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A Critical Narrative Interpretation of John Corigliano's Etude Fantasy

Downs, Benjamin Michael

Abstract Details

2010, DMA, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Piano.
This study comprises a three-tiered interpretation of John Corigliano’s Etude Fantasy. First, the formal properties of the work are analyzed using set theory. Second, the work is analyzed using Byron Almén’s recent semiotic theory of musical narrative. Lastly, in a mode of critical reflection, the study critiques the narrative suggested by Almén’s theory and offers a revision employing the aesthetic theories of Theodor Adorno. Adorno’s aesthetics and philosophy of negative dialectics is based upon the notion of non-identity. For Adorno, both thought and music are fundamentally a movement (“Bewegung”) without coming to a false absolute. This movement precludes any achievement of static arrival or conclusion into a single, unified, positive conclusion. This study uses this notion of non-identity to critique and modify Almén’s theory of musical narrative and forms a musical narrative particular to the Etude Fantasy.
Steven Cahn, PhD (Committee Chair)
David Berry, PhD (Committee Member)
Jeongwon Joe, PhD (Committee Member)
67 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Downs, B. M. (2010). A Critical Narrative Interpretation of John Corigliano's Etude Fantasy [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1282169173

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Downs, Benjamin. A Critical Narrative Interpretation of John Corigliano's Etude Fantasy. 2010. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1282169173.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Downs, Benjamin. "A Critical Narrative Interpretation of John Corigliano's Etude Fantasy." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1282169173

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)