Max Reger's Motivic Technique: Harmonic Innovations at the Borders of Atonality
1991; Duke University; Volume: 35; Issue: 1/2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/843810
ISSN1941-7497
Autores Tópico(s)Musicians’ Health and Performance
ResumoThe long-standing and continuing controversy swirling about Max Reger's harmonic technique has befogged a feature of his compositional design equally unusual, provocative, and important. That the motivic structure of Reger's music has been lost in this storm is not only unfortunate, but also ironic; for it is perhaps the most reliable compass, the best guide out of the incomprehension that seems to trap most listeners in his works. When we consider that Reger's admiration (adoration?) of the music of two great masters of motivic organization, Bach and Brahms, is the essence of the received musicological opinion,I and that the debt to these two composers is thought by some to be so great that it crushed any stylistic expression of his own, then the value of examining the motivic techniques that Reger took from them--particularly from Brahmsappreciates dramatically. I thus intend in this study to explore this heretofore lost aspect of Max Reger's compositional style, using three representative works: the Intermezzo, op. 45/5, the Larghetto, op. 143/1, from Triiume am Kamin, and the first 18 bars of the Introduktion, Variationen, und Fuge iiber ein Originalthema, op. 73.
Referência(s)