The article concerns the elaboration and practical application of a new method of melody analysis, based on the transformation and development of H. Schenker’s theory. The ideas of this Austrian musicologist began to spread within Russian music theory only recently owing to works by Yu. Kholopov and B. Plotnikov, the latter had not only translated “Der freie Satz” into Russian, but had also demonstrated the application of Schenker’s methods to his own analytical studies. While reducing the music to the strict harmonic four-part texture and tracing behind it foreground, middleground and background pitch-lines, melody is regarded in the present paper as a specific line which moves between different voices and interacts with the schenkerian linear progressions. In addition, new means of representation of a melody form using schemes combining notation and graphic elements are offered in the article. The introduced concepts “dynamic triangle”, “melodic ambitus” and “steady kernel” reflect the motion of a melody within a mode.
Abstract