Research Catalog
Highpoints : a study of melodic peaks
- Title
- Highpoints : a study of melodic peaks / Zohar Eitan.
- Author
- Eitan, Zohar, 1955-
- Publication
- Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | MT47 .E4 1997 | Off-site |
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Details
- Description
- 187 pages : music; 27 cm.
- Summary
- Highpoints investigates a universal melodic phenomenon - the melodic peak - in Western repertories ranging from eighteenth-century Galant music to twentieth-century Expressionism. Using "hard" statistical analysis, Zohar Eitan examines the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, and dynamic configurations associated with contour peaks in the music of Haydn, Chopin, and Berg, three composers of decidedly different musical casts.
- This empirical examination serves as a starting point in Eitan's exploration of the structural and expressive functions of melodic shape in these diverse bodies of music.
- Melodic contour has received increasing attention from psychologists, music theorists, and ethnomusicologists partially because, unlike functional tonal relationships, it is a universal facet of auditory patterning and may be strongly related to primeval, "natural" aspects of perception.
- By focusing on this elemental aspect, rather than on pitch syntax or conventional form, the author provides fresh insights into the work of the individual composers he discusses as well as an innovative approach to broad issues of musical style and style change. Highpoints concludes with a discussion, drawing on empirical findings, of melodic gesture and syntax as distinct, independent dimensions of style, style boundaries, and style change.
- Series Statement
- Studies in the criticism and theory of music
- Uniform Title
- Studies in the criticism and theory of music.
- Alternative Title
- High points
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [173]-180) and index.
- Contents
- 1. Why Study Melodic Peaks? -- 2. Method: Testing the Hypotheses -- 3. Peaks in Haydn: The Attenuation of Climax -- 4. Chopin: Melodic Peaks, Salience, and Intensity -- 5. Peaks in Berg: Romantic Gesture in a New Context -- 6. Conclusion: Style and Melodic Gesture -- App. 1. Peaks and Control Notes Examined -- App. 2. Random Numbers Used to Determine Controls.
- ISBN
- 0812234057 (alk. paper)
- LCCN
- 97011405
- OCLC
- 36589454
- ocm36589454
- Owning Institutions
- Columbia University Libraries