Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
ORCID
N/A
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Music
Degree Type
Master of Music (M.M.)
Year Degree Awarded
2015
Month Degree Awarded
September
Abstract
Zoltán Kodály’s String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor is one of his earliest compositions. Kodály composed this as a tonal work, emulating the style used by nineteenth century composers. Kodály creates highly polyphonic textures and a complex harmonic language within the C minor tonality. Although this piece is considered tonal, Kodály deviates from the prototypical norms of tonal composition. As in most tonal music, harmonic progressions tend to support the overall tonal syntax. This includes chords, chord progressions, and key areas.
The goal of this thesis is to categorize harmonic progressions in the first movement of Kodály’s String Quartet. In order for harmonic progressions to take place at the level of the chord, harmonic function must be present. I will break down the function of each chord by using Daniel Harrison’s scale degree theory from his book Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music. Some harmonic progressions follow a prototypical model that was utilized in common practice music. There are also chords in harmonic progressions that have an altered function—yet are still considered harmonic—which I will call “quasi-harmonic.” Lastly, some progressions are purely linear, and therefore the function is discerned on the macro level.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/7524040
First Advisor
Stefan Caris Love
Second Advisor
Brent Auerbach
Third Advisor
Gary S Karpinski
Recommended Citation
Ross, Martin, "Discerning Harmonic Progressions in the First Movement of Zoltán Kodály's String Quartet No. 1, Op. 2 in C Minor (1910)" (2015). Masters Theses. 258.
https://doi.org/10.7275/7524040
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/258