Keys to the Drama: Nine Perspectives on Sonata Forms (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780754656067)

Sonata form is fundamentally a dramatic structure that creates, manipulates, and ultimately satisfies expectation. It engages its audience by inviting prediction, association, and interpretation. That sonata form was the chief vehicle of dramatic instrumental music for nearly 200 years is due to the power, the universality, and the tonal and stylistic adaptability of its conception. This book presents nine studies whose central focus is sonata form. Their diversity attests both to the manifold analytical approaches to which the form responds, and to the vast range of musical possibility within the form's exemplars. At the same time, common compositional issues, analytical methods, and overarching perspectives on the essential nature of the form weave their way through the volume.

Author: Gordon Sly
ISBN-10: 0754656063
ISBN-13: 9780754656067
Publisher: Routledge
Language: English
Published: 09/28/2009
Pages: 248
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.63d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2010 pg. 232