Chopin's strategic integration of rhythm and pitch : a Schenkerian perspective

Abstract

This thesis synthesises significant aspects of recent analytical approaches and applies that synthetic method to selected works by Chopin. While the method may be regarded as an extension of Heinrich Schenker’s analytical approach, its specific combination of four aspects distinguishes this synthesis from previous analytical approaches: attention to the rhythms created by pitch events on all structural levels; a detailed accounting of the musical surface; ‘strict use’ of analytical notation following guidelines offered by Steve Larson; and a continual concern with what have been called ‘strategies’ or ‘premises’. This approach thus builds on the work of such authors as William Rothstein, Carl Schachter, and John Rink, and, like their work, it raises interpretive questions of central interest to performers. Applying this method to selected Preludes (Opus 28 Nos. 5, 12, 14, 16, 21, and 22) presents a new picture of the Preludes. Analysis of Preludes that are not as strongly ‘closed’ as some other pieces not only illuminates the role of closure and motive in those pieces, but also raises interesting questions about the meaning of finding an Ursatz in such pieces. This method also demonstrates how each Prelude projects a different affect through the use of compositional techniques such as elision, reinterpretation, and tonal and metric ambiguity. It reveals hidden repetitions that have a durational as well as tonal aspect. They are organised on multiple levels by rhythm as well as pitch. Indeed, surface rhythms are reflected in the background organisation of each of the Preludes analysed here.