Topical Pairing as Compositional Strategy in Mozart
Matthew Boyer, Indiana University
The surface of Classical music is heterogeneous, featuring rapid and often dramatic alterations in style. Since the publication of Leonard Ratner's Classic Music in 1980, topics have emerged as a valuable means to characterize these kaleidoscopic shifts. The music of Mozart is exceptionally rich in topical variety, and topical pairs capture a unique type of stylistic change found in Mozart's music. Topical pairing is distinct from mere succession or juxtaposition; it consists of the varied repetition of a passage in a new topical guise. In such a succession, thematic, motivic, and other salient features of a passage are retained, while other parameters are modified to effect a topical change. The resultant topical pair is heard as a whole, binding the music into a single formal unit. Mozart strategically manipulates these paired thematic groups to expressively shape larger expanses of music. The return of the first half of a topical pair has implicative strength; it generates expectation for the return of second half of the pair. With this expectancy comes the possibility for denial, postponement, and fulfillment, inviting a hermeneutic reading of Mozart's treatment of pairs across large-scale formal designs. This presentation will draw upon a number of examples, particularly from the first movement of the piano concerto K. 503.