Practical music theory in the sixteenth century found an especially interesting and important center in Wittenberg. Support was due to the role that Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon assigned music education within the curriculums they set up in the blossoming German school system: the University of Wittenberg also supported the practical music theorists. An integral facet of this practical music theory training is the use of canon; in my presentation I will discuss its pedagogical value to the Wittenberg theorists, and I will suggest modern applications. Most of the Wittenberg theorists, including Hermann Finck, Heinrich Faber, Nicolaus Listenius, and Adrianus Petit Coclico, allocated significant portions of their treatises to canon. Canons allowed for great flexibility in performance (the present-day class still benefits from this flexibility). The canon could also be practiced first as a monophonic piece before being performed as a polyphonic piece.

Hans Leo Hassler’s “Mein gmüth ist mir verwirret” was appropriated into the Lutheran chorale repertoire. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was one of the most popular chorales. It was variously known as “Herzlich tut much verlangen,” “Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder,” and “O Haupt, voll Blut und Wunden.” This tune was set in one of two ways: with the last note being a major third above the bass, or with the last note being the final of the Phrygian mode.
    The realization of the mode of Hassler’s original is thus germane to understanding the way the tune was perceived by the seventeenth-century composers who set and re-set it. But a consideration of the piece’s mode in light of the various theories of mode at the beginning of the seventeenth century indicates that the mode of Hassler’s piece was not unequivocal. Depending on whether one considers the traditional modal theory of Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590), or the theoretical avant garde of Johannes Lippius (158~1612), Otto Siegfried Harnisch (ca. 1568-1623), or Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634), the mode of Hassler’s piece could be Phrygian, Ionian, both, or neither.

Though remembered as a minor French composer today, Vincent d’Indy (1851-1931) was revered in his own time as a theorist and pedagogue who developed a unique theory of tonality. Influenced by the trinitarian principles of Riemann, Hegel and his own Roman Catholicism, d’Indy conceived of tonality as geometric space that was continually in one of there states of motion at any given time: immobility, oscillation or transference. The tripartite design of his theory of tonal states and three-fold thematic activity.
    In this paper, d’Indy’s tonal theory is surveyed and his analysis of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 106 (“Hammerclavier”) is examined. In the analysis, D’Indy seeks to justify his conceptions of nested tripartite designs and tonal states in the sonata. The analysis also reveals compelling observations foreshadowing concepts of pitch-class specific space and architectonic levels.

The word “fiction” is generally tied to the notion of intentional imagining, fomenting a dichotomy between falseness and reality. Literary fictions, being intentional imaginings, seduce us into forgetting the conditional as if that makes them possible. Literary fictions ask for our conditional consent. Theory and analysis tend to demand our absolute consent, placing these endeavors at the level of myth. I explore how fiction, as a system of meaning, intersects with theory and analysis.
    The notion of conceptual scheme as a kind of “fiction” is illuminated through discussion of formulations of the triad by Lippius and Rameau. I propose that redefinitions of the same datum illustrate the imaginative nature of theoretical models in general. Theory ascribes, it does not objectively describe, as Kuhn’s paradigm shift illustrates with parallels in the history of science. I outline a narrative highlighting discontinuities among theories of the triad as an alternative to an account by Joel Lester that assumes a straight line of development from Lippius to Rameau. My narrative and Lester’s exemplify the degree to which questions asked of history shape the creation of distinct plots based on the same series of events.
    It follows that analysis, the mapping of a musical work accruing to a conceptual scheme, constitutes and act of creative interpretation of the piece’s events. Choices of conceptual schemes control the analytic account, the particular story about a piece that we want to tell. Thus analysis suppresses the musical work and poses as a substitute, a “truer image,” of the piece itself. This “truer image,” I suggest, is best understood as a metaphor. Metaphors simultaneously translate and define by calling attention to discrepancies and similarities between objects. They are not subject to scrutiny with regards to falseness or reality but with regards to usefulness.

Susan McClary’s Feminine Endings is the first book explicitly dedicated to a feminist critique of music, especially as it functions in the traditional academic disciplines of musicology and music theory. Although her work has spawned a storm of discussion and new research in the field, there has been surprisingly little true critical reaction to her book, especially from theorists. But as the phrase “Susan McClary has shown” becomes more and more prevalent in the literature, interrogating this text becomes crucial. Just what has McClary shown? After first outlining McClary’s “grounding” assumptions, both explicit and implicit, and situating her within contemporary literary criticism and feminist theory, this paper will show that the results of uncritically transferring these assumptions leads to the establishment of a new authoritative discourse that is as inflexible and coercive as older “masculinist” discourses.

Many theorists have appealed to linguist Ferdinand de Saussure’s notion of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations as a means of uncovering previously unnoticed relationships in music. Such approaches have taken advantage of the structural similarities between music and language. However, in applying to music concepts borrowed from language, one must take into account differences in the way music and language are understood. There appear to be differences in the interaction between syntagmatic and paradigmatic structures are perceptually processed and stored in memory. The proposed model accounts for such differences by suggesting that in the case of music, the listener’s attention tends to shift at the phrase level form the syntagmatic to the paradigmatic axis. A semiotic analysis of Schubert’s “Du Bist die Ruh” will show how Schubert takes advantage of this tendency by composing undivided harmonic and melodic progressions at the phrase level, while employing varied repetition as the principal compositional strategy at higher levels. It appears that certain pitches take on special significance in terms of their changing syntagmatic role within the patterns in which they appear. Tracing the evolution of these patterns reveals a higher-order unity that does not emerge traditional methods of analysis.

Recent efforts to explore the implications of Schenkerian theory for the analysis of large-scale form demonstrate some of the ways a voice-leading graph can inform a discussion of formal issues. An area that requires further work, however, is a category of formal articulation in which parametric conflicts render the singular interpretive conclusions of traditional formal and Schenkerian analysis unsatisfactory. This paper attempts to develop a more responsive, phenomenologically oriented analytic approach, using the articulation of the tonicized dominant in the first movement of Beethoven’s op. 18, no. 3, String Quartet as a test case.
    The first part of the paper explores the dominant articulation in a variety of local contexts, and in relation to the synoptic perspective of a Schenker graph. The second part considers the position of the quartet relative to the breadth of possibilities for the articulation of the second group in Beethoven’s early-period sonata forms. Finally, I offer recent critical writings in the Schenkerian literature.

The concept of the linear progression represents one of the cornerstones of Schenker’s theory. Yet, Schenker offers no clear definition of linear progressions, other than requiring that a “genuine relationship must exist between the first and last tones of a linear progression.” Schenker suggests that the fundamental structure is the model for all linear progressions. This has led some writers to assert that the “genuine relationship” is essentially a harmonic one, with linear progressions being distinguished from lines (simple diminutions) by virtue of the contrapuntal support individual members of the progression receive, or by membership of the boundary tones of the progression in a single harmony.
    This paper examines the differences between linear progressions and the fundamental structure and proposes a definition of linear progressions based on the structural relationship between the boundary tones of the progression. It takes as its model of first-order progressions, rather than the fundamental structure.

Most analysts currently agree that the actual set of variations in Anton Webern’s Variations for the Piano, Op. 27, are present in the third movement. However, Webern’s own comments suggest that the initial eleven measures of this movement serve as a theme not only for the subsequent five variations, but also for the entire composition. This presentation seeks to explicate Webern’s remarks and suggests that the theme emerges as the kernel of the relationships employed in the work. The paper demonstrates ways in which the underlying structures of each movement are derived from the relationships inherent in the theme. These relationships arise from a division of the theme phrases into melodic and accompanying pitches. The manner in which the underlying structures become audible at the musical surface will be emphasized. The paper concludes with considerations of the nature of interaction between the underlying structures and the musical surface.

This paper examines the persistence of tonality in the later works of Igor Stravinsky. Does what might be termed the tonal residuum detectable in this music represent merely an interesting artifact of the composer’s workshop, or does it indeed influence the affective and expressive content of the music? I will analyze sections from the Requiem Canticles and other works from the period 1959-66, with focus on where pitch centrisms seem to operate, how such centrisms are projected, and what the contextual implications of those centrisms might be. Prerequisite to this inquiry will be an overview of the serial language evolved by Stravinsky in his final decade as an active composer, as well as an examination of the what writers such as Berger, Spies, Wuorinen and Kresky mean by “tonality” as the term is applied to the late Stravinsky.

In mid-1799, Beethoven presented to his friend, violinist Karl Amenda, a manuscript of his newly composed F Major String Quartet. When published in mid-1801 as the cornerstone of the Opus 18 string quartet collection, the quartet contained numerous revisions. Many of the revisions directly impacted metrical structuring in the quartet, particularly in the framing movements.
    There are two main component’s of today’s paper. First, a comparative rhythmic analysis of selected passages from the two complete versions of the Opus 18, No. 1, string quartet is presented. In this aspect of the paper, the author demonstrates that significant changes made to rhythmic detailing of the manuscript version clarified metrical structure for the published version. In particular, Beethoven cleared away the obfuscated structure of numerous upbeat points in the unpublished version.
    The second part of this paper is a brief discussion of the upbeat. This element of meter receives scant attention from music theorists. Yet, the upbeat’s contribution to the structure and comprehension of meter is as important as that of its well-known counterpart, the downbeat. A refined understanding of the upbeat suggests a unique analysis of the hypermetrical structure of phrases, particularly with regard to the consequent phrase of a period.

Hugo Riemann’s method of metric analysis is based on his theory of Achttaktigkeit, or the normative eight-measure phrase. In Systern der musikalischen Rhythmik und Metrik (Leipzig, 1903) Riemann discusses his eight-measure model and present many analyses to show the various ways in which this eight-measure model is modified in real musical examples through repetition, elision, cadential affirmation, stasis on the penultima, etc. This paper focuses on stasis on the penultima, the repetition of lengthening of the penultimate measure or of the penultimate heavy (accented) measure, and its relation to the realization-expectation model. The paper will conclude by extending Riemann’s ideas to an analysis of “En ferment les yeux” from Massenet’s Manon, showing how stasis on the penultima is used to heighten the dramatic effect.

This paper argues that the chaotic surface of Robert Lowell’s poem “In Genesis” is unified by a hidden numerological scheme, and that Elliott Carter’s setting of the poem reflected Lowell’s numerological scheme and his chaos/unity dialectic, while at the same time subtly undermining it. An analysis of the origins of Lowell’s imagery in the Book of Genesis reveals an underlying unity: all of the references involve the number seven, which is argued to symbolize perfection. Carter’s setting also privileges the number seven and its multiples. This is manifested both harmonically, through the use of perfects fifths, as well as rhythmically, through an attack-point design. The paper concludes with some conjectures on the relationship between Carter’s setting and Lowell’s poem.

Although Schenkerian analysis has expanded its applications to include the repertoire of traditional jazz, the notion of rhythmic syncopation—primary to the essence of jazz—has remained elusive, being considered primarily a surface phenomenon which regularizes at deeper structural levels. This presentation (conducted in the form of an interview) uses three pieces by Miles Davis to show how aspects of syncopation pervade the deepest levels of tonal structure in jazz tune form. Tune Up demonstrates the concept in a straightforward fashion. Solar investigates its implications; hearing deep structural syncopation affects perception of the work’s tonal center. Blue in Green then presents an involved referential structure between its structurally syncopated refrain and the regularized constraints of its introduction and coda. The paper concludes by suggesting works of other jazz artists which also demonstrate the phenomenon.

The term primitivism was originally used in art history to describe pieces that deliberately attempted to evoke images of “primitive” or tribal culture. The term has also been used in music to describe similar works. Morton Subotnick’s 1992 CD-ROM composition “All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis,” based on a collage novel called A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil by the Surrealist artist Max Ernst, uses the ambiguous and mysterious imagery of the Ernst novel together with some established ways of musically evoking the primitive to create a mysterious musical realm. Subotnick also indirectly represents the primitive through what I call “inherent primitivism.” This inherent primitivism comes from influences on Ernst and Subotnick, including Freudian psychology and the literature of shamanism, reflected in the form and structure of the rhythm, harmony, and melody, as well as in the gender struggle that is played out in the music and text of the piece.

The intermezzo, Op. 76, No. 4, by Johannes Brahms exhibits a complex harmonic language at both the foreground and background level for which it is somewhat difficult to construct a complete and unified tonal structure. In addressing the foreground we are confronted by the marked absence of the tonic as a chord. What chord (or chords) then perform the tonic function in its place, and what is the effect of these substitutions on the harmonic syntax of the piece? In the background we are confronted by the absence of the tonic as a structural frame of reference. In Schenkerian terms, the piece projects an incomplete Urlinie—an interruption—starting from an initial ^4 and halting on ^3. If one accepts this interpretation, it suggests that the intermezzo begins, so to speak, in medias res, picking up the story after it begins, and then ending prematurely. What are the hypothetical events preceding this so-called interruption? Does this imply a larger conceptual composition that is somehow differentiable between a story and its telling?
    In discussing the piece, I will undertake an exploration of these questions, taking as points of departure the analyses of Cone, and Salzer and Schachter. The critical theory employed in my analysis falls under the general discipline of narratology, and in particular is concerned with narrative conventions, the function of acting agents, the components of narration, and the operations of metaphor and metonymy.

This paper outlines the ideas of Adolf Bernhard Marx and Vincent d’Indy and applies them to the final movement of Beethoven’s Op. 109 sonata.
    Marx discusses variations in volume three of his Die Lehre von der Musikalischen Komposition, writing that formal variations involve working out the theme’s parameters through various melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic motives. Register is especially important. Character variations recast the theme into a varieties of characteristic pieces such as a waltz or march, or they may involve contrapuntal techniques such as canon or fugue.
    D’Indy’s contribution from his Cours de Composition Musicale develops the notion of the variation amplificatrice. He traces its history, asserting that is disappeared after Bach, only to reappear in the final movement of Beethoven’s Op. 109.
    The remainder of the paper applies Marx’s and d’Indy’s ideas to the Beethoven variations. Much of the subtlety is in the theme itself—readings from both ^3 and ^5 are possible. Beethoven plays on this ambiguity throughout the variations and he also creates a gradual registrar ascent, culminating in the high B6-A6-G#6 of the sixth variation.

This paper approaches analytical problems of tonal spaces and harmonic function in Wagner’s Parifsal, with particular attention to “Grail” motive passages. It suggests Richard Cohn’s “hexatonic space” as a tool that mediates easily between the diatonic and the chromatic tendencies in the music. It then presents a hexatonic analysis of Grail passages, showing progress of hexatonic strategies towards the final scene. The paper then addresses the place of the Leittonwechsel transformation, which is characteristic of hexatonic space, in Parsifal, and shows it to be associated with the central Christological image of Blood, and thus to the Grail usage previously described.

This paper documents a project undertaken by Ball State University to design a computer-administrated test that efficiently and accurately identifies students at risk. In late 1991 the project culminated in a computer adaptive test—called “Ready or Not.” The paper begins with a description of the pilot study of 1990-’91, and concludes with an explanation of the ExSPRT system now in use.
    The most significant findings of the 1990 research were: (1) that aural pre-skills comprise a stronger basis for the assessment of preparedness for college theory than do written pre-skills, and (2) that theory pre-skills are strongly hierarchical as represented by an unusually high Cronbach’s alpha of .97 (a measure of reliability and internal consistency more powerful than a split-half reliability).
    The test generates problems algorithmically, interacts with the tested in real-time interpolation and analyses of data, and progresses in a non-linear fashion to the most pertinent levels of the hierarchy, omitting the rest. The mathematical heart of the system is found in Bayesian mathematics—a branch of statistics devoted to the continuous revision of probabilities until reliable estimates have been established.
    Ball State has been using “Ready or Not” for the past three years. Students are assessed during the senior year of high school at one of several audition dates. The computer administers the assessments, interprets the results, and advises its subjects in one sitting. One-sixth of applicants are advised to take the remedial course. Most students follow this advice. As a consequence, enrollment in the remedial course has more than doubled while the failure rate in the sequence has dropped.

A recent article by David Butler and Mark Lochstampfor identifies a “gap” between aural skills pedagogy and music cognition, a gap which explain the “limited amount of information transfer” (“Bridges Unbuilt: Comparing the Literature of Music Cognition and Aural Training,” Indiana Theory Review 14/2 [Fall 1993], p. 14) between these two fields. As the authors put it, the reason for this gap is the “fundamental incompatibility between two eminently desirable goals: experimental rigor on the one hand, and musical validity on the other” (14). This paper evaluates the influence of the scientific methodology in both of these fields. From this vantage point it can be seen that: 1) the fields of music cognition and aural skills pedagogy are not as different as it might appear, and 2) a successful rapport between these fields is desirable.

The proliferation of multimedia and hypertext confronts us with metatheoretical issues conceding the very nature of music graphs, as we question the fixity of printed text and graphics. This paper will focus on interrelations between on-paper and on-screen graphic musical analysis, suggesting ways that the transfer of theoretical graphs to an electronic environment necessitates decisions which inevitably have substantive consequences for music theory, pedagogy and cognition.
    This paper demonstrates different ways that a realtime graphic environment can be utilized to impart significant analytical meaning to a graph. For example, direct linkage between the virtual proportions of a linear graph and the real proportions of a CD audio performance may play an important role in shaping inferences about the structure of a musical work.