Discussion Questions for Burkholder “Brahms and Twentieth-Century Classical Music”

Discussion Questions for Burkholder “Brahms and Twentieth-Century Classical Music”

Please be prepared to respond in either seminar meeting or in "Comments" on the course blog. In all venues, you must be prepared to cite specific passages (by page, paragraph, line, and quotation) in support of your responses.

(1) Burkholder describes a “traditional” or “standard” profile for Brahms as a musical stylist, in which profile Brahms is regarded as displaying a certain relationship to the musical past and to prior composers. What are the specific traits and assumptions which shape this profile, and on the basis of what considerations has this “traditionalist” label been attached to this composer?

(2) Burkholder suggests that the “traditional” model of Brahms is erroneous because it is based upon excessive emphasis on certain of Brahms’ traits. That is, the traditional model is “wrong” because it puts too much weight on Brahms characteristics which do not in fact reveal his goals and priorities. What are these “wrongly-emphasized” characteristics and [very importantly] why might scholars, critics, and other composers have chosen to wrongly emphasize them? [Hint: think about analytical tools.]

(3) Burkholder proposes to focus upon a different set of Brahms characteristics. What are these characteristics, and how does Burkholder justify them as being more accurate and revealing of Brahms’s significance? PLEASE BE PREPARED TO CITE SPECIFIC PASSAGES IN SUPPORT OF YOUR OPINION.

(4) What is the “narrative” through which traditional musicology has “explained” (or at least described) the gradual shift in 19^th-century style away from tonal/functional harmony and toward programmatic or descriptive harmony? What language is typically employed to tell this story? What flaws does Burkholder find in this standard explanation? CITE PASSAGES.

(5) How did Schoenberg make the claim that Brahms was a progressive? More to the point—why did he make this claim? What was Schoenberg’s own agenda in “claiming” Brahms?

(6) How, and using what specific language, does Burkholder define “musical modernism”? What are the implications of this specific definition? To cite language we employed in our Thursday discussion, what was modernism’s perspective on the “museum pieces”?

(7) Burkholder employs the Finale of Brahms’s 1885 Fourth Symphony to argue his thesis (and you should note this: Burkholder’s argument could serve as a very practical model for your own research presentation). On p78, Burkholder describes a wide range of prior composers and/or styles of the past which influence this Finale. How, then, can Burkholder claim that this is a modernist piece, when it is so heavily indebted to the music of the past? Explain this paradox.

(8) On 79, Burkholder uses the term “dialectic” (find a technical definition here). With or between whom was this debate enacted? What was being debated? To whom, or for what audience(s), are Brahms’s stylistic choices aimed? How does Burkholder use the analysis of Brahms’s goals to get at the Fourth’s meaning? In what way, then, is the Finale a kind of “music criticism”? CITE PASSAGES.

(9) What other composers of the period, both German and non-German, does Burkholder see as using similar strategies? Be prepared to add at least one more composer to this list, and to cite and discuss a specific piece by that composer which shows the same tendencies.

Discussion Questions for Burkholder's "Museum Pieces"

Discussion Questions for Burkholder, “Museum Pieces: The Historicist Mainstream in Music of the Last Hundred Years”

Please be prepared to respond in either seminar meeting or in "Comments" on the course blog. In all venues, you must be prepared to cite specific passages (by page, paragraph, line, and quotation) in support of your responses.

1. What does Burkholder believe to be the “problem” facing scholars who are seeking to understand what happened to music in the 20th century? What aspects of 20th-century music does he believe to be uniquely difficult, or resistant to historical analysis?

2. Be prepared to provide a precise definition of the word “historicist” as it is used in this article, and to relate that specific definition to the thesis which Burkholder argues to be the most appropriate and effective way of thinking about 20th-century music.

3. How does Burkholder employ William Weber’s insights to explain changes in musical behavior in the 20th-century? What types of evidence does he cite to describe these changes? Be prepared to offer, in your own words, a label which describes the nature of Burkholder’s analytical approach Hint: the types of evidence cited provide a clue to the type of analytical approach he suggests. Does Burkholder’s analytical approach reflect the attitudes or perspectives of composers in the period? How? Hint: look at p117, para 2.

4. What is the role of “historical self-consciousness” in 20th-century musical philosophies, style, and aesthetics? Provide 2 examples, a first cited by Burkholder and a second cited from your own outside listening and/or knowledge. Be prepared to relate these two examples for seminar colleagues.

5. What are the implications of Burkholder’s term “museum pieces”? Obviously, he believes this to be an important phrase, as he both employs it in his title and subsequently provides a detailed discussion (see p120 ff). Be prepared to describe in your own words, to cite other composers “writing for the museum,” and to explain the cultural factors which Burkholder argues drove this tendency.

6. Describe and unpack the dynamic relationship between 20th-century composers working within the Austro-German tradition and those working outside it. What were the motives of each group? How did each group deal with (a) “tradition”, (b) “innovation”, and (c) “nationality”?

7. Burkholder suggests that he will “turn the traditional method of writing histories of 20th-century music on its head.” Why does he say this is necessary: what is his rationale? (You must cite and interpret specific passages to support your response)

8. What criteria dictated whether new works would or would not “enter the museum”? What elements of 20th-century musical thinking do these criteria reveal? Do these criteria still obtain in the 21st century? Cite examples.

9. Summarize Burkholder’s conclusions in the form of a bullet-point list of no more than 4 items. Rank these items from most important to least important insights. Bring to class and be prepared to discuss your reasoning.

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