The Musical Topic

The Musical Topic discusses three tropes prominently featured in Western European music: the hunt, the military, and the pastoral. Raymond Monelle provides an in-depth cultural and historical study of musical topics-short melodic figures, harmonic or rhythmic formulae carrying literal or lexical meaning-through consideration of their origin, thematization, manifestation, and meaning. The Musical Topic shows the connections of musical meaning to literature, social history, and the fine arts.Raymond Monelle was formerly Reader in Music in the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is now an Honorary Fellow. His work on music theory and semiotics is internationally known, and his books include Linguistics and Semiotics in Music(1992) and The Sense of Music(2000). He has been a composer, pianist, and conductor. He writes music criticism for The Independent, Opera magazine and other publications.

Raymond Monelle was formerly Reader in Music at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is now an Honorary Fellow. His work on music theory and semiotics is internationally known. His books include Linguistics and Semiotics in Music and The Sense of Music. He has been a composer, pianist, and conductor, and writes music criticism for The Independent, Opera magazine, and other publications.

List of Plates

ix

Preface

xi

Note on Titles of Musical Works

xv

PART ONE: TOPIC THEORY

1. Topic and Expression

3

(8)

2. The Literary Source of Topic Theory

11

(9)

3. Signifier and Signified in Music

20

(15)

PART TWO: HUNTSMEN

4. Signifier: The Hunting Horn

35

(24)

5. Signified: Hunts Noble and Ignoble

59

(13)

6. Musical Hunts

72

(23)

7. The Topic Established

95

(18)

PART THREE: SOLDIERS

8. The Military Signifier: 1. The March

113

(21)

9. The Military Signifier: 2. The Military Trumpet and Its Players

134

(8)

10. The Military Signified

142

(18)

11. The Soldier Represented

160

(25)

PART FOUR: SHEPHERDS

12. The Pastoral Signified: The Myth

185

(22)

13. The Pastoral Signifier

207

(22)

14. The Pastoral in Music

229

(22)

15. New Pastorals

251

(21)

16. Epilogue

272

(3)

Appendix 1

275

(6)

Appendix 2

281

(10)

Bibliography

291

(8)

Index

299

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Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials