Galleries of simple examples

 I have published two essays as follows:  (1) link to the file A Gallery of Simple Examples of Extended Rising Melodic Shapes. Find a table of contents in this post: link.  (2) A Gallery of Simple Examples of Extended Rising Melodic Shapes, Volume 2: link to volume 2. Here is a post about it, with a table of contents: link.

I am currently working on a third installment, which will be devoted to vocal compositions, including numbers from the musical stage. I hope to complete and publish by the end of April 2024.

Lynne Morgan Markle Nikolov on Musical Theater Songs

Morgan Lynne Markel Nikolov has written “Voice Leading in Golden Age Musical Theater Songs,” an excellent PhD dissertation from the Eastman School of Music, 2022. Her two topics are “common voice-leading strategies for ending on a high note and opening and closing in two different keys in Golden Age musical theater songs composed between 1943 and 1960.” After the opening chapter, which includes discussion of the repertoire and its contexts as well as the traditional literature review, chapter 2 looks at how upper-register closes can be analyzed in terms of “five [familiar] voice-leading transformations: initial ascent, octave coupling, ascending register transfer, reaching-over, and cover tones.” Chapter 3, then, takes up the question of “those songs whose concluding high notes could not be accounted for” by those means, the answer being “that these songs . . . feature a background ascending ^5-^6-^7-^8 [or ^6-^7-^8] line.” A particular strength of Markel-Nikolov’s study is the detailed and convincing way she demonstrates how “voice leading and lyrics work closely together to create dynamic trajectories towards important moments in the song form.”  (The quotations in this paragraph are from her concluding chapter, pp. 159-160.)

On pp. 210-211 is a table of songs “that end with a clear ^5-^6-^7-^8 closing gesture in the melody line”: 53 numbers from 22 musicals; and those with a ^6-^7-^8 background:  9 songs from 8 musicals.

Needless to say, I am delighted by this work, which was carried out with strong analytical and interpretative skills based on real sympathy with and knowledge of the repertoire. At present, I am preparing two more entries for the New Historical Survey: Music for the Stage, 1860s-1889 and Music for the Stage, 1890-1928. These might be thought of as documentary pre-histories, or “prequels,” to Markel-Nikolov’s more contemporary and engaging narrative.

Additions to the New Historical Survey series since September 2022

In the past year and a half, I have published eight essays in Parts 4 and 5 of the New Historical Survey series.

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 4a1: 1780–1815. Link.

Abstract: This belongs to a multi-part essay series gathering compositions with ascending lines and upper-register cadence gestures in European and European- influenced music. Part 4 covers the period 1780–1860; this section is 1780–1815. Composers include, among others, Beethoven, Doche, Hummel, Mozart, Paisiello, Pecháček, J. A. P. Schulz, and Sterkel. Organ music compiled by Kaspar Ett concludes.

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 4b3: Polkas, A Second Supplement. Link.

Abstract: This supplement has additional polkas from the 1840s and 1850s. Composers include, among others, Charles d’Albert, János Gungl, Charles Lenschow, Hans Christian Lumbye, and Johann Strauss, jr. An appendix is a list of all polkas discussed in this and previous essays,

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 4c1: Music for Home, Salon, and Concert. Link.

Abstract: This continues Part 4 of a multi-part essay gathering compositions with ascending lines and upper-register cadence gestures in European and European-influenced music. The time period covered in Part 4 is 1780-1860. In Part 4c1 is instrumental music by, among others, Louis Adam, Chopin, Czerny, F. David, Heller, C. Schumann (Wieck), and R. Schumann.

 Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 4c2: Other Dances and Dance-Songs. 

Abstract: The time period covered in Part 4 is 1780-1860. Parts 4b, 4b2, and 4b3 focus on the polka, Part 4c1 on music for home or recital after 1820. The present Part 4c2 has items from contemporary anthologies: Hamilton’s Universal Tune-Book (2 vols.), Alexander’s New Scrap Book, and Köhler’s Violin Repository of Dance Music (3 vols.).

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 5a: Songs, c1860-1890.

Abstract:

Composers represented in Part 5a of this multi-part essay on ascending and upper-register cadence gestures in European and European-influenced music include, among others, Bizet, Delibes, Fauré, Ganz, Gounod, Lalo, Wolf, and Zarzycki. Song collections include Matvey Bernard’s 50 Children's Songs and James William Elliott’s Mother Goose.

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 5b2: Hymnals, Supplement, after 1900.

Abstract:

This is the second supplement to an essay gathering compositions with ascending lines and cadence gestures in hymn collections published in the United States. The two studied here are Alexander’s Gospel Songs and Solos (Philadelphia, 1917) and The Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers (Dalton, GA/Dallas, 1904).

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 5b3: Ira D. Sankey, Sacred Songs and Solos

Abstract:

This is the third supplement to an essay gathering compositions with ascending lines and cadence gestures in hymn collections published in the United States. The collection studied here is Ira D. Sankey, Sacred Songs and Solos, New Hymns and Solos, and The Christian Choir (London, 1903).

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 5b4: Ira D. Sankey, Gospel Hymns, volumes 1-6

Abstract:

This is the fourth supplement to an essay gathering compositions with ascending lines and upper-register cadence gestures in hymn collections published in the United States or in London by American compilers and composers. The collections studied here are Ira D. Sankey, James McGranahan, and George C. Stebbins, Gospel Hymns, Nos. 1 to 6 (Cincinnati/Chicago/NewYork, 1895); and Ira D. Sankey, Winnowed Songs for Sunday Schools (Cincinnati/Chicago/NewYork, 1890)

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As an addendum, here are two other newly published essays of interest for the period 1890 and later:

Mediant Progressions: A Sampling of Early 20th-Century Music.

Abstract:

This is a collection of mediant progressions from music published in the first quarter of the 20th century. It is intended primarily for pedagogical use but may have some interest for music history and music analysis. Composers are Marion Bauer, Lili Boulanger, George Butterworth, Claude Debussy, George Gershwin, Charles Griffes, Ivor Gurney, Paul Hindemith, Gustav Holst, John Ireland, Jerome Kern, Charles Loeffler, Roger Quilter, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

A Guide to Schenkerian Analysis, File 4: Original (1992) Publication, Chapter 9.

Abstract:

This continuation of the Guide to Schenkerian Analysis series include all the original publication’s Chapter 9, “Analysis of Music before Bach and after Brahms.”

 

Michael Buchler from SMT-V

 This morning Megan Long, the editor of SMT-V, announced an option for viewing Michael's video essay on "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." 

In celebration of opening day of baseball season, we are happy to announce the latest archival re-release from the SMT-V(ault), Michael Buchler's fun and festive video-article "I Don't Care if I Never Get Back: Optimism and Ascent in 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game'" (SMT-V 7.4). Enjoy learning to hear this classic baseball song in a brand new way!

My earlier post about it was made on June 8, 2021: link. The publication of my essay on two songs by Charles K. Harris took place on January 23, 2022:  link.

Note: "Essays published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform, 2012-2022" updates earlier indices for all topic areas I have explored over the past decade. Here is the link.  

Updated list of titles

"Essays published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform, 2012-2022" updates earlier indices for all topic areas I have explored over the past decade. Here is the link.  Entries for each essay include title, abstract, and link.

Here is the abstract:

This is a list of essays I have published on this platform in the past decade. Topics include documentation of ascending and upper-register cadence gestures in European and European-influenced musics, studies of the major dominant ninth chord, and formal functions (after Caplin) in music by Mozart and his contemporaries.

 An author search on the platform's home page will give two "David Neumeyer"s--they're both me:link 1 to 62 entries; link 2 to 23 entries.

Here are three other blogs I have written and maintained over the years: On the Dominant Ninth Chord; Hearing Schubert D779n13; Dance and Dance Music, 1650-1850. 

New Publications in the New Historical Survey series

 I have published the following on the Texas ScholarWorks platform:

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 3a: 1650-1700

Part 3a of a multi-part essay gathers compositions with ascending lines and upper-register cadence gestures in European music from 1650 to 1700. Composers in Part 3a1 are Cazzati, Falconieri, Legrenzi, Marini, Merula, and Uccellini; in Part 3a2, Thomas Cross, John Gamble, John Jenkins, Henry Lawes, and Christopher Simpson; in Part 3a3, Aux-Cousteaux, Berthod, Cazzati, Legrenzi, Lully, and Macé; and in Part 3a4, Boyvin, Louis Couperin, Kusser, LeBègue, Mayr, Nivers, and Vitali.

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 3b: 1700-1780

This is Part 3b of a multi-part essay gathering compositions with ascending lines and cadence gestures in European and European-influenced music. Composers include, among others, Archimbaud, J. S. Bach, Boismortier, Fux, Kirnberger, Le Roux, Mouret, Mozart, Schulz, Tartini, and Telemann. A publisher included is Gerhard Fredrik Witvogel. 

Ascending Cadence Gestures, A New Historical Survey, Part 5b1: Hymnals by Augustus and Frederick Fillmore, 1847-1893 

Part 5b1 is a supplement to Part 5b of the New Historical Survey. Where Part 5b offered examples from Shaker and Mormon hymnals published between 1893 and 1909, Part 5b1 covers six earlier hymnals compiled and partly written by the Fillmores and published in Cincinnati between 1847 and 1893. The earliest of them, The Christian Psalmist, was co-authored by Silas W. Leonard and Augustus D. Fillmore; it combined standard notation with two other formats and was one of the commercially most successful American hymnals of the 19th century. 

Charles K. Harris, "After the Ball" and "The Last Farewell"

I have published the essay Text and Music in Two Songs by Charles K. Harris on the Texas ScholarWorks platform. Here is the link: Harris.

Here is the abstract:

 In 2021, SMT-V, an online journal of the Society for Music Theory, published a video essay by Michael Buchler, Professor of Music in the College of Music, Florida State University. It’s titled "I Don’t Care if I Never Get Back: Optimism and Ascent in 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'.” In this essay I examine similar songs from the era: Charles K. Harris, “After the Ball” (1892) and “The Last Farewell” (1903).

See also the post on this blog: "Michael Buchler on 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'." Link.