Musicological Explorations, Vol. 11 (2010)
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This issue was first published online, September 13th 2010.
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Item From the editor(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Concord, AlisabethItem Biographies(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Gillis, Iain; Sagrans, Jacob; Smith, AnnaliseItem Review of the CD Marjan Mozetich: Lament in the Trampled Garden (2009), by Penderecki String Quartet, Gryphon Trio, Erica Goodman, Shalom Bard, Christopher Dawes, & Nora Shulman(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Dias, MichaelItem Item Review of the CD 5 x 3, by Trio Fibonacci(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Bakker, TwilaItem Virtuosity in Clara Schumann's piano compositions(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Sagrans, JacobIn the late 1830s, Clara Schumann’s piano compositions began to shift from crowd-pleasing virtuosic showpieces to more complex and less openly showy works. While Nancy Reich has noted this tendency in her biography of Clara Schumann, there is little discussion on how this aesthetic shift may have been affected by the two major changes in Clara’s life in 1840: her marriage to the decidedly anti-virtuoso music critic and composer Robert Schumann, and her emancipation from her overbearing father and impresario, Friedrich Wieck. This paper examines how Robert Schumann’s disparaging views on virtuosity and the strained relationship between the Schumanns and Friedrich Wieck may have affected the shift in virtuosity in Clara Schumann’s piano compositions, drawing on primary sources such as the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, as well as recent writings on musical virtuosity in the nineteenth century, most notably those of Liszt scholar Dana Gooley. After positing possible reasons for this change in Clara Schumann’s compositions, this paper discusses the broader implications of a shift away from virtuosity in light of the opposition emerging in the nineteenth century between “popular” and “high” musical styles. While the shift in virtuosity in Clara Schumann’s piano compositions likely had multiple complex causes, this paper argues that one can gain new insights into Clara Schumann’s works particularly when one examines Robert Schumann’s anti-virtuosic critiques.Item Grasping toward the light: A reassessment of Wolf's Michelangelo-Lieder(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Gillis, IainThe Michelangelo-Lieder are Hugo Wolf’s only songs that the composer himself considered as a song cycle. The relative lack of popular and critical attention paid these works is undue: they are challenging to listeners, and music is first an aural art. The concept of “late work” as explored by Theodor Adorno, and by Edward Said after him, is a useful one that allows us to better contextualize these late songs. The present analysis offers a way of listening to these works within a more familiar aural framework: identifying elements of unity within the cycle and situating the Michelangelo-Lieder within Wolf’s substantial oeuvre creates familiarity and thereby breeds appreciation and personal understanding. Following a brief analysis of musical characteristics of late style as Said identifies them in his book, On Late Style, the essay turns to the genesis of the Michelangelo-Lieder. Each of the three songs is addressed in turn, with an aim to address the text, the music, and their intersections. Although considered outdated in some circles, the catalogue of musical motives throughout Wolf’s vocal oeuvre is employed judiciously to help to reintegrate the Michelangelo-Lieder within the composer’s total output. Elements of textual and musical unity are highlighted, and drawn together at the end, retrospectively. In addition to textual and musical ties among the three songs, “lateness” is shown to provide unity to the set and to give modern analytical weight to Wolf’s assertion that the Michelangelo-Lieder be considered a cycle.Item Honour Thy German Masters: Wagner’s Depiction of “Meistergesang” in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Smith, AnnaliseThe music and culture of the sixteenth century Meistersinger is the central topic of Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, his only operatic comedy. Wagner turned to Johann Christoph Wagenseil’s Von der Meister-Singer Holdseligen Kunst for information on the customs of the Meistersinger, and many scenarios within the opera are based on information from this treatise. The inclusion of the famous historical Meistersinger Hans Sachs as a central character further strengthened the drama’s connection with the historical guild. The use of distinct set pieces, a seeming departure from the endliche Melodie of earlier operas, also helped Wagner create an air of authenticity within the music of Die Meistersinger. As much as Die Meistersinger invokes the sixteenth century, Wagner does not present an accurate musical depiction of Meistergesang in this work. Though Hans Sachs and his role as a Meistersinger is an important element in his drama, Wagner only superficially observed the form and style of historical Meistergesang. None of Walther’s songs, including Fanget an!, Am stillen Herd, or his Prize song, which wins him the admiration of both the masters and the people, completely satisfies the rules set down by Wagenseil. The character of Sachs, in fact, sings no Meisterlied at all. A comparison of Sachs’ Morgenweise and Silberweise with Wagner’s drama reveals that it is actually in the music of Beckmesser, the pedantic, rule-bound antagonist, that Wagner comes closest to the musical traditions of the sixteenth century. Given the historical setting of the opera and the emphasis the libretto places on rules and traditions, this paper sets out to examine how these three characters are musically portrayed, the degree to which they deviate from traditional Meistergesang, and what this reveals about Wagner’s ideas on artistic genius and musical composition.Item Review of the book Growing with Canada: The Émigré Tradition in Canadian Music (2009), by Paul Helmer(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Gillis, IainItem Review of the book Music of Canada (2009), edited by Frederick P. Miller, Agnes F. Vandome, and John McBrewster(Musicological Explorations, 2010) Concord, AlisabethItem