Motives for allusion : context and content in nineteenth-century music / Christopher Alan Reynolds.

Author/creator Reynolds, Christopher A.
Format Book
Publication InfoCambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2003.
Descriptionxii, 230 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Subjects

Contents Definitions -- Transformations -- Assimilative allusions -- Contrastive allusions -- Texting -- Inspiration -- Naming -- Allusive traditions and audiences -- Motives for allusion.
Abstract Reynolds identifies specific borrowings or allusions in a wide range of nineteenth-century music. He shows the kinds of things composers do with borrowed musical ideas, and discusses why a composer would choose to deploy such allusions. A rich historical background for the practice emerges from his analysis. Musical borrowing touches directly on issues of central importance for nineteenth- and twentieth-century composition: notions of creativity and originality, the constraints of tradition and innovation, musical symbolism and the listener's ear. In clarifying what it can mean when one piece of music invokes or refers to another, Reynolds expands our understanding of what we hear.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 187-215) and index.
LCCN 2002191301
ISBN067401037X

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML196 .R45 2003 ✔ Available Place Hold