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Abstract
The author has previously published six essays, each based on a novel technique: pairing one piece each from two different composers, in an attempt at teasing out important implications of these (mostly little-known) works. These implications would have been harder to glean if one focused instead, as is normally done, on a small number of oft-performed canonical works by a few great masters.
The present “Coda” offers reflections on the implications of those six essays for a continuing exploration of important themes in the history of Western art music, including romanticism, modernism, “progress,” tonality, text-music relations, and nationalism (including the relationship of a composer to his or her land of origin).