Formal Functions in Perspective ─ Essays on Musical Form from Haydn to Adorno

Among the more striking developments in contemporary North American music theory is the centrality that questions of musical form (Formenlehre) have enjoyed in recent decades. Formal Functions in Perspective presents thirteen studies that engage with musical form in a variety of ways. The essays, written by established and emerging scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European continent, run the chronological gamut from Haydn and Clementi to Leibowitz and Adorno; they discuss Lieder, arias, and choral music as well as symphonies, concerti, and chamber works; they treat Haydn's humor and Saint-Saens's politics, while discussions of particular pieces range from Mozart's arias to Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht. Running through all of these essays and connecting them thematically is the central notion of "formal function." CONTRIBUTORS: Brian Black, L. Poundie Burstein, Andrew Deruchie, Julian Horton, Steven Huebner, Harald Krebs, Henry Klumpenhouwer, Nathan John Martin, Francois de Medicis, Christoph Neidhofer, Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers, Giorgio Sanguinetti, Janet Schmalfeldt, Peter Schubert, Steven Vande Moortele Steven Vande Moortele is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Toronto. Julie Pedneault-Deslauriers is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. Nathan John Martin is a Lecturer in Music at Yale University.