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# 2022-04-13 - What To Listen For In Music by Aaron Copland | |
I found this book for a dollar in the thrift store and decided to | |
check another book off my high-school reading list. To my surprise, | |
this book seemed more accessible and less dry than i expected from | |
the title. It was written in clear, plain English. The descriptions | |
of musical terminology and forms reminded me very much of technical | |
documentation about digital formats. It mainly covers classical | |
music in an organized and chronological manner. | |
> Music can only be really live when there are listeners who are | |
> really alive." | |
Below are my notes from the book. | |
# Foreword | |
The very process of hearing music has changed enormously, and mostly | |
for the better, since Aaron Copeland compiled this "owner's manual | |
for music," as I like to call it... | |
# Introduction | |
Listening to music is a skill that is acquired through experience and | |
learning. Knowledge enhances enjoyment. | |
The first prerequisite for listening to music is so obvious that it | |
seems ludicrous to mention, yet it is so often the single element | |
that is absent: to pay attention and to give the music your | |
concentrated effort as an active listener. | |
# Preface | |
The put down as clearly as possible the fundamentals of intelligent | |
music listening is the object of this book. | |
Given the chance, every composer would like to know two very | |
important things about anyone who takes himself [or herself] | |
seriously as a music lover. He [or she] would like to know these two | |
things: | |
* Are you hearing everything that is going on? | |
* Are you really being sensitive to it? | |
Or, to put it differently: | |
* Are you missing anything as far as the notes themselves are | |
concerned? | |
* Is your reaction a confused one, or are you quite clarified as to | |
your emotional response? | |
# Chapter 1, Preliminaries | |
All books on understanding music are agreed about one point: You | |
can't develop a better appreciation of the art merely by reading a | |
book about it. If you want to understand music better, you can do | |
nothing more important than listen to it. Nothing can possibly take | |
the place of listening to music. Everything that I have to say in | |
this book is said about an experience that you can only get outside | |
this book. Therefore, you will probably be wasting your time in | |
reading it unless you make a firm resolve to hear a great deal more | |
music than you have in the past. | |
There is however, one minimum requirement for the potentially | |
intelligent listener. He [or she] must be able to recognize a melody | |
when he [or she] hears it. ... [then] the key to a deeper | |
appreciation of music is in your hands. | |
# Chapter 2, How We Listen | |
In a certain sense, we all listen to music on three separate planes. | |
For lack of a better terminology, one might name these: | |
1) the sensuous plane | |
2) the expressive plane | |
3) the sheerly musical plane | |
The simplest way of listening to music is to listen for the sheer | |
pleasure of the musical sound itself. That is the sensuous plane. | |
It is the plane on which we hear music without thinking, without | |
considering it in any way. | |
The sensuous plane is an important one in music, a very important | |
one, but it does not constitute the whole story. | |
The second plane upon which music exists is what I have called the | |
expressive one. | |
This whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there a | |
meaning to music?" My answer to that would be, "Yes." And "Can you | |
state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would | |
be, "No." Therein lies the difficulty. | |
Still, the question remains, How close should the intelligent music | |
love wish to come to pinning a definite meaning to any particular | |
work? No closer than a general concept, I should say. ...no | |
appropriate word can be found to express the music's meaning... | |
The third plane on which music exists is the sheerly musical plane. | |
... music does exist in terms of the notes themselves and of their | |
musical manipulation. Most listeners are not sufficiently conscious | |
on this third plane. It will be largely the business of this book to | |
make them more aware of music on this plane. | |
What the reader should strive for then, is a more ACTIVE kind of | |
listening. Whether you listen to Mozart or Duke Ellington, you can | |
deepen your understanding of music only by being a more conscious and | |
aware listener--not someone who is just listening, but someone who is | |
listening FOR something. | |
# Chapter 3, The Creative Process In Music | |
But whatever form the composer chooses to adopt, there is always one | |
great desideratum: ... every good piece of music must give us a sense | |
of flow--a sense of continuity from first note to last. Every | |
elementary music student knows the principle, but to put it into | |
practice has challenged the greatest minds in music! Music must | |
always flow, for that is part of its very essence, but the creation | |
of that continuity and flow--that long line--constitutes the be-all | |
and end-all of every composer's existence. | |
# Chapter 4, The Four Elements of Music--I. Rhythm | |
* Rhythm | |
* Melody | |
* Harmony | |
* Tone Color | |
These four ingredients are the composer's materials. A complete | |
understanding of the separate elements belongs with the deepest | |
technicalities of the art. | |
Most historians agree that if music started anywhere, it started with | |
the beating of a rhythm. Even today our system of rhythmic notation | |
is far from perfect. We still are unable to note down subtle | |
differences such as every accomplished artist instinctively adds in | |
performance. | |
[Here is a relevant quote on rhythm: | |
> May not the agreeable impression produced by the rhythmical flow | |
> of the waves, and the soothing murmur of running water, have led | |
> various nations, independently of each other, to the wide-spread | |
> conception that they obtained their favourite instrument of music | |
> originally from the water? --Engel's "Musical Myths and Facts" | |
] | |
When musical rhythm was first put down, it was not measured off into | |
evenly distributed metrical units, as it now is. It wasn't until | |
about 1150 that "measured music," as it was then called, was slowly | |
introduced into Western civilization. ... it had both a liberating | |
and a restraining effect on music. | |
Up until that time, much of the music which we have any record of was | |
vocal music; it invariably accompanied prose or poetry... From the | |
time of the Greeks, the rhythm of music was the natural, unfettered | |
rhythm of prose or poetic speech. No one then, or since, has ever | |
been able to write down that kind of rhythm with any degree of | |
exactitude. | |
The fascination and emotional impact of simple rhythms such as these | |
is quite beyond analysis. All we can do is humbly to acknowledge | |
their power and often hypnotic effect upon us. | |
Polyrhythms--the combination of two or more independent rhythms at | |
the same time. Don't imagine for an instant that such rhythmic | |
complexities were unknown until our own time. On the contrary, by | |
comparison with the intricate rhythms used by African drummers or | |
Chinese or Hindu percussionists, we are mere neophytes. | |
All jazz is founded on the rock of a steady, unchanging rhythm in the | |
bass. When jazz was only ragtime, the basic rhythm was merely that | |
of march time: ONE-two-THREE-four, ONE-two-THREE-four. This same | |
rhythm was made much more interesting in jazz by simply displacing | |
the accents so that the basic rhythm became one-TWO-three-FOUR, | |
one-TWO-three-FOUR. But over and above [this foundational rhythm] | |
are other, and freer, rhythms; and it is the combination of the two | |
that gives jazz whatever rhythmic vitality it possesses. | |
Some of my more informed readers may be wondering why I have made no | |
mention... of that phenomenal School of English composers who | |
flourished in Shakespeare's day. They wrote hundreds of madrigals | |
which are overrun with the most ingenious of polyrhythms. ... The | |
characteristic feat of the rhythm of the madrigal composers is the | |
lack of any sense of strong down beat. The effect is anything but | |
primitive. Therein lies its main difference from the modern brand of | |
polyrhythm, which depends for its effects upon an insistence on | |
juxtaposed down beats. | |
The lay listener is asked to remember that even the most complex | |
rhythms were meant for his [or her] ears. They need not be analyzed | |
to be enjoyed. All you need to do is to relax, letting the rhythm do | |
with you what it will. | |
# Chapter 5, The Four Elements of Music--II. Melody | |
Melody is only second in importance to rhythm... if the idea of | |
rhythm is connected in our imagination with physical motion, the idea | |
of melody is associated with mental emotion. The effect upon us of | |
both these primary elements is equally mysterious. | |
A beautiful melody, like a piece of music in its entirety, should be | |
of satisfying proportions. It must give us a sense of completion and | |
of inevitability. To do that, the melodic line will generally be | |
long and flowing, with low and high points of interest and a | |
climactic moment, usually near the end. ... most important of all, | |
its expressive quality must be such as will arouse an emotional | |
response in the listener. That is the most unpredictable attribute | |
of all, for which no guiding rules exist. | |
From a purely technical standpoint, all melodies exist within the | |
limits of some scale system. There have been four main systems of | |
scale building: Oriental, Greek, Ecclesiastical, and Modern. For all | |
practical purposes we can say that most scale systems are based on a | |
chosen number of notes between a given tone and its octave. In our | |
modern system, this octave span is divided into twelve equal tones, | |
called semi-tones, and together they compromise the chromatic scale. | |
Most of our music is NOT based on this scale, however, but on seven | |
tones chosen from the twelve chromatic ones... | |
This arrangement of seven tones is called the diatonic scale in the | |
major mode. Since there are twelve semitones within the octave span, | |
on each of which the same seven-toned scale may be formed, there are, | |
of course, twelve different, but similarly constructed, diatonic | |
scales in the major mode. There are twelve more in the minor mode, | |
making twenty-four in all. | |
[The relationship between music and time is revealed by the numbers | |
alone. Seven days in a week. Twelve months in a year. Twenty-four | |
hours in a day. And so forth.] | |
The seven degrees of the scale also have definite relationships among | |
themselves. They are ruled over by the first degree, tone 1, known | |
as the tonic. | |
Next in power of attraction is the fifth degree, or dominant, as it | |
is called; followed in importance by the fourth degree, or | |
subdominant. The seventh degree is named the leading tone because it | |
always tends to lead to the tonic. | |
Whatever the quality of the melodic line considered alone, the | |
listener must never lose sight of its function in a composition. It | |
should be followed like a continuous thread which leads the listener | |
through a piece from the very beginning to the very end. Always | |
remember that in listening to a piece of music you must hang on to | |
the melodic line. | |
# Chapter 6, The Four Elements of Music--III. Harmony | |
Harmony, in the sense that we think of it, was quite unknown in music | |
until about the ninth century. The birth of harmony is generally | |
placed in the ninth century, because it is first mentioned in | |
treatises of that period. The earliest form was called "organum." So | |
that organum is simply a single melody, plus the same melody repeated | |
simultaneously at the fourth or fifth interval below or above, | |
respectively. | |
The second of these early forms was not developed until another two | |
or three hundred years had passed. It was called "descant"... In | |
descant, there was no longer a single melody moving in parallel | |
motion with itself, but two independent melodies, moving in opposite | |
directions. | |
The last form of earliest counterpoint was called "faux-bourdon" | |
(false bass). This introduced the hitherto forbidden intervals of | |
the third and sixth, which were to form the basis of all later | |
harmonic developments. Credit for this step is given to the English, | |
who are said to have "harmonized in thirds," in their popular singing | |
long before faux-bourdon made its more formal entry into art music. | |
The sounding together of separate tones produces chords. Harmony, | |
considered as a science, is the study of these chords and their | |
relations among one another. | |
Harmonic theory is based on the assumption that all chords are built | |
from the lowest note upward in a series of intervals of a third. | |
...practically most of the music we know is based on the ordinary | |
three-toned chord known as the triad. A full chord is always made of | |
three tones or more; two-toned "chords" are too ambiguous to be | |
counted... | |
[chords can be doubled, inversed, and altered.] | |
The entire history of harmonic development shows us a continually | |
changing picture; very slowly, but inevitably, our ears are enabled | |
to assimilate chords of greater complexity and modulations to further | |
off keys. | |
To say that a consonance is a pleasant-sounding chord, and a | |
dissonance unpleasant, is making the case much too simple. For a | |
chord is more or less dissonant to you according to the period in | |
which you live, according to your listening experience, and according | |
to whether the chord is played fortissimo in the brass instruments or | |
caressed pianissimo in the strings. So that a dissonance is only | |
relative--relative to you, your epoch, and the place that it holds in | |
the piece as a whole. | |
[Polytonality] introduced the idea of sounding two or more separate | |
tonalities simultaneously. | |
# Chapter 7, The Four Elements of Music--IV. Tone Color | |
The intelligent listener should have two main objectives in relation | |
to tone color: | |
* to sharpen his [or her] awareness of different instruments and | |
their separate tonal characteristics and | |
* to gain a better appreciation of the composer's expressive | |
purpose in using any instrument or combination of instruments. | |
The idea of the inevitable connection of a specific color for a | |
specific music is a comparatively modern one. | |
Orchestral instruments are divided into four principal types, or | |
sections: | |
1) strings | |
2) woodwind | |
3) brass | |
4) percussion | |
Each of these sections is made up of a related group of instruments | |
of similar type. | |
The main thing you can do in listening to the orchestra, aside from | |
enjoying the sheer beauty of the sound itself, is to extricate the | |
principal melodic material from its surrounding and supporting | |
elements. The melodic line generally passes from one section to | |
another, and you must always be mentally alert if you expect to be | |
able to follow its peregrinations. | |
# Chapter 8, Musical Texture | |
There are three species of [musical] texture: monophonic, homophonic, | |
and polyphonic. | |
Monophonic music is, of course, the simplest of all. It is music of | |
a single, unaccompanied melodic line. The line itself... is of an | |
extraordinary finesse and subtlety, making use of quarter tones and | |
other smaller intervals unknown in our system. | |
Homophonic texture... consists of a principal melodic line and a | |
chordal accompaniment. | |
Music that is polyphonically written makes greater demands on the | |
attention of the listener, because it moves by reason of separate and | |
independent melodic strands, which together form harmonies. The | |
difficulty arises from the fact that our listening habits are formed | |
by music that is harmonically conceived, and polyphonic music demands | |
that we listen in a more linear fashion, disregarding, in a sense, | |
those resultant harmonies. | |
Polyphonic texture implies a listener who can hear separate strands | |
of melody sung by separate voices, instead of hearing only the sound | |
of all the voices as they happen from moment to moment. | |
There is also this to be said for polyphonic music: that repeated | |
hearings keep up your interest better than music of a homophonic | |
texture. | |
Not all music, of course, is divided into one of these three | |
different kinds of texture. In any piece of music, the composer may | |
go from one kind to another without transition. | |
# Chapter 9, Musical Structure | |
Structure in music is no different from structure in any other art; | |
it is simply the coherent organization of the artist's material. But | |
the material in music is of a fluid and rather abstract character; | |
therefore the composer's structural task is doubly difficult because | |
of the very nature of music itself. | |
The prime consideration in all form is the creation of a sense of the | |
long line which was mentioned in an earlier chapter. That long line | |
must give us a sense of direction, and we must be made to feel that | |
the direction is the inevitable one. | |
One all-important principle is used in music to create the feeling of | |
formal balance. That principle is the very simple one of repetition. | |
The largest part of music bases itself structurally on a broad | |
interpretation of that principle. | |
Speaking generally, music that is based on repetition for its spinal | |
structure may be divided into five different categories. | |
1. Exact repetition (aaaa) | |
2. Sectional or symmetrical repetition (aba) | |
3. Repetition by variation | |
4. Repetition by fugal treatment | |
5. Repetition through development | |
The only other basic formal categories are those based on | |
non-repetition, and the so-called "free" forms. (a b c d) | |
... these repetitional principles apply both to the large sections | |
which comprise an entire movement and also to the small units within | |
each section. Musical form, therefore, resembles a series of wheels | |
within wheels, in which the formation of the smallest wheel is | |
remarkably similar to that of the largest one. | |
# Chapter 10, Fundamental Forms--I. Sectional Forms | |
* Two-part | |
* Three-part | |
* Rondo | |
* Free Sectional Arrangement | |
The simplest of these is the two-part, or binary, form, represented | |
by A-B. Two-part form is very little used nowadays, but it played a | |
preponderant role in the music written from 1650 through 1750. | |
The second type of sectional form is three-part form, represented by | |
the formula A-B-A. | |
The third important type of form which bases itself on the sectional | |
principle is that of the rondo. It is easily reduced to the formula | |
ABACADA, etc. The typical feature of any rondo, therefore, is the | |
return to the principle theme after every digression.l The main | |
theme is the important thing; the number or length of the digressions | |
is immaterial. The digressions provide contrast and balance: that is | |
their principal function. | |
The fourth, and final, type of sectional build-up cannot be reduced | |
to any one formula, because it allows for any free arrangement of | |
sections which together make a coherent whole. | |
# Chapter 11, Fundamental Forms--II. Variation Form | |
* Basso Ostinato | |
* Passacaglia | |
* Chaconne | |
* Theme and variations | |
Before going further, the reader should be warned that the variation | |
in music has two different aspects and that they must not be | |
confused. The first aspect is that of the variation used as a device | |
in music, in a purely incidental way. That is, any of the elements | |
in music may be varied--any harmony, any melody, [and] any rhythm. | |
Likewise, the variation as a device may be applied momentarily to any | |
form--sectional, sonata, fugal, etc. But the second aspect must not | |
be lost sight of--the variations as used in the different variation | |
forms proper, where it is the sole and exclusive formal principle. | |
It is this second aspect that I propose to treat here. | |
Of the four types of variation forms, the basso ostinato, or ground | |
bass, is the easiest to recognize. It might be more properly termed | |
a musical device than a musical form. Literally translated, it means | |
an "obstinate bass," which is more or less an exact description of | |
what it is. A short phrase--either an accompanimental figure or an | |
actual melody--is repeated over and over again in the bass part, | |
while the [other] parts proceed normally. It provides an easy method | |
for writing "modern music" of the 1920 vintage, the left continuing | |
always in the same way, the right hand left to its own devices. | |
Perhaps because of that, for a time the basso ostinato exerted too | |
strong a charm on the newer composer. | |
Note that once the ground bass is firmly established in your | |
consciousness, it may, to a certain extent, be taken for granted, | |
thereby permitting a greater concentration on the remaining material. | |
The passacaglia is the second type of variation form. Here, again, | |
as in basso ostinato, an entire composition is founded upon a | |
repeated bass part. But this time, the ground bass is invariably a | |
melodic phrase, never a mere figure. It is also open to more varied | |
treatment, as we shall soon see, than the literal repetitions of the | |
basso ostinato. | |
A passacaglia invariably begins with a statement of the theme | |
unaccompanied, in bass. Since it is this theme that is to form the | |
foundation for all further variation, it is of paramount importance | |
that the theme itself be well established in the mind of the | |
listener. Therefore, as a rule, for the first few variations the | |
theme is literally repeated in bass, while the upper part begins a | |
gentle forward movement. | |
The chaconne is the third type of variation form. It is very closely | |
related to the passacaglia. In fact, the differences are so slight, | |
that at times there has been considerable arguments among theorists | |
as to whether to label a piece a passacaglia or a chaconne, if the | |
composer himself [or herself] has neglected to do so. | |
But unlike the passacaglia, it [the chaconne] does not begin with an | |
unaccompanied bass theme. Instead, the bass theme is heard from the | |
start with accompanying harmonies. This means that the bass theme is | |
not given the exclusively important role to play that it occupies in | |
the passacaglia; for the accompanying harmonies are also sometimes | |
varied in the chaconne. So the chaconne is a kind of stepping stone | |
between the passacaglia and the "theme and variations..." | |
The theme and variations is the last, and most important, of the | |
variation forms. | |
The theme that is adopted for variation is either original with the | |
composer or borrowed from some other source. As a rule, the theme | |
itself is simple and direct in character. It is best to have it so | |
in order that the listener may hear it in its simplest version before | |
the varying process begins. | |
There are different types of variation which may be applied to any | |
theme. Five general types may easily be distinguished: | |
1) harmonic | |
2) melodic | |
3) rhythmic | |
4) contrapuntal | |
5) a combination of all four previous types | |
No textbook formula could possibly foresee every kind of variation | |
scheme that an inventive composer might hit upon. | |
It is customary with most composers to stay rather close to the | |
original theme at the beginning of a composition, taking more and | |
more liberties as the piece progresses. Very often, at the very end, | |
the theme is stated once again in its original form. It is as if the | |
composer were saying: "You see how far away it was possible to go; | |
well, here we are back again where we started." | |
# Chapter 12, Fundamental Forms--III. Fugal Form | |
* Fugue | |
* Concerto Grosso | |
* Chorale Prelude | |
* Motets and Madrigals | |
## Fugue | |
If you really wish to hear what goes on in these [fugal] forms, you | |
must be willing to go after them again and again. More than any | |
other formal mold, fugal forms demand repeated hearings if they are | |
to be fully heard by the [lay person]. | |
... in texture all fugues are polyphonic or contrapuntal (the terms | |
are identical in meaning). Therefore, it follows that all fugal | |
forms are polyphonic or contrapuntal in texture. | |
It goes without saying that contrapuntal writing is not confined to | |
any form, so in the same way a contrapuntal texture may occur without | |
preparation in almost any form. Be ready, in other words, to listen | |
polyphonically at any moment. | |
A certain number of well-known contrapuntal devices are used whenever | |
the texture is polyphonic. They are not invariably present, but they | |
may put in an appearance, so the listener must be on the lookout for | |
them. | |
The simplest of these devices are: imitation, canon, inversion, | |
augmentation, [and] diminution. More recondite are cancrizans (crab | |
motion) and the inverted cancrizans. | |
Imitation is the simplest device of all. The imitation need not | |
start on the same note with which the original voice begins. | |
Canon is merely a more elaborate species of imitation in which the | |
imitation is carried out logically from the beginning of a piece to | |
the end. In other words, canon may be spoken of as a form, whereas | |
imitation is always a device. | |
Inversion is not so easily recognized. It consists of turning a | |
melody upside-down, as it were. The melody inverted always moves in | |
the opposite direction from the melody of its original version. | |
Augmentation is easily explained. When you augment a theme, you | |
double the time value of the notes, thereby making it twice as slow | |
as it originally was. Diminution is the opposite of augmentation. | |
It consists of halving the note values, so that the theme moves twice | |
as fast as originally. | |
Cancrizans, or crab motion, as the name implies, means the melody | |
read backward. In other words, A-B-C-D becomes, in cancrizans, | |
D-C-B-A. | |
The ability to listen contrapuntally, plus a comprehension of these | |
various devices, is all that is necessary in order to prepare oneself | |
to hear fugues intelligently. Most fugues are written in three or | |
four voices. They are not, however, continuously present in the | |
fugue, for a well-written fugue implies breathing spaces in each | |
melodic line. So that in a four-voiced fugue, the listener seldom | |
hears more than three voices at a time. | |
But no matter how many voices may be going on at the same time, there | |
is always one voice that predominates. Just as a juggler, handling | |
three objects, draws our attention to the object that goes highest, | |
so, in the same way, the composer draws our attention to one of the | |
equally independent voices. It is the theme, or subject, of the | |
fugue that takes precedence whenever present. | |
All fugues begin with what is called an "exposition." Every fugue | |
begins with an announcement of the unadorned fugue subject. ... the | |
subject will appear for the first time in one of [the] voices. ... | |
the subject is heard in each one of the voices, one after another. | |
It goes without saying that when the second voice enters with the | |
subject, the first voice does not stop. | |
When once the subject and countersubject are exposed in any one | |
voice, it is free to continue without restrictions as a so-called | |
"free voice." | |
In some fugues it is not feasible to go directly from one entrance of | |
a voice to the next without a measure or two of transition, because | |
of tonal relationships too technical to be gone into here. The | |
exposition is considered to be at an end when each of the voices of a | |
fugue has sung the theme once. (Certain fugues have a re-exposition | |
section in which the exposition is repeated but with the voices | |
entering in different order.) | |
The exposition is the only part of the fugue form that is definitely | |
set. From there on, the form can be summarized only loosely. | |
Speaking generally, a series of episodes alternate with statements of | |
the fugue subject; seen each time in new aspects. An episode is | |
often related to the same fragment of the fugue subject or | |
countersubject. It is seldom made up entirely of independent | |
materials. Its principal function is to divert attention from the | |
theme of the fugue, so as better to prepare the stage for its | |
re-entrance. Its general character is usually that of a bridge | |
section--more relaxed in quality, less dialectic than the fugue | |
subject developments. | |
... there is no actual repetition in a fugue except for the kernel of | |
the fugue subject itself, and the countersubject which often | |
accompanies its every appearance. | |
A stretto in a fugue is optional, but when present it is usually | |
found just before the final cadence. Stretto is the name given a | |
species of imitation in which the separate parts enter so immediately | |
one after another that an impression of toppling voices is obtained. | |
Whatever the nature of a fugue, the end is never casual. It brings | |
with it, as a rule, one final, clear statement of the fugue subject; | |
and an insistence on the establishment without question of the tonic | |
key. | |
The fugue asks for concentrated listening and is therefore not very | |
long, a few pages at most. | |
## Concerto Grosso | |
It should not be confused in your mind with the latter concerto, | |
which is written for a virtuoso soloist accompanied by orchestra. | |
The origin of the concerto grosso is attributed to the fact that | |
composers in the second half of the seventeenth century became | |
intrigued by the effect to be obtained from contrasting a small body | |
of instruments with a large body of instruments. The smaller group | |
called the concertino, might be formed of any combination of | |
instruments pleasing to the composer. ... the form is built around | |
the dialectical interchange between the concertino and the larger | |
body of instruments, or tutti, as it is often called. | |
The concerto grosso, then, is a kind of instrumental fugal form. It | |
is generally made up of three or more movements. | |
## Chorale Prelude | |
... less definite in outline than the concerto grosso and therefore | |
more difficult to define with any degree of exactitude. It had its | |
origin in the chorale tunes that were sung in Protestant churches | |
after the time of Luther. | |
## Motets and Madrigals | |
I hasten to add that a motet or madrigal is not a form, properly | |
speaking; but since they will be listened to with increasing | |
frequency and definitely belong with the contrapuntal forms, their | |
proper place is here. One cannot generalize as to their form, | |
because they are choral compositions, sung without accompaniment and | |
dependent on their words in each individual instance for their formal | |
outline. | |
... the motet is a short vocal composition on sacred words, whereas | |
the madrigal is a similar composition on secular words. The madrigal | |
is generally less severe in character. | |
# Chapter 13, Fundamental Forms--IV. Sonata Form | |
* Sonata as a Whole | |
* Sonata Form Proper | |
* The Symphony | |
Fortunately for the lay listener, the sonata form, in any of its many | |
manifestations, is, on the whole, more immediately accessible than | |
some of the other forms we have been studying. That is because the | |
problem it presents is not one of listening for detail in separate | |
measures, as in the fugue, but of following the broad outlines of | |
large sections. Also the texture of the sonata, as a rule, is not | |
nearly so contrapuntal as that of the fugue. As texture, it is much | |
more all-inclusive--almost anything goes within the broad confines of | |
the sonata form. | |
Before venturing farther, the reader should be warned against one | |
other possible confusion regarding the use of the term "sonata form." | |
It is applied, as a matter of fact, to two different things. In the | |
first place, we speak of sonata form when we mean an entire work | |
consisting of three or four movements. On the other hand, we also | |
speak of sonata form when we refer to a specific type of structure in | |
music generally found in the first, and often also in the last, | |
movement of an entire sonata. Therefore, you must keep in mind two | |
things: | |
* The sonata as a whole and | |
* The sonata form proper, sometimes referred to as, sonata allegro, | |
or first-movement form, the sonata allegro referring to the fact | |
that almost all first movements of sonatas are in allegro (or fast) | |
tempo. | |
There is still another distinction that must be kept in mind. When | |
you go to a concert and find listed on the program a sonata for | |
violin and piano by Handel or Bach, do not listen for the form under | |
discussion here. The word sonata was used at that time in | |
contradistinction to the word cantata--sonata being something to be | |
played, and cantata something to be sung. Otherwise it bears little | |
or no relation to the later sonata of Mozart and Haydn's time. | |
Three or four movements comprise the sonata as a whole. The most | |
obvious distinction between the movements is one of tempo: in the | |
three-movement species, it is fast--slow--fast; and in the | |
four-movement sonata, it is usually | |
fast--slow--moderately-fast--very-fast. | |
As has already been said, the first movement of any sonata is always | |
in sonata-allegro form. | |
The second movement is usually the slow movement, but there is no | |
such thing as slow-movement form. [It could be any number of various | |
forms.] | |
The third movement is usually a minuet or scherzo. In either case, | |
it is the A-B-A, the three-part form which was discussed under | |
Sectional Forms. Sometimes the second and third movements are | |
interchangeable... | |
The fourth movement, or finale, as it is often called, is almost | |
always either in extended rondo form or in sonata-allegro form. Thus | |
it is only the first movement of the sonata that presents an entirely | |
new physiognomy for us. | |
## Sonata-Allegro, or First-Movement, Form | |
It is one of the more remarkable features of the sonata-allegro form | |
that it may so easily be reduced to the ordinary tripartite formula: | |
A-B-A. As far as its broadest outlines are concerned, it does not | |
differ from the tiny section analyzed in the chapter on Musical | |
Structure or from the various kinds of three-part form considered | |
under Sectional Forms. But it must be remembered in this case that | |
each of the sections of the A-B-A represent large divisions of music, | |
each of them lasting as much as 5 or 10 minutes in length. | |
Exposition | A:| {a: tonic, b: dominant, c: dominant} | |
Development | B | {a,b,c: foreign keys} | |
Recapitulation | C | {a,b,c: tonic} | |
As may be seen, the A-B-A of the formula is, in this instance, named | |
exposition-development-recapitulation. In the exposition section, | |
the thematic material is exposed; in the development section, it is | |
handled in new and unsuspected ways; in the recapitulation section, | |
it is heard again in its original setting. | |
The exposition section contains a first theme, a second theme, and a | |
closing theme. The character of the first theme is dramatic, or | |
"masculine," and it is always in the tonic key; the character of the | |
second theme is lyrical, or "feminine," and it is always in the | |
dominant key; the closing theme is less important than either of | |
these and is also in the dominant key. The development section is | |
"free"; that is, it freely combines the material introduced in the | |
exposition and sometimes adds new material of its own. In this | |
section, the music moves into new and foreign keys. The | |
recapitulation restates more or less literally what was found in the | |
exposition, except that all the themes are now in the tonic key. | |
This juxtaposition of one group of themes denoting power and | |
aggressiveness with another group which is relaxed and more song-like | |
in quality is the essence of the expositional section and determines | |
the character of the entire sonata-allegro form. In many of the | |
early examples of the form, the ordering of the material into first | |
and second themes is more strictly adhered to, whereas later on we | |
can be sure only that the two opposing elements will be present in | |
the exposition, without being able to say in exactly what sequence | |
they will appear. | |
The last theme, or themes... constitutes a closing sentence or | |
sentences. Therefore it maybe of any nature that leads to a sense of | |
conclusion. | |
One other element is important in the exposition. You cannot very | |
well go from one mood that is powerfully dramatic to another that is | |
lyrically expressive without some sort of transition. This | |
transition, or bridge section, as it is often called, may be short or | |
fairly elaborate. But it must never be of equal significance | |
thematically with elements a or b, for that could lead only to | |
confusion. | |
It is the development section that gives the sonata allegro its | |
special character. In no other form is there a special division | |
reserved for the extension and development of musical material | |
already introduced in a previous section. It is that feature of the | |
sonata-allegro form that has so fascinated all composers--that | |
opportunity for working freely with materials already announced. So | |
you see that the sonata form, properly understood, is essentially a | |
psychological and dramatic form. You cannot very well mix the two or | |
more elements of the exposition without creating a sense of struggle | |
or drama. It is the development section that challenges the | |
imagination of every composer. | |
No rules govern the development section. One can only generalize | |
about two factors: | |
* That the development section usually begins with a partial | |
restatement of the first theme in order to remind the listener of | |
the starting point; and | |
* That during the course of the development the music modulates | |
through a series of far-off keys which serve to prepare a sense of | |
homecoming when the original tonality is finally reached at the | |
beginning of the recapitulation. | |
The recapitulation is, as its name indicates, a repetition of the | |
exposition. In the classical sonata allegro, the repetition is | |
generally exact, though even here the inclination is to omit | |
nonessentials, leaving out material already sufficiently heard. In | |
later times, the repetition became more and more free until it | |
sometimes is a mere wraith of its former self. | |
Two important extensions were added to the form while it was still in | |
the early stages of development. An introductory section preceded | |
the "allegro," and a coda was tacked on at the end. The introduction | |
is almost always slow in tempo, a sure indication that the allegro | |
section has not yet begun. It may consist of musical materials which | |
are entirely independent of the allegro to follow; or it may be that | |
a slow version of the main theme in allegro is given out to further | |
the feeling of unity. | |
## The Symphony | |
The symphony had its origin not in instrumental forms like the | |
concerto grosso, as one might have expected, but in the overture of | |
early Italian opera. The overture, or sinfonia, as it was called, as | |
perfected by Alessandro Scarlatti consisted of three parts: | |
fast-slow-fast, thus presaging the movements of the classical | |
symphony. The sinfonia, around 1750, became detached from the opera | |
which gave it birth and led an independent life in the concert hall. | |
One important innovation was introduced during [the nineteenth | |
century] as regards symphonic form, namely, the so-called cyclic form | |
of the symphony. It was an attempt to bind the different parts of | |
the entire work by unifying the thematic materials. Sometimes a | |
"motto" theme is heard at unexpected moments in different movements | |
of the symphony, giving an impression of a single unifying thought. | |
At other times--and this is more truly cyclic form--all thematic | |
material in an entire symphony may be derived from only a few primal | |
themes, which are completely metamorphosed as the work progresses, so | |
that what was first given out as a sober introductory theme is | |
transformed into the principal melody of the scherzo, and similarly | |
in slow movement and finale. | |
# Chapter 14, Fundamental Forms--V. Free Forms | |
* The Prelude | |
* The Symphonic Poem [AKA Tone Poem] | |
All forms that do not have as a point of reference on of the usual | |
formal molds are technically "free" forms. We also put the word | |
"free" in quotation marks because, properly speaking, there is no | |
such thing as an absolutely free musical form. No matter how free a | |
piece may be, it must always make sense as form. | |
In general, vocal compositions are "freer" in form than instrumental | |
works. | |
Among instrumental pieces, piano and orchestral works are more likely | |
to be in "free" forms than chamber music. This may have come about | |
because "free" forms are so often used in music in connection with | |
extra-musical ideas, and chamber music almost always fits into the | |
category of so-called "absolute music." | |
It is obviously impossible to make generalizations about "free" | |
forms. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that we are likely to meet | |
them in one of two types of composition: the prelude and the | |
symphonic, or tone, poem. | |
The prelude is a very loose term for a large variety of pieces, | |
generally written for piano. Prelude is a generic name for any piece | |
of not too specific formal structure. Many other pieces with | |
different names belong in the same category--pieces that are called | |
fantasy, elegy, impromptu, capriccio, aria, étude, and so forth. | |
Pieces such as these may be "freely" treated. The listener, | |
therefore, must be on the alert if he [or she] expects to follow the | |
composer's structural idea. | |
Since Debussy's time form has tended toward greater and greater | |
freedom, until it now presents serious obstacles for the lay | |
listener. Two things make music easy to listen to: a melody that is | |
straightforward and plenty of repetition. New music often contains | |
rather recondite melodies and avoids repetition. | |
## Symphonic Poem | |
The reader should clearly distinguish in his [or her] own mind the | |
difference between program music, which is music connected in some | |
way with a story or poetic idea, and so-called "absolute" music, | |
which has no extramusical connotations. To use music as a means of | |
describing something outside itself is a perfectly natural, almost | |
childlike idea. It is a rather old idea, as a matter of fact... | |
Speaking generally, there are two kinds of descriptive music. The | |
first comes under the heading of literal description. A composer | |
wishes to recreate the sound of bells in the night. He [or she] | |
therefore writes certain chords... which actually sound like bells in | |
the night. Something real is being imitated realistically. | |
The other type of descriptive music is less literal and more poetic. | |
No attempt is made to describe a particular scene or event; | |
nevertheless some outward circumstance arouses certain emotions in | |
the composer which he [or she] wishes to communicate to the listener. | |
... the point is that instead of literal imitation, one gets a | |
musical copoetic transcription of the phenomenon as reflected in the | |
composer's mind. That constitutes a higher form of program music. | |
The bleating of sheep will always sound like the bleating of sheep, | |
but a cloud portrayed in music allows the imagination more freedom. | |
One principle must be kept firmly in mind: No matter how programmatic | |
or descriptive music may be, it must always exist in terms of music | |
alone. In short, story interest can never take the place of musical | |
interest; nor can it be made an excuse for musical procedure. In | |
other words, the story must never be more than an added attraction. | |
Romeo and Juliet is one of Tschaikovsky's best pieces even if you | |
don't know the title. | |
# Chapter 15, Opera and Musical Drama | |
Opera in our day is an art form with a somewhat tarnished reputation. | |
There was a time when opera was thought of as a more advanced form | |
than any other. But until quite recently, it was customary among the | |
elite to speak of the operatic form with a certain amount of | |
condescension. | |
Moreover, quite aside from Wagnerian musical drama, it might | |
truthfully be said that the public that flocked to hear opera did the | |
form little credit. On the one hand, it became associated with what | |
was sometimes called a "barber public"--musical groundlings for whom | |
the real art of music was assumed to be a closed book. On the other | |
hand, there was the "society public," turning the opera into a | |
fashionable playground, with an eye only for its circus aspect. | |
Moreover, the repertoire currently performed was made up for the most | |
part of old "chestnuts," out-moded show pieces that were fit only to | |
strike awe in the mind of a movie magnate. | |
Finally, there is the matter of the recitative--that part of an opera | |
which is neither spoken nor sung but rather is half sung--telling the | |
story part (especially in old operas), without any attempt at | |
stimulating musical interest. When an opera is sung in a language | |
unfamiliar to the listener, as most operas are in English-speaking | |
countries, these recitative sections can be of surpassing boredom. | |
... In short, what I have been trying to convey is that in order to | |
enjoy what goes on in the opera house you must begin by accepting its | |
conventions. | |
It is surprising that some people still consider opera a dead form. | |
What makes it so different from any of the other forms of music is | |
its all-inclusiveness... In other words, it is almost impossible to | |
imagine any type of musical or theatrical arts that would not be at | |
home in an opera house. | |
The problem of writing an opera is the combination of all these | |
disparate elements to form an artistic whole. It is anything but an | |
easy problem. | |
Operatic composers have in practice done one of two things: Either | |
they have given the words a preponderant role, using the music only | |
to serve the drama; or they have frankly sacrificed the words, using | |
them merely as a peg on which to hang their music. So that the | |
entire problem of opera may be reduced to the diametrical pull of | |
words on the one hand and music on the other. | |
[It was around the year 1600 that operatic history began.] It was | |
the result of the meetings of certain composers and poets at the | |
palace of one Count Bardi in Florence. Remember that serious art | |
music up to that time had been almost entirely choral and of a highly | |
contrapuntal and involved nature. In fact, music had become so | |
contrapuntal, so complex, that it was well-nigh impossible to | |
understand a word of what the singers were saying. The "new music" | |
was going to change all that. Note immediately two fundamental | |
qualities of opera at its very inception. First, the emphasis on | |
stressing the words, making the music tell a story. Second, the | |
"high society" aspect of opera from the very start. (It was forty | |
years before the first public opera house was opened in Venice.) | |
The ostensible purpose of the men who met at Count Bardi's was the | |
revival of Greek drama. They wished to attempt the recreation of | |
what they thought went on in the Greek theater. Of course, what they | |
accomplished was a completely different thing--the creation of a new | |
form, which was destined to fire the imagination of artists and | |
audiences for generations to come. | |
If any of my readers still doubt the viability of modern opera or, | |
for that matter, theatrical music in general, I ask them to consider | |
this final fact. Three of the works that proved to be milestones in | |
the development of new music were works designed for the stage. | |
Moussorgsky's Boris, Debussy's Pelléas, and Stravinsky's Rite of | |
Spring have all contributed to the advance of music. It may very | |
well be that the next step forward will be made in the theater rather | |
than the concert hall. | |
# Chapter 16, Contemporary Music | |
Even today there still persists the idea that "classic" and "modern" | |
represent two irreconcilable musical styles, the one posing graspable | |
problems and the other fairly bristling with insoluble ones. | |
The first thing to remember is that creative artists, by and large, | |
are a serious lot--their purpose is not to fool you. This, in turn, | |
presupposes on your part an open mind, good will, and a certain | |
a-priori confidence in what they are up to. | |
The key to the understanding of new music is repeated hearings. | |
# Chapter 17, Film Music | |
Film music constitutes a new musical medium that exerts a fascination | |
of its own. Actually, it is a new form of dramatic music--related to | |
opera, ballet, incidental theater music--in contradistinction to | |
concert music of the symphonic or chamber-music kind. | |
Knowing more of what goes into the scoring of a picture may help the | |
movie listener to get more out of it. Fortunately, the process is | |
not so complex that it cannot be briefly outlined. | |
In preparation for composing the music, the first thing the composer | |
must do, of course, is to see the picture. Almost all musical scores | |
are written AFTER the film itself is completed. | |
The first run-through of the film for the composer is usually a | |
solemn moment. After all, he [or she] must live with it for several | |
weeks. | |
The purpose of the run-through is to decide how much music is needed | |
and where it should be. (In technical jargon this is called "to | |
spot" the picture.) ... the score will normally consist of separate | |
sequences, each lasting from a few seconds to several minutes in | |
duration. A sequence as long as seven minutes would be exceptional. | |
The entire score, made up perhaps of thirty or more such sequences, | |
may add up from forty to ninety minutes of music. | |
When well-contrived, there is no question but that a musical score | |
can be of enormous help to a picture. One can prove that point, | |
laboratory fashion, by showing an audience a climactic scene with the | |
sound turned off and then once again with the sound track turned on. | |
Here briefly are listed a number of ways in which music serves the | |
screen: | |
* Create a more convincing atmosphere of time and place. | |
* Underlying psychological refinements--the unspoken thoughts of a | |
character or the unseen implications of a situation. | |
* Serving as a kind of neutral background filler. | |
* Building a sense of continuity. | |
* Underpinning the theatrical build-up of a scene, and rounding it | |
off with a sense of finality. | |
Having determined where the separate musical sequences will begin and | |
end, he [or she] turns the film over to the music cutter, who | |
prepares a so-called cue sheet. The cue sheet provides the composer | |
with a detailed description of the physical action in each sequence, | |
plus the exact timings in thirds of seconds of that action, thereby | |
making it possible for a practiced composer to write an entire score | |
without ever again referring to the picture. | |
Let us now assume that the musical score has been completed and is | |
ready for recording. The scoring stage is a happy-making place for | |
the composer. Hollywood has gathered to itself some of America's | |
finest performers; the music will be beautifully played and recorded | |
with a technical perfection not to be matched anywhere else. | |
Most composers like to invite their friends to be present at the | |
recording session of important sequences. The reason is that neither | |
the composer nor his [or her] friends are ever again likely to hear | |
the music sound out in concert style. For when it is combined with | |
the picture most of the dynamic levels will be changed. | |
The dubbing room is where all the tracks involving sound of any kind, | |
including the dialogue, are put through the machines to obtain one | |
master sound track. | |
# Chapter 18, From Composer to Interpreter to Listener | |
... practically considered, almost every musical situation implies | |
three distinct factors: a composer, an interpreter, and a listener. | |
They form a triumvirate, no part of which is complete without the | |
other. Everything in music may be said, in the final analysis, to be | |
directed at you--the listener. | |
Always remember that when you listen to a composer's creation you are | |
listening to a man [or woman], to a particular individual, with his | |
[or her] own special personality. | |
If we examine this question of the composer's individual character | |
more closely, we shall discover that it is really made up of two | |
distinct elements: the personality with which he [or she] was born | |
and the influences of the time in which he [or she] lives. | |
[The interpreter is the performer(s).] | |
The problem would probably be solved, up to a certain point, if a | |
more exact way of noting down a composition were available. But, | |
even so, music would still be open to a number of different | |
interpretations. | |
For a composition is, after all, an organism. It is a living, not a | |
static thing. | |
... no finished interpreter can possibly play a piece of music or | |
even a phrase, for that matter, without adding something of his or | |
her own personality. To have it otherwise, interpreters would have | |
to be automatons. Inevitably, when they perform music, they perform | |
it in their own way. In doing so, they need not falsify the | |
composer's intentions; they are merely "reading" it with the | |
inflections of their own voice. | |
The combined efforts of composer and interpreter have meaning only in | |
so far as they go out to an intelligent body of hearers. But before | |
one can understand music, one must really love it. | |
To lend oneself completely inevitably means, for one thing, the | |
broadening of one's taste. | |
Music can only be really live when there are listeners who are really | |
alive. To listen intently, to listen consciously, to listen with | |
one's whole intelligence is the least we can do in the furtherance of | |
an art that is one of the glories of [hu]mankind. | |
# Epilogue: "Since Then" | |
The end of World War II left many people in the arts--and in other | |
walks of life as well--with an obsession to form new beginnings, to | |
invent new modes of expression starting virtually from point zero. | |
By the 1980's electronic-music laboratories had become a standard | |
adjunct to most universities, and electronic music had moved out of | |
its sound-effects stage and into a more serious kind of music. | |
The limitless sound potential of electronic music seemed, in a | |
delightful if curious way, to stimulate some composers into expanding | |
what they might do with "normal," or at least nonelectronic | |
[acoustic] means. | |
author: Copland, Aaron, 1900-1990 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Aaron_Copland | |
LOC: MT6.C78 W4 | |
tags: book,music,non-fiction | |
title: What To Listen For In Music | |
# Tags | |
book | |
music | |
non-fiction |