Musical Form and Musical Performance

by Edward T. Cone

Musical Form and Musical Performance <> Paperback <> EdwardT.Cone <> W.W.Norton&Company

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1968

Reviews

[Antonio Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant work on musical form and how that leads us into musical enjoyment, and vice versa. Cone agrees with C. S. Lewis on the fact that there are two modes of looking at art. C. S. Lewis uses the analogy of looking along a beam and looking at the beam. Cone uses the language of "immediate apprehension," that is--what we can enjoy simply by listening, reading, or viewing a piece-- and "synoptic comprehension," seeing the whole unified structure for what it is down to the micro structure of measure and beat. Cone shows the reader through a series of examples that form should dictate performance for the sake of immediate apprehension. ("The audience is seated, / Expected to be treated / To a feast of the best" to quote from a William Billings song.) And like Lewis, this sense of enjoyment is the reason form exists, to facilitate the enjoyment of music. Cone primarily focuses on how this is seen in rhythm (including harmonic rhythm). Rhythm facilitates pattern, stateliness, melody, and the upheaval of those things at the same time if it causes delight to the hearer. Yet even that has a logical form. Yet Cone says that the desire to find form should not be the supreme cause of listening and analyzing. Rather, it should be the analyzing that causes us to enjoy the enjoying even more.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a slog. For professional musicians or the very dedicated concert-goer. Lots of musical terminology. Some interesting ideas, particularly around narrative and the level of perception of musical works. The postlude is the most intriguing v aspect of the book.

3.5 stars, but I rounded down due to verbosity in some passages.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of very interesting, challenging, deep and thought-provoking ideas about musical analysis for authentic, artistic and meaningful performance.

While it certainly made me reflect on the music I prepare and perform--and gave me a much more intricate sense of form, structure, purpose, etc.--I couldn't escape my disdain for the author's very lofty and aloof writing style.

Typical for the time and place of its genesis I suppose, but authors with even greater reputations and credentials at stake have in far more approachable ways.

All that said, I know I'm a better musician for even contemplating these ideas.