Hepokoski and Darcy\u27s Haydn

Alexander Ludwig asserts that Hepokoski and Darcy\u27s Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late Eighteenth-Century Sonata unduly marginalizes Haydn\u27s music by persistently labeling it as witty, humorous or deformational. Ludwig suggests two modifications to this sonata theory that would make it a more historically accurate tool for considering Haydn\u27s music, and by extension a more faithful representation of the body of eighteenth-century instrumental music

The Expositions of Haydn\u27s String Quartets: A Corpus Analysis

Recent work in music cognition has demonstrated the importance of empirical analysis techniques in eliciting listener expectations. However, these techniques have yet to be applied extensively to analysis of form. While James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Elements of Sonata Theory makes the promise of data-driven analysis, the data itself is often not shown in great detail. Furthermore, as several authors have already shown, Elements derives most of its norms and types from the works of Mozart. In this article, I will draw on the analytical toolset of Sonata Theory, but I will apply it specifically and more quantitatively to a corpus consisting of the sonata form expositions from Joseph Haydn’s string quartets, Op. 33 and later. In comparing Haydn to himself, so to speak, we can come to a greater appreciation and understanding of his unique approach to sonata form.

Felix Mendelssohn and Sonata Form in the Nineteenth Century

Mendelssohn’s music is consistently measured by a Beethovenian yardstick and, more often than not, his music is found to be unfit to live up to this aesthetic model. The purpose of this dissertation is to ask: is the model of Beethoven’s music the only appropriate choice for guiding analysis and research of Mendelssohn’s compositional style? I argue that the answer is an emphatic no. This dissertation attempts to open other avenues of research into Mendelssohn’s compositional style by training the focus directly on Mendelssohn’s works themselves. Using an inductive approach, this dissertation summarizes the results of the analysis of a cross-section of works in sonata form that span Mendelssohn’s compositional career. This dissertation attempts to demonstrate that Mendelssohn was following a decidedly different path than Beethoven. First, I examine Mendelssohn’s musical education and upbringing, drawing strong connections to the Classical style. Next, I demonstrate the need for a flexible analytical model of sonata form in order to capture the unique blend of Classical and Romantic aspects within Mendelssohn’s music in sonata form and argue that Hepokoski and Darcy’s theory of sonata form is the best choice to analyze these works. The conclusions drawn from an examination of twenty-four first movements in sonata form from Mendelssohn’s oeuvre is then presented, suggesting that there are four main aspects that define Mendelssohn’s sonata-form style. Aesthetic issues of the early-nineteenth century are explored with a focus on the concept of lyricism and its effect on sonata form as a whole and Mendelssohn’s approach in particular. Finally, four analytical case studies are presented which span Mendelssohn’s compositional career. Two piano sonatas, the Sonata in G Minor, Op. 105 (1821) and the Sonata in E Major, Op. 6 (1825) are presented as a demonstration of Mendelssohn’s early conception of sonata form; the Cello Sonata No. 1 in Bb Major, Op. 45 (1838) and the Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66 (1845) are presented in order to demonstrate Mendelssohn’s continued use and transformation of sonata form over the course of his compositional career

Classical Models, Sonata Theory, Equal Division of the Octave and Two Nineteenth-Century Symphonic Movements: Comparing Analytical Approaches

The first movements of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Brahms’s Third Symphonies are examined from the perspective of earlier models of sonata form (those of Kollmann, Galeazzi, and Czerny). The author demonstrates how they adhere to the models in remarkably consistent ways, and shows how analyses based on the models can prove valuable in the study of a group of pieces with similar unconventional harmonic structures. Aspects of Hepokoski and Darcy’s Sonata Theory are incorporated in each case to show how its conclusions differ from—and how they might complement—those arrived at through the application of earlier models

Trimodular Block Strategies in Haydn\u27s Sonata Movements

This study combines concepts from Hepokoski and Darcy, and Caplin, to examine Haydn’s approaches to the trimodular block (TMB). The first part of the article proposes three categories of TMBs based on which modules of a given TMB lie within S and the stability of the opening of TM3. Subsequent parts use these three categories to identify patterns in Haydn’s instrumental movements containing TMBs. Data regarding the fundamental features of forty-one movements are combined with in-depth analyses of three representative movements, one for each TMB category. While some traits remain consistent across all three categories, other traits typical of a single category in Haydn’s output correlate with specific recapitulatory strategies

Minor-Mode Sonata-Form Dynamics in Haydn\u27s String Quartets

The predominance of major-mode works in the repertoire corresponds with the view that minor-mode works are exceptions to a major-mode norm. For example, Charles Rosen’s Sonata Forms, James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory, and William Caplin’s Classical Form all theorize from the perspective of a major-mode default. Although certain canonical minor-mode works have received sustained scholarly attention, minor-mode sonata style in general is less often studied. Despite their relatively fewer numbers, minor-mode works comprise a substantial corpus. Among the string quartets of Joseph Haydn, the minor mode is represented in every opus beginning with Op. 9; even Haydn’s last unfinished quartet, “Op. 103,” was to be in the minor. The minor-mode sonata corpus is ample enough to make general study possible, but small enough to make comprehensive surveys manageable. This study is a comprehensive survey of Haydn’s minor-mode sonata-form movements in the string quartets, with particular emphasis on the first movements of the final three quartets: Op. 64 no. 2, Op. 74 no. 3, and Op. 76 no. 2. These movements exemplify (1) general compositional strategies common in the minor mode but not found in the major, as well as (2) idiosyncratic approaches to common, specifically minor-mode compositional problems. Study of the slow movements and finales of Opp. 64, 71/74, and 77 as well as minor movements from earlier opera provides context and points of comparison. The concept of “dynamic form” frames the analyses