Songtaik Kwon, Ph.D. 2002

Advisor: Severine Neff

Dissertation Title: Mahler and Bach: Counterpoint and Polarities in Form

Find it in the library here.

Dissertation Abstract:

Despite the complex and highly original aspects of Mahler’s musical forms, the majority of scholars still favor sonata-allegro as the primary source for understanding the first movements of his symphonies. This decision can be surprising because in certain movements the repetitions of the introductory material can be more prominently articulated than the transitions or even main thematic groups. These skewings of traditional schema often produce formal plans that are cyclic in nature. I contend that such cyclic forms have roots not only in nineteenth-century works but also in Baroque music, specifically that of Johann Sebastian Bach. In my thesis I will show how Mahler intensively studied Bach’s music through analysis and performance. As much as possible I will use manuscript materials to make my points. Next I will discuss Bach’s ritornello form, its interpretation in the current scholarly literature, and its relation to late nineteenth-century cyclic forms. Finally I will show how Mahler reinvents Bach’s formal and developmental ideas by incorporating them into his own works of the middle and late periods. In analytic commentary I will use the methods and working vocabulary of Mahler’s friend and collegue, Arnold Schoenberg. Certain passages of Mahler’s later works will particularly illustrate how he reinvents the Bachinfluenced forms of his middle period through aspects of motivic development, phrase structure, and even sonata-form principles. This fusion of contrapuntal and homophonic ideas determines most clearly Mahler’s complex and original sense of form. 

Dr. Kwon is a professor in the composition department of Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea, where she has also served as dean of the College of Music.