Article
Review of: Bach's Cycle, Mozart's Arrow: An Essay on the Origins of Musical Modernity. By Karol Berger.
Notes
(2009)
Abstract
Time in music is often a slippery and difficult subject to master, particularly since it seems not to be perceived as a smoothly flowing, continuous stream. Modern music, of course, diffuses the conventions of time; for instance, aleatory, while sometimes taking place within a strict framework bounded by precise measurements, allows for a more random effect within it, so that sound is continually evolving within the performances and their parameters. This, as Karol Berger describes it, "post-Christian world view" requires time to be flexible, to create a linear flow that is synchronized with the music in a forward motion that is an evolutionary experience for the composer and audience. The opposite of this is a chronological stasis that he ascribes to a "premodern Christian outlook" wherein time is cyclical, based upon a successions of events or episodes that are circular, based upon a present understanding of time as a constant where future and past are indelibly linked in a continuous circle.
Keywords
- Bach's sacred music,
- Mozart's operas
Disciplines
Publication Date
March, 2009
DOI
10.1353/not.0.0148
Citation Information
Bertil van Boer. "Review of: Bach's Cycle, Mozart's Arrow: An Essay on the Origins of Musical Modernity. By Karol Berger." Notes Vol. 65 Iss. 3 (2009) p. 503 - 505 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/bertil_vanboer/11/