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    Concepts of Closure

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    of New York State Volume 32 ARTICLES Mark Anson-Cartwright Concepts of Closure in Tonal Music: A Critical Study Norman Carey ‘An Improbable Intertwining: An Analysis of Schumann's Kreisleriana Tand I, with Recommendations for Piano Practice Gretchen C. Foley ‘Sum Squares and Pentagrams: Two New Tools for Perlean Analysis Frank Samarotto Determinism, Prediction, and inevitability in Brabros's Rhapsody in B major, op. 119, no. 4 John Turei-Escobar Softening the Edges: Cadential Attenuation in Gesualdo's Six Books of Madrigals y Theory and ay Practice Journal of the Music ‘Theory Society 2007 51 09 101 ESSAY Jeffrey Kresky Some Unusual Tonic Six-Fours (RP)TRANSITIONS A forum for translations, critical reprintings, and original publications oftnotable texts and archive materials. ‘Two Undated Manuscripts from Schoenberg's Gedanke Project ‘Translated by Charlotte M. Cross Commentary, Transcriptions, and Translations 153 REVIEWS David Gagné “Aspects of Unity in J. S, Bach's Partitas and Suites: “An Analytical Study, by David W. Beach 203 Graham G. Hunt Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth- Century Sonate, by James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy 213 239 ConrriBuToRs qheory and Practice 32 (2007) Concepts of Closure in Tonal Music: A Critical Study Mark Anson-Cartwright Iniroduction In the last wenty-five years much has been published on musical closure, from a wide variety of perspectives. Music theorists and historians have described (and sometimes theorized) closure with reference to various parameters, including. tonal structure, form, rhythm, and motivic organization—parameters that need not coincide to bring about closure. Some writers have even drawn inspiration from studies of literary closure by crities such as Frank Kermode and Barbara Hernstein Smith.’ The present article does not propose an all-encompassing the- ‘ory or concept of closure in tonal music, which would be an unrealistic aim, Rather, it criticelly examines several different views of closure, some of whic may be understood as complernentary rather than mutually exclusive, One assumption about closure has abided in discourse about tonal musi the idea that it is synonymous with tonal (or structural or syntactic) closure—a state of rest articulated by a cadence, usually very close to, or even coinciding with, the “end” of a piece or movement (ie., the last perceived event of the piece). William Caplin, however, has recently argued that closure—specifically, formal closure—is not cadential in nature.’ Caplin’s theoretical work on the classical cadence in general, and his ideas about formal closure at intermediste and global levels in particular, have stimulated my thinking about closure in positive ways. But whereas Caplin seeks increasing “terminological precision” for “cadence” and “closure,” I wish to acknowledge, and even celebrate, more than one meening of “closure,” It must be admitted, though, that authors writing about closure fre- quently fail to specify the applicability of their concepts. A concept of closure may be apt for a given sample of tonal musio—be it « movement, a group of pieces in the same genre or by the same composer, or a “stylisitically unified repertory"— ‘without being relevant for other samples. Moreover, “apt” does not necessarily ‘mean adequate or exhaustive; all concepts and interpretations, no matter how useful or insightful, have limitations 2 THEORY AND PRACTICE Many authors use the word “closure” as if it bad universal applicability But any universally applicable concept would have to be demonstrable in a high percentage of al tonal pieces. ‘The only concept or type of closure with suck strong, and obvious empirical support is tonal closure; perhaps for that reason, most descriptions and models of closure privilege tonal closure.’ This fact may help explain why other aspecis (or ‘secondary parameters”) of closure in tonal musio— form, shythm, motivic development, texture, orchestration, and dynamics, to name a few—tend to be neglected, or subordinated to tonal factors.* Except for form and rhythm, these parameters are much less conducive to general models than are har- mony and voice leading. Yet even in those-models that give rhythm and pitch equal (or nearly equal) representation, such as durational or rhythmic reductions, closing events (i.c., cadences) are defined by tonal features rather than by duration or metric accent alone, although the latter features typically reinforce the sense of closure.” It would be difficult to imagine a model of closure for tonal music that ‘made no reference whatsoever to pitch content. Despite the undeniable importance of tonal (or syntactic) closure, and the resulting bias, some theorists have attempted to describe “non-syntactic” aspects of closure, often by lumping them together under headings such as “rhetorical” and ‘‘dramatic.”" By contrast, numerous musicological studies address “non-syn- tactio" aspects of closure in interesting ways, without insisting upon a dichotomy between syntax and rhetoric (though readers may infer the dichotomy)?” ‘There are many modes of closure, and it is not necessarily desirable or possible to relate them hierarchically to one another. This statement resonates with Richard Cohn and Douglas Dempster’s call for a reconciliation of “plural unities” (the intersection of several formally independent compositional parameters”*) and “hierarchical unity,” which regulates our cognition of tonal closure, among other things. Modified terms (“tonal closure,” “formal closure,” “thematic clo- sure,” “rhetorical closure,” and so on) are often preferable to the unmodified term “closure.” It must be borne in mind, however, that the meanings of modifiers, just like the meanings of nouns, cannot always be pinned down precisely. This paper attempts to clarify some of the contexts in which writers have used the term “clo- sure,” but it does not seek to establish the “real” meaning of closure in any of the modified senses just mentioned. In the next section I shall present three broad definitions of closure in tonal and temporal terms; each definition is illustrated in a subsequent section of the article. (It should be noted that, despite their differences, all three definitions say be relevant to a given piece of music.) The remaining sections address the fol- lowing topics: locating closure, three accounts of closure in the first moversent of the Eroica Symphony, Caplin’s ideas about formal closure, and the relevence of linearity to closure, Closure as .. For many analysts, closure is a condition or attribute of a piece of music that can be perceived or inferred either at some moment in time or across a span of time. With reference to a moment in time, closure is perhaps most widely conceived as Concerts oF CLOSURE 3 (1) that condition of rest or finality which a piece or movement attains at the ‘moment of structural (tonal) resolution. This definition is readily associated with Schenker’s mature theory of tonal str ture, as well as other hierarchical theories of tonal music." Closure in this sense is synoaymous with tonal closure, or the completion ofthe fundamental structure, and does not really occupy time; only the impression of it does.” Of course, the effect of tonal closure is usually reinforced by durational as well as tonal means. Such post-closural, reinforcing events may constitute a “structural coda,” a coda that, in Schenker’s theory, occurs after the fundamental line has completed its course.” With reference to a time-span, as opposed to an attack point, closure may be defined in at least two ways. The first of these defines closure as (2) that condition of imminent rest or finality which begins near the chrono- logical conclusion of a piece ot movement, and lasts until such rest is achieved. ‘Two words in this definition need special clarification: “imminent” and “nea First, the word “imminent” has overtones of expectation and realization. To under- stand closure in this sense depends, above all, on the listener's complicity iz a set of stylistic conventions. For example, a strong tur to the subdominant can praj- ect the condition of imminent rest; the listener feels closure from this moment on, not simply at the point where a state of rest is achieved, as in definition (1). Second, the phrase “near the chronological conclusion” means at least halfway {and usually more than two-thirds of the way) through the piece or movement. My second time-span-oriented definition is modeled after Kofi Agawu’s definition of closure as the ‘sum total of all the tendencies to close that occur in the composition, whether or not these are actually fulfilied.”* Unlike an ending, which “refers to local elements in the musical structure,” “closure,” in Agawu's terms, “denotes a global mechanism.” Explicit in his account is the claim that the entire piece provides @ necessary context for closure."* For the sake of comperison with definitions (1) and (2), then, I shall define this type of closure as (3) that condition of immanent rest or finality which a piece or movement possesses as a temporal whole, by virtue of all the tendencies to close project- ed within that whole. T borrow the word “immanent” somewhat freely from Frank Kermode’s classic study of literary closure, in which he refers to “the conviction that the end is immanent rather than imminent” Musical closure is imminent according to def- inition (2), but immanent according to definition (3), From the perspective of def- inition (3), the listener is aware at all times—even, in principle, before the piece begins—that the piece will end sooner or later. Depending on the writer’s point of view, then, each of these three defi tions can connote something different. For Agawu, definition (1) applies vot 10 closure, but to what he calls the “global close” (as distinct from a local or inter- 4 THEORY AND PRACTICE ‘mediate close); itis but one clement of a larger process called closure. In Agawu's ‘own words, “A global close secures closure for the entire piece.’ Surely it would ‘be wrong to deny the relevance of definition (3) or Agawu’s concept of a “global mechanism" to pieces with no explicit tendency to close until, say, after tueir mid- points. From a global perspective, one could argue, all events in a piece or move- ment, including but not jimited to those with an explicit tendency to close, con- tribute to the mechanism of closure. It is up to the listener (or analyst) to distin- squish, where appropriate, between closural and non-closural events or tendencies. From the perspective of definition (3), one is aware at all times that the piece (or cycle of pieces, 2s the case may be) will eventually come to an end (and not mere- ly stop), even if the explicit elosural tendencies associated with definition (2) do not emerge until very late."” ‘These three definitions summarize the analytical premises (either implied or overt) of many, if not most, discussions of closure in tonal music. An author's apparent commitment 0 one of these defiitions should not necessarily be regard- ‘ed.a5 exclusive. A given account may stress the global context, asin definition (3), or it may focus on the more local contexts of definitions (1) and (2). What the def initions themselves do not address is how closure is achieved. To do so requires @ detailed analytical approach, perhaps along the lines of Schenker’s thecry of lev- els. Accounts of how closure works thus tend to have an analytical, as opposed to 2 theoretical, emphasis: plenty of supporting evidence for an interpretation or reading, but little by way of generalization about how closure works in ‘arge bod- jes of riusic. Even theoretically-oriented accounts deal with small samples of for- mally, generically, and stylistically similar pieces.” Analysts typically devote as much (if not more) of their time to describing how closure works in a sirgle piece, or handiul of pieces, as they do to defending theoretical claims about wkat closure is (e.g.,a formal process or « tonal/structural property) or where it happens or per- sists (c-g., at a point in time or across a time-span). Locating Closure ‘According to definition (1), there is a moment in the piece where closure is yeached” Locating that moment is usually straightforward. Competent listeners can often identify the moment of global tonal closure—what some Schenkerians ‘all the “structural cadence’”—readily and accurately. However, in a small minor- ity of cases—though surely more cases than-those actually discussed in the litera. fure—the analyst must weigh two or more possible locations for the structural cadence, then, presumably, commit (with reason) to one definitive location.” “An instructive and original response to this kind of analytical challenge is John Rink’s account of closure in Chopin's Noctume in Es major, op. 9, no. 2, in Which he takes issue with @ graph by Schenker (published in Das Meisterwerk in der Musik, vol. 2). The characteristically laconic graph by Schenker—which, in faimess to Schenker is not so much an analysis as an illustration of the Urlinie— relegates the dramatic final ten measures (mm. 25-34, not graphed) to the mere Status of a coda (1, “structural coda”) after the structural cadence in 1. 24. Rink makes a strong case for hearing the forward-driving, climactic music of mm. 30-32 as evidence that the structure is not yet over." In claiming that structural Concerts oF CLOSURE 5 closure is achieved at m. 33 rather than m. 24, Rink does more than simply cor- rect Schenker’s reading; he also acknowledges that the process of achieving that closure is itself ambiguous. Rink describes the ambiguity as follows’ Chopin as it were “deceives” us into hearing the beginning of a structural coda, but then thwarts the anticipation of imminent closure when the music suddenly takes a new direction, in what retrospectively is perceived as no more—and 10 less—than a formal coda (to repeat, a final passage within the main body of a ‘work, before the structural descent). .. A two-bar structural coda then follows in bars 33-34" Rink’s essay is one of many Schenkeriem studies tha, in one way or another, address ‘what may be termed the relation—or conflict or interaction—between design and structure. Much of this research deals with conflicts of this sort at internal formal junctures, such as the start of developments and recapitulations in sonata forms." A distinctly original aspect of Rink’s study is its focus on the tension between form (oF design) and structure at the conclusion of a work. What led Schenker (and Felix Salzer, as Rink notes) to downplay the significance of the concluding ten measures of the Noctume was, most likely, an assumption that the form provided the clearest clue about the structural conclusion. Afterall, in most small forms—and a good deal of larger ones as well—structural closure and formal closure do coincide, and the coda has no structural significance beyond the foreground. Rink's reading of the Noctume reveals the presence of two distinct moments of closure within a piece, one formal (m. 24), the other structural (m. 33). Only the latter moment corresponds to definition (1). An analyst who hears closure in the sense of definition (1) must allow for the possibilty that structural and for- mal closure may not coincide. For it sometimes happens that the perfect eadence so ‘typically present at or near the moment of formal closure—such as the cadence in im. 24 of the Noctume that “deceived” Schenker—is absent. In a number of nine- teenth-century sonata forms, for example, the entire second group is recapitulated ‘outside the tonic, As a result, the form proper is tonally open, and tonal closure of, any kind (not only background closure) is saved for the formal coda. ‘A well-known example of this is the first movement of Brahms’s Third ‘Symphony. The recapitulation ends in the submediant key of D minor, correspon- ding to A minor, the key in which the exposition concludes, and the coda begins in m. 183 on the structural dominant (a cadential six-four). Only at m. 215 is the descent of the fundamental line completed. The manner in which Brahms articx ulates the border between recapitulation and coda in this movement aptly illus trates closure as expressed by definition (2). The thematic parallelism between the start of the coda and the start of the mavement signals a new beginning (albeit urgently end-oriented), while the cadential six-four arouses an expectation of imminent rest or finality. Approaches to the Coda of the Eroica Symphony, first movement ‘Much recent research on codas is indebted to Joseph Kerman’s landmark article oon Beethoven’s codas.” Kerman’s study was partly motivated by bis disappoint- 6 ‘THEORY AND PRACTICE ‘ment with Charles Rosen’s Sonaia Forms, which, in the original 1980 edition, lacked “any sustained treatment of the sonata-form coda.”* Codas can indeed function as much more than mere appendices or epilogues; they can even set the stage for the dramatic enactment of tonal closure, a8 noted above in works by ‘Chopin and Brahms. Yet the accounts by Kerman and others rarely, if ever, iden tify structural closure as @ possible function of the coda. The main function of Beethoven's codas, in Kerman’s view, may be called thematic “completion,” “es- ‘olution,” or “normalization.” In many codas from Beethoven's second period, in particular, “there seems to be some kind of instability, discontinuity, or thrust in the first theme which is removed in the coda.” No coda has attracted more analytical interest in recent years than that of the first movernent of the Zroica Symphony, and it is instructive to compare pub- lished accounts of this coda. I shall examine those of Kerman, Robert Morgan, and Scott Bumham, paying particular attention to their characterizations of both clo- suse and certain processes, such as development, that tend to postpone closure, ‘Kemnan’s remarks on this coda appear in two sources. In the first, a review of Rosen’s Sonata Forms, Kerman counters Rosen’s claim that “symmetrical equi- librium’ is reestablished near the end of the movement (mm. 631-62) by “an incredibly long passage that does nothing but repeat a V-I cadence over and over again in E-flat major." For Kerman, much more is at stake: the passage “does nothing Jess than resolve the main theme.” Inhis later article, Kerman frames his brief discussion of the Eroica coda with a critique of the practice, evidently initiated by Vincent "Indy, of calling ‘codas “terminal developments.” Kerman denies that the main function of Beethoven's codas is development, despite the fact that they “incorporate devel- ‘opment of thematic material.” (“{O}f course they do, and so do his expositions and recepitulations,” Kerman is quick to note.) The treatment of the main theme in the coda of the Froica is, iv his view, “retrospective rather than innovative and there- fore sounds not like a second development but like a recollection of the first—a recollection that is, again, in some sense recapitulatory.””” ‘Morgan takes the Kerman-Rosen exchange as & point of departure for his reading of the coda, He notes differences between thematically related passages from every stage of the movement, with particular attention to aspects of texture (instrumentation, spacing, register, density, volume, et.) that are largely overlooked by Rosen and Kerman. With respect to the conclusion of the coda itself (mm. 631), Morgan aims his main criticism at Kerman, who refuses to hear in it any further development of the main theme: ‘Thus, although the removal of all tonal and thematic deflections at the close [i.., mm. 631f/] creates 2 kind of resolution, it also allows the other musical parame- ters-—the “textural” ones that have played such an important part in the previous statements—to come even more ermphaticaly to the fore, These remain as devel- ‘opmental as ever, projecting a process of expansive evolution... Kerman, then, is fundamentally mistaken, . Three key words recur throughout Morgan’s argument, mainly in adjectival form: Concerts OF CLOSURE 7 “expansive,” “developmental,” and “dynamic.” They characterize the musio—at virtually every stage of the movement—as needing to continue (ie, to keep mov- ing), and thus not to close. Morgan reserves other terms related to non-closure “circular” and “open-ended” for the description of one musical passage in par- ticular. For example, two pages before the quotation given above, Morgan describes mm. 631-8 as A tonally unstable ((-V) but rhythmically balanced (4 + 4) eight-measure unit

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