File created 20 June 2009; last updated 28 February 2010.

Supplementary material for "Thematic Reading, Proto-backgrounds, and Transformations," Music Theory Spectrum 31/2 (fall 2009): 284-324.

(INTRODUCTION) The central construct of the article is the proto-background, or tonic-triad interval that is understood to precede the typical linear background of a Schenkerian or similar hierarchical analysis. Figures typically or potentially found in a background, including the Schenkerian urlinie, are understood to arise through (informal) transformations, or functions, applied to proto-backgrounds.

In the article, an analogy is made between "theme" in literary studies and "background" in linear analysis (or other hierarchical analytic models) for music. A further distinction, derived from Monroe Beardsley, is made between "theme" and "thesis."

(THEME AND THESIS) As generally understood in literary criticism and pedagogy, "theme" is a brief description of the central idea of a poem or story -- "what it is about" -- and "thesis" is the argument or opinion being forwarded.

(EXAMPLE TEXT) As an exercise in distinguishing between theme and thesis, consider this relatively self-contained passage from Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca:

Beatrice began whistling again, and she rubbed [the dog] Jasper's head with her foot. "I shouldn't have more to do with [Mrs. Danvers] than you can help," she said.
"No," I [the second Mrs. deWinter] said. "She runs the house very efficiently, there's no need for me to interfere."
"Oh, I don't suppose she'd mind that," said Beatrice. That was what [the husband] Maxim [DeWinter] had said, the evening before, and I thought it odd that they should both have the same opinlon. I should have imagined that interference was the one thing Mrs. Danvers did not want.
"I dare say she will get over it in time," said Beatrice, "but it may make things rather unpleasant for you at first. Of course she's insanely jealous. I was afraid she would be."
"Why?" I asked, looking up at her, "why should she be jealous? Maxim does not seem to be particularly fond of her."
"My dear child, it's not Maxim she's thinking of," said Beatrice, "I think she respects him and all that, but nothing more very much.
"No, you see,"-she paused, frowning a little, looking at me uncertainly-"she resents your being here at all, that's the trouble."
"Why?" I said, "why should she resent me?"
"I thought you knew," said Beatrice; "I thought Maxim would have told you. She simply adored Rebecca [the first Mrs. DeWinter]."
"Oh," I said. "Oh, I see."
We both went on patting and stroking Jasper, who, unaccustomed to such attention, rolled over on his back in ecstasy.

(THEME IN THIS PASSAGE) The story, in brief form, is "Beatrice and 'I' are having a conversation, during which Beatrice pets the dog Jasper. The conversation is about the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers; the two women consider aspects of Maxim's and 'I''s relationship to Mrs. Danvers; at the end Beatrice reveals that Mrs. Danvers 'adored Rebecca'. Both women pet the dog." Because story and plot coincide, this summary could double as a statement of theme, but a more typical theme statement is a condensed abstract, or: two women talk about domestic relationships. Or we might go a bit further and add something of the tone of the conversation: two women talk about puzzling domestic relationships. Another version would add the outcome of the conversation, which is still part of the "about": two women talk about puzzling domestic relationships, in the course of which a revelation is made. We cannot add "startling" as a qualifier for "revelation," because there is nothing in "I"'s response to suggest that she is unusually moved-she is (apparently) thoughtful, but not startled. In adding a word like "startled," we would be going outside the passage to rely on our knowledge of the larger context of the novel.

(THESIS IN THIS PASSAGE) The thesis is harder to contain within the passage, as we complete the statement, "The author wants us to believe that. . . ." Now, "author" of course is a fraught term, but we need not take a lengthy detour into questions of authorship, narration, and readers in order to come up with a workable thesis statement for the present purpose. Phrases like "the narration guides us to believe that . . ." or "the reader gathers cues to conclude that he or she should believe that . . ." are adequate substitutes, if necessary, but I will use the simpler form here. "The author wants us to believe that, even in the most comfortable domestic circumstances, extreme (and perhaps dangerous) emotions may lurk." Note that this is an abstraction: although it might describe the cumulative effect, there is nothing in the passage that explicitly states any of this. Consider "insanely jealous," for instance. It could mean what it literally says, and therefore be a direct expression of the thesis, but if so it seems oddly out of place-one more readily concludes that it is just a version of a common intensifying expression, such as "marvelous" or "too fabulous," as in "insanely great." In any case, whatever force "insanely" might have is progressively eviscerated; first, "insanely jealous" drops to merely "jealous," then to "resents," which sets up "I"'s final pair of mildly perplexed "Oh"s.

(REWRITING THE THESIS) Note further that we could rewrite this thesis in specifically ideological terms. The easiest is a feminist reading: "The author wants us to believe that, even in the most well-established and apparently benevolent patriarchal system, the disruptive power of lesbian relationships can be active." In this case, the thesis points us toward something else in the passage: the pairs that sit on opposite sides of the patriarchal divide (Beatrice and "I" versus Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca). This passage is poor in motifs (objects in the environment that acquire significance through recurrence); they are replaced in function by characters. We can consider Jasper-or, strictly, the petting of Jasper-as a motif (note the repetition strategically placed at formal nodes, beginning and end of the passage). The irony of Jasper's simple canine "ecstasy" in comparison with the women's more complex, subdued moods could easily be a critic's entry point for an analysis of this passage (as David Bordwell puts it, "the critic's rule of thumb [is] that referential anomalies furnish good cues for implicit meaning" (Making Meaning 12)).

(NOTE ON MUSICAL THEME) It is important to recognize that "theme" here does not mean the main melody of a musical composition -- that usage is properly labelled a "motif" if we are using literary terms.

Another example: Go to Genre Clerk

All original material copyright David Neumeyer 2009.

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