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The Analysis Of Prelude And Fugue On Hindemith's Ludus Tonalis

Posted on:2009-01-26Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:P GaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360245495510Subject:Art
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Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), as the neoclassicism composer's outstanding representative, is a German-American composer, music theoretician and social activist which the first half of the 20th century has witnessed an important international influence.His music career lasted a long time. From 1921, the successful performance of his "String Quartet No.2" in the first Donaueschingen Festival has well established himself as Germany's most important young composers to the early 1960s, he has always maintained an exuberant creation momentum and brimmed with innovative art exploration. Completed in 1942, the "Ludus Tonalis" is a piano divertimento which Hindemith was very proud of and which occupied an important position in his broad range of topics and vast quantity of music creations. The divertimento is composed of a Prelude, 12 Fugue, 11 Intermezzo and a Postlude. In terms of either the macro-or micro-structure of the basic performance of music-oriented approach, the "Ludus Tonalis" has manifested the composer's inheritance to the neoclassicism and incontrovertibly demonstrated his unique composition's technical rationality and effectiveness. Focus on these two aspects to carry on the analysis to the "Ludus Tonalis" will be helpful to a more comprehensive understanding of the music composition in Hindemith's maturity period as well as the neoclassicism he has represented.This paper takes the Prelude and Fugue of the "Ludus Tonalis" for the study, proceeding with the two-pronged approach: the neoclassicism inheritance and the composer technical theory's practice. It has conducted a systematic and comprehensive analysis to the Prelude and Fugue. This paper is composed by three major components. After introduction is the paper's first chapter of Prelude analysis. Because the prelude has three characteristic theme melodies at three distinct intervals of periods, thus this chapter is divided into three sections; each of them carries on stresses in basic music expression approach analysis to the Cadenza, toccata, arioso and chant period. Section I focuses on the medieval origins and characteristics of melody style, the process of the compound mode texture moto perpetuo of the first part of the Prelude corpus—toccata period, as well as its coherence with the basic music expression approach. Sections II and III take Hindemith's theory of compose technology, namely, chord, two-voice framework, harmonic fluctuation, and tonality as well as the termination theory as foundations. We conducted an analysis respectively to the melody, texture analysis of the works, harmony and tonality of the Arioso in section II and the Chant in section III, which the detailed exposition to the works' texture, harmony and tonality provided by Hindemith's new theory occupies a lot of space.The second chapter is the analysis for the 12 Fugue. In accordance with the theme number, the structure characteristic, and the methods used by Polyphony development, the Fugue can be divided into three groups, each for one section. In the first section, Fugue 1 and 4 focus on the discussion of the multiple Fugue theme and tonality. In the second section, Fugue 3, 10 and 11 conduct an analysis to the theme and tonality, simultaneously, they focus on a detailed study of its diversified structure. In the third section Fugue 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 are most similar to the traditional Fugue in an overall structure. We will conduct a specific analysis to each part of the musical form as well as its typical characteristics.After the detailed study, the conclusion of the paper summarizes the typical characteristics of Hindemith's neoclassical spirit. It positions the "Ludus Tonalis" from the perspective of the evolution of western culture and puts forward our own perspectives and insights.
Keywords/Search Tags:Hindemith, Ludus Tonalis, Prelude, Fugue
PDF Full Text Request
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