Motives for allusion : context and content in nineteenth-century music / Christopher Alan Reynolds.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reynolds, Christopher A.

Contributor:

Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quotation in music.

Music--19th century--History and criticism.

Music.

Physical Description:

xii, 230 pages : music ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2003.

Summary:

When a critic pointed out to Brahms that the finale theme in his First Symphony was remarkably similar to the Ode to Joy theme in Beethoven's Ninth, he is said to have replied: "Yes indeed, and what's really remarkable is that every jackass notices this at once." Not every musical borrowing is quite so obvious; but the listener who does perceive one is always left wondering: what does the similarity mean? In this illuminating book Christopher Reynolds gives us answers to that complex question. He identifies specific borrowings or allusions in a wide range of nineteenth-century music and shows the kinds of things composers do with borrowed musical ideas.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [187]-215) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

ISBN:

067401037X

OCLC:

51210456