| Popis: |
This chapter offers an analysis of String Quartet No. 2 (1936) by German-American composer Johanna Beyer (1888–1944). The analysis demonstrates Beyer’s application of the principles of melodic dissonation, theorized by Charles Seeger, to multiple levels of this four-movement work. Beyer quotes and dissonates Mozart’s famous aria “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from The Magic Flute, and the analysis defines pitch motives and a structural pitch frame derived from this material that serve to unite the piece. At the same time, the analysis shows the way Beyer works with this common material to create four idiosyncratic movements that are exemplary of her unique musical imagination. Through the analysis of String Quartet No. 2, this chapter touches on Beyer’s broader interest in the experimental methods and concerns of the ultramodernist composers in the first decades of the twentieth century. |
