“…The Trio forms a dialogue between two psychological states or ‘voices’ which, according to McCreless, represent two aspects of our personal experience with death: (1) the ‘subjective, inner‐directed, reflective aspect that involves the subject's response to and coping with loss’ and (2) a ‘more objective outer‐directed aspect that, although still in essence an inner experience, peers out of the self towards the one or ones who have died, with a view to sharing a memory of them in a more public way’. (McCreless , p. 128)McCreless shows how the first ‘inner voice’ takes the form of reflective passages throughout the Trio, most notably the slow, sombre passacaglia of the third movement, while the ‘outer voice’ takes the form of more dynamic passages, such as the frenzied dance of the second movement. In the first movement, abundance of the repeated motive, especially in the closing bars (230–242), hammers home the arrival of the tonic.…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… (1) the ‘subjective, inner‐directed, reflective aspect that involves the subject's response to and coping with loss’ and (2) a ‘more objective outer‐directed aspect that, although still in essence an inner experience, peers out of the self towards the one or ones who have died, with a view to sharing a memory of them in a more public way’. (McCreless , p. 128)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Because it breaks the structural progression, the insertion of the passacaglia theme allows the subject a final reflective moment (voice 1) before the tonal conclusion, but the ultimate resolution to the tonic remains unsatisfactory, in McCreless's view:Even though subjective reflection can finally bring a certain degree of acceptance and peace about death, as instantiated in the resolution of the last statement of the B♭ minor passacaglia theme to the global tonic of E, still one cannot avoid being haunted by the deaths of innocents, as symbolized by the incipit of the ‘Jewish’ finale theme and pizzicato chords at the end. (McCreless , p. 130)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Even though subjective reflection can finally bring a certain degree of acceptance and peace about death, as instantiated in the resolution of the last statement of the B♭ minor passacaglia theme to the global tonic of E, still one cannot avoid being haunted by the deaths of innocents, as symbolized by the incipit of the ‘Jewish’ finale theme and pizzicato chords at the end. (McCreless , p. 130)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Having first fought to reject it, we eventually, having cast a cold eye on life and death and having learned, we thought, to accept it, find out that we cannot – and, if we are to believe Shostakovich, we must not. (McCreless , p. 136)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
Insertions between the structural dominant and tonic of underlying perfect cadences delay and intensify progressions of harmony, voice leading and hypermetre. More disruptive than other evaded cadences, these cadential interventions ultimately still serve to unify the music through motivic development. Brief analysis of excerpts from the works of J.S. Bach and Haydn demonstrates the traditional use of cadential intervention and prepares for the analysis of an idiomatic approach by Shostakovich. His Prelude in C♯ minor, Op. 34 No. 10, and Second Piano Trio, Op. 67, contain extraordinary cadential interventions that seem to break continuity, on the one hand, yet serve vital unifying roles in the larger context of each piece, on the other. Since both structural and hermeneutical meaning in the Trio hinges on interpretation of its tonal closure, the cadential intervention at its conclusion receives special attention. Modified Schenkerian analysis invites an alternative approach, showing how an underlying complete tonal structure may substantiate a complete narrative.
“…The Trio forms a dialogue between two psychological states or ‘voices’ which, according to McCreless, represent two aspects of our personal experience with death: (1) the ‘subjective, inner‐directed, reflective aspect that involves the subject's response to and coping with loss’ and (2) a ‘more objective outer‐directed aspect that, although still in essence an inner experience, peers out of the self towards the one or ones who have died, with a view to sharing a memory of them in a more public way’. (McCreless , p. 128)McCreless shows how the first ‘inner voice’ takes the form of reflective passages throughout the Trio, most notably the slow, sombre passacaglia of the third movement, while the ‘outer voice’ takes the form of more dynamic passages, such as the frenzied dance of the second movement. In the first movement, abundance of the repeated motive, especially in the closing bars (230–242), hammers home the arrival of the tonic.…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… (1) the ‘subjective, inner‐directed, reflective aspect that involves the subject's response to and coping with loss’ and (2) a ‘more objective outer‐directed aspect that, although still in essence an inner experience, peers out of the self towards the one or ones who have died, with a view to sharing a memory of them in a more public way’. (McCreless , p. 128)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Because it breaks the structural progression, the insertion of the passacaglia theme allows the subject a final reflective moment (voice 1) before the tonal conclusion, but the ultimate resolution to the tonic remains unsatisfactory, in McCreless's view:Even though subjective reflection can finally bring a certain degree of acceptance and peace about death, as instantiated in the resolution of the last statement of the B♭ minor passacaglia theme to the global tonic of E, still one cannot avoid being haunted by the deaths of innocents, as symbolized by the incipit of the ‘Jewish’ finale theme and pizzicato chords at the end. (McCreless , p. 130)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Even though subjective reflection can finally bring a certain degree of acceptance and peace about death, as instantiated in the resolution of the last statement of the B♭ minor passacaglia theme to the global tonic of E, still one cannot avoid being haunted by the deaths of innocents, as symbolized by the incipit of the ‘Jewish’ finale theme and pizzicato chords at the end. (McCreless , p. 130)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Having first fought to reject it, we eventually, having cast a cold eye on life and death and having learned, we thought, to accept it, find out that we cannot – and, if we are to believe Shostakovich, we must not. (McCreless , p. 136)…”
Section: Cadential Intervention: a Definitionmentioning
Insertions between the structural dominant and tonic of underlying perfect cadences delay and intensify progressions of harmony, voice leading and hypermetre. More disruptive than other evaded cadences, these cadential interventions ultimately still serve to unify the music through motivic development. Brief analysis of excerpts from the works of J.S. Bach and Haydn demonstrates the traditional use of cadential intervention and prepares for the analysis of an idiomatic approach by Shostakovich. His Prelude in C♯ minor, Op. 34 No. 10, and Second Piano Trio, Op. 67, contain extraordinary cadential interventions that seem to break continuity, on the one hand, yet serve vital unifying roles in the larger context of each piece, on the other. Since both structural and hermeneutical meaning in the Trio hinges on interpretation of its tonal closure, the cadential intervention at its conclusion receives special attention. Modified Schenkerian analysis invites an alternative approach, showing how an underlying complete tonal structure may substantiate a complete narrative.
In his introduction to Shostakovich Studies, David Fanning wrote, “The most crucial lacuna in western understanding of Shostakovich's music concerns harmonic and tonal language.” As analysts, we tend to place composers harmonically into one of two categories, tonal or atonal, which leaves little room for those, like Shostakovich, who fall somewhere in between. In his study of chromatic tonality, Gregory Proctor states that nineteenth-century composers began a structural move from asymmetrical tonal space to symmetrical chromatic space (".fn_cite($proctor_1978).", 149). It is understandable, then, that the music during this transitory period calls for analysis that takes advantage of multiple theoretical systems, those that have proven successful for both preceding and subsequent musical styles. Building upon the recent harmonic theories of Charles Smith, Daniel Harrison, Gregory Proctor, Richard Cohn, and Patrick McCreless, this paper will explore the marriage of triadic writing with linear chromaticism and other symmetrical constructions as the composer's answer to the conflict of artistic creation within the confines of Soviet Realism.
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