Journal Article

The Loosening of Closure

BAKULINA, ELLEN

2020

Overview

This article contributes to the study of late Romantic form by exploring Sergei Rachmaninoff’s songs with a focus on their final cadences. Building on William Caplin’s work—namely, his theory of the Classical cadence and the idea of tight-knit versus loose-knit structures—I examine an apparent ambiguity or even lack of cadential articulation in many of the songs. When viewed against a set of established tonal conventions, specific ways in which Rachmaninoff destabilizes his cadences include: (1) a final (work-concluding) imperfect authentic cadence (IAC) that replaces the more standard perfect authentic cadence (PAC); (2) the disguised cadence, in which a traditional cadential progression (such as V–I) recedes to a middleground harmonic level; and (3) the fluid cadence, in which a recognizable cadential progression has ambiguous closural function. Along the way, I adapt the theory of formal functions to the late Romantic tonal style of Rachmaninoff and introduce the concept of functional completeness and incompleteness, correlative with Caplin’s distinction between tight-knit and loose formal organization respectively.

• Publisher: Music Theory Society of New York State
• Subject: Classical music / Music theory / Musical criticism / Rachmaninoff, Sergei Vasilievich (1873-1943)