System Music Theory



  • System Music Theory
    Music theory sources for this composer?

    I’ve been listening to a lot of Messiaen lately and I’ve have discovered through brief analysis that as far as harmonies go, it is obvious that he commonly uses major triads with augmented fourths (tritones) in addition to incomplete dominant seventh chords with an added sixth or dominant thirteenth chord.

    I am familiar with his “mode of limited transpositions,” “non-retrogradable rhythms” and his wonderful deployment of “additive” rhythms, and I have enjoyed Neidhöfer’s brilliant discussion on Messiaen’s voice-leading patterns in modal systems of cardinalities other than 12, but are there any other sources that will discuss his compositional techniques in further detail?

    I have also read (and played) his treatise Technique de mon langage musical (“The technique of my musical language”), but I still feel that I am not understanding everything that he is doing compositionally. Any advice is appreciated!

    Here’s some articles I found.
    ___________________
    NEIDHÖFER, CHRISTOPH. “A theory of harmony and voice leading for the music of Olivier Messiaen (based on his modes of limited transposition).”
    MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM, The Journal of the Society for Music Theory; Spring 2005, Vol. 27, p1-34, 34p

    Not sure if this one is the one you said you read or not. So I gave it to you anyway. To see the article, you can go here and click on the little icon that says “Linked Full Text”.

    http://web.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=106&sid=c8b69402-fc5f-49b7-995a-d4e4a884bf61%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=mah&AN=MAH0001477334

    _____________________
    BENITEZ, VINCENT PEREZ, JR. “Messiaen as improviser.” DUTCH JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY; May 2008, Vol. 13 Issue n2, p129-144, 16p

    Sorry, this isn’t available online, but you should be able to get it at a library somewhere?
    ______________________
    HOOK, JULIAN L. “Rhythm in the music of Messiaen: an algebraic study and an application in the ‘Turangalila Symphony.’” MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM, The Journal of the Society for Music Theory; Spring 1998, Vol. 20, p97-120, 24p

    This one’s not available online either, sorry. Try the library.
    ______________________
    Ooooooh, this one looks promising:

    SHENTON, ANDREW. “Olivier Messiaen’s System of Signs: Notes Towards Understanding His Music.” DUTCH JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY; May 2008, Vol. 13 Issue n2, p185.

    But… not available online. And unfortunately, it just might be in Dutch. Maybe you could find a translated version?
    ________________
    WILLIAMS, GRAHAM. “The theories of Oliver Messiaen: their origins and their application to his piano music.” MISCELLANEA MUSICOLOGICA (Australia), Adelaide Studies in Musicology; 1980, Vol. 11, p278-280, 3p.

    Not available online.
    ________________
    LEE, JOHN MADISON. “Harmony in the solo piano works of Olivier Messiaen: the first twenty years.” COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUM, Journal of the College Music Society; 1983, Vol. 23 Issue n1, p65-80, 16p

    Not available online.
    _____________________________

    I got all these from going onto EBSCOhost, then going to the Music Index Online database. Here’s a link to all the articles in English that include the words “Messiaen” and “theory” somewhere in the text: http://web.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/ehost/resultsadvanced?vid=10&hid=120&sid=d6304db0-f8e2-4562-9eee-f62201d2edab%40sessionmgr107&bquery=(TX+(+Messiaen+))+and+(TX+(+theory+))&bdata=JmRiPW1haCZjbGkwPUxBMTAmY2x2MD1FbmdsaXNoJnR5cGU9MSZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d

    From those I just gave you the most promising looking ones. Hope some of these can help you! You’ll just have to find the right journals at a library. Good luck!



    Items Bought:

    • FRAME ABLE NASHVILLE # SYSTEM / MUSIC THEORY POSTER, AP Music Theory Exam Flashcard Study System, •NASH # SYSTEM / HARMONY / MUSIC THEORY WALL POSTER ,

    Powered by phpBay Pro

    May 23rd, 2008 | admin | No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,

About The Author

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.