ABSTRACT
Schenker’s approach to form and structure is both bold and novel. Instead of breaking a piece down into static parts that make up a whole (first theme, second theme, codetta etc.), he describes music as a dynamic process of tonal tension and resolution. Schenker places the Ursatz with its tensionresolving journey from 3ˆ or 5ˆ down to 1ˆ at the centre of this process. It is the way in which the progress of the Urlinie towards 1ˆ is prolonged and delayed that creates the dynamic shape of the piece. However much the resolution of the Urlinie onto 1ˆ is delayed, this tension is still underpinned by the fundamental unity of the Ursatz as the contrapuntal realization of the tonic. This is the essence of Schenker’s understanding of form: a piece of tonal music is a unified elaboration of the tonic that defers structural closure in various ways in order to create its unique dramatic shape. It is with this conception of music as a dynamic unfolding that he revitalizes the traditional approach to large-scale structure.
