CHAPTER 25
LISTENING TO TOPICS IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
JULIAN HORTON
HisToricat AND THEORETICAL | CONTEXTS
Problems of Topical Analysis and Nineteenth-Century Music
ing eighteenth-century music arises
gaps between analysis, hermeneu-
Agawu's terms, to music’ introversive and extroversive dimensions (Agawu 1
son ofthe eighteenth-century topical us
Ratner 1980: 9), drawn from mus
‘ous social functions and
ment styles, captures this productive bifocalit
at once marks out the terain of eighteenth-century musical style and embodies tan
eibly the society from which it arose. The theorys credentials are therefore at base
unlike (for example) Schenkerian theory, which in its eighteenth-century
applications courts anachronism in its imposition of an organicist mentality on a
pre-idealist repertoire, topical approaches coordinate analysis with the musi’ hi
torical context.
Aswe ener the nineteenth century, however, thes credentials ecome a problematic
as they are advantageous. The critical difficulty is that theory and context no longer align
inthe way that Ratner describes topicsacquirea conflicted identity in nineteenth-century
musi, the sense of which iscapturedin Agawuls remark tha, although “there is. level
of continuity between eighteenth- and nineteenth-century styles
historical narrative posited onthe existence ofa cate
it is nevertheless “equally problematc..to assert a straightforward historical continuity
een
LISTENING TOTOPICSINTHENINETEENTH CENTURY 643,
in the way topics are used” (Agawu 2009: 42). nthe one hand, the eighteenth-century
‘thesaurus persists, but in changed social circumstances, and this renders attempts to
read topical discourse as social commentary irreducibly complex, For the generation
of composers born in the first two decades of the nineteenth century, classical topics
had themselves become historicized, and were thus received less as markers of social
‘meaning, and more as conventions defining an emerging tradition. On the other hand,
nnineteenth-century composers also devised fresh topics, which as facets ofa new style are
years later: we have by this time to account forthe expansion ofthe urban working class
and bourgeoisie in the wake of industrialzation, as well as the accelerating commodi-
fication of music and the transference of high-musical cultures curation from aristo-
cratic to bourgeois hands. Such changes compel reappraisal of apparent contin
Deployment for example, the "Pifa” from Part I of Handel's
contexts: the “other” of Lists pastoral music isan
ized urban landscape that Handel could scarcely have imagined.
‘music affords particularly clear evidence ofthese developments. Postclassical
the extent and speed of such reorie
expressesa stylized militarism that resonates with Ratner's terms, drawing from the top
ical lexicon in order to present waras social convention. The Finale of Beethoven's Fifth,
Jn contrast, reconstrues the march as an agent of utopianism: whereas Haydn reflects
4 social context through a topical style, Beethoven employs a topical style to imagine
by locating the march as the goal ofa formal narrative.
‘even more distant from the classical thesaurus, The
progress tothe scaffold Is inconceivable without the French-revolutionary
experience, but its expressive stance is also a negation of Beethoven's idealism, The
‘march becomes a vehicle for a characteristically romantic narrative, which turns the
bls... The musical quackery of the French School can do us no good: we wish to hear
Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Handel simply and eleganty treated” (Weber 200
In Vienna, Ignaz Ritter von Mosel expressed a similar sentiment when he railed i
‘against the “variations upon popular melodies that are nothing but gutter language” pre-
ing in contemporary concerts. Mosel also installed Mozart and Beethoven as ideal
alternatives, while lamenting their marginal presence (Weber 2008: 1:7). And, notwith-
standing the dominance of opera, an idealism focused on Viennese classicism also took
hola in Paris thanks in part to the Conservatoire concerts, which, as Joseph DiOrtique
aes rare not a place to get together and chat, but a sanctuary to which the writer, the
lock” (Holoman 2004 99)
P Smultancoud, however, the pedagogy supporting informed listening shifted its
focus from rhetoric to form. ‘The early century’
valued the cognition of forms arising in a
rhetoric, key succession, and “schemata”
Burnham 2002). This reorienta
of Practical Composition,
‘would ident
no indepen
‘requirements:
tus. Instead, Czerny nominates three basic compos!
ideas and figures must be original, and
zmmar (apiece mus “observ all the rules of pure
ust have the regular form and construction which
‘longs, and which, since the birth of modern
‘music, have been established by the works ofall good masters"). The third requirement
supplies Czery’s operative concept: the treatise asa whole progresses systematically
through the “species” evident in soo,
reflecting the perception that any composition
existence”; and each species is defined above al by itso
3 forms, since “in order
i
i
j
i
LISTENING TO TOPICS INTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY 647,
Table 25.2 Czerny/s Six Categories of Species
tal Solo Vocal Seed Serio
Cetegory: Piano Mi Music __Opera__Musie__ Sacred
Species 125 ios 1.Song 1 Overture 1. Mass
2.Cansonet 2 Resitatve 2 Requiem 2 Cort
4 Romance 2.Song 3 TeOeum
4.Grandara «Ara 4 Ofetory
S Galas § Ovetere § Gradual
Grand 6 Motet
concert 7. Choral
Notun
10. Short piece
‘The fluidity of defining characterst
considered the structure of themé
explaining its four
{fantasia and variation ina similar way; subsequently, however, formal and t
1 chapter on dance (1848, 1 104-8) furnishes a topical lexicon redolent of
by theie metrical, rhythmic, and expres-
able 25.3)? Military music-is treated asa species by isel* Czerny
lentfes ive subtypes (quick march, defiling march, parade march, sol-
pics. Thus the chapter on the étude
teenth-century forms: "for as we are
‘unfortunately not
rondo!
ofthe piano miniature. The nocturne, explained as an outgrowth ofthe vocal serenade,648 JULIAN HORTON
Table 25.3 Ceerny’s Dance Topies
Pola
9 Bosero
10 Fandango
‘own chapter, taking John Field as a representative exponent; and the chep-
I forms also introduces the bagatell, impromptu, romance, ballad, and song
without words (Czerny 1848, 1: 97-99), This maneuver sheds light on the treatise’ his-
torical orientation. Although Czerny makes no strong distinction between classic and
romantic (the forms ofthe sonata and the nocturne all in his general concept
‘of “modern” music), he nevertheless betrays an emergent sense that some species have
become reified asa body of practice.
ANALYSIS
Schumann and the Piano Concerto
indard-bearer for the strong form of idealism, who was committed more than
‘most to its literary transmission, Schumann constitutes perhaps the clearest example of
‘ composer carving out a postclassical position that acknowledged the new imperative
of expert listening. The convergence of
several reasons. Of al the genres with which he was concerned during his editorship of
the Neue Zeitschif fiir Musik, the piano concerto provoked perhaps the most consis.
tently enunciated set of ideas, which translated into a compositional mandate ultimately
realized in the Piano Concerto Op. 54. The body of concerti with which Schumann
engaged, moreover, exhibits a uniquely clear and consistent system of topics, closely
aligned with issues of form. Schumann's formal strategies in Op. 54 are inthis way int-
‘mately related to hi reception of the topical postures of the so-called virtuoso concerto.
‘The reception ofthe virtuoso concerto inthe fist halfofthe nineteenth century xem
plifies in muce the critical trn against miscellany mapped out by Weber. This was
tionalized in the founding principles ofthe London Philharmonic Society, which in 1813,
admitted “the best and most approved instrumental musi” but specifically excluded
LISTENING TOTOPICSINTHENINETEENTH CENTURY 649,
|
i
at they should not like virtuos
inanns own responsesare documented in reviews written between 1836 and 1840
of concerti Field, Hummel, Ries, Moscheles, Kalkbrenner, Choy
Tarking behind this precy the tension between sutra and casual
explored above. Composer-pianists had turned the gente into vehicle for personal dis-
play, and this threatened the music's coherence, because it risked converting a unified
form into a pot pourri of melodies and virtuosic episodes. Ina review of Kalkbrenner'’s
Fourth Concerto, Schumenn rebuked “composers of concert-concertos” on the grounds
‘that they habitually “prepared the solos already before the tutis” surmising that "Herr
‘Kalkbrenner devised his introductory and internal tuttis later, and merely shoved them
{nto place” (Kreisig 964, 1:55; translation in Macdonald 2005: 123). Schuman puta-
tive Solution is sketched in a review of Moscheles’s fifth and sixth concert, in which he
imagined as an alternative to the prevailing form “small concert pieces, in which the
aspiration is linked to an overcoming of
composer who realizes the above idea is also
rchestra and piano may be combined, how the
Tonger a mere spec
1965:146~47).
‘These arguments have im
reconceives the genre bears
dardized
between bravura, cantabile (or espressve) and: brillant (display) topics, distributed
simultaneously at various formal levels. As Table 25.4 explains tis discourse typically
‘maps onto the form asa whole. Often, it also articulates lower formal levels, All three
topics, for instance, follow in neat succession inthe St solo-entry preface and transition
‘of Chopin's Concerto in E minor, Op. 11 (Example 25.1) Chopin begins with a periodic
first dea (albeit without a medial cadence), based on the martial 3/4 music of Rr’ first
theme, which clearly enunciates a bravura style (octave and wide chordal textures dec:
figurations). There follows a subsidiary theme (mm. 155
‘urne and bel canto idioms. This episode is closed with a perfect authentic cadence, ush-
mn, the continuous sixteenth-note passagework of which emphasizesTable 25.4 Typical Correlation of Topics and Form in the Virtuoso Concerto First-Movement Form
Large-scale finetions 1: Exposition? Eoositon2
Large-scale functions 2:1 st
Inter-thematic functions: m 8 c Oe Wn
Tops: march __marchbrilon/Sturm singing style marchbrilon/Sturm und Orang wravure: dslay singing ste
und orang expressive (bilont
Large-scale Functions 1: Exposivon 2 (ont) Development Recapitltion
Large-seale functions 2: Si{cont) 2 s2 mS.
Inter-thematie functions: ¢ Preeore Cow me es
Topies: Sisley march trawra, display (brilont match wawualespressio
(eran espresso
Large-seale Functions 1: Recapiuation cont} Code
Large-scale functions 2: 52 cont) Re
Interthematic functions: TH fc
Topics: splay singing style Aisplay —_marcftvilondSturm und Drang
(enon (ering
mmisnetamnmaminasctenet ees ee
(romuyuog)
Pomsagpea neem)
ete
7
pert |
Sane
zs
“1g 6E “wr 4 °do oun ut eH22U0. ouRIA “uNdoy) rSe-mUMVEEical‘annus 25.2 Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. sai, mm. 1-2,
= fe 4 ale “oe
- 2 ==
F 2
Ce set ea
ea Hpaeee
the display charac-
sixteenth-note figu-
i
the Andante espressivo episode in mm. 156-84 has
iterpolated slow movement, despite its derivation from the frst
fone of the three virtuoso styles
‘36 style). The remainder of the
5
E
2
é
i
8g
z
3656 JULIAN HORTON
Table 25.5 Form and topics in the development of Schumann's Piano Concerto
in A minor, Op. 54/i
(Scherzo)
(Siow movement)
Development
rocturne episode pre-core Core Ar
nocturne cheno dspayloppassianoto
espresso} (brawre)
Keys: 1 1 vis stending on Vi
— SS ort
the third part and retransition return to display, albeit once again submerged beneath a
rlopment of the ist theme.
Bruckner’s Topics, Bruckner’s Critics
‘The difficulties of relating topical analysis to social context ate in various ways exacerbated
as we enter the later nineteenth century. The polarization of critical positions into conse:
political context characterized by the consolidation of liberal and right-wing attitudes.
‘Simultaneously, the performance conventions and notions of canon that are emergent in
the early century become firmly established, and the focus of critical debate moves avay
from tensions between idealism and older performative or “amateur” cultures, and toward
opinions gathering around Wagnerian aesthetic, the strands of formalism embodied in
Eduard Hanslicks writings, and varieties of nationalism from ars gallica in France to the
Kuchkists in Russa. At the same time, the pedagogical culture ofthe early century begins
to feed into compositional practice in more tangible ways: the Formenlehren of Adolf
Bernhard Marx, Czerny, and others embed a concept of expertise grounded in a conscious
sical canon and the whole-movement forms it bequeathed, thereby
ion between structural listening and knowledge of Viennese class:
classical topics gains complexity accordingly: pet-
sisting classical topics accrue an additional half-century of sociopolitical baggage: andthe
novel topics of the early century themselves become refied as markers of tradition.
‘These factors are nowhere more evident than in Vienna; and in no area of Viennese
musical life are they more starkly exposed than in debates about the symphony.
Arguments about the coherence of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies were central to this
discourse. Liberal critics wrested especially with the problem of explaining bald topical
juxtapositions, marrying perceptions of rhetorical discontinuity with complaints that
LISTENING TO TOPICS INTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY _ 657
1 categories of structural listening, especially the
the symphonies offended agains
883, Hanslick noted “the grotesque humour
ofthe Scherzo, which staggers about wearily and moves from one inexplicable contrast
885 review ofthe String Quinte famously dismissed Bruckner as
“an anarchist who pitlessly sacrifices everything that is called logic and clarity of devel
‘opment and structural and tonal unity” (Howie 2002 38, 443~44)-Topical disunity and
ly conflated in Gustav Démpke’ review of the 1886
ofthe Seventh Symphony the work that did more than any other
international reputation. Dompke dismissed the
constituted from the most heterogen
of Beethovers and Wagner’ music” sourcing ths disorder to the absence of “an intl-
lect which iseapable of sifting these influences according to their value and ess
ingredients” Démpke traced the Schero’s thetorcal incoherence to its juxtaposition
of high and ow styes (the musics “ugly mistue of roughness and over-refinement”),
‘but reserved his strongest judament for the Finale, which, he complained, “as a whole
appears to have been swept together with «broom (Howie 2003: 508-5).
inslick’ party line was comparably toed by Max Kalbeck, whose review also high
ed an appar geneity of old and new and high and low style, combined
1 the expertise that isthe Kenner’s measure oF artistic success
ymphony’s inner movemer
s dregs
»mpt comedy with stock charac=
picture painted ina variety of
{The} Seventh Symphony is no more th
ters which ae partly attractive and par
thedead and mutilated remains ofan old world doomed to destruction, not the frit
Ful seeds of¢ new world struggling tocome into being, (Howie 2002: 510)
Kalbeck’ view is nuanced by historical value judgments, which are characteristic of
ing the progressive claim that Bruckner takes up Beethoveris sym-
albeck counters thatthe alliance of Beethoven and Wagner is not
The exposition
preference for three sharply profiled theme groups,
central to which isthe establishment of topical identities delineated by rhetorically
‘marked caesurae. The frst group isa martial variant ofthe first movement’smain theme,
‘sententil period and an appended sixter
valing (Example25.)sbym.3,
horns, which preigures the second theme.658 JULIAN HORTON
suis 253 Bruckner, Symphony No. 7 in E major, mm. 19-38
= be
ete
Responding to the transitions closing measures, the second group unfolds an unas-
suming chorale elaborated with a walking bass. Again, the syntaxis conventional, con-
trastng the first group's periodic design with a small ternary form (A section in min
{35-503 contrasting middle in mm, 51-64: A reprise in mm. 65-88; transition in mm,
89-92), but the harmonic language once more challenges the conventionality of both
topic and form, by dislocating the tonal relationships that frame intrathematic Func
tions, Thus the statement in mm. 35-38 begins in A flat major and concludes with a per
fect cadence in B flat the response that follows opens in B major and cadences at m. 42
{in C sharp; the continuation itself exhibits a statement-response pairing, the phrases of
‘which progres from C sharp to V of E and F flat to V of G flat respectively. Such frac
turing of the phrase design’ diatonic consistency characterizes the entire group, with
8 concomitant impact on is tonal stability. The musi reaches something ike a condi-
tion of repose inthe latter half ofthe contrasting middle (mm. 55-64), which stands on
LISTENING TO TOPICS INTHENINETEENTH CENTURY _ 659
\V of F minor; but the reprise sidesteps this preparation, retrieving A flat as a point of
departure; and the music's subsequent course gives A flat no security as a possible tonic,
Instead extending the continuation material into a sequence culminating at the group's
endon V of A minor
“Although the fi
its topical ident
sas the basis ofthe third group from m. 93,
fine march that the first group promises is.
‘transformed into an imposing fortssimo theme in octaves, which, in an act of studied
archaism, recalls the French-overture styl also supplying the main theme with
‘dramatic alter ego that initially tonicizes A minor: The music's Baroque posture is
reinforced by its sequential character: the entre group in mm. 93-112 comprises a series
‘of sequences: a four-measure model and its sequence in mm. 93-100; a two-measure
‘model and its sequence in 101~4, which spawns a four-measure linear intervallic pat-
tern in mm, 105-8; and a two-measure model in mm. 169-10, the sequence of which is
4iscontinued in m, 12. Thereafter, the frst theme’s
‘exposition comes to rest on
nother topical shift: the pedal and string tills insinuate the pastoral style; the melodic
‘material as the character ofa hunting call or fanfare.
ions topical discourse is tangibly social (extroversive) as well as
first theme and closing group offer opposed formu-
istic buffa march is transformed into a dramatized,
Baroque pastiche; the second theme is sacred. These topics
to do markedly postclasscal sociocultural
fan Austria-Hungary in the aftermath of
1868; his sacred style posits Catholicism
136-37; Horton 2004: 6-63). The ten-
sion between eighteenth-century ir late-nineteenth-century context is
reflected in the conflation of classical syntax and post-Wagnerian harmony: both treat
historicized conventions as vessels for modern musical and extra-musical content.
Broadly speaking, the remainder ofthe movement reorders this discourse so that the
buffa march has the last word. The development is conventional up to a point a pre-
core based on the fanfare material (mim. 145-62) yields to a martial core dwelling on
the
‘theme in mm. 163-90. The closing group returns, beginning in B minor, from.
biguous caesura in m. 21, af
inging with it the emerging p
4 reversed recapitulation isin progres. This impression is reinforced when
‘theme's contrasting middle merges into the frst theme continuation phrase in m. 246,
and confirmed with thelitera fist theme tonic reprise at m. 275
Tf the diagnosis of ¢ reversed recapitulation seems simplistic (the tonic is nowhere
implied untilm. 275), wemightat east argue that thedevelopment "becomes" reversed
recapitulation in the sense recenty formulated by Janet Schmalflt (a
cess has a fundamental impact on the procession of topic. Inthe exposition, the juxta-
‘position of march and chorale leads toa closing section that corrupts the fist theme’660 JULIAN HORTON
LISTENING TO TOPICSINTHENINETEENTH CENTURY 661
topical identity. In the recapitulation, retrieval ofthe closing group leads to a harmonic
and expressive impasse (m. 212) after which the music conversely works toward the fist
theme via the chorale. The reversal of thematic order facilitates continuity between cho-
rale and march, which inthe exposition was covert at bes; in so doing, it engineers a
kind of topical and therefore social, reconciliation
Bruckner saves one further event for the coda, which seals this sense of expressive
resolution. The recapitulation culminates in mm. 313-15 in an impressive authentic
‘cadence built from an augmentation ofthe main theme’ cadential phrase, which leads
into the movement’ frst sustained use ofa pos topic. The first theme builds
up from m. 315 over a tonic pedal, leading in m. 331 to a grand retrieval of the first
jovement’s end reflects a strikingly modern
tension between classical topics and
tonic, melts away in the wake of the decisive st
‘music is released from its dependence on classi
identity
‘The subjection of inherited topics toa kind of harmonic and gestural radicalization
in this movement amply explains the impression of incoherence expressed in the lib
eral press, even allowing for partisan political motivations. The narrative implied by
the topical discourse and its formal disposition is nevertheless clear: Bruckner creates
«a thetorical deadlock inthe exposition signified by gestural discontinuities, from which
the form is liberated inthe recapitulation by reversing the topical and form-functional
order. Hermeneutic capital may well be made from the sacred topic’s pivotal role inthis
narrative, mindful of Bruckner’s devout faith; yet for the present purposes, itis perhaps
more instructive to note the formal logic that the topical discourse articulates. Pace
Hanslick, Bruckner’ music still demands a kind of structural listening, but its detection
‘equiresa special sensitivity to the topics postclasscal condition,
Conciusion
Agawuis narrative ofthe topic’ evolution from the eighteenth to the twentieth century is
‘worth quoting n fall, both asan apposite summary and a starting point for debate:
‘To put these developments in a nutshell in
‘ured as stylized conventions and were gener
cightoenth centu
invoked without
ignality. In the nineteenth
‘of expressive possibilities
essentially public without sacrificing any sor of will
century, these impulses were retained, but the burgeo
brought other kinds of topic into view... Twentieth-century topical practice became,
in part, a repository of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century usages even asthe uni-
verse was expanded to include the products of various strategie denials. (Agawu
2009: 48)
[As this synopsis indicates, there should be no impediment to adapting topic theory
beyond the confines ofthe eighteenth century; on the contrary, the development of a
substantial view of nineteenth-century musical style is impossible without acknow!-
‘music are to succeed, then we need to amend our analytical methodology as well as the
ies. Crucial to ths is a willingness to test statements about topical usage
1g backdrop of and social
Circumstances, from expert Ustning aod canon form
ion, Bruckner’s topics, like Mozart, are “subjects for musical
retrieve Ratner’ phrase; but between 1791 and 1896 the nature of that discourse changes
irrevocably,
Notes
1. Topic theory serves a a platform for analyeing nineteenth-century music in rather dif=
ferent sense inthe work of Robert Hatten (1994; 2004).
‘2 Onthecharacteristics ofthe nocturne as genre, se erey Kalberg (1988; 1992).On changes
In piano technology inthis time and the development ofthe nocturne syle, see Rowland
(soso saa
ons by Matheson and Sulzer See
‘church, theatrical, and chamber
volume),
5, This typology suggestsan ever groving difeenttion of marches in the nineteenth cen
tury, For the early stages ofthis process in the eightenth century, see Andrew Haringer’s
chapter (this volume).662_JULIAN HORTON
6. Gooley examines 2 variety of perspectives in the writings of Schumann, Hanslick,
Withelm Tries, Gotfied Fink, Eduard Kriger, August Kahler, Carl Gollmick, Heinrich
Hirschbach, and Ludwig Granzin, in which context Schumann and Fink occupied oppo
site poles of pinion,
7 ‘hllerdings fet es an kleineren Konzertsticken, in denen der Virtuose den Allegro-
‘Adagio- und Rondo-Vortrag gleich ent sig 964,163)
8. Myabbreviations for components ofthe sonata form aretaken from Hepokoskiand Darcy
(2006).
9. ‘These formal innovations stand more sharply in reli inthe frst movement’ original
«conception sa single-movement Phantasie, competed in 843 the remaining two
‘ments were completed in 3845. On the genesis ofthe Phantase, se Macdonald (1995) and
Daverio (1997: 237-38).
10. ‘Mary Hunters remarks about buffa marches (this volume) providea useful context for my
discussion,
1, The reversed recapitulation isa problematic category This movement recapitulation has
been interpreted as uch by Timothy 1, Jackson (1997). On the other hand, the concept of,
the reversed recapitulation in classical sonata forms is rejected by James Hepakoski and
‘Warren Darcy (2006:365-69).
12, Agawu (2009: 48-49) cites an unpublished lexicon of twentieth-century musical topics
"Carmina Burana" and Carl Orff Author(s) : Jack M. Stein Source: Monatshefte, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Summer, 1977), Pp. 121-130 Published By: University of Wisconsin Press Accessed: 29-01-2018 01:57 UTC