Alright, I'm not seeing anyone else's post, so I suppose I'll make the dive.
A common theme of this conversation is the degree of “seriousness” present in a musical piece, or equivalently, a discussion. What makes a discourse serious rather than casual, or vice versa?
The guests break down a sonata’s voices into the roles of a satisfying conversation. What roles are discussed, and how do they parallel their corresponding part in the music?
A concern is raised that “unbound” rhetoric cannot be derived from a solidified source, such as a score or a text. How is this concern countered? What elevates music from being ink on a page to being something alive and real?
The guests compare the composer, the pianist, and the cellist all to the hostess of a musical conversation, and are unable to resolve which part best fits. What arguments are raised for each, and which do you believe best matches?
In this 18th-century scene, we witness a conversation in a salon typical to its era and locale. Here, the main objective of conversation is drawing a comparison between music (typical to the era and locale) and a conversation. As recursive as this may be, it serves to strengthen the point made, and gives the reader a solid feeling for the type of conversation referred to. One question raised near the end of the scene concerns the role of salonnière, a sort of hostess and mediator of a salon. Such a woman is expected to allow her guests to blaze their own paths, while subtly yet firmly influencing the flow of conversation towards amicableness and productivity. These attributes are in parts assigned to the composer, the pianist, and the cellist of a piece of music. What arguments are raised for each, and which do you believe best matches?
Simon,
ReplyDeleteGreat job diving in! The skeleton of a successful Opening Statement is there (starting in the fourth sentence). It goes like this:
1. You want to talk about the salonniere.
2. You define the salonniere.
3. You recapitulate three arguments about her proper role.
4. You ask your colleagues to take a stand.
Now, work to *help us* take a stand. You rightly include #2 -- we need to define salonniere before we discuss her role by way of comparison. Quote the text. Summarize the text. Point us to page numbers. People may wish to start discussing at this point already: "I had a problem with this definition. . . it didn't make sense to me because. . . ". That's fine -- this preliminary discussion may help us when we get around to "taking a stand" at the point you wish us to address. It is your job to make sure we proceed from 2 to 3 to 4.
By the way, in #4, you are asking the class to synthesize -- to bring together -- what's said about a cellist, pianist, or composer (on the one hand) and their own experience (on the other). You will often find it helpful to be explicit about what it is you are asking us to synthsize. "Bring to bear your own experience doing X what do you think of the salonniere's description of X ?" Or, later in the term, "In light of your reading of Z, what was your reaction to Y?"
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