delight in the sonic appeal itself.” Progressions of chords whose roots are sepa-
rated by diminished fifths, augmented fourths, and other altered intervals
became acceptable. Large-scale tonal relations were no longer primary, but the
basic pillars remained in the music, so that large units could still express a sin-
gle key. Such wide-ranging designs must be sought on a case-by-case basis in
the romantic compositions; the influence of music drama “extended tonal clo-
sure less and less over large cohesive passages.” In Wagner, however, tonal
development expands to large dimensions, in which “individual original
chords of a cadence are transformed into core structures around which entire
chord groups unfold.” Large-scale cadential relations of the pillars emerge
through the “restlessness and wealth of the digressions.” And—of special
interest to the Lorenzian tonic of Tristan—the tonic in these expanded forms is
often suppressed. This volume has an excellent introduction, footnotes, out-
lines of the three books, a strong bibliography of about 100 entries, and an
expansive index. Rothfarb has done everything possible to make this difficult
writing accessible.- Brown, Matthew. “Isolde’s Narrative: From Hauptmotivto Tonal Model.” In
Analyzing Opera(#416), 180–201.
Brown asks, how did Wagner construct “episodes that are internally unified
yet still promote the continuity and coherence of the whole?” The narrative is
taken as a case study for dealing with this question. Brown disagrees with
Lorenz and Bailey (#2065) regarding its form: they both stress the “tonal
coherence” of the episode, but Lorenz does not deal with the chromaticism of
the second part, and Bailey does not determine “hierarchies among secondary
key areas.” Brown’s own approach is Schenkerian: “to show that each Haupt-
motivor form of a Hauptmotiv serves a specific formal function and that each
articulates distinct voice leading spans and motivic complexes.”
William Walton (1902–1983)
- Smith, Carolyn. William Walton: A Bio-Bibliography. Bio-Bibliographies in
Music, 19. New York: Greenwood, 1988. 246p. ISBN 0-313-23591-9.
ML134 .W25 S6.
There is no research writing about the Walton operas, but this bibliography
provides some guidance to the brief notices and reviews. Arrangement is by
author. - Craggs, Stewart R. William Walton: A Source Book.Aldershot, England: Sco-
lar Press; Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1993. xiii, 333p. ISBN 0-85967-934-9.
ML134 .W25 A13.
A useful handbook, including a descriptive worklist (manuscripts and first edi-
tions), bibliography of writings about Walton, and a discography. Reviews and
brief notices on the operas are cited. Craggs also prepared William Walton: A
Catalogue(2nd ed.; New York: Oxford U.P., 1990; ML134 .W25 A13), in
which letters and documents are noted in the entries for each work.
William Walton 389