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Oracolo
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It's more than once that I hear him use it and particularly also 10 minutes ago, while I was reading Carlos's intervention on Mozart's symphony
Maybe it is all clear to you, but:
- what does it consist of?
- is it typical of the sonata form... and that's it?
- If not, then where else can it be used?
I am not asking "how?" because without the previous answers ....I see it being difficult
Thank you
Member
I use this term because my teacher used it and it seems very fitting to me. In this case, speaking of the post you are referring to, the liquidation consists of just a few measures, four, from 201 to 204 (we are referring to the first movement of Mozart's Symphony K 201 in A major). To answer your questions, the liquidation is a compositional device used to exit the scene more clearly, but it does not actually change the structure of a phrase, nor does it actually have a formal role within the piece. In other words: it is not a coda. The coda, in the Allegro we are discussing, is from m. 185 to m. 205 and is distinguished by the use of thematic motifs, but also by a slightly more complex harmonic path compared to the liquidation, which in fact repeats the same identical material twice in four measures, with the sole purpose of "saying" in plain terms "if it wasn't understood, the first movement is over!".
Another example of liquidation (this one is truly prosaic, but extremely effective from a dramatic point of view) is the one at the end of Beethoven's 5th Symphony (m. 405-443, thirty-eight measures!!!). In that case too, the discourse is formally and harmonically concluded, and the liquidation does nothing more than exasperate, to truly push to the ultimate consequence that D major reached at the end of the Scherzo.
A characteristic of liquidations is that they can be removed without damaging the formal discourse (but the musical one, obviously, yes). Try it to believe it. Nor would I say they are typical of sonata form: instead, they are part of what I define as devices of "musical rhetoric" which, exactly like verbal rhetoric, do not have a place of honor when performing (grammatical) analysis, but have fundamental importance when one wants to give effectiveness to a discourse. I say it here and I confirm it here! (Typical example of liquidation: it adds nothing to the discourse, but reinforces what was previously said).
Moderator
the definition my theory professor gave me back then (I believe taken from the usual Schoenberg) is that liquidation is the set of musical stratagems aimed at eliminating the specific characteristics of the previous formal moment. In practice, if up to that point you have worked with a precise theme or rhythmic or harmonic configuration, to liquidate means to gradually eliminate those elements to allow for the arrival of others. Typical of liquidation are dominant pedals, harmonic slowing down, arpeggiated melodic figures, and repetitions.
Member
so I think you and I use the term with a different meaning (but I'm probably using it improperly...).
Member
Effectively the term liquidation evokes something that "is liquidated"... stripped of what it should have (at least referring to Italian).
A this point, that section of the symphony... what would it be called ... eheh ... coda?
Moderator
the coda is a moment, a formal division; liquidation is a process
... so, from page 60 of Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition
"Liquidation consists in the gradual elimination of certain characteristic elements
until only those non-characteristic ones remain that do not require further
continuation. Often, only remnants remain that have little in common with
the original motive. Combined with a cadence or a half-cadence, this process
can be used to adequately delimit a period"
... further on, it seems to me he speaks of harmonic compression rather than harmonic slowing ... anyway, he often says that liquidation consists in depriving motive-forms of their characteristics, making them neutral, transforming them into arpeggios, broken chords, scales etc.
Member
Ah, ok... then we're getting somewhere
thallo wrote:the coda is a moment, a formal division; liquidation is a process
... so, from page 60 of Schoenberg's Theory of Composition
"Liquidation consists in the gradual elimination of certain characteristic elements
until only those non-characteristic ones remain that do not require further
continuation. Often, only remnants remain that have little in common with
the original motive. Combined with a cadence or a half-cadence, this process
can be used to adequately delimit a period"
... further on, it seems to me he speaks of harmonic compression rather than harmonic slowing ... anyway, he often says that liquidation consists in depriving motive-forms of their characteristics, making them neutral, transforming them into arpeggios, broken chords, scales etc.
