Structuralism and Musical Plot

Abstract

An analytical method based on structuralist principles is developed for the exploration of an abstract and specifically musical form of dramatic organization, called musical plot, underlying works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The fundamental semantic units of musical plots are binary relationships akin to literary foils and functional sequences, standard patterns of interaction among musical units, usually themes and motives, cast in abstract dramatic roles. The first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, op. 57, is analyzed by this method as a drama of mental life in which an antagonistic force within the first theme undermines the interests of the work's persona.

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