Modern Musical Waves: Technical and Expressive Aspects of Fin-de-siècle Form

Abstract

Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, Berg’s Piano Sonata, Bartók’s Elegy Op.8b no.1 and Karłowicz’s Returning Waves illustrate concepts of ‘wave’ deformation in post-Wagnerian music. New insights into form and content in fin-de-siècle music are revealed through consideration of the interaction of deformed waves with designs from romantic Formenlehre – the bar and sonata form.