovative means to experience musical time.Item You are my sunshine: The recorded lineage of an American folk song(Musicological Explorations, 2005) Banagale, Ryan R.Just about everyone knows the song You Are My Sunshine in one form or another. For many it was first heard during childhood as a lullaby or campfire sing-along. Beyond such oral transmission, this song's presence is also maintained in our culture through recorded form. With a release rate of more than five new recordings per year, artists have created their own renditions ranging from folk to funk to reggae to punk. Of these, Jimmie Davis sold a million copies of the song as a country record, Bing Crosby took his recording to $20 on the country charts, and Ray Charles hit #1 on the R&B charts. The various recordings of You Are My Sunshine demonstrate not only the commercial viability of the song, but also its widespread appeal to both artists and their listeners regardless of racial, sociological, or geographic background.What is it about You Are My Sunshine that allows it to successfully navigate such diverse musical paths? The answer lies in the compositional makeup of its diverse and little acknowledged origins. Starting with its supposed composition in the 1940s and working backwards, this paper examines a series of songs that form a recorded pedigree for You Are My Sunshine. Each song contributes musical components, or moments, from various folk traditions to what becomes the standard (and copyrighted) version of You Are My Sunshine. This paper will then demonstrate how the accentuation of different key musical moments allows an artist to create a popular version of You Are My Sunshine through the examination of Ray Charles' charting rendition.Item Biographies(Musicological Explorations, 2006) Lockey, Nicholas; Bomback, Larry; Jurkowski, EdwardItem Schubert's Ganymed and the transfiguration of self in poem and music(Musicological Explorations, 2005) Baron-Woods, KristinaSchubert's Lied Ganymed D. 544 evokes the rapture of a young man about to embark on his first deeply loving, sensually and spiritually encompassing relationship. The myth of Ganymede has been seen as a symbol of male homoerotic love for millennia, inspiring countless representations in the visual arts, literature, and music. Scholars have read the myth in numerous ways: as a pantheistic celebration of Man's unity with Nature and, therefore, God; as an allegory representing sexual and mental submission; and as a validation of pederastic relationships. Indeed, many scholars believe that the myth was borne of necessity for Greek culture; the supreme god's participation in the common practice of pederasty could be seen as a divine sanction. In Goethe's poem Ganymed of 1774 and Schubert's Lied of 1817, the myth functions on both the intellectual and sensual levels, representing the ideal balance in ancient Greek pederastic relationships of love and tutelage. An analysis of poetic images and musical content, this paper explores Goethe and Schubert's understanding of the original Greek myth with its theme of pederasty while composing artworks that resonate within the context of German Romanticism. Schubert's movement through the various rhythmic and melodic motive and ever-shifting tonalities serve as an allegory of the journey and transfiguration of the youth, from the shepherd enjoying the sumptuous pleasures of earthly morning to the embraced and embracing lover of god.Item Item Item Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and the evolution of the serial compositional technique in Lithuania(Musicological Explorations, 2005) Kučinskas, DariusThis article discusses the history of research and development of serial compositional techniques in Lithuania. Musical experiments and discoveries of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) at the beginning of the twentieth century are very similar to the serial compositional technique produced later by composers of the Second Viennese School. However a new compositional technique was accepted by Lithuanian composers only in the 1960s when the only obtainable source of information on the dodecaphonic compositional technique reached Lithuania - the book The Classics of Dodecaphonic by Polish musicologist Boguslaw Schäffer. The new methods of the development of the serial technique are found in Lithuania during the late twentieth century, where the serial technique became the dominant method of composition. An especially significant feature is the symbiosis of the different and often opposed compositional techniques. As such, compositions usually resemble hybrids of various epochs and styles.Item From the editor(Musicological Explorations, 2005) Dalby, Susan E.Item The music of the Music Box Revues(Musicological Explorations, 2006) Bomback, LarryRevues, a type of musical theater imported from France, were big business on Broadway during the first decades of the twentieth century. Florenz Ziegfeld popularized the exciting format in 1907, when he staged his first of what would be many annual Follies. Music contained in these Follies was essentially an amalgam of recent songs written by popular composers.Irving Berlin, in fact, had been writing individual songs for Ziegfeld as early as 1916, and composed much of the music for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920. Thus, by the time Berlin started penning his first Music Box Revue in 1921, he certainly felt comfortable working in the genre. Nevertheless, Berlin and co-owner Sam Harris made a concerted effort to differentiate their new revue from contemporaneous endeavors conducted by Ziegfeld, The Schubert Brothers, George White, and a host of other producers. By taking advantage of the intimate dimensions of the Music Box Theatre, deemphasizing the focus on nudity, and most importantly, creating shows centered around music, Berlin and Harris succeeded in raising the caliber of the revue genre to a higher artistic level.Item New perspectives on Schubert's symphonic openings(Musicological Explorations, 2006) Lockey, NicholasOn the surface, many aspects of Schubert's Fifth symphony D.485 (including the reduced scoring and similarities between Schubert's minuet and the third movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 K.550) seem to fall outside the course of Schubert's previous symphonies and look back to the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart. Yet the opening four measures of this work, and their subsequent treatment, occupy a significant position in Schubert symphonic output, uniting trends in the earlier symphonies and pointing forward to important elements in several of the later ones. Examining some of the most common options for beginning a symphony in the decades leading to the composition of the Fifth symphony, this essay emphasizes the relative novelty of beginning a symphony with an in-tempo preface. Some of the closest precedents to Schubert's example come from the finales of his own Second and Fourth symphonies. In addition to transferring the concept of an in-tempo preface to the opening movement, the Fifth symphony demonstrates Schubert's ongoing efforts to integrate the opening of his symphonies into the subsequent musical discourse, a trend made evident through analysis of his entire symphonic output. After demonstrating the Fifth symphony's continuation of lines exploited in Schubert's previous symphonies, this study highlights the unique contributions that the Fifth symphony's opening made to the mixture of ideas from the early symphonies upon which the procedures in the later symphonies are based. The function of the Fifth symphony's opening measures (neither purely introductory nor truly thematic) also introduced a key element of ambiguity common to several of the later symphonies that was lacking from the openings of Schubert's other early symphonies. This paper reveals the Fifth symphony to be a work that draws upon Schubert's past accomplishments while looking forward to his future achievements.Item The Prefiguratio Christi: Prefiguration in Introit tropes of Southern Italy(Musicological Explorations, 2008) Mak, Siu-YinThe concept of typological prefiguration is based on the Christian belief that components of the Old Testament are prophecies or symbols of those events in the New Testament that constitute the main tenets of the Christian faith. Within the context of the Mass, tropes in a prefigurative function manipulate Old Testament texts used in the parts of the Mass preceding Communion, reframing them to forecast the upcoming commemoration of Jesus Christ. Most commonly, this form of prefiguration occurs in tropes of the Introit, in which both psalm and antiphon texts are derived primarily from the Old Testament. My paper focuses on a representative sample of medieval Introit tropes from southern Italy are presented. In my analysis, I identify four primary forms of prefiguration are identified: nominal, analogical, contextual, and prophetical. Essentially, tropes may alter the original context of an antiphon in one or more of the following ways: by making a textual reference to Christ, by drawing parallelisms between Christ and the antiphon's original subject matter, by resetting and / or temporally displacing the antiphon, or by presenting the antiphon text as a quoted prophecy. Textual examples provided throughout the discussion illustrate these different methods of prefigurative technique and the resulting relationships created retroactively between original antiphons and the subsequent Communion. The diversity of these techniques, each with their various intrinsic complexities, offers insight into the heavy role of the prefigurative function in medieval troping practices.Item Zarlinian modality in Claude Le Jeune's Dodecacorde(Musicological Explorations, 2009) Herdman, JessicaBeyond the religious-political discourse of Le Jeune's musical publications, current academics regard his work as a key to elements of sixteenth-century compositional practice in the twelve-mode system. Le Jeune was highly regarded among his contemporaries for his modal compositions – a reputation that he purposefully exploited through the publication of modally-organized works. In the current discourse on the theory and practice of mode during the Renaissance, scholars frequently cite Le Jeune's Dodecacorde as an example of the Zarlinian theoretical-practical mixture of modal theory. An explicit analysis of Le Jeune's application of Zarlinian dodecacordal theory, however, has not yet appeared in the academic literature. A comparison of excerpts from the Dodecacorde with polyphonic examples from Zarlino's Institutione will illustrate the specific ways that Le Jeune adapts these modal practices. In attempting such a study, this paper will not only present a perspective on the concreteness of Zarlino's modal conceits, but it will also clarify the degree to which these regulations were practically (i.e., how or whether they could be applied to contemporary composition) or speculatively based.While not examining the broader relevance of Le Jeune's application of the Zarlinian system in his psalm-settings, this paper will initiate the theoretical study of modality in the Dodecacorde in relation to Zarlino's practical-speculative theory. This will hopefully allow for more in-depth forays into this area in the future.