Le 28 juin 2017
de 16h30 à 17h00
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
amphithéâtre 4
Séance - Falling Nicely Into Place: The Cadence in History and Theory
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Boyd Pomeroy
This paper explores an intriguing and under-investigated byway of 19th-century harmonic practice. Schenker referred to the phenomenon indirectly, in connection with the idea of a « triumph of absolute meter » (over conditions of harmonic stability). Carl Schachter later explained it as the « anticipating 6/4, » which, though theoretically sound, is not wholly satisfactory: 1) in overstating its rarity—it is in fact very common in certain genres (especially, but not restricted to, waltzes); 2) in downplaying its potential for constructive metrical conflict; 3) in its questionable characterization of a temporal shift (of the V6/4–5/3 complex) as an « anticipation » (and failure to distinguish the different phenomenon of real anticipatory 6/4s).
Our conditioning to hear cadential 6/4s as metrically strong is so ingrained that the chord itself possesses the power to reorient our perception of meter (William Rothstein, Samuel Ng). The resultant opposing pulls between metrical framework and the chord’s natural metrical « signal » create an effect of metrical flux that is well modeled by the concept of shadow meter (Rothstein, Frank Samarotto); in this context, perceived less as a temporary overriding of the real meter than a (short-term) coexistence with it.
A potential compositional resource is the weak 6/4’s susceptibility to reinterpretation (both metrical and harmonic); my analyses explore a varied repertoire of associated techniques in music from Mozart to Dvorak, with special emphasis on the waltzes of J. Strauss II, whose varied and inventive treatment of this phenomenon was unmatched.
