Listening and Understanding

Constantin Floros

Listening and Understanding

The Language of Music and How to Interpret It
Translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Floros, Constantin. | Bernhardt-Kabisch, Ernest, 1934- translator.
Title: Listening and understanding : the language of music and how to
interpret it / Constantin Floros ; translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch.
Other titles: H?oren und verstehen. English
Description: Frankfurt am Main ; New York : Peter Lang, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010192 | ISBN 9783631720486
Subjects: LCSH: Music--19th century--History and criticism. | Music--20th
century--History and criticism. | Music appreciation.
Classification: LCC ML196 .F5913 2017 | DDC 780.9/034--dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010192

Revised and expanded version of „Hören und verstehen.
Die Sprache der Musik und ihre Deutung"
published 2008 by Schott Musik GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz
Cover illustration: Moritz von Schwind,
Schubert-Abend bei Joseph von Spaun, um 1868
© ullstein bild – Imagno

Copyright Musical Examples: Frederic Chopin, Nocturnes für Klavier
© 1980 by Wiener Urtext Edition, Musikverlag Ges.m.b.H. & Co., K.G.,
Wien/UE 50065

ISBN 978-3-631-72048-6 (Print)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-72323-4 (E-PDF)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-72324-1 (EPUB)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-72325-8 (MOBI)

DOI 10.3726/b11490

© Peter Lang GmbH

Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften

Frankfurt am Main 2017

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PL Academic Research ist ein Imprint der Peter Lang GmbH.

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About the authors

Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of Musicology at the University of Hamburg. Among his works are volumes on the origin of Gregorian neumes, about Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Alban Berg and György Ligeti.

Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch is professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. He has translated several books by Constantin Floros.

About the book

To grasp music in its depth dimension is an art that can be learned and perfected. Categories of formal analysis here play a subordinate role – at least as important it is to be consciously aware of timbres, dynamic processes, musical characters and expressions. Following general reflections about the art of listening, the volume in hand presents exemplary work analyses. The roster of composers introduced extends from Mozart to Bernstein, that of the genres discussed from the piano piece to the opera. A detailed register and a survey of the chief works referred to make this book an indispensable companion for both scholars and laymen.

About the German edition of this book:
“In Floros’ book all these details unite to form a magnificent mosaic. Individual works discussed meet us in an entirely new light, and we begin to decipher the language of music with a different set of tools.” (Helmut Peters)

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Table of Contents

Preface

Principles

Listening – not merely an “inner vision”

Prerequisites for Active Listening

Historical Aspects

Dimensions of the Musical – Ravel’s Boléro and Messiaen’s Chronochromie

“My Language is Understood all over the World” – the Linguistic Aspect of Music

Stirring and Calming Music

Emotional Listening

Exemplary Analyses

Psychological Categories

Mirth and Melancholy in Mozart

“Feeling New Strength” – An Archetypal Situation in Beethoven

Symphony

Beethoven’s Seventh – the Second Eroica

Tragic Overtures and Symphonies

Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C Major and the Austrian Element in Music ←5 | 6→

Love Lyrics in Symphonic Form – Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony

Symbolism in Symphonic Music

Chamber Music

Beethoven’s Late String Quartets

Opera and Music Drama

The Wolf Gorge Scene in Weber’s Freischütz – a Phantasmagoria of the Satanic

Wagner as Epic Poet – the Web of Leitmotifs in The Ring of the Nibelung

Fatality of Love – Bizet’s Carmen

The Dance of the Seven Veils in Strauss’ Salome

Program Music

How Relevant are Concealed Programs for the Listener?

Chopin’s Nocturne after Hamlet

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony pathétique

Rachmaninov – Music of Experience

Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela – a Symphonic Legend

Strauss’ Tone Poems

Ballet Music

Tone Color Magic – Stravinsky’s Firebird

Impressionist Music

Coopting Synesthesia – How to Listen to Debussy

Spatial Listening

From Antiphony to Stereophony ←6 | 7→

Sacred Music

Verdi’s Requiem

Religious Ideas through the Medium of Music – From Wagner to Bernstein

Epilogue: On Silence – an Essay in Cultural Criticism

Bibliography

Index