Elaborations of Classical-Model Sentences and Periods in Richard Strauss's Songs for Voice and Piano

• Other Authors: Tanis, Joshua (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Tanis_fsu_0071E_15125_comp

In this dissertation, I address several ways in which Richard Strauss elaborates the Classical-model sentence and period paradigm: through harmonic elaborations by way of Strauss’s chromatic, Romantic-style harmonic palette; through formal elaborations by way of phrase expansion; or through elaborations of many musical parameters, which yield hybrid variants of sentences and periods. I offer labels for these hybrids based on their melodic-motivic, harmonic, and phrase-length profile: the Straussian Hybrid Sentence, the Straussian Hybrid Period, and the Lone Antecedent Phrase. These labels encapsulate a sense of their musical shape, showing how the resulting formal structures derive from familiar Classical models, but in some Strauss-specific ways. My methodology for analyzing Strauss’s songs takes on its own hybrid approach, which responds to Janet Schmalfeldt’s 1991 article on reconciling form-function theory with Schenkerian theory and analysis. It is often the case that where Strauss obfuscates normative Classical theme-types, he embeds the inherent unification of their formal structure in other ways, namely through voice leading and the melodic-motivic interplay between voice and piano. Accordingly, I present form overlays and voice-leading sketches for each song excerpt or full-song analysis. By so doing, I highlight how one kind of analysis informs the other, especially when one or the other type of analysis does not seem to fully account for a particular passage of music. To be sure, the form overlays and voice-leading sketches work in tandem with my analysis of poetic structure, meaning, and text-setting in each song. In Chapter 2, I investigate Classical-model sentences, sixteen-measure sentences, and Straussian hybrid sentences in excerpts from seven songs. Instances of Classical-model sentences and sixteen-measure sentences in Strauss’s songs adhere strictly to the melodic-motivic, harmonic, and phrase-length features described by William Caplin, such as in “Befreit,” Op. 39, No. 4, and “Ich trage meine Minne,” Op. 32, No. 1. In some cases, Strauss expands Classical-model sentences by various phrase-expansion techniques, such as in “Mohnblumen,” Op. 22, No. 2, and “Leises Lied,” Op. 39, No. 1. Yet in other songs, Strauss expresses elaborations of sentences whose melodic-motivic organization is noticeably different from the Classical model; specifically, these structures—which I label the Straussian Hybrid Sentence—exhibit a “presentation” phrase comprising a compound basic idea rather than a basic idea and its repetition (like Caplin’s Hybrid 3 model). I identify these structures in “Winternacht,” Op. 15, No. 2, “Wiegenliedchen,” Op. 49, No. 3, and “Allerseelen,” Op. 10, No. 8. In Chapter 3, I analyze examples of Classical-model periods, in addition to two related categories: the Straussian Hybrid Period and the Lone Antecedent Phrase. Straussian Hybrid Periods comprise a normative antecedent phrase (4-bar compound basic idea, ending with a weak cadence) followed by a hybrid consequent phrase that is guised as one of several possible formal outcomes, such as a sentence, a continuation phrase (like Caplin’s Hybrid 1 model), or a cadential unit (like Caplin’s Hybrid 2 model). In the case of any of these three options, the hybrid consequent phrase ends with a stronger cadence than the one at the end of the antecedent phrase. The final formal structure I address is the Lone Antecedent Phrase, which describes an antecedent phrase that is not followed by a consequent phrase, whether normative or hybrid. In these cases, it is difficult to speak of a “true” periodic design; rather, the first half of a perceived period is present, but there is no musical (or even rhetorical) completion of a complementary musical unit. In all, I survey six excerpts: “Für fünfzehn Pfennige,” Op. 36, No. 2, and “Ach weh unglückhaften Mann,” Op. 21, No. 4 (Classical-model periods); “Mit deinen blauen Augen,” Op. 56, No. 4, “Die Zeitlose,” Op. 10, No. 7, and “Schön sind, doch kalt die Himmelssterne,” Op. 19, No. 3 (Straussian Hybrid Periods); and “Das Bächlein,” Op. 88, No. 1 (Lone Antecedent Phrase). In Chapter 4, I provide three full-song analyses: “Zueignung,” Op. 10, No. 1, “Allerseelen,” and “Befreit.” Through analyses at multiple levels of formal and voice-leading structure, I highlight the inherent interaction between these two musical parameters, showing specifically how they relate to the poetry. In “Zueignung” and “Allerseelen,” there is a progression from obscurity to clarity that spans the duration of the song. Conversely, the poem from which “Befreit” is derived poses the opposite rhetorical effect—that is, “Befreit” traces a progression from clarity to obscurity. The analyses presented in Chapter 4 depict how Strauss’s use and elaboration of Classical theme-types is done so in the service of conveying poetic meaning over the span of an entire song. === A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2019. === April 9, 2019. === Caplin, Form, Period, Schenker, Sentence, Strauss === Includes bibliographical references. === Joseph Kraus, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Michael Buchler, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Douglas Fisher, University Representative; Evan Allan Jones, Committee Member.