Beethoven and the Obscured Medial Caesura

Richards, Mark

doi:10.1525/mts.2013.35.2.166

Music Theory Spectrum

2013

DOI: 10.1525/mts.2013.35.2.166

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Beethoven and the Obscured Medial Caesura

Mark Richards¹

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Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…1616The inclusion of the seventh to a V:HC MC and the ‘substitution of an inversion for the V or V 7 chord at the MC point’ are noted by Hepokoski and Darcy (2006, p. 26) but are considered rare in the late eighteenth‐century repertory, if not outright ‘deformational’ in the latter case. See also Richards (2013b, p. 170).…”

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The Mendelssohn of the Eighteenth Century: Tonal Growth, Functional Fluidity and Formal Complication in the First Movement of the D Major Quartet, Op. 44 No. 1

Taylor

2024

Music Analysis

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This article examines the elaborate compositional processes at work in the opening movement of Mendelssohn's Quartet in D major, Op. 44 No. 1 (1838) in the service of advancing and further refining the application of contemporary Formenlehre to nineteenth‐century music. Most conspicuous of these features is the role taken by the key of F♯ minor, iii of the tonic, which assumes increasing prominence over the course of the exposition, culminating in a curious ostensible secondary theme (bar 71) which appears initially to contradict the tonality of A major just confirmed. This harmonic argument runs alongside a fluid approach to phrase and interthematic structure, in which not only are the erstwhile first theme and transitional material subject to functional transformation but the latter is further elided with potential secondary material, while no terminating cadence (or EEC) is present either. Current analytical approaches – foremost here, sonata theory – cannot fully elucidate the subtlety of Mendelssohn's procedure (one might variously argue for an overridden medial caesura, a secondary theme starting in multiple places, a continuous or even a failed exposition), and nonetheless, clear precedents for individual elements of Mendelssohn's design can be found earlier in the music of Haydn and Mozart. Mendelssohn's movement raises significant questions about recent approaches to theorising nineteenth‐century form and its relation to Classical precedents, not all of which can be easily answered.

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confidence: 99%

The Mendelssohn of the Eighteenth Century: Tonal Growth, Functional Fluidity and Formal Complication in the First Movement of the D Major Quartet, Op. 44 No. 1

Taylor

2024

Music Analysis

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“…Examples of this are numerous from Beethoven onward. See Richards () on Beethoven and the ‘obscured medial caesura’. Sibelius later employed this strategy, particularly in his symphonic first movements, which often has the effect of destabilising the secondary theme or rendering it uncertain in its status as the ‘real S’.…”

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Structural Acceleration in Nielsen'sSinfonia espansiva

Tarrant¹

2019

Music Analysis

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The form of the first movement of Carl Nielsen's Sinfonia espansiva rejects the traditional three‐part sonata form in favour of an experimental two‐part strategy. The dialogue between the two types of sonata has an important impact on the way we hear this movement; from a rhetorical perspective, the absence of a normative simultaneous return of theme and key invites a new analytical approach. This is informed by the idea that the movement's form, relative to the signposts set up in its exposition, appears to speed up as it continues – a phenomenon which I call ‘structural acceleration’. The reception of Hepokoski and Darcy's Type 2 sonata is unpacked before an investigation of aspects of modular layout, tonality and cadential structure which contribute to the movement's sense of formal urgency.

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Becoming and Beyond: Applying Goethe’s Progressive and Retrogressive Metamorphosis to Fanny Hensel’s Piano Sonatas

Osborne¹

2021

Music Theory Spectrum

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Over the last decade, Janet Schmalfeldt’s concept of “becoming” has provided groundwork to evaluate how ambiguous formal moments gradually come into focus through the practice of retrospective reinterpretation. I supplement Schmalfeldt’s Hegelian perspective with concepts drawn from Goethe’s botanical studies to propose a type of becoming that is not limited to retrospective reinterpretation but instead embraces gradual thematic transformations that can function either progressively or retrogressively. Using Fanny Hensel’s piano sonatas as case studies, I explain how the two categories of progressive and retrogressive metamorphosis are fitting metaphors to describe gradual thematic transformations within Romantic-era composers’ works that resist formal prototypes.

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Beethoven and the Obscured Medial Caesura

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

The Mendelssohn of the Eighteenth Century: Tonal Growth, Functional Fluidity and Formal Complication in the First Movement of the D Major Quartet, Op. 44 No. 1

The Mendelssohn of the Eighteenth Century: Tonal Growth, Functional Fluidity and Formal Complication in the First Movement of the D Major Quartet, Op. 44 No. 1

Structural Acceleration in Nielsen'sSinfonia espansiva

Becoming and Beyond: Applying Goethe’s Progressive and Retrogressive Metamorphosis to Fanny Hensel’s Piano Sonatas

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