Dr. Poundie Burstein Guest Lecture

 Dr. Poundie Burstein (CUNY Graduate Center) will give a talk entitled "Points and Resting Points" 

Abstract

The search for precise moments of formal ending and closure is a matter of chief concern within many recent explorations of musical form. Yet in several cases such precision arguably ill accords with listening and performing experience. In coming to grips with such instances, it could be helpful to consider ideas expressed by the music theorist Heinrich Christoph Koch (1749–1816). Koch treated formal endings in a manner that is refreshingly fluid, with a flexibility that is often overlooked in modern discussions. His attitudes in this regard not only nicely match practices of Galant music—the musical style that served as his primary focus—but also prompt reconsideration of certain modern music theoretic commonplaces.