Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata
"This is not only a large book but a hugely ambitious one. It reconceptualizes the sonata style of the late eighteenth century in ways consonant with the theory of the time but from the perspective of a present-day listener, one whose life experiences are shaped not by carriages and quills but by jets and computers. Its signal virtue is the way it tracks an expert listener's mental construction of a musical work as it unfolds in real time. Its terminology is deliberately idiosyncratic, but entering the world of sonata theory yields rich rewards. The theory is also syncretic in the best sense: it draws upon and opens up onto the work of thinkers from Koch to Lewin and from Schenker to Sartre."--William Rothstein, Professor of Music Theory at Queens College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York"James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy's sonata theory has already had a striking impact on our analysis and interpretation of sonata form. With the publication of Elements of Sonata Theory we now have the real item. Sonata theory is, first and foremost, a theory of genre: Hepokoski and Darcy have immersed themselves for many years in the repertoire that they study, and they argue persuasively for the generic conventions that undergird their study. Sonata theory is also an analytic method: deep knowledge of convention and compositional practice engenders a finely-tuned tool that enables perceptive and sensitive musical analysis. Finally, sonata theory is a means of hermeneutic interpretation: expressive meaning arises out of the interaction of the individual work with generic convention. The meticulous scholarship and the analytical insight of the elements represent the best possible collaboration of musicology and music theory."--Patrick McCreless, Professor of Music Theory, Yale University