Thread by @AntonPrince7

𝐎𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞; 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞

In musical masterpieces, it is impossible to see a single part or fragment as independent of any of the other parts.

1/23

Even where musical phrases are simply juxtaposed, such as in a Bach chorale, they could not have been presented in any other way.

2/23

For the musical work comes to the master as a whole, a composer, then, has not the freedom to pick a theme and vary it here and there—the master must carry through the consequences inherent in the theme his mind conceives.

3/23

I thus object to the judgment of masterworks on the basis of themes alone, or on the basis of presentation—Mahler‘s “banal themes” or Schumann‘s “lacking orchestration” are poor criticisms for they fail to take into account the whole work (and, of course, neither is true).

4/23

In an educational context, however, it IS acceptable to subject a musical theme to a thorough dissection, and to discover how the separate parts interrelate and how the smallest particles have an inconceivably great impact on the entire musical structure.

5/23

Like the fine veins carrying blood to the most remote parts of the body; these details are as important to the music as its broader strokes. In education, we can analyse how these are treated in the masterworks and which techniques the master subconsciously employs.

6/23

Today I shall begin analysing musical structure by looking at motives; I've already once mentioned motives in my discussion about melody but today I should like to give some further examples and explain it in the context of musical structure, rather than melody.

7/23

https://twitter.com/AntonPrince7/status/1273615441601183745

What is a motive?
A motive is the smallest particle—the atom—of musical structure. It consists of PITCH and RHYTHM and will typically be stated at the beginning of a piece; here is a particularly commanding and well-known example:

8/23

The motive often is the seed of the musical idea; a primal incarnation of the musical thought, and often, almost every figure within a piece will reveal some relationship to it. These are the blooms brought forth by that little seed.

9/23

Many motives have very few features to retain clarity. Often, a motive will have a distinctive contour or interval pattern; a leap of a fourth, movement by step or a successions of thirds like those pervading the “Hammerklavier” and Brahms‘s Fourth Symphony.

10/23

The motive is, however, not important in itself; its effect depends rather upon everything that follows—its treatment, so that this commanding opening of Beethoven‘s Fifth carries no meaning in itself but is given meaning only through how it is developed.

11/23

Through repetition of the basic motive, coherence within the musical structure is achieved. In order to avoid monotony caused by excessive repetitions, it will need to be varied and will therefore appear in a variety of guises.

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These variations often retain many elements of the original motive; change to more remote variations occurs gradually to maintain clarity and coherence.
Therefore, the frame of the motive is retained while subordinate features are altered.

13/23

Often, when the rhythmic features are mostly retained—though they cannot remain completely unaltered throughout a musical work—a strong sense of coherence is created.
Which other aspects of the motive are changed depends on the purpose of the variation within the piece.

14/23

Effectively, the purpose of varying the motive is to develop it, to cause the musical idea to blossom and grow.

15/23

To get a clearer idea of this growth; please listen to Mr Bernstein‘s explanation of the growth in the second movement of Beethoven‘s Sixth Symphony. Here is explained very clearly how this sense of growth is effected.

16/23

Technically, I am already somewhat approaching the region of themes but to understand how these motives are varied it is important to look a little beyond the loose atoms towards a bigger picture.

17/23

An example of an exact repetition; a semitone higher, can be found in Beethoven‘s Op. 57 sonata. This theme consists musically of a simple arpeggio, rhythmically articulated and a little flourish with a trill to counterbalance its weight.

18/23

Other exact repetitions are diminution; which is simply that the motive is retained but the note values are smaller, and augmentation which is the exact opposite.
Here is an example from Debussy, with the augmentation at 1:13.

19/23

Then there are such repetitions as inversions (the motive or theme played upside down) and retrograde (backwards). This is often seen in contrapuntal music, particularly in the old masters like Bach but also in the twelve-tone music of Schoenberg.

20/23

Here is an example from Beethoven‘s piano sonata Op. 110 where he even marks the inversion—“Umkehrung der Fuge”.

21/23

A fugue is a structure where such a transformation will typically appear; in this case it seems almost a new theme, but we realise subconsciously that we have already heard it.
Inversion at 5:34

22/23

Of course, this is only exact repetition; motives and themes can also be varied: rhythmic elements, intervals or harmonies can be altered to contribute to this concept of growth in musical structures.

23/23

#TheoryThursday

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