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- [early 1940s] (Creation)
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15 pages, typed, with graphs and musical examples in pencil and pen in Zuckerkandl's hand.
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Essay analyzing how current understandings of harmony as they are practiced do not contribute to an understanding of music's actual nature. Zuckerkandl states that harmonic analyses often fail to discern what is and is not a chord, and further fail to differentiate between degrees of modulation. Explains mechanical (understanding causes) and linguistic (understanding meaning) forms of understanding. Argues against the mechanical in favour of the linguistic, which is expressed in Ur-phenomena of music—a Schenkerian view which unites chordal function with movement of tones. When an analysis is unclear, we should trust our ear's understanding of a chord's function over how the chord appears in isolation. Includes Schenkerian graphs and musical examples.
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- English
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ONB, Misc100_V_24a