Because repetitions in music are over-generalized and under-analyzed, a framework is needed for analyzing transformations of repetitions which happen with an explicit change of context, including clear definitions for terms such as segment, criterion, instantiation, coincidence, realization, musical context, idea, and structural interpretation. This allows for a discussion of how repetitions are altered within a particular musical context, instead of simply noting that repetitions exist. Musical borrowings or quotations fulfill the setup conditions for recontextualization—repetition with an explicit change of context—but it is important that the context of these musical borrowings is actively transformed. In other words, quotations that are simply set down in a new context and are not “actively transplanted” are not recontextualized. The quotation of the opening of Tristan und Isolde in Berg’s Lyric Suite is an excellent example of a musical borrowing that is also recontextualized.

Works: Berg: Lyric Suite (64-65).

Sources: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (64).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Chelsea Hamm