Approaches to recapitulation in the musical forms of classical style and romanticism
Abstract
The article explores recapitulation as a specific musical phenomenon which is rare in the arts that exist in time. The article reveals a deep dialectic of the recapitulation as an agent of development and affirmation which drives changes even with literal repetition. Recapitulation is a convincing proof that academic music tends to produce complete and substantive musical forms. The analysis is deliberately limited to ternary and sonata forms. They are associated with the most effective use of recapitulation as well as with the organic combination of several approaches to form building. Based on the system of views developed primarily in Russian musicology, the article reveals a specific role of recapitulation and its characteristics. It further explores the role of repeatability which is manifest in the arts with high level of generalization (“pure” instrumental music, architecture, choreography).
The recapitulation in classical and romantic music is analyzed through its perception by a competent listener with a developed “sense of recapitulation”. This approach allows to focus on the effect of “frustrated expectations” as well as various interpretations and unique artistic solutions offered by composers. Theme and harmony are seen as the foundations of form (as a type of composition). They are used to approach retransition as well as a more or less significant reworking of the recapitulation which is sometimes expected at its very beginning.
A special focus is given to individual approaches to recapitulation in the works by W. A. Mozart, L. Beethoven, J. Brahms, and S. Rachmaninoff.
In view of the above, the author concludes that recapitulation is a complex phenomenon, which, to a certain extent, accumulates some essential qualities of European academic music of the second half of the 18th-19th centuries.
Keywords: recapitulation, retransition, musical form, classical and romantic works, analytical musicology in Russia
For citation: Pylaev M. Ye. Approaches to recapitulation in the musical forms of classical style and romanticism [Electronic source]. In: Sovremennye problemy muzykoznaniya / Contemporary Musicology, 2021, no. 3, pp. 17–42. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.56620/2587-9731-2021-3-017-042
Full Text:
PDF (Русский)References
Aranovskij M.G. Sintaksicheskaya struktura melodii [The syntactic structure of the melody]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1991.
Asaf’ev B.V. O napravlennosti formy u Chajkovskogo [On the direction of the form by Tchaikovsky]. In: Izbrannye trudy. T. II [Selected works. Vol. II]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR, 1954. P. 64–70.
Barsova I.A. Problemy formy v rannih simfoniyah Gustava Malera [Problems of form in the early symphonies of Gustav Mahler]. In: Voprosy muzykal’noj formy. Vyp. 2. [Questions of musical form. Issue 2]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1972. P. 202–260.
Bershadskaya T.S. O garmonii Rakhmaninova [About Rachmaninoff's harmony]. In: Stat’i raznykh let [Articles from different years]. Saint-Petersburg: Soyuz khudozhnikov, 2004. P. 90–117.
Bobrovskij V.P. O peremennosti funkcij muzykal’noj formy [On the variability of musical form functions]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1970. 227 p.
Bobrovskij V.P. Repriza [Reprise]. In: Muzykal’naya enciklopediya [Music Encyclopedia]. Vol. IV. Moscow: Sovetskaya enciklopediya, 1978. col. 601–602.
Grigor’ev S.S. Teoreticheskij kurs garmonii [Theoretic course of harmony]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1981.
Evdokimova Yu.K. Stanovlenie sonatnoj formy v predklassicheskuyu epohu [Formation of the sonata form in the pre-classical era]. In: Voprosy muzykal’noj formy. Vyp. 2 [Questions of musical form. Issue 2]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1972. P. 98–138.
Kremlev Yu.A. Jozef Gajdn [Joseph Haydn]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1972.
Loseva O.V. Lozhnaya repriza: k istorii termina i priema [False Reprise: on the history of the term and reception]. In: Zhurnal Obshchestva teorii muzyki [Journal of the Society for Music Theory]. 2020/2 (30). P. 1–12.
Mazel’ L.A. Stroenie muzykal’nykh proizvedenij [The structure of musical works], izd. 3-e. Moscow: Muzyka, 1986.
Maler G. Pis’ma. Vospominaniya [Letters. Memories] / Sost., vstup. stat’ya, i primech. I.A. Barsovoj. [Comp., intro. article, and notes by I.A. Barsova]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1968.
Mandel’shtam O.E. O prirode slova [About the nature of the word]. In: O.E. Mandel’shtam. Sochineniya. V 2-h t. Tom 2. Proza [O.E. Mandelstam. Essays. In 2 vols. Vol. 2. Prose]. Moscow: Hudozhestvennaya literatura, 1990. P. 172–187.
Nazajkinskij E.V. Logika muzykal’noj kompozicii. [The logic of a musical composition]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1982.
Predykt [Precursor]. In: Muzykal’nyj enciklopedicheskij slovar’. [Music Encyclopedia]. Moscow: Sovetskaya enciklopediya, 1990. P. 439.
Skrebkov S.S. Hudozhestvennye principy muzykal’nyh stilej. [Artistic principles of musical styles] / Pod red. V.V. Protopopova [Edited by V.V. Protopopov]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1978.
Kholopov Yu.N. Ladovaya teoriya B.L. Yavorskogo. In: Muzykal’no-teoreticheskie sistemy: Uchebnik dlya istoriko-teoreticheskikh i kompozitorskikh fakul’tetov muzykal’nykh vuzov [Musical-theoretical systems: A textbook for the historical-theoretical and compositional faculties of music universities]. Moscow: Kompozitor, 2006. P. 375–394.
Tsukkerman V.A. Analiz muzykal’nyh proizvedenij. Obshchie principy razvitiya i formoobrazovaniya v muzyke. Prostye formy [Analysis of musical compositions. General principles of development and formation in music. Simple forms]. Moscow: Muzyka, 1980.
Tsukkerman V.A. Analiz muzykal’nyh proizvedenij. Slozhnye formy [Analysis of musical compositions. Complex shapes]. M.: Muzyka, 1984. 214 p.
Bitzan W. Zum Transfer einer westeuropäischen Formidee nach Russland und in die Sowjetunion bis 1945. In: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, 15/2 (2018), S. 23–43. Available at: https://www.gmth.de/zeitschrift/artikel/980.aspx (https://doi.org/10.31751/980) (accessed at: 18.07.2021).
Neuwirth M. “Durch Nacht zum Licht” (und zurück in die Nacht) Formstrategien, dramaturgische Funktionen und semantische Implikationen der Dur-Aufhellung in Reprisen “klassischer” MollSonatenformen. In: Dur versus Moll — Zur Geschichte der Semantik eines musikalischen Elementarkontrasts. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, Hg. v. H.-J. Hinrichsen u. S. Keym. 2020. S. 189–218.
Schmalzriedt S. Reprise / ripresa (nach 1600). In: Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie / im Auftrag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz nach H.H. Eggebrecht hrsg. von A. Rietmüller; Schriftleitung M. Bandur. Ordner V: P–Se. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005. S. 1–16. Available at: https://daten.digitalesammlungen.de/0007/bsb00070513/images/index.html?fip=193.174.98.30&seite=293&pdfseitex= (accessed at: 18.07.2021).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2021-3-017-042
Copyright (c) 2021 Mikhail Ye. Pylaev
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/