In what seems to be a movement toward monumentalism in music theory, three major books have appeared in the past few years with page totals running over 600 pages: Julian Hook’s Exploring Musical Spaces: A Synthesis of Mathematical Approaches (Oxford, 2023), at 864 pages; Dmitri Tymoczko’s Tonality: An Owner’s Guide (Oxford, 2023), at 672 pages; and William E. Caplin’s Cadence: A Study of Closure in Tonal Music (Oxford, 2024), which comes in at 648 pages with 715 musical examples.
Cadence finishes a trilogy of exceedingly detailed and careful studies of formal functions in what is still usually called “Classical” music; that is, larger-scale compositions by musicians working mainly in Vienna from roughly 1780 to 1830 and, to be honest, among them really only Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The earlier volumes are Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford, 1998) and Analyzing Classical Form: An Approach for the Classroom (Oxford, 2013), this latter monumental in its own right at 736 pages. The first of these books was largely responsible (along with one by Warren Darcy and James Hepokoski) for the revival of scholarly interest in the formalist analysis of formal functions in European music of the 18th and 19th centuries. The second was a pedagogical expansion of same, although for practical use in teaching one might reasonably have hoped (I certainly did) for more concision, not greater length. The new entry focuses on a single aspect, the cadence, and classifies and interprets formal functions on those terms.
Classical Form was certainly a great accomplishment, valuable for teaching (we used it for more than a decade as the primary text in graduate analysis courses; I was even able to teach its rudiments in a graduate harmony review course) and for research (though Hepokoski and Darcy’s focus on sectional processes seemed to capture graduate student interest more than Caplin’s priority to quadratic syntax, 8-bar themes, and a tight/loose binary). I used the book’s categories at the theme level for an extended, multi-part study of formal functions in Mozart menuets and to develop a model for the galant theme (Caplin’s antecedent–continuation hybrid), which was foundational to that musical style in the 1750s-1770s. Here are some links: Index to my essays, which has a complete list of the essays relating to formal functions: link. The first of the Mozart studies: Part 1: Orchestral Works and Independent Sets. Mozart, J. C. Bach, and the galant theme: Part 3: A Comparison with Johann Christian Bach.
————————
The point of interest here is a short section in chapter 5 of Cadence. For reference, the chapter titles and subheadings are on the book's webpage: link to OUP titles; click on the tab “Table of Contents.” Here are the chapter titles only:
CHAPTER 1 IDEAS OF CLOSURE
PART 1 THE CLASSICAL CADENCE
CHAPTER 2 GENERAL CONCEPTS OF THE
CLASSICAL CADENCE
CHAPTER 3 BASIC CADENCE TYPES:
MORPHOLOGY AND FUNCTION
CHAPTER 4 CADENTIAL DEVIATIONS
CHAPTER 5 CADENTIAL EXPANSION
PART 2 CADENCE IN OTHER TONAL STYLES
CHAPTER 6 CADENCE IN THE HIGH BAROQUE
CHAPTER 7 CADENCE IN THE GALANT ERA
CHAPTER 8 CADENCE IN THE ROMANTIC ERA
CHAPTER 9 CADENCE IN THE MID TO LATE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
As his reviewer, Poundie Burstein, describes Caplin’s method,
[it] is to seek precision in establishing strict formal categories matched by flexibility in analytic application. [He] tends to regard (at least ideally) the categories associated with cadential status as either-or propositions. An advantage of his absolutist attitude is that it allows for remarkable lucidity by establishing sharp definitions. This provides a solid vantage point to discuss specific analytic situations, avoiding the waffling that might result from vaguer definitions. [At the same time,] to help counter the [inevitable] problems that arise from categorical strictness, Caplin's analyses of cadences tend to be impressively flexible. [In some cases, he will provide] either hedged or alternative readings of the phrase endings.
Here is the section in Chapter 5 on ascending lines: 5.1.2.11. Additional Patterns/Ascending Melodic Pattern (5̂/6̂/7̂/8̂) (p265)
Despite what is often taught in elementary harmony classes, a melodic line that ascends to its goal tonic occurs infrequently in the classical repertory. In the context of an ECP, a straightforward case arises at the end of the main theme group shown in Example 5.46, where the process of attaining the high F (8̂) represents the melodic, dynamic, and textural climax of the section.
A similar, but more complex case, is seen in the earlier discussed Example 5.2. Like the previous example, this passage also produces the climactic moment of the main theme, though the sudden shift to piano in measure 19 slightly delays the ongoing progressive dynamic. In both cases, we sense the composer giving special emphasis to the ascending line in a manner that highlights all the more this nonconventional melody.
