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A generously illustrated examination of pentatonic ("black-key scale") techniques in the context of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Western art-music.
Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Debussy offers the first comprehensive account of a widely recognized aspect of music history: the increasing use of pentatonic ("black-key scale") techniques in nineteenth-century Western art-music.
Pentatonicism in nineteenth-century music encompasses hundreds of instances, many of which predate by decades the more famous examples of Debussy and Dvorák. This book weaves together historical commentary with music theory and analysis in order to explain the sources and significance of an important, but hitherto only casually understood, phenomenon.
The book introduces several distinct categories of pentatonicpractice -- pastoral, primitive, exotic, religious, and coloristic -- and examines pentatonicism in relationship to changes in the melodic and harmonic sensibility of the time.
The text concludes with an additional appendix of over 400 examples, an unprecedented resource demonstrating the individual artistry with which virtually every major nineteenth-century composer (from Schubert, Chopin, and Berlioz to Liszt, Wagner, and Mahler) handled theseemingly "simple" materials of pentatonicism.
Jeremy Day-O'Connell is assistant professor of music at Knox College.
Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Debussy offers the first comprehensive account of a widely recognized aspect of music history: the increasing use of pentatonic ("black-key scale") techniques in nineteenth-century Western art-music.
Pentatonicism in nineteenth-century music encompasses hundreds of instances, many of which predate by decades the more famous examples of Debussy and Dvorák. This book weaves together historical commentary with music theory and analysis in order to explain the sources and significance of an important, but hitherto only casually understood, phenomenon.
The book introduces several distinct categories of pentatonicpractice -- pastoral, primitive, exotic, religious, and coloristic -- and examines pentatonicism in relationship to changes in the melodic and harmonic sensibility of the time.
The text concludes with an additional appendix of over 400 examples, an unprecedented resource demonstrating the individual artistry with which virtually every major nineteenth-century composer (from Schubert, Chopin, and Berlioz to Liszt, Wagner, and Mahler) handled theseemingly "simple" materials of pentatonicism.
Jeremy Day-O'Connell is assistant professor of music at Knox College.
Price: $240.00
Pages: 566
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Publication Date:
01 August 2007
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781580462488
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
MUSIC / History & Criticism, History of music, MUSIC / Instruction & Study / Theory, MUSIC / Individual Composer & Musician, Music reviews and criticism, Theory of music and musicology
Whether interested in theoretical developments, compositional practice, or historical influence, the reader will find this book to be a stimulating addition to our understanding of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century musical practice. . . . A robust and much-needed account of an underresearched aspect of music history and theory. . . . Remarkable scope. . . . Day-O'Connell's ability to bridge theoretical details and larger topics of musical signification . . . makes _Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Debussy_ an illuminating read.
The Rise of 6 in the Nineteenth Century
The Pastoral-Exotic Pentatonic
The Religious Pentatonic
The Pentatonic Glissando
Debussy and the Pentatonic Tradition
The Pastoral-Exotic Pentatonic
The Religious Pentatonic
The Pentatonic Glissando
Debussy and the Pentatonic Tradition