ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the idea of musical irony as a historical phenomenon, rather than merely a matter of individual composers taste. It suggests that irony might be understood as part of the broader musical modernity of the post-Enlightenment age, stretching from the eighteenth century to the present. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's set provides an excellent and sophisticated example of how irony can work in Classical instrumental music. Musical irony may be understood as a particular version of this, taking on attributes of language in order to bring them to self-conscious scrutiny. The tradition of German Lieder running from Franz Schubert to Gustav Mahler is built on this fundamentally ironic double-take by means of the contrast between the simplicity of its materials and the sophistication of their treatment. The Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 announces the definitive move to a late style even as it attempts to recoup the affirmative tone of Beethoven's early music.
