The phenomenon of climax is central to our musical experience.* In no other repertoire is this more evident than that of the nineteenth century. When we hear a symphony by Bruckner or Mahler, a tone poem by Liszt or Richard Strauss, or even a song by Schumann or Wolf, our experience is shaped primarily by those focal points into which the various strands of the piece seem to coalesce and thereby make a strong emotional impact. Thus we speak of 'devastating climaxes', 'moving climaxes', 'terrible climaxes', 'anticlimaxes', and so on. Yet, among the large number of music-theoretical studies that have emerged in recent years, there are few attempts to incorporate this experience into the formulation of an analytical model.' This omission becomes especially apparent in analytical studies of those pieces whose internal dynamic is shaped fundamentally by such focal points or highpoints. Consider, for example, William Mitchell's well-known study of the Tristan Prelude (1967). Mitchell makes only brief and passing references to the various highpoints that shape the piece, indeed shape our experience of the very linear processes that he is primarily concerned with. In the end, he misses the most apparent and immediate overall gesture of the piece, namely the rise to a tensional high-point (b.83) followed by a graceful decline.
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