Musik & Ästhetik, 2001, Jg. 5, Ausgabe 18

Neither a system – nor a result. On the classification of harmonic tonality

Harmonic tonality of the 18th and 19th centuries cannot be understood either exclusively as a system that prescribes the composition nor exclusively as a result which the composition produces through the precise co-ordination of its parts. This is so because both requirements must be fulfilled in order for tonality to constitute the whole. The approach that understands the unity of these two requirements is the idea of tonality as a form of communication through music. As a form of communication tonality is both a form of reception which is stabilised among humans belonging to one community and a system of structures according to which a composition must be able to be decomposed so that it can act in the communication process as a »regulated piece of music«.

Tonality in Debussy´s Music

Starting with the question to what extent Debussy´s music can be considered tonal a discussion of two contributions by Fred Lerdahl and Allen Forte follows both of which are concerned with the prelude for piano »La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune.« It becomes clear that this music diverges too much from harmonic tonality to be able to comprehend it with traditional analytical criteria. However it has too much in common with harmonic tonality to refrain from using these criteria altogether. Therefore the foundation of a theory is developed with which the specific form of harmonic context – as articulated in Debussy´s music – can be described. The starting point for this is the observation that with Debussy the two-voiced frame setting – which constitutes harmonic tonality – is only one of three equally valid structure models. These are termed textural structure (Satzstruktur) sound structure (Klangstruktur) and line structure (Linienstruktur) and their ideal forms are described. The specific characteristics of sound structure and line structure are then explained with reference to the previously mentioned prelude. The analysis of a transitional passage in which the sound and line structures overlap points to the fact that the three structure models in their ideal forms represent only the poles between which the course of the music modulates. As a rule Debussy uses overlaps of structure models. They make possible a controlled form of ambiguity and thus also the reinterpretation of musical matters. Heterogeneous structures too can be formally linked with one another in this way. The conclusions contain a differentiated list of pros and cons regarding the question of Debussy´s tonality.

Do opera metaphors exist? Nelson Goodman´s theory of metaphor discussed using Alban Berg´s »Wozzeck« as an example

Starting with the metaphor theory of the analytical philosopher Nelson Goodman the rhetorical figure of the »metaphor« can be developed into a framework with which even passages from operas can be analyzed. First words have associated meanings in addition to their familiar main meanings. The creation of verbal metaphors occurs when an unfamiliar marginal meaning is presented prominently next to its main meaning. And the presentation occurs when the word is combined with (at least) one other word which has the same unfamiliar associated meaning. Second words can be used to create metaphors through their combination not only with other words but also with musical symbols. This happens in Alban Berg´s opera Wozzeck. Out of his self-conception as the ideal director Berg presented the inconspicuous deeper layers of the expressive Büchner text through his musical means. Third this creates meaningful structures which exhibit the same characteristics as Nelson Goodman´s »Metaphor.« Thus opera metaphors exist; this is the central thesis of this paper. And fourth that they fulfill the function of giving meaning to and get meaning from the world which make them valuable according to Goodman´s aesthetics can also be demonstrated on the basis of Alban Berg´s opera.

Intension and complexity in Mario Garuti´s »Quantunque«

The quintet Quantunque (1998) constitutes an important turning point in the research of the composer. The structure of the piece results from a partially algorithmic partially ›heuristic‹ elaboration of a numerical sequence while on the formal level certain patterns that are worked out in Tadbir (1996) are radicalized. The use of extra-musical material is accompanied by a figurality that is based on energetic intentional relationships. That is the starting point of a non-linearity in which the elements which are exposed to a process of isolation and defocusing lose their language and aural functions in order to gain a characteristic of singularity as they are deformed in the flow of time. The conceptual scope of the piece exists in the relationship between crystallization and instability; it is a piece that is imagined to be a fusion of opposites and a piece in which the complexity owes itself to the intention and the indetermination is a direct result of a ›contamination‹ between structure and appearance.

What ever happened to the journal »Melos«?

After it appeared in book form again in 1992 Schott Publishers discontinued the music journal Melos which was founded in 1920 by the conductor Hermann Scherchen. Its varied history seems to be a reflection of the emergence and development of contemporary music in Germany itself. From its beginnings in the late expressionist period until its most recent past it lived up to its claim to be the decisive publishing forum for new music especially with respect to analysis of works and in its tracking down new composers and developments. As long as it was published Melos had these objectives in mind – in spite of its mildness in the demagogic climate at the end of the Weimar Republic and its contradictory role in the Third Reich. It stayed true to these objectives especially in its pioneering achievement during the rebuilding of a progressive music scene after the war. Thus the discontinuation of the journal is a great loss for new music in Germany.

Art as appearance

Martin Seel´s book »The Aesthetics of Appearance« (»Ästhetik des Erscheinens «) presents the most recent position in the series of the philosophies of art that take the consummation of the subject as its starting point. It tries to prove that indeterminability is the essential characteristic of appearance and show it to be an intensification of the quality of life. However his attempt fails because first the book defines indeterminability as a positive quality and second it understands the defining subject as an empirical subject. An adequate definition of appearance on the other hand could orient itself toward Adorno´s emphasis on the appearance of heaven.