Humor as a Concept in Music: A theoretical study of expression in music, the concept of humor and humor in music with an analytical example - W.A. ... Des Instituts Fur Musikanalytik Wien, Bd. 2)

Laurie-Jeanne Lister explores the concept of humor in music from both a philosophical and musical perspective. Part One studies the expressive possibilities of music, the concept of humor from etymological and psychological viewpoints, and humor in music with emphasis on the 18th-century aesthetic view of humor in art. Part Two presents two different analyses of W.A. Mozart's Ein musikalischer Spaß KV 522. The first, a chronological look at the first movement, shows the creative process of the «fictitious composer» of the work. The second analysis studies Mozart's comical treatment of both compositional techniques and individual musical elements. Lister traces a striking parallel between Mozart's humoristic compositional style and his play with the German language in his letters (the Bäsle Briefen). Finally she discusses the extent to which the humor in Ein musikalischer Spaß would have been perceived in its time or could be recognized today.