The 'New Poetics' of Musical Influence: A Response To Kevin Korsyn

The 'New Poetics' of Musical Influence: A Response to Kevin Korsyn
Towards a New Poetics of Musical Influence by Kevin Korsyn

Review by: Martin Scherzinger
Music Analysis, Vol. 13, No. 2/3, Twentieth-Century Music Double Issue (Jul. - Oct., 1994), pp.
298-309
Published by: Wiley
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/854262 .
Accessed: 17/05/2013 15:18
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Wiley is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Music Analysis.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 128.122.149.154 on Fri, 17 May 2013 15:18:44 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
CRITICAL FORUM
theArtsand Ideas: Essaysin HonorofLeonardB. Meyer,ed. E. Narmourand

R. Solie (New York: Stuyvesant),pp.87-122.
1991a: Developing Variations: Style and Ideology in WesternMusic
(Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesota Press).
1991b: 'Whose Magic Flute? Intimationsof Reality at the Gates of the
Enlightenment',19th-Century Music,Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.132-50.
Taruskin,R., 1986: 'Letterto the Editor fromRichardTaruskin',Music Analysis,
Vol. 5, Nos 2-3, pp.313-20.
1988: 'The Pastness of the Present and the Presence of the Past', in
Authenticity and EarlyMusic,ed. N. Kenyon (Oxford:OUP), pp. 137-207.
1989: 'Replyto Brownand Dempster',JournalofMusic Theory, Vol. 33, No.
1, pp. 155-64.
1992: 'She Do the Ring in DifferentVoices', CambridgeOperaJournal,Vol.
4, No. 2, pp. 187-97.
S1993a: 'RevisingRevision',JournaloftheAmericanMusicologicalSociety,Vol.
46, pp. 114-38.
1993b: 'Back to Whom? Neoclassicism as Ideology', 19th-Century Music,
Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.286-302.
Whittall,A., 1987: 'The Theorist's Sense of History: Concepts of Contem-
poraneity in Composition and Analysis', Journal of the Royal Musical
Association, Vol. 112, pp.1-20.
MARTIN SCHERZINGER
THE 'NEW POETICS' OF MUSICAL INFLUENCE:

A RESPONSE TO KEVIN KORSYN
In his article 'Towards a New Poetics of Musical Influence' (Korsyn

1991), Kevin Korsyn proposes a model for music analysis which attempts
to integrate history,psychology, theory and criticism into its methodology.
Korsyn appropriates some of the work of literarytheorist Harold Bloom,
normally associated with the Yale School of Deconstruction, in providing a
model for mapping musical influence. By emphasising the relational
character of musical works, Korsyn explores a solution to the possible
298 MUSIC ANALYSIS 13:2-3, 1994

C Basil BlackwellLtd. 1994

CRITICAL FORUM
impasse for music theoryaffordedby a strictlydeconstructivereading,

withoutlapsing into the formalismimplied by the determinationof the
musical work as autonomous or self-contained. Challenging the
'formalism'of music analysishas been the topic of much debate in recent
music theory. Alan Street, in his article 'Superior Myths, Dogmatic
Allegories: The Resistance to Musical Unity' (Street 1989), based
explicitlyon the deconstructivemethod of Paul de Man, goes so faras to
hint at a methodologicalimpasse. Korsyn's article, understood in the
editor's introductionas a complement, and a 'solution', to Street's
assertions,invokesBloom - de Man's colleague at Yale - to launch his new
model. Implicitto the argument,then,is a historicallyand geographically
specificuse of deconstruction.This usage informsmanyofthe termsof the
debate.
Korsyn'sarticleaims to providecriticalparadigmsfora theoryof inter-
textuality,therebyfurnishing Musicologywitha correctivenot onlyto the
problematics of musical influencein Music Historybut also to the wholly
immanentanalyticconcerns('formalism')apparentlycharacterising Music
Theory. One of the functions of the new theory is to allow such
methodologicaldivisionsto merge.My articlewill outline,firstly, certain
aspects of Bloom's model as it has been understood by Korsyn, and,
secondly, Korsyn's application of the model to music. The concluding
remarks will assess the model solely in terms of certain internal
contradictionswhich seem to articulatesome of its ideological limits,
ratherthanin termsofitspotentialforthe practiceofmusic analysisperse.
According to Korsyn, recent attempts to discuss the notion of
'influence'in music have failedto appreciatethe historicaland conceptual
significance of intertextuality.By concentratingon such matters as
compositionalmodelling,citationsand borrowingsfromone composer to
another,these studiesprojecta concept of influenceas a passive reception
of concretephenomena,withoutfocusingmore closelyon the mechanisms
which mediate this influence.Activelyresistinga precursor,forinstance,
cannot be accounted for in these studies. Thus arises the need for
paradigms. Korsyn invokes Bloom for this purpose. In The Anxietyof
InfluenceBloom proposesthatpoetic influenceprovidesthe centraldata for
poetic history.Strong poets clear imaginativespace for themselvesby
misreadingotherpoems. Thus the subject matterof poetrycan be traced
throughthe poetryofprecursors.
Since the post-structuralistcondition insists that the immediacy
between language and experience has been shattered, experience
presentingitselfas always already structuredby textuality,the poet is
confrontedwitha sense ofbelatedness.Negotiatinga poetic positionin the
realm of what Ricoeur calls the 'already expressed', the poet seeks to
repressand exclude otherpoems in an Oedipal struggleagainsthis or her
forbears.Influence, therefore,must be conceived as discontinuous or
'antithetical',instead of as mimetic.Since a poem can only be read as a
MUSIC ANALYSIS13:2-3, 1994 299

? Basil BlackwellLtd. 1994

CRITICAL FORUM
rendezvousof otherpoems - its subject matteris constitutedpreciselyby

the repressedrelationsbetween othertexts- historyis inevitablyrecalled
into the analyticsphere. 'Rewriting'replaces 'writing','intertext'replaces
'text' and 'misreading'replaces 'reading' in this theoreticalformulation.
Since the meaning of a poem is structuredby relationsbetween texts
instead of within texts, intertextualitybecomes central to the poem's
identity,and so too should become centralto the studyof
intertextuality
criticism.Korsyn,in paraphrasingBloom, proclaimsthat the '... anxiety
of influenceis the truesubjectmatterof... poetry'(1991: 7). In thisway,
a theoryis constructedwhichalignsnumerousbranchesof criticalstudyas
methodologicalimperatives:historyconstitutesthe very possibilityof a
poem, ratherthan being added onto it, and thus analysisis compelled to
abandon the notionofthe self-contained poeticunit.
The poem, as inevitable inscriptionin previous poems, suggests a
structuralistorientationin Bloom's enterprise,but this is fused with a
psychoanalyticreading of mediated revisionwherebythe 'strong' poets
transcend their precursorsin an anxious confrontation.Although, for
Bloom '[a]ny poem is an inter-poem,and any reading of a poem is an
inter-reading'(quoted :9 - my italics), only strongpoets are capable of
possessingthe freedomof a meaning of theirown. This freedomcan be
attainedonly by virtueof the plenitudeof meaningprecedingthe poem.
Through 'wounding'the meaningsimposed upon the poet by tradition,the
poet becomes strongand enduring.Hence there is an interplaybetween
the abilityto misread the past and the formationof the canon. Korsyn
states:
Bloom'stheorycan providecriticaltouchstones forexplainingcanon-

formation. His insightintothe misprisionof the precursors
through
the revisionaryratiosgivesus a measureforestimating successor
in attaining
failure creative (: 34)
strength.
Misprision,or mis-takingall anteriortexts,is the primarystrategywhereby

poets become strong.The Kantian notionofgeniusis thuspreservedin the
face of an inescapable narrativestructure,resultingin the paradoxical
formulationof 'originalimitation'as the primarypropertyof genius. The
poet, in a Nietzschian will to power, deploys certain 'tropological
strategies' (or figures of speech) to misread or (in the language of
psychoanalysis)to repressthe precursor.These are identifiedby Bloom as
revisionaryratios which signifyboth a formal mode of reading and a
psychicdefenceagainstthe precursortext.
The seeminglyproblematicsubstitutionof music forpoetry,particularly
as it accrues to 'meaning', is taken as an opportunityby Korsyn
deliberatelyto misreadBloom, in an analogous misprision,as if the latter
were talkingabout music and not poetry.The transference is justifiedin
the followingway. When Bloom identifiesthe meaningof a poem only in

? Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1994

CRITICAL FORUM
anotherpoem, this does not mean that both poems can be reduced to a
common meaningor a sharedsubstance.Indeed it is preciselythe otherness
of the poem which constitutesits meaning,and even the conditionof its
possibility.This procedure is likened to the Hegelian notion of self-
consciousness,which becomes possible only throughan encounterwith
otherness.Hence, ifthe meaningof a piece of music is a functionof what
has been excluded fromit, the semanticcomponentmay be constitutedin
an analogous way to thatof a poem. Stated differently, meaningfiguredas
absence ratherthan as referenceleads to a closer potential correlation
between poetryand music. This level of the argumentowes much of its
strengthto the Derrideannotionof the slidingsignifier, wherebythe signis
no longer made up of the two Saussurian components. Significationis
composed of an endless chain of signifiers,and the signifiedbecomes a
mere effectof reality.Music, ordinarilyunderstoodas lackinga discernible
referent,or signified,now bears a strikingsemiotic correspondenceto
language. For Korsyn,in mapping the manner in which musical pieces
exclude each otherby defendingthemselvesagainstinfluence,theirunique
individualitycan be measured against theirrelationshipto traditionin a
dialecticalrelation.
Korsyn also identifiesWalter Pater as a precursorto Bloom, and cites
his dictum that '... all art aspires to the condition of music' as further
proof of the suitabilityof Bloom's theoryformusic. Since music, in this
view,mergesthe tensionbetweenmediumand content,therebyelidingthe
subject (or the matter)withthe expression(or the form),an intertextual
theory,in whichmusic's subject matterbecomes othermusic, is rendered
possible. Elsewhere,Korsyn even suggeststhat the model may be more
suited to music than to poetry,particularlyin its abilityto directanalysis
away froman 'illusoryobjectivity'(1991: 45). Korsynseeks to rejuvenate
musical studies by offeringan analyticalmethod that moves beyond a
formaldescriptionof structure.Nonetheless,the task remainsto harness
the revisionaryratios,which are themselveslinkedto particulartropes,to
musicalmaterial.This is done by means of a musicalexample.
Korsyn employs each of the ratios systematicallyin his analysis of
Brahms's Romanze, Op. 118, No. 5, which is figuredas a misprisionof
Chopin's Berceuse, Op. 57. Brahms, in this account, is shown to be
strugglingwith a number of precursor texts: Chopin's Berceuse, the
precursorsof the Berceuse (as mediated thereby)and his own earlierself.
Korsyn adds traditional historical details of Brahms's intimate
acquaintance with Chopin's music to support this contention.He also
traces certain statementsmade by Brahms to underscorethe conscious
burden of traditionfeltby Brahms. In 1853, when Raffremarkedthat
Brahms's Scherzo Op. 4 resembled Chopin's Scherzo Op. 31, Brahms
declared that he had never encounteredChopin's music, despite the fact
that Chopin had been performedconsistently in Hamburg throughoutthe
two precedingdecades. In a letterto Clara Schumann in 1870 Brahms


CRITICAL FORUM
stated: 'In everything... I trymy hand at, I tread on the heels of my

predecessors, whom I feel in my way' (quoted :15). Elsewhere he
complained of the difficultyof overcoming the gigantic influence of
Beethoven.Brahms also frequentlyreshaped his compositions,an activity
which suggests the possibilitythat the anxiety of influence may have
extendedto his previousself. It is noteworthy,at this point, that Korsyn
deploys a traditionalsurveyof historicalfactsto establishevidence for a
theorypredicatedon a prefigurative conceptionof language,wherebyevery
'fact' is characterisableonly by the tropologicalmode in which it is cast.
An empirical survey is thus momentarily invoked to ground, as '... a
minimal precondition ...' (: 18), a model which is hostile to the possibility
of a neutralempiricism.I shall returnto thisissue later.
There are six 'revisionaryratios' in Bloom's scheme: Clinamen,tessera,
kenosis,daemonization,askesis and apophrades.These are employed by
Brahms to wrest a meaning of his own by subvertingand resisting
Chopin's precursortext. Hence they are all connected to a particular
psychic defence. Daemonization,for instance,is connected to repression,
while askesis is connected to sublimation. The revisionaryratios are
distinguishedfromthe level of conspicuous allusion between the texts,
signifyinginstead a deeper psychic affinity.The middle section of the
Romanze overtlyappropriatesmany of the featuresof the Berceuse, such
as the one-bar ostinato,the four-bartheme, the performanceindications
(including'piano' and 'dolce') and the avoidance ofharmonicand melodic
closureat the end of the theme.These connectionsare overtallusionsand
thus not constitutiveof the deeper misprisionat workin the piece. I shall
brieflydescribeKorsyn's employmentof two of these revisionaryratiosin
his analysisof Brahms'sRomanze.
Korsyn identifiesa literal five-notequotation in the theme of the
Romanze, which,he argues,is composed out on a deeper structurallevelin
Chopin's piece. Not onlyis the motivecited,but thisorganicexpansionis
itselfappropriatedby Brahmsand analogouslycomposed out. Schenkerian
graphs are employed to illustratethe largerstatementof the embedded
foregroundfigure.However, Brahms intensifiesthe process by using the
motive to link theme and variation more intimately.Now the note
completingthe motive is sounded togetherwith the note beginningthe
motivein the ensuingvariation.This phenomenonis taken by Korsynto
signal the operationof tessera,or 'antitheticalcompletion'. Tessera,a term
borrowedfromancientmysterycults,is connectedto the rhetoricaltrope
of synecdoche. In Bloom's terms,it denotes the reading of a precursor
whichretainsthe originaltermsbut employsthemin anotherfashion,'...
as if the precursor has failed to go far enough' (quoted :26). Korsyn
articulates the process thus:
Brahms wants (consciously or unconsciously) to persuade us (and

himself)that his discourse is more whole, more complete, than the
302 MUSIC ANALYSIS13:2-3, 1994


CRITICAL FORUM
To do this,he emphasizesthe
discourseof his precursor.
'truncated'
of
correspondence part and whole:his motiveis a microcosmforthe
entiretheme;since variations,as Schoenbergsaid, are primarily
thethemeis a microcosm
repetitions, forthewholevariationset.(: 27)
Two briefpoints should be made about the logic of this argumentas it

stands.Firstly,by havingBrahmsemphasisethe part/whole relationshipsin
the hierarchicalreduplicationof the motive,Korsyn identifiesstructural
levels as the musical analogue to synecdoche. It follows, then, that
foregroundfeatures themselves become the 'part' of the background
'whole'. Korsynstates:
Schenker'ssystem... discloses bothhierarchicalreduplicationand its

opposite,showingboththepossibility of a rapportbetweenlevels,as
when the same motive appears in both the foregroundand
middleground, betweenlevels,as when
and a tensionor contradiction
a dissonanceon onelevelbecomesconsonant at thenext.(: 27)
Clearly the synecdochialpropertiesunder discussion are taken to result

from the hierarchical reduplication of motivic features - that is, a
correspondence(or non-correspondence)of featureson different levels of
the same piece. Bloom, however,employsthe termstrictlyintertextually,
designatingtherebya part/wholerelationshipbetween two texts, rather
than a hierarchicrelationshipwithin a text. If Schenker's intra-textual
structurallevelsare the musical analogue forsynecdoche,whathas become
ofthe intertextualpart/whole relationshipunderlyingtessera?
Secondly,Korsyn characterisesChopin's attemptto impose himselfon
traditionas an attemptto persuade us that the work is '... more whole,
more organic [than its predecessors] in its solution to the problems of
variation form' (: 27). The selection of an organicist metaphor as
constitutingthe terms of the 'antitheticalcompletion' seems to engage,
albeit on a deeper (structural!)level of argument,the formalismit sought
to transcend in its initial aims. Do the theoretical implications of
intertextualityperhaps suggesta decentringof subject and subject matter
more thoroughthan Korsyn's text is preparedto manage? This question
does not necessarilydestabilise the model itself,as a methodological
construct,highlighting instead only some possible inconsistenciesin the
logic of the argument. It does provide some clues, however, for an
interrogationof the methodologyitself.Some of these concerns will be
brieflyaddressedlater.
In order to dramatise the differencebetween a strong and a weak
(mis)readingof a precursortext,Korsyn considersanotherpiece, the last
of Reger's Trdumeam Kamin, Op. 143, which confrontsthe Berceuse
unsuccessfully. Again,metre,harmony,spacing,phrasingand performance
directions are shown to bear a strikingaffinitywith Chopin's piece.


CRITICAL FORUM
Conspicuous allusions predominate,beginningwith an unaccompanied

ostinatoand followedby an increasinglyembellishedtheme.Even some of
the techniques for embellishment,such as descending scale passages
leading into trills,are shown to resembleeach other.In thisway, Reger is
equally enmeshed in a strugglewith a precursor. Reger, however, is
unsuccessfulbecause he failsto '... hear thatChopin's continuity existsin
a dialecticaltensionwith his four-bargroups [whereby]continuityarises
fromovercoming the sectional divisions'(: 46). His figurations
remainweak
and meandering.
Reger's failureis measured against a second Schenkeriandiagnosis of
Brahms's Romanze, which exemplifiesmetaphoricallyanotherrevisionary
ratio, called clinamen.This ratio is linked to the Freudian defence of
'reaction-formation'and representsa misprisionthrough the trope of
irony. The precursor's text is exposed as relativelylimited and naive
throughan initial'swerve' fromits expressedvision. It is the negationof
this earliervision that is fastenedonto in the misprision.Brahms ironises
the Berceuse by framingthe intertextualvariation, which recalls the
Berceuse, withtwo sectionswhose influenceis not strictlymapped in the
same way. The embedded variationis in D major,whilethe outersections
are in F major.
Korsyn elaborates on the manner in which the tonalityof the middle
sectionis preparedby showinghow melody,harmonyand rhythmconspire
to emphasisea D minortriadas the openingsection,in F major,unfolds.
When the dominant of this new tonicisationis reached, however, the
leading note is lowered,resultingin an A minortriadwhich leads back to
the home key. Only the second time this tonicisationis effectedis the
modulation to D major accomplished. The same structuralevents thus
engendera different tonal outcome. The middle section,now functioning
as a locally stable (but globally unstable) key, produces a temporal
experience which is completelydifferentto that of the Berceuse. This
temporalstructuring is achievedthroughthe framingaction ofclinamen.
David B. Greene's ideas of temporality and temporalprocessesare then
used to gauge the significanceof the temporalstructuring in the Romanze
against that of the Berceuse. Chopin's ostinatofigureis characterisedas
being harmonically'futureoriented' and rhythmically 'past oriented',on
account of its unique metricplacement. This resultsin a tension which
resemblesthe temporalstructureof the middle section of the Romanze.
Memory and anticipationare situated in an equilibrium. In Chopin's
piece, this balancing of past and futurein the ostinato figureevokes a
heightenedsense of the presentwhich Korsyn in turn identifieswith an
undividedconsciousness.
In contrast,Brahms's text,inevitablymediated by the presence of the
Berceuse, suggeststhe impossibility of retrievingthe innocence impliedby
an undivided consciousness. This suggestionis expressed throughthe
deploymentof the ironisingclinamen. As an embedded middle part,


CRITICAL FORUM
framedby two sections,it assumes (in Korsyn'swords) 'more the character

of a memorythan of an immediatepresence' (: 43). Chopin's visionis thus
both affirmedand negated by Brahms's misreading.The middle section,
taken as an identityin itself,antithetically completesthe Berceuse, while,
taken in relationto the two other sections,it ironisesthe Berceuse. The
precursoris revised throughan originalsubverting,and, being a strong
composer,Brahmsstakeshis claim on the canon.
Korsyn's applicationof the intertextualmodel - the termshe employs
forhis comparisonof Reger withBrahms,his choice of musical examples
and his invocation of diverse music theorists - implies a web of
commitmentswhich warrant closer inspection. For instance, Reger's
misreadingof the Berceuse is consideredweak because he 'failedto hear' (:
46) a dialecticaltensionin Chopin's work,a tensionin which continuity
results from resisting,ratherthan emphasising,the sectional divisions.
Withoutinscribingthis resistanceinto his composition,Reger's variations
are rendered amorphous - 'flaccid, meandering, directionless'
(: 46). The pointto be made hereis neitherconcernedwiththe accuracyof
these assertions(whetheran analogous dialecticaltensionmay not, in fact,
inherein Reger's work), nor is it simplyconcernedwiththe ideologically
charged terms employed to distinguishthe compositions (that is, the
unexaminedcouplingof musical value withthe recognitionof a dialectical
tension). It is concernedratherwiththe methodologicalparadox involving
the idea of misprision.If all compositionis an intertextual misreading, how
is it possible for Reger to fail to hear an aspect of the precursortext?
Misreading, in this particular example, seems to involve less the
'antithetical'or 'discontinuous'relationto an earlierwork,announced at
the outsetof the article,than a particularkindof continuity in thisrelation.
Failure sufficiently to solicit the 'dialectical tension' of the earlierwork
(which,by implication,is held to be crucialto its vision,identity,meaning
or whatever) amounts to a failure to become strong. Is this a mis-
misreading?Why, theoreticallyspeaking,is this failurenot figuredas a
'forgetting' - the unconscious repressionwhich constitutesdaemonization,
for instance? In fact, the ontological status of the work of art itselfis
investedpreciselyin such concealed defences.We can recallthatforBloom
'... this sort of concealmentis poetry' (quoted :12). More importantly,
however,whatis at stakein the insistencethatdue attentiveness be paid to
certain aspects of the precursortext, while other aspects may be, and
perhapseven shouldbe (in orderto attainstrength),ignored?
This conflictof method would not be so disconcertingif the above-
mentioned relations of discontinuity,differenceand antithesisbetween
texts were not considered a methodological advancement over the
'... [passive] transmission of discursive ideas' which, for Korsyn,
characterisestraditionalsource study (: 7). As a result,Korsyn's project
seems to replicate the very methodological structuringit seeks to
transcend. The harnessing of empirical data, then, to support the
MUSIC ANALYSIS 13:2-3, 1994 305


CRITICAL FORUM
attributionof an 'anxietyof influence'to Brahms,discussed above, counts

less as historicalproof than as a symptomof a divided methodological
posturing.In thisregard,the choice of music examplesin Korsyn'sarticle
is analogouslysymptomatic.Althoughany compositionis said to be an
intertext,only those works that can be shown to yield to a traditional
historicaland/orempirical test for similarityand influenceare actually
employed.The respectiveaffinities between Chopin's Scherzo Op. 31 and
Brahms's Scherzo Op. 4, Chopin's Etude Op. 25, No. 2 and Brahms's
creativetranscription thereof,and the Berceuse and the Romanze are all
evident on the level, first,of 'conspicuous allusion'. If intertextuality
inevitablyinforms,or even constitutesthe possibilityof, a composition,
whyare the chosen examplesequallyresponsiveto a traditionalreading?
Lastly,the mannerin whichKorsyngathersan arrayof diversetheorists
to cohere around a centralnexus of theoreticalideas in his articledeserves
some comment. To take only the deploymentof David Greene and
Heinrich Schenker in the revisionaryratios discussed above, a certain
patternof argumentcreatinga 'syllogistic'effectcan be noted. In Korsyn's
discussion of tessera,the Romanze is shown to exhibit a 'deeper
relationship'(: 22) to the Berceuse by virtueof its composing out of a
quoted five-notemotive.Schenkeriangraphsof the two pieces are used to
illustratehow Brahms both iterates Chopin, in an analogous organic
expansionof the motive,and thentranscendshim ('as if [he] has failedto
go farenough'), by employingthe motiveto linkthemeand variationin an
additional, more intimateway. Again, the point here does not revolve
around the validityof the analyticfindingper se, but ratheraround the
termsemployedto sustainthe argument.The logic of 'affinity' is mediated
throughanother analyticalconstruct,namely a Schenkeriangraph, and
then identifiedas a revisionarytessera.Intertextualresonancesdepicted in
these pieces seem to extend beyond the textsof Brahms and Chopin to
includethose of Schenker.
Perhaps it is implied that these organic expansions may be intuited,
even unconsciously,by the composersconcerned,and thatthe graphsare
simply used to provide an explication of these unconscious workings.
Throughout the article,Korsyn frequentlyasserts that the misprisionis
unconscious. Freud's Oedipal model is employedforexactlythispurpose.
The point is underscoredfurther when Korsyncites Bloom as statingthat
the poet may not even be familiarwith the text he is misreading.But
leaving aside, yet again, the question of the accuracy of such an
implication,we can observethatat least part of the meaningof a text- in
this case the composing out of the five-notemotive- is taken simplyto
inherein the textitself.This momentaryconstructionof musical meaning
as immanentcannot be sustainedin the termsof a thoroughlyintertextual
understanding of musical meaning, which is articulated as
methodologicallyaxiomaticat the outset of the article.Bloom repeatedly
assertsthis concern: 'There is no unmediatedvision, but only mediated


CRITICAL FORUM
revision';'[w]e need to stop thinkingof anypoet as an autonomousego....

Every poet is a being caught up in a dialectical relationship... with
anotherpoet or poets'; '[a]ny poem is an inter-poem,and any readingof a
poem is an inter-reading'(quoted :8, :9, :9). The latterpart of this last
quotation is significantbecause it highlightsthe analogous, unavoidable
intertextualityimpliedin anyreadingof a poem by the critic/analyst.
Korsyn acknowledges as much when he dismisses David Lewin's
readingof Bloom as 'weak' or when he states:'I am the first[musician]to
realize that [Bloom's] internalizationof subject matterbringsmusic and
poetrycloser together,allowing a fullermusical appropriationof Bloom
than has previouslybeen attempted' (: 12-13). Perhaps the clearest
acknowledgementof this intertextualweb, as operativefor the criticas
much as forthe composer,residesin the question posed by Korsynbefore
embarkingon his analysis (a question which poignantlysuggeststhat the
usurpationof Bloom is both valid and appropriate):'Can we performthe
same kind of deliberatemisreadingon Bloom,readinghim as if he were
talkingabout musicinsteadofpoetry?'(: 12). Again,it mustbe stressedthat
given the fact that not only musical meaning is said to be constructed
intertextuallybut music's very ontological status is identified as
quintessentially intertextual- a view borne out by the above quotations-
this invocation of immanence,however fleeting,cannot be theoretically
accommodatedby the model.
I have argued that the intertextuallink identifiedbetween the two
musical worksin Korsyn'sworkingexample is arbitratedby a Schenkerian
notionof foregroundexpansion.In thisway,the critictoo remainscaptive
to a linguisticmode, or 'precursortext',whichseeks to graspthe outlineof
the objects in its field of perception.One is tempted to ask how these
objects (in this instance identifiedas tracingthe veryacts of misprision)
may be accessed at all withoutsuch recourse to another text. But this
would lead to a more ideologicallymotivatedcritiqueof the model than I
am prepared to advance. For the moment, I wish to comment froma
positionthatremainsstrictly withinthe termsofthe argument.
The followingquestions remain. As a theoryof poetic influence,how
can Korsyn's analyticfindingsbe conceived of as being grounded in an
intertextualmodel, ratherthan in a purely Schenkerianone, when the
latteris the means by which the formeris articulated?The overtlyintra-
textual nature of Schenkerian analysis does little to moderate this
methodological reticulation.Also, bearing in mind the clear division
betweenstrongand weak misreadingsof precursors,is it not ultimatelythe
Schenkerian criteria (convincing though they may be), instead of the
revisionary ratios, that become the yardstick against which the judgement
of value is gauged? If this is the case, the model may be lending the analytic
formalism it aims to eschew a new lease of life. The potential scandal of
post-structuralismis therebypossibly contained and reduced to a technical
armoury, unshackled by history, in service of the enduring object.


CRITICAL FORUM
'Intertext'is reconstituted as 'text'.

The deployment of Greene's ideas about temporal structuresand
processes can be shown to functionrhetorically in the same way. Korsyn's
purpose, however, in outliningthe respectivetemporalitiesof the two
pieces is not as clear. His argumentproceedsin the followingway:
1) The tonalityof the entiremiddle section of the Romanze, as both
locally stable and globallyunstable,has a dual function.This tension
givesriseto a particulartemporalexperience.
2) The ostinato figureof the Berceuse, being rhythmically closed and
harmonicallyopen, also contributes to thisunique temporalstructure.
3) The state of consciousness evoked by this tension in the Berceuse is
thatof an undivided,child-likeconsciousness.
4) The state of consciousness evoked in the Romanze is that of a
memory,suggestingthata returnto thisinnocenceis irretrievable.
Points 1) and 2) suggesta temporalaffinity betweenthe two pieces based
on an analogous tension.By implication,Brahms'svariationintensifies the
temporal structure of his precursor, insofaras the tension in it governs the
entiresectionand not simplythe ostinatofigure.Point 3) linksthistension
to a unifiedconsciousness,but point 4) linksthe (analogous) tensionto a
completelydifferent state of consciousness,which ironisesthe first.The
irony(clinamen)is constitutedby the framingof the variationsby two other
sections,and thus a temporaldzfference is suggested.The order in which
these points are presentedis revealing.A particulartemporalstructurein
the Romanze is thus differentiated fromthe same temporalstructurein the
Berceuse at one level of the argument,and affinedto it at another.If it is
the framingaction alone that constitutesthe ironisingclinamen,whyis its
temporalaffinity emphasisedat the outset?
Perhaps thisobservationshould not be overstated,allowinginsteadthat
the implied affinityis simply gratuitousrather than damaging to the
argumentas a whole. However, Reger is marginalisedpreciselyforfailing
temporallyto affinethe last of his Trdiumeam Kamin to the Berceuse.
Differentiating between the strongand the weak is not as simple as this
logic would imply.Unlike Bloom, who undertakesto writea revisionary
history of Romantic poetry,stakingout a line (from Spencer, through
Milton, to Blake and Shelleyand includingsuch modernsas Lawrence and
Yeats) which is radicallyopposed to thatproposed by Eliot and the New
Critics,Korsyn (in what is perhaps anotherattemptto gain a traditional
credibilityfor the model) simply perpetuates the traditional division
betweenthese composers.ThroughoutKorsyn'stext,and in variousways,
then, the logic of affinityis interwovenwith that of differencein a
precarious montage.
One final point about the strong/weakdesignation. In order to illustrate
how a work becomes strong in the presence of a precursor text, it must be
shown to overcome and transcend the earlier text. But what aspects of the
text must it overcome? Korsyn interprets these aspects as 'problems', in


CRITICAL FORUM
this case the problem of variations.
How can one overcomethe sectionaldivisionsofthisform?A variation

theme generally inscribes an independent circle of meaning,
resemblingan autonomous compositionwith complete melodic and
harmonicclosure. Hence variationmovements,as theyreproducethe
structureof the theme,maydisintegrate into separatesections.... The
problem, then, is how to give the sequence of variations some
compellinglogic and unity.(: 21)
Apart from the formalism inherent in the apparent search for 'logic and
unity', this 'problem' is assumed of history. Not only is there no
unmediated reason why Brahms's 'solution' is any more 'imaginative', or
more strictly'unified', than Reger's - this would involve a differentset of
negotiating parameters - but the 'problem' is a fictional construct inserted
into the reading. Rather than activating the historical time which the
analysis aims to include, Korsyn's strategysuggests a mythic time playing
out a great mythicdrama.
It would be interestingto plot, through the inner workings of Korsyn's
text, the very tropes that are projected onto its 'historical' narrative.
Korsyn's intertextualitymay be construed as an attempt to overcome the
sectional, 'episodic' historythat is implied by a strictlyformalistreading of
a musical work in order to unifyit into a more compelling historical whole.
It is precisely this writing of history, pervasively beholden to notions of
unity, coherence and realism, that renders Korsyn's 'poetics' rather more
old than new.
REFERENCES
A TheoryofPoetry(London: OUP).
Bloom, Harold, 1973: TheAnxietyofInfluence:
1975: A Map ofMisreading(London: OUP).
Korsyn, Kevin, 1991: 'Towards a New Poetics of Musical Influence', Music
Analysis,Vol. 10, Nos 1-2.
Street, Alan, 1989: 'Superior Myths, Dogmatic Allegories: The Resistance to
Theory',MusicAnalysis,Vol. 8, Nos 1-2.



The 'New Poetics' of Musical Influence: A Response To Kevin Korsyn

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The 'New Poetics' of Musical Influence: A Response To Kevin Korsyn

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The 'New Poetics' of Musical Influence: A Response to Kevin Korsyn

Towards a New Poetics of Musical Influence by Kevin Korsyn

This content downloaded from 128.122.149.154 on Fri, 17 May 2013 15:18:44 PM

theArtsand Ideas: Essaysin HonorofLeonardB. Meyer,ed. E. Narmourand