[no subject]

[Greg Romero <gregory.romero@yale.edu>]

> James, I liked your distinctions between storytelling and 'stand 
> alone' compositions. Is this an absolute distinction or is it a result 
> of our (relative) inability to follow the narrative elements that may 
> be in Mozart?
 
     Isn't this just a question of absolute music and programme music?
And what distinction is there really between the two if the listener
isn't aware that he is listening to to something that is programmatic?
I wonder how many listeners really know (or care) what the whole "plot" of
Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique is, and does it diminish listening
enjoyment if one is not aware?  I actually think it diminishes my 
enjoyment when there is supposed to be a story behind the music. 
     Aside form the fact that I really don't care if there is some
programme behind the music, how exactly does one define it?  Can one call
the music that Schumann wrote programmatic even though he often attached a
name or a story to it only after it was completed?  Or how about Verklarte
Nacht which is a thirty minute string sextet on a bad poem of about twenty
lines?  
    As far as Mozart is concerned, I wonder how conducive sonata-allegro
forms and rondos are to narration.  Not very, I think.