It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Editorial Board, to announce the
publication of the first items in vol. 3 (2007-8) of the *Journal of the
Society for Musicology in Ireland*. Two articles, one review article and
two reviews are now issued: the Table of Contents is reproduced below, with
abstracts of the articles at the end of this message. Further articles and
reviews, currently in the pipeline, will be appended to the volume as soon
as they are ready.
To access the journal, go to http://www.music.ucc.ie/jsmi/
JSMI is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal established in 2005. It is
published exclusively online and its full-text contents are entirely free to
access. Authors interested in submitting articles for consideration are
invited to get in touch with me. For more details about the journal, see
http://www.music.ucc.ie/jsmi/index.php/jsmi/about/editorialPolicies
With best wishes
Paul Everett
Executive Editor, JSMI
Dr Paul Everett
Head of Department
Department of Music
University College Cork, Ireland
===========
Table of contents (so far)
Vol. 3 (2007-8)
Articles:
Sarah McCleave (Queen's University, Belfast)
'Marie Sallé and the Development of the *Ballet en action*'
James William Sobaskie (University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point)
'Precursive Prolongation in the *Préludes* of Chopin'
Review article:
Julian Horton (University College Dublin)
'Analysis, Philosophy and the Challenge of Critical Theory: Michael
Spitzer’s *Music as Philosophy: Adorno and Beethoven’s Late Style*'
Reviews:
Fabian Huss (University of Bristol)
Review of Lewis Foreman, *Bax: A Composer and His Times*, third edition (2007)
Marie McCarthy (University of Michigan)
Review of Séamas de Barra, *Aloys Fleischmann* (2006)
---
Abstracts:
Marie Sallé and the Development of the *Ballet en action*
Sarah McCleave
This article identifies the role played by acclaimed dancer and
choreographer Marie Sallé (170756) in the development of the *ballet en
action*. This is done by making a lexicographical study of key terms
(particularly action, character, and intrigue) found in the writings of
contemporaries who praised the dancer, such as revolutionary choreographer
Jean-Georges Noverre and critic Louis de Cahusac. This lexicographical study
is then applied to some of Sallé’s important creative works of the
mid-1730s, including Handel’s *Terpsichore* (London, 1734), a revival of
André Campra’s *L’Europe galante* (Paris, 1736), the ‘Ballet des Fleurs’
from Rameau’s *Les Indes galantes* (Paris, 1735) as well as *Bacchus and
Ariadne* (London, 1734).
---
Precursive Prolongation in the *Préludes* of Chopin
James William Sobaskie
The poetic allusiveness of Chopin’s *Préludes*, Op. 28 (1839), intrigues and
inspires-yet remains remarkably elusive. However, the concept of
'precursive prolongation', founded on the Schenkerian notions of
prolongation, diminution and structural levels, offers insight. Precursive
prolongations, which include anticipations, appoggiaturas, secondary
dominants and initial ascents, as well as elaborated versions of these plus
those structures Heinrich Schenker called 'auxiliary cadences', all are
distinguished by the trait of prospective dependency. Expectations elicited
by these tonal structures correspond to many of the allusive qualities we
perceive in Chopin’s *Préludes*.
This article begins with a survey of familiar precursive prolongations. It
then proceeds to a definition that also distinguishes the concept of
precursive prolongation from Schenker’s notion of auxiliary cadence. Next,
analyses of several of Chopin’s *Préludes*(including those in C major, A
major, B major, A-flat major, F minor and E minor) serve to demonstrate its
ability to illuminate the structure and poetry of these pieces. The article
concludes, among other findings, that many of Chopin’s *Préludes* exhibit a
structural plan, described here as the 'attempt, attempt->achievement'
paradigm, that simulates a struggle to achieve a goal or to solve a problem
by exploiting the suggestive power of precursive prolongation. Finally, the
preludes in F minor and E minor are revealed to be most unusual tonal
compositions in that each delays the first structural statement of its tonic
harmony until its final bar, and each lacks a true fundamental line.
Musical excerpts (accompanied by aural examples) and analytical sketches
provide illustration.
---
Analysis, Philosophy and the Challenge of Critical Theory: Michael Spitzer’s
*Music as Philosophy: Adorno and Beethoven’s Late Style*
Julian Horton
Michael Spitzer’s *Music as Philosophy: Adorno and Beethoven’s Late Style*
(Indiana University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-253-34724-6) pursues multiple lines
of scholarly enquiry. As a musicological study, the book advances an
historicist agenda, which grounds the understanding of Beethoven’s music in
an extension of its contemporaneous philosophical context. As a
music-analytical study, it proposes an approach based on fluid philosophical
and style-historical categories, and so opposes the quasi-scientific,
theory-heavy strategies that increasingly dominate transatlantic music
analysis. As a template for current scholarly practice, *Music as
Philosophy* fights a rearguard action against the postmodern opprobrium that
Adorno and his descendents have recently endured. This review article
evaluates Spitzer’s study against the background of recent critical
engagements with Adorno’s legacy, especially that advanced by Richard
Taruskin, estimating the analytical efficacy of Spitzer’s Adornian
apparatus, and appraising the defence of critical theory it mounts, in view
of the postmodern hostility such modes of thought have of late provoked.
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