130
CRITICAL FORUM
Allen Cadwallader and David GagneÂ, Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). viii+422 pp. £32.50. ISBN 0-19-510232-0 (hb).
It would be difficult to read Cadwallader and GagneÂ's new Schenker textbook without instantly drawing a comparison with Allen Forte and Steven Gilbert's Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis.1 This newer text, however, is certainly heir apparent to the field of workbooks in Schenkerian theory, for it supersedes Forte and Gilbert on many counts, not least in that it approaches the teaching of Schenkerian analysis from the `background' forwards. Written in two distinct parts, the book succinctly introduces the primary tools of Schenkerian analysis in Part One, and then applies them in Part Two, thus creating a pedagogical bridge between a basic textbook and full-scale graphic analysis. It uses clear language not only to teach students the means by which to create their own analytical graphs, but also to refer directly to Schenker's writings (a task which, to date, no other Schenker textbook has achieved quite so successfully). Part One, `Basic Principles', is broken down into the primary features of Schenkerian theory in much the same way as in Forte and Gilbert's text. There are some distinct differences between the two volumes, however, and many of these pertain not just to the effective format or presentation of material (as well as to matters of language and teaching style), but also to the ends by which analyses are justified. For example, there are repeated references to practical activity throughout the book, beginning as early as the Introduction with the suggestion that students should `play or listen to each example or exercise' (p. vii). These directives are clearly intended to give students a sense of tangible application for the study of analysis, this aim being latterly endorsed as a form of mission statement by which analysis is taken to be `beneficial both to our appreciation of a piece of music and to its performance' (p. 12). On this point, too, the main body of the text, which begins with an introduction to the features of Schenkerian analysis using a range of familiar musical examples, also serves to lead the student reader through some discussions of structure in a way that should plainly connect with whatever prior training in harmony and counterpoint he or she may have received. The relationship between melody and counterpoint is first introduced in the second chapter, which also offers a concise summary of species working for the uninitiated reader. This serves as an introduction to the status of passing notes as well as a general reference point for later sections of the book. There is perhaps a danger that students without a secure foundation in harmony might ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000
Music Analysis, 19/i (2000)
CRITICAL FORUM
131
become unstuck at this juncture since the chapter necessarily skips through the species somewhat rapidly. To its credit, however, the chapter also features a range of musical examples which, by their very familiarity, remove the need for close reference to a score: for instance, Greensleeves as an illustration of initial arpeggiated ascent, and Mozart's Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman theme and variations which is employed more extensively as a sample analysis. From here onwards, the conclusion of each chapter is supported by a set of exercises for students to work on, much as in Forte and Gilbert. However, the new book places far greater emphasis on continuity: for instance, half of the exercises for this same chapter use a single piece of musical material (Beethoven's variations on God Save the King) to help students follow basic theoretical concepts against a single structural background. Also of note is the number of vocal pieces (including Bellini's Casta Diva and lieder by Schubert and Wolf) chosen for this first set of exercises, a strategy that avoids the restrictive piano-centred approach so often associated with analytical textbooks. The next chapter addresses bass lines and related aspects of harmonic structure such as tonic prolongation, dominant harmonies, intermediate harmonies and cadences. The first sample analysis also succinctly covers the issue of modulation in a `global' context, referring to it not as a localised phenomenon, but in relation to complete compositions. As would be familiar to that generation of British undergraduates brought up on Nicholas Cook's example, the second half of the chapter uses Bach's C Major Prelude, BWV 846, as the basis for a block-chordal reduction of surface patterning.2 This reduction and the additional figured-bass notation supplied with it then serves to introduce the notion of an `imaginary continuo', an idea which is referred to several times throughout the book to great effect, but principally as a device through which to make distinctions `between local melodic detail and broader, structural association among tones' (p. 67). Linear techniques are introduced in the following chapter with some very clear graphic representations; at the same time, the musical and analytical examples slowly become more complex than in earlier chapters. Many of the graphs are shown directly below the actual score with equidistant bar lines for the sake of congruence. Even so, there is an obvious progression towards more recognisably `Schenkerian' representations. The several retrospective references to species counterpoint help to maintain a certain `comfort zone' for students as the graphs increase in scope. Nonetheless, readers are also encouraged to expand their horizons both chronologically and in terms of scale through references to a four-part Dowland song and some more obviously canonic examples taken from Brahms and Beethoven. Devoted to the exploration of the neighbour-note principle, the later part of this chapter then links deliberately with the start of the next. In its turn, Chapter 5 also sketches in some further details of graphic notation in the form of a prose variation of Music Analysis, 19/i (2000)
ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000
132
CRITICAL FORUM
the glossary provided by William Mitchell and Felix Salzer in the first volume of Music Forum.3 This follows a brief caveat asking the reader not to be confused by the appearance of new symbols (p. 113); indeed, I would agree that some form of disclaimer is needed at this point, for despite its gentle opening, this phase of the book becomes quite advanced, covering a large amount of material in only a few pages. For instance, in the course of just two sides of text (pp. 118±20), several fundamental theoretical concepts (including the Urlinie and Ursatz) are outlined. This, along with the inclusion of larger examples and a more consistent use of German terminology, certainly demands a great deal of additional effort from the student. Of course, perpetual deferral offers no particular solution to difficult yet essential aspects of pedagogy. Even so, for me, there may have been some advantage to modifying slightly the expository momentum at this particular point (at least for an undergraduate readership; postgraduate students plainly ought to encounter far fewer problems). Chapter 6 concentrates on techniques of melodic prolongation by introducing other theoretical features such as the nature of unfoldings and the initial ascent, while the next chapter concludes Part One by discussing a miscellany of basic elaborations and fundamental structures. Although this first half ends on a fairly elevated plane (examining principles such as `Urlinie parallelisms' amid a range of extended illustrations, the second part of the book becomes noticeably more challenging, and as such seems more suitable for postgraduate (or at least very advanced undergraduate) students. To this extent, the division of the text conforms to David GagneÂ's previously stated view that undergraduate theory and analysis classes are primarily intended to develop fundamental musical literacy and musicianship skills; graduate programs have a more specific professional focus, requiring a different orientation in subject matter and course work.4
A brief, two-page introduction subsequently clarifies the format of Part Two according to what the authors call `formal classifications commonly accepted in music pedagogy' (p. 199). Each chapter thus deals with a different musical form using longer excerpts, in some cases entire pieces, for the purposes of demonstration. As a result of this change in format, each musical example requires direct reference to the score; hence at this stage the text no longer reads like a workbook, but rather forms an effective link to the study and production of original voice-leading graphs, rather than isolated snippets of analytical material. Furthermore, the direct appeal to the score, as well as encouraging a closer comparison with the written note, could also be interpreted as developing a useful habit of mind among performance and composition students. Indeed, the repercussions of asking analysis students to `mark up' scores in this way may go on to realise some long-held aspirations, ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000
Music Analysis, 19/i (2000)
CRITICAL FORUM
133
whereby the next generation of performance students will indeed arrive at their instrumental lessons armed with graphically annotated scores and careted melody lines. One-part forms are the first class to be addressed, the commentary concentrating on Schubert lieder and thoughtfully including some commentary on the verbal rhythm of the poems. There are also a number of references to this repertoire as understood from a performer's point of view (`in songs the singer is usually perceived as the dramatic protagonist and consequently as being primary in musical terms') and even the audience's (`an audience will not be following the score'; both quotations p. 218). As elementary as the latter observation may seem, it is indicative of just how far the authors remained concerned to contextualise the practice of analysis, rather than allowing it to stand apart as a presumed end in itself. This impulse is equally well represented by the succeeding discussion of binary forms (Chapter 9), which includes commentary on larger symphonic movements as well as returning once again to the Bach C Major Prelude. Here, though, we also witness the transition from observing student to autonomous analyst, as some more in-depth issues enter the discussion, notably a debate over the nature of subjective decision making, and the question of interpretation running `counter to a ``music as heard'' description' (p. 248). The succeeding passage of commentary on ternary and rondo forms sees the return of a more piano-centred set of musical examples, although the depth of inquiry is by now rather advanced, with a multitude of graphic illustrations largely compensating for any deficiency of repertoire. This phase of the book also acts as preparation for the inevitable chapter on `The Sonata Principle', which, over twenty-five pages, proceeds to discuss the first movement of a Mozart piano sonata (KV 457 in C Minor) in immense detail. Each segment of the form is approached in turn, although the reader is never permitted to lose the sense of compositional freedom with which the genre might be approached. The book then comes to a close with a summary of those theoretical elements not covered in the rest of the text, as well as a more advanced discussion of the Ursatz in relation to the concepts of interruption and chromatic tonality. There have been frequent prospective references to this chapter in previous sections, yet while the text here is drier than before, it performs a successfully conclusive function. In compiling a text that manages quite so case sensitively to bridge the gap between a class workbook and Der freie Satz, Cadwallader and Gagne should go on to secure an honourable position within the tradition of Schenkerian pedagogy. The few reservations that persist for me certainly pertain not to matters of readability or substance, but rather perhaps to the restricted sense of how Schenkerian theory fits into the field of analysis as a whole. On a more mundane level, there are a number of rather confusing typographical anomalies, strange capitalisations and misleading octave designations about Music Analysis, 19/i (2000)
ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000
134
CRITICAL FORUM
which intending teachers would do well to be alert. That said, the examples are unfailingly clear in purpose, with each aspect of graphic notation convincingly explained. The text is also refreshingly free of overtly scientific jargon in respect of both specific Schenkerian and more commonplace musical terms. With the exception of some of the larger supplementary scores, the selfcontained nature of the book makes it financially viable as a classroom text. However, the final word must rest with the student, for it is only in the classroom environment that a textbook can really be tested. On this count, an informal survey conducted among a number of British postgraduate colleagues revealed a significant problem with the constant forward references to the final chapter throughout the book (as well as with some of the inevitable loose ends it leaves trailing). That said, I would envisage that although this issue may be slightly more problematic for an undergraduate class than for postgraduate students, any difficulties can be overcome if the course of study is long enough to allow time for discussion and cross-referencing. In any case, the structure of the book allows the two parts to be used separately, a factor which confirms rather than undermines the guiding impression of student- and teacherfriendliness. VICTORIA VAUGHAN NOTES 1.
Allen Forte and Steven E. Gilbert, An Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis (New York: Norton, 1982).
2.
Nicholas Cook, A Guide to Musical Analysis (London: Dent, 1987), pp. 28±34.
3.
William J. Mitchell and Felix Salzer (eds.), `A Glossary of the Elements of Graphic Analysis', The Music Forum, 1 (1967), pp. 260±68.
4.
David GagneÂ, `The Place of Schenkerian Analysis in Undergraduate and Graduate Curricula', Indiana Theory Review, 15/i (1994), p. 22.
Jerrold Levinson, Music in the Moment (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997). xii+184 pp. £19.95. ISBN-0-8014-3129-8 (hb).
Within the Society for Music Theory, Music in the Moment was the most discussed book of 1998. The volume was the topic of a three-hour session at the Society's national conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and its author, ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000
Music Analysis, 19/i (2000)
