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Music and Transfiguration

Complexity through Simplicity

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, sometime during my undergraduate degree, but I more or less pulled a complete 180 in regards to my views of music theory. In the beginning, I loved it and studied as much of it as I could. I thought music theory and analysis to be a necessary part of musical understanding. Later, however, my approach became simpler and simpler. I started to shun most of the established "theories" and the grandiose, complicated analyses written by theorists, and turned to the simpler methods. For example, my method of understanding harmony focuses around two subjects, figured bass and counterpoint. I've even abandoned Roman numerals for the most part. It seems to me that if those two subject were enough for Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, then they are enough for me. But, to get to my main point...

I recently began studying Bach's Art of Fugue. As part of this, I thought I would try writing out the harmonic outline of each fugue. In other words, striping the piece of all its contrapuntal embellishments and labeling the resulting "skeleton" with figured bass. (By the way, my approach was in no way Schenkerian.) By the end of the first fugue I began to notice that underneath Bach's complex contrapuntal writing is often a stunningly simple harmonic outline. That's not to say that Bach doesn't get into some complicated harmony at times, but it was surprising to witness seemingly complex contrapuntal passages reduce to rather simple harmonies by means of a simple, uncomplicated approach. But, isn't this the mark of a great composer: the balance of complexity and simplicity and the ability of inexhaustible variety from the simplest means? Think of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth or the finale of Brahms's First Symphony. What complexity! What simplicity!