Conference Booklet - Music - National University of Ireland, Maynooth

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Ryan McClelland (University of Toronto) Tonal Recollection in Third Movements from Schubert’s Late Instrumental Music In Schubert‘s late chamber music and piano sonatas, th e scherzo (or menuetto) always comes as the third of four movements, its usual placement in such works. Moreover, in these late works the third movement generally, though not invariably, performs its typical function of bringing back the key of the first m ovement. These features suggest for these scherzo-type movements a traditional conception, namely a return towards the tonal and expressive spaces inhabited by the opening movement after the explorative slow movement. In a few instances, such as the ‗Great‘ C Major Symphony, this view holds up well under closer scrutiny, but in the majority of Schubert‘s late works it does not. This paper explores tonal anomalies of Schubert‘s late scherzo-type movements from the perspective of both of the preceding movements. In many instances – especially the two piano trios and the string quintet – it is the slow movement rather than the first movement that provides the better interpretive context for modulation and chromaticism in the third movement. When the opening movement has the closer connection to the third movement‘s anomalies, the type in question is most often an unusual coordination of large-scale tonal and thematic returns (as in the ‗Death and the Maiden‘ Quartet and the last piano sonata). In presenting these and other inter-movement relationships, the paper moves beyond structural observation and considers expressive concerns. When a chromatic detail or formal-tonal schism occurs in an initial or slow movement, what is its musical impact? And when this even t recurs in the third movement, is its effect largely similar or different? Drawing principally on hypermetric, textural, and dynamic cues, I argue the importance of attention to expressive function in order to appreciate more meaningfully the role that th ese shared structural features play in the global expressive trajectories of Schubert‘s late four-movement instrumental works. Matt Steinbron (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) Remnants of Polyfocal Tonality in Schubert’s Late Lieder Before the later nineteenth century, the principle governing nearly all earlier tonal composition was monotonality. Some composers (notably Schubert) allow two or more keys to coexist within the same composition, each salient enough to render a monotonal understanding o f the composition problematic. Such tonal structures exhibit what is known as polyfocal tonality, also known as directional tonality. Approximately 13% of Schubert‘s Lieder are polyfocal, but only one polyfocal song w as composed between 1824-1828. In this paper, I will examine the decline of polyfocal tonality over Schubert‘s evolution as a song composer as well as the features of polyfocal structure that remain as artifacts in his late Lieder. Common features of Schubert‘s polyfocal style will be presented, including tonal allusions, oscillation, relationships between prominent keys, and modulation techniques. To best present these features, I will use my own method of analysis that combines Schenkerian analysis with interpretive approaches derived from the w ork of Edward T. Cone, Harald Krebs, and Patrick McCreless. Borrowing from Cone, I will present graphic analyses that represent the songs‘ polyfocal structure as a synthesis of diachronic and synchronic interpretations; thus my method of polyfocal analysis is analogous to Cone‘s third reading. Many of Schubert‘s late Lieder exhibit polyfocal features, but after 1823 he seems to lose the urge to create truly polyfocal structures. Late Lieder with polyfocal remnants that will be examined include Am Fenster (D. 878), Das Weinen (D. 926), Vor meiner Wiege (D. 927), Der Wallensteiner Lanzknecht beim Trunk (D. 931), Der Kreuzzug (D. 932), Der Winterabend (D. 938), Auf dem Strom (D. 943), and selections from Winterreise (D. 911).
Session 8.2 GENRE AND THE PIANO DUETS Su-Yin Mak (Chinese University of Hong Kong) ‘Fancy Free’? Generic Interaction in Schubert’s Fantasy in F Minor for Piano Duet, D940 While recent research recognises that the formal and harmonic innovations in Schubert‘s late style constitute an alternative to the dynamic, teleological narratives favoured by Beethoven, the generic implications of such innovations have largely been ignored. This paper explores these implications with reference to the Fantasy in F minor for Piano Duet, D.940. I propose that D940 raises important questions concerning generic definitions and boundaries for the fantasy in the early 19th century through critical engagement with two Classical conventions: the free fantasia style and the sonata paradigm. Whereas the free fantasia style simulates spontaneous improvised performance via temporal displacements, textural contrasts, adventurous harmonies and affective discontinuities, D940 comprises sections that are thematically distinct, formally closed, and affectively unified. Moreover, these sections allude to the formal conventions of the classical sonata cycle, and thus seem to contradict the emphases on freedom and personal expression in the improvisatory aesthetic. Yet, concomitantly, the unorthodox tonal relations in the work create the opposite effect of largescale structural dissonance. The interplay between order and disorder that is the genre‘s defining characteristic has been displaced from style to form: what in the free fantasia had been ephemeral flashes of harmonic colour now crystallise into extended aural images, directing the audience to perceive them as aesthetic moments that exist for their own sakes. I contend that such an emphasis on the materiality of musical gestures reveals a fundamental shift in the fantasy‘s aesthetic conception. This shift, in turn, reflects a lyrical conception of musical discourse that offers not only a prototype for later 19th -century tonal practice, but also a strategy for reconciling the conquest of improvisation by composition with the romantic imperative of expression. The Fantasy in F minor, with its blend of intimacy and virtuosity, discipline and freedom, epitomizes the dialectic between reason and imagination that lies at the heart of German idealist aesthetics. Gabriel Lubell (Indiana University) Toward an Understanding of Schubert’s Style through His Craft: the Late Music for Piano Four-Hands While much has been said regarding Schubert‘s unique approaches to form, harmony, and melody, there remain significant facets of his craft that are left untouched by traditional analytical methods. Musical parameters such as doubling, texture, timbre, and register are but a few examples of the issues Schubert needed to negotiate through the process of composition. The outcomes of his decisions, or the fruits of his refined compositional craft, have a profound effect not only on the surface (aural) impact of a piece, but also its emotional and dramatic development. In particular, the com positional choices made by Schubert in his later music for piano four-hands reveal a particular sensitivity to what are often unduly considered ‗secondary‘ musical parameters thereby elevating them to a more ‗primary‘ status. At the very least, the net result is an additional layer of crucial information, but in several cases, such as the Sonata in C, D812 and Fantasy in F minor, D940, this data acts in counterpoint with traditional parameters and trajectories, often to the extent of providing the primary thrust of the action. For example, Schubert‘s controlled application of doubling serves not simply to enhance and explore the sound of the instrument, but also to demark or even define crucial formal and dramatic events. As a sample, the four-hand piano music is at once highly limited and exceedingly open by virtue of both the piano‘s acoustic and technical properties and the capabilities of the performers, thus providing a useful framework for assessing Schubert‘s approach to such issues. Furthermore, since decisions regarding ‗orchestrational‘ parameters are an integral
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Conference Booklet - Music - National University of Ireland, Maynooth

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