Form and Orbital Tonality in the Finale of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony

Abstract

This article investigates questions of form in the Finale of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, paying special attention to the reversed recapitulation as a problematic category in contemporary Formenlehre. Counterpointing Timothy Jackson's reading of the movement as a ‘tragic’ reversed sonata against James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy's critique of the concept of reversal, it seeks ways of accounting for the movement's novel form‐functional characteristics, which integrate concepts of thematic syntax with a model of chromatic tonality, drawing simultaneously on Schenkerian and neo‐Riemannian theories and the notion of the double‐tonic complex first proposed by Robert Bailey. The argument is contextualised in relation to critical debates about Bruckner's forms that originated during the composer's lifetime, especially claims of material discontinuity and harmonic illogicality, which were common in the symphonies’ pro‐Brahmsian reception and which linger in the discourse up to the present. The article's central claim is that a substantial understanding of both the Finale's form and its critical reception is attendant upon a theory of formal function, which takes seriously the difficulties of harmonic analysis that Bruckner's post‐Wagnerian idiom engenders.

Apparent Type 2 Sonatas and Reversed Recapitulations in the Nineteenth Century

“…Only the recapitulation of the first theme group eventually finds its way back to the tonic. At the same time, the first theme group's recapitulation also does not fully function as a subordinate theme, at least not according to the criteria above, since it does not conclude with a PAC (in fact, as Horton emphasises, there is not a single PAC in the tonic in the entire movement [2018, p. 278]). Moreover, the recapitulatory effect of the off‐tonic third theme group at bar 191 is minimal, so it is not clear in what way it assumes main‐theme function.…”

Formalising Star Clusters: Sonata Process and Breakthrough Function in the Adagio of Mahler's Tenth Symphony

“…I first critique the diatonic premise of the existing sonata readings and propose to relate the Adagio's formal procedure to Richard Cohn's hexatonic systems (1996, 1999 and 2012). The inadequacy of a purely hexatonic interpretation to address certain diatonic operations subsequently leads to a reconsideration of this double syntax in terms of Julian Horton's model of orbital tonality (2018b). I modify Horton's formulation into what I call ‘hexatonic tension’, which amounts to sonata form's characteristic tonal dualism between the main theme and the subordinate theme in a chiefly hexatonic environment.…”

“…On this note, I propose a concept of hexatonic tension that brings together a hexatonic tonal conflict and a nexus of related keys to address the sonata procedure of constructing a tonic/non‐tonic contrast between the main and subordinate themes in form‐functional terms in the Adagio's hexatonic system 17 . This is formulated through a modified version of Horton's model of orbital tonality (2018b), which serves to reconcile the disparate aspects of formal function, harmony and tonal strategy in the Finale of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony. Mindful of the interweaving of both prolongational and transformational voice‐leading forces in Bruckner's intra‐thematic structure, Horton conceives the music as dispersing the foreground – or, more specifically, the intra‐thematic units – across multiple tonal ‘orbits’.…”

“…Although there are sometimes references to other orbits, they do not subvert the overall orientation towards a suggested orbital centre in the inter‐thematic unit. In other words, while Bruckner's theme groups serve to ‘establish a harmonic field’ that traverses different orbits (Horton 2018b, pp. 282–7), the Adagio's inter‐thematic units instead function to articulate the tonic of one of the three hexatonically related orbits, a tonal strategy which bears a close resemblance to the Classical precedent.…”

“…From the outset, the idea of hexatonic tension might seem identical to a neo‐Riemannian reading of large‐scale tonal progression. As in Horton's interpretation of Bruckner, however, the orbital conflict is ‘exploited as the form's generative principle’ (2018b, pp. 285–6), meaning that all the harmonic areas are associated with one of the orbits and are therefore mobilised to support the orbital contest which motivates the form's teleology.…”