Le 30 juin 2017
de 15h00 à 15h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3202
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Folker Froebe
In Froberger’s “Mediation sur ma mort future” one may recognize not (only) a ‘biographical subject’ that reflects on the course, meaning, and end of his life and his position in history, but rather a ‘compositional subject’ that reflects on the course—resp. alternative courses—of the piece, its coherence, and its end as well as its position within compositional history. This ‘selfreferential’ mode calls for considerations regarding the complex relationship between schemata, tonality, and functional unity.
In schema theory the idea that—especially tonal—cohesion and context is based on the hierarchical subordination of self-similar structures is usually rejected in favor of statistical transitional probabilities between schemata or very general plans. Indeed, in common-practice tonality certain ways of coordination between different subsystems have been consolidated so firmly that it seems possible to take them as ‘behaviors’ of the schemata themselves. However, when analyzing music that does not yet (or no longer) fully meet these hidden premises, schema theory inevitably reaches its limits.
Froberger’s “meditation” is used to evaluate the extent to which schema theory and Schenkerian analysis may interlock with one another. My point of departure is a ‘controlled juxtaposition’ of a schema analysis and a Schenkerian analysis.
Three basic assumptions will be developed: 1.) A processual Schenkerian analysis is able to reflect a listener’s expectations as well as to explain unexpected changes or discontinuities in the schema configuration. 2.) By positing the existence of superordinate, large-scale schemata, it will be possible to explain the role of small-scale schemata in a larger context. 3.) Decisions that have been made during the elaboration of a ‘Gestalt’ schema may be understood as resulting from the requirements of the alternative Schenkerian structure, and vice versa.
