Analysing Musical Signification: A Hermeneutical, Rhetorical Approach to Western Art Music

This book presents a theoretical framework for hermeneutic musical analysis, enriched with numerous practical examples. Joan Grimalt’s latest work emphasises discursive and dramaturgical dimensions, grounded in hermeneutical principles. Building on his previous volume, Mapping Musical Signification (Springer, 2020), which explores different groupings of musical signs and references, this book adopts a praxis-oriented approach, addressing issues of interpretation in common-practice repertoire.

Structured in four chapters, the book opens with an overview of its theoretical foundations. Chapter One, Mapping Musical Representation, reviews musical hermeneutics and introduces a theory of music as represented discourse. Chapter Two extends topic analysis by proposing a new classification of musical topoi. Chapter Three, Mapping Musical Rhetoric, examines aspects such as prosody and the tone of the discourse. The final chapter, Mapping Musical Dramaturgy, investigates minimal dramaturgical units and offers a range of dramaturgical archetypes. An appendix provides a practical analytical model -outlined in five steps- as a methodological tool for hermeneutic analysis.

Grimalt’s most important contribution probably lies in the reconnection between analysis and performance, which had become disconnected in conservatories during the past century. This hermeneutical transformation can be historically explained by the recovery of the traditional concept of ＂music as discourse,＂ which was prevalent until approximately the world wars.

Joan Grimalt

Orchestra conductor (Vienna University), linguist (Barcelona University), and PhD in musicology (UAB) with a thesis on Gustav Mahler. After a decade dedicated primarily to opera conducting in Central Europe, Joan returned to Catalonia, where he combines active musicianship with teaching and research at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. He was notably associated with the Vienna Volksoper from 1995 to 1997. As a pianist, his main focus has been German art song.

Grimalt’s principal research area is Musical Hermeneutics, with particular emphasis on intersections with language and literature, such as rhetoric, prosody, and dramaturgy. In recent years, he has also contributed to research projects in performance studies, bringing together his experiences as performer and teacher to develop a hermeneutic, performance-oriented approach to analysis.