Musicological Explorations, Vol. 12 (2011)
Permanent URI for this collection
This issue was first published online, November 10th, 2011.
Copyright Policy
Authors retain the copyright for their articles published in Musicological Explorations. Any use, reproduction, or distribution of the articles must be done with the authors’ explicit permission and must include proper attribution to the original authors and the journal. For permissions, please contact press@uvic.ca.
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Aesthetic appropriation of electronic sound transformations in Ligeti’s Atmosphères(Musicological Explorations, 2011) Davachi, SarahThe technical and aesthetic foundations of György Ligeti's concept of micropolyphony, which he employed most prominently in his 1961 orchestral work, Atmosphères, can be credited, in part, to his post-emigration experiments with electronic composition at the studios of the NWDR in Cologne in the late 1950s. Although Ligeti had already theorized general concepts of musical texture and space prior to his emigration to the West in 1956, the nature of the micropolyphony he employs in his later work is characteristically distinct, exhibiting a greater sensitivity to density and timbre in addition to processes of aural integration and interaction. To this end, this analysis examines the way, and more importantly the extent to which, Ligeti’s often overlooked work in electronic music directly influenced his approach to the implementation of sound-mass in his later methodology. This is done through a comparison of Pièce Électronique No. 3, an electronic work begun in 1957, and Atmosphères. This comparison lends support to the contention that, despite his rejection of the electronic medium as a tool for practical implementation, Ligeti maintained several aesthetic sensibilities specific to electronic music-making practices; namely, the treatment of texture and the transformation of sound.Item Biographies(Musicological Explorations, 2011) Bakker, Twila; Davachi, Sarah; Duncan, Stuart Paul; Olaveson, HeatherItem Tied up with strings: Untangling the rhythmic complexities of the second movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 16, Op. 135(Musicological Explorations, 2011) Bakker, TwilaThe complexities of Ludwig van Beethoven’s late string quartets have from their inception confounded audiences. These complexities are often incredibly intertwined, at times as tightly wound as the fabled Gordian knot. Therefore, the complexities require extra attention to unravel and understand. Through the lens of metrical dissonance, as pioneered by Harald Krebs in Fantasy Pieces, this article aids the listener and performer in unwinding some of the rhythmic complexities of the second movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16, Op. 135. With three central dissonances (D3+1, D3-1, and G3/2), Beethoven ties melodic motives, dynamics, and musical form together thereby utilizing the dissonances as organizational tools of composition. This article explores each dissonance in turn and offers one explanation for the ambiguity that has often arisen from performances of Beethoven’s late works.Item Death’s voice in Zemlinsky’s Lieder: A comparison of “Ich geh’ des Nachts” Op. 6, No. 4 and “Vöglein Schwermut” Op. 10, No. 3(Musicological Explorations, 2011) Olaveson, HeatherAlexander Zemlinsky, a fin-de-siècle Viennese composer associated with Brahms, Mahler, and Schoenberg, has been historically overshadowed by such celebrated composers. The near lack of popular and critical attention is unwarranted, however, particularly in light of his immense talent for text setting as evidenced in his lieder and operas. This paper seeks to address this musicological gap and continue the work of Zemlinsky scholars like Antony Beaumont and Lorraine Gorrell by offering a close comparative analysis of two of Zemlinsky’s early songs, “Ich geh’ des Nachts” op. 6, no. 4 and “Vöglein Schwermut” op. 10, no. 3. These two lieder have been selected because of a specific textual similarity which has resulted in corresponding parallels within their musical settings: interestingly, these songs contain the only poems in Zemlinsky’s oeuvre in which Death is personified and given a speaking role. Ultimately, this paper argues that, through the unique musical characteristics given to Death in response to the poetry, Zemlinsky not only demonstrates a remarkable ability to express text through the medium of music, but he also comments on the inevitability and eternality of death and its effect on humanity.Item Blurring the boundaries: Toward a multivalent reading of three first-movement sonata forms in Haydn's Op. 50 String Quartets(Musicological Explorations, 2011) Duncan, Stuart PaulHaydn’s opus 50 quartets have long been overlooked in favor of their “progressive” neighbours, opuses 33, 42 and 64. Grave and Grave suggest that this is due to their “absorption in structural and textural complexity,” which seems to go beyond generic norms. Rather than attempting to understand this complexity, authors have tended to dismiss it, in part because Haydn’s approach in these quartets has seemed incompatible with existing methodologies. In particular, unusual approaches to opening movement sonatatype rhetoric have posed a problem for analysts, resulting in an incomplete analytical picture of individual works. Multivalent analysis, which foregrounds the individual characteristics of a movement in lieu of normative a priori-forms, offers an approach that is sensitive to the quartets’ complexity. Considering the notion of multivalence put forth by James Webster—in light of recent criticism by William Caplin and James Hepokoski—this paper examines three opening movements from the opus 50 collection through the lens of multivalent analysis.Item From the editor(Musicological Explorations, 2011) Dias, MichaelItem