Notes on Musical Form and Three Motivic-Thematic Techniques by Schoenberg, Motivic Unfolding, Developing Variation, and Musical Prose

Abstract

This text discusses three distinct musical-analytical perceptions of the composer Arnold Schoenberg, as presented in his texts and discussed in the literature relevant to the subject. Initially, I discuss general notions about musical form and matters of logic, coherence and on unity in music. After this introduction, I present the main topic of this text: Schoenberg’s motivic approach. Motive unfolding, developing variation and musical prose are, each, distinct analytical and compositional perspective. Schoenberg suggests that these approaches may be related to certain period specific musical genres. However, by applying some of these notions to works that are not part of the Schoenberguian canon, I suggest analytical validity of these approaches for other repertoires.