Mai Abe Tim Burns TH202 2/5/2013 Schuberts Promissory Note: An Exercise in Musical Hermeneutics Summary/Analysis Edward T.

Cone begins his argument by introducing the history of music hermeneutics. He then broke that down into two different types of meaning: congeneric and extrageneric. He defines congeneric meaning as depend(ing) on purely musical relationships: of part to part within a compositionthat is all they are usually discussing-syntax, form, and style In his argument, he focuses on extrageneric meaning the supposed reference of a musical work to non-musical objects, events, moods, emotions, ideas, and so on. He claims that though there are generalized references to non-musical events (dirges, marches, dances), these are not enough. The importance of expression is that it reside(s) in its uniqueness to that composition, not in what the composition shares with a dozen others of the same genre. Cone claims that in order to understand or explain the extrageneric meaning of a piece; one can only explain it in terms of the congeneric. He begins by focusing on the opening two eight measure phrases. He is very particular about cadences, implied tonicizations, and tonalities. He focuses very much on the end of m. 12, because of the prominent E natural, which he calls a promissory note. In this piece, the isolation and emphasis work together to produce a strong promissory effect. He then goes on to describing and analyzing most of the rest of the piece,

focusing on how it is a three part song form in Ab major with a Trio in the subdominant, Db major. At the end of his essay he coins the phrase expressive potential in order to describe the possible extent and range of extrageneric meaning. He believes that the work dramatizes the injection of a strange, unsettling element into an otherwise peaceful situation. At first ignored or suppressed, that element persistently returns. It not only makes itself at home but even takes over the direction of events in order to reveal unsuspected possibilities. He also took it one step further and likened it to a model of the effect of vice on a sensitive personality. I believe Cones arguments to be very convincing. As he said at the end of his essay, Schubert suffered from syphilis. This piece could absolutely be a reaction to the realization that he will never be cured. Syphilis was a dreaded disease, especially because it was incurable, and in this piece, because of the strange tonalities and tonicizations that never went where they were supposed to, it does feel like a cold wind seems to blow through even some of his sunniest or most placid movements. I agree with Cone. Because of the tonal structure of the Moment musical, I can hear the embodied negative emotions that he may have been feeling while writing this piece.