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The Topical Vocabulary of the Nineteenth Century

Janice Dickensheets
a a

University of Northern Colorado

Version of record first published: 07 Jun 2012

To cite this article: Janice Dickensheets (2012): The Topical Vocabulary of the Nineteenth Century, Journal of Musicological Research, 31:2-3, 97-137 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01411896.2012.682887

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Journal of Musicological Research, 31:97137, 2012 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0141-1896 print/1547-7304 online DOI: 10.1080/01411896.2012.682887

The Topical Vocabulary of the Nineteenth Century

JANICE DICKENSHEETS
University of Northern Colorado

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Since Leonard Ratners initial introduction of topoi in Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style, topical analysis has slowly gained acceptance, due largely to the writings of such noted authors as Ko Agawu, Wye Jamison Allanbrook, Jonathan Bellman, and Raymond Monelle. Ratner provided a succinct lexicon of common eighteenth-century topoi, and while various authors have added nineteenth-century topics to his list, to this point none have offered a specic lexicon of Romantic topics. Similar to their eighteenth-century cousins, Romantic topics feature simple dance types and styles, but expand to incorporate more complex musical dialects such as the Chivalric and Demonic stylesall illustrative of Romantic ideology. Since Leonard Ratner introduced the concept of topoi in Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style in 1980, a growing body of literature, largely based on Ratners work, has explored their use in formal and stylistic analysis from a variety of perspectives. Topical analysis deals directly with referential musical languages and their relationships to each other, creating, in the words of Ratner, a kind of informal iconographygures that have direct or symbolic meaning.1 A constant throughout musical history, the use of referential languages began long before the Baroque era and continues into the twenty-rst century. Thus, topical analysis, which addresses the surface of the music, can, when taken in its sociohistorical context, provide us with a unique perspective on a compositions original reception as well as its position within changing musical style. To this end, Ratner provided us with
This article is expanded from research that was partially published in The Pendragon Review 2/1 (Fall 2003). 1 Leonard Ratner, Topical Content in Mozarts Keyboard Sonatas, Early Music 19/4 (1991), 616. This lexicon was the rst of its kind, providing scholars and performers with a tool for understanding and performing Classical-period compositions.

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a succinct lexicon of Classical topics,2 which, though impressive in its scope, is unavoidably incompletesomething Ratner himself would no doubt have acknowledged, given the number of additional topics he introduced in later publications. The very nature of topical evolution makes the creation of a single dictionary of gestures for any given time period a virtual impossibility. For every dened topic, there are numerous permutations and an innite number of possible combinations, each of which can possess its own unique extra-musical signicance. In addition, while many topics were more or less universal, numerous topoi are specic to a given composer, region, or country, something that is particularly prevalent in the Romantic period. For this reason, lexicons such as Ratners and the one provided in this article, while certainly necessary tools for stylistic analysis, often function as springboards for further research into topical vocabularies. Ratner began to explore nineteenth-century topics in Romantic Music: Sound and Syntax , identifying several within the context of their use by specic composers, but did not attempt to generate a topical thesaurus for the Romantic period.3 He may have felt that, given the rapid expansion of
2 Leonard Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980), 930. Although many authors have used Ratners concept of topical analysis to approach various nineteenthcentury works, thereby identifying a signicant number of Romantic topics, not one has provided a concise lexicon of those topics that were specic to the nineteenth century. V. Ko Agawus Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991) offers the possibility of using topical analysis for the works of Romantic composers, even listing some topics that abound in Romantic music, and he includes a list of topics, derived largely from my dissertation and the research for this article previously published in The Pendragon Review in Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Eero Tarasti identies nineteenthcentury topical styles or moods in Myth and Music (Helsinki: Suomen Musiikkitieteellinen, 1978), paying special attention to their use as signiers of mythical elements in music. Raymond Monelle, in The Sense of Music (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), also discusses topics and their applicability to music outside the Classical period. He recognizes elements of some specic topics (predominantly those tied to the hunt and military), and discusses topical analysis in conjunction with musical semiotics. Among the mythical topics identied by both Monelle and Tarasti are supernatural topics such as demonic and fairy-like music, and styles that include archaizing gesturesparticularly those connected to Medieval subjects. Neither author, however, provides a practical lexicon. Keith Jones, in The Symphonic Poems of Franz Liszt (Stuyvesant, NJ: Pendragon Press, 1997), approaches the analysis of Liszts symphonic poems from a topical and semiotic point of view, including discussion of topoi specic to those works. He identied topics such as the funeral march, military style, pastoral music, recitative, Sturm und Drang, horn-call and fanfare, cantilena, and such national topoi as Hungarian and Polish musics, relating them specically to Liszts works. Other signicant writings involving topical analysis include Wye Jamison Allanbrooks Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983) and Two Threads Through the Labyrinth, in Convention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music: Essays in Honor of Leonard G. Ratner, ed. Wye J. Allanbrook, Janet M. Levy, and William P. Mahrt (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1992); Robert S. Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994); Elaine R. Sisman, After the Heroic Style: Fantasia and the Characteristic Sonatas of 1809, in Beethoven Forum 6 (1998) and Mozart: The Jupiter Symphony (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). 3 The topics identied by Ratner in Romantic Music: Sound and Syntax (New York: Schirmer Music, 1992) include the following: Alla Breve (p. 260), Barcarolle (pp. 172 and 175), Bolero (p. 60), Bourre (p. 18), Dies Irae (p. 75), Gavotte (p. 39), March (pp. 97 and 276), Minuet (p. 18), Motet (p. 74), Musette (p. 105), Ombra (p. 70), Romanza (p. 27), Stile Legato (pp. 26, 27, 39, and 229), Style Bris (p. 276), and Waltz (pp. 15356).

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common-practice-period vocabularies during the Romantic era (depictive, national, programmatic, etc.), such a thesaurus would be impossible to create. However, increasing interest in topical analysis during the past three decades has created a demand for a lexicon of those topics that evolved during the nineteenth century. To this end, the lexicon presented here is not an attempt at an exhaustive inventory of nineteenth-century topics, but rather a preliminary list of common styles intended to serve both as an example of the sweeping use of topical languages in Romantic music and as a catalyst for further studies. The identication and codication of nineteenth-century topoi is vital, as it provides the basis for topical analysisanalysis that allows for better comprehension and more accurate re-creation of this music. Ratner dened topics as subjects for musical discourse thatwhen employed by the composers of the periodrepresented specic affects or ideas readily comprehensible to contemporary listeners.4 He identied both simple dance types such as the minuet and bourre, which are recognized primarily by their rhythmic patterns, and styles such as the Turkish Style and Pastorale Style, which usually encompass a group of musical gestures.5 Romantic topical languages range from simple closed topics, such as dances and marches, to distinct musical styles and complex musical dialects. Although there is admittedly a certain amount of referential discontinuity involving eighteenth-century topics that either changed or died out by the nineteenth century, the practice of using referential musical languages continued to be prevalent in the works of nineteenth-century composers, who retained much of the considerable lexicon of musical topics inherited from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century traditions, while adding to it complex musical languages that directly reected Romantic aesthetics. This continued use of referential musical languages is yet another characteristic of the so-called common practice, a continuity that seems often to be downplayed in analyses of nineteenth-century works. It is, however, central to the argument for topical analysis of this musican analytical process that provides both a method for comprehending the composers creative process and an insight into what audiences were expected to be able to understand.6
4 5

Ratner, Classic Music, 9. Ratner, Classic Music, 9. 6 Jonathan Bellman supports this theory in his article Aus Alten Mrchen: The Chivalric Style of Schumann and Brahms, The Journal of Musicology 13/1 (Winter 1995), stating that nineteenth-century music drew on the content specic language of the eighteenth century, both by using gestures (topics), which were exploited during that period, and by incorporating the process of indicating the context of the work by using widely understood musical formulas. Kenneth DeLong discusses the continued use of musical topics as being an essential character of the Biedermeier musical style (The Convention of Musical Biedermeier, in Convention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music). He argues that the use of referential content is a link to the past and part of what separates this music from the more progressive styles, which were intent on searching for new ideas and breaking from the classic traditions. In his discussion he alludes to new topics that emerge in the early nineteenth century, such as the drawing room waltz and imitations of contemporary operatic gestures.

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Prevalent in opera, song, and programmatic works, Romantic topics function as all topical languages do, maintaining their extra-musical signicance even when no explicit programmatic content is implied. An example of this is found in the fourth movement of Schuberts Quintet in C Major of 1828. Within a sonata-form structure, Schubert juxtaposes a Style Hongrois rst theme (Example 1), with a second theme in the Biedermeier Style (Example 2). Given contemporary Gypsy stereotypes and the relative positions of the Austrian middle and upper-middle classes, this contrast is more than musical. Schubert has brought together two culturescastes, races, lifestyleswithin a form that traditionally requires a nal reconciliation. Knowing that, due to their musical languages and attendant cultures, these two themes are irreconcilable, Schubert nevertheless erodes the standard function of a sonata forms recapitulation, and thereby appears to comment on proper Viennese culture and the position of certain outsiders relative to it.

EXAMPLE 1 Schubert, Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, iv, opening theme.

EXAMPLE 2 Schubert, Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, iv, mm. 4553.

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To say that Schubert is making a strong statement on the state of Austrian culture and politics is perhaps a stretch, and is not the principal purpose of this illustration. More important is our recognition of these musical topics and their cultural resonances. Schuberts audiences, familiar with the sonata form structure, most likely would have perceived the somewhat ironic juxtaposition of the themes placed within it. Because such recognition has become increasingly remote from our own contemporary musical awareness, topical analysis enables us to discern a good deal of long-obscured meaning. As illustrated by the Schubert example, topics need to be understood in the context of their own timessomething on which most current topical scholars readily agree.7 If nineteenth-century Viennese audiences had not heard Gypsies music, or did not understand the extra-musical signicance of placing it next to a classic Biedermeier Style, they would not have perceived the contrast, and the underlying irony would have been lost. Since many topics preserved from the Classical period accrued new meanings over the passage of time, it is necessary to look at them within their new historical settings. In the same way that topics can only be used effectively if audiences perceive and understand them, so too will topical analysis provide meaningful results only when looked at within its specic context. The following lexicon of widely used and understood Romantic topoi (both those retained from the Classical repertoire and those that evolved during the nineteenth century) provides a basis for the topical analysis of nineteenth-century music.

A LEXICON OF ROMANTIC TOPICS

Romantic topics can be broken down into three groups: types, styles, and dialects. Types usually include a minimum number of gestures, primarily focusing on rhythmic elements associated with physical movement marching or dancingto dene their character. Styles, however, include a cluster of gestures that, when used together, evoke an affect or bring to mind something extra-musical.8 Dialects are much more complex, usually encompassing a broad range of gestures, and frequently incorporating other styles. Unlike types and styles, which may be expressed in just a few measures of music, dialects are in essence musical languages, capable of creating complex musical worlds and evoking strong extra-musical associations. For this reason, they

7 Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart , 18. Speaking to this, Allanbrook observes that topical materials must be clearly dened and their relationships to each other must be sharply and dramatically demarcated, and listeners must embrace the fact of contrast and identify the members involved swiftly and near-automatically. 8 Ratner, Classic Music, 9.

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frequently develop through long passages of music, unfolding in a series of musical events.

Types
DANCES
AND

MARCHES

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Because both Ratner and Wye J. Allanbrook have provided detailed descriptions of dance and march types inherited from the eighteenth century, no detailed discussion will be included here.9 Table 1 lists three types that still nd prevalent use in the nineteenth century, along with their common associations in Romantic (as opposed to eighteenth-century) literature. Waltz. Considered a type by denition, the waltz, in a manner similar to other dance types, can imply clear class distinctions. Ratner discusses the waltz in the same context as other triple-meter dances, describing them as quick in tempo, buoyant in manner, and simple in quality, and allowing for two stylesmiddle and low.10 Allanbrook, however, calls the waltz the emblem and a natural end of the tumultuous social changes that took place at the turn of the century.11 By the 1800s, two types of waltz were clearly delineated, as were their associations. The Lndler was strongly diatonic and set usually in a major key; its frequent use of arpeggio gures links it to Alpine folk song, thereby
TABLE 1 Ratnerian Types Still Used in the Nineteenth Century Topic Minuet Association Antique, courtly elegance. (Other Baroque dances such as the bourre and gavotte may have similar associations.) Used with other folk-like gestures to indicate peasant or lower class. Often used in the Pastorale Style. Often associated with ceremony, especially military. Part of the Military Style. Can be combined with other topics, such as the Demonic Style. Selected Examples Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker , Op. 71, No. 3, mm. 4548 (Parents Dance). Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, iii, opening. Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker , Op. 71, No. 3, mm. 6171. Chopin, Ballade, Op. 38, opening section. Mahler, Symphony No. 3, i, mm. 3643, 31419 (two different types). Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, iv, March to the Scaffold.

Gigue, Siciliano

March

9 See Ratner, Classic Music, 916 (his detailed description of Types as he denes the dances and marches) and Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart, 3360 (her description of the different dance and march types). 10 Ratner, Classic Music, 12. 11 Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart , 63.

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EXAMPLE 3 Weber, Der Freischtz , Act I, Scene 3, opening.

suggesting peasant or rural settings.12 Example 3 from Act I of Webers Der Freischtz shows the topical use of this form of the waltz. With the waltzes of Schubert, a second type appears, one that was topically associated with the middle and upper classes: the Viennese or high waltz. Frequently in ternary form (including a trio), their compositional sophistication was apparent in the increasing use of minor keys and modulation (see Examples 4a and 4b).13 The use of periodic structures and full, balanced phrases separated the Viennese waltz from the Lndler , solidifying its class associations.14 Many nineteenth-century dramatic works use the waltz topic as a signier of the aristocracy, a tradition that was passed on to instrumental music as well. Example 5 shows topical use of the Viennese waltz in Berliozs Symphonie Fantastique, providing a ballroom environment for the ide xe, and later transforming the theme itself into a sophisticated, elegant incarnation.

EXAMPLE 4a Schubert, Zwanzig Walzer , D. 146, Op. post 127, No. 7, mm. 18.

12

Mosco Carner, Lndler, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 2001), vol. 14, 223. 13 Andrew Lamb, Waltz, The New Grove Dictionary, vol. 27, 74. 14 Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart , 6566.

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EXAMPLE 4b Schubert, Zwanzig Walzer , D, 146, Op. post 127, No. 7, Trio, mm. 2532.

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EXAMPLE 5 Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, ii, mm. 3654.

Funeral March. Little needs to be said on the specic symbolism of this topic. It features a ponderous duple meter, evocative of the procession of a funeral cortege, which is usually enhanced by a dark minor mode. Dotted rhythms frequently prevail in the melodic material, and the repetition of these melodies, especially when paired with a repetitive bass line, can create a sense of inevitability. Dramatic intensity is often achieved by a thickening of the melodic lines and changes of register. Perhaps the single most famous example of this style can be found in the third movement of Chopins Sonata in B minor, Op. 35. Mahler also uses this topic in the rst movement of his Symphony No. 5 (see Example 6). Dotted rhythms appear in the rst trumpet, and repeated notes continue in the tuba in the ensuing measures.

Styles
Ratner denes styles as gures and progressions within a piece15 melodic and rhythmic gestures that, when placed together, evoke a single affect.

15

Ratner, Classic Music, 9.

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EXAMPLE 6 Mahler, Symphony No. 5, i, mm. 6971. TABLE 2 Ratners Styles Still in Use during the Nineteenth Century Topic Military Style Association Most often used in ceremonial or patriotic settings. Usually includes the march. Often combined with other gestures and topics to indicate ancient or rural. Idyllic, bucolic world; simplicity and innocence.a Selected Examples Berlioz, Damnation of Faust , Op. 24, Part III, opening. Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 3, ii, mm. 23640. Smetana, Vtlava, The Moldau, mm. 8089. Liszt, Transcendental Etudes (18371838), No. 7, Wilde Jagd, mm. 5966 (with the Demonic Style). Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, iii, mm. 1018. Grieg, Peer Gynt , Op. 23, Act II, Scene 3, allegro section. Heinrich Herz, Fantasie et Rondo Par Herz , Op. 12, opening. Saint-Saens, Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, i, intro. (Bach-style Fantasia).

Hunt Music

Pastorale Style

Fantasia Style

Improvisatory, often virtuosic.

a Geoffrey Chew, Pastorale, The New Grove Dictionary, vol. 19, 21725. While this article primarily traces the history of the pastorale as a genre, it does address the use of the Pastorale Style as an affect in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ratners description of this topic provides the dening characteristics needed for application to nineteenth-century works.

Table 2 shows the Ratnerian styles that remained common throughout the nineteenth century.16 SINGING STYLE Ratner denes this style as music in a lyric vein with a moderate tempo, the melodic line featuring relatively slow note values, and a rather narrow

16

The four Ratnerian styles most notably left out of this lexicon are sensibility, sturm und drang, galant , and pictorialism. Sensibility and sturm und drang utilize gestures and harmonic elements that become central to the Romantic musical language. The galant style is absorbed by the song styles, and pictorialism is replaced by programmatic music.

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EXAMPLE 7 Schubert, Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, i, mm. 6065.

range.17 In the second subject of the rst movement of Schuberts Quintet in C Major, Op. 163 (see Example 7), the rst-cello line (followed in thirds and sixths by the second cello) can be described in this manner. LIED STYLE Similar to the Singing Style is the Lied Style. Based on the German Lied, it was used frequently by Romantic composers in second movements of symphonic works. Its primary indicators are a rather simple, unornamented melody (often folk-like in character) and supporting accompaniment that frequently unfolds with Schubertian simplicity.18 Beethoven employs the Lied Style in the second movement of his Op. 90 Sonata for piano (see Example 8). In the second movement of his Third Symphony, Brahms pairs a Lied-Style melody with Chorale-Style harmony and Musette inection, effectively creating an archaic atmosphere (see Example 9). NOCTURNE STYLE Although the nocturne as a genre was rst introduced with the compositions of John Field, the style did not take on topical signicance until the 1830s, when Chopin established himself as its master. In his hands it became an instrumental (almost always pianistic) evocation of the aria, its melodic material, reminiscent of solos and duets, accompanied by arpeggiated
Ratner, Classic Music, 19. Several additional types of Lied-Style (or Song-Style, as they may also be called) topics exist as well, including the Lullaby, Kriegslied , and Winterlied styles. The latter often has programmatic ties to romantic poetry, and its dening characteristic is its suggestion of a sentimental longing that often includes pain and suffering. George S. Bozarths article Brahmss Lieder Ohne Worte: The Poetic Andantes of the Piano Sonatas (Brahms Studies: Analytical and Historical Perspectives, ed. George S. Bozarth [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990], 34578) discusses the relationship between several of Brahmss andantes and Romantic poetry, especially that poetry that is described as Winterlied .
18 17

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EXAMPLE 8 Beethoven, Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 90, ii, opening.

EXAMPLE 9 Brahms, Symphony No. 3, Op. 90, ii, mm. 1519.

chord patterns in the left hand. Chopins nocturnes also include virtuosic oritureevocations of the vocal ornamentations used in opera.19 The Nocturne Style took on the status of a topic once it was used by other composers outside of its original genre. They emulated Chopins lush cantabile melodic lines and broken-chord accompaniments, although never quite capturing his elegance. In the best examples, oriture are also present, as found in Wagners Lied Ohne Worte from his 1840 Album fr Ernst Benedikt Kietz (see Example 10). Another example of this style is found in the Canzona Neapolitana of Liszts Venezia e Napoli (see Example 11). Given the Italianate origins of this piece, the inclusion of a Chopinesque nocturne in the middle of the third movement is somewhat perplexing, more so since Liszts movement takes
19

Jonathan Bellman, Improvisation in Chopins Nocturnes (DMA Diss., Stanford University, 1990),

1015.

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EXAMPLE 10 Wagner, Leid Ohne Worte from the Album fr Ernst Benedikt Kietz (1840), mm. 816.

the form of a dance. The ternary form contrasts ery A sections modeled on the tarantella with a calm B section in Nocturne Style. Despite the title Canzona Neapolitana, this section is clearly a nocturne in the manner of Chopin. Its broken-chord accompaniment evokes Chopins signature style, the fairly simple melody is embellished with numerous oriture, and Liszt even begins to capture the aria quality of Chopins nocturnes when the primary theme is accompanied by a second melodic line a sixth below. The Chopinesque passage enhances Liszts portrait of Italy through its association with both Italian opera aria and night music. When viewed in this light, Venezia e Napoli combines the romance of Venetian gondolas, the ery tarantella (practiced throughout Italy, but associated here with Naples), and the sophistication of Italian opera in the warm, balmy evenings of both Venice and Naples. ARIA STYLE As the name implies, this song style is based on the elaborate, highly virtuosic, specically Italian opera arias of the nineteenth century. Its sweeping melodic lines are orid, usually encompassing a larger range than the singing styles discussed previously, with difcult leaps and ornamentation reecting its operatic origins. Accompanimental patterns range from arpeggio gures to more complex orchestral gestures designed to feature the melodic line. In Example 12, from the second movement of Liszts Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Major, the Aria-Style melody is accompanied by Nocturne-Style arpeggio guresan appropriate setting, since Chopins

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EXAMPLE 11 Liszt, Canzona Nepolitana, Venezia e Napoli, No. 3 (1838/39), mm. 200220.

nocturnes are so closely related to opera. Another example of the Aria Style can be found in measures 4873 of the rst movement of Webers Clarinet Concerto in F minor (see Example 13). STILE APPASSIONATO While often associated with love or desire, as in the rst movement of Berliozs Symphonie Fantastique, this style can also represent a number of other passions, including nationalism and religious fervor. Operatically derived melodies are often written in octaves (although a single soaring line can create the same effect) and are underscored by throbbing, repeated chordsmost frequently in eighth-note or triplet patternsthat represent the pounding heartbeat of barely suppressed passion.

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EXAMPLE 12 Liszt, Concerto No. 1 in E Major, ii, mm. 932.

Liszts Totenfeier (Funrailles) was one of three new pieces added to the 1853 edition of his piano cycle based on Alphonse de Lamartines cycle of poems, Harmonies potiques et religieuses. Its date of composition, October 1849, corresponds with the death of several Hungarian revolutionaries, killed during the Hungarian War of Independence.20 Incorporating a mood described by Humphrey Searle as heroic elegy, Funrailles is a mix of styles, most notably the funeral march and Stile Appassionato.21 The opening section (described as mourning bells) ends in a lunga pausa, setting up the B sections funeral march in honor of the revolutionaries. After a second prolonged pause, Liszt introduces an elegiac theme, which builds into the Stile Appassionato section shown in Example 14. The natural evolution of elegy into Stile Appassionato seems to indicate Liszts impassioned support of the cause of the revolutionaries.
20 Ben Arnold, Piano Music: 18351861, in The Liszt Companion, ed. Ben Arnold (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002), 90. 21 Humphrey Searle, The Music of Liszt (New York: Dover), 56.

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EXAMPLE 13 Weber, Concerto in F minor, Op. 73, i, mm. 4873.

VIRTUOSIC STYLE Ratners eighteenth-century Brilliant Style continued to develop, growing more and more virtuosic with the piano works of Beethoven, Weber, and Mendelssohn. The Virtuosic Style emerged subsequent to the compositions of Paganini and Liszt, and was used to evoke the most transcendental difculties of execution. Encompassing musical gymnastics and all but

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EXAMPLE 14 Liszt, Poetische und Religiose Stimmungen, No. 7, Totenfeier (1849), mm. 98108.

unplayable passages, this extroverted style was used in everything from etudes to sonatas, and while most often manifested in the piano music of the time, it was not limited to that medium. Virtuosic piano gurations include rapid octave passages, quickly moving parallel thirds, frequent chromatic scalar patterns, and an endless list of other acrobatics designed to show off the performers considerable abilities. In conjunction with these gurations are multiple melodic voices that must be clearly rendered. While the variety of such passages is almost innite, Examples 15 and 16 show two types of guration: Sigismund Thalbergs famous three-hand texture, as realized in Liszts Mazeppa, and one example of the type of guration Schumann described as scales analysed [sic] in every possible way, knotted in every conceivable manner; the ngers and hands placed in every possible position, &c. &c.,22 from Saint-Sans Piano Concerto in G minor.

22

Robert Schumann, Music and Musicians: Essays and Criticisms, 2nd series, trans., ed., and annotated by Fanny Raymond Ritter (London: William Reeves, 1880), 325.

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EXAMPLE 15 Liszt, Transcendental Etudes (18371838), Etude No. 4, Mazeppa, mm. 1321.

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EXAMPLE 16 Saint-Sans, Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, i, mm. 3943.

DECLAMATORY STYLE This is the Recitative Style translated to instrumental music and intended to evoke declamation or recitation.23 Nineteenth-century composers used it most frequently to re-create the spoken word of the poet.24 Occasionally marked recitativo, the style can function as a bridge between sections, or as a separate declamatory passage used to highlight the Song or Aria styles. Example 17from the programmatically titled Der Dichter Spricht (The Poet Speaks) of Schumanns Kinderscenenshows this style set amid slow Lied-Style melodic material. The style can also be found in the last measures of Chopins Nocturne, Op. 32, No. 1 (see Example 18), and is frequently incorporated into the Bardic Style (of which, more shortly). It is tied to

The Declamatory Style was also used by eighteenth-century composers; for example, in the opening section of the rst movement of Haydns Symphony No. 7. 24 This style is one of the clearest descendants of the eighteenth-century Empndsamer Stil , and Ko Agawu goes so far as to state that this style is the poets natural language (Playing with Signs, 141).

23

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EXAMPLE 17 Schumann, Kinderscenen, Op. 15, no. 13, Der Dichter Spricht, mm. 1113.

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EXAMPLE 18 Chopin, Nocturne, Op. 32, No. 1, mm. 6266.

literature via the poet, and to opera via its structure, which makes it useful in many programmatic settings. BIEDERMEIER STYLE Biedermeier Style is used to signify an old-fashioned elegance linked with a proper middle-class sense of propriety. While evoking a comforting nostalgia for an earlier time, it brings to mind the coffee-house musical styles of a Vienna just a few years (or decades) in the past, creating an overriding mood of restrained Apollonian charm. Its musical gestures, including symmetrical phrases (frequently four bars long), lyrical melodies, largely diatonic harmonies, strong cadences, and the occasional use of an Albertilike bass line, bear a close resemblance to traditional Classical stylesstyles epitomized by lesser eighteenth-century composers.25 Used by the so-called Biedermeier composers and their contemporaries to conjure up a romanticized past, it was not limited to this particular time period and its associations change depending on its context. The excerpt from Schuberts Quintet in C Major, seen in Example 2, is a quintessential example of Biedermeier Style. Four-bar phrase structure, light
25 This style is thoroughly explored in Kenneth DeLongs 1992 article, The Conventions of Musical Biedermeier, in Convention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music, 195223.

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EXAMPLE 19 Weber, Der Freischtz , Overture, mm. 13845.

lyric melody, diatonic harmony in slow harmonic rhythm, and a character closely tied to dance, all set this rmly in the world of Mozart. Another example comes from the overture to Webers Der Freischtz (see Example 19); this particular passage stands out in sharp contrast to the folk-like music that surrounds it. The melody is directly connected to Agnes and is featured in her Act II aria. Because Agness father, Cuno, is the chief forester, the highest-ranking man in the village, the use of Biedermeier Style to represent Agnes serves a double purpose: It signies both her middle-class status and her virtuous demeanor. TEMPEST STYLE Dating back at least to Vivaldis Four Seasons, the musical evocation of wind, rain, thunder, and lightening continued to evolve into the nineteenth century, adopting several gestures to portray the powers of nature, which included the supernatural or the demonic. Used extensively in operatic settings (e.g., the Wolfs Glen Scene of Der Freischtz and the Act III trio of Verdis Rigoletto), it is also manifest in symphonic literature, including Beethovens sixth symphony and Mendelssohns Hebrides Overture. The Tempest Style is usually cast in a minor mode. Wind is represented in the frequent use of diminished chords and running eighth-note patterns that either undulate or change directions unexpectedly; trills in the timpani signify thunder, and lightening can be portrayed by a sudden, fully orchestrated chord. Mendelssohn creates this effect in the Hebrides Overture (mm. 25156) with a dominant seventh chord played by the entire orchestra and accompanied by the thunder of the timpani (see Example 20). Other frequently used gestures include string tremolos (often in the lower register), agitation in the high strings to symbolize rain and wind, and chromatic passages to create an unsettled effect. Example 21 is taken from the height of

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EXAMPLE 20 Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture, Op. 26, mm. 25156.

the storm in Niels Gades Ossian Overture. In the key of A minor, timpani trills representing thunder in measures 206 and 207 lead to a fully orchestrated diminished-ninth chord lightening strike in woodwinds and low brass. First presented in the ute and oboe, the primary melodic ideaa four-note descending appoggiatura gure in sixteenth notes, followed by an upward leap and a descending resolutionconstantly shifts in its transposition, as if being blown about by the wind. The Tempest Style can also be used to evoke battle or struggle; Rossini employs it at the end of Act I of William Tell (in a major key) to underscore the plot tension as the hero rows the shepherd Leuthold, who has killed a soldier to protect his daughters honor, across the lake to escape the wrath of his pursuers. Tchaikovsky takes a more symbolic tack, using it to represent the struggles of the young lovers in his Romeo and Juliet Overture.

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EXAMPLE 21 Niels Gade, Ossian Overture, mm. 20411.

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HEROIC STYLE An expansion of Ratners Military Style, this topic carries with it strong Beethovenian associations. Used frequently to signify victory, it is most often delivered in a powerful major key. Its fanfare gures often encompass the entire orchestra and are frequently accompanied by timpani and trumpet (recalling the long tradition of pairing these two instruments) in an expansive show of heroism. This style can be incorporated into a number of other styles and dialects when a victorious affect is desired. Fanfare gures can also be used to indicate class distinction, as in the topical representation of the aristocracy in Mendelssohns Overture to a Midsummer Nights Dream. The last movement of Beethovens fth symphony contains the quintessential example of this style (see Example 22) and Schumann uses it effectively in the rst movement of his Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (see Example 23).

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DEMONIC STYLE An early realization of this topic, used widely in both opera and instrumental music, is found in the famous Wolfs Glen Scene of Webers Der Freischtz (Act II). Eighteenth-century musical evocations of the supernatural (for example, the return of the ghost of the Commendatore in Mozarts Don Giovanni) made use of a style described by Ratner as ombramusic related to the Fantasia Style representing ghosts, gods, moral values, or punishments.26 The Demonic Style often makes use of the minor mode, but a harshly wicked major key can also be employed in conjunction with frequent diminished chords. Rising scalar patterns in the low register (scored frequently for cello or double bass) are almost always found ascending in chromatic or altered scales, conjuring fantastic images of specters arising out of the deep. Such ascending lines are frequently followed by cackling passages of glissandi or agitated high strings and woodwinds, often outlining augmented or diminished chords. Low brass, trombones especially, are featured in a forced, almost overblown manner, playing open intervals

26 Ratner, Classic Music, 24. Elsewhere he mentions the ombra scene from Act III of Verdis Macbeth, in which the ghosts of the eight kings visit Macbeth (Romantic Music, p. 70). Allanbrook briey mentions, in Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart, the traditions of ombra that date back to obligatory scenes from Hell in sixteenth-century intermedios (p. 361). Birgitte Moyer discusses the Ombra Style in more depth in Ombra and Fantasia in Late Eighteenth-Century Theory and Practice, included in Conventions in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music. There are several fairly consistent characteristics that distinguish the ombra style. These include the use of agitated and melancholy types of musical gestures, minor keys, tremolos (occasionally using diminished chords), rising scales and arpeggios, and dramatic changes in dynamics (pp. 293302).

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EXAMPLE 22 Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, iv, opening.

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EXAMPLE 23 Schumann, Concerto in A minor, op. 54, i, mm. 13337.

that allude to Medieval settings.27 The Dream of a Witches Sabbath (Songe dune nuit de sabbath) from Berliozs Symphonie Fantastique (see Example 24) shows most of the basic techniques that produce the Demonic Style. The third movement of Liszts Faust Symphony (see Example 25) and Pandaemonium from Berliozs Damnation of Faust (Scene 19) are also excellent examples. These techniques can be further enhanced by the inclusion of sacred musical symbols such as chant (as it appears in the beginning of the Wolfs Glen Scene), chorales, or even fugato. These sacred styles are destabilized by the surrounding musical gestures, which, in effect, invert their sanctity. This is beautifully illustrated in the fth movement of Symphonie Fantastique (see Example 26). The music of the witches dance colors the Dies Irae in a manner that corrupts the sanctity of the requiem mass.

27

The association of the trombone with the supernatural goes back to the seventeenth century. Typical orchestral scoring in the ombra scenes of Baroque opera includes the trombone (Moyer, Ombra and Fantasia in Late Eighteenth-Century Theory and Practice, 302), and this tradition continued with the choirs of trombones in the ombra scenes in Glucks Orfeo and Mozarts Idomeneo (Allanbrook, Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart , 361).

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EXAMPLE 24 Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, v, opening.

EXAMPLE 25 Liszt, Faust Symphony (1857), iii, opening.

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EXAMPLE 26 Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, v, mm. 41426.

FAIRY MUSIC Fairy Music represents the other side of the supernatural; the most famous example of this topic is surely the opening of Mendelssohns Overture to a Midsummer Nights Dream. Even though the style is found in numerous variations, it features several characteristic gestures. The orchestration will almost always feature a high, shimmering instrumentation that includes violins, utes, piccolos, or the celeste. Glittering parallel thirds are common, and many melodic patterns include stepwise movement or small leaps. Melodic guration rarely encompasses a range of more than a fth, and sequences occur frequently. Fleet, running eighth or sixteenth notes are most common, although the style can be found in slower passages, especially when it is used to evoke sensual beings such as the nymphs from Smetanas The Moldau. Even though most examples are diatonic, the use of seventh, diminished, or augmented chords moves the style closer to the demonic, and in some cases the two are blended, in essence creating evil fairies. When

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the style is moved into the lower registers, other supernatural beings, such as gnomes or ogres, can be easily conjured. Example 27, from Griegs Peer Gynt, closely resembles the Fairy Music of Mendelssohn. Berlioz uses this style in The Damnation of Faust, Part II, Scene 7 (Choeur de Gnomes et de Sylphes); further examples can be found in Tchaikovskys Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Nutcracker and Liszts Gnomenreigen.

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EXAMPLE 27 Grieg, Peer Gynt , Op. 23, Act V, No. 24, mm. 512.

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ARCHAIZING STYLES A number of topics, many of which are identied by Ratner in Romantic Music,28 signify the old in either courtly or religious terms. Most of these styles evoke the worlds of the Renaissance or Baroque; however, two of themthe Chivalric and Bardic styles (discussed in the following section Dialects)are commonly used when a composer chooses to indicate a Medieval setting, complete with references to knights, chivalry, and, in the case of the Bardic Style, the ancient art of the epic. Common archaizing styles include the Stile Antico (featuring numerous white notes, suspensions, and points of imitation) and Romantic evocations of the Baroque, including Bach-like fugal passages, highly controlled dissonances, driving Baroque rhythms, and the occasional dance rendered in a clearly Baroque style. While some of these have been recognized and given specic names in scholarly writings, many others exist as simply archaic versions of other topics or historical styles: bourre, gavotte, chorale, and so on.29 Mussorgsky uses the Chorale Style, derived from Renaissance musical textures, in The Great Gate of Kiev, to portray the grandeur of the ancient religious center (see Example 28).

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Dialects
In addition to the styles discussed previously, Romantic composers created musical dialects: assemblages of musical gestures and other topics that, when

EXAMPLE 28 Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (1874), No. 10, The Great Gate of Kiev, mm. 3046.

28 Leonard Ratner, Romantic Music: Sound and Syntax (New York: Schirmer Books, 1992), 18276. The references are scattered throughout his various discussions. 29 Included in this cluster of topics is Ratners Learned Style, a style he associates with the church (Classic Music, 23). Another archaizing style discussed by Ratner in Romantic Music is the Motet Style. He suggests Schumanns Symphony No. 3 in E major, op. 97, movement IV, is a recognizable example of this style (Romantic Music, 74). Numerous other topics, both sacred and secular, were used as well to signify an antiquated world: a world remote enough to be archaic, but close enough for nostalgia.

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used together in conjunction, dene a specic dialect, one that typically calls up strong extra-musical associations. The primary differences between dialects and styles are the number of gestures that are needed in most cases to create a single dialect and their tendency to include other styles or types as a part of their essential makeup. When most or all of the elements of the dialect are present, it becomes a musical language that functions in much the same manner as any other topic, yet with the added ability to sustain a movement or entire musical work due to the variety of gestures and possible permutations inherent in each dialect. CHIVALRIC STYLE
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Chivalric Style is one of several archaizing styles that speak to the Romantic fascination with ancient things: old ideas, myths, and the glory of days gone byin short, an idealized noble past.30 Jonathan Bellman introduced this style in his 1995 article Aus Alten Mrchen: The Chivalric Style of Schumann and Brahms, in which he identies the dialects primary characteristics, which he believes were rst codied by Schumann and then passed through him to Brahms. Although characteristics of this dialect are found in other topics (and may indeed be topics themselves), Bellman argues that in Schumanns, and particularly in Brahmss, hands they become a dialect that functions to evoke a specic frame of reference with its own moods and associations. For the most part, it is not the mere presence of these characteristic musical gestures, but their presence in conjunction with each other that creates the Chivalric Style. (The same may be said for all dialects.) All the signature gestures are consciously reminiscent of earlier eras, including fanfare gures, horn fths, and the repeated notes of a trumpet call. An allegro 6/8 meter often evokes the galloping of horses, and modal harmonic progressions provide an unmistakably archaic avor. The affect created by this style is heroic, noble, and specically Medieval in association.31 One of the best examples in Schumanns hands is Aus Alten Mrchen from Dichterliebe, op. 48.32 Brahms used this dialect extensively, deftly employing it in his Op. 33 Magelone-Romancesmusical settings of the adventures and romances of Peter of Provence, a twelfth-century count, as retold by Ludwig Tieck. All the central gestures of the Chivalric style are employed within this cycle, their extra-musical signicance bolstered by its specically pseudo-medieval text.33 Example 29 shows Brahmss use of the Chivalric Style within a symphonic setting, in the rst movement of his Symphony No. 1, shortly after the beginning of the development.
30 31 32 33

Bellman, Bellman, Bellman, Bellman,

Aus Alten Mrchen, Aus Alten Mrchen, Aus Alten Mrchen, Aus Alten Mrchen,

11718. 11819. 130. 120.

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EXAMPLE 29 Brahms, Symphony No. 1, Op. 68, i, mm. 23445.

BARDIC STYLE This closely related dialect shares many of its gestures with the Chivalric Style. Romantic fascination for the ctional poet Ossian and his evocations of the British Isles in millennia past inspired numerous Ossianic artistic creations, especially in music and painting. While not all musical examples can be tied directly to Ossianic poetry, evocations of the fabled bard of ancient times are abundant in Romantic compositions. In his 1998 article Schumanns Ossianic Manner, John Daverio outlines several distinguishing musical features of the Bardic Style, including the use of minor modes frequently followed by tender major keys. The harp is central to the Bardic Style, and is either physically present in the orchestra or evoked by another instrument (rolled chords on the piano, for example).

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Parallel chords, open voicings, keys related by thirds, and fanfare motives reminiscent of battle or the hunt, all produce the same evocation of the ancient found in the Chivalric Style.34 The signicant difference between the Chivalric and Bardic styles is the direct connection of the latter to the epic poem. Throughout, the voice of the bard speaks in sweet melodies, frequently accompanied by harp (or harp evocations), periodically using the Declamatory Style. The harp signies both the ballad itself and the role of the storyteller.35 Dramatic mood changes and a hint of vocal declamation support the illusion of the epic. Large-scale Bardic works often incorporate the Tempest Style, using highly dissonant harmonies and agitated melodic gures to provide dramawhich, in epic stories, almost always includes heroic battles. When realized in music, these battles are rendered using a combination of Tempest, Military, and Heroic styles, effectively re-creating the battles, transforming the primary melody (the voice of the bard) with each subsequent change in style. The effect is a musical epic retold by a poet, complete with danger, heroism, chivalry, and often, romance. One of the clearest examples of the Bardic Style is found in Niels Gades Ossian Overture (see Example 30). Folk-like melodies surround the plaintive solo theme (the voice of the bard), which is accompanied by the harp. Heraldic trumpet fanfares grow out of the bards theme and a full-edged stormrepresented by one of the best examples of the Tempest Style in all of romantic literaturecompletes the mosaic of moods. Tchaikovsky opens his Romeo and Juliet Overture with a mystical, other-worldly passage accompanied by harp (see Example 31), and while he does not maintain his use of the Bardic Style throughout the entire piece, it serves as an introduction and unmistakable connection to Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon. Mendelssohn also employs the Bardic Style in his Hebrides Overture, using instrumental evocations of the harp rather than the actual instrument. Schumann used it in many of his late songs (as discussed by Daverio) and Brahms incorporated it into the Edward Ballade, op. 10, no. 1.

34 John Daverio, Schumanns Ossianic Manner, Nineteenth-Century Music 21/3 (Spring 1998), 25158. Daverio identies several styles that make up what he calls the Ossianic mood. These include other-worldly passages, military or hunt styles, and folk styles (p. 257). The alternation of mystical, dreamlike music with military passages and folk songs combines to create an epic-style work. This summarizes his very cogent description of Ossianic-style epic music. I am simply extending his basic premise to include those works not directly tied to Ossianic writings. 35 Ratner describes the plucking of a stringed instrument or the evocation of it as style brise (using the Baroque term), and gives it the status of a topic in Romantic Music (p. 276). Although this can be used by itself, it is most often found in conjunction with other gestures in styles indicating old or folk style. For example, in the Bardic Style it evokes the harp, in the Spanish Style, the guitar.

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EXAMPLE 30 Gade, Ossian Overture, mm. 7177.

Exotic Dialects and Folklorism

Enthralled by all things exotic, Romantic composers employed a myriad of styles intended to evoke cultures, whether foreign or marginalized, that were markedly different from the European mainstream. These cultures included the geographically remote, such as India and Asia, or those closer by, such as Spain and Italyand, of course, the Gypsies. Composers devoted little effort to actually re-creating authentic musical gestures, as they preferred to evoke these cultures in a manner their audiences would understand, using musical languages that were essentially Western. Because numerous books and articles have been devoted to exploring the exotic in nineteenth-century music, I will not provide detailed discussion here.36 However, as legitimate Romantic topics, they warrant inclusion in this lexicon, and several are listed in Table 3.

36 These writings include Jonathan Bellmans The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993); The Exotic in Western Music, ed. Jonathan Bellman (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998); Ralph Lockes A Broader View of Musical Exoticism, Journal of Musicology 24/4 (2007), 477521; and David Korevaars Exoticism Assimilated: Turkish Elements in Mozarts Sonata, K. 331 and Beethovens Waldstein Sonata. op. 53, The Journal of Musicological Research 21/3 (2002), 197232, to name but a few of the many articles and books that have been published on this subject in the past twenty years.

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EXAMPLE 31 Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet Overture, Op. 45, mm. 1134.

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TABLE 3 Exotic Dialects Commonly Used in Nineteenth-century Music Dialect Style Hongrois Musical Gestures Use of the violin with extroversion and abandon; often includes cimbalom imitations. Characteristic features such as spondee and alla zoppa rhythms. Triadic, nonfunctional harmony with sudden shifts in tonality and juxtaposition of distant chords.a Evocation of the saber-rattling barbarian (representing the warrior or pirate) and the harem (sensuality and forbidden pleasure). Melody in a single mode or hovering around a single pitch with frequent melismas or undulations. Repeated rhythms, either of a Military Style or free, indicating the exotic and sensuous.b Musical gestures are intended to evoke the timeless mystery of the east and desert life. Evokes several characters as stereotyped symbols of freedom from authority: smuggler, bandit, Gypsy. The Spanish dancer is the emblem of the Andalusian Gypsy; the Gypsy woman is also the sensual, erotic symbol. A guitar, or the evocation of it, is usually found, and Spanish dance rhythms, especially the Bolero, are used extensively. Five-note turns on the fth-scale degree and phrygian cadences are frequent.c Evocations of the far east. Found primarily in late Romantic and n de sicle works. Includes pentatonic scales; precious, miniaturized gestures, such as trills and short melodic fragments; harmonic structure inuenced by Impressionism: parallel movement and extended triadic structure. Includes three stereotypes: The Brutish Savage, The Noble Savage, and The Laughing Stock. Borrows from the alla turca. Characteristics include: strong accents on the rst and third beats; use of percussion, including tambourines, bells, and drums; a four-beat imitation of tom-toms with octave leaps; pentatonic scales; diminished sevenths and minor modes to indicate the war dance.d (Related to the Demonic Style). Examples Schubert, Quintet in C Major, Op. 163, iv, opening theme. Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsodies. Brahms, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 115, ii, opening theme. Ravel, Sheherazad e (1907). Borodin, Prince Igor (1889). Flicien David, Les dsert (1844).

Oriental Style

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Spanish Style

Bizet, Carmen (1875). Chopin, Bolro, op. 19. Verdi, La Traviata (1853), Act II, Scene 2.

Chinoiserie

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde, iii (19081909). Puccini, Turandot (1926). Ravel, Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mre loye), 1910.

Indianist Style

Dvorak, Symphony No. 9, Op. 95. Flicien David, Danse de[s] sauvages (1847). George Frederick Bristow, Arcadian Symphony, op. 50. Numerous examples can be found in the Wa-Wan Press (5 vols.) published from 19011911. (Continued)

Topical Vocabulary of the Nineteenth Century Table 3 (Continued) Dialect Italian Style Musical Gestures Used by composers to identify Italy as other. Incorporates the Aria Style and specically Italianate folk-dance styles such as the saltarello. Popular Italian songssuch as those sung in Viennese wine houses (accompanied by style brise to evoke a mandolin),e and the Venetian Gondolier song with its lilting six-eighth meter and soulful tuneevoke a simpler way of life, neither too rural nor too exotic.f The use of styles and gestures associated with a given region. Used frequently in opera and programmatic works; often tied to folk legends and stories. This symbolism is retained when transferred to absolute music. Examples Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 (the Italian). Liszt, Venezia e Napoli.

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Folklorism

Mussorgsky, Boris Godunov. Jean Sibelius, Finlandia. Isaac Albeniz, Iberia. Louis Moreau Gottschalk, The Banjo.

a Jonathan Bellman, The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993), especially 93130. b Ralph P. Locke, Cutthroats and Casbah Dancers, Muezzins and Timeless Sands: Musical Images of the Middle East, in The Exotic in Western Music, ed. Jonathan Bellman (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998), 10433; and Richard Taruskin, Entoiling the Falconet: Russian Musical Orientalism in Context, in Bellman, The Exotic in Western Music, 20212. c James Parakilas, How Spain Got a Soul, in Bellman, The Exotic in Western Music, 14164. d Michael Pisani, Im an Indian Too: Creating Native American Identities in Nineteenth-Century and Early 20th-Century Music, in Bellman, The Exotic in Western Music, 22038. e Ratner refers to this as a Barcarolle in Romantic Music, 172, 175. f Other exotic dialects exist as well, although not in as widespread use. The dialects discussed here all occur in more than one country or geographical area and have the same or similar signicance in all the compositions. This universality is the primary criteria for their designation as exotic dialects.

OTHER SURFACE LANGUAGES Of course not all musical gestures can be analyzed in terms of topics. Some nineteenth-century composers used signicant ciphers and motifs, many of which were relatively hidden to all but those privileged few in whom the composer conded. One of the best known examples of this is the ASCH cipher in Schumanns Carnaval , which was explained in a letter to Moscheles in 1837.37 Nevertheless, with the help of primary sources, scholars have unearthed many of these symbolic gestures, providing further insights into their corresponding compositions.38 Moreover, Romantic
37 John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 140. 38 Two excellent examples of works dealing with this type of analysis are Eric Samss The Songs of Robert Schumann (New York: Norton, 1969) and Paul Merrick, Revolution and Religion in the Music of Liszt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

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composers had a predilection for making musical references to other composers and works, both contemporary and historical. These quotations or allusions have many associations, depending on their context, and although not topics themselvesplay a similar role in stylistic analysis. Once again, Schumanns Carnaval provides ample material, including references to Schumanns friends, alter egos, and contemporary composers; for example, Chopin clearly references the signature nocturnes, and Paganini pays homage to the violinists virtuosic abilities. In the same vein, Brahms pays homage to Beethoven by either quoting or paraphrasing his music in several compositions, including the Piano Sonata in F# minor, and, of course, the rst symphony.
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TOPICAL ANALYSIS: BRAHMSS SONATA NO. 2 IN F# MINOR, OP. 2, MOVEMENT IV

A brief analysis of the fourth movement of Brahmss Piano Sonata No. 2 in F# minor, Op. 2, provides an example of the importance of topical analysis in looking at nineteenth-century compositions. This sonata, written during Brahmss youth, has been the recipient of numerous criticisms, mostly regarding the rather unconventional formal structure of the nale. Colin Masons critique of this work is fairly typical of the type of discussions that surround this particular movement.
The nale begins with a rather useless introduction, having little connection with the movement, which properly begins with the theme quoted in Example II [not included here, but corresponding with Example 33]. Then, through a stronger passage, Brahms brings us to the entry of this entrancing music, Example XI [corresponds to Example 34]. After a passage of grandiose and regrettably irrelevant chords, he returns to the themes already quoted, developing them with intriguing variations and inversions, until the recapitulation, which is not, however, allowed to appear before another version of the senseless, big chords has been given. The movement is concluded by a coda of obscure origin and a nal return of the opening absurdities. . . . The exposition of the rst and second subjects, their ne development and recapitulation, are concise, with no padding, technically masterly and musically delightful. The introductory rubbish and similar interjections split the music into denable sections, but they have nothing to do with it really. And though it is a pity that they are there, one can quite easily ignore them and delight in the real music, which in its excellence, coherence and complete relevance equals that of the symphonies.39

39

Colin Mason, Brahms Piano Sonatas, The Music Review 5/2 (May 1944), 11516.

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EXAMPLE 32a Brahms, Sonata, Op. 2, iv, opening.

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EXAMPLE 32b Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, Op. 67, i, mm. 5962.

Although this analysis succeeds in illustrating Brahmss strong ties to Classical sonata form, it does not truly explain the structure of the movement, leaving large sections of music unaccounted for. By contrast, topical analysis can provide some answers to questions of formal structure that are raised but not answeredby the type of formal criticism found in Masons quote. The rather useless introductory material criticized by Mason is clearly in the Bardic Style, signaling that Brahms is not employing a simple sonata form, but rather one with overtones of the Ballade.40 The opening melody, presented in stark octaves, bears a striking resemblance to the second theme in the rst movement of Beethovens Fifth Symphony (see Examples 32a and 32b). This introductory theme represents the narrator or, in literary terms, the poet, and is followed by suspensions in parallel movement, the evocation of a harp, and a passage in Declamatory Styleall clear Bardic indicators. Without doubt, this introduction, rather than being useless (Masons term), is directly related to the poetic ballad by virtue of the Bardic style. Since Brahms has so clearly marked his intent to present a ballad, we should be able to nd characters and dialogues within his sonata-form structure. Indeed, characters are clearly delineated by the topics Brahms uses for the themes of the sonata form. Theme one (which Mason determines as the proper beginning of the movement) quotes the two initial bars used for the

40

James Parakilass book Ballads Without Words (Portland: Amadeus Press, 1992) provides invaluable information regarding the common characteristics of Chopins Ballades, as well as Brahmss own Op. 10 Ballades. Similarities can be drawn between this sonata movement and Chopins techniques for composing Ballades. Although Brahms most likely would not have known Chopins Ballades, Parakilas states that he would not have needed them as a model for his own Ballades (p. 141). Similarities to Chopins works in the movement under consideration include naked octaves representing the narrator (on p. 58 Parakilas discusses this aspect of Chopins works), strongly symmetrical structure that is almost stanza-like, and clear-cut characters in dialogue with each other. All of these traits are discussed by Parakilas.

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EXAMPLE 33 Brahms, Sonata, Op. 2, iv, mm. 2528.

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EXAMPLE 34 Brahms, Sonata, Op. 2, iv, mm. 7172.

narrator, this time in the Lied Style,41 followed by two bars of gentle melodic material (see Example 33). The direct link to the introductory theme suggests that the narrator and the rst character are one and the same, casting the ballad in an autobiographical light. The agitated gestures and disruptive octave patterns of the transition (Masons stronger passage) indicate an approaching conicta necessary balladic element. The second character (theme two) is set in the Style Hongrois, although in a tone more reminiscent of the dance hall than of actual Gypsies. Its initial presentation in A minorthe parallel minor of the relative major keyis appropriate to this topic. The close relationship of theme two to theme one is striking (see Example 34). Not only is their general melodic direction the same, but their intervallic similarities (use of octaves, fourths, and fths) and the overall structure of the rst halves of both themes are very closely related. The similarity between the two themes, and the introductory material, could suggest that the narrator and both characters are the same person: Not only is this ballad autobiographical, the action of its plot seems to be internala struggle perhaps of warring desires or egos.

41

Structurally, the movement has Ballade-like symmetry. Of the four initial repetitions of the theme, three are four bars long and the last is ve with the ending elongated. Each repetition of the theme is changed somewhat in the ending bars. An agitated scalar guration interrupts these repetitions, setting up the conict that is necessary for all ballads (Parakilas, Ballads Without Words, 35). Another repetition of the four-bar theme is followed by two repetitions of the second half of the thematic material, each up a third. The rst is two bars long and the second is three. This is followed by two bars of closing material that is similar to the earlier agitated interruption. The second key center and dening theme (character two) also consists of nine sections and the transition and closing sections are divided into three sections each. The overall structure of the exposition suggests a stanzaic symmetry.

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EXAMPLE 35 Brahms, Sonata, Op. 2, iv, mm. 9599.

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A third character is introduced in the closing theme, providing yet a third side to the character of this ballad. Using the same melodic material as the narrators theme and character one, the closing theme adds the familiar rhythmic pattern of the opening of Beethovens Fifth Symphony,42 suggesting the heroic quality of this third character (Example 35).43 At this point, the sonata form is interrupted by Masons grandiose and regrettably irrelevant chords, which serve to remind us of the Ballade structure by evoking, in a rough way, the harp. The development is, in essence, a dialogue between the primary characters (themes one and two). Opening with a repeat of the heroic closing theme, it continues with modal ourishes (again rough evocations of a harp), which are interrupted by a virtuosic passage. Brahms uses the agitated character of the Virtuosic Style to provide dynamic forward movement as the characters interact. The rst theme is presented in a fugato style, the rst part of the theme in counterpoint with the second (mm. 16166), to continued chordal accompaniment. The combination of the Lied Style with the Learned Style lifts the rst character to an elevated state. Brahms uses the development section to deepen the distinctions between the two characters: theme one, with its strong Beethovenian associations, now combined with the Learned Style, clearly represents a high style, while the second theme continues to represent the popular and unrened, and is in a sense unreconstructable. Quietly, in F# minor, the rst character makes its reappearance in the recapitulation. Returning to its original Lied Style, it has shed all the agitated transitional material: The character seems at peace with itself. Indeed, the

42 Of all the analyses studied, only William S. Newman (The Sonata Since Beethoven [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969], 333) concurs with my analysis of the origin of this theme. (Even though Newman indicates mm. 11015 rather than the closing theme material in mm. 9598, I believe he is referring to the same material.) Admittedly, this theme also resembles Claras theme in Schumanns Impromptu on a Theme by Clara Wieck, op. 5, but I believe that this is coincidental, as Brahms was reported to have been unfamiliar with Schumanns works until several years later (Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms: A Biography [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997], 73). 43 The autobiographical elements are too intriguing to ignore, even in this short analysis. Two sides of the poets character, middle-class simplicity (symbolized by the Lied Style), and popular folk elements (portrayed by the Style Hongrois) in a decidedly low style, all watched over by the shadow of Beethoven, pose the possibility that the poet is indeed Brahms himself.

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only transitional material in this compact recapitulation consists of a twobar arpeggio on C#7, followed directly by a distorted nal statement of the second character in F#. Here the melody is altered, its grace notes missing, conrming the popular style that was suggested at the start. Even though the theme later returns to its original form, its popular demeanor remains: This character has not settled at all. Surrounded by the agitated gures from the exposition, it has continued to embrace conict. When the heroic closing theme returns, it is followed by two bars of octaves that continue the conict, as fragments of the second half of theme two are bounced between the two hands in tempest-like agitation. The short coda of obscure origin (mm. 26170) begins with the conict of the Virtuosic Style, but quiets into a series of arpeggios: a harp-like preparation for the postlude (a nal return of the opening absurdities) that closes the ballad. There has been no reconciliation and the alter egos remain rmly separated. Through the use of contemporary topics, Brahms has effectively evoked a ballad within a sonata-form movement. Topical content portrays three characters and a narrator who are, melodically, one and the same, even though each has its own representative topic. There is an ending to the story, but no resolution for the second character. While not programmatic, the movement tells a story, perhaps of warring alter egos struggling for reconciliation. This movement is, indeed, unconventional, but not, it would appear, the product of a youthful composer letting his passions overrule his technical abilities. Rather, Brahms used contemporary musical vocabularies to turn the sonata form into a Ballade, thereby creating, in essence, a musical epic, something that conventional formal analysis cannot reveal, but that is readily discernable using topical analysis.44

CONCLUSION
Although not exhaustive, this lexicon of musical topics, styles, and dialects specic to nineteenth-century music provides a much-needed tool for the analysis of Romantic compositionsworks that frequently defy standard analytical processes. Topics frequently outline narrative structure in compositions that may otherwise appear to be absolute. In particular, a number of notable musicologists have employed topical analysis for the purpose of disclosing poetic or narrative structures in nineteenth-century instrumental music, using it to uncover the musical perceptions of nineteenth-century

44 This discussion is expanded in chapter 6 of my dissertation, The Nineteenth-Century Sonata Cycle as Novel (University of Northern Colorado, 2004). Topical analysis of the entire piece revealed strong connections to E.T.A. Hoffmanns Kater Murr and Jean Paul Friderich Richters Flegeljahre.

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audiences.45 The use of topical analysis can help us discern much in a musical work that would otherwise be lost with the passage of time: popular subject matter, hidden programs, topical references, symbolisms specic to a particular composer, and other veiled features. Understanding the demands and expectations of contemporary audiences allows us to better comprehend the music itself, and topicsin their extra-musical referentialityare uniquely positioned to provide a glimpse into those expectations. Through them we are able to ascertain the musical predilections of the Romantic audience, and thereby better re-create that experience in the modern concert hall. Pedagogically, topics can be used as a medium for instructing the musically uneducated. Leonard Ratner demonstrated their value by incorporating topical discussions into two general music texts, The Musical Experience and Music, The Listeners Art .46 Romantic musical topics lend themselves particularly well to this sort of application, due in no small part to their frequent appearances in lm music. For most of the general population of this country, exposure to art music is limited to television and movies, and since lm composers make extensive use of historical topoi, lm scores provide a ready introduction to the concept of musical referentialism as well as entry into those musics that inspired them. Admittedly, topical analysis will always be subjective, in that it requires the interpretation of the analyst. However, given the consistent use of topics throughout the common practice period, we cannot ignore the surface languages presented to us by composers writing during the Romantic era. The play of topics and styles was no less important to them than it was to composers of the eighteenth century, providing, as it did, the musical vocabulary that spoke to and was understood by contemporary audiences. For modern scholars and listeners to join in that comprehension, it is imperative that we understand the way topics and styles functioned in any given period. Topical analysis, when combined with primary source research, becomes an invaluable instrument, affording both a unique glimpse into the vocabularies used by Romantic composers and a look beneath the surface of their musical creations.

45

Over the past few decades, topical studies have appeared by Jonathan Bellman (Chopins Polish Ballade: Op. 38 as Narrative of National Martyrdom [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010]), George Bozarth (Lieder Ohne Worte), John Daverio (Schumanns Ossianic Manner), Owen Jander (Beethovens Orpheus in Hades: The Andante Con Moto of the Fourth Piano Concerto, NineteenthCentury Music 18/3 [Spring 1985], 195212), and Ko Agawu (Music as Discourse). 46 Leonard Ratner, The Musical Experience: Sound, Movement, and Arrival (New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1983), 6171; and Music, The Listeners Art (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1977), 12328.