THE ECLECTIC COMBINATION OF NEO-BAROQUE AND KLEZMER ELEMENTS IN

PAUL SCHOENFELD’S PARTITA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

Seo Yoean Hong Park, B.M., B.M.E., M.M.

Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS

August 2020

APPROVED: Felix Olschofka, Major Professor and Director

of Graduate Studies in the College of Music

Justin Lavacek, Committee Member Daphne Gerling, Committee Member Natalie Mannix, Interim Chair of the Division

of Instrumental Studies John W. Richmond, Dean of the College of

Music Victor Prybutok, Dean of the Toulouse

Graduate School

Park, Seo Yoean Hong. The Eclectic Combination of Neo-Baroque and Klezmer

Elements in Paul Schoenfeld’s “Partita for Violin and Piano.” Doctor of Musical Arts

(Performance), August 2020, 46 pp., 3 tables, 34 musical examples, bibliography, 55 titles.

Paul Schoenfeld (b. 1947) is considered one of the major American composers of the

present day to have incorporated many different styles in his music. Although Schoenfeld

primarily uses a combination of folk, popular music, klezmer, and jazz in most of his

compositions, he has also incorporated other distinctive musical styles in his works, such as neo-

Baroque, particularly in his Partita for Violin and Piano (2002). The purpose of this dissertation

is to explore the eclectic combination of neo-Baroque and klezmer elements found in

Schoenfeld’s Partita. This research provides a detailed comparative analysis of his work with

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier-Übung I, BWV 825–830, and 6 Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso

accompagnato, BWV 1001-1006, primarily to see how Schoenfeld made use of Baroque forms,

imitative passages, rhythms, and other stylistic features, then fused them with klezmer elements.

Klezmer is a genre of music stemming from the Eastern European Jewish tradition; its distinctive

characteristics are modal scales and Hasidic vocal ornaments. Knowing the mixture of Baroque

and klezmer stylistic influences should help performers to interpret the piece.

ii

Copyright 2020

by

Seo Yoean Hong Park

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my major professor, Dr. Felix Olschofka,

for the guidance and support he has provided throughout my doctoral studies. In addition, I

would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Justin Lavacek and Dr. Daphne Gerling for

serving on my committee and providing their thoughtful insights for this project.

I would also like to thank my parents for their endless support through my musical

journey. Also, I am thankful to my husband and my best friend, John Kyung Park, for his love

and encouragement throughout this process.

Last and most importantly, I would like to give thanks to God for giving me the strength

and perseverance to achieve my goals.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ............................................................................................... vii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Purpose ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Significance and State of Research ................................................................ 2

CHAPTER 2. PAUL SCHOENFELD ............................................................................................ 6

2.1 Biography ....................................................................................................... 6

2.2 Compositional Style ....................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER 3. BAROQUE AND KLEZMER ELEMENTS IN SCHOENFELD’S OTHER WORKS ........................................................................................................................................ 10

3.1 Baroque Influence ........................................................................................ 10

3.2 A Brief History of Klezmer and Its Influence on Schoenfeld’s Works ....... 10

CHAPTER 4. SCHOENFELD’S PARTITA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO (2002) ....................... 14

4.1 Background of Partita for Violin and Piano................................................ 14

4.2 Comparative Analysis of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Compositions and Schoenfeld’s Partita for Violin and Piano................................................... 14

4.2.1 Overture .................................................................................................... 15

4.2.2 Minuet ....................................................................................................... 18

4.2.3 Rondeau .................................................................................................... 21

4.2.4 Prelude ...................................................................................................... 24

4.2.5 Fughetta..................................................................................................... 29

4.2.6 Nigun......................................................................................................... 30

4.2.7 Sinfonia ..................................................................................................... 31

4.3 Detailed Analysis of Klezmer Style in Schoenfeld’s Partita for Violin and Piano...................................................................................................................... 33

4.3.1 Modal Scales ............................................................................................. 33

4.3.2 Hasidic Vocal Ornamentation ................................................................... 36

v

4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 40 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 42

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1. Comparison of Partita structure: J. S. Bach and Paul Schoenfeld ................................. 15

Table 2. Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, structure............................................................................ 19

Table 3: Nine ornaments in Klezmer music listed in Yale Strom, Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer ......................................................................................................................................... 38

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LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Page

Example 1: J. S. Bach, Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D major, BWV 828, Overture, mm. 1–5…....................................................................................................................................................... 16

Example 2: Paul Schoenfeld, Partita for Violin and Piano, Overture, mm. 1–8 .......................... 16

Example 3: Schoenfeld, Partita, Overture, fugal section, mm. 29–35 .......................................... 17

Example 4: Bach, Sonata for Violin No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001, Fugue, mm. 1–3 ................ 18

Example 5: Bach, Partita for Violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006, Minuet I, mm. 1–6............. 19

Example 6: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 1–9 ...................................................................... 20

Example 7: Bach, Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D Major, Minuet, mm. 13-21 ......................... 21

Example 8: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 71–76 .................................................................. 21

Example 9: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 1–2 ................................................................... 22

Example 10: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 52–54 ............................................................. 23

Example 11: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 90–93 ............................................................. 23

Example 12: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 6–7 ................................................................. 24

Example 13: Bach, Partita for Violin No. 3, Prelude, mm. 1–2 .................................................. 24

Example 14: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 1–4, violin part ................................................. 25

Example 15: Bach, Partita for Violin No. 3, Prelude, mm. 19–30 .............................................. 25

Example 16: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 51–61 ............................................................... 25

Example 17: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 67–77 ............................................................... 26

Example 18: Bach, Suite for Keyboard No. 2, Courante, mm. 46–49, grouping dissonance, after Krebs (1999). Fig. 3.7 ................................................................................................................... 27

Example 19: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 9–10, grouping dissonance .............................. 28

Example 20: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 18–22, displacement dissonance ...................... 29

Example 21: Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier II, Fugue 15 in G major, mm. 1–12 ........................ 30

Example 22: Schoenfeld, Partita, Fughetta, mm. 1–9 .................................................................. 30

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Example 23: Schoenfeld, Partita, Nigun, m. 13 ........................................................................... 31

Example 24: Bach, Partita for Keyboard No. 2 in C minor, Sinfonia, mm. 29–35, Allegro section....................................................................................................................................................... 32

Example 25: Schoenfeld, Partita, Sinfonia, mm. 1–9 .................................................................. 32

Example 26: Ahava Raba (altered D Phrygian mode) .................................................................. 33

Example 27: Mogen-Avos (D Aeolian mode) ............................................................................... 34

Example 28: Mishebeyrakh (altered D Dorian mode) .................................................................. 34

Example 29: Adonoy Molekh (D Mixolydian mode) .................................................................... 35

Example 30: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 51–60 ................................................................ 35

Example 31: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 96–99 ................................................................ 36

Example 32: Schoenfeld, Partita, Nigun, mm. 1–7 ...................................................................... 37

Example 33: Schoenfeld, Partita, Nigun, last notes of mm. 1 and 3; left, the original note; right, suggested krekhtsn as notated ....................................................................................................... 39

Example 34: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 86–95 ................................................................ 40

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose

During the postmodern era, many composers have experimented with eclecticism,

combining diverse styles in their music. For example, George Rochberg (1918–2005) juxtaposed

atonal music with Beethoven and Mahler in his String Quartet No. 3 (1972).1 Similarly, Alfred

Schnittke (1934–1998) combined eighteenth-century music with atonal and popular styles in his

Concerto Grosso No. 1 (1976).2 Paul Schoenfeld3 (b. 1947) is another modern composer who

blended various styles in his music. Klaus George Roy describes him in this way:

Paul Schoenfeld writes the kind of inclusive and welcoming music that gives eclecticism a good name. In the tradition of Bach, who never left German soil but wrote French suites, English suites, and Italian concertos, and in the tradition of Bartók, who absorbed and transformed not only Hungarian music but that of Romania, Bulgaria, and North Africa, Paul draws on many ethnic sources in music, assimilating them into his own distinctive language. As Donald Rosenberg wrote in the [Cleveland] Plain Dealer, reviewing Paul’s recent and nationally cheered compact disc recording of three concertos, “the composer’s grasp of music history joins hands with popular and folk traditions of America and beyond. This is cross-over art achieved with seamless craftsmanship.”4

Although Schoenfeld primarily uses a combination of folk, popular music, klezmer, and jazz in

most of his compositions, he has also incorporated other distinctive musical styles in his works,

such as neo-Baroque, particularly in his Partita for Violin and Piano (2002).

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the eclectic combination of neo-Baroque

and klezmer elements found in Schoenfeld’s Partita. Through this research, the author hopes to

1 Roger Kamien, Music: An Appreciation (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018), 363. 2 Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 9th ed. (New York & London: W. W. Norton, 2014), 985. 3 His last name is also spelled Schoenfield. Many of his recordings and documents have this version. However, his current e-mail address and biography at the University of Michigan give the name as Schoenfeld. 4 Neil W. Levin, Milken Archive of Jewish Music, Paul Schoenfield, https://www.milkenarchive.org/artists/view/paul-schoenfield/; accessed October 15, 2019.

2

inform violinists about the neo-Baroque and klezmer compositional styles in his Partita, to help

them gain a deeper understanding of the piece and perform it with greater stylistic accuracy and

authenticity.

1.2 Significance and State of Research

The term partita has had many different meanings, depending on the historical period and

composer. During the sixteenth century, it was used to describe variations on a ground bass.5

However, in the seventeenth century, this meaning was used less often, and other composers

came up with new meanings. For example, Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–1667) used it to

simply refer to “a piece of music” in his Libro secondo di toccata… gigue et alter partite and

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704) gave the terms Pars I, Pars II, etc. in his Mensa Sonora

to divide a collection.6 Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722) used partita for a collection of musical

pieces in dance character, similar to a suite.7 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), influenced by

Kuhnau, who was his predecessor as a Thomaskantor, used the same approach.8 The term

dramatically faded during the Classical and Romantic eras, but it was revived during the modern

and post-modern eras. For example, Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975) composed Partita for

Orchestra in 1932, in which the last movement has a soprano singing a medieval lullaby.9 Witold

Lutosławski (1913–1994) composed Partita for Violin and Piano for Pinchas Zukerman and

Marc Neikrug in 1984, later expanded for Violin and Orchestra for Anne-Sophie Mutter in

5 Grove Music Online, s.v. “Partita,” by David Fuller and Cliff Eisen; https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2147/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.20982; accessed 8 October 2019. 6 Fuller and Eisen, “Partita.” 7 Malcolm Boyd, Bach (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 193. 8 Ibid. 9 Ben Earle, Luigi Dallapiccola and Musical Modernism in Fascist Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge Universiy Press), 124.

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1988.10 Some movements of this work are reminiscent of the Baroque gigue.11 Vytautas

Barkauskas (b. 1931) composed Partita for Solo Violin, Op. 12 in 1967 and he describes it as “a

suite based on the idiom of the world’s most popular dances of the twentieth century: rhumba,

blues, and beguine”.12 Philip Glass (b. 1937) composed Partita for Solo Violin in 2010, which

includes an important Baroque form, Chaconne, divided into two parts separated by other

movements in between.13

Paul Schoenfeld’s Partita was written for a joint commission from the Schubert Club (St.

Paul, MN) and the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota.14 Although this piece uses klezmer

elements, as is common with him, it also has neo-Baroque elements. In the liner notes for his CD

Souvenirs, Schoenfeld claimed that the Partita “exemplifies my great love of Bach and is written

throughout primarily using the forms and harmonic language of the Baroque.”15

Although there are no current published books about Paul Schoenfeld and his works, they

have been discussed in a number of dissertations. Mark Trimble mainly discusses the history of

klezmer music and analyzes its influence on Klezmer Rondos.16 David Pasbrig provides an

analysis along with a synopsis of the text of Schoenfeld’s Sparks of Glory.17 He focuses on

10 The Official Website of Witold Lutosławski, http://www.lutoslawski.org.pl/en/composition,72.html; accessed 11 May 2020. 11 Ibid, commented on by Lutosławski. 12 Robert Markow, program notes to Barkauskas, Partita, performed by Noémi Racine Gaudreault, https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/notes/18744 13 Philip Glass, program notes to Partita, performed by Tim Fain and Philip Glass, https://performingarts.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/UFPA_Philip_Glass_Tim_Fain.pdf 14 Paul Schoenfield, liner notes to Souvenirs, performed by William Terwilliger and Andrew Cooperstock (ACD 71241, CD, 2007). 15 Ibid. 16 Mark Trimble, “The Klezmer Influence in Paul Schoenfield’s Klezmer Rondos” (DMA document, University of North Texas, 2011). 17 David Pasbrig, “An Analysis of Paul Schoenfield’s Sparks of Glory” (DMA document, Temple University, 2005).

4

motivic development, octave displacement, and atonal techniques, as well as discussing the

presence of jazz and folk idioms. Rachel Kaplan discusses both Classical and klezmer elements

in Klezmer Rondos.18 She also lists compositions of Schoenfeld’s that were influenced by

klezmer style, not including the Partita for Violin and Piano. Anthony Pattin briefly analyzes

four musical elements—melody, harmony, rhythm, and classical forms—in many of

Schoenfeld’s chamber works for piano, including Six British Folksongs, Country Fiddle Pieces,

Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano, Café Music, Elegy, Rag, and Boogie.19 In addition, he

discusses the technical problems and makes suggestions for performance. Kristyn Son takes a

different approach, exploring how Schoenfeld’s Slovakian Children’s Songs was influenced by

Bartók’s For Children.20 Similarly, Do Yeon Kim discusses how Schoenfeld’s Refractions was

influenced by Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and klezmer music, as well as how the musical

material from Schoenfeld’s Sha’atnez is borrowed from an opera by Joseph Weigl and a

Russian-Ukrainian folk song.21 Furthermore, her dissertation is valuable for her interview with

the composer about his compositional styles.

Two dissertations focus on Schoenfeld’s chamber works that include violin. Kristie

Janczyk provides a performance guide to both piano and violin parts in Schoenfeld’s Four

Souvenirs for Violin and Piano from a jazz perspective.22 She also compares the draft and

18 Rachel Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited: A Blend of Old-World Entertainment and Formal Setting of Classical Music in Paul Schoenfield’s Concerto, Klezmer Rondos for Flute, Male Vocalist and Orchestra” (DMA document, University of Arizona, 2011). 19 Anthony P. Pattin, “Pianist-Composer Paul Schoenfield as Seen in the Chamber Works with Piano” (DMA document, University of Alabama, 1994), 6. 20 Kristyn Son, “Comparative Analysis of Slovakian Folk Elements from Béla Bartók’s For Children in Paul Schoenfield’s Slovakian Children’s Songs” (DMA document, University of North Texas, 2015). 21 Do Yeon Kim, “Paul Schoenfeld’s ‘Refractory’ Method of Composition: A Study of Refractions and Sha’atnez” (DMA document, University of Cincinnati, 2019). 22 Kristie Janczyk, “Paul Schoenfeld and his Four Souvenirs for Violin and Piano” (DMA document, Arizona State University, 2015).

5

published versions of this piece. Hannah Marcus looks primarily at the klezmer folk elements

found in Schoenfeld’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano.23

Thus, although several dissertations have been written about Schoenfeld’s life and

compositions, there are no resources available for his Partita for Violin and Piano. Neither have

any dissertations looked at his neo-Baroque style in detail. This dissertation is significant in that

it is the first comprehensive analysis of the Partita and its neo-Baroque style.

Reviews of the Partita have been favorable. Allen Gimbel remarks that the Partita “is

quite virtuosic, and one of the best pieces of chamber music I’ve heard recently. Ambitious

violinists should take note.”24 Nevertheless, this work is less frequently performed than

Schoenfeld’s other chamber works, as reflected in only one recording of the Partita having been

made, by William Terwilliger on violin and Andrew Cooperstock on piano. Through this

research, the author hopes to bring Schoenfeld’s Partita to the attention of violinists and broaden

the violin repertoire.

23 Hannah Marcus, “Klezmer Elements in Paul Schoenfield’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano: A Violinist’s Perspective” (DMA document, Louisiana State University, 2018). 24 Allen Gimbel, “Schoenfield: Souvenirs; Partita; Country Fiddle Pieces; Café Music,” American Record Guide 70, no. 6 (November–December 2007): 171.

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CHAPTER 2

PAUL SCHOENFELD

2.1 Biography

Paul Schoenfeld was born on January 24, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. He began playing the

piano at the age of six and wrote his first composition at the age of seven.25 He received his

bachelor’s degree in music from Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, then went to Carnegie

Mellon University where he received master’s degrees in both music and mathematics.26 He later

obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Arizona at the age of 22.27 He

studied composition with Robert Muczynski and Nikolai Lopatnikoff, and piano with Julius Chajes,

Ozan Marsh, and Rudolf Serkin.28 He has held academic appointments at the University of Toledo,

University of Akron, and University of Minnesota, teaching a wide array of courses such as piano,

composition, theory, and orchestration.29 He is currently a professor of composition at the

University of Michigan. He has also taught mathematics to high-school students in Israel.30

Schoenfeld has won several awards for his compositions, as the Cleveland Arts Prize in

1994, and he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Camp Songs (2001).31 Many of his

compositions have been performed by prestigious orchestras including the New York Philharmonic,

the Seattle Symphony, the Haifa Symphony, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, the Minnesota

25 Kim, “Refractory,” 7. 26 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 12. 27 Ibid. 28 Pasbrig, “Analysis of Paul Schoenfield,” 1. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid. 31 Kim, “Refractory,” 10.

7

Orchestra, the Cleveland Symphony, and the National Symphony.32 Furthermore, he has received

numerous grants and commissions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts

Commission, Chamber Music America, the Rockefeller Fund, the Minnesota Commissioning Club,

American Composers Forum, Soli Deo Gloria of Chicago, and the Juilliard School’s 100th

anniversary celebration.33

A highly regarded pianist, he has toured and performed as a soloist and a chamber

musician in the United States, Europe, and South America. In 1966, he performed Mussorgsky’s

Pictures at an Exhibition as a solo pianist with the New York Philharmonic with Leonard

Bernstein conducting for the Young People’s Concerts: Young Performers series, which was

televised nationally.34 In addition, he has won many piano competitions, such as the Leonard

Bernstein Competition, National Young Artist’s Award, Minnesota Music Academy Award, and

Southwest Pianists’ Foundation Award.35 He has recorded many works as a pianist, notably The

Complete Music for Violin and Piano (1981) of Béla Bartók with violinist Sergiu Luca for

Nonesuch and The Best of Joplin (1983) for Pro-Arte.36

2.2 Compositional Style

Schoenfeld’s compositional style can be divided into two periods, which Kim describes as

“pivoting around 1972.”37 His early works feature modern compositional techniques, such as

32 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 14. 33 The Official Website of Paul Schoenfield, http://www.paulschoenfield.org/id1.html; accessed 6 February 2020. 34 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 12. 35 Ibid.; Pattin, “Pianist–Composer Paul Schoenfield,” 2. 36 Ibid.; The publications of these recordings are Bartok: The Complete Music for Violin and Piano, performed by Sergiu Luca, Paul Schoenfield, and David Shifrin (Nonesuch B000SVJX5Y, Vinyl, 1981); The Best of Joplin, performed by Paul Schoenfield (Pro Arte SDS-613,Vinyl,1983). 37 Kim, “Paul Schoenfeld’s ‘Refractory’,” 9.

8

changing meters, bitonality, and a high level of dissonance.38 He also incorporated tone clusters by

playing with the whole arm or fist, or plucking the piano strings.39 His musical influences do not

seem to come from his former composition teacher, Robert Muczynski. During his interview with

Pattin, Schoenfeld said, “We never accomplished much work together; just sat around chatting and

smoking cigarettes.”40 During his early career, composers such as Milton Babbitt (1916–2011) and

Elliot Carter (1908–2012) dominated the musical world in complicated styles that featured atonality

or total serialism and Schoenfeld was influenced by the world around him.41 One of Schoenfeld’s

early works, Concerto Grosso (1972) for Large Orchestra, premiered by the Toledo Symphony

Orchestra, includes amplified piano and incorporates atonality and extremes of volume.42

Unfortunately, he threw the majority of his early works away.43

During his teaching appointment at the University of Toledo in the early 1970s, Schoenfeld

was asked to write a chamber ensemble piece for a contemporary music festival.44 As a result, he

composed a piece called Burlesque for Saxophone, Trumpet, Double Bass, Piano, and Percussion.

This work embraces diverse elements such as jazz, folk, and popular tunes.45 He said of it, “I wrote

this piece based on the image of the circus. I decided to be stupid, not being nasty but making fun of

things, like being a kid. After I wrote Burlesque, I realized that these kinds of music are very fun to

play.” 46 As a result, he changed his compositional style by fusing diverse musical elements,

38 Pattin, “Pianist–Composer Paul Schoenfield,” 5. 39 Ibid. 40 Pattin, “Paul Schoenfield,” 6. 41 Kim, “Refractory,” 9. 42 Pattin, “Paul Schoenfield,” 5. 43 Kim, “Refractory,” 75. 44 Ibid. 45 Kim, “Paul Schoenfeld’s ‘Refractory’,” 10. 46 Ibid.

9

becoming well-known as a composer who “eclectically combines disparate ideas from different

environments and cultures to create a unique musical pastiche.”47

47 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 14.

10

CHAPTER 3

BAROQUE AND KLEZMER ELEMENTS IN SCHOENFELD’S OTHER WORKS

3.1 Baroque Influence

Although Schoenfeld primarily writes music that fuses folk, popular, klezmer, and jazz

elements, a few of his works also feature neo-Baroque elements. For example, his Quintet for

Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Violoncello (1970), written as one of the requirements of his

Doctor of Musical Arts degree,48 makes use of Baroque forms, such as chaconne and fugue, with

contrapuntal devices such as inversion and retrograde.49

Schoenfeld’s Peccadilloes (1997) for solo piano also contains neo-Baroque elements. In

the liner notes for his recording, James Tocco observes that the work “is a fascinating homage to

the Baroque suites of Bach and Handel….”50 Bach placed the Allemande as the first dance in his

French Suites, and Schoenfeld did the same with his Peccadilloes, even starting with the

characteristic upbeat of late Baroque allemandes.51 Furthermore, he titled the second movement

Fughetta, defined as “a short, less ambitious fugue”; “probably the first important use of this

word was J. S. Bach’s in the book 3 of Clavier-Übung written for organ in 1739.”52

3.2 A Brief History of Klezmer and Its Influence on Schoenfeld’s Works

The term Klezmer originated in two Yiddish words: kley (vessels, instruments) and zemer

48 Kim, “Refractory,” 9. 49 Paul Emerson Schoenfeld, “Quintet for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Violoncello” (DMA document, University of Arizona, 1970). 50 James Tocco, liner notes to Schoenfield, Peccadilloes, performed by Tocco (Naxos 8.559380, CD, 2010). 51 Anthony Newman, Bach and the Baroque (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1995), 223. 52 Grove Music Online, s.v. “Fughetta,” by Paul M. Walker; https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2147/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.10357; accessed 13 October 2019.

11

(song).53 This term was first used by the Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe, and later by

the Jewish immigrant communities in North America.54 It originally referred to the traveling

musicians of Eastern Europe, but later also to the musical genre and style of these musicians.55

Seth Rogovoy notes that “the Soviet-Jewish ethnomusicologist Moshe Beregovski, writing in the

1930s, is believed to have been one of the first to use the term klezmer in this matter, applying it

to the music played by the klezmorim.”56 However, this term did not receive much attention until

the late 1970s, when the American klezmer revival period began.57 Before then, musicians who

performed Jewish dance music called it “playing Jewish” or “playing bulgars,” one of the

popular Jewish dance genres.58 Composers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who were influenced

by klezmer include Ernest Bloch (1880–1959), Joseph Achron (1886–1943), George Gershwin

(1898–1937), Aaron Copland (1900–1990), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), and Leonard

Bernstein (1918–1990).59

The characteristics of klezmer music are modal scales and Hasidic vocal ornaments.

Instead of the major and minor scales of Western music, klezmer uses distinctive Jewish prayer

modes. Furthermore, although klezmer is based on secular instrumental music, it is originally

derived from Hasidic devotional vocal music.60 Sophie Solomon explains that for authentic

53 Sophie Solomon, “Masterclass, Klezmer Violin Techniques,” The Strad 118, no. 1401 (January 2007): 62. 54 Joel Edward Rubin, “The Art of the Klezmer: Improvisation and Ornamentation in the Commercial Recordings of New York Clarinetists Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras, 1922–1929” (DMA document, The City University, London, 2001), 20. 55 Seth Rogovoy, The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover’s Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2000), 8. 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 59 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 30.; Marcus, “Klezmer Elements,” 4. 60 Solomon, “Masterclass,” 62.

12

klezmer performance, instrumentalists should emulate the vocal styles of cantorial chanting and

Yiddish song with ornamentation.61 These ornaments include trills, turns, mordents, portamento,

harmonics, and pitch-bends. Schoenfeld incorporates all these characteristics in many of his

compositions. He said of himself, “I’m an American Jew. Out of this fact comes my music.”62

His Klezmer Rondos was written in 1989 for flute with a small accompanying ensemble, then

revised in 1994 for flute, baritone, and symphony orchestra, premiered by the New York

Philharmonic Orchestra.63 According to the liner notes by Neil W. Levin, this work features “a

contemporary incarnation of an eastern European klezmer band, with some historically

emblematic instruments along with other, atypical ones.”64 Schoenfeld’s Trio for Clarinet,

Violin, and Piano (1990), which contains Eastern European Jewish folk melodies of the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is intended to be performed at both concert halls and Hasidic

gatherings.65 His Tales from Chełm (1991), written for a narrator and string quartet, is a

programmatic work that portrays comical incidents and scenes of the Jews living in the Polish

city of Chełm.66 His Sparks of Glory (1995), commissioned by the Tilles family of Minnesota to

commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, is based on a story of Holocaust

survivors.67 Furthermore, his Viola Concerto (1997–98) was composed when he lived in Israel

and there was a kindergarten underneath his studio. This work is based on the Hasidic liturgical

61 Solomon, “Masterclass,” 62. 62 Pattin, “Paul Schoenfield,” 8. 63 Neil W. Levin, liner notes to Schoenfield, Klezmer Rondos, performed by Scott Goff, Alberto Mizrahi, Gerard Schwarz, and the Seattle Symphony (Naxos 8.559403, CD, 2004). 64 Ibid. 65 Pattin, “Paul Schoenfield,” 22 66 Neil W. Levin, liner notes to Schoenfield, Tales from Chelm, performed by the Ciompi String Quartet, (Milken Archive Digital MAV 1006, 2011), https://www.milkenarchive.org/music/volumes/view/intimate-voices/work/tales-from-chelm/ 67 Pasbrig, “Paul Schoenfield,” iv.

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tunes he heard those children singing in the classroom and outside his home.68 His The Merchant

and the Pauper (1999) is a two-act opera, the libretto of which is based on a story told by one of

the important figures of the Hasidic history, Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (1772–1811), in 1809.69

Schoenfeld’s other Klezmer-influenced compositions include Achat Sha’alti (2001), Ufaratsta

(2001), Six Improvisations on Hassidic Melodies (2003), Channah (2006), Six Hassidic Songs

(2007), and Ghetto Songs (2008).70

68 Neil W. Levin, liner notes to Schoenfield, Viola Concerto, performed by Robert Vernon, Yoel Levi, and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Naxos 8.559418, CD, 2004). 69 Ibid. 70 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 42.

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CHAPTER 4

SCHOENFELD’S PARTITA FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO (2002)

4.1 Background of Partita for Violin and Piano

Schoenfeld’s Partita was premiered by the violinist Young-Nam Kim, a violin professor

at the University of Minnesota, and the composer himself playing the piano at a Chamber Music

Society of Minnesota concert in St. Paul in 2002.71 In the liner notes for this work, Schoenfeld

explains: “Having grown up in Detroit, I have fond memories of my earliest chamber music

partners there, many of whom were violinists. The work is reminiscent of these musicians, and

expresses the deep gratitude and affection I’ve had for them over the years.”72

4.2 Comparative Analysis of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Compositions and Schoenfeld’s Partita for Violin and Piano

Although Schoenfeld did not directly quote Bach’s compositions in the Partita, he

adopted Bach’s compositional style in distinctive ways. This section compares each movement

of Schoenfeld’s Partita with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier-Übung I, BWV 825–830, and Sei

Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, BWV 1001–1006, primarily in terms of forms,

imitative passages, rhythms, and other stylistic features.

Whereas Bach follows the standard order of Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue

and uses the same key in all movements in his Partitas and Suites, Schoenfeld does not follow

that order and uses different keys in each movement of his Partita. However, just as Bach wrote

71 Steven Ledbetter, program notes to Schoenfield, Partita, performed by Elisabeth Adkins and Lisa Emenheiser, http://21stcenturyconsort.org/media/programs/tcc2004_04-17-04_Concert_Program.pdf 72 Schoenfeld, liner notes.

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seven movements in five of his six Keyboard Partitas,73 Schoenfeld uses the same number in his

Partita (see Table 1).

Table 1. Comparison of Partita structure: J. S. Bach and Paul Schoenfeld

Movement Typical order of Bach’s Keyboard Partita, BWV 825–830

Schoenfeld’s Partita for Violin and Piano

1 Free form Overture

2 Allemande Minuet

3 Courante Rondeau

4 Sarabande Prelude

5 Free form Fughetta

6 Free form Nigun

7 Gigue Sinfonia

4.2.1 Overture

Schoenfeld’s Partita begins with an Overture resembling the French overture of the

Baroque era, a popular type of movement used in orchestral suites, keyboard music, and opera

overtures. Bach used it in many of his compositions; for example, the first movement of the

Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D major, BWV 828. Bach begins this movement with dotted

rhythms in slow tempo in duple meter, as commonly used in other French overtures74 (see Ex. 1),

depicting the “majestic, heroic, festive, and pompous.”75 Schoenfeld also uses these stylistic

features at the beginning of his Overture movement; the majestic dotted rhythm first appears in

the violin part followed by the piano (see Ex. 2).

73 George Buelow, A History of Baroque Music (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), 516. 74 Grove Music Online, s.v., “French Overture,” by George Gow Waterman; https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2147/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.10210; accessed 16 October 2019. 75 Ibid.

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Example 1: J. S. Bach, Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D major, BWV 828, Overture, mm. 1–5

Example 2: Paul Schoenfeld, Partita for Violin and Piano, Overture, mm. 1–8

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In the second section of his Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D major, Bach uses a

contrasting fugal style, also typical of the French Overture in the Baroque era.76 Generally, this

fugal section is in triple meter77 and has a faster tempo than the first section.78 Schoenfeld, too,

uses triple meter and a faster tempo in the fugal section (see Ex. 3).

Example 3: Schoenfeld, Partita, Overture, fugal section, mm. 29–35

The fugal section of Schoenfeld’s Overture is reminiscent of the Fugue in Bach’s Violin

Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001. In a typical fugue, the fugal answer is transposed up a fifth

or down a fourth.79 In this Fugue, however, Bach did something unusual with the answer: he

76 Waterman, “French Overture.” 77 Newman, Bach and the Baroque, 119. 78 Waterman, “French Overture.” 79 Grove Music Online, s. v., “Fugue,” by Paul M. Walker; https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2147/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.51678; accessed 15 October 2019

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transposed it down a fifth to C minor (see Ex. 4). Like Bach, Schoenfeld transposes the answer

down a fifth to C minor from G minor (see Ex. 3 above).

Example 4: Bach, Sonata for Violin No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001, Fugue, mm. 1–3

4.2.2 Minuet

Schoenfeld uses the Baroque dance form Minuet in the second movement. The Minuet,

considered the most famous French dance, was introduced to the French court in the 1660s.80

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687), a central figure of this dance, included no fewer than ninety-

two minuets in his theatrical works.81 During the eighteenth century, composers such as George

Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach commonly used the Minuet as an optional movement

in their suites and partitas,82 between the Sarabande and the Gigue.83 In addition, this dance was

so popular that it was the only Baroque dance form that continued to be found in the movements

of Classical symphonies and sonatas.84 In 1752, Jean Lecointe in his book on dance stated: “I

know nothing in the whole art of dancing more noble, more expressive, nor more elegant, than

the Minuet…. The Minuet is in fashion everywhere: They dance it both at court and in the city: it

80 Meredith Little and Natalie Jenne, Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach, expanded ed. (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001), 62. 81 Ibid. 82 Dione Napier, “A Study of J. S. Bach’s Sacred and Secular Vocal Works Influenced by Popular Stylized Dance of the French Baroque Court: A Performer’s Guide” (DMA document, University of Kentucky, 2014), 44. 83 Little and Jenne, Dance, 65. 84 Ibid., 62.

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is used all over Europe.”85 The time signature for the Minuet is 3/4. Bach composed 28

movements entitled Minuet, most of them bipartite: two Minuets to be performed in succession,

with a return of the first Minuet after the second.86 The two Minuets are contrasting in style,

texture, instrumentation, and key.87 Schoenfeld also uses triple meter and adopts two contrasting

ideas followed by a return of first (see Table 2).

Table 2. Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, structure

A B Aʹ

mm. 1–52 mm. 53–109 mm. 110–36

Little and Jenne describe how the melodies of the Minuet “normally have a narrow range

of pitch and tend to move stepwise rather than in large intervallic leaps.”88 This feature can be

seen in the Minuet movement in Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 (see Ex.

5). Schoenfeld also employs these characteristics at the beginning of the movement, with a small

range of intervals moving in stepwise, but breaks away from this convention by moving in leaps

from m. 5 in the violin part (see Ex. 6).

Example 5: Bach, Partita for Violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006, Minuet I, mm. 1–6

85 Quoted in ibid., 63. 86 Little and Jenne, Dance, 73. 87 Ibid. 88 Ibid., 70.

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Example 6: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 1–9

During the Baroque period, one of the main characteristics of dance music in triple meter

was frequent hemiola,89 in which the music briefly changes from groups of two to groups of

three (or vice versa). This characteristic can be seen in the Minuet in Bach’s Partita for

Keyboard No. 4 in D major (see Ex. 7). Similarly, Schoenfeld incorporates hemiola by adding a

tie over the barline in m. 73 of the piano part, thus shifting from triple to duple meter (see Ex. 8).

89 David Grimes, Treasures of the Baroque: A Collection of Music from Baroque Guitar and Lute Tablatures Volume 3 (Pacific, MO: Mel Bay, 2015), IX.

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Example 7: Bach, Partita for Keyboard No. 4 in D Major, Minuet, mm. 13-21

Example 8: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 71–76

4.2.3 Rondeau

The third movement, Rondeau, was considered one of the optional movements in Bach’s

partitas. Burkholder, Grout, and Palisca describe how “the rondeau uses the sequence of the

refrains and contrasting couplets proceeding in a predictable manner such as A B A C A D,

etc.”90 Bach used this term together with a specific dance for pieces composed around 1720, such

as Gavotte en rondeau (BWV 1006) and Passepied en rondeau (BWV 810).91 However, he

90 Burkholder, Grout, and Palisca, A History of Western Music, 372. 91 Richard D. P. Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 2: 1717–1750 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 240.

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reverted to the plain term Rondeau in his later pieces, such as Partita in C minor, BWV 826, and

Ouverture in B minor, BWV 1067,92 as Schoenfeld did in this movement. Wang describes an

unusual feature in the Rondeau in Bach’s Keyboard Partita in C minor: “varying and developing

the refrain on a different rhythmic pattern for the last two of its recurrences, which are like

variations of the original refrain.”93 Similarly, the recurring refrains in Schoenfeld’s Rondeau are

also altered. For example, the movement starts with the piano having the melody while the violin

remains silent for two measures (see Ex. 9).

Example 9: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 1–2

The next refrain is developed by giving the melody to the violin part an octave higher.

Moreover, the piano part has a new idea, with the left hand moving in sixths and rolled quarter-

note chords (see Ex. 10). The last refrain also has the melody in the violin part, and now the

rolled chords of the left-hand piano have moved to the right hand. In addition, the piano part has

a homophonic texture, supporting the melody with chords (see Ex. 11).

92 Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, 240. 93 Xiaoyan Wang, “An Analysis of Bach’s Partita No. 2, Haydn’s Fantasia in C major, and Schumann’s Carnival” (DMA document, University of Alabama, 2015), 8.

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Example 10: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 52–54

Example 11: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 90–93

One common compositional feature of Baroque music was imitative writing. In this

movement, Schoenfeld incorporates imitative passages in various ways. For instance, the violin

melody in m. 53 is repeated by the right hand of the piano with the same rhythmic pattern from

beat 2 (see Ex. 10 above). There is also an imitative passage in fragments. In Ex. 12, the violin

part starts with an ascending pattern in the melody, imitated by the right hand of the piano after

only one beat, like a stretto.

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Example 12: Schoenfeld, Partita, Rondeau, mm. 6–7

4.2.4 Prelude

Whereas Prelude is the title of a first movement of Bach’s compositions, Schoenfeld

placed it fourth. Nevertheless, this movement closely resembles the Prelude in Bach’s Partita for

Violin No. 3 in E major. Jimin Ham describes how Bach’s Prelude has “consistent sixteenth

notes, derived mainly from broken chords, ascending and descending nimbly,”94 and Schoenfeld

uses similar features throughout the movement. At the beginning of the movement, Bach and the

violin part in Schoenfeld’s Prelude have a similar melodic contour with broken chords (see Exx.

13 and 14).

Example 13: Bach, Partita for Violin No. 3, Prelude, mm. 1–2

94 Jimin Ham, “A Comparative Analysis of J. S. Bach’s Three Partitas for Solo Violin” (DMA document, University of Cincinnati, 2003), 61.

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Example 14: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 1–4, violin part

In the Prelude in Bach’s Violin Partita No. 3, there are consecutive string-crossings

throughout. In Exx. 15 and 16, although Bach’s Prelude uses three strings and Schoenfeld’s

Prelude uses two, their melodic ideas move in a similar pattern, with descending motion of the

low note and high note alternately. The red circles indicate the upper notes; the blue circles, the

lower notes.

Example 15: Bach, Partita for Violin No. 3, Prelude, mm. 19–30

Example 16: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 51–61

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Schoenfeld further develops this technique by incorporating double stops (see Ex. 17).

Example 17: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 67–77

Although metrical dissonance has long been used by Western composers, only recently

has there been significant research on the subject by music scholars.95 Harald Krebs, a central

figure in metrical dissonance, developed a theory as “a strong tool for identifying the irregular

rhythmic structures which can be found underneath a given musical metre.”96 Ulrik Skat

Sorensen observes that “these rhythmic structures are created by interactions between various

rhythmic layers, which Krebs refers to as ‘layers of motion.’”97 Krebs explains there are different

types of layers: the pulse layer is “the most quickly moving pervasive series of pulses”98, the

interpretive layer is a “series of regularly recurring pulses that move slower than the pulse

layer,” and these layers are produced by durational, dynamic, density, registral, and harmonic

95 Jennifer Rae Shirley, “A Taxonomy of the Effects and Affects of Surface-Level Metric Dissonance” (Master’s thesis, Louisiana State University, 2007), 1. 96 Ulrik Skat Sorensen, “Metrical Dissonance in the Works of Carl Nielsen: A Metrical Analysis of ‘Sinfonia Espansiva,’ First Movement,” Carl Nielsen Studies 5 (October 2012): 328. 97 Ibid. 98 Harald Krebs, Fantasy Pieces (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 23.

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accents.99 When these interpretive layers do not align, metrical dissonance is produced.100

Furthermore, there are two types of metrical dissonance: grouping dissonance and displacement

dissonance.101 Grouping dissonance results when the interpretive layers have different pulse

units; for example a group of two against three.102 Displacement dissonance occurs when the

interpretative layers have the same pulse units, but they are not aligned.103

Example 18: Bach, Suite for Keyboard No. 2, Courante, mm. 46–49, grouping dissonance, after Krebs (1999). Fig. 3.7104

Bach incorporates both grouping dissonance and displacement dissonance in his

compositions, especially the Suites and Partitas.105 Krebs describes many examples of grouping

dissonance in particular in Bach’s dances in triple meter.106 For instance, in the Courante of

Bach’s Suite for Keyboard No. 2, the pulse layer is eighth notes (see Ex. 18). The left hand has

an interpretive layer of four eighth-note pulses, because there is a recurring pattern of registral

99 Krebs, Fantasy Pieces, 23. 100 Ibid., 31. 101 Ibid. 102 Sorensen, “Metrical Dissonance,” 331. 103 Ibid. 104 Ibid. 105 Krebs, Fantasy Pieces, 71. 106 Ibid.

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accents on every four eighth notes. The right hand articulates a sequential pattern (or accents) of

three eighth-note pulses, creating a grouping dissonance of 4/3, notated “G 4/3.”

Schoenfeld uses a similar approach in his Prelude movement. For example, this

movement has a pulse layer of eighth notes, articulated by a recurring harmonic pattern of two

eighth-note pulses in the left-hand piano, while the violin has an articulation of recurring

groupings of three eighth notes. Overall, this creates G 3/2 (see Ex. 19).

Example 19: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 9–10, grouping dissonance

As already mentioned, a displacement dissonance occurs while the interpretative layers

have the same pulse units, displaced from one another. Examples of displacement dissonance can

be found in many of Bach’s Sarabandes.107 Schoenfeld employs the same idea, as shown in Ex.

20. In mm. 19–22, both the violin and piano parts have interpretive layers of four eighth-note

pulses. The recurring pattern of accents on every third note in the left hand of the piano is

displaced with the down beats of a sequential pattern in the violin by two beats. These non-

alignment layers between the left hand and the violin part create a displacement dissonance of

D4+2, in which 4 refers to 4 eighth-note pulses and 2 signifies how many pulse layers are

107 Krebs, Fantasy Pieces, 71.

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displaced. Another recurring pattern of sforzando on every fourth note in the left-hand piano and

violin parts create a displacement dissonance of D4+3.

Example 20: Schoenfeld, Partita, Prelude, mm. 18–22, displacement dissonance

4.2.5 Fughetta

Whereas Bach’s Fughettas are short in duration, Schoenfeld’s Fughetta is longer, bearing

greater resemblance to Bach’s Fugues. During the Baroque era, fugue occupied “a highly

honored position among compositional genres.”108 Since Bach did not entitle any movements in

his Partitas “fugue,” Schoenfeld’s movement will be compared with the fugues in the Well-

Tempered Clavier, Book II. There, in the expositions of every fugue, the answer to the subject

often comes right after or with the last note of the subject, although there are a few instances

where Bach composes a link between subject and answer. This latter situation can be seen in

Bach’s Fugue 15 in G major from WTC II, where the answer in the alto part of m. 8 is separated

by the subject in the soprano by two measures with a link between them (see Ex. 21). Similarly,

Schoenfeld separates the answer from the subject by adding a link on the third beat of m. 4

through m. 5 (see Ex. 22).

108 Joel Lester, Bach’s Works for Solo Violin (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 56.

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Example 21: Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier II, Fugue 15 in G major, mm. 1–12

Example 22: Schoenfeld, Partita, Fughetta, mm. 1–9

4.2.6 Nigun

Schoenfeld called the sixth movement Nigun (nigunim in the plural)109 and it is the only

109 Nigun is central to the Hasidic Judaism worship, being sung to uplift people’s spirits closer to God.

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movement that features a solo violin. Nigun is a vocal genre of the Hasidic Jews.110 Although

this movement mainly employs the klezmer style, as will be explained in the next section, it also

briefly features a Baroque element. In m. 13, Schoenfeld incorporates the same notes and a

similar dotted rhythmic figure from the beginning of the Overture movement, which resembles a

French Overture (see Ex. 23). In Baroque rhythmic practice, dotted notes were often interpreted

as double dotted, as Schoenfeld does in this example.

Example 23: Schoenfeld, Partita, Nigun, m. 13

4.2.7 Sinfonia

The title Sinfonia was originally used to denote an introductory instrumental movement

of an opera or operatic scene.111 However, during the middle of the seventeenth century, the term

started to be used for the introductory movement of an orchestral suite.112 Bach employed this

title in the first movement of Keyboard Partita No. 2 in C minor, dividing the movement into

three sections with tempo markings Grave Adagio—Andante—Allegro. In contrast with Bach and

other operatic and orchestral sinfonias, Schoenfeld used this title not as an introductory

movement, but rather in the last movement. Although he does not divide this movement into

three separate sections, he incorporates a similar style to the Allegro section of Bach’s Keyboard

110 Joshua S. Walden, “An Essential Expression of the People: Interpretations of Hasidic Song in the Composition and Performance History of Ernest Bloch’s Baal Shem,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 65, no. 3 (fall 2012): 789 111 Michael Eric Hicks, “A Historical Perspective on Unity in the Keyboard Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach” (DMA Document, University of Texas at Austin, 1993), 185. 112 Ibid.

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Partita No. 2. For instance, he adopts the fugal style with rhythmic patterns that consist mostly of

sixteenth and eighth notes (see Ex. 24 and 25).

Example 24: Bach, Partita for Keyboard No. 2 in C minor, Sinfonia, mm. 29–35, Allegro section

Example 25: Schoenfeld, Partita, Sinfonia, mm. 1–9

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Geraldine Luethi describes how the Sinfonia in Bach’s Keyboard Partita No. 2 “is a

dramatic melding of contrasting elements, as the components seem to build on one another,

increasing in speed and complexity to an intense ending.”113 This “intense ending” is a dramatic

dotted chordal figure at the end, after the two-voice counterpoint. Although Schoenfeld does not

adopt this characteristic, he keeps this intense feeling by marking piu mosso and includes double

stops and octaves in the violin part towards the end of the section.

4.3 Detailed Analysis of Klezmer Style in Schoenfeld’s Partita for Violin and Piano

Like many of Schoenfeld’s other compositions, his Partita contains a variety of klezmer

characteristics, such as modal scales and Hasidic vocal ornamentation. This section discusses

these klezmer elements in detail, then explores how he incorporates them in his Partita.

4.3.1 Modal Scales

There are four types of modal scales that make the sound “klezmer.” The Ahava Raba

(Hebrew for “a great love”) is an altered Phrygian mode, with a raised third degree of the scale

(see Ex. 26).114 This creates an augmented second between scale degrees 2 and 3. Sometimes the

penultimate note of the scale can be raised, too, creating an additional augmented second.115

Example 26: Ahava Raba (altered D Phrygian mode)

113 Geraldine Luethi, J. S. Bach Solo Piano Literature: A Comprehensive Guide, ed. Carolyn Maxwell (Boulder, CO: Maxwell Music Evaluation, 1989), 273. 114 Yale Strom, The Book of Klezmer: The History, the Music, the Folklore (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2002), 122. 115 Ibid.

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The Mogen-Avos (Hebrew for “guardian of our father”) modal scale is equivalent to the

Aeolian mode, also known as the natural minor scale (see Example 27). 116 Sometimes the sixth

and seventh scale degrees are raised when ascending, similar to a melodic minor scale.117

Example 27: Mogen-Avos (D Aeolian mode)

The Mishebeyrakh (Hebrew for “He who blesses”) or sometimes Ov Horakhamim

(“Father of mercy”) modal scale is an altered Dorian, in which the fourth degree of the Dorian

mode is raised (see Ex. 28).118 Moshe Beregovski describes how “the altered Dorian has a minor

triad as its tonic chord: the fourth degree above the tonic is raised, the sixth is major, and the

seventh is minor.”119

Example 28: Mishebeyrakh (altered D Dorian mode)

The Adonoy Molekh (Hebrew for “the Lord is king”) modal scale is equivalent to the

Mixolydian mode (see Ex. 29).120 The seventh scale degree can be raised when the notes are

ascending.121

116 Yale Strom, Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), 95. 117 Ibid. 118 Ibid., 96. 119 Jewish Instrumental Folk Music: The Collections and Writings of Moshe Beregovski (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2001), 16–17. 120 Strom, Shpil, 96. 121 Ibid.

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Example 29: Adonoy Molekh (D Mixolydian mode)

In the Partita, Schoenfeld employs both Mishebeyrakh and Ahava Raba modal scales in

many places. For example, from the last beat of m. 53, the Minuet movement has an altered B

Dorian modal scale, in which scale degree of 4 is raised (E#).

Example 30: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 51–60

Another instance of the Mishebeyrakh modal scale can be found from m. 96 of the same

movement. This time, the same melody of the violin from Ex. 30 is transposed down a half step,

creating an altered Bb Dorian modal scale (see Ex. 31).

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Example 31: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 96–99

In his Rondeau movement, Schoenfeld employs Ahava Raba, or altered D Phrygian

mode, by raising the third scale degree (F#) in the violin and the right-hand piano, while the left

hand has ascending and descending chromatic movements (see Ex. 12 above).

4.3.2 Hasidic Vocal Ornamentation

Hasidism, founded by the rabbi Ba’al Shem Tov (1698–1760), is a religious subgroup of

Judaism that began in Ukraine.122 Its purpose was to worship God through singing and dancing

with joy and happiness.123 In the Partita, Schoenfeld also employs the Hasidic vocal genre with

ornamentation, as created by cantors chanting,124 and evoking the emotions and reactions of the

human voice, such as sobbing, whining, and laughing.125 Whereas Schoenfeld entitled other

movements based on Bach’s partitas, for his sixth movement he used the term Nigun, a vocal

genre of Hasidic Jews, as mentioned in the previous sub-chapter. Instead of using words, the

122 Dylan Mikhail Lloyd, “A Classical Clarinetists Guide to Klezmer Music” (DMA document, Ohio State University, 2017), 24. 123 Patricia Crispino, “Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for Klezmer Clarinet and String Quartet, Including an Introduction to Klezmer for Performance” (DMA document, Florida State University, 2015), 17. 124 Kaplan, “Tradition Revisited,” 39. 125 Marcus, “Klezmer Elements,” 15.

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singers use vocal sounds such as bai buh-bai, dai duh-dai, and lai luh-lai,126 believing that in

singing the melody is more important than the words.127 Nigun is important in Hasidic Judaism

worship128; Michael Anklewicz notes that it is sung by the Jews “in order to elevate their spirits

closer to God.”129

Schoenfeld’s movement is written for solo violin, relating to the monophonic nature of

traditional Nigun.130 The melodic line resembles the declamatory chanting of the cantor, and the

repeated notes at m. 6 are reminiscent of a speech-like recitative, as how “one note would be

broken into rhythmic repeated notes to cover a phrase” (see Ex. 31).131

Example 32: Schoenfeld, Partita, Nigun, mm. 1–7

Strom’s Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer lists nine ornaments that are vital to all

klezmer music (see Table 3). Schoenfeld incorporates some of these ornaments in the Partita, so

the author will observe how he made use of them, drawing on Strom’s description.

126 Joshua Parshall, “Contemporary Klezmer: Music, Identity, and Meaning” (DMA document, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009), 80. 127 Walden, “Essential Expression,” 791. 128 Crispino, “Osvaldo Golijov’s,” 18. 129 Michael Anklewicz, “Musical Hybridities and the Klezmer Revival” (DMA document, York University, Ontario, Canada, 2013), 49. 130 Edwin Seroussi, “Shamil: Concept, Practice and Reception of a Nigun in Habad Hasidism,” Studia Judaica 20, no. 2 (40) (2017): 287 131 Marcus, “Klezmer Elements,” 25.

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Table 3: Nine ornaments in Klezmer music listed in Yale Strom, Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer132

Glitshn (Yiddish: slippery, sliding areas)

Portamenti. Occasionally the slides are executed from the high note to the lower note. The portamento along with the krekhtsn is used more than any other klezmer ornamentation.

Krekhtsn (Yiddish: groans, moans)

Moaning, achy long notes, used usually by the violinist and clarinetist to evoke a momentary pulsating choked sob. This “hiccup” in the throat imitates the cantor’s Ashkenazic singing style that was so prevalent prior to the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.

Kneyshn (Yiddish: fold, wrinkle, crease, crumple)

Short notes with the achiness of the krekhtsn, but sometimes they are swallowed sharply as if squeezing the tip of the sound.

Tshoks (Yiddish: lavishness, splendor, bluff, swagger)

“Bent notes” with a laugh-like sound, more cackle than giggle. Dave Tarras sometimes called this ornament a kvetsh (Yiddish for “press, squeeze, pinch”).

Flageolet (French: a type of small duct flute)

Harmonics; create rapid whistling sounds evoking an ethereal quality.

Mordent A group of two or more grace notes played rapidly before the principal note; The mordent consists of the principal note itself and the note above or below.

Turn A group of rapid notes connecting one principal note with another, sometimes used to terminate a trill.

Trill or Trillbrato (a term coined by Strom) Combination of quick trill and vibrato; creates a quivering sound.

Ponticello Produces a thin, squeaky, ethereal sound.

In Nigun, Schoenfeld did not notate any ornamentation besides mordents. Perhaps

because this genre is traditionally a melodic improvisation,133 he gave an opportunity for the

performer to embellish the melody freely. Although it is not notated in the music, in his

recording William Terwilliger plays glitshn in wide upward leaps and especially augmented

seconds vital in klezmer music on both low-to-high and high-to-low notes. Violinists should take

note that when sliding these notes, the finger should move rapidly so the middle notes are not

heard.134

132 Strom, Shpil, 100–1. 133 Crispino, “Golijov,” 18. 134 Strom, Shpil, 100.

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Dylan Lloyd explains that in klezmer music, performers should “create variety within the

melody on any and all repeats.”135 In the Nigun movement, there is a repeat after m. 6. To create

variety, the author suggests incorporating krekhtsn on the last notes of mm. 1 and 3 on the repeat,

to evoke the cantor’s singing style. In order to play this ornament, violinists should play the

initial note, then flick the higher note while pulling down the bow quickly and stopping the bow

at the tip.136 The following note should be played with the opposite bow stroke (see Ex. 33).

Example 33: Schoenfeld, Partita, Nigun, last notes of mm. 1 and 3; left, the original note; right, suggested krekhtsn as notated

becomes

becomes

Along with featuring the Mishebeyrakh modal scale, as explained above, Schoenfeld

employs ornamentations such as trills and mordents to sound klezmerdic in the Minuet

movement (see Ex. 30 above). Strom explains that these trills should be played with a fast and

tight vibrato to produce a quivering sound.137 In addition, he describes how trills should begin

with the upper auxiliary note.138 For example, in m. 57, the trill of the second note in the violin

part should start with the A instead of the G#.

135 Lloyd, “A Classical Clarinetists,” 38. 136 Strom, Shpil, 100. 137 Ibid., 101. 138 Ibid.

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Schoenfeld also employs Flageolet in the Minuet movement. In mm. 89–92, the violin

part has harmonics in triplets while the piano part is moving in octaves and chords (see Ex. 34).

He marks “(sic)” above the A of the violin part in m. 91 to denote that playing this note with a

harmonic is an error. Rather, it should be played as an open A string followed by harmonic D.

Violinists should play towards the bridge to create the ethereal sound.

Example 34: Schoenfeld, Partita, Minuet, mm. 86–95

4.4 Conclusion

Among post-modern composers, Schoenfeld is primarily known as a composer who

eclectically combines folk, popular music, klezmer, and jazz in many of his compositions.

However, he tried something different with the Partita for Violin and Piano by working in

elements of neo-Baroque and Hasidic styles.

Although Schoenfeld did not quote any works from J. S. Bach directly in the Partita, he

incorporated general Baroque musical compositional techniques such as forms, imitative

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counterpoint, rhythms, and other stylistic features mainly from Bach’s Clavier-Übung I, BWV

825–830, and Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, BWV 1001–1006. In addition, he

uses the traditional seven movements; and although he did not follow the same order and keys,

all the titled movements are based on Bach’s Partitas, except for the Nigun movement. Even in

this movement, he did not forget to briefly add a neo-Baroque element, a snippet of the French

overture.

In his Nigun and Minuet movements, Schoenfeld employed klezmer idioms, as in many

other compositions: “I wrote my most pieces with klezmer style.”139 He skillfully incorporates

modal scales and Hasidic vocal ornaments of the klezmer tradition.

The combination of Neo-Baroque and klezmer styles makes the Partita unique and

exuberant. The author hopes that this research encourages violinists to explore this music and has

provided them with information to gain a deeper understanding of how to perform the piece.

139 Kim, “Refractory,” 73.

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