Papers by Poundie Burstein
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Schenker, Schenkerian Analysis, and other Strange Bedfellows, 2023
The conglomeration of approaches that fall under the umbrella of the "Schenkerian analysis" has l... more The conglomeration of approaches that fall under the umbrella of the "Schenkerian analysis" has long played a dominant role in the field of music analysis, especially in North America. Although by definition these approaches all relate to ideas espoused by the theorist Heinrich Schenker, they are not necessarily equivalent to them, and much confusion arises from a failure to sufficiently distinguish between Schenker's ideas, Schenker's ideas as they are characterized by others, and the approaches that are to varying extents related to these ideas. In all of its manifestations, this analytic practice is best understood not as a means of proving musical coherence or worth, nor of demonstrating how people hear music, but as a set of tools that help analysts share interpretations regarding certain aspects of tonal music.
The proper citation is: “Schenker, Schenkerian Analysis, and Other Strange Bedfellows.” Plenary session address at the EuroMAC 10, 22 September 2021, Moscow (via Zoom).
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“Analysis nach Schenker.” In Handbuch Musikanalyse. Methode und Pluralität, ed. Ariane Jeßulat, Oliver Schwab-Felisch, Jan Philipp Sprick, Christian Thorau. Kassel: Bärenreiter (forthcoming, 2023)., 2016
“Analysis nach Schenker.”
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Handbuch Musikanalyse, 2017
Specifically, the term “Schenkerian analysis” can refer to one of three things: (1) the analytic ... more Specifically, the term “Schenkerian analysis” can refer to one of three things: (1) the analytic concepts that appear in Schenker’s writings (the “actual Schenker”); (2) Schenker’s ideas as they are characterized by his followers (the “idealized Schenker”); or (3) the body of analyses that are to varying degrees influenced by Schenker (“Schenkerian practice”). Though interrelated and overlapping, these three meanings remain distinct from one another. Unfortunately, when discussing Schenkerian analysis, people often mix up these three categories, which in turn creates confusion. This essay seeks to clarify the distinction, history, and nature of these categories, along with a discussion of receptions history of these concepts
Note: this is an English translation of essay to be published in Handbuch Musikanalyse. Methode und Pluralität, ed. Ariane Jeßulat, Oliver Schwab-Felisch, Jan Philipp Sprick, Christian Thorau. Kassel: Bärenreiter. 2017 is when the essay was written; the proper date of this essay is "forthcoming."
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Journeys Through Galant Expositions, 2020
Through much of the eighteenth century, commentators often described musical form in relation to ... more Through much of the eighteenth century, commentators often described musical form in relation to a type of journey leading toward a set of specific tonal/harmonic/melodic/rhythmic goals, punctuated along the path by a standard series of resting points. Partly in reaction to developments witnessed in music composed during the high Classical era onward, since around the nineteenth century descriptions of musical form have tended to combine or even replace these “journey” metaphors with those that rely more heavily on architectonic analogies. When dealing with works composed around the middle of the 1700s, however, there are advantages for viewing musical form as it unfolds, much in the manner described by those who composed, improvised, listened to, and performed at the time. Taking as its focus the part of the movement now known as the exposition, this study analyzes the form of sonata-form works from Galant era by applying concepts and methodologies that stem from the eighteenth cen...
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In his book Contemplating Music, Joseph Kerman famously criticized Schenkerian analysis as a posi... more In his book Contemplating Music, Joseph Kerman famously criticized Schenkerian analysis as a positivistic enterprise (1985: 73–74). Schenkerian scholars largely have seemed hesitant to refute this accusation, perhaps betraying a reluctance to deny the notion that Schenkerian analysis has objective and experiential grounding. Some have even argued that Schenkerian analysis should rightly have an empirical basis.1 Indeed, it has often been suggested that Schenkerian analysis seeks to describe certain concrete elements found in compositions, demonstrating things such as the “coherence or the working-out of long-range implications [...] in the masterpieces of the tonal repertory” (Schulenberg 1985: 304–5) or “the unity of [a] work and the necessity of its constituent moments” (Treitler 1989: 32), that it uncovers “connections among tones that are not readily apparent” (Cadwallader and Gagné 1998: 4), as well as the degree to which a composition may be regarded as tonal (Brown, Dempster,...
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The Society for Music Theory Videocast Journal, 2017
In a 1789 treatise, the Darmstadt musician J.G. Portmann presents what amounts to a multi-level h... more In a 1789 treatise, the Darmstadt musician J.G. Portmann presents what amounts to a multi-level harmonic analysis of Mozart’s Sonata for Piano in D, K. 284, I. Portmann’s interpretation of the movement’s exposition is in line with concepts expressed by other eighteenth-century theorists, but suggestively differs from standard modern conceptions of the form, especially in its understanding of what nowadays is labeled as the secondary theme.
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Publikationsansicht. 4392704. The non-tonic opening in classical and romantic music--[microform] ... more Publikationsansicht. 4392704. The non-tonic opening in classical and romantic music--[microform] /--by L. Poundie Burstein. (1988). Burstein, L. Poundie. Abstract. Includes abstract.. Thesis (Ph. D.)--City University of New York, 1988.. Bibliography: leaves 245-250.. ...
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Studia Musicologica, 2010
Although a half cadence marks the end of the transition section in most sonata-form expositions a... more Although a half cadence marks the end of the transition section in most sonata-form expositions and recapitulations, in many of Haydn’s sonata-form movements — especially those from around the 1760s — the end of the transition is instead articulated by a firm perfect authentic cadence. This establishes a point of harmonic resolution, rather than momentum, at this crucial formal juncture. As such, it yields an overall formal shape that departs from “textbook” sonata-form descriptions, which are based largely on later stylistic norms. The practice of having a strong tonic arrive in the middle of the exposition or recapitulation is a strategy that Haydn shared with other composers who flourished in the mid-eighteenth century, and it well accords with the descriptions of formal procedures found in Heinrich Christoph Koch’s Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition .
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Burnham's comments could apply not merely to these two symphonic movements but also to m... more Burnham's comments could apply not merely to these two symphonic movements but also to many other of Beethoven's works. Indeed, the ir-resolute striving toward a movement's central thematic and harmonic return is emblematic of the composer's style. A relatively early ...
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Music Analysis, 1998
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Formal Functions in Perspective
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In their responses to my article, A New View of Tristan Arthur Maisel and Bruce McKinney bring up... more In their responses to my article, A New View of Tristan Arthur Maisel and Bruce McKinney bring up a number of issues which merit further discussion. The first to which I would like to address myself is Maisel's notion that both the Prelude and the conclusion to Act I of Tristan start in one key and end in another.^ I do not question the validity of this notion in its entirety. I feel, however, that we should distinguish between works that begin in one key but are retrospectively interpreted in another (as I believe is the case in these sections of Tristan) and those pieces which shift keys in such a way that the closing key cannot be interpreted as the tonal goal of the opening sections. Although the seventh chord on E in bar 3 of Act I is at first perceived as a dominant seventh of A, I feel its initial harmonic tendency is so emphatically and repeatedly contradicted that one retrospectively interprets it, along with the rest of the Prelude, within the framework of the ultimate...
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Literary scholars have long recognized that gender can influence how writers present narratives. ... more Literary scholars have long recognized that gender can influence how writers present narratives. In particular, a number of feminist literary theorists, such as Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, have discussed the tendency for women to adopt a perspective that differs from that of their male counterparts, so as to establish a somewhat separate literary tradition. (1) This is not to imply that women writers express a monolithic viewpoint or that writers cannot transcend their own personal perspective. Rather, it simply acknowledges that much as one's own life experience--which is of course greatly affected by one's gender--can influence how one views people and situations in general, so can the life experiences of authors or poets influence how they portray the characters and situations in their own literary creations. The same is true when composers deal with literary texts. Of all the areas in which the gender of a composer can affect a work of music, perhaps none is so readi...
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Schubert's music often seems to negotiate the tension between reality and imagination. By con... more Schubert's music often seems to negotiate the tension between reality and imagination. By contrasting the forces of tonal affirmation and negation, his compositions can evoke a sense of memory or of presentiment, as though longing either for what was or for what might be. The resulting feeling of dissociation is indeed frequently cited as a central aspect of Schubert's art.2 It takes a special skill to create such a sense in a work of music. In life, unless one is dreaming or hallucinating, it is usually easy to distinguish an actual experience from one that is merely remembered or hoped for. Within a piece of music, on the other hand, it is not so simple to differentiate the two. For instance, a fully recapitulated theme typically will not appear as a memory, but rather as a reenactment of an earlier event. In order to establish an impression of a memory, a musical idea must be presented in a way that somehow is conspicuously incomplete, so that its reiteration will be acco...
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Orfeu
A striking gesture appears at the climax of the first phrase of the Menuetto from Ludwig van Beet... more A striking gesture appears at the climax of the first phrase of the Menuetto from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano in F minor, Op. 2, No. 1. This motivic gesture, which may be understood as derived from manipulation of standard voice-leading procedures, has intriguing ramifications that deeply affect the structure and narrative of the entire movement. These features are explored with the aid of Schenkerian analytic procedures, and the analysis is then compared to an interpretation of this same movement by Heinrich Schenker.
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... This issue was first raised openly by Maynard Solomon in "Franz Schubert and the Peacock... more ... This issue was first raised openly by Maynard Solomon in "Franz Schubert and the Peacocks of Benvenuto Cellini," Nineteenth-Century Music 12 (1989): 193-206; the most sustained set of responses and reactions may be found in a series of essays by a number of scholars in ...
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Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy
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Papers by Poundie Burstein
The proper citation is: “Schenker, Schenkerian Analysis, and Other Strange Bedfellows.” Plenary session address at the EuroMAC 10, 22 September 2021, Moscow (via Zoom).
Note: this is an English translation of essay to be published in Handbuch Musikanalyse. Methode und Pluralität, ed. Ariane Jeßulat, Oliver Schwab-Felisch, Jan Philipp Sprick, Christian Thorau. Kassel: Bärenreiter. 2017 is when the essay was written; the proper date of this essay is "forthcoming."
The proper citation is: “Schenker, Schenkerian Analysis, and Other Strange Bedfellows.” Plenary session address at the EuroMAC 10, 22 September 2021, Moscow (via Zoom).
Note: this is an English translation of essay to be published in Handbuch Musikanalyse. Methode und Pluralität, ed. Ariane Jeßulat, Oliver Schwab-Felisch, Jan Philipp Sprick, Christian Thorau. Kassel: Bärenreiter. 2017 is when the essay was written; the proper date of this essay is "forthcoming."
This was a keynote address delivered at the EuroMAC 10 conference, 22 September 2021, Moscow (via Zoom).