A theory of musical semiotics / Eero Tarasti.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [313]-323) and index.

Contents Foreword / Thomas A. Sebeok Preface Acknowledgments Pt. 1 Theoretical Background I In Search of a Theory II Musical Time III Musical Space IV Musical Actors Pt. 2 Analyses V Semiosis of the Classical Style: Beethoven's "Waldstein" VI Narrativity in Chopin VII Music and Literature VIII Music and Visual Arts: Pictures and Promenades - A Peircean Excursion into the Semiosis of Musorgsky IX The Semiotics of Symphonism: A Deconstruction of National Meanings in Sibelius's Fourth Symphony X Toward the Modern Scene Conclusion Appendix: "Apres Un Reve" Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

Eero Tarasti advances a semiotic theory of music based on information provided by the history of Western music and by various sign theories. A Theory of Musical Semiotics is at the same time a study of music as a narrative art. It analyzes musical works through the theoretical frameworks of narratology and French structural semiotics, especially that of A. J. Greimas. Tarasti views other theories from the "classical" semiotic tradition, from Saussure to Peirce to Lotman, as possible foundations of musical semiotics. A Theory of Musical Semiotics provides a model for the semiotic analysis of both musical structure and semantics. It introduces the English-language reader to musical narratology, a field of inquiry that until recently has remained largely the province of European researchers.