Tonal Resonance and Set Class Use in Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp of 1915
Author | : Matthew Hardy Schwarz |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 38 |
Release | : 2020 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1227953765 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (65 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: "Claude Debussy's music is often seen as a departure from the tonal music of the common-practice era. However, the Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp of 1915-one of Debussy's last works-still exhibits much use of tonality and diatonicism. Background functional-harmony progressions and cadences are used to delineate form and phrases. Formal areas are also defined by degree of tonality and diatonicism in the foreground. This paper focuses on the beginning section and its return (the A and A′ sections of a ternary ABA′) of the opening Pastorale movement of the Sonata. It shows the progression between formal areas defined by set classes and pitch collections which vary in their levels of diatonicism and common-practice harmonies. It also shows the alteration of set classes and pitch collections from the A section to the A′ section to form more functional harmonies, in a manner reminiscent of common-practice sonata-form recapitulation."--Abstract.