How does a work of music stir the senses, creating
feelings of joy, sadness, elation, or nostalgia? Though
sentiment and emotion play a vital role in the
composition, performance, and appreciation of music,
rarely have these elements been fully observed. In this
succinct and penetrating book, Charles Rosen draws upon
more than a half century as a performer and critic to
reveal how composers from Bach to Berg have used sound
to represent and communicate emotion in mystifyingly
beautiful ways. Through a range of musical examples,
Rosen details the array of stylistic devices and
techniques used to represent or convey sentiment. This
is not, however, a listener's guide to any 'correct'
response to a particular piece. Instead, Rosen provides
the tools and terms with which to appreciate this
central aspect of musical aesthetics, and indeed
explores the phenomenon of contradictory sentiments
embodied in a single motif or melody. Taking examples
from Chopin, Schumann, Wagner, and Liszt, he traces the
use of radically changing intensities in the Romantic
works of the nineteenth century and devotes an entire
chapter to the key of C minor.He identifies a 'unity of
sentiment' in Baroque music and goes on to contrast it
with the 'obsessive sentiments' of later composers
including Puccini, Strauss, and Stravinsky. A profound
and moving work, ''Music and Sentiment'' is an
invitation to a greater appreciation of the crafts of
composition and performance. |
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