Elements of Sonata Theory is a comprehensive; richly detailed rethinking of the basic principles of sonata form in the decades around 1800. This foundational study draws upon the joint strengths of current music history and music theory to outline a new; up-to-date paradigm for understanding the compositional choices found in the instrumental works of Haydn; Mozart; Beethoven; and their contemporaries: sonatas; chamber music; symphonies; overtures; and concertos. In so doing; it also lays out the indispensable groundwork for anyone wishing to confront the later adaptations and deformations of these basic structures in the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries.Combining insightful music analysis; contemporary genre theory; and provocative hermeneutic turns; the book brims over with original ideas; bold and fresh ways of awakening the potential meanings within a familiar musical repertory. Sonata Theory grasps individual compositions-and each of the individual moments within them-as creative dialogues with an implicit conceptual background of flexible; ever-changing historical norms and patterns. These norms may be recreated as constellations "compositional defaults;" any of which; however; may be stretched; strained; or overridden altogether for individualized structural or expressive purposes. This book maps out the terrain of that conceptual background; against which what actually happens-or does not happen-in any given piece may be assessed and measured.The Elements guides the reader through the standard (and less-than-standard) formatting possibilities within each compositional space in sonata form; while also emphasizing the fundamental role played by processes of large-scale circularity; or "rotation;" in the crucially important ordering of musical modules over an entire movement. The book also illuminates new ways of understanding codas and introductions; of confronting the generating processes of minor-mode sonatas; and of grasping the arcs of multimovement cycles as wholes. Its final chapters provide individual studies of alternative sonata types; including "binary" sonata structures; sonata-rondos; and the "first-movement form" of Mozarts concertos.
#724955 in eBooks 2003-07-21 2003-07-21File Name: B0056JSM1O
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. excellent book for artists of all (almost all) levels.By TibbieI think Jerry does a great job here of presenting in a clear and concise way that allow most "novice" (Like me) artists to see what "good" and "bad" composition is. How are you to know unless someone has pointed it out. and it rarely is actually "taught" In lessons I have had. i hear "make sure your composition is well thought out". but what does that mean? Here Jerry explains and gives examples of what NOT to do. I learned a great deal from this book and was very happy I bought it and read it.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Composition is an Important KeyBy Larry D. NailI have all the Yarnell books. Good Composition is easy to see. but hard to teach. It is like teaching a budding photographer the difference between snapshots and photographs. What is that something that makes one picture great. and another one stink? It could be color. It could be mistakes in technique. like overmixing oils till they are mud. But what holds the eye is going to depend largely on composition.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy AliGreat book.
