Variation is among the most fundamental and essential musical processes. Yet, variation as a form has often been overlooked and undervalued for several reasons, including its formally fragmentary nature and its heavy reliance on melodic decoration. Across forty-two newly commissioned essays by forty-six authors from around the world, The Oxford Handbook of Musical Variation seeks to restore faith in this traditionally underemphasized form. It also examines variation as a technique apart from variation form--a technique that is integral to music of virtually all styles, forms, and genres. While exploring the traits of musical variation that have proven consistent over time, the volume also considers the diverse ways in which those traits have been treated, analyzing myriad works and their unique deployment of variational techniques.
This handbook examines both sectional and continuous variation forms, from Heinrich Biber to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Subtopics include music cognition, Schenkerian approaches, hermeneutics, and variation in songs and sonata form. It surveys techniques such as developing variation, thematic work, contrapuntal treatment, leitmotifs, and thematic recurrence. It also considers variations that span the movements of a work (cyclicity) and even that span different works entirely (intertextuality). The concluding section delves into the teaching of variation, especially from historical vantages.
Traversing virtually the entire history of Western music, from Renaissance music to jazz, The Oxford Handbook of Musical Variation is a multifarious exploration of the most cardinal of compositional practices and encompasses the plurality of topics and musics that characterizes modern musicology.
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Introduction
Jeffrey Swinkin
Part I. Variation Forms
A. Introduction
Chapter 1. The Variation Tradition: Some Themes
Roman Ivanovitch
B. Cognition
Chapter 2. Music Analysis as the Cognition of Similarity Relationships: The Music of Charles Mingus as a Case Study
Morgan Patrick and Daniel Shanahan
C. Methodology
Chapter 3. What Variations Do: Toward a Methodology for Analyzing Tonal Variation Sets
Jeffrey Swinkin
Chapter 4. Difference, Repetition, and Crystallization: A Deleuzian View of Variation Form
Kai Yin (Eric) Lo
D. Historical Vantages
Chapter 5. The Ground-Bass Variation Dances of Marin Marais
Geoffrey Burgess
Chapter 6. Variation at the Intersection of Composition and Performance in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Dorian Bandy
Chapter 7. The Development and Deconstruction of Variation Form in Nineteenth-Century Paris
Kristin Taavola
E. Schenkerian Considerations
Chapter 8. Reexamining the Challenges of Variation Form for Schenkerian Analysis
Hiu-Wah Au
Chapter 9. Zusammenhang, Verknüpfung, and Verkettung: In Defense of Schenker's Model of Coherence in his Analysis of Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
Marc Rigaudière
F. Harmony
Chapter 10. Unraveling Tonic Identity and Function in Reger's "Mozart" Variations
David Heetderks
G. Expressive Approaches
Chapter 11. Topics and Tropes in Mozart's Variations for Piano
Melanie Lowe
Chapter 12. Alternating Variations, Structure, and Subjectivity in Beethoven's Piano Trio in E-flat, op. 70, no. 2, Second Movement
Jeffrey Perry
Chapter 13. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Symphonic Variations on an African Air: Structure, Narrative, Meaning
John L. Snyder
H. Extrageneric Variation
Chapter 14. Variations in Sonata Form
Caitlin Martinkus
Chapter 15. The Expressive Function of Variation in the German Lied
Harald Krebs
Chapter 16. Dreaming through Variation: Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and Langston Hughes' "Dream Variations"
Rachel Lumsden
I. Response
Chapter 17. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Variation Form
Elaine Sisman
Part II. Variation Techniques
A. Introduction
Chapter 18. What Is Developing Variation? Contextualizing Three Different Accounts of the Motivic Variation Process Within the Larger Field of Thematic-Motivic Analysis
Jack Boss
B. Techniques
Chapter 19: Contrapuntal Variation in Renaissance Vocal Polyphony: The Case of the Bass-line Soggetto
Peter Schubert
Chapter 20. Varied Repetition as a Unifying Element in Select Works by Isabella Leonarda
Sarah Marlowe
Chapter 21. The Role of Bellini in the Evolution of Chopin's Approach to Nocturne Melody
David Kasunic
Chapter 22. Recurring Themes in Verismo Opera
Ji Yeon Lee
Chapter 23. Themes and Motifs: Orchestral Toning and Situational Variation in Early Film Accompaniment Practice
James Buhler
Chapter 24. The Pitch-Class Motive as Lacanian Symptom: The Case of Prokofiev's Piano Sonata no. 6
Michael L. Klein
Chapter 25. Variation in Musical Minimalism: Technique, Process, and Form
George Adams
Chapter 26. Canonic Machines: Repetition and Progressive Variation in Gubaidulina's Fourth String Quartet
Judith Lochhead
C. Cyclicity
Chapter 27. Cyclic Unity in Dvorák's Later Chamber Music: A Reinvigoration of Classical Strategies in the Late-Nineteenth Century
Peter H. Smith
Chapter 28. Themes, (Leit)motives, and Cycles in Belle Époque Vocal Music
Stephen Rumph
D. Intertextuality
Chapter 29. Brahms' Sonata for Piano and Clarinet in F Minor, op. 120, no. 1: Hidden Echoes of the Matthew Passion Chorale?
Edward Klorman
Chapter 30. Brahms's Variation Technique in the Service of Expressive Doubling
Heather Platt
Chapter 31. Refractions Through Metal: Variations of Sound, Form, and Musical Subjectivity in Metal Cover Songs
Lori Burns and Patrick Armstrong
Chapter 32. Themes and (Improvised) Variations in Modern Jazz Palimpsests
Ben Baker
Chapter 33: Entextualization, Generalization, and Practice in Clara Wieck-Schumann's Early Piano Variations
Andrew Malilay White
E. Response
Chapter 34. Glosses on Variation Techniques
Jonathan Dunsby
Part III. Performing Variations
Chapter 35. Ornamentation in the French Romance
Nathan Dougherty
Chapter 36. Analysis, Performance, and Reconsidering the Telos Narrative in Two Beethoven Variation Sets
Cecilia Oinas
Chapter 37. Between Coherence and Dissociation: Performative Form in the Performance History of Beethoven's "Diabelli" Variations, op. 120
Christian Utz and Majid Motavasseli
Chapter 38. Variation in Central Javanese Gamelan Music
Sarah Weiss
Part IV. Pedagogy and Disciplinarity
Chapter 39. Variation and Thematic Techniques in World Musics: Three Case Studies and Implications for Music Theory Pedagogy
Jane Piper Clendinning
Chapter 40. Clausulae-Pairs in Multiple-Bass Chorales
Derek Remes, Victor Duy Phan, and Mark Gotham
Chapter 41. Variation Counterpoint in Eighteenth-Century Naples and Bologna
Peter van Tour
Chapter 42. Bodies: A Refrain
Vivian Luong
Index
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