Chopin : : the preludes and beyond / / Bengt Edlund.

• VerfasserIn: Edlund, Bengt,
• Place / Publishing House: Frankfurt am Main, [Germany] : : PL Academic Research,, 2013.; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (534 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The first study of this volume looks for reminiscences of Dies Irae in Chopin''s works. A great number of allusions and affinities are found in the preludes as well as in Chopin''s output. The study also yields insights into Chopin''s composition method. These intertextual findings are used in an attempt to establish the extra-musical content of the Second Ballade. Five preludes - A minor, E minor, B minor, A major and C minor - are closely examined, using diverse analytical approaches. A primary concern is to critically assess previous readings, and Schenkerian ones in particular. An analysis

Table of Contents

Cover; Table of Contents; Preface; Chapter 1. Allusions and affinities Tracing an ominous motif; Dies Irae as a source of allusions; Alluding to Dies Irae; some methodological considerations; The notion of similarity; further methodological considerations; The investigation and its aims; The A-minor Prelude; External evidence; The B-minor Prelude; The E-minor Prelude; Preludes in dark moods; Preludes in bright moods; Summary and discussion; Other approaches to integration and symbolism in the Preludes; The chronology of the Preludes; The question of integral performances

In defence of the study of motivic integrationThe B???-minor Sonata: the first and fourth movements; The B???-minor Prelude; The Funeral March; its progenitor and congeners; The B???-minor Sonata: Scherzo and Trios; Other approaches to thematic integration in the sonata; The C#-minor Scherzo; The C-minor Polonaise and the B-minor Prelude; The Second Ballade; The F-minor Prelude and the Etude in F minor from Méthode; The F#-major Impromptu; Extending the investigation; Pre- and post-"Mallorcan" works; The E?-minor Etude; The Finale of the B-minor Sonata and the B-minor Prelude

The other movements of the B-minor SonataSummary and conclusions; Chapter 2. Evidence and counter-evidence Making sense of the A-minor Prelude; Problems of proportion; Uncertainty and expectation; Rhetoric and the reality of the contingent; The prelude as an impossible object; Ominous allusions; Tonal analysis; An explanatory comparison; A bottom/up reduction; A non-orthodox tonal reduction; Some remarks on interpretation; Chapter 3. Music at the analyst's couch and at the musician's stand The tonal structure of the E-minor Prelude; Retrieving the missing third degree

Adjusting the harmonic progressionsThe stretto passage; A melodic recurrence; The melodic descents; The consequent as a compressed antecedent; Some additional remarks; Summary of critical observations; A clarifying comparison; The melodic/harmonic process; Escape and resumption; Outbreak and dissipation; An alternative structural account; Chapter 4. Left-hand melody and tonal structure Towards a non-Schenkerian account of the B-minor Prelude; Top voice vs. structural upper line; A temporary relocation of the structural upper line; Clarification of the actual voice-leading

Motivic relationshipsThe relocation of the entire structural upper line; The tonal structure of the prelude; Some connections across registers; Formal considerations; structural and focal events; The antecedent part; The consequent part; Intertextual allusions; The "foreground" as a structural duet; Three "background" structures; conclusions; Chapter 5. How could analysis be deconstructed by the A-major Prelude?; Some introductory remarks on deconstruction; Bass fundaments and harmonic roots; Metre and rhythm; The phrase structure; A digression on manual matters

Understanding in terms of melodic reconstruction