Directory

Jack Boss | University of Oregon - Academia.edu

Skip to main content

Jack Boss

University of Oregon, School of Music and Dance, Faculty Member

Followers

878

Following

245

Mentions

192

Public Views

Jack Boss is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Oregon, and has taught there since 1995. His research interests include motive, harmony and long-range coherence in Schoenberg’s music, among that of other composers.
Phone: 541-346-5654
Address: School of Music and Dance
1225 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403

less

Eva Mantzourani

University of Cambridge

Elisabeth Wismer

University of Chicago

Istanbul University

Thomas Scott McGill

Stefanie Acevedo

University of Connecticut

University of North Texas

The College of Idaho

InterestsView All (6)

Uploads

Books by Jack Boss

Schoenberg's Atonal Music: Musical Idea, Basic Image, and Specters of Tonal Function, chapter 1

This is the final proof of the first chapter of my new book (Cambridge, 2019), which uses Schenke... more This is the final proof of the first chapter of my new book (Cambridge, 2019), which uses Schenkerian analysis as a measuring stick to distinguish "tonal" from "atonal" in Schoenberg's Op. 2, no. 2 and Op. 11, no. 1. It also considers how a "musical idea" is projected atonally in the latter piece.

Schoenberg's Atonal Music, chapter 2 (on Op. 11, nos. 2 and 3)

This is the final proof of my new book's second chapter, which studies Op. 11, nos. 2 and 3 in de... more

Schoenberg's Atonal Music Ch. 3 (on the Songs Op. 15)

Corrected Examples from Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music

These are corrections to the paperback edition that was just released by Cambridge University Pre... more

Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music: Symmetry and the Musical Idea (chapter 1)

Jack Boss takes a unique approach to analyzing Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, adapting th... more Jack Boss takes a unique approach to analyzing Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, adapting the composer’s notion of a “musical idea” – problem, elaboration, solution – as a framework and focusing on the large-scale coherence of the whole piece. The book begins by defining “musical idea” as a large, overarching process involving conflict between musical elements or situations, elaboration of that conflict, and resolution, and examines how such conflicts often involve symmetrical pitch and interval shapes that are obscured in some way. Containing close analytical readings of a large number of Schoenberg’s key twelve-tone works, including Moses und Aron, the Suite for Piano Op. 25, the Fourth Quartet, and the String Trio, the study provides the reader with a clearer understanding of this still-controversial, challenging, but vitally important modernist composer.

Chapter 5 from Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music

Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others)

Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others) is a collection of essays that grew out of t... more Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others) is a collection of essays that grew out of the 2010 annual meeting of the West Coast Conference of Music Theory and Analysis. The stated purpose was to apply traditional music-analytic techniques, as well as new, innovative techniques, to describing the music of composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The goal was to take steps toward making the music of our time a bit less impenetrable for our colleagues, students and other listeners by showing how it follows, varies, and sometimes controverts the organizational schemes of older music. This collection includes chapters analyzing music of older eras as well, including a number that throw light on the analysis of recent music in unexpected ways, and there are also several chapters that propose innovative analytic approaches to recent popular music and jazz.

Musical Currents from the Left Coast

Musical Currents from the Left Coast presents a timely snapshot of the analytical concerns and me... more Musical Currents from the Left Coast presents a timely snapshot of the analytical concerns and methodologies that have proliferated throughout the current moment in North American music theoretical circles. The repertoire spanned within this volume is extensive. It covers music from J.S. Bach through the late 19th Century and continues finally to the modernist, avant garde, and post-modernist repertoire of the past century. Previously neglected aspects of musical structure, such as rhythm and meter, are presented here on equal footing with the traditional preoccupations of harmony and thematic process. Meter in particular is treated in great depth here: it is explored from the perspectives of both listener and performer and treats repertoire as diverse as Bach, Chopin, traditional African music and the popular music throughout the world that has disseminated from that tradition.

The music and ideas of composer Arnold Schoenberg are central to many of the essays presented here. Schoenberg’s oft remarked upon masterpiece, Klavierstuck, Op.11, No.1, forms the focus of an entire section of the book. Four notable Schoenberg scholars of the younger generation revisit this seminal work on the eve of its centenary in order to reflect not only upon the work itself, but also upon the prodigious discourse that has surrounded it since nearly the date of its composition. More broadly, Schoenberg’s compositional and analytical concerns resonate through many of the other essays presented here, too. His concepts of “The Musical Idea” and “Developing Variation” are treated extensively in relation to the music of Anton Webern and Johannes Brahms, respectively. Musical Currents from the Left Coast will be of great interest to any individuals and institutions with an investment in the contemporary discourse of music theory and will be of special interest to scholars beyond that field who are also engaged with the work of Arnold Schoenberg.

Papers by Jack Boss

Schoenberg's Opus 33b and the Problem of its Contrasting "Continuation" and Second Theme

Music Analysis, 2018

Schoenberg’s Piano Piece Op. 33b can be interpreted fruitfully using the composer’s notion of ‘mu... more Schoenberg’s Piano Piece Op. 33b can be interpreted fruitfully using the composer’s notion of ‘musical idea’, in which a problem or conﬂict is introduced at the beginning, elaborated during the piece and resolved near the end. Previous studies of the piece disagree about whether bars 5b–11a should be understood as the continuation of the ﬁrst theme’s sentence or as a second theme, because of differences between the tetrachordal row partitions of bars 1–5a and the trichordal partitions of bars 5b–11a, and the marked dissimilarities in set-class content, interval successions (including <−2, −2> in the trichordal partitions), rhythm and heard metre that result. These differences introduce the work’s ‘problem’, which the piece then elaborates in bars 21–28 by taking an element from the transitional bars following the ‘continuation’, <+2, +2> and <−2, −2 > interval successions paired together in vertical symmetry, and further developing that element to create hexachords that are not equivalent to contiguous hexachords of the source row. The solution to the problem occurs gradually after bar 32, in two ways: ﬁrst, the set classes, interval successions, pitches and rhythms associated with each kind of partition are shown to be generable by the other partition; second, after bar 57 both kinds of partition project themselves simultaneously on a single row form, demonstrating intervallic, pitch and rhythmic similarities between the elements of the contrasting partitions.

"Little High, Little Low": Hidden Repetition, Long-Range Contour, and Classical Form in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody

“Away with Motivic Working?” Not So Fast

Music Theory Online

Schoenberg’s third Piano Piece op. 11 has given rise to an international controversy regarding wh... more Schoenberg’s third Piano Piece op. 11 has given rise to an international controversy regarding whether its melodic materials, harmonies and rhythms are carefully worked out according to larger patterns or are by-products of expression and improvisation. Articles and books in English use Schoenberg’s writings, particularly one of his 1909 letters to Busoni, to support the claim that op. 11, no. 3 was among the first of his pieces to exemplify an “intuitive aesthetic,” and is relatively free from overarching formal, harmonic, rhythmic or motivic patterns. Meanwhile, German-language studies focus on detailed analysis of the piece, describing networks of motivic and harmonic relationships. My article maintains the latter point of view; but it also goes beyond existing analyses to describe a large motivic process that gives op. 11, no. 3 coherence as a whole. It takes two motivic progressions that characterize op. 11, no. 1, “expanding” and “explanatory” processes, and sets them against ...

Interval Symmetries as Divine Perfection in Schoenberg's Moses und Aron

Konturen vol. 5 (an interdisciplinary journal published by several humanities departments at the University of Oregon), Aug 28, 2014

Beginning with an analysis of certain tone-row partitions in Schoenberg’s opera Moses and Aaron, ... more Beginning with an analysis of certain tone-row partitions in Schoenberg’s opera Moses and Aaron, this article examines the ways in which the composer dramatized the conflict between the two Biblical brothers by setting leitmotifs in opposition, conveying the tension (between the visual and verbal portrayal of God) in terms of an abstract, symmetrical system.

Presentation of "Musical Idea" through Tetrachord Exchanges and Rhythmic/Metric Correspondences in the Intermezzo and Gavotte of Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, Op. 25

Integral, Vol. 27 (2013): 1-52., Mar 1, 2015

The article provides detailed analyses of two pieces from Schoenberg's twelve-tone Suite for Pian... more The article provides detailed analyses of two pieces from Schoenberg's twelve-tone Suite for Piano, Op. 25, with copious illustrations. It shows that both pieces manifest Schoenberg's concept of "musical idea," but in different ways, and that the two pieces are part of a progression within the whole Suite toward more advanced ways of realizing the idea. The Intermezzo introduces a technique in which certain partitions of one row form produce the discrete tetrachords of another, called "collectional exchange." Collectional exchange would be developed further in the Menuett Op. 25. The Gavotte suggests, obscures, and then recaptures correspondences between rhythm, meter, and row form to realize its musical idea, an approach with which Schoenberg continued to work in later compositions.

Mahler's Musical Idea: A Schenkerian-Schoenbergian Analysis of the Adagio from Symphony No. 10

In "Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others)", Feb 1, 2013

s multiple roles as friend, inspiration, and benefactor to the emerging composer Arnold Schoenber... more s multiple roles as friend, inspiration, and benefactor to the emerging composer Arnold Schoenberg are amply documented in Schoenberg's letters to Mahler, in Alma Mahler's memoirs, and in Schoenberg's essay on Mahler written as a tribute after the older composer's death. Alma Mahler writes about "youthful" Schoenberg and his brother-in-law, Alexander von Zemlinsky, making trips to the Mahler household for dinner that did not end well in some cases: 1 Schoenberg, on the other hand, was inspired by a youthful rebelliousness against his elder, whom at the same time he revered. They [Schoenberg and Zemlinsky] used to come in in the evening. After one of our devastatingly simple meals, all three went to the piano and talked shop-at first in all amity. Then Schoenberg let fall a word in youthful arrogance and Mahler corrected him with a shade of condescension-and the room was in an uproar. Schoenberg delighted in paradox of the most violent description. At least we thought so then; today I should listen with different ears. Mahler replied professorially. Schoenberg leapt to his feet and vanished with a curt good night. Zemlinsky followed, shaking his head.

The 'Musical Idea' and the Basic Image in an Atonal Song and Recitation of Arnold Schoenberg

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society …, Jan 1, 2009

The ‘Musical Idea’ and Motivic Structure in Schoenberg’s Op. 11, No. 1

Musical Currents from the Left Coast, Oct 1, 2008

The 'Musical Idea' and Global Coherence in Schoenberg's Atonal and Serial Music

Intégral, Jan 1, 2000

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

'Schenkerian-Schoenbergian Analysis' and Hidden Repetition in the Opening Movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 10, No. 1

Music Theory Online, Jan 1, 1999

The 'Continuous Line' and Structural and Semantic Text-Painting in Bernard Rands's Canti D'Amor

Perspectives of New Music, Jan 1, 1998

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Schoenberg on Ornamentation and Structural Levels

Journal of Music Theory, Jan 1, 1994

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Schoenberg's Atonal Music: Musical Idea, Basic Image, and Specters of Tonal Function, chapter 1

This is the final proof of the first chapter of my new book (Cambridge, 2019), which uses Schenke... more This is the final proof of the first chapter of my new book (Cambridge, 2019), which uses Schenkerian analysis as a measuring stick to distinguish "tonal" from "atonal" in Schoenberg's Op. 2, no. 2 and Op. 11, no. 1. It also considers how a "musical idea" is projected atonally in the latter piece.

Schoenberg's Atonal Music, chapter 2 (on Op. 11, nos. 2 and 3)

This is the final proof of my new book's second chapter, which studies Op. 11, nos. 2 and 3 in de... more

Schoenberg's Atonal Music Ch. 3 (on the Songs Op. 15)

Corrected Examples from Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music

These are corrections to the paperback edition that was just released by Cambridge University Pre... more

Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music: Symmetry and the Musical Idea (chapter 1)

Jack Boss takes a unique approach to analyzing Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, adapting th... more Jack Boss takes a unique approach to analyzing Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, adapting the composer’s notion of a “musical idea” – problem, elaboration, solution – as a framework and focusing on the large-scale coherence of the whole piece. The book begins by defining “musical idea” as a large, overarching process involving conflict between musical elements or situations, elaboration of that conflict, and resolution, and examines how such conflicts often involve symmetrical pitch and interval shapes that are obscured in some way. Containing close analytical readings of a large number of Schoenberg’s key twelve-tone works, including Moses und Aron, the Suite for Piano Op. 25, the Fourth Quartet, and the String Trio, the study provides the reader with a clearer understanding of this still-controversial, challenging, but vitally important modernist composer.

Chapter 5 from Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music

Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others)

Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others) is a collection of essays that grew out of t... more Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others) is a collection of essays that grew out of the 2010 annual meeting of the West Coast Conference of Music Theory and Analysis. The stated purpose was to apply traditional music-analytic techniques, as well as new, innovative techniques, to describing the music of composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The goal was to take steps toward making the music of our time a bit less impenetrable for our colleagues, students and other listeners by showing how it follows, varies, and sometimes controverts the organizational schemes of older music. This collection includes chapters analyzing music of older eras as well, including a number that throw light on the analysis of recent music in unexpected ways, and there are also several chapters that propose innovative analytic approaches to recent popular music and jazz.

Musical Currents from the Left Coast

Musical Currents from the Left Coast presents a timely snapshot of the analytical concerns and me... more Musical Currents from the Left Coast presents a timely snapshot of the analytical concerns and methodologies that have proliferated throughout the current moment in North American music theoretical circles. The repertoire spanned within this volume is extensive. It covers music from J.S. Bach through the late 19th Century and continues finally to the modernist, avant garde, and post-modernist repertoire of the past century. Previously neglected aspects of musical structure, such as rhythm and meter, are presented here on equal footing with the traditional preoccupations of harmony and thematic process. Meter in particular is treated in great depth here: it is explored from the perspectives of both listener and performer and treats repertoire as diverse as Bach, Chopin, traditional African music and the popular music throughout the world that has disseminated from that tradition.

The music and ideas of composer Arnold Schoenberg are central to many of the essays presented here. Schoenberg’s oft remarked upon masterpiece, Klavierstuck, Op.11, No.1, forms the focus of an entire section of the book. Four notable Schoenberg scholars of the younger generation revisit this seminal work on the eve of its centenary in order to reflect not only upon the work itself, but also upon the prodigious discourse that has surrounded it since nearly the date of its composition. More broadly, Schoenberg’s compositional and analytical concerns resonate through many of the other essays presented here, too. His concepts of “The Musical Idea” and “Developing Variation” are treated extensively in relation to the music of Anton Webern and Johannes Brahms, respectively. Musical Currents from the Left Coast will be of great interest to any individuals and institutions with an investment in the contemporary discourse of music theory and will be of special interest to scholars beyond that field who are also engaged with the work of Arnold Schoenberg.

Schoenberg's Opus 33b and the Problem of its Contrasting "Continuation" and Second Theme

Music Analysis, 2018

Schoenberg’s Piano Piece Op. 33b can be interpreted fruitfully using the composer’s notion of ‘mu... more Schoenberg’s Piano Piece Op. 33b can be interpreted fruitfully using the composer’s notion of ‘musical idea’, in which a problem or conﬂict is introduced at the beginning, elaborated during the piece and resolved near the end. Previous studies of the piece disagree about whether bars 5b–11a should be understood as the continuation of the ﬁrst theme’s sentence or as a second theme, because of differences between the tetrachordal row partitions of bars 1–5a and the trichordal partitions of bars 5b–11a, and the marked dissimilarities in set-class content, interval successions (including <−2, −2> in the trichordal partitions), rhythm and heard metre that result. These differences introduce the work’s ‘problem’, which the piece then elaborates in bars 21–28 by taking an element from the transitional bars following the ‘continuation’, <+2, +2> and <−2, −2 > interval successions paired together in vertical symmetry, and further developing that element to create hexachords that are not equivalent to contiguous hexachords of the source row. The solution to the problem occurs gradually after bar 32, in two ways: ﬁrst, the set classes, interval successions, pitches and rhythms associated with each kind of partition are shown to be generable by the other partition; second, after bar 57 both kinds of partition project themselves simultaneously on a single row form, demonstrating intervallic, pitch and rhythmic similarities between the elements of the contrasting partitions.

"Little High, Little Low": Hidden Repetition, Long-Range Contour, and Classical Form in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody

“Away with Motivic Working?” Not So Fast

Music Theory Online

Schoenberg’s third Piano Piece op. 11 has given rise to an international controversy regarding wh... more Schoenberg’s third Piano Piece op. 11 has given rise to an international controversy regarding whether its melodic materials, harmonies and rhythms are carefully worked out according to larger patterns or are by-products of expression and improvisation. Articles and books in English use Schoenberg’s writings, particularly one of his 1909 letters to Busoni, to support the claim that op. 11, no. 3 was among the first of his pieces to exemplify an “intuitive aesthetic,” and is relatively free from overarching formal, harmonic, rhythmic or motivic patterns. Meanwhile, German-language studies focus on detailed analysis of the piece, describing networks of motivic and harmonic relationships. My article maintains the latter point of view; but it also goes beyond existing analyses to describe a large motivic process that gives op. 11, no. 3 coherence as a whole. It takes two motivic progressions that characterize op. 11, no. 1, “expanding” and “explanatory” processes, and sets them against ...

Interval Symmetries as Divine Perfection in Schoenberg's Moses und Aron

Konturen vol. 5 (an interdisciplinary journal published by several humanities departments at the University of Oregon), Aug 28, 2014

Beginning with an analysis of certain tone-row partitions in Schoenberg’s opera Moses and Aaron, ... more Beginning with an analysis of certain tone-row partitions in Schoenberg’s opera Moses and Aaron, this article examines the ways in which the composer dramatized the conflict between the two Biblical brothers by setting leitmotifs in opposition, conveying the tension (between the visual and verbal portrayal of God) in terms of an abstract, symmetrical system.

Presentation of "Musical Idea" through Tetrachord Exchanges and Rhythmic/Metric Correspondences in the Intermezzo and Gavotte of Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, Op. 25

Integral, Vol. 27 (2013): 1-52., Mar 1, 2015

The article provides detailed analyses of two pieces from Schoenberg's twelve-tone Suite for Pian... more The article provides detailed analyses of two pieces from Schoenberg's twelve-tone Suite for Piano, Op. 25, with copious illustrations. It shows that both pieces manifest Schoenberg's concept of "musical idea," but in different ways, and that the two pieces are part of a progression within the whole Suite toward more advanced ways of realizing the idea. The Intermezzo introduces a technique in which certain partitions of one row form produce the discrete tetrachords of another, called "collectional exchange." Collectional exchange would be developed further in the Menuett Op. 25. The Gavotte suggests, obscures, and then recaptures correspondences between rhythm, meter, and row form to realize its musical idea, an approach with which Schoenberg continued to work in later compositions.

Mahler's Musical Idea: A Schenkerian-Schoenbergian Analysis of the Adagio from Symphony No. 10

In "Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others)", Feb 1, 2013

s multiple roles as friend, inspiration, and benefactor to the emerging composer Arnold Schoenber... more s multiple roles as friend, inspiration, and benefactor to the emerging composer Arnold Schoenberg are amply documented in Schoenberg's letters to Mahler, in Alma Mahler's memoirs, and in Schoenberg's essay on Mahler written as a tribute after the older composer's death. Alma Mahler writes about "youthful" Schoenberg and his brother-in-law, Alexander von Zemlinsky, making trips to the Mahler household for dinner that did not end well in some cases: 1 Schoenberg, on the other hand, was inspired by a youthful rebelliousness against his elder, whom at the same time he revered. They [Schoenberg and Zemlinsky] used to come in in the evening. After one of our devastatingly simple meals, all three went to the piano and talked shop-at first in all amity. Then Schoenberg let fall a word in youthful arrogance and Mahler corrected him with a shade of condescension-and the room was in an uproar. Schoenberg delighted in paradox of the most violent description. At least we thought so then; today I should listen with different ears. Mahler replied professorially. Schoenberg leapt to his feet and vanished with a curt good night. Zemlinsky followed, shaking his head.

The 'Musical Idea' and the Basic Image in an Atonal Song and Recitation of Arnold Schoenberg

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society …, Jan 1, 2009

The ‘Musical Idea’ and Motivic Structure in Schoenberg’s Op. 11, No. 1

Musical Currents from the Left Coast, Oct 1, 2008

The 'Musical Idea' and Global Coherence in Schoenberg's Atonal and Serial Music

Intégral, Jan 1, 2000

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

'Schenkerian-Schoenbergian Analysis' and Hidden Repetition in the Opening Movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 10, No. 1

Music Theory Online, Jan 1, 1999

The 'Continuous Line' and Structural and Semantic Text-Painting in Bernard Rands's Canti D'Amor

Perspectives of New Music, Jan 1, 1998

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Schoenberg on Ornamentation and Structural Levels

Journal of Music Theory, Jan 1, 1994

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Schoenberg's Op. 22 Radio Talk and Developing Variation in Atonal Music

Music Theory Spectrum, Jan 1, 1992

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Review of Michael Cherlin, Schoenberg’s Musical Imagination (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

Music Theory Online, 2009

Michael Cherlin's new book fulfills two important functions admirably: it pulls together thirty y... more Michael Cherlin's new book fulfills two important functions admirably: it pulls together thirty years of research and analysis regarding Schoenberg's music and writings from all periods of the composer's life, and it travels a middle path between the purely "formalistic" efforts of music theorists and studies by professionals in other fields who understand well the music's historical context but remain ignorant of its technique. As Cherlin puts it at the beginning: [The] formalistic descriptions of music theory do not generally engage larger questions in the history of ideas, while scholars without an understanding of the formidable musical technique are ill-equipped to understand the music with any profundity of thought (1). Cherlin's attempt to place Schoenberg's work into its larger context in the history of ideas focuses on the multitude of ways his music and writings realize three "rhetorical tropes:" conflict, flux, and imperfection. Conflict involves musical elements, ideas, or perspectives that remain locked in opposition through the course of a piece, musical style, or period of history. Flux has to do with the impermanent or fleeting nature of some element or category of elements or with the sudden, calamitous changes in circumstance that precede and "set the stage" for a piece. The former notion is used fruitfully in Cherlin's analyses to signify constant changing between different perspectives of time, as in his analysis of Pelleas und Melisande (which shows the piece shifting between retrospection, immediacy, and looking forward expressed through the development of leitmotiven); the latter notion informs his analysis of the openings of Moses und Aron and the String Trio. And imperfection has to do with a piece's ultimate inability to reach some goal it is striving toward-in Cherlin's analyses, the music is often characterized as falling short with respect to tonal completion or attainment of a regular, balanced phrase structure (his account of the final measures of the String Trio illustrates both). Based on my own experience with Schoenberg's music and writings, I would propose the addition of two other tropes-namely "perfection" and "appropriation" (of foreign elements into a "home" context of some sort). But that is not to suggest that Cherlin's categories are any less valuable for the understanding of much of Schoenberg's music. [2] Before explaining my understanding of the importance of "perfection" and "appropriation" in Schoenberg's music and thought, I will briefly survey the contents of each chapter of Cherlin's work. The introductory chapter, after presenting Cherlin's three rhetorical tropes, shows how conflict, flux, and imperfection "resonate deeply with the creative thought" of

Schenker Studies 2 (review)

Notes, Jan 1, 2000

... The book&amp;#x27;s essays fall under two main headings, &amp;quot;Archival Studies&a... more ... The book&amp;#x27;s essays fall under two main headings, &amp;quot;Archival Studies&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Analytical Studies.&amp;quot; The first section begins with Robert Kosovsky&amp;#x27;s introduction to that part [End Page 99] of Schenker&amp;#x27;s Nachlass contained in the Oster Collection at the New York Public Library. ...

Analytic Approaches to Twentieth Century Music (Joel Lester) review

Journal of Music Theory, Dec 1, 1991

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

An analogue to developing variation in a late atonal song of Arnold Schoenberg

Three pieces for orchestra.