Rethinking Sonata Failure: Mendelssohn's Overture Zum Märchen von der schönen Melusine

Horton, Julian

Abstract

This article counterpoints James Hepokoski’s notion of sonata failure (Hepokoski 2002; Hepokoski and Darcy 2006) and the concept of “becoming” advocated by Janet Schmalfeldt (2011) as analytical tools in the developing field of Romantic Formenlehre. Taking Mendelssohn’s overture Zum Märchen von der schönen Melusine as a case study, it develops a taxonomy of process for Romantic form, which is applied to arbitrate failure and becoming as contrasted aspects of the overture’s construction. I theorize the work’s processes as participants in an overarching processual network interacting with syntax and voice leading to generate a characteristically dialectical idea of sonata form, which unsettles traditional perceptions of Mendelssohn as a regressive classicist.

Citation

Horton, J. (2021). Rethinking Sonata Failure: Mendelssohn's Overture Zum Märchen von der schönen Melusine. Music Theory Spectrum, 43(2), 299-319. https://doi.org/10.1093/mts/mtaa032

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 30, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: May 12, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2023
• Journal: Music Theory Spectrum
• Print ISSN: 0195-6167
• Electronic ISSN: 1533-8339
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 299-319
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mts/mtaa032
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1302444