Metric Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart. Chamber Music for Strings, 1787-1791

2011 Wallace Berry Award.

- Unique combination of historical and modern theories of rhythm and meter
- Refreshingly new readings of the celebrated repertory of Haydn and Mozart's string chamber music
- Reveals that Haydn and Mozart frequently manipulated the listener's expectations for "humor"
- Brings together current research in music theory and music cognition and of music-theoretical treatises from the 18th century

Playing with Meter makes a significant contribution to music theory and to the growing conversation on metric perception and musical composition. Focusing on the chamber music of Haydn and Mozart produced during the years 1787 to 1791, the period of most intense metric experimentation in the output of both composers, author Danuta Mirka presents a systematic discussion of metric manipulations in music of the late 18th-century. By bringing together historical and present-day theoretical approaches to rhythm and meter on the basis of their shared cognitive orientations, the book places the ideas of 18th-century theorists such as Riepe, Sulzer, Kirnberger and Koch into dialogue with modern concepts in cognitive musicology, particularly those of Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, David Temperley, and Justin London. In addition, the book puts considerations of subtle and complex meter found in 18th-century musical handbooks and lexicons into point-by-point contact with Harald Krebs's recent theory of metrical dissonance. The result is an innovative and illuminating reinterpretation of late 18th-century music and music perception which will have resonance in scholarship and in analytical teaching and practice. Playing with Meter will appeal to students and scholars in music theory and cognition/perception, and will also have appeal to musicologists studying Haydn and Mozart.

CONTENIDO:

Chapter 1. Musical Meter between Composition and Perception
1.1.: The Concept of Meter in the Late Eighteenth Century
1.2.: Revival of the Hierarchical Concept of Meter in the Twentieth Century
1.3.: Toward a Dynamic Model of Meter
1.4.: Borrowing from a Different Model
Chapter 2. Finding Meter
2.1.: Statistical Parameters
2.1.1.: Stress (Dynamic Accent)
2.1.2.: Length (Agogic or Durational Accent)
2.1.3.: Pitch (Melodic Accent)
2.2.: Harmony
2.2.1.: Harmonic Change
2.2.2.: Harmonic Stability
2.3.: Streaming and the Role of Bass
2.4.: Cadence (Structural Accent)
Chapter 3. Sustaining Meter-Challenging Meter
3.1.: Metrum and Regularity of Beats
3.2.: Missing Beats
3.3.: General Pauses
3.4.: Fermatas
3.5.: Syncopations
Chapter 4. Changing Meter I: Change of Period
4.1.: Imbroglio
4.2.: Submetrical Dissonance
4.3.: Hemiola
Chapter 5. Changing Meter II: Change of Phase
5.1.: Chains of Rhythmical Dissonances
5.2.: Other Parameters in Displacement Dissonances
5.3.: Imitation
5.4.: Ligaturae, Retardation, Anticipation
5.5.: Syncopated Accompaniment
5.6.: Remark on Subliminal Dissonances
Chapter 6. Changing Meter III: Change of Tactus
6.1.: Changes of Taktteile in Compound Meters
6.2.: Changes of Taktteile in Double Measures
6.3.: Perceptual Factors
6.4.: Taktteile and the Tactus
Chapter 7. Analyses of Long-Range Metrical Strategies
Haydn, String Quartet in C major, Op. 50 No. 2, First Movement
Haydn, String Quartet in F minor, Op. 55 No. 2, Finale
Chapter 8. Wit, Comedy and Metric Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart's Personal Styles
8.1.: Haydn
8.2.: Mozart
8.3.: Haydn's Earlier and Later String Quartets
8.4.: Inconclusive Conclusion
Notes
References
Index