Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form by Susan McClary

Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form



Download Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form




Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form Susan McClary
Language: English
Page: 221
Format: pdf
ISBN: 0520221060, 9780520221062
Publisher: University of California Press

From Library Journal

Based on the Bloch Lectures given at the University of California at Berkeley, McClary's latest book continues her study of the ideas and issues surrounding the relationship between societal forces and music. Using examples of vocal and instrumental music from the 17th to the 20th centuries, McClary (musicology, Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Feminine Endings) analyzes each within a cultural context and examines how that context has helped to define and challenge the concept of musical convention. She argues persuasively that what began as deviations from convention have, in turn, become conventional. In addition, her assertion that analysis focusing on the purely musical does not address the inherent complexities of music history will no doubt spark much debate. While her conclusions may spark disagreement, McClary's detailed analysesDparticularly of the aria "Figlio! Tiranno!" from Alessandro Scarlatti's opera Griselda and of the first movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, op. 132Dare enlightening and follow her practice of looking at music in a critical light. Recommended for public and academic libraries.DTeresa M. Neff, Boston Univ. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From

Music expresses the needs of those who write and perform it, McClary says, but it does so within the context of conventions generally agreed to by the societies in which musicians live. She begins the specifics of her argument by citing an operatic aria by Stradella (1644^-1682) that manifests the influence of the "sacred erotic" on expressing emotions. Turning to examples from Mozart and Beethoven, she discusses the harmonic structures and musical forms that permit the audience to understand the music. In late modern times, the blues is a highly structured form that combines simple cadences with the expression of African American experience, and even rap has meaningful structure built upon the heritage of four centuries of music. Many composers have pushed structural boundaries with atonal music, but that, too, has roots firmly planted in cultural heritage. Musicologist McClary's chapters, adapted from a series of Ernest Bloch lectures at the University of California at Berkeley, present a view of musical history that is perhaps unconventional but also coherent and satisfying to even casual music buffs. Alan HirschCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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