Towards a Micro-Theory of Romantic Form in Viennese Music, 1815–28

Dr Anne Hyland has been awarded a grant from the University of Manchester–University of Toronto Research Fund to begin a collaborative research project with her colleague in Toronto, Prof. Steven Vande Moortele, which ultimately aims to explore the possibilities and limitations of a theory of sonata form that is structured as a network of geographically, chronologically and generically localised micro-theories.

Although sonata form is the most widely used and the most complex type of large-scale formal organisation in this repertoire, the methods currently available for its theoretical and analytical study remain problematic owing to their dependence on 18th-century models. To address this, the project will reconstruct a corpus of neglected music for the period, formulate an analytical model conditioned by the historical evidence and contextualise our analysis within contemporaneous systems of production and dissemination. The corpus of works will focus on Viennese chamber music by composers including Beethoven, Call, Fesca, Halm, Hänsel, Hirsch, Jansa, Krommer, Mayseder, Onslow, Romberg, Schubert and Spohr.