The Listener and the Work as the Dualistic Basis for the Morphological Analysis of Music

Abstract

In morphological analysis, the musical work and the listener are seen as elements of one communicative duality. Each element of this duality may play the role of either subject or object. This paves the way for a more flexible approach towards analyzing a musical text. The morpheme, one of the cornerstones of morphological analysis, can be defined as a sound construction with a typical set of characteristic features. The other cornerstone, the morph, transforms a morpheme into a genеriс, stylistic “flesh and blood” of a specific musical text, on the basis of polymorphism. One bright example of the depth and rapidity of morphic transformations in Tchaikovsky’s music is the finale of his First Piano Concerto. From the point of view of morphological analysis, the musical development in the “Introduction” to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is based on a step-by-step approach to an externally existing object, making it possible for us to perceive (see or hear) its details. The object itself is polymorphic, i.e., similar to an embryo; it contains within itself, from the start, every element it needs for further development. The starting point of the “Introduction,” the high-register bassoon melody accompanied by the supporting line of the horn, can be defined as a forest viewed in a distance, from where the sound of a shepherd’s horn can be heard. The ten intonational elements of the initial three measures of the ballet provide the base from which the form of the “Introduction” is developed.

Keywords: music of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, morphological analysis, The Rite of Spring, object-descriptive polymorphism