Experimental research on musical emotion has identified clear links between specific aspects of musical structure and emotional responses. However, growing recognition of changes in the affective meaning of specific cues over time raises intriguing questions about the degree to which these links hold across historical eras. In particular, the traditional focus on compositional principles from common-practice period music (ca. 1600–1900) might not capture how emotion is perceived in later compositions. Here we explore perceived emotion ratings in a set of 24 preludes by Dmitri Shostakovich (Op. 34), comparing the effects of cues in his preludes vs. those by Bach and Chopin. We find that prosodic cues (i.e., pitch height, timing) play a stronger role than mode in these pieces. Because music theorists widely recognize Shostakovich’s music as tonal, this result reflects not his abandonment of mode, but rather his decision to use it differently than his predecessors. This provides an important perspective complementing a growing body of research using score-based analyses to explore historical changes in the “meaning” of specific cues. Our findings illustrate how modern compositions can provide novel insight into cues’ historically changing roles in emotional communication.

中文翻译：

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打破常规：探索现代主义音乐情感

对音乐情感的实验研究已经确定了音乐结构的特定方面与情绪反应之间的明确联系。然而，人们越来越认识到特定线索的情感意义随着时间的推移而变化，这引发了关于这些联系在历史时代中保持多大程度的有趣问题。特别是，传统上对普通时期音乐（约 1600-1900 年）作曲原则的关注可能无法捕捉到后来的作品中情感的感知方式。在这里，我们探讨了德米特里·肖斯塔科维奇 （Dmitri Shostakovich） 的 24 首前奏曲（作品 34）中的感知情绪评级，比较了他的前奏曲与巴赫和肖邦的提示效果。我们发现在这些作品中，韵律线索（即音高、时间）比模式起着更强的作用。因为音乐理论家普遍认为肖斯塔科维奇的音乐是调性的，所以这一结果并不反映他对模式的放弃，而是他决定以不同于前辈的方式使用它。这提供了一个重要的视角，补充了越来越多的研究，这些研究使用基于分数的分析来探索特定线索的 “意义 ”的历史变化。我们的研究结果说明了现代作曲如何为线索在情感交流中的历史变化角色提供新颖的见解。