Rudolph Réti

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Rudolph Réti (November 27, 1885 - February 7, 1957) was a musical analyst, composer and pianist.

Réti was born in Uzice in Serbia and studied music theory, musicology and piano in Vienna. Together with the composer and musicologist Egon Wellesz he was involved in establishing the Salzburg Festival and the International Society for Contemporary Music. He later emigrated to the United States of America and became an American citizen. From 1943 Réti was married to the pianist, teacher, musicologist and editor Jean Sahlmark, who helped prepare for publication his two posthumous books.

As a pianist, Reti gave the premiere of Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces op 19, and was taught by Eduard Steuermann, himself an eminent champion of Schoenberg and a supporter of modern music.

Réti is best remembered today for his distinctive method of musical analysis, which he claimed revealed the 'thematic process' in music. His approach did not concern itself, however, with tracing the obvious thematic and motivic 'developments' displayed on the musical 'surface', but rather sought to demonstrate the way in which surface thematic variety is underpinned by a less apparent unity. For Reti,

"the different movements of a classical symphony are built from one identical thought" [TPM, p.13],

and the composer

"strives toward homogeneity in the inner essence but at the same time towards variety in the outer appearance. Therefore he changes the surface but maintains the substance of his shapes" [TPM, p.13].

This technique consisted of taking short melodic motifs and tracing their repetition and development through the piece. Rhythm is completely ignored.

Reti's analytical procedure is best understood concurrently to the work of other contemporary German analysts of the time such as Schenker and Schoenberg. Like Schenker, and Schoenberg, Reti's analysis of musical works was primarily motivic, tracing the evolution of a musical work from a melodic kernel. The preoccupation the three aforementioned theorists had with such procedure stems from a metaphysical belief that the works of the "great masters" (as exemplified in the First Viennese School) were unified thematically often, from a single idea. The metaphysical basis of this idea was the fact that such unity, was thought to be a metaphor for the unity of God's creation. Thus in Reti's analysis the "thematic process" is explored, in Schenker the analysis takes the form of a reductionist procedure, and in Schoenberg the unity of a musical work from a "Grundgestalt" (basic shape) is asserted.

Reti's method has been criticized by amongst others, Nicholas Cook. Cook, himself a theorist of note, who wrote the "Guide to music analysis", has criticized what he saw to be Reti's over-concern with proving the validity of his method.

Whatever one's opinion, it is clear that Reti's analysis must be understood within the context of early twentith century musicology. See also: Tonality#Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality.

[edit] Writings

• The Thematic Process in Music (1951). ISBN 0837198755.
• Tonality, Atonality, Pantonality: A study of some trends in twentieth century music (1958). ISBN 0313204780.
• Thematic Patterns in Sonatas of Beethoven (ed. Deryck Cooke; 1967)