Review

Reviewed Work(s): Mozart and Enlightenment Semiotics by Stephen Rumph

Review by: Kofi Agawu
Source: Notes, Vol. 69, No. 2 (December 2012), pp. 274-277
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23358741
Accessed: 13-06-2018 13:24 UTC

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.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

Music Library Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Notes

This content downloaded from 168.172.0.254 on Wed, 13 Jun 2018 13:24:32 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 274 Notes, December 2012

the lineup of both its implementation

authors, alltimetable
ofand its
whom
close ties to him, is alone evidence of his new "Bibliographic Framework Transition
lasting legacy. Initiative" (http://www.loc.gov/marc
This compilation, while fairly dense in /transition/, accessed 28 June 2012),
content and varied in scope, is woefully which strives to make library data infra
brief. A more thorough collection, more structures more amenable to RDA's bene
fits. Papakhian may not be present to wit
fully exploring the depths of this peculiar,
wonderful profession, could easily containness these efforts coming to fruition, but
two or three times the content. In particuthe music cataloging community is better
lar, the vast potential and perilous uncerprepared to face them thanks to his leader
tainty surrounding the implementation of ship and guidance; this penetrating yet ac
new cataloging practices and tools such ascessible volume is a testament to that. An
RDA warrants broader and deeper treat enlarged, updated edition would be a wel
ment, including more thoroughly fleshed come follow-up, and ought to appear
out arguments on all sides. As it happens,sooner rather than later.
this book went to press just as wide-scale
implementation of RDA became even more Casey A. Mullin
certain, what with LC's announcement of Stanford University

COMPOSERS

Mozart and Enlightenment Semiotics. By Stephen Rumph.

University of California Press, 2012. [xi, 265 p. ISBN 97805
$49.95.] Music examples, bibliography, index.

Stephen Rumph's new book is a text

terns of sub-surface activity, he argues,
centered study of musical meaning. reveal strong affinities between Mozart's
Philosophical texts discussed include seleccompositional manner and certain modes
tions from the writings of Etienne Bonnotof eighteenth-century theorizing. Wide
de Condillac, Giambattista Vico, Johann ranging and ambitious, Mozart and
Gottfried Herder, Adam Smith, and others; Enlightenment Semiotics aims to capture a se
musical texts are mostly familiar passagesries of historically-grounded musical mean
from Mozart's operas, piano concertos, ings while unveiling deep affinities between
symphonies and sacred music; and music music and ideas.
theoretical or musicological texts include The book contains six chapters, a cogent
books by Leonard Ratner, Wye J. Allan introduction, and a brief epilogue.
brook, Robert Hatten, Raymond Monelle,According to Rumph, "we lack a 'histori
and Elaine Sisman. Rumph reconstructs cally informed' semiotics of eighteenth
two competing paradigms from the writings century music" (p. 3); he aims, therefore, to
of Enlightenment philosophers and theoplant Enlightenment sign theory firmly
rists of language: a rationalist model basedwithin music history and music theory.
on rhetoric, and an empirical model Music and ideas share "common founda
rooted in cognition. His aim is to encour tions" (p. 4), and Mozart's music "embodies
age a shift of attention from the dominant the ideals [of the Enlightenment] with un
rhetorical model to the empirical model usual clarity" (p. 9). So if we can reconstruct
because he believes that the latter more the ways in which the composer and his
contemporaries
fully captures the contradictory essence of "understood language,
Mozart's style. Rumph's method, then, in or signs" (p. 3), if, in other words,
rhetoric,
volves an impressive mix of philosophical
we can gain access to a " 'native' perspective"
exegesis, forays into intellectual history,
(p. 3), we can get a better—that is, histori
and close musical analysis. He ascribes
cally more plausible—handle on meaning.
meanings and describes the mechanisms Chapter
by 1, "From Rhetoric to Semiotics,"
argues directly for the greater relevance
which they are generated. He is especially
alert to deeper-level processes involving
of the linguistic model over the formal
metrical shifts, textural succession, and the
rhetorical one. The demonstration piece
working out of motives; indeed, some
herepat
is the opening movement of Mozart's

This content downloaded from 168.172.0.254 on Wed, 13 Jun 2018 13:24:32 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Book Reviews 275

G-MinorMetrie
Symphony,
Gesture in Mozart: Le nozze di Figar
Rumph, and Don Giovanni
the movemen[Chicago: University o
persuade or communicate; indeed, its Chicago Press, 1983] and "Two Threads
phrase structure is said to enact a dance through the Labyrinth: Topic and Proces
based binary impulse that releases it from in the First Movements of K. 332 and
certain rhetorical obligations. Rather, the K. 333," in Convention in Eighteenth- and
movement enacts its own analytic process Nineteenth-Century Music: Essays in Honor of
by, for example, creating an initial struc Leonard G. Ratner, ed. Wye Jamison Allan
tural problem (based on the repetition of a brook, Janet Levy, and William P. Mahrt,
sigh motive in the opening melody) which pp. 125-71 [Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon,
it eventually solves. Rumph approaches this 1992]), and it is perhaps no accident that
analysis through Condillac's "sensualist Rumph came under this influence as a doc
philosophy" (p. 21), which, among other toral student at the University of California,
things, "demonstrates the interdependence Berkeley, where Allanbrook taught. Mozart
of signs and thought" (pp. 22-23). The idea and Enlightenment Semiotics is laced with
of music as thought, inscription, or writing suggestive topical attributions; it thus con
has been advanced in connection with later tributes positively to ongoing demonstra
composers like Brahms and Beethoven (see,
tions of the interpretive potential of topic.
for example, Mark Evan Bonds, MusicRumph's
as third chapter is not, however, a
Thought: Listening to the Symphony in thecelebration
Age of topic theory; on the con
of Beethoven [Princeton: Princeton Univertrary, it includes a critique of the ontology
sity Press, 2006]), but Rumph sees signs ofoftopics. He is troubled by the seeming ab
it already in the G-Minor Symphony. sence of a precise, historically supportable
The second chapter, "The Sense of definition of the term topic. Furthermore,
Touch in Don Giovanni," explores the episcritics influenced by Ratner, he contends,
temological fallout from elaborations of"have tended to treat topics as codified
the sense of touch in the Enlightenmentsymbols rather than . . . fluid indices. As a
imagination. Citing the living statue in Don result they have often taken a facile ap
Giovanni as a ready reference, Rumph reproach to semantic interpretation, while
states Kant's idea contrasting the rationalneglecting the syntactic structures that ar
ist's preferred modality (sight) with the emticulate and transform topics and which
piricist's (touch). He then proposes not angovern their dynamic interaction with me
allegorical or symbolic reading of the opera ter, tonality, rhythm, and texture" (p. 84).
but a sensualist-empirical one that probesTo construct his proposed alternative,
the very conditions of representation. which, among other things, promises "a
Quotations from the writings of Berkeley,more rigorous syntactic analysis" (p. 85),
Condillac, and Herder dealing with the Rumph first turns to another eighteenth
sense of touch provide the backdrop to thecentury writer, Vico, for an account of
author's analysis of three passages from"rhetoric, invention and topics" (p. 90). He
Don Giovanni: the aria "Vedrai carino," the finds a "cognitive orientation" (p. 91) that
aforementioned duet "Là ci darem la aligns Vico with the empiricists. We need to
mano," and the act 2 banquet scene. These to the "physical proper
attend, therefore,
ties of the musical
readings typically stage a confrontation be sign" (p. 94). Meter and
tween mediated and unmediated hearings,
texture in particular demand our attention,
the former gesturing towards thewhilesymbolic
concepts like markedness and neu
tralization
realm, the latter drawing on natural signs.help to delineate the work of
Rumph's main music-descriptive tool,concludes that "any inter
topics. Rumph
the idea of topic, takes center stageguided
pretation in by traditional rhetoric,
which
chapter 3, "Topics in Context." Fewtreats
would topics as a codified lexicon,
disagree that "Ratner's concept
will[of
misstopic]
the deepest part of Mozart's art"
has proved one of the most (p.fruitful
106). Whileapthis seems unexception
proaches to musical semantics" and
able, the there
"deepest part" is not conveyed as a
well-defined
fore that it "belongs at the heart of any quality
dis accessible by means of
cussion of Mozart and semiotics" (p. analytical
a replicable 79). strategy.
Allanbrook's writings on Mozart's operas
Chapter 4, "Mozart and Marxism," is an
exercise in
and instrumental music have proved musical aesthetics. Citing cri
exem
plary in this respect (see, for example,
tiques of Susan McClary's decoding of an

This content downloaded from 168.172.0.254 on Wed, 13 Jun 2018 13:24:32 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 276 Notes, December 2012

(p. 3), Rumph signals diversedialectic

individual-versus-society modes of
slow movement conceptual
of transfer
the between
G-Major
domains—
allegorical,
Concerto, K. 453 as metaphorical,
point analogical,
of departor de
Susan McClary,riving"A Musical
from the verbal component Dialect
of vocal
the Enlightenment: Mozart's
music. Is it possible that binary opposites of Pia
certo in G major,
the sort that K.
Rumph 453, Movem
frequently deploys are
Cultural Critique
more appropriate
4 [Autumn in word-based disciplines
1986]:
Rumph rehearses the
like philosophy authenticity
and linguistics, but less so
in music
sensualist model, analysis? It would have
drawing now been help
on t
ings of AdamfulSmith.
to establish an ontological
The limit main by e
here is the Piano Concerto
demonstrating, in
for example, the B-fla
conditions
K. 450. under which "music" and "ideas" can ever
The fifth chapter, "A Dubious Credo,"
display incompatible foundations. While it is
takes us into the realm of theology. Rumph not difficult to imagine that "Mozart's musi
first focuses on two credo masses, the Masscal expression reflects a core of assump
tions that permeated late eighteenth
in F, K. 192, and that in C, K. 257, and sug
gests "how they might correlate with imporcentury thought" (p. 5), I wonder whether
it is ever possible for a musical style not to
tant strains of eighteenth-century language
theory" (p. 143). Later, he adds a counshare in contemporaneous thought.
terexample, the Credo from the Corona Clarifying this issue would, I believe, help
some readers appreciate better the very
tion Mass, K. 317. Two of the many issues
considered in this exploration of a compremises of Rumph's project.
poser's belief and its articulation are, first,Second, a direct illumination of musical
the paradoxical role played by the stile procedure,
an preferably guided by the most
tico in Mozart insofar as it functions both as sophisticated musical thinkers (of both the
a topic and as a repository of the ideal eighteenth
of century and the present day),
"purely rational language, grounded in uni might have strengthened the analytical
versal principles" (p. 153), and second,portions of the book. In making the case
shifts in the relationship between subject for a topical syntax, for example, Rumph
and object. might have invoked a treble-bass hierarchy
The book ends, appropriately enough, (found, for example, in Ratner's two-voice
with a chapter on closure, "Archaic reductions, or in Schenker's voice-leading
Endings." Rumph's interest here is in logic,graphs) in order to set into relief the alter
pursued through endings suffused with arnative hierarchies emanating from the dis
chaic signs, most commonly the learnedposition of topics.
style or stile antico. As in previous chapters, Third, I tripped over a few of Rumph's
Rumph mounts a nuanced argument characterizations of passages from Mozart.
around three principal analyses illustrating For example, he refers to the "confused
three different paradigms. The first is the opening" (p. 25) of the G-Minor Sym
C-Minor Mass, the second the piano conphony, K. 550, but others might hear rich
certo in E-flat Major, K. 449, and the third ness and a multiplicity of implication. In a
the great quartet from act 2 of Die Entlater chapter, he maintains that "Là ci
führung aus dem Serail. The contrast bedarem la mano" "opens with a striking ab
tween the rationalist and empiricist modelssence of topical reference" (p. 71), even
continues to serve as a horizon for interpre though the melody-versus-accompaniment
tation, but we come to understand that delineation together with the deliberate
Mozart sometimes operated with a kind pacing of might suggest otherwise. Rumph in
divided consciousness, mixing old and new deed rejects Allanbrook's suggestion that
paradigms. the opening of this duet might index a ser
Of the many issues raised by Mozart and enade (p. 69).
Enlightenment Semiotics, three might be men These are minor points, however, that
tioned briefly. First and most obviously, the should not detract from the value of Mozart
idea that music and ideas (originating in and Enlightenment Semiotics. Advanced stu
linguistics or philosophy) share certain dents of late-eighteenth-century music, mu
"foundations" remains to be established un sic analysts and semioticians will find much
toau
equivocally. In conceding that he cites ponder in this book. Taken together
thors "as witnesses . . . not as influences"
with such recent books as Karol Berger's

This content downloaded from 168.172.0.254 on Wed, 13 Jun 2018 13:24:32 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Book Reviews 277

Bach's label "cosmopolitan,"

Cycle, Mozart'sciting Liszt's various, Ar
Origins of Musical
and at times contradictory, allegiances to Mo
France, Germany,
University of Hungary,
Califorand Italy,
Michael Spitzer's
among other national entities. (In this Mus
Adorno sense, Liszt's
and cosmopolitan modernism pro
Beethoven's
ton: vides an interesting
Indiana Universityfoil to Johannes
and Brahms's historicist modernism.) But such
Enlightenment Sem
prospects for
scholarly a music
efforts to characterize Liszt's ca
project reer and style
with as best represented by an
interdiscip
It is a pity
aesthetic of that amissnum
unity in diversity often the
into the musical
real exam
priority that Liszt gave to certain cul
p. 65 has tural
stray projects at various points
naturalin his life:
77, and a French
wrong and Italian opera in thenote
1830s and o
sounding1840s, voice
the German symphonic onand literarythe
Example 18during
tradition on the 1850s,pp.
and church mu112
signature; sic fromin
the 1860s. Example 1
melody note One of the most misunderstood
in m.of these 39 s
A; in Example 21argues,
projects, as Shay Loya persuasively on
note in m. 13 should be an F not a B-flat; is Liszt's complex relationship with the
and in Example 38 on p. 180, the bass note Hungarian-Gypsy musical tradition of ver
should be an A-flat not A-natural; hopefullybunkos, to which Liszt was attached "both as
these will be set right in a future edition. a patriot and for more complex musical,
Kofi Agawu aesthetic, and political reasons, which is
Princeton University why he tried out so many compositional
possibilities and generic combinations that
were well beyond the call of duty and the
Liszt's Transcultural Modernism and
nationalist narrative" (p. 90). Over the
the Hungarian-Gypsy Tradition. By
course of an introduction and seven wide
Shay Loya. Rochester, NY: University ranging chapters, Loya shapes a provoca
of Rochester Press, 2011. [xx, 341 tive p.
image of Liszt that is not so much
ISBN 9781580463232. $85.] Music ex cosmopolitan—that is, ambivalently yet still
amples, illustrations, bibliography, in hierarchically assimilative—as it is transcul
dex, accompanying Web site. tural, a concept which resists "the di
chotomies (and implicitly Eurocentric)
Was Franz Liszt Hungarian? This is ar terms 'acculturation' (culture acquisition
guably one of the most divisive questions to on the dominant culture's terms) and
pose because it remains one of the most 'deculturation' (loss of culture)" (p. 5).
vexing to answer. After all, he was awarded Transcultural perspectives illuminate how
the sabre of honor by a group of material haphazardly flows back and forth
Hungarian nationalists in 1840, but he between
re center and periphery; Loya, in
frained from wielding it against their charting
op this "dual directionality" (p. 26),
pressors when revolution broke out eight seeks to flatten many of the stark di
years later. While he ostensibly dissemi chotomies that persist in characterizing—
nated Hungarian culture abroad via the and inevitably denigrating as inartistic, in
symphonic poem Hungaria and the ubiqui authentic, or anti-modern—Liszt's so-called
tous Hungarian Rhapsodies, he exposed Hungarian music. Taking aim squarely at
his ignorance of authentic Hungarian mu musicological and music-theoretical prac
sic by privileging the "Gypsy" tradition tices
in that have shaped such entrenched atti
his Des Bohémiens et de leur musique tudes,
en he argues that " [i] n this way, it is
Hongrie of 1859—a decision which enraged possible to balance a formal perspective on
more Hungarians than non-Hungarians. compositional craft with a more nuanced
He could not even pass Herder's simple understanding
na of cultural context and then
to force a confrontation between these
tional litmus test, it seems, for although
modes of knowledge and perchance arrive
born on (Austro-) Hungarian soil, he never
spoke the language. Answering the ques at a synthesis of them" (p. 154).
tion in a form of pastiche, scholars haveChapters 1 and 2 introduce and develop
increasingly become comfortable with the
the fundamental concepts of transcultural

This content downloaded from 168.172.0.254 on Wed, 13 Jun 2018 13:24:32 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms