Category: vanemad

Beethoven is not the subject of this issue only for the reasons given above. Music analysis is based often on Beethoven’s works, which have not lost their reference status even today. A large part of the analytical theories and terminology relating to classical music has also been developed by analysing and interpreting Beethoven’s works.

The first article in the collection is an analytical vignette, which functions as a prelude for the whole issue. It features Stephen Slottow’s analysis of François Couperin’s keyboard work “La Flore”. At first glance, the analysis of the Baroque composer’s miniature may seem quite distant from the topic of Beethoven. However, in Slottow’s approach, the Schenkerian motif and voice-leading structure are linked to show the organic integration and interaction of the two. These topics, however, have entered the practice of music analysis primarily in the canon of masterpieces, i.e., in the interpretation of works belonging to the Beethovenian tradition.

Poundie Burstein’s analytical essay focuses on the exposition of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 2, No. 3, first movement. Burstein shows that the difficulties in interpreting the formal and voice-leading structure of the work by different authors may be due to faulty analytical tools. Modern classical theories of form are based mainly on 19th-century composition practice, of which Beethoven is, of course, an important part. However, the sonata in C major belongs to Beethoven’s early mature work and is probably much more influenced by the compositional practices of the second half of the 18th century than related to the composer’s later work.

Ildar Khannanov focuses on the main theme of Beethoven’s piano sonata in C minor, Op. 13, second movement. The author endeavours to show that Beethoven’s complete compositional structures should be met in a way that does not ignore the seemingly contradictory elements that appear in these structures. The author finds that modern musical analysis, which prioritizes a structural element and tries to subordinate all other elements to it, in a sense lowers the grandeur of Beethoven’s works. The author considers it necessary to look at the main theme considering Hugo Riemann’s theories of form and the analytical practices of 20th century Russia and Eastern Europe, largely ignored in the Anglo-American analytical tradition.

The series of analyses of Beethoven’s works ends with Vadim Rakochi’s discussion of the orchestral functions of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and how they affect the form and genre of the work. Representing the classical style but incorporating Baroque elements, the work is a hybrid of form and genre, with no direct analogue in the 19th-century repertoire.

The postlude to the analytical studies is Edward Jurkowski’s essay on Anton Bruckner’s main themes and their relations to Beethoven’s formal thinking. To uncover their affinity, Jurkowski uses form models created by William Caplin to analyse classical themes. Jurkowski demonstrates that behind Bruckner’s seemingly long and shapeless themes lies a compositional logic that has much in common with classical structures, and especially with Beethoven’s music.

The only Estonian-language study somewhat contradicts the approaches described above, not only in method but also in terms of the research material. All five articles in English represent the so-called art music analysis tradition. This tradition has ignored phenomena outside art music as well as that part of art music which does not represent masterpieces, i.e., the majority of all art music. Eerik Jõks’ article, which focuses on the relation between the Estonian language and the rhythm of choral tunes, attempts to fill this gap. The research conducted by the author’s unique method shows that it is the isometrically notated choral tune that connects to the Estonian language most organically.

Kerri Kotta

This volume includes three ethnomusicological studies. Two of them are dedicated to one musical phenomenon which occurs in many traditional cultures around the world, but nevertheless has found little attention on the part of the scholars. This is what is known as polymusic – performance practices, mostly connected with rituals, where two or more autonomous musical entities (songs, laments, instrumental pieces, etc.) sound simultaneously in a generally uncoordinated manner.

Žanna Pärtlas in her article focuses on the principle of controlled disorder in polymusic, i.e. on the manifestations and relations of musical coordination and incoordination. She also investigates the possible psychological effects of polymusic related to the shaping of ritual time. The theoretical questions of polymusic are discussed using the example of the Seto wedding song genre kaasitamine.

Daiva Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė investigates the functions and meanings of polymusic in Lithuanian funeral and wedding rituals. She analyses two cases where different musical genres are brought together in order to achieve certain ritual goals, and one case where a polymusical principle manifests itself in a dialogue of laments. All the cases considered are linked to lamenting in the context of rites of passage.

The third ethnomusicological study in this volume belongs to the field of applied ethnomusicology. Its author, Rytis Ambrazevičius, considers the roll of embodiment in the transmission of traditional vocal music, proceeding from his experiences as an instructor at the annual International Summer School of Traditional Music in Poland. The study reveals how the body can function as a mediator in relation to different aspects of folk song at different stages of the learning process.

The articles on music history in the present number of Res Musica are based on papers delivered at the conference “Urban and Court Culture in the Early Modern Baltic Sea Region”, which was held at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Tallinn, on 2–3 May 2019 and organised by the Estonian Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts under the direction of Kristel Pappel.¹ In these papers researchers from different disciplines explore urban and court culture, amongst other things, from the perspectives of individual people. One of these, and one of the focal points of the conference, was Johann Valentin Meder (1649–1719), the 300th anniversary of whose death in July 2019 the conference marked. Working mainly in cities, Meder is an excellent example of a musician acting in urban environments in the Baltic Sea region; however, he interacted with courts as well, writing and dedicating works also to crowned heads, and without courtly institutions a large part of his work would not have been preserved.

The reader finds here a part of the conference papers on music history, carefully selected so as to focus on a limited number of related subject fields. These are, first, music life in Hamburg and, second, Johann Valentin Meder, with a time frame of the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries. While the papers on music life in Hamburg add new aspects to previous research, this is the first time that multiple articles on Meder have appeared in one publication.

In Early Modern musical life, the aristocracy could play a role even in areas lacking a court. Thus Martin Loeser shows how aristocratic and bourgeois cultural acting could intertwine in music, especially in the concert life of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg. Ingo Rekatzky reveals to the aristocratic influences on the repertoire of the Goosemarket Opera and analyses their interaction with the strong protestant moral system and popular genres. He shows how these interacting forces foreshadowed concepts of the later bourgeois theatre of the Enlightenment.

The authors writing about Johann Valentin Meder have chosen a source-based approach to the subject. The section opens with an article by Peter Wollny about notable source findings. Based on handwritten fragments by Meder previously unknown, Wollny discusses different facets of Meder’s work; referring to copies of pieces by other composers written in Meder’s hand, he points to the likely content of Meder’s music collection and to his contacts. Danuta Popinigis examines Meder’s Gdańsk years, shedding light on different aspects of the composer’s activity both as a musician and as a private individual on the basis of valuable new details discovered in archival research. With regard to prints of occasional music, Anu Schaper explores how Meder positioned himself in urban social networks and discusses the musical characteristics of the corpus, pointing to its links with the rest of the composer’s oeuvre.

The editors sincerely thank the peer reviewers for their contribution to the present number.

Žanna Pärtlas
Anu Schaper

1 The conference was supported by the Regional Development Fund of the European Union (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, ASTRA measure, EMTASTRA project, 2014-2020.4.01.16-0043).

The first one is an essay by Kristel Pappel in honour of Toomas Siitan, which outlines his comprehensive, multifaceted approach to studying the cultural field of the 19th century.

The remainder of the research papers can be categorized according to different periods of music history, where each article reflects a diverse aspect of Siitan’s activities and interests. The compositions and cultural practices of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries have appealed to him both as an artist and expert in early music interpretation – one has only to consider the high artistic level of the annual Haapsalu festivals – as well as a researcher and music historian, whose interests and publications range from explanations of historically informed performances in the 1980s to studies concerning manuscripts of choral books and foreign musicians employed in Estonia. In this issue, Anu Schaper comprehensively crutinises the dating of 26 church music compositions by Johann Valentin Meder, a cantor at the Gymnasium in Tallinn from 1674–1683, demonstrating that even with incomplete historical sources and little data it is possible to determine the composition dates and purposes of a composer’s works through a knowledge of his style and of the cultural and political context in which he worked. In an extensive paper, Katre Kaju describes occasional wedding poems with music from Tartu and Tallinn dating from the beginning of the 17th century, differentiating original poems and works that are based on models. Mart Humal explains the hexachord theory of the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596–1650), and compares it to those of the 15th and 16th century music theorists John Hothby and Gioseffo Zarlino. Based on Descartes’ theory and its further development by Isaac Newton, in Humal’s study all the possible Descartes hexachords in the 53-division are discussed. Andreas Waczkat, in his article, connects contrapuntal analysis with the meanings of music making, which change over time. Inspired by listening to the viola da gamba ensemble Phantasm performing pieces from the 16th and the 17th centuries at the Haapsalu Early Music Festival, the author discusses the communication between the audience and the performers in different eras. Waczkat finds that even though the festival audience nowadays is aware of “historically informed performances,” it is still impossible to restitute “the condition of listeners in Elizabethan Britain, since postmodern modes of listening to music are entirely different from the premodern consciousness.”

Toomas Siitan’s interest in the 19th century was evident in his 2003 doctoral thesis, in which he gave extensive consideration to issues of Estonian and Livonian protestant congregational hymn singing and choral books as they relate to each other, and to history, culture and politics. The article by Friedhelm Brusniak in this issue of the yearbook also focuses on the 19th century, and the author demonstrates how information and ideas about concerts, music societies and song festivals were disseminated in 19th-century Europe through travel journals, diaries, correspondence and autobiographies. He also emphasizes the importance of the above-named sources for researching topics that have not yet received much attention.

As far as contemporary music is concerned, Toomas Siitan has been most drawn to the spiritual and musical world of Arvo Pärt. He has discussed this topic both in writing and in lectures in Estonia, Germany and Moscow. Siitan has also contacted and collaborated with several other Pärt researchers from various countries, and he has translated, edited and published several of their outstanding works into the Estonian language. Kevin C. Karnes and Christopher J. May, represented both at the 2018 Tartu Day conference and in this issue of Res Musica, contribute to fill in some gaps in previous knowledge with new details in the field of Pärtawareness, and they cast a fresh perspective on tintinnabuli, which – for many of us – is reflected in the pure sounds of a number of high quality recordings. Kevin C. Karnes focuses on the first few public performances of tintinnabuli compositions in the second half of 1970s, highlighting in particular the contemporary music festival that took place in Riga in 1977, which was organized by the student club of the Riga Polytechnic Institute. At this underground concert, Pärt’s 5 pieces exerted an extraordinary impression on Vladimir Martynov, Alexei Lubimov, and on other outstanding musicians of the time. C. J. May’s research paper’s focal point is January 1980, when Arvo Pärt and his family emigrated from the Soviet Union. From that turning point, the author compares the reception of Pärt’s compositions on both sides of the Iron Curtain. At the end of his paper, May raises an intriguing question as to the Estonianness of tintinnabuli music.

For the 11th issue of Res Musica, Toomas Siitan interviewed Richard Taruskin, one of the most influential and prominent musicologists of our time. The interview, which reads more like a conversation between two experts, touches on topics such as the origin of musicology and the branches of contemporary music history, as well as on discussions about music performances, reception, and more.

Anu Kõlar

The first issue of Res Musica, the yearbook of both the Estonian Musicological Society and the musicology department of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT), was published in 2009. In its foreword Urve Lippus (1950–2015), the then editor-in-chief, claimed that one of the goals of the journal is “to become the widest forum of Estonian musicology”. This function has been admirably fulfilled by Res Musica. The nine issues of the journal contain altogether 35 articles by Estonian authors. At the same time, it has been considered important also to combine these with current Anglo-American, German and Russian musicology traditions. Non-Estonian researchers have contributed 36 articles. The total, therefore, is 71 peer-reviewed articles, edited diligently and with care by Anu Schaper. Since the third issue the layout of the journal has been designed by Maite-Margit Kotta. The major areas of musicology that have been covered include music theory, music history, ethnomusicology and cognitive musicology. One issue dealt with different aspects of musical theatre, and one was dedicated to the memory of Urve Lippus. In each issue reviews of major musicology publications are published, and the issue ends with the chronicles of the activities of the Estonian Musicological Society. Since the seventh issue the editor-in-chief of Res Musica has been Toomas Siitan.

In the above-mentioned foreword to the first issue, developing Estonian language musicology discourse was deemed essential. Therefore it is vital that Estonian musicology is open to various disciplines and that new research fields are supported. In this, the tenth issue of Res Musica, the main themes are popular music and artistic research – all of which are topics that are discussed for the first time in the yearbook. Some authors also analyse aspects of gender through music and musicians.

The impetus for this choice came from the international graduate seminar Gender and sexualities in the (post)Soviet/ (post)Socialist music, theatre and visual arts, held at EAMT within the framework of the Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts on 19th-20th April 2017. This was curated by gender and music sociologist Hannaliisa Uusma and music historian Kristel Pappel. The seminar brought together both students and researchers who in their academic work focus on describing and explaining via gender and arts wider social values, norms and phenomena in (post-)Soviet societies. The seminar witnessed presentations by Stephen Amico (Bergen) researching Russian popular music, Yngvar B. Steinholt (Tromsø) researching punk, Tiina Pursiainen Rosenberg, Professor of performativity and gender studies (Stockholm and Lund), art historian Harry Liivrand (Academic Library of Tallinn University), curator Rebeka Põldsam (Center for Contemporary Arts Estonia), and anthropologist and film director Terje Toomistu (University of Tartu). There were also presentations by the doctoral students.

We are grateful that the seminar inspired scholars to write on post-Soviet pop and folk music. Music blogs discuss how an ironic and normdefying artistic (and gender) image of a boy/girl with a post-Soviet apartment house aesthetic, which arose out of the Western underground-pop, has become a part of the mainstream. A good example of this trend is the Estonian Tommy Cash, whose art is intriguingly described by Berlin musicologist Matthias Pasdzierny. Triin Vallaste, an Estonian musicologist residing in the US, writes about Estonian hip-hop, focusing on the history of the subculture and its glocalised nature in Estonia. Folklorists Andreas Kalkun and Jaanika Oras open up the hinterland of songs on political themes by Seto singers during the Soviet period. Their unique approach concentrates on the political and gendered creative choices of Seto singers emerging from their social status. One of the contributors to the present issue is anthropologist and film maker Terje Toomistu, whose documentary Soviet hippies (2017) was highly acclaimed by critics and ordinary viewers alike. In her article in Res Musica Toomistu continues the theme of Soviet hippies, those psychedelic flower children, focusing on “strange vibrations” and the impact of rock music on the hippie movement and the creation of their sense of togetherness behind the iron curtain.

The decision to include artistic research in this issue emerged from the ever-increasing international interest in the field. Artistic research combines artistic practice with reflection on one’s artistic activities, which are articulated, analysed and recorded, and thus mediated to society. Here, too, it is necessary to elaborate on the theoretical context and a suitable research method, as well as on the distance between the scholar and the research subject. The specifi city of artistic research is its subject – namely the creative process with which the researcher is engaged in person. This brings in subjectivity, but this is acknowledged as an I-position, and the research may bring forth both individual and general results. Artistic research is closely connected with creative projects, so that experience and a thorough knowledge of the field are required. In EAMT the first artistic research PhD dissertation dates from 2004, and since then 34 PhDs in music and 2 PhDs in theatre have been defended. From those we have selected three theses whose authors have written articles based on their research for this issue of Res Musica. Composer and computer musician Christian M. Fischer discusses the crucial issue of live electronic music – how to adequately convey one’s musical ideas, both to musicians and to the audience, when performing them in the form of musical motion graphics (MMG). Mihhail Gerts analyses a conductor’s activities in preventing ensemble problems based on his work in opera, and presents supporting mental models for this. Pianist Kristi Kapten too reflects upon her experience by analysing her preparation for performing György Ligeti’s piano études, which are rhythmically extremely demanding.

The present issue of Res Musica is historic because for the first time in Estonia it contains academic articles on pop music identity in which gender aspects are touched upon. All the articles are in English, so that the truly unique knowledge of post-Soviet cultural space as well as the wider perspectives of artistic research might reach an international audience.

We are deeply grateful to the Res Musica editorial board, who recognized the need to present such hitherto marginal areas to a wider audience in order to promote a broader discussion of such important topics. Our sincere thanks go also to managing editor Anu Schaper, designer Maite-Margit Kotta, illustrator Kärt Hammer, and the diligent reviewers for their professional and smooth co-operation. The English language journal would not have been possible without Richard Carr’s translations and editing, for which we are very grateful.

Kristel Pappel
Hannaliisa Uusma

Altogether there were nine presentations. Four of these were the starting points for the full-scale peer-reviewed research papers that appear in the present yearbook. Their authors are Brigitta Davidjants, Mart Humal, Janika Oras and Helena Tyrväinen. In addition, four more contributions from the Tartu conference are included in the yearbook. These have a more personal character, and as such were not peer-reviewed. Their authors are Mimi Daitz, Anu Kõlar, Mark Lawrence and Andreas Waczkat. The yearbook also contains a conference paper on Veljo Tormis (by Jaan Ross), reviews of several musicological publications, including three doctoral theses, as well as the traditional chronicle of musicological activities in Estonia. Publication of this volume was supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (research project IUT12-1) and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies). Continue reading “Res Musica 9 (2017)” →

It should be mentioned here that the form of this event was quite unusual – the number of participants was limited to eight invited specialists who, instead of giving standard conference papers, chaired the discussions on the related topics. This circumstance has shaped the conception of the present volume. Firstly, the clearly delimited theme of the Seminar has resulted in the greater thematic homogeneity of the collection than usual. Secondly, the influence of the Seminar’s discussions is often apparent in the articles, leading to dialogic connections between the texts.

The terminology related to traditional multipart music has developed alongside the entire discourse of ethnomusicology since its beginnings. This development has proceeded from the use of the common Western musicological terms to the invention of newer concepts, in the search for historically and stylistically neutral terms that may be applicable to the music of different cultures. At the same time, the researchers began to value the local vernacular terms, as they express most adequately the nature of their respective musical traditions. Nowadays we witness a situation in which numerous terms of different origin and various classifications of multipart (polyphonic, multilinear, plurilinear, etc.) music exist in the ethnomusicological world; and quite often these terms are differently understood by researchers belonging to the different national traditions. In this volume, the authors concentrate mainly on the international English-language terminology, but they also involve as a comparison the terminology of other traditions (e.g. those of Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Latvia and Estonia). As a result, questions of the translation of terms arise, and we can find in several articles the citations of the literature given in parallel in two languages (the original and English).

The special nature of this volume is also influenced by the fact that the terminology manifests the researchers’ theoretical comprehension of the nature of the music under study, so that the discussions on this topic concern not only the choice of the words but also the basic issues of multipart music as a cultural, psychological and musical phenomenon. During the Tallinn Seminar, it became apparent that these questions may be approached in different ways, proceeding from the different aspects of the musical process. This collection includes articles dealing with the social, cultural, behavioural, cognitive and musical aspects of traditional multipart music.

The first three articles of this volume discuss the most general questions of traditional multipart music. Ignazio Macchiarella develops the conception of multipart music as the process of social interaction and intentionally coordinated music-making. He also introduces the new term ‘sound gesture’, which joins the musical action and its sound outcome and can be applied not only to traditional music, but also to any kind of sound activity. Ardian Ahmedaja explores the terms that designate multipart music in the general context of concept theory. He focuses on three umbrella terms: the English terms ‘polyphony’ and ‘multipart music’ and the German term Mehrstimmigkeit. Ahmedaja also discusses some newer terms – Schwebungsdiaphonie, ‘polymusic’ and ‘singing in company’, showing that the establishing of the new concepts can proceed from both the musical outcome and the social aspect of multipart music. The article by Žanna Pärtlas is dedicated to heterophony – one of the widespread principles by which a multilinear texture comes about in the music of oral tradition. The article approaches heterophony as a musical, social and psychological phenomenon. As the theoretical comprehension of heterophony requires the revision of the basic concepts related to multipart and multilinear music, these concepts are also put under the microscope in the article.

The next two articles investigate the influence of the emic and etic attitudes on the terminology of multipart music, discussing this question with reference to concrete musical traditions. The research by Susanne Fürniss is based on the indepth study of the music of the Aka people from the Central African Republic and the Baka from Cameroon. The author points to the possibility of contradictions between the emic (native) conception and etic (researchers’) perception of plurilinear music, which sometimes raises questions as to the designation of the forms of musical texture. Anda Beitāne examines similar problems with regard to the multipart song tradition of eastern Latvia. Her study scrutinizes the multipart music terminology that is common in Latvian ethnomusicological scholarship and compares it with the folk terminology and the local understandings concerning multipart singing.

The research paper by Ulrich Morgenstern is the only one in this volume that focuses on traditional instrumental music and on the multipart phenomena in a solo performance. The author attempts to organize the terminology used for the designation of the different types of musical texture, paying special attention to textures with bourdon. The article by Alessandro Bratus widens the scope of the volume’s theme, bringing into consideration multipart phenomena in popular music. He searches for the possibilities of applying the concept of multipart music to recorded popular music, analysing in considerable detail the opening theme by Isaac Hayes for the film Shaft.

Among the texts relating to the Tallinn Seminar, the present collection also includes an overview of the book Polifonie. Procedimenti, tassonomie e forme: una rifl essione “a più voci” (edited by Maurizio Agamennone, 1996) written by Enrique Cámara de Landa. Although this book is not a recent publication, we found that its presentation here would be very useful from the viewpoint of the theme discussed in this volume, especially taking into account the fact that the ideas of Italian researchers are not widely known in international ethnomusicological circles owing to the language barrier.

In this issue of Res Musica the main articles are published in English with detailed summaries in Estonian. According to the rules of the journal, all the articles published here were anonymously peer reviewed by competent specialists. The editors express their sincere gratitude to all the reviewers, whose expert work has helped to raise the academic quality of this publication. This volume was supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (research project IUT12-1), and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies).

Žanna Pärtlas

Nowadays, the latter view seems to have a continuously increasing impact on the understanding of the musical form which is often treated as a deformational phenomenon. In other words, the expressive content of the form or its ability to speak to listeners, lies in its potential to play with the expectations generated by the referential set of ordered musical ideas and its capability for dialog. The deformational behavior of form is also one of the main topics of the first essay of this volume “Turning Inward – Turning Outward – Turning Around: Strong Subordinate Themes in Romantic Overtures” by Steven Vande Moortele. Vande Moortele focuses on the subordinate themes that show an unusual formal design. In traditional Formenlehre, the subordinate theme is not defined in absolute terms, but rather in relation to the main theme. The subordinate themes discussed by Moortele, not only exceed the main theme in their prominence, but sometimes takes over the formal functions associated with the main theme.

The ambivalent articulation of the subordinate theme in exposition and its formal consequences is a topic of the second essay. In her article “Mahlerian Quotations, Thematic Dramaturgy, and Sonata Form in the First Movement of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony,” Charity Lofthouse demonstrates how the initial “failure” of the subordinate theme results in a rhetoric drama which is built by the constant thwarting of rotational expectations and eventually leads to an almost-militarized telos, a Mahlerian, recapitulatory eclipse of both the main theme and the subordinate theme fragment’s melodic hegemony.

Aare Tool focuses on the multi-dimensional form, in which constituent parts and the structure as a whole cannot be discussed in terms of a single formal schema in his study “One-Movement Form in the Chamber Music of Heino Eller, Eduard Tubin, and Eduard Oja.” Often such a design articulates the one-movement form of extended instrumental compositions usually combining two different formal dimensions – the dimensions of sonata form and sonata cycle. Tool shows how the formal strategy which was gradually losing its importance in the music of Central and Western Europe played a crucial role in the rise of musical modernism in Estonia between the two world wars.

The next three studies concentrate on the different aspects that shape musical form. Michael Oravitz applies the concept of a metrical profile, i.e. a formal section displaying an individualized metrical structure, to show the impact of meter to the musical form in his article “Meter as a Formal Delineator in Two Debussy Préludes.” Ildar Khannanov describes those aspects that result in the formal deformation in his essay “Function and Deformation in Sergei Rachmaninoff ’s Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39, Nos. 5 and 6.” These aspects include ancient Russian chant (знаменное пение), the manifestation of late-Romantic poetics, but also more modern devices such as theatrical dramaturgy (with its entanglement-conflict-dénouement strategy), morphology of a fairy tale, cinematic montage and aspects of literary form reflecting dialogical consciousness. In her study “The Role of Secondary Parameters in Musical Shaping: Examining Formal Boundaries in Mendelssohn’s C minor Piano Trio from the Performer’s Point of View,” Cecilia Oinas emphasizes the role of the parameters often considered insignificant in traditional Formenlehre. Oinas demonstrates how the sensitivity to these parameters often help performer to find “working” solutions for the formally ambivalent passages.

The collection concludes with two essays on the 18th century music with emphasis on harmonic and contrapuntal structure and their impact to musical form. In his study “Marpurg’s Galant Cadence in Mozart: Theoretical Perspectives, Formal Implications and Voice Leading,” David Lodewyckx discusses a specific cadential formula extensively used in the galant style of the 18th century. He also underlines how consciously composers used this type of cadence in their music. Stephen Slottow’s essay “Sequences in Mozart’s Piano Sonata, K. 280/I” is an analytical case study, which’s results are used to put into question some theoretical positions expressed by Heinrich Schenker in his “The Masterwork in Music.”

Due to the specificity of their topics, the main articles in this issue of Res Musica are in English, but provided with extended summaries in Estonian. Like those of the previous issues, articles published here are reviewed anonymously by the experts of the field, to whom belong my sincere gratitude.

The Seventh International Conference on Music Theory in Tallinn and Pärnu was held in the framework of the institutional grant project “Performative Aspects of Music” (IUT12-1) and was funded by Estonian Research Council, Embassy of the United States of America in Tallinn, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Estonian Arnold Schoenberg Society.

Kerri Kotta

To a large extent, the selection of authors in this collection of articles was determined by the status of research projects currently carried on in Estonian music-historical research field. At the same time this volume documents the many and various lines of thought of today’s more active writers in Estonian historical musicology. To offer a wider methodological context to their accounts, for this issue’s opening act we were fortunate to get an interview with one of today’s most prominent music historians, Hermann Danuser, Professor of Historical Musicology at the Humboldt University of Berlin. In Estonia, for a considerable time now the music historians have taken Carl Dahlhaus’s ideas as a basis of their own thinking. Since Herman Danuser, a close colleague and comrade-in-arms of Dahlhaus, has not only meticulously documented Dahlhaus’s ideas but also extensively elaborated on these, the questions asked in our interview concerned, first and foremost, the status of Theodor Adorno’s and Carl Dahlhaus’s ideas in contemporary musicology.

It is somewhat exceptional that the introductory article to this issue’s music-historical studies is an Estonian translation of a discussion, recently published in Swedish, of Johann Valentin Meder’s opera Die beständige Argenia by Professor Emeritus of Lund University and honorary member of Estonian Musicological Society, Folke Bohlin. His article continues the work of several German and Estonian music historians in researching one of the main events in music theatre history in Estonia, and it excitingly links with Anu Schaper’s study published in the previous issue of Res Musica.[1] Among other issues, Bohlin’s article raises a question on the national-cultural affiliation of such a calibre major opus as Meder’s Argenia, and although the time of national music histories is largely over, the question itself is not redundant even today. Rather, the controversial fate of that opera, that is undoubtedly of art value and holds a remarkable position in cultural history, eloquently demonstrates how problematic cultural studies approach can be to a text that is shared by several cultures (in Argenia’s case: German, Swedish and Estonian). The next article by Anu Schaper on mobility of musicians in the Baltic Sea region offers a wider viewpoint on this particular subject and, by applying elements of cultural exchange theory (Kulturtransfertheorie), Schaper aims to provide a wider methodological framework for examining the problematic questions concerning this era’s and region’s music life.

Contemporary historiography has started to pay more and more attention to so-called microhistories, i.e. to previously neglected and unresearched processes in common people’s everyday life that, trivial as they may seem at first glance, considerably widen the ground essential for larger generalisations.

Both Aleksandra Dolgopolova in her study of music of family rituals in Narva during the late era of Swedish rule, and Heidi Heinmaa who researches the living and working conditions of musicians employed by the city or the church in the 18th-century Tallinn (Reval) by examining their written bequests (Nachlassverzeichnis), hold in scrutiny archival documents previously considered insignificant. Anu Kõlar’s exhaustive study of the church musicians’ life of Tallinn St. Olaf’s Church during the early Soviet Era, based on those musicians’ written memoirs, also definitely belongs to the group of microhistories. In her study, Kõlar discusses different aspects of cultural memory, and deals with methodological issues that arise from using memoirs of members of clearly delineated communities as reflections of cultural memory and as sources for writing music history. Kristel Pappel and Toomas Siitan have co-written an article that investigates the reception of substantial works by J. S. Bach and Wagner in the late 19th-century Russian Empire. However, even this study can be included to the group of microhistories: in studying the early performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion and the performance tradition of selected operas by Wagnerin 1883 Tallinn and St. Petersburg, the authors’ aim is to disclose the general national-ideological background of particular musical events and proceed from there to construct their wider socio-political context.

The last two articles in this collection are not directly connected to issues of music historiography. However, their authors manage to offer new visions on the classical subjects of the European music history. For an extensive period of time now, classical philologist Ave Teesalu has investigated the texts of Boethius, one of the pillars of Western thinking about music. For musicologists who tend to be familiar only with this late Roman philosopher’s treatise “Fundamentals of Music“ (De institutione musica), Teesalu’s philological take on Boethius’s “The Consolation of Philosophy“ (De consolatione Philosophiae) adds aspects to understanding this philosopher’s views on music in particular, as well as those of European Middle Ages in general. Eerik Jõks, in his thorough research into a complex topic of contemporary reception of medieval sacred Latin monody (i.e. the musical style of Gregorian chant), carefully disentangles the problems of performance and notation of that musical style and supports his arguments with substantial originally devised perception experiments.

The editor of this issue sincerely thanks this collection’s anonymous reviewers for their willingness to collaborate and ability to offer constructive suggestions: their selfless help played an important role in the final polishing of the texts in this collection. Finally, I am sure that all contributors to this edition will join me in expressing heartfelt gratitude to the technical editor Anu Schaper for her meticulous and patient attention in preparing this volume.

Toomas Siitan

[1] Schaper, Anu 2013. Poliitiline Argenia: Johann Valentin Mederi ooper “Kindlameelne Argenia” omaaegsete sündmuste taustal. [The political Argenia: the opera Die beständige Argenia by Johann Valentin Meder against the background of the political events of its time]. – Res Musica 5, pp. 12–23.

This issue of Res Musica yearbook is special in several ways. To begin with, it is the first Estonian language publication of articles that all are dedicated to aspects of studying music theatre. Within this collection one finds historical approaches (Anu Schaper’s research on the 1680 performance of Johann Valentin Meder’s opera Die beständige Argenia in Tallinn, covering the background of that work as well as Meder’s own ambitions; Agnes Toomla’s overview of the opera and operetta productions at the Estonia Theatre during the German occupation in 1941–44), analyses of Estonian and international stage productions or performances (Christian Schaper studies the relations between music, libretto and stage directing in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier; Maarja Kindel writes about Estonian first professional opera director Hanno Kompus’s renditions of operas by Wagner and Tchaikovsky; Maris Pajuste about Erkki-Sven Tüür’s opera Wallenberg as a musical work and as director Dmitri Bertman’s stage production; Kristel Pappel and Anneli Saro about Jüri Reinvere’s opera Puhdistus (Purge) and its 2012 stage production at the Finnish National Opera) and, last but not least, a reception study (Hedi-Liis Toome’s research on the audience’s attendance and reception of performances of operas and musicals in Tartu Vanemuine theatre). The authors look for a common research ground between music and theatre studies, as well as for the methodology that would yield results relevant for the objects under analysis. In many cases, integrating the analysis of musical work with the analysis of its stage production is considered the key aspect. This is exactly what Erika Fischer-Lichte, one of the luminaries of contemporary theatre studies, emphasizes in the introductory interview to this issue: music theatre studies have been thriving for some decades already, yet its greatest potential for future lies in the collaboration between music(ological) studies and theatre research.

Hence the second idiosyncratic aspect of the present issue of Res Musica: it has been produced in collaboration with the Department of Literature and Theatre Research, University of Tartu. I owe greatly, first and foremost, to Professor Anneli Saro for our inspiring and educational conversations and for her ever-affirmative attitude towards our working together, and to Luule Epner, Madli Pesti and Riina Oruaas who always kindly provided their expert help. I very much hope that our discussions will continue.

Thirdly, this collection of articles can be seen as a work in progress – in the sense that among its authors one can also find doctoral students, young MA graduates and even one master student.

Two disquisitions by German theatre researchers frame the articles in this collection. In music theatre studies, German scholars have been in the front for the last couple of decades. As in theatre research, there are four eminent towers of music theatre studies in Germany: Freie Universität Berlin, University of Munich, University of Bayreuth with its unique research institute for the study of opera and music theatre in Thurnau (Forschungsinstitut für Musiktheater), and University of Vienna. Particularly innovative and influential among these seems to be the Berlin circle of scholars gathered around Erika Fischer-Lichte. One of its most active members, Clemens Risi, has taught in British and American universities, and he has been efficient in mediating the newest trends in German theatre studies to the Anglo-American (music) theatre research. One proof of this success is Risi’s English-language article, here translated into Estonian, on the perspectives of new analytical approaches to music theatre that was originally published in the Oxford University Press journal The Opera Quarterly. In the future we could definitely publish in Estonia also a multilingual collection of articles dedicated to music theatre; for the time being, however, the providing of the basics of this research field in Estonian language was considered of utmost importance.

And now the expressions of gratitude are in order. Anu Schaper was not only precise and thorough an editor, but also able and willing to creatively think along. Maite-Margit Kotta, a layout designer of Res Musica, agreed to an innovative approach in designing this particular issue. Toomas Siitan helped with questions concerning the contents as well as those of organisatory nature. Kaire Maimets, Madli Pesti and Mart Jaanson were excellent supporters and helpers, and so was Kirsten Simmo, the Head of the Theatre Section of Estonian Theatre and Music Museum. Useful observations came from Andres Laasik and Mart Humal. Thanks go to the Estonian Music Council for supporting the printing of this publication. The theatre researchers in Tartu, especially Anneli Saro, I have already mentioned. And, last but not least – for the critical-inspiring conversations about Estonian music theatre in general I am most grateful to art scholar and opera reviewer Harry Liivrand.

Since childhood I have admired Lea Tormis’s engaging ways of thinking and writing about both drama and music theatre. May this issue of Res Musica be dedicated to her and to everyone who consider music theatre as part of their life!

Kristel Pappel

In this issue there is no one pervading theme, however, some common ground can be found between the articles. One common theme is the nature of contemporary traditional music. This may be determined by the concept of ‘revival’, the very important cultural process which took place in the late 20th and early 21st century in many countries of the world. Thus the Lithuanian ethnomusicologist Daiva Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė writes about the revival of sutartinės, the ancient polyphonic song style, now again popular and practised in many different forms. Research by Latvian scholar Anda Beitāne is dedicated to contemporary developments in the multipart song tradition of Northern Latgale. Nailya Almeeva examines the performance of songs of the Volga-Ural Tatars on the concert stage. Also on the revival theme is the article by Janika Oras and Žanna Pärtlas describing the attempt by students from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre to imitate the traditional Seto singing style. In this article, original recordings of Seto songs and their imitations are analysed by means of acoustic measurements. Acoustic methods are also applied by Taive Särg, who investigates the relationships between the torrõ and killõ parts in Seto multipart songs. Research by Sandra Kalmann also deals with the Seto song tradition; she analyses the tune types used in improvised songs by the famous Seto singer Hilana Taarka. One more piece of research on the Seto theme is the article by Liisi Laanemets, who examines the question of identity in the activities of the Seto choir living beyond the borders of Setomaa. The article by Urve Lippus extends the usual boundaries of the object of ethnomusicological research, being dedicated to the Estonian domestic piano culture in the second half of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

The editors express their gratitude to reviewers, whose diligence ensures the academic quality of the present issue.

Žanna Pärtlas

As we know, any hierarchical analysis is impossible without clear priorities. However, those of Schenkerian analysis are by no means uniquely comprehensible. Is it primarily a science or an art or an ideology? Which aspect – counterpoint, harmony, melody, rhythm (meter) or form (design) – is given priority by generating its main outcome: voice-leading graphs? Is there only one kind of Schenkerian analysis, or are there several, each with different priorities? Is it possible to develop the deep insights of Schenkerian analysis in the context of a logically non-contradictory and historically well-founded theory?

Most of the articles in this issue attempt to give, in one way or another, an answer to these questions. The answers, depending on the standpoints of authors, can be divided into three large groups: 1) It is possible to develop Schenkerian analysis into an acceptable scientific method, in the context of music theory, without giving up the main premises formulated by Schenker. 2) It is impossible to develop it into an acceptable scientific method without giving up at least some of its main premises. 3) The main merit of Schenker’s method is not its scientific quality but rather its capacity for interpretation; therefore an attempt to reform it on scientific grounds may only damage it.

The articles by David Neumeyer and Olli Väisälä belong to the first group. According to Neumeyer, an undue ideological emphasis and subjectivity attributed to Schenker’s method can be overcome in a pluralistic practice where Schenkerian analysis constitutes but one of many possible types of hierarchic analyses. An example of such a practice can be seen in the system of structural determinants proposed by Väisälä, which – in combination with harmony and the norms of voice-leading – can result in more coherent analyses. Hidden priorities of the various methods are demonstrated through a comparison of different analytical traditions (as another possible application of Neumeyer’s pluralistic practice) in Patrick McCreless’s article.

The articles by Mart Humal and Ildar Khannanov belong to the second group. Whereas Schenkerian analysis can be developed into a non-contradictory theory by substituting, according to Humal, a five-part voice-leading matrix for the Ursatz and its constituent parts (the Urlinie and Baßbrechung), the same is possible, according to Khannanov, by replacing the pseudo-hierarchy typical of Schenkerian analysis with the “real” hierarchy where each structural level is determined by features uniquely inherent in it.
The articles by Poundie Burstein and Stephen Slottow belong to the third group. According to Burstein, Schenkerian analysis, in its best manifestations, is not an empirical but rather a hermeneutic process that endeavours to describe how a composition might be heard most effectively. To insist that the features cited in the analysis should be empirically verified as inhering in the composition itself, would disqualify many of the most substantive examples of Schenkerian analysis. According to Slottow, analysis is not only a theory but also a practice; like performance, it is interpretive, characterised by a great deal of subjectivity. Both authors emphasize the pedagogical aspect of Schenkerian analysis, its thought-stimulating power.

In addition to the aforementioned articles, this issue contains two more essays by the authors whose aim is not to polemize about methodologies but rather to demonstrate their applicability. Cecilia Oinas shows how Schenkerian analysis can be combined with the performance of a composition. Avo Sõmer demonstrates how a context of the visual could be fruitful in discovering some aspects of a musical composition.

Due to the specificity of their topics, the main articles in this issue of Res Musica are in English. In order to make the readers of Estonian acquainted with their content, the articles are provided with extended summaries in Estonian. Since these, to a high degree, consist of commentaries on musical examples, they should give the reader an idea of an article even without following discussions leading to their conclusion. Like those of the previous issues, articles published here are reviewed by two anonymous readers. I would like to express my gratitude to them, as well as to Mart Humal, who, in addition to being one of the initiators of the conference, helped me in editing the texts and translating the summaries.

The 6th International Conference on music theory in Tallinn, held in the framework of the project “The Functional Aspects of Music”, was funded by the grant of Estonian Science Foundation (ETF 8497).

Kerri Kotta
(translated by Mart Humal)

Kaire Maimets-Volt submitted her doctoral thesis in spring 2009 at the Department of Musicology, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn. Its subject was the use of pre-existing music by Arvo Pärt in cinema. The thesis was supervised by the author of these lines. Anu Kõlar defended her PhD dissertation a year later at the same institution, its subject being the life and oeuvre of the well-known Estonian composer, Cyrillus Kreek. The thesis was supervised by Professor Urve Lippus. A little earlier, Eerik Jõks successfully completed his doctoral thesis on plainchant at the University of York in Great Britain, supervised by Dr. Nicky Loseff. Gerhard Lock and Marju Raju are currently doctoral students at the Department of Musicology, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and are supervised respectively by Dr. Kerri Kotta and by the author of these lines. The work of Gerhard Lock is interdisciplinary in its nature and overlaps with the theory as well as with the psychology of music. Marju Raju obtained MA degrees both in psychology and in musicology. She now continues her research into the musical abilities of people from a variety of age groups and cultural backgrounds, within the framework of an ambitious international project. Tiiu Ernits is working on her PhD thesis at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Institute of Music Education, its subject being the song books employed in Baltic German schools in Estonia between 1800 and 1940, and their possible influence on Estonian music education. This thesis is supervised by Professor Airi Liimets and Dr. Maris Kirme. Brigitta Davidjants is writing her PhD thesis on cultural studies at the Estonian Institute of Humanities of the Tallinn University under the supervision of Dr. Katrin Dean. The thesis focuses on the self-determination of Armenian music culture as well as on the factors which influence it.

All contributions to this volume have been peer-reviewed by two recognized scholars working in their respective fields. The whole process has been carried out as independently and as anonymously as is possible in such a small country like Estonia. On behalf of the editorial board of Res Musica, I would like to use this opportunity to thank all reviewers for their work. I am convinced that it has ensured the high scholarly standards in this volume. I hope that a relatively wide scope of contributions in this yearbook will not deter readers but instead, will represent the breadth of issues currently under examination in contemporary Estonian musicology.

Jaan Ross

The yearbook Res Musica aims to become the widest forum of Estonian musicology publishing articles in all the areas of musicological research written by most international circle of scholars. One of the goals of the journal is to develop musicological discourse in Estonian, relating it at the same time to the central problems and discourses in different languages that are often based on quite different traditions of thinking and writing about music. Thus, another goal of the journal might be to synthesize the currently dominating English-language discourse with German that was the language of academic life in the Baltic states earlier in the 20th century, and Russian musicological thought that defined much of the communication in the field during the Soviet decades. First of all, we plan to publish single articles and thematic numbers of the journal in Estonian, but also in English and German. In any case, articles will be provided with extensive summaries translated into Estonian or, in case of Estonian articles, into English or German (depending on the theme). In addition to the articles based on musicological research, each number of the journal will include a section of reviews and an overview of the last year in Estonian musicological life.

The yearbook will be published by the Musicological Department of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Estonian Musicological Society. All articles will be peer-reviewed before accepting them for publishing by scholars active in similar areas of academic research. In finding potential contributors and reviewers the editors are assisted by the international editorial board. In recent decades, the number of scholars with at least reading knowledge of Estonian has rapidly increased both in our neighbouring countries and in the English-speaking world enabling us to get backfeed for works in Estonian from outside of our own small community. At the same time, the editors plan to use the possibility of translating all the contents of one volume into one language if the selection of articles forms a thematically homogeneous whole addressing some specific circle of potential readers (e.g. Estonian readers interested in history and culture outside musicology; or international scholars in some specific field like contemporary analysis of music).

Urve Lippus