Book Description

A frequent approach to musical analysis is to consider one term or concept at a time, illustrating it with fragments of several compositions. But the format of this original and lucidly written book features entire tonal compositions, one per chapter, analyzed on several levels simultaneously. The author builds up from very simple musical forms, skillfully leading the reader through a measure-by-measure, indeed often beat-by-beat or note-by-note, analysis. The literature chosen for study is that of the standard common-practice period, ranging from Corelli to Debussy, and hence illustrates both the flexibility and the historical development of the tonal system. At the same time, Kresky suggests a structural view of the tonal system, and the pieces come to be viewed as instances of tonal language. Hence, each chapter addresses the two questions, 'What makes this item a piece?' and, more specifically, 'What makes it a tonal piece?' A concluding essay projects the development of music into the twentieth century, with implications for the analysis of nontonal music. The music discussed in five of the twelve chapters is supplied; the rest of the compositions are standard works. The analyses center on the pitch information of the pieces, with the various non-pitch compositional elements (primarily rhythm; secondarily dynamics, texture, timbre, and register) playing reinforcing roles. Pitch is studied vertically, for a detailed as well as an overall harmonic view, and horizontally, for a local as well as a long-range view. Ultimately, the author joins both approaches in an embracing two-dimensional summary of compositional unity. As a series of connecting essays, this book is intended both for classroom use and for professional reading. In the classroom, the work can serve as a principal text in an undergraduate or graduate analysis course or seminar, or as an adjunct text in a variety of places in the theory and counterpoint curriculum. As professional reading, the book brings the reader through various pieces of music according to the observations of one listener who is sensitive and concerned, as both composer and teacher, about musical coherence.