MD SQ-SQ tension in Mozart's Symphony No38

From: Valuemetaphysics@aol.com
Date: Thu Feb 12 2004 - 20:45:37 GMT

  • Next message: MATTHEW PAUL KUNDERT: "Re: MD Objectivity, Truth and the MOQ"

    Dear forum,
    I have been following the recent 'excellence in music' thread and hoped
    someone would utilise SQ-SQ tension as an MoQ explanation?
    The following may give an indication of how this is done:

    Exceptional SQ-SQ coherence in Mozart's Symphony No. 38 in D major.
    Music has been analysed as a branch of rhetoric. The tool used in such
    analysis is semiotics - the study of signification. (I am going to ignore this and
    merely note patterns of value which such analysis may indicate.) Below is an
    analysis of Mozart's Symphony No. 38 in D major by Leonard G. Ratner from
    Classic Music: Expression, Form and Style. (New York: Schirmer, 1980.)

    Ratner: 'The most impressive introduction in classic music opens Mozart's
    Symphony No.38...Mozart here has achieved an exquisite rhetorical balance between
    the two principal sections':

    Part I, mm. 1-15

    D major
    Irregular rhythm
    Changes of affect
    (French overture, coups d'archet, exordium
    Sensibility, antithesis - Transposition
    Singing style, antithesis, circumlocutio, gradatio
    Hint of learned style, anadiplosis, antithesis
    Fanfare, peroratio
    Cadence, distributio
    Sensibility, dubitatio
    Fanfare, peroratio)

    Deceptive cadences.

    Part II, mm. 16-36
    D minor
    Regular rhythm
    Single affect (ombra)

    Drive to half cadence.

    Mark: My understanding of semiotics in music analysis is rudimentary to say
    the least, but there are interesting observations to be made in the above
    account which will be familiar to readers of both ZMM and Lila. The phrases i have
    highlighted are, 'The most impressive introduction in classic music...' and
    '...exquisite rhetorical balance...'
    Quite a claim you may agree? What may be said to justify such claims?
    If we apply SQ-SQ tension/coherence it appears clear: Mozart discovers
    exceptional coherence in his static repertoire of patterns - this is a Dynamic
    creative activity. The static notated music can then be experienced by us as a
    sympathetic harmonisation with the static patterns, moving us into a similar state
    of coherence as that experienced by Mozart himself. (One may remember the
    master archer of Zen in the art of archery could raise the quality of a bow by
    merely stretching it a few times for his pupil.)
    When we listen to Mozart, his static patterns give us a Dynamic jolt as we
    experience the beauty of our static repertoire in SQ-SQ tension/coherence

    It's that simple - life lives in the event stream, and at the same time moves
    closer to DQ. When this process is exceptional, as it is here with Mozart's
    introduction to his Symphony No. 38 we experience beauty.
    Where ever we find such harmony - coherence - tension in a static repertoire
    we discover ourselves moved to a higher quality state.

    All the best,
    Mark

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