Grounded in a Neo-Riemannian analysis of three related transformational phenomena throughout Walküre, Tristan, and Parsifal, I introduce a generalized conception of the “slide” transformation, illustrating that such an analytical approach directly implicates Freud’s conception of the “uncanny” throughout Wagner’s mature works.
Read moreSymmetry from Asymmetry: Brahms's Language
Now we can view the two syntaxes in light of the characteristics they possess: Brahms uses tonality as a strong gravitational force, whereas he calls on voice-leading transformations to neutralize those tonal tendencies. Contrary to intuition, this culture of the syntaxes is not by nature. Indeed, tonality can serve as a means for the most outlandish of modulations (à la Reger’s Modulation), while even bizarre Riemannian transformations can serve to prop up a gravitational tonality rather than deactivate it
Read moreBeethoven's First Symphony, movement 1 (part 2: development, recap, and coda)
Beethoven employs what I might propose be termed a “staggered crux,” one in which harmonic-functional correspondence and motivic correspondence resume at different times (we could call them the “partial crux” and the “full crux”). This is perhaps the most tactful option for Beethoven given the exposition’s use of I: HC to announce the medial caesura.
Read moreBeethoven's First Symphony, movement 1 (part 1: intro and exposition)
We might picture a youthful, unfledged character in this opening gesture, somewhat facetiously reiterating this simple punctuation mark as if discovering its use for the first time. The woodwinds in mm. 17-18 use the familiar ascending I – V7/ii – ii chord progression to “notch” the tonicized center up to d minor—yet another punctuation mark, perhaps now the exclamation point, for our amused friend to spam.
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