Criticism and sonata form
Encyclopedia
This article describes the history of musical criticism as applied to sonata form
. For the history of sonata form as such, see History of sonata form
. The form itself is defined and described in sonata form
.
A curious aspect of sonata form during the Classical era was that the leading contributors to its development, Haydn
, Mozart
, and Beethoven
all seemed to have had very little to say about it. One might imagine, for instance, that during all of his various experiments and innovations with sonata form, Beethoven might have remarked to a colleague at least once about what he was doing, but if so it was never recorded.
It was only well after the form had been firmly established by the Classical composers that it became a central topic of musical criticism. Sonata form was originally described by an Italian theorist as "a two part form" where each part was repeated. By the early 19th century, Carl Czerny
, a student of Beethoven's, described it in terms of themes, which is how it is generally still described today. The description now most commonly applied to sonata form today was outlined by Antonin Reicha in 1826, and codified by Adolf Bernhard Marx
in 1845 and by Czerny in 1848. Each of them elaborated rules for composing, and intended the outline to be as much prescriptive as descriptive.
as a cardinal musical structure, and works were laid out in increasingly complex ways to utilize the sectional nature of the sonata form. In this period ETA Hoffman and Robert Schumann
proselytized for the use of the sonata form as the poetic means of expressing pure music, unallied with words or other arts.
The late 19th century was the pinnacle of the idea of the sonata form as the means of containing the huge number of influences in music. Hanslick
argued that formal comprehensibility rested on the use of the sonata form. He criticized what he regarded as radical innovations by Richard Wagner
and by needless extension. The critical dialog between explosive trends in Wagner and Liszt
, and implosive trends in Brahms, reached outward into politics, art and science for metaphors. There was a great deal of internal tension, even among composers, between the formal rules and the desire for expression. Tchaikovsky
berated himself for not being able to produce highly structured symphonies.
proclaimed the idea that the sonata form's vigor was an analogy for social and artistic vigor, and a defense against empty works. At the same time, adherence to established structures took on a different meaning in Soviet Russia, where composers who failed to compose along established lines were accused of "formalism", as opposed to the established sonata forms which were called "natural" and "realistic". At various times even prominent composers such as Shostakovich
and Sergei Prokofiev
were denounced for their music.
has understood why the particular arrangements of keys and themes used in classical sonata form have held such importance for classical composers and their listeners. Rosen conceives the classical era's sonata form movement as a kind of dramatic journey through the system of musical keys. Modulations that move upward in the circle of fifths
(in the direction of the sharp keys) increase musical tension, and modulations that move downward reduce it. Sonata form first increases tension through the move to the dominant (the crucial musical event of the exposition), then increases tension further in the development through the exploration of remote keys. The recapitulation resolves all this tension by returning everything to the tonic. He also argues that, over time, this idea would become the basis for all musical movements, regardless of their formal plan.
The use of the circle of fifths makes sense of a number of observations about the deployment of keys in the classical sonata form:
, critical theory
, narratology
, feminism
and other identity politics
, and film theory
, all which was applied to sonata forms. One particularly controversial work is 1991's Feminine Endings, by Susan McClary
. Her book describes how sonata form may be interpreted as sexist or misogynistic and imperialistic, and that, "tonality itself - with its process of instilling expectations and subsequently withholding promised fulfillment until climax - is the principal musical means during the period from 1600 to 1900 for arousing and channeling desire." She analyzes the sonata procedure for its constructions of gender and sexual identity. The primary, once "masculine", key (or first subject group) represents the, always in narrative
, male, self, while the secondary, "feminine" key (or second subject group) represents the Other
: female, foreigner, difference, a terrority to be explored and conquered, assimilated into the self and stated in the tonic home key. This reading is based in the work of Lacan
and Derrida.
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
. For the history of sonata form as such, see History of sonata form
History of sonata form
This article treats the history of sonata form in the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras. For a definition of sonata form, see sonata form. For an account of critical thought as it relates to sonata form, see Criticism and sonata form...
. The form itself is defined and described in sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
.
18th century
In the late 18th century as the form began to emerge, the emphasis was on a regular layout of works for performers and listeners. Since most works received, at most, one rehearsal, and seldom more than a few performances, this accessibility of layout was considered important. Emphasis was on effects within the course of a strongly framed work.A curious aspect of sonata form during the Classical era was that the leading contributors to its development, Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, and Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
all seemed to have had very little to say about it. One might imagine, for instance, that during all of his various experiments and innovations with sonata form, Beethoven might have remarked to a colleague at least once about what he was doing, but if so it was never recorded.
It was only well after the form had been firmly established by the Classical composers that it became a central topic of musical criticism. Sonata form was originally described by an Italian theorist as "a two part form" where each part was repeated. By the early 19th century, Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...
, a student of Beethoven's, described it in terms of themes, which is how it is generally still described today. The description now most commonly applied to sonata form today was outlined by Antonin Reicha in 1826, and codified by Adolf Bernhard Marx
Adolf Bernhard Marx
Friedrich Heinrich Adolf Bernhard Marx was a German composer, musical theorist and critic.-Life:...
in 1845 and by Czerny in 1848. Each of them elaborated rules for composing, and intended the outline to be as much prescriptive as descriptive.
19th century
In the 19th century the sonata form assumed a place next to the fugueFugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
as a cardinal musical structure, and works were laid out in increasingly complex ways to utilize the sectional nature of the sonata form. In this period ETA Hoffman and Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
proselytized for the use of the sonata form as the poetic means of expressing pure music, unallied with words or other arts.
The late 19th century was the pinnacle of the idea of the sonata form as the means of containing the huge number of influences in music. Hanslick
Eduard Hanslick
Eduard Hanslick was a Bohemian-Austrian music critic.-Biography:Hanslick was born in Prague, the son of Joseph Adolph Hanslick, a bibliographer and music teacher from a German-speaking family, and one of his piano pupils, the daughter of a Jewish merchant from Vienna...
argued that formal comprehensibility rested on the use of the sonata form. He criticized what he regarded as radical innovations by Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
and by needless extension. The critical dialog between explosive trends in Wagner and Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, and implosive trends in Brahms, reached outward into politics, art and science for metaphors. There was a great deal of internal tension, even among composers, between the formal rules and the desire for expression. Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
berated himself for not being able to produce highly structured symphonies.
20th century
The early 20th century saw an attack on the extended sonata form, and a search by many composers for more organic and more compressed sonata forms. Critics such as Olin DownesOlin Downes
Olin Downes was an American music critic.He studied piano, music theory, and music criticism in New York and Boston, and it was in those two cities that he made his career as a music critic—first with the Boston Post and then with the New York Times...
proclaimed the idea that the sonata form's vigor was an analogy for social and artistic vigor, and a defense against empty works. At the same time, adherence to established structures took on a different meaning in Soviet Russia, where composers who failed to compose along established lines were accused of "formalism", as opposed to the established sonata forms which were called "natural" and "realistic". At various times even prominent composers such as Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
and Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
were denounced for their music.
Charles Rosen
In his influential books The Classical Style and Sonata Forms, Charles RosenCharles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
has understood why the particular arrangements of keys and themes used in classical sonata form have held such importance for classical composers and their listeners. Rosen conceives the classical era's sonata form movement as a kind of dramatic journey through the system of musical keys. Modulations that move upward in the circle of fifths
Circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths shows the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys...
(in the direction of the sharp keys) increase musical tension, and modulations that move downward reduce it. Sonata form first increases tension through the move to the dominant (the crucial musical event of the exposition), then increases tension further in the development through the exploration of remote keys. The recapitulation resolves all this tension by returning everything to the tonic. He also argues that, over time, this idea would become the basis for all musical movements, regardless of their formal plan.
The use of the circle of fifths makes sense of a number of observations about the deployment of keys in the classical sonata form:
- Use of keys other than the dominant for the second subject group generally go still higher than the dominant in the circle of fifths; see sonata formSonata formSonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
for details. - Occasionally, the reappearance of the opening material at the beginning of the recapitulation is in the subdominantSubdominantIn music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...
key (a famous example is Mozart's Piano Sonata K. 545), which serves the same resolving function as the tonic. - Secondary developments often also reach the subdominant key, with equivalent resolving function.
Susan McClary
The later 20th century saw the rise of postmodern and literary criticismLiterary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
, critical theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
, narratology
Narratology
Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...
, feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and other identity politics
Identity politics
Identity politics are political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of self-identified social interest groups and ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through race, class, religion, sexual orientation or traditional dominance...
, and film theory
Film theory
Film theory is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large...
, all which was applied to sonata forms. One particularly controversial work is 1991's Feminine Endings, by Susan McClary
Susan McClary
Susan McClary is a musicologist associated with the "New Musicology". Noted for her work combining musicology and a feminist music criticism, McClary is Professor of Musicology at Case Western Reserve University.-Biography:...
. Her book describes how sonata form may be interpreted as sexist or misogynistic and imperialistic, and that, "tonality itself - with its process of instilling expectations and subsequently withholding promised fulfillment until climax - is the principal musical means during the period from 1600 to 1900 for arousing and channeling desire." She analyzes the sonata procedure for its constructions of gender and sexual identity. The primary, once "masculine", key (or first subject group) represents the, always in narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
, male, self, while the secondary, "feminine" key (or second subject group) represents the Other
Other
The Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...
: female, foreigner, difference, a terrority to be explored and conquered, assimilated into the self and stated in the tonic home key. This reading is based in the work of Lacan
Lacan
Lacan is surname of:* Jacques Lacan , French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist** The Seminars of Jacques Lacan** From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power, a book on political philosophy by Saul Newman** Lacan at the Scene* Judith Miller, née Lacan...
and Derrida.
Books
- William E. Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), ISBN 0-195-1439-9
- James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), ISBN 0-195-14640-9
- Susan McClary, Feminine Endings, University of Minnesota Press (reissued 2002), ISBN 0-8166-4189-7.
- Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (2nd ed. 1997; New York: Norton), ISBN 0-393-31712-9
- Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms (1982; revised ed. 1998, New York: Norton), ISBN 0-393-30219-9.
See also
- History of sonata formHistory of sonata formThis article treats the history of sonata form in the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras. For a definition of sonata form, see sonata form. For an account of critical thought as it relates to sonata form, see Criticism and sonata form...
- Sonata (music)
- Sonata formSonata formSonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...