Alkan’s Petits Préludes for organ: A case study of composition by constraints

Music & Science

Michael W.Beauvois¹ 

关键词: Cognition;    composition;    creative process;    multidimensional scaling;    problem-solving;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2059204317733107

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

Stylistic and pitch-related data derived from the score of Alkan’s Petits Préludes for organ are analyzed using nonparametric correlations and multidimensional scaling, and the results used to reconstruct his compositional process. The reconstruction is then verified by comparing it to an existing cognitive model of musical composition and Alkan’s use of multiple compositional constraints discussed as an example of a strategy employed by master composers to reduce their problem space. The tidy fit of the reconstruction to the model and the agreement of the evidence with a number of previous findings and hypotheses concerning the cognitive processes underlying musical composition strongly suggests that the model and similar analyses of musical variables could be applied to works by other composers and used as a basis for or an adjunct to musicological and psychological studies of the compositional process, particularly when limited to a post hoc analysis or by a finite dataset.

【 授权许可】

CC BY