Fisk_Performance, Analysis, And Musical Imagining_CMS1996

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Performance, Analysis, and Musical ImaginingAuthor(s): Charles FiskSource: College Music Symposium, Vol. 36 (1996), pp. 59-72Published by: College Music SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40374284 .Accessed: 09/01/2014 03:26

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Performance, nalysis,ndMusicalmagining

Charles FiskParti: Schumann'Arabesque

Introduction

W Writers ho ddress he elationshipetweenmusic nalysis ndperformance aveV V usually egun heir iscussions ith nalytic bservationsndthen, fter om-

pleting hem, avetried o draw onclusions rom hem bout how o play hemusic

being nalyzed. ven hough ome f hesewriters

eny he irect pplicability f na-lytic indings operformative ecisions,hey till ntreat heir eaders, hether mplic-itly r xplicitly,oregard nalysis s a foundation or erformance,saway fgroundingorvalidating erformancebjectively.n his review f WallaceBerry'sMusical truc-ture nd Performance, ohn ink akes ssue with he mplicit elief f hesewriters hatwhathe calls serious nalysis' an serve s a basis for erformance.1 ink, imselfpianist, olds hat a uniquekind f performer's nalysis . . quite istinct rom hatwe as analysts sually ractice . . forms n integral art f theperforming rocess."According oRink, erformer's nalysis ims o discover, bove ll else, ural shape'andmusical esture. cknowledginghat nformed ntuition, ore han ny heoretical

system, uides uch erformer's nalysis, ink onetheless learly egardsuch nsys-tematic nalysis s more uited o performers' eeds han ystematic nalysis aneveraspire obecome.He suggests,moreover, hat heorists ayhaveevenmore o gainfrom uilding heir nalyses nperformers' odes f musical wareness han erform-ers an gainfrom he xplicit nalytic wareness f heorists.

Rink hus escribes nd ndorses hat many erformers lready o;but ome heo-ristsmay isagree ith is pparent elief hat what erformersctually o s what heyought o do. Berry, or ne, dvocates viewofperformance s "critical iscourse nthe erceivedmeaning f score,"2nd rgues hat erformers hodo not round heir

conceptionf his

meaningn musical

nalysisan

rely nlyn what e

regardss the

vagaries f ntuition, r on docile mitation f heir eachers ndother erformers. econsiders nalysis, herefore,obe"the nescapableasisfor nterpretive oing ndnotdoing."3

Many erformers, f sked bout erry's iews,might ay hey greewith hem, tleast nprinciple. hefact hat hey lmost ever ave he ime, r he apacity, ocarryout uch nalysis oesnot mply n objection. ut, s Rink oints ut, hewaysper-formers each ecisionsnd hewayswe evaluate erformances avenosimple elationto such onvictions.nparticular, ny ttempt odevelop comparison fperformancetocritical iscourse eads mmediatelyoproblems. ost bviously, ritical iscourse

makes xplicit tatements bout exts nd rtworks, ut erformance annot tate ny-thing xplicitly. While ne canusually nfer ome of performers' houghts bout he

'John ink, eview f WallaceBerry, usical tructure ndPerformance. usicAnalysis /3 1990),319-39.2Wallace erry, usical tructure ndMusicalPerformanceNewHaven nd London: ale, 1989):6.3Berry,41.


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60 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM

shape ndcharacter fwhat hey layfrom heir laying, ne can only nfer hem; necannever ear r read hese

houghts irectly.nlike ritical

iscourse, oreover, er-formance annot hoose which etails t will ake nto ccount, hile eaving thers utof onsideration. s Janet chmalfeldt aswritten, he erformer's synoptic ompre-hensionmust eplaced ompletely t he ervice fprojecting hework hroughimemakingmoment- y-momentonnections, olding he hread f musical ogic t everypoint, ivingwithin nd hrough hework ntil, nd ven fter, ts inal ones havebeenachieved."4 he cannot top o reflect n a passage, r ignore ny detailof it whileemphasizingthers. gain uite bviously, erformance either raws eneralizationsfrom score, ormakes bstractions. n the ontrary, sFredMaushasargued, erfor-mance pecifies ndmakes eterminate hat he core eaves ndeterminate,n sense

completing hemusic tself.5 nce gainunlike ritics, homust ormally ake he rt-works hey iscuss sobjects, erformers eek hroughheir dentification ith he mu-sictorecover ts mmediacy rom hemedium f he core. efore erformersanbringthemusic o reflection, heymust ring t udibly o ife.

Even hemostmusicallyiterate isteners espond ot o much hroughny bserva-tions hey ormulaten he ourse f istening o performances through he ividnessthat he maginativeocus nd nergy f he erformance rings otheirmusical xperi-ence.Manyperformers anbring his ocus nd excitement othe playing f a piecewithout ver ormulatingn articulate asisfor heir ecisions,ust s we canallmakerefined esponsesothe ituations ithin hich we haveexpertise ithout aving ospecify xplicitly he easons or hese esponses. racticalmusicianshiponsistsmorein he bility o maginemusic, oth urally ndbodily, han n he bility odefine ndorder tsparameters;ndnoanalysis antake he laceof he years fpractical xperi-encerequired odevelop ndfocus performer's ural ndtechnical magination.n-deed, he hysical spect f performer's elationshipo piece sessentiallymplicatedinhisorher earing,maginingnd haping f he music. herefore performer's naly-sis,no matter hat onceptualizationst might xplicitly rawupon,must oth risefrom nd resolve tself n that erformer's echnique s an embodiment f his or hermusicalmagination.

Berry hus verplays he ole f musical nalysis n hepreparation f performance,andwith t he erformer's apacity oconvey riticaludgments; ndheunderplaysheroleof experimentation,f trying hings hiswayand that n order o discover what'works', whatproduces performer's enseof dentification ith hemusic.For anexperienced usician,his rocess f xperimentationsfar rommerely ntuitive.t sbasedon knowledge f all sorts, ut n knowledge hat as become or he most artembodiednthe erformer's ays f hearing ndproducing usical ound ather hanremaining onsciouslyememberedsknowledge.twould easinhibitingnd mprac-tical or erformerso ry o rticulate onsciouslyvery spect f his xperimentation,torestrain t nalytically, s to become nalyticallyelf-consciousboutmost f he est

4Janet chmalfeldt,On the Relation fAnalysis oPerformance: eethoven's agatelles p. 126,nos.2 and 5."Journal fMusicTheory29/l 1985):1-31.

5Fred verett aus, MusicalPerformances Composition." aper ead t he nnual meeting f he ociety orMusicTheory nAustin, exas,October 8, 1 89.




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PERFORMANCE,ANALYSIS,ANDMUSICAL IMAGING 61

of heir ehavior.In his

responseo

Berry,n the other

and,Rink

underplayshe

waysthat he

performer's nalysis' hat oth uides nd evolves hrough uch xperimentationandraw n serious nalysis.' magining hemusic n ll ts etail, r finding n t distinc-tivemusical hape r gesture, anoften ecome daunting ask.And urely hen hemusic affles he erformer'sntuitive r xperimentalapacities,nexplicit warenessof ts omponents ndof heir armonic,ontrapuntalndmotivic nteractionsanhelpbring ne's sound-imagend echnical mage f hemusic nto ocus. ut often per-former, norder ogain uch ocus rom nalytic wareness, ust upplementt magi-natively nways hat either erry orRink ring nto onsideration.

To develop realistic ssessment f thepossible oleof analysis nachieving he

kind f maginativepecificity ecessaryor erformance,oth heoristsndperformersthemselves eed o nvestigate ot nly hewaysperformers especially nes hey d-mire actually eachdecisions, ut lso what ttitudes nd habits f thought nablethem o make musical xperience ost ivid. Autobiographicalnformation rom er-formers ill be morehelpful han heorists' ormulations f deological rograms nassessingustwhat inds f heoreticalnalysis ave hemost o ontribute operformer'analysis. s a performing ianist ho lso teaches heory nd nsomeways laims nanalytic pproach operformance, propose oexplore neperformer's orking nddecision-makingrocesses my wn inrelation o hese oncerns.

Inorder o make his xploration, shall econstruct ome nalytic bservationshatI developed n order o solve specific roblems n the performance f two piecesbyRobert chumann, heArabesque nd he econd ieceofKreisleriana.With heAra-besque, he essovertly roblematic f he wo, shall ttempt imply odescribe omeaspects fmy wn performer's nalysis' sI recently tudied he iecefor he irst ime;I shall ry oclarify heways his erformer's nalysis rew narticulate nalytic ware-ness, nd lso how ssessments f hemusic's haracter ecame ecessaryupplementstomore bjectively nalytic bservations. ith he Kreisleriana,obediscussednPartII, shall xplore owmy nalysis more etailed n he elineation fmusical aram-eters grew rommy ttempts o olve ome ditorial iddles.

Main Theme

It s common or nstrumentalists obeginwork n a piece imply y playing t, nthisway nitiating process f earning o hear' t hrough heir ands nd rms, heirbreath, heir ocal chords whatever arts f heir odies he echniquef heir nstru-ment nvolves. ince heArabesque osesno obvious echnical ifficulties, goodpia-nist eginningowork n twillbeable oplay tvery oon.But t he ame ime, r oonafter, his erformer illmost ikely egin o isten ritically nd nalytically ohisorher wn wayofplaying t, ndprobably ndoing o willbecomemore ndmore issat-isfiedwith his wayof playing. he theme, or xample, s likely oseem oo heavy,either oo strongly r toovaguely ccented, oomonotonous, r tooopaque ntexture.The pianist egins oexperiment, oplay hehands eparately, otry he hemewith




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fingers latter rmore urved, ithmore r essarm-weight, ith otations f he wristfrom ide o ide orwith n-and-out otions f he hand nd forearm. ooner r ater hepianist iscovers, ometimes s if by ccident, combination f ttitudes ndmotionsthat aptures nd mbodies hat eels o hat ianist ike he ssence f he heme; ne'smotions ecome ubordinated o, r part f, hemotion f he music, nd, deally, nyphysicalmpedimentohearing hemusicwhile laying tvanishes.

Thepersonal iscovery f how o play passage withwhich ne has experimentedandstruggled an be thrilling; ut hat iscoverys a sensory ndbodilymore han nintellectual xperience, he xperience f becoming n incarnation f the music.Anyanalysis f he echnical nd ural actorsontributingo hat iscovery,f etailed noughtobeclear,willprobably ail ocapture he xcitement f he discovery tself, orwhat

onediscoverssnot rimarily ognitive, ot series f observationsr summary uchas a theorist ight iscover, ut nstead capacity. performer ight escribe hiscapacity imply y aying: I canplay hisnow."Amoremetaphysicallynclined nemight dd: Ithasbecome art fme, nd part f t; am t onewith t."One has foundaway o magine hemusic hroughne'sown echnique;nehasrediscoveredhemusicthrough ne's ownbody, nd he ody eels aken p n hemusic s oneplays.

Themotions eventually iscovered or he heme f theArabesque Example1)willnot urprise nyone hose nderstandingfpiano echniqueesembles ine; prob-ably oldpiano tudents oemploy he ame or imilarmotions efore ever earned oplay hepiecemyself. ndyet didnot ettle nto hese motions ormyself ntil hadexperimented ith he heme or weeks r venmonths. fter escribinghesemotionsindoing oI beg he eader's atience I shall omment n their elevance o differentways funderstandinghe heme.

On the hythmicevel f he eat, hemotion found or my ight and nvolvesleftward otationnto ach humb-note,nd swing hrough achmelodic ixteenth ntoa rightward otation or ach of the melody's otted uarters. ut on the evelof themeasure, subordinatehese otations o down-up otion f he rm rom very econdbeat nto very ollowing ownbeat, eeling he rm-weight rop 'entering' hekey-board) n the upbeats ndthen eeling heweight elease 'exiting' hekeyboard, l-

though ithout eleasinghe ey) n he ownbeats. hismotion f he ight and greeswellwith he eft-hand otion uggestedomeby he yncopationsn he enor egister;theymake t natural or he eft and, ike he ight, odrop nto he pbeats nd oreleaseinto or ust fter) he ownbeats. initiate he ntire measure-long otion f hehandswith heright humb, n the econd ighth f each measure. his starting-point aystrike he nalytically-mindeds violating he ntegrity f thevoice-leading,ince hesecond ighth f hemeasure ften esolves he issonanceccurring n he ourth ighthof hepreceding easure. ut f ne controls he ight humb ynamically, nd afterteaching hehand omove n hisway plays ontinuously, hemotion oes not isruptthe ontinuity f his ltovoice.

Simple nalytic bservationsan sometimes elp osuggest he ossibility f uchmotions; tother imes, wareness f nalytic oints anresult rom rying uchmotionsout.The motions employ and advocate) n this heme orrespond o the harmonicpatterning f he irst wo ubphrasesm. 1-8), nwhich dominant armony n every




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PERFORMANCE,ANALYSIS,ANDMUSICAL IMAGING 63

Example Arabesquetheme)

Leichtundzart. M.M.J =152 . Componirt839

F/u JW j|*- J^J Jl*- * *• *1 ^ I ^^n^VJ- l J^J- j

■ . J J. J ■ - JftJ- ■ y yTTTpJ J"T 11J j i 1 1 i jd jT

, ^ P -^ Jp /? f/ r/ ̂ °^ -L_[ If IIf hIfi_-^f U 1^=^f Mr r l'L I# I I-L_ 1- I i_-^f 1^=^ rIp ^ ^ "f fc/. Minorel

ri - - tar dan do ^ ri^ tar- -

l^ff37| r^- lirfI if' -*^ItfI H1 \j fp"^ Iirr If- I f1 i^'7| i- I ' -*^ I 1 p '"^ ' 1

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\J\ rrjlji I', tj 'i^j'r { ^ ^

''("" f VF"T i-11"'r 'f |i 'f if" i' Jr




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upbeat eads o ts espectiveonic n the ollowing ownbeat. f course, his nalyticobservationsnot t all

subtle,nd was

certainlyware f t ven s I

beganotry

utdifferent otions. t did not n any trong ensedetermine he ourse f mypianisticexperimentation,ut t did et imits or hat xperimentation: hatever otions even-tually mployedmust ot iolate his armonic attern.

My echnicalxplorationsnteracted uchmore losely, owever, ith houghtsboutthe exture nd haracter f his heme thoughts oo mpressionisticnd oo personal,perhaps, oberegarded sanalytic. or ll the are f he art- riting nd he unctionaldifferentiation f the parts n this heme, ts exture s surelymorehomophonic hanpolyphonic. he ower arts llallywith nd upport hemelody, nd he ianist, hilesubtly ontrollinghem, hould ot inmy pinion) trive omake hem istinctlyudible

as separate arts, xcept ossibly or hebass. n particular, henext-highest art, i-vided etween hehands, hould low nto hemelody o that he istener oesnotmaketooclear distinction etween ts ixteenth otes nd he ixteenth-note pbeats n hemelody. t spart f he vanescent uality f he heme hat t merge romts wn ura,that ne not eparate t oo markedly rom he rabesques f ts wn ccompaniment.intend he luidity fmy layingmotions o llow hemelody ofloat n he tmosphericwebof ts wn ccompanimentalrnamentation.

Inteaching he eft and ts attern f yncopationspart fmy wnplayingmotion,I began otakenote f the arlier essation f the yncopationnthe hird nd fourthsubphrasesm. 11-12, 5-16) han n he irst nd econd: he placeswhere, s itwere,the melody olonger as to pull against hese yncopations. ecoming ianisticallyaware f he yncopationsnd f heir batement elpedmeconceptualizend hen ringout he difference f haracter etween he irst air f ubphrases,omewhat leadingin their ising ine nd their hromaticism,nd the econdpair,more layful n theirfalling nd kippingine, heir ure iatonicism,nd heir arlier reaking ree rom hesyncopations. aking hese ifferencesnto ccount, began n different arts f thephrase ovary he mount f rm- eight, he atio ffinger-articulationo rm-motion,and he egree owhich hemeasure-longrmmotion revails ver he eat-long ristrotation.

Inthemiddle hrasem. 1 -24)of he heme's ernary tructure, xplicit ttention othe eft-hand yncopations elpedmeespecially. hisphrase onsists f wo denticalfour-measureubphrases,achmarked ith ritard or ts ast hreemeasures. couldfind osatisfying ay fmaking hese itards ntil practiced he eft and lone, ocus-ing specially n the yncopated , themotion rom to G,and hen he yncopatedin tsmiddle oice.Theritards ad o make ense or his oice before hey ouldmakesensefor he thers. ut ven hen, twasnot ntil recognized nd onceptualizedherelationship f his hrase othemusic f he ontrasting section,Minore , that feltI understoodhese itards t ll fully, ndhence eltmore ullymotivated omake hem.

Minore

Ifone'splaying f he heme f heArabesque an eemmonotonousn ts nvarying




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PERFORMANCE,ANALYSIS,ANDMUSICALIMAGING 65

rhythm nd exture, hen ne'splaying fMinore (Example )can eem venmore o:the exture f his -minor

pisodesthicker, impler,

hordal ather hanrpeggiated;its hythm nfolds nundifferentiatedighth otes ather han n dotted igure; nd ts

subphrases re lmost ll two ather han ourmeasuresong.Thecharacteristicsf hemain heme hat ne might ssociatemost eadily ith he iece's itle, rabesque, eementirely bsent rom his section.While couldnot nitially ind distinctiveharacterfor he pening heme hrough y ingers, could ind ne ll tooreadily, nd oooppres-sively, or his ontrasting usic. did not haveto experiment echnically ith hisepisode nthe ame way s with he heme, et feltmuchmore issatisfied rom hestart ith heway played t.

Thesimplest armonic nalysis egan ohelpme somewhat: began, or xample,to intensify he onicization f the v chord n measures 5-46, nd to recognize hedeparture f he nsuing -minor alf-cadencerom he ominant-to-tonicatterning fthe hree recedingubphrases.then ought obring ut he lowing fharmonic hythminmeasures 4-56,where single ominant armony, ycontrolling hreemeasures,produces longer ubphrasenorder opull he onal enter rom major, he phemer-ally onicized ominant, ack oEminor. ymaking hemusic uieter ndmore loatinginmeasures 5-68 nd hen ntensifyingt gain n69-72, differentiatedhemomentaryrelief f he G-major mperfect adence n67-68from tsdramatic egationn71-72.intensified tillmore he our-measureubphrasem.77-80, nly he econd our-mea-sure

roupnMinore

),with ts hromatic

uspensions,hat eads back o Eminor.

Butmakingmy ingers esponsiveo hese armonichanges idnot ully ispel hemonotony fmy layingn his pisode, monotony roughtbout npart y he spressivorubato nwhich foundmyself nsisting ithin lmost very ubphrase. nlywhenbegan o hink eliberatelyfMinore as obsessive,oregard tsmonotony spart f tsintentional esthetic uality, id begin oaccept his nsistent ubato nd feel t asnatural. cannot econstructow his ubato ctually hanged nder he nfluence f hisconception f he pisode, ut t must ave hanged omewhat, or no onger elt wk-ward arrying tout.

One observation elpedmeespecially ither o rrive t or oconfirm his iew f he

character f he pisodeI no onger emember hich): he ecognitionf he motivic ndharmonic onnection f he pisode's pening esture o he eginningf he ontrastingmiddle hrase f he hemecompare xample m. 1 with xample ,m.4 . Withinthe heme, his -minor onic-to-dominantrogressionounds specially oignant, nway hat eems obring bout hehesitancy f henext hreemeasures. he first pisodebeginswith his ame melodic ndharmonic dea ndreturns o t wice, ach imemoreintensely, s if he music annot et wayfrom t.Heard sobsessive, he ainfulmoodofMinore canalsobe heard s aconflictingtratum f xperience nderlyinghemorefleeting et more erene ndnostalgicmood f he heme, nd hus s anobsession hatmomentarily vertakes he hemen ts entral hrase. herecognitionf he elationshipof his entral hrase f he heme o themusic f Minore helpedme o make ense fthe itard ithin his art f he heme: he musichesitates ver he ntrusion f a poi-gnant rpainful reoccupation.




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66 COLLEGEMUSIC SYMPOSIUM

Example . Minor I

Etwas angsamer.

;® rnT?S3 /nTph /fig t¥] nrT^r^(HIIt»r r >ir r f lr r


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TheTransition

Regarding ndplayingMinore as obsessive lso helpedme ocome o erms iththe ransition Example3, m. 89-104)from hat pisodeback o the heme n tsfirstreturn. his transition ay ook more ifferent n the page, nd feelmoredifferentunder hefingers, han t actually ounds: ts ongmelody-notes espond othe highaccented otes ccurring nalmost very ven-numberedownbeat hroughout inoreI, and ts nner oicesperpetuate he onstant ulsation f eighth otes, ven f at aslower empo.Nevertheless, hemelodic estures f his ransition, alling y tep orthe first ime nd ncorporatingherhythmic otive f the heme t the nd of eachgesture, edmetoconceive f he ransitionsembodying different oice, r t eastdifferent ttitude, rom hat f heMinore episode: voice hat alls the bsessed neback nto he phere f he heme; r n attitude f eeking econciliationetween pi-sode nd heme, response ohearing hem s being n onflict ith ne nother. t s avery earching assage, armorewide-ranging armonicallyhan ny ther assage nthe piece, nd also muchmore luctuatingntempo. n spite f all its fluctuations,eventually ecided, fter aking ote f he issonant armonies t he nd f achof tssubphrasestwo ix-fours, hen wo dominant evenths), oplay his ransitions onesixteen-measurehrase beginning ach ubphraseomewhatearly' norder o doso)rather han s four our-measure nes. f oneplays he ransition hisway, he earchthat t undertakes oesnot ose ts

urgency.Example . Transition

$* *


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exhibit ome imilar elationshipo tsmusical urroundings either gain o he heme,or o Minore

,orfrom he ransition ackfromMinore tothe heme. ut he elation-

ship found urpassedmy xpectations: inore I effects kind f synthesis f allthree of heme, pisode, nd ransition.hemusic f his pisode verlays hemelodicmotive fMinore (5-6-5-2-3) ith he pbeat-motivend he hromatic scent rom hetheme, nd hen ombines his ew usion ith stepwise elodic escent eriving romthe ransition m 145-49). ecognitionf his motivic ynthesisedme owant o empha-size the ppoggiaturahat inds scent o descent m. 147)evenmore han otherwisewould. his ombination fmotivic lements arnesseshe nergies f he heme nd fthe ransition's alling esture o he bsessivemusic f Minore ; itmusically issolvesthe nsistent hape f he Minore material nd o metaphoricallyvercomes he bses-

sion hat t mbodies. heappoggiaturasma. 147,163)symbolize ormethe urning-point n his vercoming,nd his nterpretationf hemmpelsme omakemore itardandoin he allingines hese ppoggiaturasntroduce to bring o hemmore mportancethan he core uggests.

Example .Minore Icf. Minore

MinoreI \^ - ^"^T"^\

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12/15


TheCoda

No transition ntervenes t his ime t he uncture etween he econd pisode nd helast ccurrence f he heme. erhaps he ynthesis hatMinore I achieves what ammetaphoricallyharacterizings the vercoming f he bsession obviates heneedfor uch transition. hat hen alances he ransition,n he phere f he main heme'lastoccurrence, s the ublime oda,forme one of the most ffecting assages n allSchumannExample5).Bothmelodically nd harmonically ith ts calling airs fhalf-notesm.209,211,213,215-16) ver ong-held armonies hile hemiddle oicesarpeggiate pwards n ighth otes, trefers othe ransition. hecodathus emembersthe ransition,ven f he memory sonly ubliminal or he istener; nd he esonanceof oda with ransition eepens he erenity f he oda's final ffirmation fCmajor, nsuchmarked ontrast othe ransition's ercurialhifts f onal enter.

I never elt nyproblem nplaying he oda. From he beginning felt hysicallyand motionallydentified ith t s Iplayed t, ndwastherefore otivated ot o muchto experiment ith ifferent aysof playing t as simply o refine my uditory ndtechnical ontrol ver what wasalready oing.Thusno problem ith he oda im-pelledmetoanalyze t.

Yet did feel hat couldnever nderstand hQrabesque t allfully ithout nder-standing omething f how the codaworks ts magic:put oneway, how t resolves

compositionalssues aised arlier n he

ieceif t

ompletes compositionalrocess,and f so, how;put nother ay, how t functions ramaticallyn relation o earliermusical vents. ven f didn't need o resort o explicitmusical nalysis r criticalinterpretationoplay he oda,bringing hese inds f nsight obear n the odamightfocusmy maginative rasp f earlier assages nways hatwouldfurther elpme nplaying hem.

As a route ounderstandingheresolution rought ythe oda,onemight sk towhat xtent hemusicwould eem esolved ithout t.The heme, fter ll,reaches hesameperfect uthentic adence very imeExample m.40 although heholding fthe enultimate always omewhat overs he esolutiono he onic). nemight here-

fore hink hat he heme ould tand lone, hat t ould ust s well end he piece, ndthat he oda, ike o many ther odas, nly ulfilled needfor ome kind f dramaticbalance.

ButSchumann's erman esignationor his inal ection, Zum chluss," s trans-lated iterally In Closing:" t suggests he dea of cadential rticulation uchmorestrongly han oes the ermcoda' tail with ts onnotation f omethingdded s aterminal mbellishmentothemusic. t suggests hat ny chenkerian nalyst ouldsoonrecognize: hat he adence f the heme, ot o much ecauseof ts heldG asbecauseof ts ow register, s not completely atisfactory esolution or he heme's

opening.he sense of

ncompleteesolution,f resolution ade gesturally utnever

fully chieved nthe heme, artlymotivates he xplorations f the wo Minore pi-sodes.Both pisodes,nfact, adence n he egister f he heme's pening, hus repar-ing or ts eturn hile lsoreinforcingheneed or ltimate esolutionn his egister,need hat he oda addresses.




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70 COLLEGEMUSIC SYMPOSIUM

Examole5.CodaZumSchluss.1

Langsam.a =58 > _______^^ >•- ^^^

i^^^B"^T^^r(Sl jJ-u4JJSchumann's reatment fregister n heArabesque elongswith he ssues hat ny

'serious nalysis' f he iecewould robably nvestigaten ome detail. ut nce ucha serious nalysis scarried ut, ow anperformers f heArabesquemake seofwhatthey an earn rom t? One might nswer hat performer ught omehow o bring ut'registral hanges hroughouthe iece, righteningnddarkening he onority ccord-ingly. erhapsmany erformers,hough, illrespond ensitively oregistral hangesanyway, ndwon't need o study ny nalytic isquisition n order o take hem uffi-ciently nto ccount. n the ther and, uch n analysismight elp performer oreindirectly utmuchmore rofoundly, yproviding route o or grounding or ritical

ordramatic nderstandingf he music, he ind f understandinghat an hen trengthenaperformer's rasp nddelineation f hanges fmusical haracter hroughout piece.Forwhile performance annot f tselfmake xplicit critical nderstandingf themusic, n the waythat erry eems o want t to, t can often raw n such criticalunderstandingnorder o ttain hat amcalling imaginative pecificity.'

In its fusion f contrasting aterials, hat understand s its overcoming f anobsession,heMinore Iepisodemay eem ohave esolvedhe entral ramatic onflictof he iece, nd he odamayhavenothing o dd. While he ransition ought recon-ciliation etween he music f Minore and he main heme or,putmoremetaphori-cally, etween he onflicting ental tates hat hese ifferent assages mbody thecodano onger as to seek for urther econciliation,ut nstead eflects almly nthereconciliation ynow achieved. t comes ike realization hatwhat ne searches orhasalready eenfound, feeling hat an sometimes nly ollow, ather han ccom-pany, he chievementf he econciliationtself.




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Butheard n nother ay, hemusic f he oda still earches or omething,nd tsfinal

hrase, ndingn e' rather han ' leaves

something pen.ts two-note elodic

gestures efer, s I have lready aid, othe ransition; ut lso to he rucial ppoggia-turas n Minore I. In focusing n this gesture, eparating t from he other lementslinked o t ither n he ransitionr n he econd pisode, he oda chieves new evelofcalm;yet hegesture tself, n ts solation nd tsdiatonic ut issonant armoniza-tion, ecomesmore leading han ver efore. noneway, hese f- 1 ppoggiaturasallfor ull nd richly upported elodic losure ncf; ut n nother, hey eg okeep hemusic pen, nsisting n again nd againrather han llowing hemelody imply oclose.Thereturn f the openingmotive f themain heme s the final esture f theArabesque ecures or he f, n ts penness, cadential ole. Without he eturn f he

opening dea, hemelodic ine ould lowlywork ts way o long-held f; utwith hatreturn, final ffirmation f he 1 ecomes nly grotesque ossibilitytry laying finstead f e' as the finalmelodic itch ). he motive f theArabesque itself n ara-besque n ts ornamental ovement, symbol f freedom ndfantasy returns t thelastmoment o affirm n ongoing ife, life hat specially esonates rom his iecebeyond hemoment f ts onclusion. nderstandingn hisway he ole f he peningtheme's eturn t he astmoment f he oda, am ed o reflect urther nthe haracterandpotential f he heme tself, nd o I am ed to play his hememore uietly,morefleetingly,ess imply yrically, han otherwise ight.

Conclusion

These omments bviously onot epresent hat theorist ould all a thorough"analysis" f heArabesque;ut hey otry orepresentomeways nwhich performer'swork an draw pon nd ead oexplicit nalytic bservations f different inds. heyalsoarrive t what ne might airly allan account f he iece, telling f t hat rawsonboth nalytic nd haracterologicalescriptionsf ts musical vents. he earch orsuchdescriptions ight eginwith roblems ncountered y performer n he nitial

stages f he performer's nalysis'Rink roposes.ntrying ofind atisfying ays oplay he heme ndthefirst inore pisode f heArabesque, or xample, not nlycome o somefirst nalytic bservationsbout hese assages, ut lso find escriptiveterms hathelp me to encapsulate, r at least pproximate, heirmusical haracter.Eventually, y bservationsbout he main heme nd he nsuingMinore must othfeel ppropriaten hemselvesor hese assages,nd ontributeo n ntelligible arra-tive r dramatic nderstandingfboth heir ppositionnd heir uccessionnorder orme odraw onviction rom hem or my erformance. ltimately, seek n understand-ing f he ntire equence fmusical pisodesn heArabesque,n erms hrough hichI can harness hecharacteristics f

myown

playingothe

volvingharacter f the

music. deally. hisunderstandingandevelop rom nykind f bservation nwhichcanreliably raw, oweverndirectly,norder o focusmy ound-imagef he music:analytic,haracterological,iographical,iterary,oname hemost bvious or chumann.

Likeany ritical nderstanding,uch performer's xplication' sunlikely ver o




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