The Science of Music

1/ f¡ /-

The Scíence if Music

1997

[¡;;~Ji'.?i:=~!JW.~DJ V(;IHAWA BIBL !nTI~r..\ GENERAL CARRERA

7 No,41-00

aANTAfi: Di: ilDIiDTA

Oxford University Press, Great Claretlllon Streel, OxJord

llX2 61J1'

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and associaled companies in Berlin Ibadan

/Ul"l Irll? Pllblished in the Uniled Slares by OxJord Ulliversiry Press lile., NelV York

AII righrs reserved. No parr oJ Ihis pllblicalion may be reprodllced, stored in a recn'evaJsystem, or tra1lsmitted, irJ auy foml or by a"y mea"s, lVithollr rhe prior permission in ,uriting oJ OxJord Ullillersity Press. Within the UK, exceprions are allolVed ill respea oJdny Jair dealingJor rhe pur¡}()se (1 research or private stlUJy or cn"ticism '" rel,jelll, as pfmJitted ","I •.r the Copyri.~ht, Dl'Si~1ISand PatmlS Art, '988, or in r/lt' ras,' oJ reprograpl,ic r•.prodll((ioll ill accordallce lVirh the tenlls o¡ th •. licosition, this time incorporating modifications arrived at during the development, and beginning and ending in the tonic key, with an optional coda summarizing thefinal point of arrival. In effect, first-movement fonn subjects one or more initial propositions to critical examination and draws out a variety of options for further development, options that may themselves be organized in a sequence of ascending complexity or abstraction, and ending with a restatement of the initial propositions in a manner conveying a higher sense of their potential for meaning. In Style atld Idea (London, 1975), Schoenberg makes the important distinction between a melody and a theme. This is a distinction of which Schopenhauer for one is seemingly unaware ('A melody is a temporal sequence of different tones connected together in a particular way: it is a process with a beginning and an end; its stages are heard in relation to preceding segments of the process and to expected continuations of it; it runs its course and in doing so is grasped as a single entity' (Budd 1985: 87)). A melody is a tune with a beginning, middle, and end. It is complete in itself A theme, on the other hand, is a musical statement that suggests possibilities of continuation or completion. The art of composing thematically lies in satisfying the listener's appetite for continuation while fmstrating the desire for completion. The opening violin sequence of the Mozart G minor Symphony No. 40 (K. 550) first movement is a case in point. This is the theme that can be approximately rendered in words as a four-bne question-and-answer exchange:

J.

Do you want, do YMI want, do you

2.

-Yes

1 do, yes Ido, yes I

I want I Cm6

3. Do you want, do you wallt, dv you 4. -Yes

I want to? ICm (1) to; (IVc+6

= iiod+7)

I wallt

to? 107 (Vb+7)

Ido, yes 1 do, yes 1 I want to ... I Gm (f)

Which banality only serves to undcrline that music is considerably purer in expression and richer in implication than words. To give a full aceount of the implications of Mozart's opening quatrain, in which the same phrase-rhythm is stated in varying relationships to the underlying G minor kcy, would take more space than is presently available. For the time being, 1 need only remark that the phrase itself is structured in the form of a three-times false start ending in a rising sixth, a questioning inAexion. We recognize it as a false start because the entry of the fllll string orchestra, establishing the tonic key, is delayed until after the third repetition of the anacrusis ('do you I want to?'). Subsequent answering phrases build on the rhythm of the false start, but in ways that convey momentum. The second phrase transforms the repeated anacrusis into a descending 'answering' sequence, accompanied by a chord change from tonic G minor to a tonal suspension on the subdominant C minor, a e1assic I-IV c progression. The third phrase is a variation of the first, the minor interval of the anacrusis (E fiat-D) changed to a more stable major second (O-C), and accompanied by a e1ever chord progression playing on the ambiguous identity of the comparatively weak added-sixth subdominant C minor, third inversion IVc+6 and its stronger alter ego as supertonic diminished seventh, fourth inversion iiod+7. The added sixth, A, is a focus of attention bodl dS Ule contributing dissonance, and as link note to the chord's harmonic consequent, the first inversion dominant chord Vb, major over F sharp. Moving from the stability of bassline C to an unstable bassline F sharp creates harmonic momentum for a transition to a new stable state, and in the fourth phrase the second-

°

phrase transformation to a descending sequence j~ rcpeated, resol ving to the original G minor starting-point. There I I the same a discordant feature of the return to home base, the .Ji oth line of descent having been interrupted this time round by an awkward Jeap from F sharp to E Aat, suggesting a forced rather than a natural conelusion. At the end of the quatrain the theme is back where it started, in G minor, resting on the third degree, 13 Aat. This is the same note to which the opening line ascended, but an octave lower. In eíTect, the verse ends with the original question still poised on BIt, waiting for an answer. This is only part of the meaning of ti!" passage. The contl:, ns of tempo, phrasing, and instrumentation remain still to be
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absolute pitch 17, 18 Achilles and the tortoise 164-5 acoustic shadow 42 signal 20,42-3, 57-