Ioannis
Fulias, “Sonata forms
and their theoretical evolution:
20th-century theorists
(II)”, Polyphonia 14, Athens 2009, p. 7-37.
The
seventh part of this extensive survey of the theoretical evolution of sonata forms
from 18th to 20th centuries opens the examination of the prevailing stream in
sonata theory since the middle-20th-century, shedding at first light on Leonard
Gilbert Ratner’s controversial enterprise to elevate the harmonic basis of any
sonata form (instead of its thematic content) with – occasionally precarious,
misinterpreted or forged – references to several historical sources from 18th
and 19th centuries. However, other contributions towards the same direction,
such as these by Jens Peter Larsen and William Stein Newman, are less
one-sided, more flexible, and finally more successful in their attempt to
reconstruct critically the traditional theoretical frame for sonata forms.
Moreover, Rey Morgan Longyear’s remarkable research clarifies a lot of issues
concerning the harmonic plot of any structural type of sonata in general and
the specifications of the (often unrecognised) binary sonata form in
particular. Less known, but extremely revealing, is Klaus Ferdinand Heimes’
study on the origin of the “ternary sonata principle” and its true relation to
the binary one during the first half of the 18th century, whilst
László Somfai’s work on Joseph Haydn’s keyboard sonatas comprises
a clear distinction of the three plain sonata types (ternary, binary, and without
development), as well as many
thorough – and historically informed – observations about the interplay of the
harmonic, thematic and textural elements in a sonata form.
© Ioannis
Fulias