Music in the notes for The Ascending Urlinie (JMT 1987)

I have published the essay The Ascending Urlinie (Journal of Music Theory, 1987): Studies of Music from the Endnotes on the Texas Scholar Works platform: link. Here is the abstract:

In the endnotes to an article published thirty years ago, I list about thirty compositions as representative examples of different forms of the ascending Urlinie. This document provides analyses and discussion of all those pieces, as well as additional discussion of two pieces from the article’s main text: Bach, Prelude in C Major, BWV 924 (as compositional exercise); Beethoven, Piano Sonata in Bb major, op. 22, III (rising Urlinie and register).

Gallery of Simple Examples, Volume 2

I have posted a sequel to the gallery of simple examples (link to volume 1). The title is A Gallery of Simple Examples of Extended Rising Melodic Shapes, Volume 2: link to volume 2.

Here is the abstract:

This second installment of direct, cleanly formed rising lines offers examples from a variety of sources, ranging from a short early seventeenth century choral piece to Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, and from Scottish fiddle tunes to Victor Herbert operettas.

Here is a combined table of contents for the two volumes, arranged chronologically and with the volume number indicated:

Praetorius, three-voice motet "Preis sei Gott in der Höhe"       -- vol. 2
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Partita ex Vienna, Courante      -- vol. 2
Böhm, Suite in F minor, Courante       -- vol. 1
Anon., Chelsea Stage     -- vol. 2
Anon., The Duchess of Gordon     -- vol. 2
Anon., The Kerry Jig       -- vol. 2
Anon., The Nabob        -- vol. 2
Anon., The Runaway Bride    -- vol. 2
Anon., Shepherds Jigg   -- vol. 2
Anon., Yankey Doodle      -- vol. 2
Mozart, 12 Menuets, K176n1       -- vol. 1
Haydn, String Quartet in D Major, Op76n2, III       -- vol. 1
Haydn, Symphony no. 86, III      -- vol. 1
Beethoven, 12 German Dances, WoO8n1       -- vol. 1
Hummel, from 6 German Dances & 12 Trios, op. 16      -- vol. 2
Schubert, Wiener-Damen-Ländler, D734n15       -- vol. 1
Schubert, Valses sentimentales, D779n13       -- vol. 1
Schubert, Ländler, D814n4       -- vol. 1
Schubert, Deutscher Tanz, D769n1       -- vol. 1
Schubert, Grazer Walzer, D924n9       -- vol. 1
Johann Strauss, sr., “Champagner Galop,” Op. 8      -- vol. 2
Johann Strauss, sr., Das Leben ein Tanz, oder Der Tanz ein Leben!, Op.49       -- vol. 1
Johann Strauss, sr., Exotische Pflanzen, Op.109       -- vol. 1
Johann Strauss, jr., Künstlerleben, op. 316       -- vol. 1
Brahms, “Über die See”       -- vol. 1
Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, March       -- vol. 1
Herbert,  Sweethearts, n7: "Jeannette and Her Little Wooden Shoes"      -- vol. 2
Herbert, Naughty Marietta, n17: "The Sweet Bye and Bye"      -- vol. 2
Herbert, Babette, n23: Finale III      -- vol. 2
Prokofiev, Classical Symphony, Gavotte      -- vol. 2
Gershwin, Shall We Dance, "Slap That Bass"      -- vol. 2
Waxman, Rebecca, "Hotel Lobby Waltz”      -- vol. 2 

Essay on British Isles Dance and Song

I have published an essay titled English, Scotch, and Irish Dance and Song: On Cadence Gestures and Figures. It can be found on Texas Scholar Works: link.

Here is the abstract:

This is a documentation of ascending cadence gestures in some 260 songs and dances from the British Isles, taken from eighteenth and nineteenth century sources, with some emphasis on collections for practical use published between about 1770 and 1820 and on the later ethnographic collections of P. W. Joyce and the anthology of Francis O’Neill.

Addendum to the historical survey, index, published

In early March, I published an addendum to the historical survey (link to that document) on Texas Scholar Works: link to the new document.

Here is the abstract:

This is an addendum to the essay Ascending Cadence Gestures: A Historical Survey from the 16th to the Early 19th Century (published on Texas Scholar Works, July 2016), consisting of posts since that date to my blog “Ascending Cadence Gestures” (on Google blogspot). This is also an index to musical compositions discussed in essays published or re-published on this platform since 2010, through 03 March 2017.

A Gallery of Simple Examples

In March, I published A Gallery of Simple Examples of Extended Rising Melodic Shapes on Texas Scholar Works. Here is the link; and here is the abstract.

Prevailing stereotypes of formal cadences and arch-shaped melodies were especially strong in the eighteenth century, but they did not prevent European musicians from occasionally introducing rising melodic figures into cadences and sometimes connecting those figures abstractly in lines with focal notes earlier in a composition. This essay presents a few of the most direct, cleanly formed rising lines in music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Michael Pamer, Neue brillante Ländler (1827)

I have published two posts on Michael Pamer's Neue brillante Ländler (12 volumes, 1827): link to the first post. Pamer is widely regarded as the skilled musician who brought the style of the "Linzer Geiger" into dance halls and house balls, though it was his protegés, Lanner and Johann Strauss, sr., who became famous for it.