The notion of “tensional cycle” applied to the analysis of form

Abstract

Favouring a structural segmentation based essentially on the harmonic and
thematic parameters, the traditional analysis of classic and romantic instrumental
music fails to fully grasp the internal dynamism of the work. This is particularly
evident in the case of many postromantic works in which tempi, dynamics and
textures become primordial parameters.
The analysis of “tensional cycles” takes all the parameters of the musical
discourse in account (dynamics, rhythm, textures, themes, harmony) and groups
them within a model of arsis/accent/thesis. The work then appears as a succession
of movements of tension and relaxation, unified by a vast gesture of tension and
relaxation at the macrostrucural scale. In order to illustrate this phenomenon, we
chose the symphonic poem In a Summer Garden by Frederick Delius (1911).