Pub - Schenker Studies 2 Cambridge Composer Studies PDF

 

This is Cambridge University Press's second volume of studies based on the work of Heinrich Schenke Schenker, r, now recognized as this century's most influential figure figure in th e areas of music th eory a nd analys analysis. is. The first ssection ection of the boo k contain s archiva archivall studies that derive from the contents of Schenker's   Nachlass,  recently made available to scholars. Schenker's unpublished papers also supplement several of the analytical studies in the second, larger, section of the book. These essays fall into four groups: studies in the Classic and Romantic repertory, studies in twentieth-century music, rhythmic studies, and studies in the theory of Schenker's fundamental analytical constructs, the   Urlinie and the   Ursatz. Carl Schachter is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Queens College of the City University of New York, and on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, New York.  Leading. He is co-author of   Counterpoint in Composition a n d  Harmony and Voice and Voice Leading. Hed i Sie Siegel gel is Adjunct Associate Profes Professor sor at H un ter College of the City University of New York. She is editor of the first volume of  Schenker Studies.

 

Schenker Studies 2

 

Schenker Studies  2 Studies

edited b edited  b y

Carl Schachter  Schachter a n d Hedi Siegel

C AMBRID GE UNIVERSITY PRESS

 

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the U nited States of America by Cam bridge University Press, New Yor Yorkk www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521470117 © Cambridge University Press 1999 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of an of  any y part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1999 This digitally printed first paperback version 2006  catalogue   record for for this  this publication is publication  is available from the from the British Library British Library A  catalogue

ISBN-13 978-0-521-47011-7 hardback ISBN-10 0-521 -47011 -0 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-02832-5 paperback ISBN-10   0-521-02832-9 paperback

 

CONTENTS

Abbreviated   references  Abbreviated  references   to Schenker's writings Preface  

page page ix  ix xi

ARCHIVAL STUDIES

Leve Levels ls of understan ding: an intro ductio n to Schenker's Schenker's   Nachlass  Robert Kosovsky

3

W hen Freier Satz was par t of of   Kontrapunkt  a prel  preliminary iminary report  Hedi Siegel Hedi  Siegel

12

Schenker's unpublished work with the music of Johannes Brahms   Allen Cadwallader and William Pastille

26

ANALYTICAL STUDIES

C. P. E. Bach and the fine art of transposition   Wayne Petty

49

Comedy and structure   in Haydn'  Haydn'ss sym phonies  L Poundie Burstein

67

  Symphonic breadth : structural style in Mozart's symphonies  David Gagne

82

  Structural Structural mo m entu m and clo closur suree in  i n Chopin's No cturn e O p. 9, No. 2  109 John Rink On th e fi first rst mov emen t of Sibeli Sibelius' us'ss Fourth Symphony: a Schenkerian view   Edward Laufer

127

Voice leading as dra m a in   Wozzeck  Voice Arthur Maisel

160

Sequential expansion and Handelian phrase rhythm   Channan Willner

192

Strange dimensions: regularity and irregularity in deep levels of rhythmic reduction   Frank Samarotto

222

Diachronic transformation in  a Schenkerian context: B rahms's Haydn V ariat ariations ions  Timothy Jackson Timothy  Jackson

239

vn

 

viii

ontents

Bass-line articulations of the   Urlinie 

27 6

Eric Wen

Structure as foreground: das Dram a des Ursatzes

298

  arl Schachter Index  

31 5

 

ABBREVIATED REFERENCES TO SCHENKER'S WRITINGS

The following works of Heinrich Schenker will often be cited by title alone. Com plete bibliographic inform ation is giv given en bbelow, elow, with the abbreviated form appearing in bold type. Harmonielehre,  Volume I of  Harmonielehre,  of  Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien (Stutt gart: Cotta , 1906); rep rin t edition (V ienna: Universal Editi on, 1978) Harmony,   translated by Elisa Harmony, Elisabeth beth Mann Borgese, Borgese, edited and annot ated by Oswald Jonas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954, republished 1980); reprint edition (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1973) Kontrapunkt,  Volum e II of  Kontrapunkt,  of  Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien, Book   1  (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1910), Book 2 (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1922); Book reprint edition (Hildesheim: Olms, 1991) Counterpoint,   Books 1 an d 2, translated by John Rothgeb and Jiirg Counterpoint, Jiirgen en Thym , edited by John Rothgeb (New York: Schirmer Books, 1987) Beethovens neunte Sinfonie  Sinfonie   (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1912); reprint edition (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1969) Beethoven's Ninth Symphony,  Symphony,   translated and edited by John Rothgeb (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992) letzten ten funf Sonaten von Beethoven: Kritische Erlduterungsausgabe.   Die letz Ausgabe mit Einfuhxung und Exldutexung   (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1913-20); new edition, revised by Oswald Jonas (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1971-72) Sonate E dux, Op.  Op.   109, publis hed 1913; revised edition , 1971 SonateAs dm, Op.  Op.   110, pub lished 1914; revised edition, 1972 1972 Sonate C moll, Op.  Op.   Ill,  publis hed 1915; revised editio n, 19 1971 71 Sonate A dux, Op.  Op.   101, publish ed 1920; 1920; revised edition, 1972 1972 ( O p .  .  106 was never published.) D ex  Tonw ille ille, , Issues 1-10 (Vienna: A. J. Gutmann, 1921-24, later republished in three volumes by Univers Universal al Edition); reprint edition (Hildesheim: Olm s, 1990) D as  M eist eisterwerk erwerk  in in dex  dex  Musik, Yearbooks  I—  (Munich: Drei Masken Verlag, 1925, 1926, and 1930); reprint edition (Hildesheim: Olms, 1974) IX

 

Abbreviated  references T he  M aster asterwork work  in Music, Volumes I—  translate d by Ian B ent, Alfred Alfred Clayton, William Drabkin, Richard Kramer, Derrick Puffett, John Rothgeb, and Hed i Sie Siegel gel,, edited by William Drabkin Cam bridge: Cam bridge University Press, 1994, 1996, and 1997)

1932;; New York York:: David Funf UrlinieUrlinie-Tafeln Tafeln   Vienna : Universal Edition, 1932 Mannes Music School, 1933) Tafeln  with a new Five Graphic M usic Analyse Analyses, s,   republication of  Funf  Urlinie Tafeln  int rod uc tion and glossary by Fel Felix ix Salzer Salzer New Yor York: k: Dover, 1969) 1969) Derfreie Satz,  Satz,  Volume III of  Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien   Vienna: Universal Edition, 1935); second edition, edited and revised by Oswald Jonas Vienna: Universal Edition , 1956). Page references references are to the second edition unless otherwise otherwise n oted. Free Com posit position ion   Derfreie Satz),  translated and edited by Ernst Oster New York:: Lon gm an, 1979); repr int edition New York: York York: Schirm er Books)

 

PREFACE

Like its predecessor, Cambridge University Press's first volume of Schenker studies published in 1990, this book offers a broad and inclusive survey of the fieldd of Schenkerian research. It giv fiel gives es an accura te, if neces necessarily sarily partial, view of the field field at the presen t tim e; a nu m ber of the essays essays could no t have been wr itten twenty, or even ten, years ago. Only tw enty years have have passed since Ernst Oster's translation of Derfreie of  Derfreie Satz appeared. Satz appeared. T his publicatio n has been the catalys catalystt for the ambitious scholarly enterprise of publishing the entire corpus of Schenker's work in English translation. A significant part of this enterprise has been achieved with the translation of the three volumes of  of   Das Meisterwerk in der Musik   as well as other important works by Schenker. Perhaps the most striking Musik recent develo pm ent, however, has no t been a pub licatio n. Rather it has been t he availability to scholars of Schenker's  Schenker's   Nachlass,  Nachlass, at both th e Oster Co llection of the New York Public Library and the Jonas Collection at the University of California, Riverside. In addition, Mrs. Felix Salzer has generously granted access to items in her husband's private collection. In so doing she has contrib uted to the realization of Fel Felix ix Salzer' Salzer'ss long-held goal of of bringin g Schenker's unpublished work to light. Thus an almost entirely new area of research has been opened up: the development of Schenker's theories as revealed by the study of his voluminous papers. The first section in  in   Schenker Studies 22 consists  consists of three archival studie s. Robert Kosov Kosovsky sky suggest suggestss guidelines for the scholarly study of the  the   Nachlass. Hedi Nachlass. Hedi Siegel Siegel traces the origins of of   Derfreie Satz  Satz  to to u n p u b lished sections of  of   Kontrapunkt.  Allenn Cadwallader Cadwallader an d Kontrapunkt.  The contribu tion by Alle William Pastille Pastille is devoted to the Brah ms folder in the Oster Collection . The contents of Schenker's  Schenker's   Nachlass  Nachlass  have also begun to permeate analytical work within the Schenker community as is evidenced by several of the analytical studies in this book. The larger part of the book is devoted to analytical studies. These eleven essay essayss ffal alll roughly in to four grou ps: studies in the Classic Classic and Ro ma ntic repertory, studies in twentieth-century music, rhythmic studies, and studies in the theory of the  the   Urlinie a Urlinie a n d  Ursatz.  The first of these four groups contains music from t he rep erto ry that S chenker himself drew upo n. For Schenker, C. P. P. E. Bach was one of the greatest composers, and Bach's  Bach's   Versuch  Versuch  had a profound influence on the development of his theories. Later Schenkerians have devoted relatively little attention to the music of this important master. The essay by Wayne Petty explores an unusual facet of Bach's compositional technique and reveals that what seem to be simple and literal transpositions are in fact highly XI

 

xii

Preface

imaginative recompositions. The article by L. Poundie Burstein uses analytical readings of Haydn symphonies as points of departure for the examination of humor in music. David Gagne integrates the analysis of harmony and voice leading with a close reading of texture and orchestration in Mozart's symphon ic movem ents to show how performance m edium and genre condition th e tonal structu re of a work. John Rink turn s to a ffamil amiliar iar com position, frequentl frequentlyy analyzed by Schenker and his fo follo llowers wers - Cho pin's Noc turn e Op . 9, No . 2 - and offers a new and compelling view of its form and structure. The contributions by Edward Laufer and Arthur Maisel deal with music by Sibelius and Berg that Schenker himself would have violently rejected. The application of Schenker's theories to twentieth-century music has been and remains a controversial enterprise, but one that continues to engage excellent musicians and scholars. Of the two essays, Laufer's modifies Schenker's appr oach m uch les lesss than Maisel's, but tha t is clear clearly ly because Sibelius Sibelius's 's music is closer to the tonal tradition than Berg's. Laufer takes pains to show antecedents in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music for Sibelius's highly original way of writing. Maisel draws interesting parallels between the tonal structure of Wozzeck  and the d rama tic structu re of the libretto. At the same time he take takess a somew hat polemical stanc stancee with respect respect to current posttonal theory. The next three studies - by Cha nnan Willner, Willner, Frank Samarotto, and T imothy Jackson - return to the Schenkerian repertory, with a focus on the topic of rhythm. Willner explores the very elusive and subtle phrase rhythm in the music of the high Baroque. In Samarotto's essay, durational reduction reveals deep rhythmic structures in two Beethoven pieces that are inherently asymmetric - a discovery that can have far-reaching implications for the study of rhythm in general. Jackson's comprehensive study of Brahms's Haydn Variations explicates this complex work from a perspective that takes in conflicts and contradictions between levels. Jackson draws upon study of Brahms's sketches and upon archival work with Schenker's published and unpublished material on the Variations; in doing this, he sets new directions for rhythmic studies as well as studies in the fo unda tions of Schenker's theory. Schenker's fundamental analytical constructs, the   Urlinie   and the  Ursatz form the topics of Eric Wen's and Carl Schachter's contributions. Wen concen trates on an unusual but by no mean s infrequent infrequent ma nipulatio n of the   rlinie its transfer into the bass. This possibility has been acknowledged by earlier Schenkerian analysts (and by Schenker himself), but never studied in depth. Schachter studies situations where the   Ursatz -   far from remaining in the   ba ck gr ou nd - participates stri strikingly kingly in the salie salient nt ffeatu eatures res ooff the foreground, including its contradictions and conflicts. While most of the essays in this volume originated as papers read at the Second International Schenker Symposium held in 1992 at the Mannes College of Music in New York, several were presented at other conferences. Among these are Edward Laufer's essay: though related to the paper he read at the Schenker Symposium, it is derived from a presentation given at the Second International Sibelius Conference held in Helsinki in   1995. A 1995. A shorte r version of Ch ann an W illner's essay essay was firs firstt deli delivered vered at the Sixth Biennial Conference on Baroq ue Music held in 1994 at the University of Edinb urgh . Carl Schachter read

 

Preface

xiii

an earlier version of his essay in London at the 1991 City University Music Analysis Conference. The paper he read at the 1992 Schenker Symposium has been published elsewhere, as have a number of other papers on the conference progr am (with sever several al remaining unpu blishe d). Thus, unlike the first first  Schenker Studies this book does not owe its contents to a single conference. In the studies that discuss Schenker's   Nachlass items held by the Oster Collection are reproduced by courtesy of the Music Division of the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations. We are very grateful to Mrs.   Felix Salzer for her permission to reproduce or transcribe items from the Mrs. Nachlass   in her possession. The Pie rpon t M organ Library, M ary Flagl Flagler er Cary Music Collection, kindly gave us permission to reproduce the facsimile included in David Gagne's essay. We thank Universal Edition and the estate of Ernst Oster for their permission to reprint two figures from   Free Composition in Timothy Jackson's essay. The illustrative examples in this boo k do no t include extensive extensive excerpts from the musical works discussed; therefore the reader is asked to consult the relevant scores. scores. We ext extend end ou r thanks to the m usic typesetters typesetters who contr ibuted to the preparation of the examples: to Dejan Badnjar for the complex graphs of Edward Laufer's essay, to Frank Samarotto for the examples in his own essay, and to Timothy McCord and Paul Carter, who carefully laid the groundwork for the exam ples of sever several al ess essays ays.. We owe special special thank s to A rth ur Maisel w ho drew on his musicality, expertise, and experience in setting the majority of the examples in the book. The pre paration of the the musical examples was ma de pos si sible ble by a generous grant from the Man nes Music Theory Fund. We wish to thank Jonathan Finkelman, Joshua Gilinsky, Linnea Johnson, and Suzanne Osborne for their watchful checking of manuscript and   proof a n d Stephen Slottow for his attentive preparation of the index. Finally, this book would not have become a reality without the support and sympathetic guidance of Penny Souster and the work of her colleagues at Cambridge University Press. Carl Schachter Hedi Siegel New York City

 

ARCHIVAL STUDIES

 

Levels of und erstanding: aan Level n in trod uc tion to Schenker's  Nachlass Robert Kosovsky

One of the m ore unu sual results of the first first International Schenker Sy mposium , held at the M anne s College of Music in 1985, was the crea tion of a petiti on signed by over 300 people - attendees and their colleagues. Addressed to the New York Public Library, this petition was a request for making accessible to the public the Oster Collection - a major portion of Heinrich Schenker's papers. This impressive demonstration of academic support helped in the Library's efforts to obtain a preservation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1990 access to the collection has been provided not only for for Library visitors, bu t also - by me ans of microfilm - for individuals a nd institutions institut ions througho ut the world. Heinrich Schenker Schenker's 's Nachlass,  Nachlass, m  m ade available available fift fifty-five y-five years aafte fterr the appe arance of his of  his l  last ast publicati on, has op ened entirely new paths of access access to the study of this unique individual and his theories. His archive, with its tens of thousands of docum ents, is a veritab veritable le treasure-trove of informa tion. These papers will no doubt serve to inform, reshape, and redirect our thinking about Schenker an d his theories; they may also influence the future course of the discipline, with Schenker so urce studies becom ing a field field in its own right. Even the mo st enthusiastic res researc earcher, her, hhowever owever,, will will encoun ter nu m erou s problem s. Not The Nachlass's the least is is Schenker's han dw ritin g, wh ich is ofte oftenn barely legible. barely  legible. The Nachlass's peculiar arrangement also portends some difficulties. The plethora of docume nts - 18, 18,000 000 in the Oster Collection alone - presents an imm ediat e obstacle: there is quite literally an overabundance of  data. In defini defining ng such problem s and suggesting solution s, this arti article cle hopes to serve as as a prelim inary g uide to sou rce studies involving Schenker and his papers. Essentiall to an unde rstandin g of the Essentia the   Nachlass is Nachlass is an awareness of its history. For several months after Schenker's death, on lanuary 14,1935, his widow Jeanette tried to con tinue her h usband 's acti activiti vities. es. In a mann er po ignantly revealing revealing ooff her devotion to his work, she continued to clip notices notices and paste them into th eir scrapbook, and managed to make a few more entries in Schenker's diary. No do ub t to alleviat alleviatee her new financi financial al bur den as well as to ease the em otio nal pain of her bereavement, she moved from their apartment at Keilgasse 8 to Cottagegasse 21, an address further from th e center of of Vien na. Moving m ay have a disorienting effect on people and often creates disorder in their belongings; this was true in Jeanette Schenker's case. Schenker's own arrangement of the papers was largely ignored, and the Nachlass the  Nachlass  was packed haphaz ardly. After After

 

Robert Kosovsky

moving, Jeanette Schenker was confronted with a disorganized mass of papers. Realizing the necessity of instituting some kind of arrangement, and unable to restore the original order, she renumbered the files and created an inventory. The resulting   Verzeichnis  list listss eighty- three file filess  Mappen),  whose contents reveal the confused state of the papers. For example, analyses of Chopin are found in two disparate locations, files 10 and 32; material for   Derfreie Satz  is even more widely scattered. But the   Verzeichnis  did serve the purpose of identifying the material, even if it was not in an optimal arrangement. It served another purpose as well. Just as the widow Constanze Mozart soug ht to keep her husb and 's work "alive" by publicizing her desire for for pe ople to complete his fragmentary works, so did Jeanette Schenker compile her list with th e aim of having some of her husban d's works publish ed. She was careful careful to mention locations of analytical graphs, particularly those that were Reinschriften   - "clean copies" "clean copies" - that wo uld be suit suitable able ffor or publica tion. O n occasion she added editorial comments. To her listing of the contents of file 12 (which contains writings on non-musical topics), she added the note, "Very 1 worthw hile ffor or the magazine "  The reference is to the perio dical  D er  reiklang y found ed shortly aft after er Schenker's death by two of his stud ents, Oswald Jonas and Felix Salzer. In fact, the first issue of this periodical contained an article giving an overview of Schenker's papers, 2   and successive issues published several "worthwhile" fragments. Likee Constanze M ozart, Jeanette Schenker, too , needed to raise funds for h er Lik survival. Thus, the division and dispersal of Schenker's papers came about as a means of assisting his widow. Most of his books and scores, including many unusual editions, were sold to the dealer Heinrich Hinterberger. Papers were sold to students, including Wilhelm Furtwangler and Felix Salzer. As a result of the Nazis' annexation of Austria in 1938, many of the students and other members of Schenker's circle left Vienna. One exception was Oswald Jonas's student Ernst Oster, who had made his way from Germany to Vienna shortly after Schenker's death, and who was unable to leave the city immediately. When it became possible for him to leave, Jeanette Schenker, apparently unwilling to emigrate  herself,  entrusted to Oster the majority majority of the rem aining wor king pap ers while hold ing on to some of the musical scores, m ost of the correspondence, and items of a personal nature. After Oster had left the country, and when she finally realized her own danger, she gave the remaining items in her possession to another member of Schenker's circle, Erwin Ratz, for safekeeping. She was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942, where she died only a few months before the camp was liberated. The papers she had given to Ratz survived intact, and in the 195 1950s 0s he passed them on to h is friend Oswald Jonas, who had settled in the United States. Today the bulk of the  Nachlass is divided betw een tw o collections. The O ster Collection in the Music Division of the New York Public Library holds the items brought by Ernst Oster to New York City from Vienna: the majority of 1. 1.   "Sehr wertwoll fur die Zeitschrift " Nachlass Heinrich Schenkers," Schenkers," DerDreiklang  (Apri (Aprill 1937), pp. 17-22 . This article is unsigned; 2.   "Der Nachlass it was was probably w ritten jointly by Jonas and Sal Salzer zer,, with the possible collaboration of other Schenker students.

 

An introduction to Schenker to  Schenker s  Nachlass

5

Schenker's workin g paper s in the form of num ber ed files, files, aass well as a signif significant icant number of his musical scores. The Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection at the University of California, Riverside, holds the manuscripts for Schenker's published works, a larger port ion of his his sscores, cores, the bulk of the correspo nden ce, a nd 3 Schenker's Schenker 's di diary, ary, along with oth er personal papers and mem orabilia. Archival materials relating to Schenker are also found in other collections. The papers of notable musicians such as Ferruccio Busoni, Wilhelm Furtwangler, August Halm, Rudolf Reti, and Arnold Schoenberg include correspondence to and from Schenker, as do the archives of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Over 400 letters from Schenker to his publisher, Universal Edition, are owned by the Vienna Stadts- und Landesbibliothek. A few numbered files of working papers (completing the series in the Oster Collection ) are in the possessi possession on of of M  M rs. Fel Felix ix Salz Salzer, er, wh o also own s graph s p repared by Salzer and annotated by Schenker. The papers of other Schenker students provide additional archival sources: this is by no means a complete list. When the contents of the Oster Collection were transferred to the New York Public Library, the papers were found in a more jumbled and confused state virtually unusable, tha n suggested by Jeanett Jeanettee Schenker's orderly  list. They were virtually and a decision decision had to be mad e regarding their arrangeme nt. There appeared to be three possible solutions: to attempt a reconstruction of the original ordering used by Heinrich Schenker, to set up an ordering based on Jeanette Schenker's list, or to devise a new arrangement sorting the papers according to type. Since Since any new arran gem ent would destroy intellec intellectual tual evidence evidence,, the th ird solution was felt to be undesirable. Though tempting, the first solution was resisted as well. well. In certain cas cases es it was cl clear ear tha t sever several al files belonge d togeth er and actually constituted a single file, yet it was impossible to deduce how Schenker had ordere d every exist existing ing ffile. ile. Following the org anizatio n of Jeanette Schenker's list seemed the most logical choice, as that list clearly preserves a particular historical state of the   Nachlass,  and is the most detailed detailed docu me ntation concern ing the collection collection.. Leaving aside the arrangement of the collection   itself,  it is useful to survey the contents by type. Most of the papers fall into one of five categories: clip published items, correspondence, writings, and analyse analyses. s. pings, published pings, 1.   Clippings.  There are seve several ral hu nd red clippings in the Oster Collection, dealing with both musical and non-musical topics. Articles on such subjects as literature (including po etry), literary crit criticism, icism, painting, architecture, politics, government, religion, and philosophy reflect the wide range of Schenker's interests. An exa min ation of such ephem era often allows us to view his ideas in a broader context; his annotations and glosses on what he read provide corroborative justification for many of these ideas. A case in point is his preoccupation with Albert Einstein: Schenker clipped articles by and about the famous physicist. In annotating these clippings, Schenker refined the thoughts 3.   See Robert Lang and JoAn Kunse lman,   Heinrich Schenker Oswald Jonas Moriz Violin: A Checklist of

Manuscripts

and Other Papers in the Oswald Jonas Memorial

California P ress, 1994).

Collecti Collection on   Berkeley: University of

 

Robert Kosovsky 4 on the n otion of "genius" that he was was later to set down in  Free  Free C  C omposition. omposition. A  large group of clippings are collected in a scrapbook. Started by Schenker in 1902, this scrapbook later became one of Jeanette Schenker's pet projects. It sheds light on Schenker's little-known early activities: several notices that predate his theoretical publications refer to him as being well known in Viennese circles as a pianist specializing in the music of Bach. Schenker always always clipped reviews of his published works, and in addition often saved articles which, though not containing any direct direct m ention of him, reveale revealedd his growing growing inf influenc luencee upo n the m usical usical world. An amusing example is a revi review ew of the 1927 1927 premiere of the opera  Jonny spielt auf, in which a naive critic misuses Schenker's 5 new vocabulary and complains that Ernst Krenek's Krenek's music lacks lacks an   Urlinie.

2.  Published  Published items.  items.  Throu ghout his adult life, life, Schen Schenker ker acquired a large library of publications - both m usical and non-m usical. Most are listed in the 1936 catalogue of  the  antiquarian Heinrich Hinterberger, to whom they were they were sold.6  Of the many published books Schenker Schenker once owned, the Oster collection collection contains just a handful. One of the most interesting is an annotated copy of Gustav Jenner's book on Johannes Brahms.7   One can trace the transformation of Schenker's Schenker 's gloss glosses es into the detailed detailed notes that prepared the way for for his article 8 "Erinnerungen "Erinneru ngen an Brahms." an  Brahms."  Also im porta nt - especia especiall llyy for for the prepa ration of new editions or translations - are the copies of Schenker's own publications that contain his corrections or emendations. Fortunately, Schenker's collection of musical scores has survived, and is divided between the O ster and Jonas Collections. Recent articles have discussed the value of studying Schenker's Schenker's annotated scores scores from from the po int of view view of the 9 performer.   In some cases, Schenker's markings bear directly on his analyses: one finds a correlation between Schenker SchenkerJs notes and analytical graphs and the markings in th e scores.10  A study of these scores is thus an essential essential compo nent of further research on Schenker's analytic work.

 Free   Composition^  p. xxiv. Schenker's anti-democratic political views and pan-German nation4.   See Free ali alism sm have attracted a growing amoun t of scholarly scholarly attention in recent years. years. How im portant these views are for an understanding of his musical ideas remains a controversial topic. While study of th e  Nachlass  will certainly  certainly no t settle this controversy, it will will at least provide a useful basis fo forr discu ssion and argument. auf,""  Die Stunde (Jan. 1928), Oster Collection, fi file le 2, p. 74. (Unless 5.   Han s Liebstockl, "Krenek spielt auf, otherwise specified, all subsequent references to files from the  Nachlass   are to those in the Oster Collection.) 6. A copy of the catalogue is in the Oswald Jonas Mem orial Collection, box  3  35, 5, folder 2; see Lang and Kunselm an, p. 96. A facsimile facsimile is printe d as Anhang II of Martin Eybl, Ideologie  Ideologie und  und M ethode: Zum Tutzing: Hans Schneider, Schneider, 1995), ideengeschichtlkhen Kontext  vo n   Schenkers Musiktheorie   Tutzing:   161-92. pp . 7.   Gustav Jenner,  Johannes Brahms  al s   Mensch Lehrer  un d  Kiinstler.  Schenker owned  th e  second edition (Marburg an der Lahn: N.G. Elwert'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung G. Braun, 1930). It is preserved in file 30, together with Schenker's notes (items 42-51). 8. The article was published in the  Deutsche  Deutsche Zeitschrift  Zeitschrift (  (aa continuation of  De r Kunstwart)   46/8 (May 1933),, pp. 475-8 2. 1933) 9. One exam ple, drawing on items in the Jonas Jonas Collection, is William Rothstein's "Heinrich Schenker as an Interpreter of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas,"  19th-century  19th-century   Music  8/1  (1984), pp. 3-28. Examples may be found in the scores scores of works by Chopin and Brahms, among many others. 10.   Examples

 

An introduction to Schenker to  Schenker s  Nachlass

7

3 .  Correspondence.  The majority of Schenker's correspondence is located in the Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection. The letter files in the Oster Collection are mo stly confined t o spec specifi ificc topics. Sever Several al ffil iles es include corre spon den ce w ith his students an d with o ther theorists, such as August Halm and Rudolf Reti. There is a file containing an exchange of letters between Schenker, Wilhelm Furtwangler, and Ludwig Karpath (a leading Viennese music critic) concerning an unsuccessful attempt to secure a teaching appointment for Schenker. Another contains the final correspondence received by Schenker before his death. One of the most voluminous correspondence files in the Oster Collection (fil (filee 52) concern s Schenker's publisher, Universal Edition. C onta ining over 900 file not only docum ents the h istory of Sche Schenker' nker'ss publications, b ut items,   this fi items, also also tra traces ces the ris risee of one ooff the most im por tant and influentia influentiall music publishers of the tw entieth century. T he earliest letters in this ffil ilee date from 1901, and are addressed addressed to the men wh o founded that adve nturous pub lishing firm. firm. As a witness to the founding of Universal Edition, Schenker developed a close personal relationship with Emil Hertzka, the firm's director during its first two decades. At first Hertzka took a great interest in Schenker's work. When Schenker sub m itted t he first first iss issue ue of a pub lication he cal called led "Kleine Bibliothek"

("Little Library"), there was some question about whether the title was appro priate. The correspo ndence shows that it was Hertzka w ho suggested suggested th at 11 the title be changed to  Der Tonwille (  (lit literal erally, ly, "Th e Ton e-W ill").  In the course of time, however, Schenker fell out of favor with Hertzka, who promoted contem pora ry m usic as the centerpiece centerpiece of his publishing house. Partly because because of his concern for for the negati negative ve attitude toward co ntem porar y mu sic that Schenker projected, Hertzka had  Der Tonwille  published under the imprint of an imaginary publisher, the "Tonwille-Flugblatterverlag," thereby disassociating Schenker from the imprint of Universal Edition - an association that Hertzka increasingly came to see as as detrim enta l. By 19 1924, 24, Schenker felt felt tha t He rtzka w as not doing enough to promote his publications and, while looking for another publisher, brought legal action against Universal Edition to release him from his contrac t. Letters conce rning this lega legall action show th at it too k up the g reater part of an entire year. After Hertzka's death in 1932, Schenker was able to resume cordial relations with Universal Edition and with Hertzka's successor, Alfred Kalmus. 4. 4.   Writings. There are many writings on m usical and no n-m usical topics in the Oster C ollection. These range in siz sizee from a tiny scrap of paper, con tainin g just one word, to substantial m anuscr ipts. There are in fac factt seve several ral lengthy un pu blished texts. One of these, entitled "Das Tonsystem," is identified by Jeanette 12 Schenker as one of Schenker's earliest theoretical formulations.   Comprising

idea behind it - that m usical tones embody will 11.   Althoug h the title may have been Hertzka's, the idea is Schenker's. In In th e preface to   Harmony\ for instance, he writes: "I should like to stress in parti cular the biological factor in the life life of tone s. We should get used to th e idea tha t ton es have lives lives of their own , more ind epen dent of the artist's pen in their vitality than o ne would da re to believe." believe." Se Seee Harmony p. xxv; Harmonielehre xxv;  Harmonielehre p. vi. 12.   Located in file 31 , items 360-86 .

 

Robert Kosovsky

eighty-nine typewritten pages and left unfinished, it probably dates from Schenker's years as a music critic before the turn of the century. Another unfinished work, "Niedergang der Kompositionskunst," 13   dates from the time of World War I. In it, Schenker discusses the problems of modern music and its failure to synthesize musical resources. Also among Schenker's unpublished works is "Eine Lehre vom Vortrag," which includes an alphabetically arranged dictionary of topics relating relating to performance. The original manusc ript no tes for this work are in the Jonas Collection. The copy in the Oster Collection was mad e by Ernst Oster Oster;; it is supplem ented by his own an notati ons a nd additional 14 examples. The most extensive and perhaps the most important of the unpublished works is an early version, dating from between approximately 1915 and 1920, of Schenker's magnum opus,   Der freie Satz.  Like many of Schenker's unpublished writings, it consists of lengthy portions of text on long strips of paper (written down from dictation by Jeanette Schenker) interleaved with little scraps of paper containing Schenker's notes and emendations. Together with its musical examples, this document contains over   5,000  items. In Jeanette Schenker's arran gem ent, these items are divided amo ng four separ ate file files. s. This unfortunate dismemberment presents a challenge. How could accessibility be improved without disturbing the arrangement? I found a solution to this problem by making a detailed reconstruction of the table of contents, listing all paragra ph headings, and identifying identifying their location within the collection. collection. 15 5.   Analyses.  There are several files of analyses, which are organized by composer. The majority of these analyses are not of complete pieces, but of individual movements, particular sections, or even small passages. A substantial number of them appear to be related to Schenker's continuing work, over a  o n  Der freie Satz. Indeed, some of them exist exist period of more than twenty ye years, ars, o in several versions. For example, there are numerous representations of the dim inutio ns in Chopin's No cturn e in Ff major, major, Op.   15, No . 2, the earliest da ting from about 1909. Other analyses appear to have come about as the result of Schenker's teaching activities. activities. Som etimes two nearly identical graphs are found

side by sside ide - one in Schenker's han d and o ne by a stud ent - indicatin g that t he copying of his graph by a student was part of his pedagogical method. The pedagogical purpose of many analytical graphs helps explain the limited scope of the analyses found in the Oster Collection. The overwhelming majority are from the literature of solo piano music, mainly of works by Bach, Beethoven, Brah ms, an d C ho pin . There are , hhowever, owever, a fe few w extensive extensive analyses analyses of work s for orche stra, an d it is intrig uing t o discover that Schenker lef leftt us analyses of m usic by composers such as Bruckner, Richard Strauss, Wagner,  Wolf,  and others not usually associated with his analytical repertory. Located ed in file file 31, items 28-153. 13.   Locat Esser and translated by Irene Schreier, Schreier, will 14.  Schenker's writings on perform ance, ed ited by Heribert Esser be published by Oxford University Press in the near future.

 The Oster Collection: Papers ofHeinrich   Schenker. A  Finding List  List  New York: 15. Ro bert Kosovsky, Kosovsky, The York:  N ew

York York Public Library, 1990), Appendix A.

 

An introduction to Schenker to  Schenker s Nachlass

9

How is a scholar to approach this collection? "Did Schenker make a graph of a particular work?" is the question most often asked, whether by performers, mu sicologists, music theo rists, professors, professors, stude nts, or amate urs. Al Alll are usually seeking information about a specific work or group of works, and they view Schenker's archive as a means of acquiring this information. Although their question is certainly legitimate, it can lead to a limited and even distorted perspective specti ve on ho w Sch enker's papers m ight best be used. Archival collecti collections ons like this one are not real really ly analogous to a large referenc referencee too l that on e mig ht consult in order to find instant answers to questions. Taking from the   Nachlass only what is imm ediately needed - and ignoring the circumstances of iits ts creation makes it impossible for the researcher to gain a comprehensive understanding of either the musical work in question or the development of Schenker's ideas. It must be rem emb ered th at the Oster Collecti Collection on is an arch archive ive that contains docu me nts in various stage stagess of completion. To be sure, there are a good man y graphs that Schenker might have published had he lived longer, but there are also graphs that he probably wished to leave unpublished. Like many others, he would try out ide ideas as on paper as a kind of experim ent, with out necessari necessarily ly com mitting himself to them. While the inexperienced researcher may be seeking specific bits of information (analogous to a "foreground" view), archivists are interested in entire collections of documents. Gathering information on the physical and intellectual contents of documents and on the context in which those documents were created is seen as integral to understanding. Once the large organizational picture (the "background" view) is obtained, the significance of each individual document will become clear. Thus, in order to do justice to the  N achlass, achlass, it is is necessary first first to determ ine h ow Schenker generated and used his papers. One of the most striking impressions conveyed by the   Nachlass  is of Schenker's seemingly compulsive drive to commit a thought or idea to paper. At times he appears to have had an almost maniacal desire to use what was at 16 hand , grabbing whatever he could, whenever the mom ent.   For instance, after an analysis had been published, he would often cut up the manuscripts and drafts (which he had little interest in retaining) and use the blank sides for mak ing new notes. A beauti beautiful, ful, m ulticolored graph of the Preludio fro from m Bach's Bach's E Major P artita for solo violin was reused, cut u p, and placed in several diffe different rent locations. Once committed to paper, these voluminous notes were placed into files. W hat were Schenker's organizing principles? W hile many files files deal with cur ren t or ongoing projects such as lessons with students, others have a more complex origin. Schenker's procedure seems to have been an almost unbelievably thoroughgoing application of the basic mental process first identified by the every imaginable type of paper: unu sed sides of letters he received, received, 16.   There are notes written on nearly every drafts of his own letters, proof sheets for his publications, unpublished compositions, unwanted graphs, bills from restaurants in Vienna or from hotels in the Austrian Alps, gas and electric bills, insurance documents, solicitations from maps, charitable organizations, blanktickets, portions of newspapersbills, and legal magazines, appointment calendars, streetcar tickets, lottery electioneering handbills - even even the wrapping pap er from from his bathroom tiss tissue. ue.

 

10

Robert Kosovsky

philosopher John Locke  Locke  as the   the association of ideas. Schenker gradually built up a structure of thought by developing and cultivating associations between a large number of ideas, some obviously related, and others seemingly unrelated.17  For Schenker a single single idea can give give rise rise to inn um erable associations.18 In some cases the archive reveals how Schenker brought together ideas scattered on several snippets of paper.19  After his wife had copied these fragments into a longer text, text, he cut up and distributed the new pieces pieces among o ther files, thereby creating new associations. It is is not an exaggerat exaggeration ion to sa sayy tha t virtually everyy item in the collection ever collection can be found to have have some kind of association with severa sev erall othe r disparate o nes. Thus even the smallest detail could have multiple meanings for Schenker and would lead him to discover new connections and insights. Wilhelm Furtwangler describes Schenker's thought process and breadth of knowledge, of  knowledge, characterizing him as "a person, who not only took an active interest in everything possible, but . . . [was] one who knew personal, productive answers to a thousand questions which on the surface had nothing to do with mu sic theory. theory. For the questions which Schenker Schenker addr addressed essed . . . were 20 of universal relevance." relevance." In order for this kind of associative thinking to be effective, it must be continuously at work. Persi  Persistent stent examination, revisi revision, on, and reshaping are necessary if the ideas are to be fully integrated. 21   Schenker's working system for controlling this process is manifested by two words frequently scribbled on many of the fragments: "Paralipomena" and "Wolle." Schenker had his own private meaning for the term "Wolle," which is not usually applied to the classification of ideas: he may possibly have used it in the sense of "raw 22 material," denoting ideas in rough form.  He used "Paralipomena"  "Paralipomena" as a kind of catch-all heading for supplementary material or ideas not fully put to use. 23 1 am suggesting that many of Schenker's "Paralipomena" were items he wished to keep in "active" in  "active"files filesso    s o that he could con tinue to m ake additions or revisions and eventually integrate them in new ways. The items he regarded as rough ideas,   probably unsuitable for development, he would place in the "Wolle" ideas, ideas are most prominently articulated by Michel Foucault, Foucault, par17.   Among modern philosophers these ideas t i c u l a r l y  in   The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Dis Discourse course on Language trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith (New  York:  Pantheon Books, 1972).

may be observed in Free  Free Composition,  Composition, where Schenker not only makes fre18.   A similar thought process may  quent references to his earlier works, but also supplies numerous cross-references to ensure comprehension. file less 12 and 83. 19.   Examples may be found in fi Furtwangler, "Heinrich Schenker: Schenker: A Contempo rary Problem," trans. Jan Jan Emerson, Sonus 20 .  Wilhelm Furtwangler, 6/1 (Fall 1985), p. 2. This is a translation of "He inrich Schenker: Ein zeitgemasses Problem," in in  To n un d  Wort   (Wiesbaden: Brockhaus, 1954), pp. 198-204. in the variousfiles  d ealing with the early version of  Free 21 .  This iiss evident in files dealing    Free Composition.  Composition.  Schenker made copiou s revisions in the text - there are at least least six six versions versions of the headin g for the open ing p aragraph in which Schenker defines the relationship between harmony and voice leading. Wolle gefarbt" gefarbt" comes to mind  ( dyed in the woo l," i.e., i.e., while in a raw sta te). 22.   The phrase "in d er Wolle 23 .  This usage is not unique to Schenker. Schopenhauer's collected writings, which Schenker knew well, in clu d e a volu me en titled   Parerga und

Parali Paralipomena: pomena:

kleine philosophische

Schriften.

Schopenhauer describes describes this volume as a gathering of essays of  essays and ideas on a variety of subjects that either did not directly belong within the systematic plan of his works or were conceived too late to be included. See the preface (dated 1850) to Vol. 7/1 of Arthur Schopenhauer,   Werke (Zurich: Diogenes, 1977).

 

An introduction to Schenker  s Nach lass

11

files.24  Most of Schenker's Schenker's unpublished writings and g raphs refle reflect ct this ong oing process; they are "Paralipomena" slated for further revision and new associations. In essence, this is the major challenge posed by Schenker's papers. One cannot isolate a graph or text and disregard its physical, chronological, and intellectual contex t. Eac Eachh doc um ent shou ld be regarded as a detail in a complex web of interrelated documents. Researchers who expect to work on only a portion of Schenker's papers must necessarily become familiar path with of most, if not all, of the related papers in an attempt to recreate Schenker's thought. As part of my work at the New York Public Library I compiled a finding list of the Oster Collection. Funds were insufficient for a complete itemization, so my list list does not always always go into the detail that m any scholars wou ld find useful. But would a detailed finding list be enough? I believe believe it shou ld be supp lem ented by other research tools. Better intellectual access could be provided by creating reference sources from the most significant works. An index to Schenker's 4,000-page diar y wo uld have a high priority . In add ition , an index to Sch enker's lesson books, which record in detail the lessons he gave to students over a period of twenty years, years, would provide inform ation concerning the ch ronology 25 and context of Schenker's studies of musical works.   An annotated index to Schenker's correspondence would provide more than just biographical inform ation; there are many letters letters in which Schen Schenker ker set dow n philosophical and musical insights not found in other sources. As stated over fifty years ago, "a collection of these letters would yield a compendium of theories on performance and composition." 26 With the availability of the Oster Collection, and the accessibility of other archival sources, we are about to see a significant increase of new information and research concerning Heinrich Schenker. In recent times, journals in the field of music theory have published articles about Schenker or his theories in virtually every issue, and a good number of these articles include observations based on work with the Oster Collection. Schenker's   Nachlass  is indeed on its way to becom ing a fundamental rese research arch tool. IItt is is hoped that by learning m ore about the nature of the collection, students and scholars will reach a new level in their unders tandin g of Heinrich Schenker's Schenker's lif lifework ework.. 24. Some files may have been discarded altogether. On the cover of file 76, one of the files containin g "Wolle," there is an instruction to burn its contents after it has been checked. Though that file has survived, survi ved, there are probably probably m any others which did not. process ess of pr preparing eparing such an index. 25.   I am currently in the proc 26.   "Der Nachlass Heinrich Schenkers," DerDreiklang  (April 1937), p. 18.

 

W hen "Fre "Freiier Satz" Satz" was part p art of

Kontrapunkt:   a prel  prelimina imina ry report Hedi Siegel

In Januar y of 1920, Schenker wrot e a letter to his friend August H alm . The letter includes the following passage: ontrapunkt]]1,   in which the voice Most important for me is II 2   [the second book of K of K ontrapunkt leading of free composition and its  its   complete  complete   identity  identity  with that of so-called strict counterpo int is uncover uncovered ed and demonstrated. Semper iidem, dem, ssed ed non eodem modo penetrates into eve every ry  section: the torchlight from from this sa same me mo tto emanates from from strict counterp oint in three voi voices ces,, shi shines nes upon co unterpoint in four and m ore voices voices,, upon combinations of the of  the spec  species ies,, and then upon fr free ee com position. Here it continues to illuminate the sections on scale degrees, composing-out, voice leading, parallel fifths and octaves, the passing tone, the suspension, keyboard style and abbreviations, thorough bass,, the chorale, etc., etc. Onl bass Onlyy for the sake sake of this dem onstration hav havee I w ithheld an entire volume of material that was ready for publication years ago; for no sort of argumentation could produce the result that I expect from the purely external effect of 2 bringing strict and free free composition together in the compass of of a  a singl  singlee volum e. Obviously, Schenker was not referring to the relatively slim second book of Kontrapunkt   as we know it. The book he had in mind m ay be reconstructed Kontrapunkt 3 in broad outline - as shown in Figure I. We see see what Schenke Schenkerr m eant w hen he traced the contents of this projecte projectedd volum e fo forr H alm. He proceeds from from strict counterpoin t in three voic voices es (Part 3) through counterpoint in four and more voices (Parts 4 and 5). Combinations of the species species in seve several ral voice voicess begin Pa rt 6, Bridges to Fr Free ee Co mp ositio n, whic h is is logic logically ally foll followed owed by Part 7, Free Com positio n. Part 8 then discusses the voice voice leading of thorou gh gh bass.  bass.  Mu ch of the unpublished material that continues from Part 6 is preserved in the Oster Collection of the New York Public Library. The text of most of Part 7, Freier Satz, Satz, and of the epilogue that was 1. Schenker's abbreviated references references to his works wi will ll be familiar familiar to m ost readers: Roman num erals are used for the volumes of the   Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien,  Phantasien, with superscript Arabic numbers designating the separate books of Vol. II   (Kontrapunkt). 2.   From Schenker's letter to August Halm, January 18,1920; see see Hellmut Federhofer, Heinrich   Heinrich Schenker: Nach Tagebiichern und Briefen in der Oswald Jonas Memorial Collecti Collection on   (Hild esh eim: Olms, 1985),

pp. 141-42. The translation (altered slightly) is by William Pastille; see his review of Federhofer's book, Journal book,  (1986), p. 672. The letter and circu mstances  Journal of  of the American Musicological American Musicological Society 39/3 Society  39/3 (1986), surround ing it are are noted in Matthew Brown and Robert Wason's review review of  Counterpoint,  see see Music  Music Theory Spectrum   11/2, (1989), p . 236. S ee also Nicolas M eeu s,  Heinrich Schenker: une introducti introduction on

(Liege: Mardaga, 1993), pp.  33ff. (Liege: of  Kontrapunkt  to Free 3.   Schenker's early plan for the second book of  Kontrapunkt  is mentioned in the prefaces to Free  written by Oswald Jonas (p. xvi) and Ernst Oster (p. xii). See also the highly informaComposition written Composition tive typed pages prepared by Oster found at the beginning of file 79 in the Oster Collection of the New York York Public Library. (All (All subseque nt references references to files are to those in the O ster C ollection.)

12

 

When   Freier Satz When Freier Satz was was  part of of   Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt 

Figure 1 The eight parts of   Kontrapunkt  (according to Schenker' Schenker'ss earl earlyy plan)

KONTRAPUNKT,   erst KONTRAPUNKT, erster er Halbban d  (COUNTERPOINT,  (COUNTERPOINT,  Book 1) Vorrede (Preface) Einleitung (Introduction) 1. ABSCH NITT: (PART (PART 1:

Cantus firmus firmus als als Grundlage der Kon trapunk tstudien The Ca ntus Firm us as the Fou nda tion of Contrapuntal Studies)

2.   ABSCH NITT: (PART (PART 2:

Zweistimmiger Sat Satzz Two-Voice Two-Voice Co un terp oin t)

KONTRAPUNKT,   zwei KONTRAPUNKT, zweiter ter Halbban d  (COUNTERPOINT,  (COUNTERPOINT,  Book 2) Vorwort (Preface) 3.   ABSCH NITT: (P (PART ART 3:

Dreistimmiger Sat Satzz Three-Voice Three-Voice Cou nterp oint)

4 .   ABSCH NITT: (P (PART ART 4:

Vierstimmiger Sat Satzz Four-Voic Four-Voicee Co unterp oint)

5.   ABSCH NITT:

Vom  fiinf-,  sechs-, sieben- und achtstimmigen Satz

(PART (PAR T 5:

Five-, Six-, Seven-, and Eight-Voice Eight-Voice Co un ter poi nt)

Einleitendes (Introductory Remarks) 6. AB SCH NITT : (PART (PART 6:

Uberg ange zum fre freien ien Sat Satzz Bridges to Free Co m posi tion )

Einleitendes (Introductory Remarks) 7. AB SCH NITT :

Freier Satz

(PART (PART 7: 8. ABSCH NITT: (PART (PART 8:

Free Co m posi tion) Von der Stimm fuhrung de dess Generalbasse Generalbassess The Voic Voicee Leading of Th oro ugh Bass) Bass)

Von der musikalischen Kausalitat - Riickblick und Epilog (Musical Causality - Summing-Up and Epilogue)

13

 

14

Hedi  Siegel Hedi Siegel

to serve as the conclusion to the entire  Kontrapunkt is  is fo  found und on long strips of paper written in manuscript by Jeanette Schenker from her husband's dictation.4  Als  Alsoo preserved preserved in the Oster Collection Collection is Part 8, "Von "Von der Stimm fiihrung fiihrung 5 des Generalbasses," in the form of a typescript prepared by Ernst Oster;   the th e manuscript of the thorough bass section is among the items from Schenker's Nachlass that came into the possession of Felix Salzer, as is a second, slightly 6

different What oftypescript. Schenker's assertion to Halm that the material for the volume had been "ready for for publication years years ago" ago"?? In fact, fact, a m anuscript draft draft of the en tire second book of  Kontrapunkt had been completed three years years before before Schenker Schenker wrote  the letter. The "Freier Satz" section  wrote section was was finished finished by  b y the summ er of 1917 1917;; in June of that year Schenker Schenker wrote to his frie friend nd Moriz Violin, Violin, telling telling him that he  c oming  close  end of his work on Kontrapunkt.7 In July, h July, hee wrote was finally f inallycoming clo se to the t he end s to Otto Vrieslander, saying that he was now "facing the   Generalbassabschnitt. Generalbassabschnitt. He completed it by it  by the end the end of the followi following ng mo nth; the date on which Schenker finished dictating the manuscript appears on the last page: "29.VIII.17." Two days later, later, on August  31 31,, which was his wife' wife'ss birth day,9  the epilogue epilogue was com page  iss dated "Lie-Liechens Geburtstag 1917" Geburtstag 1917" (see  (see Plate Plate I) .10 pleted; the final f inalpage i   It is clear from from Schenker's letter to H alm th at in  1920  1920 he  he  was was still revising the man uscript tha t had been been completed in  in  1917. 1917. (In March of 1918, he  he had  had w ritten ritten to Emil Hertzka of Universal Edition, telling him he was devoting his entire energies to Book 2 of   Kontrapunkt)11  Material in the Oster Collection shows that he started to make major revisions revisions of the "Freier "Freier Satz" section, mainly of of the two opening chapters, which presented important material on the scale degree and on composing-out. He cut the manuscript of these chapters into pieces,, which he either discarded pieces discarded or collated collated w ith new m aterial. In som e cases cases  remain. These the headings of the individual small sections are are  all all that  that remain.  These revisions  ideas of  Urlinie an d  Ursatz, and Schenker Schenker began fostered the emergence of the of  the ideas to rethink and rewrite his entire presentation of free composition. He essentially abandoned the completed Parts 7 and 8 and decided to publish a truncated version of Book  2, ending with Part 6. It   It appeared in 1922, and Universal Edition Editi on announced that there 3would be a be a third  third book of Kontrapunkt, titled Der freie Satz} 1  The reference  "II "I I "  had already already appeared in Schenker' Schenker'ss published 4.   Files 51, 74, and 79. 5. File 6. 6. Salzer acquired several fol folders ders of the   Nachlass  from Schenker's widow in 1936. 7. See Federho fer,   Heinrich Schenker,  p. 29; the letter is dated June 13, 1917. 8. See Federho fer,   Heinrich Schenker, p.   p. 25, n. 44; the letter, letter, written in Seefeld (in Tirol, where Schenker was sp en d in g th e su m mer ), is d ated JJu u ly ly 3, 1917. 9. Federhofer,   Heinrich Schenker,  p. viii, gives Jeanette Schenker's date of birth as August 31, 1874. Federhofer also transcribes a diary entry concerning the celebration of her birthday (p. 37, n. 57); the date given - A ugust 30, 1932 - is the eve of her birthday. Salze alzerr for for her permissio n to reprodu ce the endin g of Part 8 shown in 10.   I am grateful to Mrs. Felix S Plate 1, and for granting me continuing access to the materials from Schenker's   Nachlass  in her p ossession . 11 .  See Federhofer,  Heinrich Schenker,  p. 29. 12 .  A possib le reason for the subtle change in title from

Frei Freier er Satz to

Der freie freie Satz is discusse d in

William Drabkin's reviews of two translations: of   Counterpoint  in  Music Analysis  8 / 1 - 2 ( 1 9 8 9 ) , p p . 19 8-200 , an d of Felix Felix-Eb -Eb erh ard ard von Cu b e,   The Book of the Musical Artwork: A n Interpretati Interpretation on of

the Theories of Heinrich Schenker,   in  Indiana Theory Review  9/2 (1988), p p . 142-43.

 

When   Freier Satz   Satz was part of Kontrapunkt   Kontrapunkt

15

Plate  1 Closing Plate 1  Closing text of Part 8, "Generalbass," completed on August 29, 1917 (from the collection of Felix Felix Salzer) Salzer),, and of the epilogue, comp leted on August 3 1,191 7 (from (from file 51/item   1391, Oster Collection)

 

16

HediSiegel writings by 1920. 13   Around 1925 Schenker began thinking of  of  Derfreie Satz a Satz ass a Phantasien.  W h e n p u b separate   volume of the Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien.  separate lished as Volum e III in in 193 19355 - conta ining only vest vestiges iges of what had been com pleted in 191 19177 - it was no longer p art of of   Kontrapunkt.14 But if we if  we go  go back to the time when the sections on fr free ee comp osition a nd thor ough bass were bass  were part of K ontrapu ontrapunkt nkt   we may visuali visualize ze their general conte nts as 15 of K shown in Figure 2. Turning first to Part 7, the "Freier Satz" section, we see that the items Schenker had listed und er fre freee com posit ion in his letter to Halm , "s "scale cale degrees, composing-out, voice leading, parallel firths and octaves, the passing tone, the suspension," are in ffac actt subsections or ch apters. The organiz ation familiar from the published  published   Der freie Satz --   under the headings of background, middleground, and foreground - is nowhere in evidence. Instead, in the first main 16 section of Part 7,   free composition is discussed in relation to  to   Stufe  Stufe  (scale degree) and  and   Stimmfuhrung  Stimmfuhrung  (voice (voice leading ), the fundam ental laws Schenker 17 referred to as  as   Urgesetze. These two fundam ental laws are the focus of of his  his   introductory remarks to the "Freier Satz" section. One of several versions of the opening sentence reads as follows: Two independent spher Two spheres es begin to bear a relationship to eac eachh other fo forr the first time in free composition: the scale degree and voice leading. Both, secure in their own laws, continue to retain thes thesee laws laws in interaction. W hat hatever ever form form their intermingling takes, neither of the two need sacrifice anything essential to the other. 18 the Urlinie in Schenker's  Schenker's  Erlauterungsausgabe,  Op .  101, 13.   See, for example, the well-known passage on the Urlinie 3 references to II  in  in Kontrapunkt  (In   Counterpoint 2 p.  22 (rev. edn, p. 7). There are of course many references  Kontrapunkt 2. (In a citation to the relevant place in the published  Free Composition has Composition has been substituted where possible; see see Rothgeb's note 4 to Part  3 , Chapter  Chapter   1  on p . 274). Sometimes Schenker specifical specifically ly nam es the seventh "Abschnitt"; e.g., in   Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt  2, pp. 177, 185, and 248 (the last of these references is retained in  in   Counterpoint  Counterpoint  2, p. 257). He even refers to specific subsections and chapters; e.g., in Kontrapunkt  2, pp. 4, 24, 36, 44, 59, 65, 75, 101, and 209. 14. Schenker had originally planne d to reserve Vol. Ill of his series ffor or a study of form; see Federhofer,   p . 26. Some of his notes for this stud y are preserved in file 83. Heinrich  Schenker, p is based based on Schenker's detailed detailed table of conte nts of Parts 7 and 8 found in file 51. Charles 15.   Figure 2 is Burkhart, in his Society for Music Theory keynote address "Reflections on Schenker: From 'Free Composition' to  to   Free  Composition, give givenn in New York York in 1995, presented a valuable d iscussion of several aspects of Part 7. 16.   The second "Ha uptstiick" - on abbreviation and keyboard w riting - is not as extensive extensive as the first, and its contents were perhaps not as central to Schenker's theory of free composition. laws be very few few in numbe r. He writes 17.   It iiss impo rtan t to Schenker's ideology that the fundam ental laws in the unpublished epilogue to   Kontrapunkt 2  2  (the following translation is mine, as are all subsequent tran slations u nless otherwise indic ated): "Music knows but few few laws laws - a ncestral moth ers from from which everythin g derives." derives." ("Die Musik kennt n ur wenig Gesetze - Urmiitter - aus denen alles kommt.") Oster Collection, item 51/1386 (the first number identifies the file, the second the individual item; subse quent references references to manu script sources, all all ffrom rom th e Oster Collection, will use use this abbreviated abbrevia ted format). 18.  "Zwei eigene Welten treten im freien Satz zum erstenmal zu einander in Beziehung: Stufe und Stimmfuhrung. Beide in Formen eigenenimmer Gesetzen ruhend behalten diese Gesetze auch die im Zusammenwirken. Welche das Durchdringen beider annehmen mag, braucht eine der andern keine Opfer am Wesen zu bringen" (item 79/101). A revision places voice leading at the head of the first sentence, refl reflecting ecting the course of events in in the volum e: "Zur Stimm fuhrung tritt nun im freien Satze zum erstenmal die Stufe in Beziehung" (item 51/145).

 

When   Freier Satz When Freier Satz was was part  part of  of  Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt 

17

Schenker goes on to reveal that the explication of the two  two   Urgesetze lay  lay behin d the overall plan for his  his   Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien: 1

 it iss clear (cf. the preface to II  [Kontrapunkt 1 ] why  I  had to begin b begin by iliarizing zing Now it i Now  I had y fam iliari the student with the fundamental laws of scale degree and voice leading (in Volume I [Harmonielehre]   and in Volume II  [Harmonielehre] II  [Kontrapunkt],  [Kontrapunkt],  Parts 1-6 1-6)) before I could fin ally undertake a systematic presentation of the prolongations that arise when the two 19

spheres act together. And the prom ise he mad e in hhis is lette letterr to Halm, that he would de mo nstrate the "complete identity" of the voice leading of strict counterpoint and free com position, refl reflect ectss the statement he makes as his introd uctor y rem arks continue: . . . in my exposition exposition of fre freee com position (and of thorough bass), I adhere adhere to the ssame ame fundamental concept conceptss and even even to the same order in which they appeared appeared w hen w hen  wee  first 20 became conscious conscious of them in strict counterpoint. In the "Freier Satz" section this applies to the organization of the "Stimmfuhr ung " subsection (re (refer fer again to Figure 2 ): the chapters relate to the first four species spec ies of str strict ict coun terpoin t. Aft After er an in trodu ctory Chapter 1 that links the outer voices of a free composition to two-voice counterpoint, Chapter 2 is derived from the treatment of consecutive perfect intervals in first species counterpoint. Chapter 3 takes the passing tone of second (or third) species as its point of departure, and includes a discussion of the accented passing tone and neighbo ring ton e. The elements of se second cond and thir d species species carry oover ver into Chapter 4, where Schenker discusses the seventh and seventh chords; both derive from passing motion. Chapter 5, on suspensions, syncopes, and rhythmic shifts, shifts, is is of course based on fourth speci species es cou nte rpo int. T he "same fundamental concepts" to which Schenker adheres are the concepts of strict counterpoint on which each chapter is founded. Schenker is in fact carrying out what he described in the last paragraph of his "Bridges to Free Composition" section: "... the doctrine developed in my work takes as its first point of departure the fundamental concepts of voice leading, and, . . . after enumerating those fundamental concepts, I then proceed to teach 21how they are preserved evenn in free eve free compositio n, al alway wayss and ev ery wh ere ... "  T  Thh e  Urbegriffe of voice 1 19.   "Nun begreift man wohl auch (vgl. Vorrede zu II ), weshalb ich den Kunstjiinger zuvor mit den Urgesetzen der Stufe und Stimmfuhrung bekannt machen musste (in Band I und Band II, 1.-6. Abschnitte) Abschnitt e) ehe ihm endlich die aus der der Mischung beider Spharen gewonnenen Prolongationen des freien Satzes in systematischer Weise vorgefuhrt werden konnten" (items 51/145-46). The opening passages of the intro duc tory remarks to P art 7 recall recall Schenker's Schenker's preface preface to  to   Kontrapunkt 1, Kontrapunkt 1, to which he refers. See especially p especially  pp.  xxiii ff. {Counterpoint ff. {Counterpoint 1,  1, pp. xxv xxv ff.), where he b egins his pres entation of p. xxiii the subject matte r of the vo lume as follows: follows: "All "All musical tech nique is derived from two basic ingredients: voice leading and the prog ression of scale degrees." degrees." ich denn auch in der D arstellung des freie freienn Satzes Satzes (sowie (sowie des Generalbasses) Generalbasses) noc h imm er 20 .  ". .. wie ich nur an denselben Urbegri UrbegrifTe fTen, n, ja sogar sogar auch an d erselben Or dnu ng festhalte, festhalte, in der sie im strengen Satze zum erstenmal an unser Bewusstsein traten" (items 51/146-47). 21 .  "... die in meinem Werke durchgefuhrte Lehre geht zunachst von den UrbegrifTen der

Stimm fuhrung aus, und . . . ich, erst aber nach Aufzeichnung der Urbegriff Urbegriffe, e, endlich dahin schreite zu lehren, wie dieselben UrbegrifTen sich auch im freien Satze bewahren, immer und iiberall 261  {Counterpoint 2, p. 271). See also §156 on p. 95 of the pubbewahren. . . ." Kontrapunkt ."  Kontrapunkt 2, p. 261  lished   Derfreie Satz {Free lished Satz {Free  Composition,  Composition,  p. 55), the beginning of the section entitled "Begriffe des

Strengen Stre ngen Satzes Satzes"" (The Concepts of Strict Strict Cou nterpoin t).

 

 Siegel Hedi Siegel Hedi

18

Figure 2  2   A comparison of Parts 7 and 8 and 8 of  of K ontrapunkt (according (according to Schenker Schenker's 's early plan) Einleitendes (Introductory Remarks)

7. AB SCH NITT : FREIER SAT SATZ Z (P (PART ART 7:

FR FREE EE COM POSITION)

1. HAU PTSTUCK :

(SECTION 1:

2.   Kapite Kapitel: l: (Chapter  2 : 

Von der Stuf Stufee On the Scale Scale Degree)

(Chap ter 1:

2.   Kapite Kapitel: l: (Chapter   2: 

(Cha pter 1:

2.   Kapitel: (Chapter   2: 

Allgemeines General Aspects)

Von der Stufe On the Scale Degree)

On Composing-out)

On Voice Leading)

1. Kapitel: Kapitel:

1. 1.  Kapitel:

Von der Ausk om ponieru ng

B:   Von der Stimmfuhrung (B:  

DES GENERALBASSES

THE VOICE LEADING OF THORO UGH BA BASS SS))

On the Intrinsic Law Lawss of Free Composition : On the Scale Degree and Voice Leading)

(A: On the Scale Scale Degree and its Comp osing-ou t)

(Chapter 1:

(PART (PAR T 8:

Von den inneren Gesetz Gesetzen en des freien Satzes: Von der Stufe und Stimmfuhrung

A: Von der Stufe und ihrer Auskomponierung

1. Kap itel:

8. ABSCHNITT: VON DER STIMMFUH RUNG

3.   Kapitel: Kapitel: (Chapter   3: 

Von der Stimm fuhrung On Voice Leading)

Von der Stimm fuhrung der Aussenstimmen im Besonderen Specif Specific ic Observati ons on the Voice Leading of the Outer Voices Voices))

Von Oktav- Prim - un d Q uintfolgen uintfolgen On Successions of Octaves, Uniso ns, and Fifths

3.   Kapite Kapitel: l: Vom Durchgang , bezw. Wechselnote

4 .  Kapitel: (Chapter  4 : 

5.   Kapitel: Kapitel:

Von den offe offenen nen Oktav- un d Quintfolgen On Succes Successions sions of Open Octaves and Fifths)

Vom Durch gang usw.

und Nebennote (Chapter   3: 

4 .  Kapitel: (Chapter  4 : 

5.   Kapite Kapitel: l: (Chapter 5:

On the Passing Tone, the Accented Accented Pa Passing ssing Tone, and the Neighboring Tone, respecti respectively) vely)

(Chapter 5:

Im Spezie Speziellen llen von der Sept als Du rchg ang und der Vierklangsbildung

6. Kapitel:

Specif Specific ic Observati ons on the Seventh as a Passing Tone and the Formation of the Seventh Chord)

(Chapter 6:

Von den Vorhalten, Synkopen und Riickungen On Suspensions, Syncopes, and Rhythmic S Shif hifts) ts)

7. Kapitel: (Chapter 7:

On the Passi Passing ng Tone, etc.)

Von der Sept On the Seventh)

Von den Vorhalten On Suspensions Suspensions))

 

When   Freier Satz When Freier Satz was was  part of of   Kontrapunkt 2.   HAUPTST OCK: (SECTION 2:

1. Kapitel: (Chapter 1:

2.   Kapitel: (Chapter   2: 

19

Von der Abbreviation un d dem Klaviersatz im Besonderen Speci Specific fic Obser vation s on Abbreviatio n and Keyboard Style)

Von der Abb reviation On Abbreviation)

8. Kapitel: (Chapter 8:

Von der Abb reviation On Abbreviation)

Vom Klaviersat Klaviersatzz im Besonderen Specif Specific ic Obse rvatio ns on Keyboard Style)

Nachtrag: (Afterword: (Afte rword:

Ein Wort iiber den Choral A Comm ent on the Chorale)

leading - t he behavior of such elements as the passing ton e or the suspensio n provide an essential essential thread of contin uity between strict counterpo int and fr free ee 22 composition, the "semper idem" of Schenker's motto. To trace this thread of continuity succinctly through each of the   Urbegriffe,  Urbegriffe,  I will present short extracts from the manuscript text, mainly from Schenker's own summaries in his introductory remarks to Part 7. I will begin, however, with a passage from the text of the   Stimmfuhrung  Stimmfuhrung  subsection.23   In Chapter 1, one of the headings characterizes "melodic fluency"   (fliessende Linie)  Linie)  as the 24 principle that governs both outer voices. voices.  Under this heading, Schenker makes 25 a specific reference to his discussion of this principle in   Kontrapunktl.   There, in Part 1, on the cantus firmus, he had spoken of the interval of the second as the primary ingredient of melodic fluency. He had explained that melodies 22.   It is important to note Schenker's term inology; he differentiates differentiates these Urbegriffe from the  Urgesetze, the fundamental laws of scale degree and voice leading that govern them. The   Urgesetze and the

Urbegriffe were, Urbegriffe  were, in  very concrete sense, the organizing forces behind Schenker's preparatory work: he used them as keywords when making preliminary notes. The Oster Collection preserves these written hastily on p ieces of paper of varying sizes, notes   s he and his wife organized them . Though written the notes for Parts 7 and 8 are are carefully carefully labeled: along with the head ing II2  , Schenker wrote a keyword (usually in abbreviated form) for one of the laws laws or concep ts: Stu Stufe, fe, Stimmfuhrung, Durchgang, Sept, Sept, Vorhalt Vorhalt,, and so on. These snippets of paper, together with the long strips strips of completed manuscript text in his wife's hand, were gathered in makeshift file folders for each chapter. These folders folders were often made out of discarded issues of journals journals within which the material materi al pertaining to tthe he individual individual small sections was filed in subfold subfolders ers created created between the pages. Keywor Keywords, ds, such as as 8-8 /5- 5 fo forr the chapter chapter on consecutive consecutive octaves octaves and and fifths, or Dg (Durchgang) for the chapter chapter on the passing passing tone, were written in colored pencil on the front of the journal issues. 23.   Subsection Subsection B, Von Von der Stimmfuhrung Stimmfuhrung (refer (refer to Figure Figure 2). As mentioned above, most of the text text of Subsection A, Von der  der Stufe, Stufe, exists only in fragmentary form. form. 24.   §4: Fliesse Fliessende nde Li Linie nie nach wie vor vor Gesetz beider Aussenstimmen Aussenstimmen (item 51/47). 25.   The m anuscript leaves a blank blank for the page reference, but tthe he contex t makes it clear that Schenker Schenker is referring to  to   Kontrapunkt  1, p. 136  (Counterpoint  1, pp. 94-95). Significantly, this is the same passage Schenker was to cite a few years later in the   Erlauterungsausgabe,  O p. 101,   101, p. 22 (rev. edn, p.  7), as an antecedent of the  the Urlinie ide  idea. a. See See William William Pastille, Pastille, The Development of the  Ursatz   in in  Trends   ii n Schenkerian Research, ed. Schenker's Published Works, Works, in in Trends   ed. Allen Cadwallader (New York:

Schirmer Books, 1990), pp. 71-77.

 

20

Hedi  Siegel Hedi Siegel which fulfi fulfill ll the cond ition s of me lodic fluenc fluencyy exhibit an inher ent beauty, m an ifes ifestt in their overall shape, thou gh th ey lack lack the intern al group ings foun d in free free composition. Now he takes the idea of melodic fluency a step further, and writes: Of course one must imagine away all of  the  unessential ial traits of both bass and soprano  the unessent 26 if one wishes to gain the impression of a of  a principal  principal line. On t he concept of prohib ited parallel perfe perfect ct intervals, disc discussed ussed in Chapter 2, Schenkerr writes iinn his introducto ry rem arks: Schenke The voice voice leading leading of ffre reee com position also also retains the prohib ition against paral parallel lel fift hs. But the countless countless fifths on onee finds in the best compositions do not contradict this pro hibition, because because . . . these, arisi arising ng by happenstance fro from m composing-out, take on the illusory appearance of parallels; there is no question at all of their being true parallel  this   fundamental concept.27 fifths in the strict sense of  this He also touches on aspects of Chapters 3 and 5; Schenker speaks of the passing passi ng tone in conjunction with the suspension: In free composition, dissonance can again manifest itself only in the two main types: horizontally, horizont ally, as a pas passing sing tone surrou nded by two consonant tones, or verticall verticallyy - by means of an of a  a passing  passing that is abbreviated that is  abbreviated -  as a as a suspension with a with a consonant  consonant preparation and equall equallyy tone consonant resoluti resolution. on.28 -  Here Schenker is reiterating an idea he had worked out in  in   Kontrapunkt I.29 Now, speaking of free composition, he goes on to say that the cantus firmus, which in strict cou nte rpo int facil facilitat itated ed the differentiation of these two types by creating an upbeat and a downbeat, is only seemingly absent. As long as one is not deterred by the surfac surfacee r hythm , by the concealments or abbreviations, then the passing tones and suspensions of free composition behave just as if the cantus firmus were present. This is a direct continuation of the last topic discussed in Part 6, "On the elision of a voice as a bridge to free composition," whe re he says: ... free composition, despite its extensively altered appearances, is mysteriously bound by this this elision, elision, aass though by an umbilical umbilical cord, ttoo strict cou nte rp oin t... .30 In Chapter 4, the fundamental concept of the seventh is derived from the passing tone. An idea that has its origins in   Harmonielehre  Harmonielehre  is now stated this way: freilich die unwesentlichen Ziige sowohl beim Bass als beim Sop ran wegzu denken, 26.   "Nur ha t man freilich wenn m an den Eindruck einer Hauptlinie gewinnen will" (ite (item m 51/47).   "Die Stimmfiihrun g [halt] auch im freien fre ien Satze am Verbot offene of fener r Quintfolgen fes fest. t. Diesem Diesem Verbot 27 . widerstreiten aber noch durchaus nicht die zahllosen Quintfolgen die wir auch in den besten Werken antreffen, antreffen, da diese .. . d urch verschiedene Zufalle Zufalle der Auskom ponieru ng bloss den Schein Schein von Quintfolgen annehmen, ohne in Wahrheit gerade als solche Intervallfolgen in der strengen Bedeutung des Urbegriffes uberhaupt schon in Frage zu kommen" (item 51/152). reien en Satze auch wieder nur in den beiden Haup ttype n aussern u nd 28.   "Die Dissonanz kann sich im ffrei zwar in horizontaler Richtung als ein zwischen zwei konsonanten Tonen eingebetteter Durchgang oder auf dem Wege einer Durchgangsabbreviation in vertikaler Richtung als ein konsonant vorzubereitender und ebenso konsonant aufzulosender aufzulosender Vorhalt" (item (item 51/149). See Kontrapunkt 1,  1, Part 2, pp. 33 5-36  5-36  (Counterpoint 1, 29 .  See Kontrapunkt (Counterpoint 1, pp. 261-62).

30.   Kontrapunkt   2, 2, p.  p. 261 {Counterpoint2, 2 , pp. 270-71).

 

When   Freier Satz was When was part  part  of Kontrapunkt 

21

The triad   of  free composition often likes to borrow a passi  passing ng ton e from voice lleading eading  specifically  the  seventh that comes from   the  octave. . . . The  seventh still remains  . . . w ha t  it always ha s been, simply a p as as si si ng ng t o n e . . . . T h u s t he so-c  so-called alled seventh chor d of free composition  is no m ore tha n the sum of a consonant triad and the passing tone of a seventh. 31

Schenker Schenk er prom ises that  all of  these concepts and the  laws that govern them will  be fully worked o ut in the text of  the free composition section - and in  fact 32 they   are worked  out in the  most minute detail.   T h o u g h  the th e  difficult task of reconstructing   the th e  "Freier Satz" text  is just  at the  very beginning stages,  it is evident that Schenker's early theory   of  free composition recalls the  t he  excursions 33 into free composition that   are found  in  Kontrapunkt  I.  In a  footnote pasted into   the th e  manuscript, Schenker speaks  of  removing  his  examples  of  free composition from Parts 1  and 2 if he were ever to  t o  prepare  a  revised edition of the first book   of  Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt  Parts  1  t h r o u g h  5  would thus form  a  true "Strenger Satz" section   -  devoted  to  strict counterpoint alone  -  while  all discussion of fre freee com position would be contained w ithin  th  the e "Freier S atz" secti section on 34 that would follow Part  6. W hen Schenker first first conceived of his plan  for Kontrapunkt,  Kontrapunkt,   h e ha had d intended to trace the theory of vvoic oicee leadi leading ng from strict strict cou nterpo int to  t o fr free ee comp ositio n by way of an interme diate step: the voic voicee leading of tho rou gh bass. His study of tho rough bass would demonstrate   ho how w  voice leading  an and d  scale degree worked together   in  figured-bass examples, which  he  regarded  as a  type  of of  free com position p articularly ssuitabl uitablee  for didactic purposes.35  He held the same to be true, though   in a  different sense,  for  chorale settings. Thus  in the  preface  of Kontrapunkt   1, he had stated his inte ntio n to order the sections  Kontrapunkt sections as follows: as follows: 1  1 strict bass,, 3) the chorale, and 4) fre freee com positio n.36 counterpoint,   2) thorough bass Schenker refers   to this plan at the th e end of  his introductory remarks to  t o Part 7:  Stimmfuhrung mmfuhrung gern und oft speziell den von der 31 .  Der Dreiklang des  freien Satzes entlehnt von der Sti Oktav kommenden Durchgang  der Sept..  . . die S  Sep eptt ble ib t.. . nach wie wie vor was  sie von Haus aus ist, bloss ein Durchg ang Der sogena nnte Vierklang Vierklang des fr freien eien Satzes Satzes lost sich somit  in die Summe eines konsonanten Dreiklangs Dreiklangs und eines Durchgangs der Sep  Septt auf"(item 51/151). See e  Robert Kosovsky,  The Oster Collection: 32 .  Se  (New York:  Collection: Papers  Papers ofHeinrich  Schenker.  A Finding  Finding List  List (New New York York Public Library, 1990), Appendix   1, 1,   which includes a reconstruction  of all  all the headings of  of the individual small sections  in Parts 7 and 8, giving the location of the m aterial found  in f  file iless 6, 5 1, 74,  and  79 . 33 .  See, for  for example,  example,   Kontrapunkt 1, Kontrapunkt 1, Part 2, pp. 248ff.  (Counterpoint 1, (Counterpoint 1, pp. 184ff.).   184ff.). 34. Item 51/146. 35.   I discuss Schenker's views on the relation  of thorough bass to free composition  in greater detail in "A Source   for  Schenker's Study  of  Thorough Bass:  His  Annotated Copy  of J. S.  Bach's Generalbassbiichlein in  Schenker Studies  Studies  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp .  19-21. See also the  highly informative chapter on  thorough bass in Wayne Petty's dissertation, "Comp ositional Techniques Techniques  in the Keyboard Sonatas of  Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Reimagining the Foundations  of a Musical  a Musical Style" (Ph.D. diss., Yale diss., Yale University,  University, 1995), pp. 1-48. Petty (p . 41 , n. 73) provides evidence, found   in Hans Wolf, "Schenkers Personlichkeit  im Unterricht,"  Unterricht," Der  Der Dreiklang 7 (October 1937), p.  181, that Schenker spoke of  thorough bass as an "Ubergang  zum  freien Satz" (though, as we know, the "Bridges to Fre  Freee Com position" in Part 6 of  Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt  deal with quite different material).

36.   Kontrapunkt 1, p. xxxii  xxxii   (Counterpoint 1, p. xxx,  translation slightly altered:  The theory  of  voice leading  is to be presented here as a discipline u nifi nified ed  in itself; that is, I shall show how, after after being worked   out first of all on a purely vocal basis and  then revealing  its presence  in the technique of thorough bass,  in  chorales,  and  finally  in  free composition,  it  everywhere maintains  its  inner

unity").

 

22

Hedi  Siegel Hedi Siegel I was tempted to have the theory of thorough bass fol follo low w immediately immediately afte afterr the theory of strict counterpoint. This would point up the contrast between the two disciplines (and would be in keeping with a historical approach), thus heightening the differences between tw o theorie s tha t are still mistakenly vi viewed ewed as being based based on allegedl allegedlyy correI was face facedd with the fact that the voice lleading eading of sponding voice-leading  principles. Yet I was thorough bass could never be correctly understood without a knowledge of free compo sition, an artistic and log logica icall relationship th at urgentl urgentlyy begge beggedd to be considered. I permitted the latter to win, and thus gained gained the advantag advantagee of not having having to burden my exposition of thorough bas exposition basss with all kinds of preconditions.37 38

Therefore the "Generalbass" section succeeds the "Freier Satz" section,   a n d Schenker organizes his material along precisely the same lines (compare the contents of Parts 7 and 8, which are shown side by side in Figure 2). After an introductory Chapter 1, Chapters 2 and 3 of Part 8 discuss the fundamental laws of scale degree and voice leading. This relationship poses some particular prob lem s in figured bass, for, for, as Schenker states: The Th e figure f igure cannot,  c annot, unfortunately, lead us to the inner m eaning; thus there remains only one possible course: possible  course: to derive the spe specif cific ic m eaning of each given givenfigure  from   a complete figurefrom    understanding of the context. Exactly the same is true for free composition in general, 39 where the context alone can elucidate a particular sonority. In figured-bass figured-bass exam ples, which of necessi necessity ty focu focuss on voice leading, the m usical meaning - in Schenker's words - "sometimes depends entirely on the scale degrees one needs to supply." 40 After discussing the special interaction of the fundamental laws, Schenker goes on to the fundam ental concepts. Chapters 4 through 7 borro w their titles from the chapters of the "Stimmfuhrung" subdivision of the "Freier Satz" section: parallel octaves and fifths, the passing tone, the seventh, and the Lehre vom Generalbass schon unm ittelbar an die Lehre 37 .  "War eess zwar dann an sich verlockend, die Lehre vom strengen Satze anzuschliessen, um, wofur ubrigens auch die historische Betrachtung ein Wort einlegen mochte, den Kontrast beider Disziplinen die unverstandenerweise noch immer als angeblich koordinirte Stimmfuhrungslehren gelten, gelten, nur desto anschaulicher anschaulicher zu m achen, so hat anderseits der Umstan d, dass die Stimmfuhrungsleh re des Generalbasses . . . oh ne freie freienn Satz iiberhau pt niemals recht verstanden werden kann, die Berucksichtigung eben dieses kunstlerisch-logischen Zusammen hanges noch dringender gemacht. Ich Ich liess liess nun den letzteren letzteren siegen siegen und gewann damit eben den Vorteil, dass die Darstellung der Stimmfuhrung im Generalbass und Choral nicht mit allerhand Voraussetzungen belastet werden musste" (items 51/155-56; compare the version in items 79/110-11). 38.   The projected section on the chorale became a relatively short "afterword" in the thorough bass section. Schenker's extensive extensive treatm ent of tho roug h bass did not find its way way into the published  D  Der er freie Satz.  In its introduction, however, Schenker stresses the importance of thorough bass instruction (pp. 15-16;  15-16;   Free  Composition,  Composition,  pp. xxi-xxii), and he appears to have had other plans for his "Generalbass" (as men tione d in the diary entry of April 8,1932 , transcribed in Federhofer, Federhofer, Heinrich  Heinrich  128). A  A translation  translation of the complete thorou gh bass section will will be published in  in   The Musi Schenker, p.  p . 128). Musicc  Vol. 6, Part 2. Forum, Vol. Forum, "1st nun die Ziff Ziffer er leider kein Weg ins Innere, so gibt es es nur eine Mo glichkeit ihr zu entsp rechen , 39.   "1st den beso nderen Sinn der Ziffe Zifferr an d er gegebenen Stelle Stelle aus der Situation selbst im vollen vollen Umfange zu entnehmen, genau so, wie es im freien Satze uberhaupt der Fall ist, wo nur die Situation allein Aufschluss iiber die betreffende klangliche Erscheinung gibt." From Chapter 1, §8: Von der Schwierigkeit in der Deutu ng d er Ziffern, Schwierigkeit Ziffern, file file 6, "Von "Von der Stim mfuhrun g des Generalbasses," Generalbasses," type script, p . 13. Stufen h inzuge dacht w erden mu ss, der eigentliche eigentliche 40 .   "Unte r Umstanden liegt ja gerade darauf, was an Stufen Nachdruck des Beispiels." From Chapter 2, §6: Vom Stufengang uberhaupt, file 6, "Von der

Stimm fuhrung des Generalbasses," Generalbasses," typescript, p. 19.

 

When   Freier Satz was When was part  part of  of  Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt 

23

suspension are taken up in turn. C hapter 8 is is a one-p aragrap h incom plete draft referring to the chapter on abbreviation in Part 7. Schenker's presentation of figured bass in Part 8 often harks back to Part 7, and even to Part 6. T Too take only one exam ple, from his discussion of the seven th chord in Chapter 7, Schenker cites C. P. E. Bach's description of a passage in which an A minor  minor   \  chord is followed by a  a  \  on D resolving to a f on C. Bach states stat es that both the third a nd the fourth of the \ the  \ enter  enter fr free eely ly over a passing to ne whose initiating tone in the bass, E, has been elided. 41   Commenting on the example, Schenker writes: If w If  wee als  alsoo plac placee a scal scalee degr degree ee under the example . . . , what we see see in in the bass - which is to be regarded as iiff it were one of the upp er voices - is a seventh seventh passing from an 42 octave. The "Freier Satz" section contains Schenker's explanation of this idea. Under the heading, "Der Satz der Aussenstimmen" ("The outer-voice setting"), 43 Schenker charac terizes the actual bass as one of the u ppe r voice voicess (i.e., an inne r voice) when viewed in relation to an "ideal" bass line consisting only of scale degrees. Again, this idea stems directly from the section on th e elision of a of a voice  voice at the end of Part 6: Usually [such a [such  a tone] wil tone] willl be supplied ... ... by  by our  our pe rc ep tio n. .. in the low low register register,, whe where re it provides a substru cture for the uppe r voices voices and, especiall especially, y, conf confers ers altered m eanings upon the dissonances. Our guess is that it is the scale degrees that complete the setting 44 in th is way. We have have seen seen that the th orou gh bass secti section on can be un derstoo d only in light light of the free free co mp ositio n section that precedes it - the early version of Part 7 which has been the main focus of this preliminary report. Yet the revisions of the "Freier Satz" section that S chenker und ert oo k later, aft after er he had finished finished dictating the entire  entire   Kontrapunkt 2  2  in the summer of 1917, hold the key to the further development of his theory. The reconstruction of these later revisions is an extremely complex task; here I can only give a brief hint of their importance. As Schenker worked out the role of the  the   Urgesetze  a n d  Urbegriffe  in free Urlinie an d  Ursatz.  Ursatz. As m entioned composition, he came close to the ideas of  of   Urlinie an above, the revisions made on the first two chapters of the "Freier Satz" section may document the origins of the term   Urlinie itself.  When he was revising a P. E. Bach,  Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments,  trans, and ed. William JJ.. 4 1 .  See C. P.

Mitchell (New  York: Norton, 1949), 1949), pp. 236-37. setzte zte man denn auch hier .. . die S Stu tufe fe nun auch unter das B ei sp ie l.. ., so erhalten erhalten wir 42 .  "Und so set wieder das Bild Bild einer von der Oktav durchgeh enden Sept im Basse, Basse, als als einer oberen Stimm e betra chtet." From Chapter 6, § 1: Vom Begriffder Sept, file 6, "Von "Von der Stim mfuhru ng des Generalbasses," Generalbasses," typescript, p. 57. clarification ion of Schenker's use use of the term  term  Aussensatz in  in Music 43 .  See John R othgeb's clarificat  Music Theory  Theory Spectrum 16/1 (1994), p. 148, part of his response to Joseph Lubben's article, "Schenker the Progressive: Analytic Practice in  in   Der Tonwille Music Theory  15/11 (1993), pp. 57 -75. Music Theory Spectrum 15/ 261 {Counterpoint2,, pp. 270-71). Schenker took up this idea again in "Noch ein 44. 44 .   Kontrapunkt 2, p. 261 {Counterpoint2 Wort zur Urlinie," Tonwille Urlinie,"  Tonwille 2 (1922), 2 (1922), p. 4, and also in his "Fortsetzung d er Urlinie-Betrachtu ngen," Meisterwerk   I, p. 188 ("Further Considerations of the Urlinie: I," trans. John Rothgeb,  Meisterwerk Rothgeb,  Masterwork I, p. 105); see Pastille, "The Development of the  the   Ursatz?  Ursatz?  pp .  8Iff.  See also the discussion of the

quoted passage in Joseph Dubiel, "'When You Are a Beethoven': Kinds of Rules in Schenker's Counterpoint

Journal of Music Theory   34/2 (1990), p p .  326ff

 

24

Hedi  Siegel Hedi Siegel heading in the reorganized "Stufe" chapter, "Vom Kern der melodischen Linie als Mittler zwischen Stimmfuhrung und Stufe" ("The essence of the melodic line as the liaison between voice leading and scale scale degree"), Schenker wrote the word "Urlinie" in red pencil just above the words "melodischen Linie" that his wife had copied down, and the heading became "Von der Urlinie als Mittler 45 zwischen Stufe und Stimmfuhrung."   A similar insertion was made in the first heading in the subsequent reorganized chapter on composing-out. "Von einfachen Formen der Auskomponierung" ("The simple forms of composingout") was changed to read "Von der Urlinie und den einfachen Formen der Auskomponierung." 46 The close relationship of the   Urlinie to the two  two  Urgesetze  of Schenker's early theory of free composition is strikingly evident in the first published appearance of the word. In 1920, soon after he had abandoned the idea of including "Freier Satz" in in   Kontrapunktl,  Schenker Schenker introduced the  the  Urlinie in the Erlauterthe Erlauterungsausgabe   of Beethoven's Op . 10 1. As the following q uota tion s show, his ungsausgabe language h arks back to the "Freier Satz" section in its earl earlyy version: A composition springs to life woven out of  of   Urlinie, Stufe,  Stufe,  and  and   Stimmfuhrung... Stimmfuhrung... .47 It is the artist's task . . . to elicit elicit fro from m [the  [the  Urlinie's] rise Urlinie's] rise and fall - as well as from the fundamental laws of  of   Stufe an Stufe andd  Stimmfuhrung  -  ever new configurations of unique motives and melodies, thus transforming the general into the specific: semper idem sed non eodem m odo - the artist ccan an do no more than tthis his 48 And echoe echoess are heard when Schenker expl explains ains the im portanc e of the  the   Urlinie to his idea of  of   Synthese  Synthese  (synthesis) in Der in Der Tonwille, to Tonwille, to cite one passage out of m any: The liaison liaison between the ho rizontal versi version on of tonality throu gh the the Urlinie  Urlinie and  and the ver49 tical through the scale degree (Stufe) degree  (Stufe)  is voice voice leading leading (Stimmfuhrung).  (Stimmfuhrung). As the im por tant man uscript material fro from m the early early version version of K of  K ontrapunkt ontrapunkt   2 is studied further, it will undoubtedly shed light on many passages in the Tonwille a Tonwille  ann d  Meisterwerk es Meisterwerk essay says, s, for mu ch of what Schenker wr ote in the 192 1920s 0s builds upo n the theo ry of ffre reee com position he formulated in the "Freier "Freier Satz" and "Generalbass" sections. They serve to record one of Schenker's most original and significant contributions - a fully worked out theory of the relation between scale degree and voice leading in free composition. They also set the stage for the appearance of the  the   Urlinie and the  Ursatz,  but paradoxically it was because   of the emergence of these imp ort an t ideas that Schenker had to because abandon his plan of "bringing strict and free composition together in the 45 .  See item 51/804. 46 .   Item  74/91.  It seems likely that Schenker is making a specific reference to this projected chapter when speaking of the forthcoming II 3   in the opening paragraph of "Die Urlinie: Eine Vorbemerkung,"  Tonwille 1  1   (1921), p. 22. 47.   Erlduterungsausgabe, Op. 101,  101, p.  p. 22 (re (rev. v. edn, p. 8). 48. 48 .  Ibid 49 .   "Noch zur Jonas, Urlinie," Urlinie," Tonwille  (1922), pp. 4-6 The translation basedYork on th: at bygman John,  Tonwille  2 (1922), RothgebeininWort Oswald   Introduction Int roduction 2 to the the Theory of .Heinrich Schenkeris   (New Lon

1982), p. 136. An excellent excellent discussion of Schenker's synthesis of  of   Urlinie, Stufe, an Stufe, andd  Stimmfuhrung as seen in D in  D er Tonwille  found in Wayne Petty's introd uctio n to his translatio n of Schenker's essa essayy er Tonwille is found

on H aydn's Sonata in Et major from  from   Tonwille 3  3 (1922),  (1922), Theoria  3 (1988),  (1988), pp. 106-10.  Theoria 3

 

When   Freier Satz When Freier Satz was was  part of of   Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt 

25

compass of a single volume." The abandoned sections were superseded by his later work, yet for us they could help bridge the wide conceptual and temporal  K ontrap ontrapunkt unkt   a n d  Derfreie Satz. So Satz. So if gap between between the p ublished second book of of K we join Schenker in his early early jou rne y - if we cross the bridge th at span s Part 6 and step ooff ff dire directly ctly into Parts 7 an d  8 ll then be better equip ped to move  8 -   we wi we will on to the mo re distant land of of   Derfreie Satz.

 

Schenker''s unp ub Schenker ublished lished work with the th e music of Johannes Brahms Allen Cadwallader and William Pastille

It is not known how Heinrich Schenker first met Johannes Brahms. Certainly by 1894 the two men had established an acquaintance that afforded Schenker 1 various opportunities to visit with Brahms.   Schenker once described the nature of this association: Nothing is farther from my intent than to represent myself as a surviving friend of Brahm s. The very significa significant nt age  difference, ence, m y great reverence and love for the master,  age differ concern for his time [- these] these] allo allowed wed me to approach him only when when I had a serious serious request, such as arose for for a  a variety  variety of reasons: sometimes it w it was as my compositions, compositions, publis lished hed or un published, th at took me to him , sometimes [my] rrevi eviews ews of hi of hiss newl  newlyy pub lished works or other essays of mine, [sometimes] conveying or commending the requests of others.2 These meetings made a profound and lasting impression on Schenker, whose adm iration and respect fo forr Brahm s incre increased ased as he pursued his musical musical studies; s, Schenker oft often en referred to him as the llast ast great maste r of Germ an in later year later  years, music. It has even been suggested that Brahm s's influence influence on Schenker was, iinn a way, the inspiration for his theoretical achievements. 3 Curiously, however, Schenker's publication s do no t conta in m any analyses analyses of of Brahm s's music. Althoug h Schenker frequently used brief excerpts as exam ples, he publish ed on ly one analys analysis is of a com plete work - a substantial ess essay ay on the 4 Handel V ariat ariations, ions, Op. 24.   This apparent neglect of Brahms's music is somewhat inconsistent with the notion that the composer had been a formative influence on Schenker and his work. 1. Durin g the centenary year of Brahms's birth , Schenker Schenker wrote an article article entitled Erinne rungen an of   De r Kunstwart) Brahms, published in the the Deutsche  Deutsche Zeitschrift  Zeitschrift  (a continuation of  Kunstwart)   46/8 (May 1933), recalls that, followi following ng th e death of H ans von Bulow in February of 1894, pp . 475 -82. In the article he recalls Maximilian Harden, the editor of Die of  Die Zukunft,  Zukunft,  had asked Schenker to inquire of Brahms whether Harden 's jour nal m ight pub lish some letters from from Bulow that were in Brahms's possession. Schenker's acquaintance with Brahms must have been well established by the time, or Harden would not have expected Schenker to meet with a favorable response from Brahms. Schenker also reports (p. 476) that he showed his already published Op.   1 piano pieces to Brahms at their first meeting. According to Hellmut Federhofer,   Heinrich Schenker: Nach Tagebuchern und Briefen in der Oswald Jonas

 (Hildesheim: Olms, 1985), p. 15, Schenker's Op.  Op.  1  was published sometime in Memorial Collection (Hildesheim: Memorial Collection 1892. Thus the first meetings between Brahms and Schenker must have taken place late in 1892 or early in 1893. 2.   Schenker, Erinne runge n an Brahms, p.  475. The  The translation is by the autho rs, as are are all subsequent translations unless otherwise otherwise noted. illiam am Pastille, Pastille, Schenker's Brahms, The American Brahms 3.   W illi American Brahms Society  Society Newsletter 5/ Newsletter  5/22 (1987), p. 2.

ein Them a von Hand el, opus 24, Tonwille 4.   Heinrich Schenker, Brahm s: Variationen und Fuge uber ein 8-9 (1924), pp. 3-46.

26

 

Schenker s unpublishe unpublishedd work with the music of Brahms

27

The publication record, as it turns out, does not accurately represent the extent to which Schenker analyzed Brahms's music over the years.  A large body of unpublished material on Brahms survives in the portion of Schenker's 5 Nachlass housed in the Oster C ollection ollection at the New Yor Yorkk Public Library. Library.  F  For or several years this collection has been fully accessible to the public on carefully reproduced microfilm. microfilm. In addition , it has been painstakingly painstakingly indexed by Robert Kosovsky,6 whose guide is an indispensable aid to scholarly work with the materials. It  was well known, even  known, even bef  before ore the O ster Collection was opened to the public, that the greatest concentration of material on Brahms is found in a single file folder that Schenker labeled "Brahms." In Kosovsky's catalogue, this folder bears the designation "file   34," but it has long been known to Schenker scholars simply  as the "Brahms folder."7 Interesting items relating to Brahms appear elsewhere in the collection, such as an extended analysis by Anthony van Hob oken of Brahms's Brahm s's Intermezzo Interme zzo in El El> major, Op . 117, No . 1, conta ining 8 anno tations by Schenke Schenker. r.  This item is particularly particularly fascinatin fascinating, g, becaus becausee there is also a complete commentary on the same piece by Schenker in the Brahms 9 folder. In our preliminary attempts to classify the material on Brahms, we found that the items in the file could be categorized as follows: (1) casual remarks about Brahms and brief incidental examples fro from m his music, contained m ostly in incomplete ess incomplete  essays ays;; (2) analytical analytical comm entaries in com plete and incomplete form, covering a time span from approximately 1914 to the late 1920s, contemporaneous with the commentaries of the   Erliiuterungsausgaben, Der Tonwille, and the first two volumes of  Das Da s  Meisterwerk  Meisterwerk   in  de r  Musik;  (3) draft sketches, in various stages of completion, in a style similar to the late graphs published in the  the   1930s; 1930s; and (4) completed com pleted analyses, in the late style style ooff the Funf Urlinie Tafeln> of selected piano pieces. In this article, which is conceived as a brief introduction to Schenker's unpublished work on Brahms, we will concentrate on materials pertaining to our second and fourth categories and will limit ourselves ourselves to illustrating, throu gh a ffew ew examples,  examples, some general characteristics of  the  th e  early early analytical analytical commen taries and of the later graphic analyses. While it would be desirable to isolate a few of the analytical subjects that received special attention from Schenker during the period of the early commentaries on B rahms's rahms's music, it is impossible to do so, because Schenker seems to have have been interested in everything: form, phrase stru cture, m otivic relations, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint - anything anything that attracted his notice. Perhaps Perhaps the most general characteristic of these early commentaries, a characteristic 5.   Schenker's surviving papers  n o w  reside primarily  in  three separate collections:  (1) the  Oster  th th e Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection at the University o f California,  a nd Collection;  ( 2 )   California, Riverside; a (3 )  a private collection  in th e possession  o f Mrs.   Mrs. Felix Salzer. 6.   Robert Kosovsky,  The Oster Collection: Papers ofHeinrich   Schenker A  Finding List  (New  York:  N ew York Public Library, 1990). 7. Items  in the Oster Collection  are  identified first by   the file  in which they occur, then  by the number o f the

by their numerical sequence  in that file file.. Thus the designation item 34/138 identifies the 138th 138th item in   the th e  Brahms folder; subsequent references will  us usee  this format.  A  partial list  of  sketches  in the Brahms folder  i s presented i  in n Appendix A.

8. Item  14/2. Itemss 34/81-105  an d 34/115-23. 9.   Item

 

28

Allen Cadw allader and William Pastille

that indeed typifies all of Schenker's work, is their extreme attention to detail. Because we canno t, how ever, isola isolate te special interests, we will convey convey the character of Schenker's early work by discussing briefly a commentary on the E m ino r In term ezzo, O p. 119, No. 2. To illustrate Schenker's late late graphs , we shall shall exam ine a draft sketch of the same piece, and a graph ic analysis analysis of the B m ino r Intermezzo, Op. 119, 119, No. 1. Plate  Plate   1  shows the opening parag raphs of the comm entary on O p. 119, No. 2. Prepared by Jeanette Schenker from her husband's dictation, the manuscript 10 was completed on October 22, 1914.   Those who are acquainted with Schenker's 1912 monograph on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or with the Erlduterungsausgaben   of Beethoven's late piano sonatas that were published during the same decade, will find the style of this commentary familiar. Schenkerr begins his com me ntary on the Intermezzo, as was hhis Schenke is custom in the publi shed wo rks that app eared betwee n 191 19100 and 1920, by procee ding from the large-scale form toward consideration of smaller and smaller parts of the form. He describes the large-scale Aj section as "a series of variations to which, in a manner of speaking, fugal form has been applied." By "fugal form" he means the broad h arm on ic plan: that is is,, the first first subsidiary section (bars 1-12) "retains the principal key, key,"" the second (bars 13-28) " intro duc es the m od ula tions," and the third (bars 28-35) "returns to the principal key." Within each of these subsidiary sections, Schenker identifies one or two "statements" (Aufstellungen),   a term th at relates relates to the thematic structu re of the entire   A x   section. Two statements appear in the first section (bars 1-5 and 9-12 ), two in the second (bars 13-17 and 18-21), and final finally, ly, one in the thir d 11 (bars 29-33), for a total of five. Furthermore, within each statement, Schenker distinguishes two smaller units, antecedent and consequent, for which he use usess the metaph or "two berries on on e stem." Consider, for instance, the firs firstt stateme nt: the two berries consist, respectively, of bars 1-2 and 3-5. He also refers to the first of these as the "them e" and to the second as iits ts "repetition"; "repetition"; here the two are separated by what Schenker calls an "interjection" (the   dtf2  of bar 2, to be enlarged in bars 5-8 as an extension of the first statement). Going even further into detail, Schenker distinguishes within each "berry" two parts forming a small parallelism, as in b a r   1  and bar 2. Each part is called called the "m otive," but Schenker refers refers to the first as the "original" and the second as the "copy"; he notes that the copy abbreviates the original. He further points to the circling of the melodic line around the tone b 1  as the m ost no teworthy characteristic characteristic of the motive. Having reached the basic basic unit of construction, all all that that rem ains to com plete the m otivic analysis iiss to spec specif ifyy the differ difference ence betw een th e original form of the 10.   Items 34/8-12. A complete complete translation of this commentary is provided in Appendix B B.. 11.   The phrase stru cture of the A, section section is unclear in many respects and it is perha ps best not to ref refer er to a succession succession of phrases in the usual sense. Instead, uneq ual grou ps of measures appear w ith subtle overlaps and extensions, which contribute to the agitated, restless character of the section.

Schenker's A ufstellung ufstellung  refers refers to an initial ffive-bar ive-bar thema tic pattern that is repeated (sometim es in varied form ). Because he is not c onsidering th e extensions to those g roups, his term is roughly analogous to the m ain body of what might be considered a "phrase" (the ide identif ntifying ying bar num bers cited

in the text are Schenker's). For ano ther view of the melodic st ructu re of this Intermez zo, see Edward T. Cone, "Brahms: Songs With Words and Songs Without Words," in  Integral  1  (1987), pp. 37-43.  Integral 1

 

Schenker s unpubl unpublished ished work with the music of Brahms

/

29

tK

Plate   1  The opening of Schenke Plate  Schenker' r'ss comm entary (1914) on Brahms, Intermezzo Op. 119, No. 2 (from file 34/item 8, Oster Collection)

 

30

Allen Cadw allader and William Pastille

motive in bar 1 and its copy in bar 2. It would be a mistake, according to Schenker, to regard the copy  copy  as an  an imitation of thefirst  f irst four  f our eighths of the original form, because the copy i copy  iss a condensation of the of the original. Therefore, Therefore, the b1 that concludes the copy the  copy on the second second beat of bar 2 bar 2  (over (over the dominan t) is t) is anal1 ogous to the  last  b  in bar 1, and not to thefirst.  f irst.Psychologically,  Psychologically, Schenker S chenker says, 12 there is a significant difference between the two interpretations. If Schenker is concerned with psychological motivic distinctions at such a detailed level, he is no less concerned with contrapuntal and harmonic characteristics. At the time he wrote this comm entary, both  Harmonielehre and the first book of  Kontrapunktwere well behind him, and he had already made considerable progress in the task he had set for himself almost two decades earlier; namely, "to bring the so-called 'disciplines of harmony and counterpoin t' into a desirable desirable proximity with free free com position." position."13  So it is not surprising to find that Schenker's painstakingly precise analysis analysis - in many case casess descending descendi ng even to the le level vel of of individual pitches - combines in equal measure both harmonic and contrapuntal factor factors. s. For instance, Schenker Schenker concentrates his attention on the precise precise meaning of 1 the very first c   in the upper voice. It is an accented embellishing tone 14

(Wechselnote)  -   in this case, case, an upper neighbor - reveal revealed ed as such, he maintains, by the relation of the of  the bass note E note E (the root of the tonic harmony) both to 1 the b  on the upbeat to bar  bar  1  and to the same tone that enters after a detour 1 through the  g  on the second eighth of the of the bar. For Schenker, the resolution of 1 the accented neighbor (to b   on the second quarter of bar 1) above the subof the tonic  tonic E dominant A dominant  A instead of the  E does nothing at all to alter the contrapuntal 1 1 function functi on of the c .  But the change of harmony obviously obviously h  has as an effec effectt on the b of the resolution, which now acquires acquires the character of an accented passing passing tone . 1 For if the if  the b  had entered earlier, earlier, on the second second eighth of bar  bar  1, then, 1, then, according to Schenker, it would have would  have appeared  appeared a  ass a 9-8 suspension suspension above  above IV on the second second quarter of bar 1. This situation is situation  is one in which Schenker's atten tion focuse focusess on a on a contrapuntal phenomenon attended by harmonic considerations. There are also cases in surface suggests that he already distinguishes the function of 12.   Schenker's description of the musical surface tones at different different structu ral levels. levels. As As is discussed below, the b 1 on the second quarter of bar  bar  1  can 2 1 be considered a passing tone at the foregroun d level level (between c  and a ); consequently, it functions diff different erently ly (and at a lower level) level) than the o ccurrences of  b 1 on the anacrusis anacrusis and the second eighth of the third quarter. From the perspective of his of  his later ideas, this explains the "significant "significant difference" difference" Schenker Schen ker mention s. essay ay "Der Geist der musikalischen Technik," repr. in 13.   Schenker conceived this project in th e 1895 ess Heinrich Schenker als Essayist und Kritiker Kritiker,,  ed. Hellmut Federhofer (Hildesheim : Olms, 1990), pp .  135-54; trans, by William Pastille as "The Spirit of Musical Technique,"   Theoria  3 (1988), see p. 93. pp . 86-104 ; see term  Wechselnote  14. 14.   Schenker used the term  Wechselnote  for passing and neighboring tones that fall on the beat. The term is sometimes translated literally as "changing note" - for example, in  Harmony-   but "changing note" has a has  a num ber of usages in English, none of them equivalent to Schen ker's. In Counterpoint^ Rothgeb and Thym use "accented passing tone" throughout, with a note   (Counterpoint  1, p. 354, n. 1 to Part 2, Chap ter 2) stating that Schenker uses it only with tha t me aning . Here, however, however, Schenker is clearly clearly referring referring to an accented neig hbor, an d even in  Kontrapunkt  Kontrapunkt 2,  2, p. 75, he seems to mean   Wechselnote   as "accented neighbor" rather than the "accented passing tone" used in

Counterpoint  2, p. 75, at Example 122. Schenker's discussion of Example 122 is pertinent to the Brahms analysis, because it deals deals with the sixth as conso nant neighb or - the very situation we find in bar  bar   1  of the Brahms.

 

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31

which the focus of his attention is a harmonic phenomenon attended by cont rapu ntal considerations. For example, example, on the second beat ooff bar  23 , we find "the characteristically B rahm sian com bin ation of I and f IV IV,," tha t is, ooff an E m ino r chord an d an Al Altt dim inishe d seventh chord . Schenker cont inue s, referring only to beat tw o: "the first [the [the E  E m ino r ch ord] is reinforced by its fifth; fifth; the second [the At seventh chord ] is completely represe nted; but in such a way that its fifth, fifth, which lies iinn the b ass, makes th e leap of a fift fifthh upw ard [that is, ffrom rom E to B], because it is simultaneously presenting itself as the root of I." Schenker indicates that he considers this harmonic event to be rooted in counterpoint: "compare," he notes, "C. P. E. Bach Bach on th e explanation of such a p hen om eno n 15 as a passing motion." This concise look at one of Schenker's early commentaries on Brahms's mu sic shou ld be suf suffic ficient ient to convey some idea of the char acter of these analyses. ses. We now tu rn our attention to Schenker's Schenker's later later work on Brahms's music. Plates 2 and 3 show the first and second parts of the graph of the B minor Intermezzo, Op. 119, No. 1, one of a surprisingly large number of completed analyses in file 34. 16  These beautiful fair-copy gr aphs were care carefull fullyy prep ared by Angi Elias, who was one of Schenker's first and most devoted students. In the later years, she appears also to have acted as Schenker's assistant; she prepared the final copies of his com pleted analyses, perh aps for publica tion. M uch of ou r knowledge abou t her comes from Schenker's Schenker's lesson lesson books, another part of the Oster Collection, which detail his teaching activities from 1912 to 1932. 17  W e know, for example, that in October of 1926 Elias began to study the B minor Interm ezzo; the sketch presen ted h ere may quite possibly be the result of Eli Elias' as'ss 18 work com pleted un der Schenker's Schenker's cclos losee supervision. In Plate 2, one can immediately recognize two aligned analytic levels, the typical format for the completed analyses of the late piano pieces. The character of the sketch and the specifics of its graphic notation are consistent with othe r late publish ed analyses. For instance , the lower le level vel is similar to th e first foreground example in Schenker's 1925 analysis of Bach's Largo for unaccompanied violin: it is a chordal reduction, with the bar lines and surface rhythm of the the 3/8 meter expressed expressed throu ghou t. 1 9  Also characteristic of Schenker's later analytical work are the broke n slurs that highlight the re tenti on of a si single ngle pitch over larger spans of the foreground and middleground. Below the bass in Schenker is  is probably referring to Bach's Bach's description of the chord of the major seve nth,^: "This chord 15.   Schenker appears as a passing passing relatio nship   [im  Durchgange] bass." See ee C. P.  C. P. E.  E. Bach, Essay Bach, Essay on  Durchgange]   over a stationa ry bass." S th e  True Art of  Playing Keyboard Instruments,  tran s, and e d. William William J. Mitchell (New York: Norton, Keyboard Instruments, tran  p. 294, parag raph 3, and Figure 370a. 1949), p. 1949), futuree publication that would p resent the completed graphic anal analyses yses 16.   The authors are planning a futur and som e of the incomplete working sketches sketches with comm entary. 17.   The lesson books are conta ined in files 3 and 16. assisted her husba nd in his work; most of the man uscrip t texts in the 18.   Jeanette Schenker invariably assisted  are in her ha ndw riting. The role played by Angi Elias Elias is of of a  a somewhat different different natu re. As Nachlass are Nachlass the result of years of close close tutelage, Schenker apparently co nsidered Elias Elias a skille skilledd analyst and mu sician, one who could assist him in preparing his final and most advanced analyses. In addition to several of the Intermezzi, extensive analyses of the Waltzes Op. 39, and the  Studies on a Theme of Paganini, O Paganini,  O p. 35, are preserved preserved in Elias' Elias'ss han d.

ach'ss Sonata No Sonata No . 3 for Unaccompanied Violin [BWV 1005]," [BWV 1005]," trans.  trans. 19.   See Schenker, "The Largo of J.  J. S. B ach' John Rothgeb, in   Th e  Music Forum,  Vol. 4 (New York:  Columbia University Press, University Press,   1976), 1976), pp. 142-43,  (For John Rothgeb's revised translation, see Masterwork see Masterwork I,  I, pp. 31-38.) 149. (For 149.

 

3

Allen Cadwallader and W illiam Pastille

 A,   section b y Schenker/Elias Plate  2  Brah ms, Intermezzo Op . 119, No. 1: graph   of A, (from file file 34/item 1, Oster C ollectio n)

IZ C

Example 1 Brahm s, Intermezzo O p. 119, No. 1: reductio n   of bars 9 16

 

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33

Schenker's hand, we see what appears to be the term "Quartzug" and a corresponding slur, both of which have been crossed out, indicating that Schenker changed his mind about his reading of this portion of the lower voice. One of the matters that can be elucidated by these unpublished graphs is Schenker's attitude toward Brahms's allegedly "progressive" compositional tendencies. Consider the open ing of this Intermezzo, which has been been subje subjected cted to several several ddiffe ifferent rent an alytical appr oache s. Schenker finds finds a trad ition al descending-fifth progression, the root movement of which is camouflaged in the music by the overlapping, arpeggiated triads of the sequence. A virtually identical reading is given by Felix Salzer in his analysis in   Structural Hearing. 20   By contrast, a more recent scholar, demonstrating progressive tendencies in Brahms's music, declared the opening ambiguous and a sequence of chords to be undemonstrable. 21   Another has made an even broader claim; that in his late piano music B rahms began to overtu rn a distinction of Clas Classi sical cal and Baroque music 22 - the distinction between principal and secondary voices voices..  But it is clear from his many unpublished analyses that Schenker found Brahms's music to be firmly grounded in the techniques of diatonic tonality. Brahms might have composed in ways that concealed or expanded upon earlier compositional procedures, but he nevertheless retained the techniques of his Classical heritage. A few comments about Schenker's analysis can shed light on some aspects of Brahms's compositional style. In the higher level of Plates 2 and 3, Schenker shows that the primary tone 5 is literally, not just conceptually, prolonged through the   A {  and B sections, elaborated by repetitions of scale degree 6, a high-level neighbor note. At lower levels melodic activity is achieved through various diminutions that prolong the primary tone Ff in the two-line octave, the obligatory register, or transfer it to the one-line octave and back again. The details of of Schenker's foregroun d graph (the second level) level) reve reveal al m ore precisely precisely how Brah ms achieve achievess variety in an up per voice that is essentially essentially stati staticc at a deep middleground level. Consider bars 9-16 of Plate 2 in relation to the synoptic graph given in Example 1. If one examines the broader bass motio n indicated by the slur slur tha t Schenker deleted, one wou ld have to consider a slightly slightly diffe different rent organ ization of the upper voice than is indicated in Schenker's final interpretation: the line 2 2 1 1 from ftt  wou ld o utline a sixth sixth plus a third , ffiit   down to a , then a  down to  ff1.23 (This re ading corre spon ds clos closely ely to Felix Felix Sal Salzer' zer'ss and can be offered offered as an alter2 1 1 1 native interpretation.) It reveals ftt —a —gt —ftt   as a related series of pitches in the foreground from bars 9-16. This tone succession, with G^, first appears at the surface level in bars 1-2; it is subsequently expanded to delineate the upper

Salzer, Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in  Music,  2nd edn (New  York: Dover, 1962 ), Vol. 2, 20.   Felix Salzer, Structural  Music, 2nd pp . 248-51. 21 .  Jonath an Dun sby, "Structural Ambigu ity in Brahm s: Analytical Approache s to Four Works" (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1981), pp. 85-92. 22.   Walter Frisch, "Brahms's Late Piano Works: Explorations in Musical Space," in   The American

/2 (1991 ), pp. 1-2. Brahms Society Newsletter 9 Newsletter 9/2 final reading indicates that the octave fro from m fl2  to ft1 is articulated at cl2, yielding a fourth 23 .  Schenker's final plus a fifth (Schenker (Schenker writes writes the word "Quintzug " above bars 12 -16).

 

Plate 3 Brahms, Intermezzo O p. 119, No. 1: graph of  section by Schenker/Elias (from file 34/item 1, Oster Collection)

 

Schenker s unpubli unpublished shed work with the music of Brahms

35

Plate 4 Brahms, Intermezzo Op. 119, No. 1: graph of A2  section by Schenker/Elias Plate Schenker/Elias (from file 34/item 1, Oster Collection)

voice of bars 5-9 . 24   This reading reveals a hidden motivic relationship between the antecedent and consequent phrases: an enlarged repetition of the opening dim inut ion becom es the structural framework of the upper voic voicee iinn the second phrase, where, as part of a descending descending line, it trans transfers fers the p rim ary to ne to the 25 one-line octave and mark s the end of the   A {   section. The technique of sustaining scale degree 5 over large stretches of the middleground is one that might be considered a characteristic feature of Brahms's music. One ramification is that the completion of the structure is realized quickly, near the end of a section or piece. In Plate 4, which depicts the A 2 section, Schenker shows (in the foreground graph) the descent from 5 beginning six bars from the end; 5-4-3 is supported by parallel tenths at the foreSchenker's 's two "Nb" (Nebennote)  designations (bars 7-8), the first of which he places in parenthe24.   Schenker ses, constitute an interesting feature of this graph. In the tone succession ft 2-a 2-g 2 -ffl 2, the ft2   in a sense "reaches over" to a 2, which is a neighbor (at a lower level level)) to the more funda mental neighb ornote g2  that decorates the primary tone ft2. This identical figure appears (sometimes varied) in the 2 2 2 2 Intermezzi in Bl minor, Op. 117, No. 2 (f —at —gt —f ), A major, Op. 118, No. 2 (B section, 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 c t -f t -e -d -c t ), and A minor, Op. 76, No. 7 (e -a -g -f -e ). This figure, sometimes greatly expanded, maintains the presence of the primary tone while providing for melodic activity at lower

levels. closely to Felix Felix Salzer' Salzer's, s, has been described by 25.   This m otivic process, in a reading that co rrespon ds closely Allen Cadwallader in "Motivic Unity and the Integration of Structural Levels in Brahms's B Brahms's  B Minor Intermezzo, Op. 119, No. 1," Theory 1,"  Theory an d  Practice  8/2 (1983), pp. 5-24.  Practice 8/2

 

36

Allen Cadwallader and William Pastille

Plate 5 Brahms, Intermezzo Op. 119, No. 1: Schenker's middleground sketch (file 34/item 2, Oster Collection) ground, which are embedded in another descending fifth progression that expands the motion from the mediant to the dominant. All of the details illustrated in Elias' Elias'ss fairfair-copy copy sketch are put into perspective in a graph in Schenker's hand (Plate 5), which is representative of a type of sketch that appears throughout the Brahms folder and occasionally in   D er Tonwille -   a mid dlegro und synops synopsis is that summ arizes the fformal, ormal, harm onic , and contrapuntal properties of an entire piece. Schenker reads a 5-line over two bass arpe ggi atio ns, th e first of which (I—II —III—V) —V) articulat es th e  A l  a n d B sections of the form. At a lower level (shown on the lower staff), dividing dominants expand the ton ic and m ediant areas areas.. The These se sk sketc etches hes and others like them leave little doubt thatprinciples Schenker he believed Brahms's music toinbe expressions us of with the Classical tonal described and codified   Der freie Satz. We now return to the E minor Intermezzo, Op. 119, No. 2. Besides the early commentary discussed above, the Brahms folder also contains an incomplete analytical sketch in Schenker's hand, dating probably from the first half of the 1920s. The incomplete sketches found in the folder range from short excerpts drawn on small pieces of note paper to extensively developed graphs on wide-format music paper. These are Schenker's everyday working sketches and are often very difficult to read, sometimes because the notes are unclear, and sometimes because Schenker scribbles comments on or 26 above the staves. Example 2 shows Schenker's reading of the opening twelve bars; in the early

26.   Because of the difficulties involved in reading Schenker's handwritten graphs, the Examples 2-4 (taken from from items 34/13-1 5) are presented as "diplomatic transc riptions ," which will preserve some of the appearance and character of his working sketches. We have also omitted some extraneous symbols that are indecipherable (to our eyes).

 

Schenker s unpubli unpublished shed work with the music of Brahms

37

 No. 2: Schenker's Schenker's draft sket sketch ch of bars of bars  1-12 Example 2 Brahms, Intermezzo Op. 119, 119, No. (transcription)

16  

IV

V7

IV 

9 8  7

I

IV

V

I (IV)

7

commentary, he designated these bars as the first section because the principal key is retained. Recall also that in 1914 he described the thematic structure in terms of "statements," each each of which contains antecedent and consequen t parts or, to use his metaphorical language, "two berries on one stem." Schenker did not abandon his early ways of thinking about this piece when he returned to it in later years. He remains very much concerned with surface and foreground detail, and he graph ically recapitulates his colorful colorful allusion. The large slurs with numbers in the sketch identify the berries on the stem, the antecedent/ consequent units within the statements. In the early early com me ntary Schen Schenker ker writes that the "motive" ccir ircle cless arou nd the 1 tone b . In the later sketch, he return s to this poi nt. M ost of his graph of the A } 1 section traces the path of  b   at the surface and foreground. In the opening bars, one can see see some ela boratio ns of scal scalee degree  5: in bar 2 he writes "b c b" ; above bar 5, "b a b"; and above ba r 6, "b al altt  b". Over a longer span, in in the mo dulato ry

1

2

second section, which is not shown in Example 2, b   moves out to e   and then 2 1 t o c   (bars 13-2 3); b   then returns over the prolonged dominant (bars 23-28), just before the return of tonic harmony signals the beginning of Schenker's

 

38

A l le n C a d w a lla d e r a n d W ill ia m P a s till e

Example 3 Brahms, Intermezzo Example Intermezzo Op. Op. 119,  119, No. 2: Schenker's Schenker's draft sket sketch ch of bars of bars 27-35 (transcription)

third section (bar 29). (bar  29). It  It wou ld seem, therefore, that scale scale degree 5 would be t he logical first choice for the primary tone of the fundamental line. 27 It is also evident in the graph that Schenker was considering the characteristics isti cs of deeper levels levels in relation to the features of the surface surface and foregr ound . Example 3, which shows the third section, suggests that Schenker probably did read the fundamental line initially from scale degree 5 and then changed his mi nd. T he 5 at at the beginning of the section, the first first capped Arabic Arabic num eral to appe ar in the bod y of the sketc sketch, h, iiss crossed out, and a small small num eral 4 precedes a larger  ^3.  ^3 . From the way the 3 appears on the page - it stands stands out from the su rrou nd ing gr aphics - we believe believe it m ust have been add ed after after Schenker chan ged his mind about the structural status of tthe he 5. Furth erm ore, Schenker highlights 2 the designation "g " with an arrow, as if to unde rscore the m eani ng of his reevaluation. Schenker apparently decided upon scale degree 3 as the primary tone of the  the   Urlinie,  Urlinie,   which appears late in the section in the two-line octave. It is subsequ ently transferred to the one-line octave (the obligato ry register), over 28

14 in the bass, before before t he str uctu ral 2 appears. reference nce in his early com men tary to tary to the "motive" of the piece requires some further clar27.   Schenker's refere ification. A six-note tone succession is repeated throughout all sections of the Intermezzo: B-C -G-B -A-F I. The constant repetition of this tone successi succession on is probably why Schenker Schenker refer referss to the A, section as a series of variations; in fact, this piece provides an excellent example of Schoenberg's notion of the  the   Grundgestalt  Grundgestalt  and the principle of "developing variation," because this motive appears in ever-changing rhythmic and tonal guises. Schenker's "motive," however, probably refers to the deeper contrapuntal elaborations of scale degree 5, which are naturally associated with th e surface surface con figuration. In an earlier study, Allen Allen Cadwallader has referred referred to b   - c 2 -b ' as the "basic motive," "basic  motive," because it influences influences the p ath of the u pper voice at deeper levels levels of structu re. See his "Foreground Motivic Ambiguity: Its Clarification at Middleground Levels in Selected Piano Pieces by Johannes Brahms," Music Brahms,"  Music Analysis 7/1 Analysis 7/1 (1988), pp.  59-91. 28.   Schenker's concern with the issue of the prim ary tone can perha ps be considered additiona l evidence th at this is a relati relatively vely matu re sketch. As late late as 1924, Schenker (in his publishe d w orks) was identifying multiple   Urlinien,   melodically fluent stepwise foreground or middleground lines that might ascend or descend. The logical next step in the development of Schenker's ideas was, of course, what we today understand as the descending descending   Urlinie,  Urlinie,   the deepest upper voice and linear

manifestation of tonic harmony. In a sketch such as the one being considered here, Schenker is clearly thinking along these later lines. See William Pastille, "The Development of the   Ursatz  Ursatz  in Schenker's Published Works," in in   Trends  in  Schenkerian Research,   ed. Allen Cadwallader (New York: Schirmer Books, 1990), pp. 71-8 5.

 

Schenker s unpubl unpublished ished work with the music of Brahms

39

Schenker's draft sketc sketchh of of bars  bars 36-43 Example 4 Brahms, Inter Example Intermezzo mezzo O p. 119 119,, No. 2: Schenker's (transcription)  

n 

J

J 

n

Example 4 shows the first first phrase of the B section section (An dantino grazioso), and may provide a clue as to why Schenker eventually decided on scale degree 3 as the primary tone of the entire piece. This section derives its contrast from a change of character character and reworking of tthe he original motive in the major m ode, not through a shift in tonal center. Thus the series of motivic variations continues, and initially, so does the "circling effect" around the tone b 1 : in the 1 opening four bars of this section, b   is elaborated twice by its upper neighbor 2 2 ct . But in the fifth bar, gf   marks the climax of this eight-bar phrase; because 3 appears so quickly at the beginning of the section, its structural relationship to 5 iiss mo re conspicuous than in the A {   section. As Schenker shows in his synop tic 1 2 sketch at the en d of the line,  b  is an inner-voice to ne that leads out to gl , which moves back i nto th e inne r voice under an im plied f tt2  at the end of the phrase. The shape of the upper voice in the first phrase of the B section is strikingly similar to th at in the last phrase of the  A {   section, section, where 3 appears p rom inently in the same register. Considering the relatively weak support for 4 throughout 29 this piece, this reading from 3 is compelling and deserves consideration. We are now in a better position to evaluate the designation that appears at the very beginning of the ssketc ketchh (Example 2). IItt stands out from from the surr oun ding context and w as prob ably adde d aft after er the sketch was fi finished, nished, perhap s at the same time Schenke Schenkerr reevaluat reevaluated ed his reading of the primar y tone . The designation reads as follows: follows:   43 21 3 2  2 £  £ 143 143 2 i. This is is an indication, in shorth and form, 29 .  Two further p oints abo ut Schenker's sketch of the E mino r Intermezzo sho uld be mentio ned, even though the complete sketch sketch has not been reproduced  here. First, the only passage where the six-note surface surf ace m otive is not p resent, where the motivic va riations and circling circling effec effectt apparen tly cease, is is in bars 52-60 , the b part of the large B large B section (a rounded binary fo rm). Nevertheless, Schenker's graph clearly shows clearly  shows that the up per voice traverses traverses an octave from from b2 to b1 at the foreground foreground and, at a at a deeper 2 2 l level,, tha t b -d -b   is a figure level figure embedded w ithin the octave descent. Hence, one of the elabo rations of scale degree 5 (5-6-5) does in fact shape the apparently contrasting b section, but it is expanded into the middleground (motivic repetition at a higher level produces contrast at a lower level). Second, in bar 60, at the end of the octave descent, the surface motive recurs, signalling the beginning of the  the   melodic repri se. Becaus Becausee the bass motion occurs in the m idst of the prolong ation of of V  V melodic reprise.

(bars 52-63), the   harmonic   reprise is out of phase with the upper voice (bar 64). The interesting point here is that the return of tonic harmony coincides not with the beginning of the initial theme but with G# in the upper voice, another compelling reason to consider Schenker's reading of this piece from 3.

 

40

Allen Cadwallader and William Pastill Pastillee

of what would have been represented in a published  published   Urlinie Tafel in Tafel in a separate middleground graph aligned above the surface and foreground: the interruption and repetition of the fundamental line that delineate the form, and the alteration of the primary tone that produces the modal contrast of the B section. The foregoing considerations illustrate that it is sometimes possible to reconstruct someth ing of the development development of Schenker Schenker's 's thinking thinking a bout a particular piece from the wealth of material in the archives. We have, of course, only begu n to explore the vast bod y of material in the Oster Collection. As this part of Schenker's   Nachlass  becomes better k now n, it will become apparent that Schenker's study of Brahms's music is rivaled in scope only by his work with the music of Beethoven: there are analyses of dozens of pieces from virtually every genre in which Brahms composed - piano pieces, chamb er w orks, song songs, s, ssymp ymp honies. These unpublished ana analys lyses es are eloquent testimony to Schenker's love and admiration for the music of Brahms, with which he was deeply involved throughout his entire life.

 

APPENDIX A

Selected list of items from the "Brahms folder" (Osterr Co llection, file 34) (Oste 34)

Com pleted sketches by Schenker (with Angi El Elias ias)) in B  B minor.  minor. Clean copy of a of a graph  graph by Elias; Elias; wo rking O p .  119, No . 1, Interm ezzo in sketchess by Schenker sketche Op. 76, No. 2, Capriccio in B minor. Clean copy of a graph by Elias; working sketchess by Schenker sketche Op. 76, No. 4, Intermezzo in in B  Btt? major. C lean copy of a graph by Elias; Elias; wor king sketches by Schenker; photocopy of a synoptic graph by Ernst Oster Op. 76, No. 7, Intermezzo in A minor. Clean fair copy of a graph by Elias; fair copy also by Schenker Op. 39, Waltzes, Nos. 1-16. Extensive graphs in final, completed form. Multilevel   Urlinie- Tafeln Multilevel Op . 35, Studies (Variations) on a Them e of Paganini. Extensive Extensive graphs in final, final, completed form

Incomplete (working) sketches by Schenker Op . 119, No . 2, 2, Interm ezzo in in E  E min  min or. Sketches for a grap h, notes, and musical examples; complete written commentary in Jeanette Schenker's hand with emendations by Schenker, dated October 22, 1914 O p .   119, No. 3, Intermezzo in C major. Sketches for a graph; complete written com me ntary in Jeanett Jeanettee Schenker Schenker's 's hand, dated O ctober 23 , 1191 9144 O p .   118, No. 2, Intermezzo in A major. Notes and musical examples; sketches for a graph; complete written commentary in Jeanette Schenker's hand, dated October   21 ,  1914 O p .   76, No. 1, Capriccio in Ft minor. Sketch for a graph in B  B   minor. Notes and musical examples; sketches for O p .  79, No. 1, Rhap sodie in a graph; incomplete commentary concerning the piece sketchess for O p .  79, No . 2, Rhap sodie in G m inor. N otes and m usical examples; sketche a graph

Op. 117, No. 1, Intermezzo in E in  Ell?  major. Sketches for a graph; complete written commentary in Jeanette Schenker's hand, dated February 26, 1920 in B O p .  117, No . 2, Interm ezzo in  Bll>  minor. Sketches for a graph; notes concerning the autograph 41

 

4

Allen Cadw allader and William Pastille

O p .  117, No. 3, Intermezzo in Cf minor. Sketches for a graph; notes and observations about the autograph manuscript O p .  10, N o. 4, Ballade in   major. Text in Jeanette Schenker s hand; sketches for a graph O p .  10, No . 1, Ballade in D m inor. M usical examp les and sketches for a graph O p . 8, Trio in   major for for pia no, violin, and cello. Notes, musical exam ples, and sketches for for a graph . Both versions of   O p .  8 are represented, as are are all movem e n ts O p .   114, Trio in A minor for piano, cello, and clarinet (or viola). Notes, text, and musical examples; all movements are represented

Symphony No. 1. Sketches for a graph and notes. All movements are represented Symph ony No. 3. Com plete comm entary of fi firs rstt movem ent (mid-1920s?) (mid-1920s?) and sketches Symphony No. 4. Sketches; all movements are represented

 

APPENDIX   B

A comm entary on Brahms' Brahms'ss Intermezzo Intermezzo O p .   119, No . 2, in E m inor ino r Heinrich Schenker On the whole, a three-part form;   A{   also three-part, but not in the sense of a {  b a2, rather, a series of variations to which, in a manner of speaking, fugal form for m has been applied in such a way that the first first section retains the principal key, the second introduces the modulations, and the third returns to the principal key.  sections accommodates a double statement  statement  [Aufstellung],1 The first of these of  these sections the middle section introduces the third and fourth, and the last section section the fifth. Each statement has within itself a large-scale parallelism - antecedent and 2 consequent, as it were; were; or, or, to use a vivi vividd im age, two two berries on one stem.  But  B ut the individual berries have have a parallelism parallelism  too: in bars 1-2 of the of the first statement, note how, beginning on the second second eighth of the third quarte r in bar 1, bar  1, the parallel i allel  iss drawn w ith the preceding content. It would b would bee incor  incorrect rect to think that the copy in bar 2 is completely completely identical with the content of the first four four eighths, because in the copy an abbreviation, so to speak, of the original original is  is presented, so that the B of the second quarter of bar 2 is analogous to the B of the third quarter of bar 1, and not to the  the   B of the second quarter. Psychologically, this particula part icula r feature is a significa significant nt difference difference.. One notew orthy characteristic of the motive i motive iss its  its circling circling around the tone B, which is expressed most succinctly in the copy and somewhat more extensively in the original. The parallel parallelism ism in bars 3-5 prom otes an expansion: s expansion:  see ee the first f irst quarters   and second quarters [o [off bar 3] bar 3] and the third andfirst q  uarters [of [of bars 4 bars 4 and 5]. The goal here, however however,, just as in bar 2, is the dom inant of E of E minor.  minor. The syncopated Dt Dttt, a kind of interjection [bar 2] , is driven like a wedge between between the theme and its repetition. In conformity with the broadening in bars 4-5, the interjection between the first complete statement and the subsequent second one is now also enlarged by means of the triple repetition of the tone Dtt and the detour over F over  Fttt to B. The word Aufstellung word  Aufstellung  mean s setting up, as one sets sets up an easel easel or a tent. It It mean s statem ent in the sense of som ething set up or set forth for consideration. It is also used in connection w ith the deployment of military forces. The closest English approximation to Schenker's intent would probably be disposition, disposition, but because this term term has other musical musical meanings, the the more prosaic rendering

  statement is employed here. Schenker's wording, zwei Beeren Beeren an einem Stengel, Stengel, may reflect reflect his recollection recollection of a line in Shakespeare's A Shakespeare's Schlegel trans latio n):  A Midsummer Night Midsummer Night s Dream (which Dream (which he would have know n in the Schlegel   Zwei holde Beeren, einem Stiel Stiel entwachsen. The line comes from from a passage passage in act III, scene 2, where Helena speaks of herself herself and H ermia: So we grew together, together, / Like Like to a double cherry, seeming parte d, / But yet an an unio n in partition - / Two lovely berries   (emphasiss adde d). berries   moulded on on one  one stem" (emphasi

43

 

44

Allen Cadw allader and William Pastille

In bar 7 bar  7 the  the second second statement is ushered in b in by y bringing back the initial interval of a of  a second,  second, B-C , in in the mann er of an introductio n, as it were. were. This happens twice; the second time , across across bars bars 7- 8, it i it  iss greatly expanded.   The second statement follows in bars 9-12; instead of an expansion or repetition, there is a modulation from  from   E minor to A to A minor  minor in bar bar  12, based based on the simple chrom aticization of the third - Gf instead of G. Immediately, without an intervening interjection (which was in any case case made superfluous by the syncopes in bar 3 12),  the third statement fo foll llows ows,, in A in A minor  minor [bars 13ff.]. It introduces a triplet mo tion that represents represents an increase in in m otion over over the earlier earlier rhythm ic activit activity, y, which only appears to move in sixteenths, but actually actually moves in eighths. In the third statement one best discerns the organic character of the parallelism I described describ ed above above as the two-berry system system ; for for we see see here in the third statement how Brahms maintains the five-bar count as the sum of the bars which the theme and its repetition (bars 1-5) had comprised during their first statement. This constraint on the number of bars allows Brahms to overthrow the  fifth bars b  ars of the third statereigning thema tic material - thus the third through fifth men t (bars 1 5-17), instead of essenti essentiall allyy repeating the m ain m otive, as as do bars 3-5, introduce a sequential continuation of bar  14. Moreover  Moreover,, in the three bars just mentioned (bars 15-17) an additional modulation to C major takes place. And then, once again again without the mediation of an an interjection, interjection, the fourth statement follows with its two  berries. Here Here the m otion in eighths returns; the original - that is, the first berry - appears over over the ton e C, above which which passes passes a 4 minor dominant.   This C is reinterpreted reinterpreted as VI in E in E m  m inor, so that the ensuing repetition takes takes place in E in  E minor  minor above a B a B pedal:  pedal:

I/VI

V

 Dt]] derived from bars 5ff., with Only now, in bar  2 1, there is an interjection [of [of Dt a new and contrasting broadening in bars 23-24 to underscore the content of the succeeding succeeding bars 25-2 6. The motive of a of  a second  second in bars 27-28 heralds the eighth-note counterpoint to the main motive in bar 29  29,, which, in in comparison with the coun terpoint from from bar 1, shows a slight modification - to be precise, in the form of an accented 5 embellishing embellishi ng to ne ne   [ Wechselnote]  The Th e fifth  f ifthstatement  s tatement di diff ffer erss from from the preceding fourth one in that it adopts an upward path in its repetitions. The half cadence in bars 33-35 [serves] as the transition to the middle section of the entire piece; the quarter notes use the  eighth-notee counterpoint. tones of the of  the eighth-not recall the interjections which also had 3.   The syncopes make an interjection superfluous bec ause they recall syncopated rhyth ms. It is also possible possible that Schenker's refere reference nce to fugal form at the beg inning of this commentary relates not only to the key structure but also to the alternation of Aufstellungen of  Aufstellungen  an d  which might be regarded as analogous to the alternation of entrances and episodes in Interjektionetiy which Interjektionetiy fugues.

1

4.   The term  Molldominante occurs here in the original. Schenker may have been thinking of the E \>   on the second quarter, which gives C the color of  a minor dom inant in F minor. Or, Or, this may simply be a mistake in dictation or transcription for   Mollunterdominante the F minor chord passing above the bass C.   5. See note 14 to the text proper.

 

Appendix B

45

Concerning harmonic particulars In bar 1, the fir first st eighth C [is] [is] an accent accented ed em bellishing tone   [ W echselnote] echselnote];  this is revealed by the relation of the root E both to the preceding eighth B and to the B that en ters af after ter a deto ur thr ou gh th e second eighth G. The accented embellishing tone resolves on this last   B; the fact that it does not coincide with the root E, but rather w ith a new one, namely the root of of   IV, alters nothing at all in regard to th e character of the accented emb ellishm ent. Over IV, IV, however, the B, now descending from C, again takes on the character of an accented embellishment; whereas, if it had been brought in earlier, it would have appeared as an actual~9-8 suspension [over the root A]. 13 I n b ar a r s 4 - 5 : I - I V - V I I - V . In bar 4 on the first first quart er: copy of the accented embellishing tone as it it appears on the third quarter of bar  3. In accordance with free composition, however, it can also legitimately be considered a prepared 6 suspension. Ba r  8:  (no) parallel firths (Fit7 6) - Bar   12: a serie seriess of ^ 9 - 8 ~ 9- 8 attracts atten7 tion. The harm ony of the second quarter [is] [is] merely merely passin passingg m otion. Bars 15- 16: inventi inventive ve use of a progression by a thir d an d a second instead of 8

the custom ary progression by fift fifth. h. Bar 18: suspensio n   6 ~55  Ba r  23 : the characte characterist ristical ically ly Brahm sian com bination of I and fIV. The first is reinforced by its fifth; the second is completely represented, bu t in such a way that its fift fifth, h, which lies in the bass, makes the leap of a fifth upward, because it is simultaneously presenting itself as the root of I. (Com pare C. P P.. E. Bach Bach on th e explanation of suc suchh a phen om enon as a passi passing ng 9 motion.) Bars  29ff.:   I - I V - V - V I - V I I - I I I - I I - V - I

Middle section in   major likewise three-part a x  takes up the m ain th em e in the first four bars by changing the first two beats into triple meter and transposing them to major. The continuation is freely invented.  a x  has an anteced ent and a consequent; the anteced ent [ends in] a half half cadence, the conse quen t [goes] [goes] to B major. Th e   \  position on the third quarter [of [of bar 42] is merel merelyy a neighbor ing-tone harmon y. The consequent modulates to B major. b  est  establishes ablishes its itself elf in the t errit ory of B  mi nor and employs the motive of bar 36 as the leading m otive - see see bars 52 and 54 and the varian ts in bars 56 and 58. Bars 53, 55, and 57 are freely invented. Bar 59 can be explained as a line proceeding uninterruptedly out of the motive, in which each attained goal is at the same time the starting point of the next repetition. The harmonic degrees [in 1

1

1

6. Schenker is referring referring to the ft  in the inner voice: ftt—e  is a copy of the preced ing e -dt 1. 7. This line is heavily heavily anno tated in Schenker's own ha nd. (His additions are given in parentheses.) It is a fairly fairly certain conjecture that th e first first word of  his comments on bar 8 is keine. The Ft7 6  is clear.

(Schenker is referring referri th e place.) succession succession perfect fifth/diminish ed over fi fift fth, h,his E -B/D l-A, ononbeat , which where the 7-6 overng Ft totakes There is a long annotation comments bar 312 that isis very difficult to make out and has therefore not been included in the present translation. 8. Sche Schenker nker means that the roots in bar barss 15 and 16 move down a third then up a second: second: A-F -G- E-F ; they would normally move entirely entirely by descending descending fifth fifths: s: A -D -G- C-F . 9. See See note 15 to the text proper.

 

46

Allen Cadw allader and William Pastille

bars 52 -58 ]: ^V IH V I- II- I. In bar 59 I persists; persists; above it sixt sixthh chords m ove in passing motion. This passing motion would have been clearer if, in the bass of bar 58, the tone s B and A had preceded. - VI [of  B  mi nor] in bar 54 appears in 4  position instead of in  \  position, and does so for the sake of a better connection to the   3  position of the chord on II in bar 56. The succession II—I in bars 10

56-57   can by be aunderstood through the mediation V th ore VII. progression second [Ctt [Ctt-B] -B] it becomes eviden t of that spaceInofthis two[root-] fifths cannot be composed out in its entirety, but only in its parts. Such partial segme nts function as follows: follows: (a) (a) the spac spacee between th e root and th e seventh in the casee of the domi nan t (the do m inan t seventh chord); (b) the sp cas space ace between the third and the ninth (the seventh chord on VII); and finally (c) the space between the fifth and t he n int h (II). Brahm s likes likes to use the succession II II—I in the sense of  of   II II—V —V—I —I;; the prog ressio n is dange rou s, beca use it can easil easilyy cau se parallel fifths if the harmonic degrees rest on their actual root tones. Here, in the Intermezzo, he uses the   \  position - and not even in the best disposition, but rather in open position, which gives rise to parallel fifths in the upper voices. 11   begins in bar 6 0, but t he first two bars ,  6 0 - 6 1 , are   are still still bath ed in the hue of the modulation, since I [of   B m ino r] from b ar 59 is is reinter preted as IV in in the direction of   Fit min or, which is then raised [chromatically] and leads to V precis cisely ely at bar 60, and in tu rn to I at bar   61 .  The I [of Ft  Fttt min or] in bar 61 is is then reinte rprete d as IIII of E major  major,, wh ereupon the theme co ntinues in that same kkey ey.. It is therefore necessary to assume a mo dul atio n to Ftt Ftt m ino r as a bridg e, because no d irect path leads from B m ino r to E major. Bars   68ff.   present an inspired retransition to A 2; it consists of  a threefold12   repetition of the first four tones of the theme (as already mentioned, the fourth tone is the same as the first). Through skillful placement, Brahms manages to put the second tone, Cf, on a different part of the measure every time. Thus, in bar 69 it occurs on the second quarter; in bar 70, on the third quarte r; until in bar 72 tthe he tone C instead of Ct at last attains the position of the first quarter. A 2   is

13

somewhat abbreviated and even altered a bit at bars [75-76]. Performance: Literature : Kalb Kalbeck eck??

22.X.1914 10.   T he original reads erron eou sly the succession I—II —II. fifths hs cited by Schenker Schenker here are a diminished fifth and a perf  perfect ect fifth, fifth, Ci-G/B -Fl, rather 11.   The parallel fift than two perfect fifths. fifths. According to Schenker's later reading, the  B  mino r chord over the D in in bar 57 is not heard as a tonic but as a neighbor to E, which moves to El in bar 60. reads erroneou sly fourfold. fourfold. 12.   Th e original reads space ffor or the bar nu mb ers was lef leftt blank in the o riginal. 13.   A space

 

ANALYTICAL STUDIES

 

 P..  E. Bach and the fi fine ne art of C . P transposition Wayne Petty

In the short autobiography that he wrote in his sixtieth year, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach mentions a feature of his musical style that has long been admired: Since I have never liked excessive uniformity in composition and taste, since I have heard so many and s and  so o many different different kinds of good things , and since I since I have  have always  always been  been of the opinion that, no matter w her heree it might be hidden, and even even if if w  wee come across it only in the slightest slightest degree, something good can be got from from a pi piece ece - these, along with my God-given talent, are presumably how the diversity  diversity   (Verschiedenheit)  (Verschiedenheit)   arose that people have have noticed in my m usic.1 This diversity pervades the music of  C. P. E. Bach. Not only was Bach the great eclectic, eclect ic, willing to emb race whatever he found good; but also he broug ht to the art of variatio n a degree of refinement few composers have match ed. An elegant and distinctive variation technique is the cornerstone of his style, both in his celebrated use of the varied reprise and within sections of a work. Rare is the phrase that receives receives a literal repetitio n in C. P. E. Bach' Bach'ss m usic. Given Bach's inventiven ess and his dislike of excessive excessive unifor mity , on e feature of his keyboard sonatas seems curiously out of place: he insists on repetition when it involves transposition in the latter part of a sonata moveme nt. Whethe r he iiss writing a binary sonata movem ent witho ut recapitulation or a rounded binary with recapitulation, once Bach begins transposing music originally heard in the secon dary key of the exposition , he almos t always always writes a bar-for-bar correspondence with the exposition. He steadfastly refuses to introduce changes into the transposed music beyond the minimum needed to invert the interval of transpo sitio n - say, say, from a fourth above to a fift fifthh below relative to the original statement in the exposition. Why this curious mix of variation on the one hand and strict transposition on the other? First we might recall that the solo keyboard sonata was not only 1. Da ich niemah ls die die allzugrosse allzugrosse Einformigkeit Einformigkeit in der Kom position un d im Geschmack geliebt geliebt habe, da ich so viel und so verschieden Gutes gehort habe, da ich jederzeit der Meinung gewesen bin, man moge d as Gute, es stecke stecke wo es es wolle, wenn es auch nur in geringer Dosi in einem Stii Stiicke cke anzutreffen anzutreffen ist, annehmen: so ist vermuthlich dadurch und mit Beyhiilfe meiner mir von Gott verliehenen natiir-

lichen Fahigkeit, die Verschiedenheit in meinen Arbeiten entstanden, welche man an mir bemerkt haben will. C. P. E. Bach, Selbstbiograph ie in in Carl  Carl Burney s Tagebuch seiner musikalischen  musikalischen   Reisen, tran s. C. D. Ebeling (Ham burg , 1773), Vol Vol..  3,  p. 208; reprinted in  in  Selbstbiographien deutscher Musik  3, p. Musiker er des XVIII.  Jahrhunderts,  Jahrhunderts,  ed. Willi Kahl (Koln: Staufen-Verlag, 1948), pp. 34-44. The translation of this passage is is mine; for a translation of the entire autob iography, see William  S.  Newman, Emanuel Bach'ss Autobiography, Th e  Musical Quarterly 51/2 Bach' Quarterly 51/2 (1965), pp. 363-72.

49

 

5 0 

Wayne Petty

in a certain form ; it was al also so a genre. a  genre. Lik  Likee any genre, the keyboard so nata carried conventions to which composers felt bound. Conventions, of course, become stand ard p roced ures because they mak e a good effe effect ct.. In the case of strict tran sposition, the convention lent the sonata movem ent a clear clear for formal mal desig design, n, which helped articulate the resolution of the large-scale dissonance created by the modulation exposition2 of - what, in Schenkerian terms, would be the resolution ofinthetheinterrupted the the fundamental line. In addition to observing conv entions of genre, C. P. E. Ba Bach ch may also have regarded th e sonata as a several eigh teent h-cen tury style   distinct from that of the symph ony, mu ch as several 2 authors did.  By adhering to a bar-for-bar correspondence between recapitulation and exposition, he was able to preserve the small dimensions of his keyboard sonata movements. Rarely do these works assume symphonic proportions. But even if genre and style can account for Bach's method, close correspondences between parallel passages in a style otherwise so heavily dependent on variation can easily seem rigid. Indeed, some recent critics have detected a st stif iffne fness ss in Bach' Bach'ss handlin g of the form, n ot only in his use of tran spos ition , b ut 3 also in other recurring features of his sonatas.   For instance, he tends to open the development section with the head motive that begins the other sections, and he normally writes a single strong cadence in a closely related key as the goal of the development development section. These recurring pattern s hold thro ugh out his composing career. Meanwhile, Bach's sonatas become increasingly standardized in a diffe different rent respect. Beginning w ith the  the   Probestucke of   of 1753, the lengths of the individual phrases in the exposition and recapitulation become much mo re regular; the phrases uunfold nfold in lengths that are normatively some m ultiple of four bars. In the later works, irregular phrase lengths can usually be understood as modifications of a four-bar n orm . Thus C. P. C.  P. E.  E. Bach, so so oft often en adm ired for the improvisatory freedom of his works, wrote dozens of sonatas that appear quite conventional. No one to my knowledge has gone so far as to say that he wrote the same sonata a hundred and fifty times (like the old saw about Vivaldi's concertos), but something along those lines has been suggested, and analysts seriously seriously engaged with C. C. P.  E. Bach's Bach's music need to com e to terms with  P. E. the apparent rigidity in Bach's approach to sonata form. What have rarely been appreciated in C. P. E. Bach's keyboard sonatas, however, are the subtle ways in which the recapitulation uses the transposed music to recreate progressions heard in the earlier sections. One result of this procedure is often to make new connections between earlier passages, to make concealed relationships explicit. Another is to use the transposed music to condifferences ces between sonata an d sym phony styles with relevant citation s, see 2.   For a discussion of the differen Michael B royles, royles, "The Two In strum ental Styles Styles of Classicism," Classicism," Journal  Journal of  the merican Musicological  36/2 (1983), pp. 210-42. Society 36/2 Society first a utho r to describe Bach's keyboard so natas in this way appears to have been D arrell Berg Berg in 3.   The first

her influential dissertation , "Th e Keyboard Sonatas of C. P. E. Bach: An Expression of the M annerist Buffalo,  1975); see especially Cha pters 4 and 5. Principle" (Ph.D. diss., (Ph.D. diss., State University of New York  at Buffalo,  1975); see especially Other writers who adopt a similar position include Pamela Fox, "Melodic Nonconstancy in the Keyboard Sonatas of C. P. E. Bach" (Ph.D. diss., University of Cincinnati, 1983) and David S ch u len b erg,  The Instrumental Music of Carl Phil Philipp ipp Em anuel Bach  (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press,

1984).

 

C.  P.  P .  E. Bach and the fine art of transposition

51

tinue developing the tonal issues around which the other sections evolve, thereby recalling, recalling, sum marizing, and resolving resolving  the tonal tensions at the end. Th  Th e challenge, which Bach often met brilliantly, was to achieve this effect of summary and resolution within the generic and stylistic constraints noted earlier - that  is, without using the kind of recomposition that other composers often used to create a similar effect. It is these techniques that this paper will address. What I hope to suggest is a variety of tonal procedures in Bach's recapitulations not altogether foreig foreignn to the other kinds of variety variety that pervade 4 his style. C.  P. E. Bach's imaginative use of close close transp osition ositi on emerges clearly clearly from from h is  H.71 (W.63/2), third movement, the sixth of the eighteen G minor  Probestiick H.71 d  i e practice pieces that he appended to the first volume of his   Versuch iberdi 5 wahre Art das Clavier das  Clavier  zu zu    spielen  (1753).   As I noted earlier, the eighteen Probestiicke  are significant for Bach's composing career, since they mark the point at which the composer began adopting more regular phrase rhythm. In add itio n, these works are significant significant because they form  a  kind of of compendium , not only of keyboard keyboard st style yless and techniques, but als alsoo of com positional designs.  E.. Bach much as the two books of the  Well(In this sense, the works are to C.  P. E Tempered Clavier had been to his father.) As a performance study, study, the G  minor Probestiick illustrates the brilliant and fiery P resto, which which Bach Bach says says to pla playy as 6 briskly as possible, yet clearly. clearly.  As  a compositional study, study, the piece piece illustrates a condensed sonata form, in which the exposition has no transition, and the development section and recapitulation each unfold as a single phrase. More subtly, subt ly, though, th e piece also also shows shows how to use transposition to m ake connections between earlier passages. That is the issue on which I will focus here. exposition and recapitulation of the Example  1   compares the openings of the exposition G minor   Probestiick,  including the point at which transposition begins. Example la shows a contrapuntal model for the opening phrase of  the exposipassages from from the Sonata: S onata: bars 1-6 1-6 tion, bars 1-6, aligned with sketches of  tw  two o  passages 4. This aspect of C. P P.. E. Bach's com posi tion al techn ique has not gon e unnoti ced. John Rothgeb remarks on a transposed passage from Bach's A minor   Probestiick  H.70, secon d moveme n t, Th e ab ility to recapitulate a section and to make it appear logical and convincing in a different way in its new en viron m en t sh ows a th orou gh comp osition a l maste mastery. ry. S ee Roth geb ,

Design as a Key to S tru cture cture

in Tonal Music,

in   Readings in Schenker Analysis and Other Approaches,  ed . M au ry Yeston (New Haven: Yale Yale University Press, 1977), p. 91. On recapitulatio ns generally, see also Ernst Oster, Analys Analysis is S ymp osiu m on M ozart, M en u e tto K.V.3 K.V.355: 55: A S ch en kerian kerian View, View, in   Readings in Schenker Analysis, p.   137, and Edward Laufer's review of  Free Composition  in  Music Theory Spectrum  3 (1981), p . 173. 5. C. P P.. E. Bach's keyboard pieces are identified according to the num berin g systems of Helm (H. ) and W otq u en n e (W .); see Eu gen e Helm,  Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Carl Phili Philipp pp E manuel Bach (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), and Alfred Wotquenne,   Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke

von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)   (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1905 ). A facsimile of the first edition of the eighteen  Probestiicke m ay b e fou n d in  The Collected W orks for Solo Keyboard by C arl Philipp Emanuel Bach 1714-1788,   6 vols., ed. Darrell Berg Berg (New York: Garland, 1 985), Vol. 1, pp . 3 9 - 5 9 ; t h e G m i n o r P robestiick robestiick  appears on p. 45. A reliable modern edition is C. Ph.  Ph. E. Bach, Sechs Sonaten: Achtzehn P robestii robestiicke cke zu dem

Versuch uber die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen

(1753),

Erich Doflein (Schott W erk-Reihe fur Klavier Klavier,, ED 2353 and 23 54); the G minor  Probestuck 2   vols., ed. Erich ap p ears in in Vol. 1 on p p . 11-1 2. 6. Bach writes, ... ich verlan ge, d af afii d ie Prob estu ck ckee au s d em G u n d F m o l l .. . au f h u rt rtigste igste wiewoh l deutlich gespielt werden rnussen. Versuch,   Part I (Berlin, 1753), Chapter 3, §1, p. 116. See also the translation by William J. Mitchell,   Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments  (N ew York: York:

Norton, 1949), p. 148.

 

Wayne Petty

52

Example 1 C. P P.. E. Bach, G minor   Probestuck, Sonata H.71 (W.63/2), third movem ent: comparison of bars 11-66 and 27 -32 a) M odel for bars 1-6 arpeggiation

56

54

r  g\ .   1 

r»

r

3

/

6

54

  r  A

10

10

o

&

r

 

—o

10

/

—o

(1

b) Exposition, bars bars 1-6

©

©

© 5

6

©

5

motive

10

fb  

4 over

k 

©

JJ

©

suffix: varied repetition 3 5  4

  ] 

tones

10

J J

?

\ 

m

N

motive enlarged

c) Recapitulation, Recapitulation, bars 27-3 2 [  =  transposition of 

(2)

(3)

tt)

(v)

(13)

 55

suffix: echo repetition 3

10 10 N

(14)]

/

6

5 

43

?

 

C.  P.  P .  E. Bach and the fine art of transposition

53

(Example lb)> and the first six bars of the recapitulation, bars 27-32 (Example l c ) .  In this example and those following, the symbol "t" (meaning "crux") indicates indicat es the point at which transposition to the tonic begins.7  The crux in this piece occurs on the upbeat to bar 29, which corresponds to the upbeat to bar 11 (not shown in the example). In the contrapuntal model shown in Example la, an initial arpeggiation establishes the primary melodic tone 5 (d 2 ), and a third-progression 5- 4- 3 follows in parallel tenths with the bass. Diminution in the upper voice transforms the melodic progression into 5-6-5-4-3; a two-bar suffix then repeats t h e 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 e n d i n g . 8   In the exposition sketched in Example lb, Bach approaches the p rim ary m elodic tone 5 with a set set of outer-voice outer-voice tenths culmi2 1 nating in the simultaneous accented upper neighbors el>  and c   on the downbeat of bar 2, preparing the tenths that will accompany the upper part in the next two b ars; he als alsoo adds a covering voi voice ce to bars 3-4 . In the su suff ffix ix of bars 5-6 , Bach extends the upper neighbor 6 until the final beat of bar 5 and intensifies the covering voice as as the ou ter voices exchange between A and Ft. The im m edi ate impe tus for the su suff ffix ix is the rising dim inu tion at the phra se endin g in bar 4, which calls forth a repet ition t hat end s with a fal fallin lingg di m inu tio n. (Se (Seee the rising and fallin fallingg arrow s in Example 1.) But there may be anoth er reaso n for the su suff ffix ix.. The intensification of the covering voice in bars 5-6 not only emphasizes the 2 upper-voice a , it also emphasizes the bass note ft by voice exchange. As the anno tation s "m otive" and "motive enlarged" iinn Example lb suggest suggest,, the bas basss of bars 1-6 enlarges the opening six-note motive in the right-hand part, an enlargement made possible only by the addition of the two extra bars in the suff suffix ix.. T hus , to some extent, the tw o-ba r suffi suffix, x, con ventional tho ugh it is, is, arises from a development of the opening flourish in bar 1. Bach's recapitul ation, sketched in Example lc , rest Bach's restates ates only the first first two ba rs of the exposition, at which point the crux occurs on the upbeat to bar 29. Som ething rem arkable happe ns in the next ffour our bars. Although Bach ends the repe tition of the openin g phrase o n the upb eat to bar 29, the first first si sixx bars of the recapitulation (bars 27-32) nonetheless recreate the main phrase-rhythmic features feat ures of the fi first rst si sixx bars of the exposition: the melodic pattern 5- 6 -5 -4 -3 of the upper voice, in tenths with the bass, plus the two-bar suffix, now heard as a transposition of the echo repetition in bars 13-14 of the exposition. The me lodic gro uping s in the fir first st ssix ix bars of the recapitulatio n differ differ from those in the exposition, but the main tonal and phrase -rhythm ic features features rem ain. As a result, the listener w ho follows follows t he stepwise lines of Bach s  piece enjoys a double recognition in bars 29-32 . As these bars recre recreate ate both bars 11-14 and bars 3-6 of the exposition, Bach makes explicit what was initially a concealed relationship between those two earlier passages: the connection between bars 11-14 7. The term "crux" originates in Ralph Kirkpatrick's work on the keyboard sonatas of Domenico

Scarlatti, althou gh K irkpatrick uses the term in  a  slightl  slightlyy different different way, to describe "the m eeting poin t in each half of the them atic m aterial which is stated stated in parallel fashion fashion at the ends of both halves with the establishm ent of the closing tonality. tonality.""  See  See hi  hiss Domenico Scarlatti  (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953), p. 255. 8. The term "su "suff ffix" ix" refer referss to subo rdinate m usic added to the end of a phrase, the  Anhang of eighteenthcentury theory. See William Rothstein,  Rothstein,   Phrase  Rhythm in Tonal Music   Music  (New York: Schirmer Books, 1989), pp. 70-73.

 

54

Wayne Petty

and 3-6 becomes audible to the listener. As Bach makes this connection, one begins to sense that th e diff different erent sections have ari arisen sen from a developm ent of th e opening phrase. Many of C. P. E. Bach's sonata movements use similar techniques in the recapitulation, although most have transitional music in the exposition that the composer must negotiate in the recapitulation. Bach's handling of the recapitulation is no less ingenious in these longer works. For the remainder of this paper, paper, I hhave ave chosen chosen two sonata mo vemen ts that illustrate illustrate how transposed music recreates earlier progressions in such a way that all the sections can be heard as evolving ffrom rom the same ton al issues. Befo Before re turn ing t o these examples, however, it might be well to consider how Bach designs his exposition and recapitulation in thes thesee works. Figure 1 shows two designs that Bach adopts for his expositions and recapitulations. I will term these designs Plan A and Plan B. Shaded regions in Figure 1 indicate m usic in the secon dary key of the exposition; as in Example 1, the symbol "t" indicates the position of the crux. These plans do not exhaust the possibilities for the exposition and recapitulation, of course; but they do represent two of the most common strategies. I have chosen them for their especially straightforward use of transposition. C. P. E. Bach's expositions normally consist of three basic phrases, which I will call the   opening phrase, transitional phrase, an d  closing phrase. The o pening phrase typically leads from I to I, as in the G minor  minor   Probestuck just discussed, or from I to V, as in in Plans A and B; the tran sition al ph rase aim s fo forr V of a new key; and the closing phrase confirms the modulation by ending with a perfect cadence in the new key. In the two plans given in Figure 1, the closing phrase consists of two subphrases: a lead-in approaching the tonic of the new key, and a cadential progression a ppro achin g the confirming cadence. Thus C. P P.. E. Bach's closing phrases are not quite like the "second themes" of the Classicperiod sonata form, which usually begin on a root-position tonic of the new key and consist of more than one phrase. Instead, the closing phrase more closely resembles the ending segment 9of a Baroque   Fortspinnung type:  type: a  a single phrase with a large cadential function.   If mu sic follo follows ws the cadence in the new key, I will term that music the   postcadential  phrase.  phrase.  The postcadential phrase, which counts as a large suffix to the exposition, may refer back to the opening phrase, as in Plan A, whereas in other cases it introduces a new subject not explicitly based on the opening. Plan A shows the simplest way of handling the recapitulation. Here Bach repeats the opening ph rase (with lit little tle or no variation ), omits the m odulati ng transitional p hrase, and transposes the entire clo closin singg phrase. The V chord that ends the openin g phrase in the recapitulation corresp onds to the V in a new key that en ded the tran sition al phrase in the exposition . Plan B is proba bly Bach's most common strategy for the recapitulation. It follows Plan A in all respects

9. In other movements the closing phrase more closely resembles the "second theme" of the Classic period sonata by beginning on a root-position tonic of the new key; see, see, fo forr example, the D minor Sonata H.208 (W.57/4), first mov ement. David S chulenberg gives gives  a valuable account of C. P. C. P. E.  E. Bach's expositions and their relation to Baroque and Classic procedures in   The Instr Instrumental umental M usic of Carl Philipp manuel Bach, manuel Bach, pp.   pp. 100-106.

 

55

C .  R  E. Bach  and the fine art of  transposition

Figure   1   Two plans for C. P. E. Bach's expositions and recapitulations PL A N  A

P hra s e :

CLOSING

TRANSITIONAL

OPENING

L e a d-in Exposition

V

Recapitulation

I  re pe a te d

Ca de ntia l

V

V

V

—omitted—

(POSTCADENTIAL)

I-

ba s e d   o n  o p e n i n g

V-I

IV-I transposed

transposed

PLANE

Phrase:

TRANSITIONAL

OPENING

CLOSING L e a d-in   V V

Exposition

Recapitulation

I 

V

V

re w ritte n

— om itte d—

Ca de ntia l i

 

I-

V-I

IV-I transposed

LEGEND In  a   new key Crux (the point at which the transposition to the tonic begins)

bu t  one: the opening phrase in the reca pitulation,  one:  rather th an simply repeating the  it. If  If the opening phrase leads  to I in the exposition, Bach will  almost he rewrites  it. always al ways rew rite  it  in the recapitulation; he will often do so when the opening phrase leads to  V as well. well. In In bot h plans, he transposes the e ntire closin closingg phrase with only such adjustments as are needed to invert the level level of transp osition . With these observations in place, we now turn to sonata movements based

on these two plans.   In  each movement,  the straightforward straightforward transpo sition scheme of the recapitulation give givess the work an unusually clear formal formal design. At the same tim e, the listener listener enjoys enjoys the kind of double recognition that I  noted earlier in the G minor  Probestiick. The transpo sed music wil willl recreate recreate progressions heard in the earlier sections, restating, summarizing, and resolving the

 

56

Wayne Petty

tonal tensions of the entire entire mo veme nt. These rel relations ations between between the transposed music and the earlier sections enable the composer to transcend the mechanical effect that such literal transposition might have produced. The simple design of Plan A underlies what is perhaps Bach's best known 10 sonata mov emen t, the opening of the F mi nor Sonata H.173 (W.57/6).   This work, made famous in part by Forkel's celebrated review, in part by its probable influence on Beethoven's first published piano sonata, must be counted among Bach's finest, not least because of the innovative tonal structure of its 11 development section.   But even more impressive in this piece is the way in which the three m ain sections work together. Example 2 presents presents a middlegro und reading of the first first mov emen t of  of   H.173, with exposition and recapitulation aligned for comparison. Headings across the top of the example show the main phrases of the movement, along with their subphrases. In this example I use the terms   presentation phrase  a n d continuation phrase   that William Caplin has devised for the two subphrases of an eight-bar sentence. 12 Bach designed the exposition of H.173 as four main phrases, each of which has a basic length of eight bars. The opening and transitional phrases are sentences; the closing phrase consists of a  lead-in  lead-in and cadential subphrase; and th e postcadential phrase is an eight-bar period. Bach modifies the eight-bar lengths by adding a suf suffi fixx to the transitional phrase (the dom inan t pedal point in bars 16-19) and by overlapping the lead-in and cadential subphrases of the closing phrase at bar 23, transforming the closing phrase into a seven-bar length. A slightly different transformation lengthens the postcadential phrase by two bars,   as Bach elongates the after-phrase of this eight-bar period.13 bars, As the expo sition of H . 1  173 73  unfolds, Bach gradually introduces chromatic elemen ts that will become th e central is issue sue around which the mo vem ent evolv evolves. es. first editio n of H.173 , see see  Th e Collected Works  for for  Solo Keyboard,  ed. Darrell 10.   For a facsimile of the first Berg, Vol. 2, pp. 360-68. Reliable modern editions include those edited by Schenker (Universal Edition N o. 548b, pp. 66-75 ) and Carl Krebs Krebs (Kalmus Piano Library 3092, Library  3092, pp. 108-15), but with the following emendations: in bars 53-54 read   BW>   for all the Bl»s; the Bl»s;   in bars 57-58 read  EH>  for all the Ets. The dou ble flats that Schenker pu ts in parentheses in bars 53-5 4 and bar 58 of his edition are indee d in Bach's Bach's original editio n, written as ssingle ingle flats flats slightly slightly larger larger than norm al. David Schulenberg d iscusses this passage in  in   The Instrumental  Instrumental Music of  of  Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,  pp. 114-15. 11.   Johann Nikolaus Forkel, "Ueber eine Sonate aus Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs dritter Sonatensammlung fur Kenner und Liebhaber, in F moll, S. 30. Ein Sendschreiben an Hrn. von * *," in  Jahr 1784 (Leipzig, (Leipzig, 1784), pp. 22 -38 . Relations Musikalischer Almanach fiir D eutschland auf  das Jahr between this movement and the first movement of Beethoven's Op. 2, No. 1, have been noted by 'Sonata' di Filippo Em anuele Bach," Rivista Bach," Rivista Musicale scho lars at least as far back  as Dino Sincero, "La 'Sonata' Italiana   5 (1898), pp. 682-83. To my knowledge, the first to find evidence for such a relation in Beethoven's sketch work on Op. 2, No. 1, was Oswald Jonas. See Jonas's "Bemerkungen zur {Composition" in his edition of C. P. E. Bach's   Kurze und leichte Klavierstucke  mit vveranderten eranderten  (Universal Edition No. 13311), p. 5. Reprisen (Universal Reprisen 12.   Caplin's account of the ssentence entence appears in his Classical his Classical Form:  Form: A Theory of  o f Formal Fu nctions for for the Instrumental Music  of of Haydn, M ozart and Beethoven (New York: Oxford   Oxford University Press, 1998); see

especially especial ly Chap ter   3. In the p resent essay I  have adopted some of C aplin's aplin's terms without employing his entire system; readers interested in his approach should consult his work directly. directly.  A valuable disSchmalfeldt, "Towards a Reconciliation cussion of the eight-bar sentence may  also  be found in Janet Schmalfeldt, of Schenkerian Concepts with Traditional and Recent Theories of Form,"   Music Analysis  10/3 (1991), pp. 233-87; see especially pp.  239ff. for the second phrase of a   period follows 13.   Bars 31-3 4 elongate bars 28-2 9. The term "after-phrase" for Rothstein,  Rothstein,   Rhythm, pp. 18-19.   Phrase Rhythm,

 

C. P. E. Bach and the fine art of transposition

57

As the to p st staf afff of Exam ple 2 sshows, hows, this process begins wh en he add s two ch romatic neighboring progressions near the beginning of his modulating transitional phrase: ftt 2 -g 2   in bar 10, and  b 2 - c 3   in bar 12 12.. The contin uation in bars 13-16 the n m odulates in a conventional wa way, y, reinterpreting I aass IIV V of V then passing thro ugh I of V  in bar 15 on t he way to V of V in bar 16. Bach varies this conventional modulatory progression, however, in a way that highlights the chrom atic note B and po ints toward futur futuree events. His usual way of mo ving from I to the passing I of V  is  is to lea leadd the outer voices voices in tenth s, with a stepwise falling bass. Here, however, tenths appear only at the beginning and end of the progression (bars 13 and 15); a voice-exchange pair in the outer voices substitutes for the intermediate tenths. This voice-exchange pair develops the B-C idea of bar   12 12,, while aals lsoo introducin g a melodic augme nted second in tthe he u pper par t from bar 13 to bar 14. Bach's Bach's mod ula tion thu s goes beyo nd his usual skil skilllful introduction of the leading tone: chromatic elements assume increasing emphasis as the movement unfolds. 14 These chromatic elements introd uced in the transitional ph rase assume eve evenn greater prominence as the exposition continues. First, the obsessively repeated Ftt-G idea above the dominant pedal point in bars 16-20 develops the chromatic ne ighboring progression of bar 10 (note the triplets iinn both cases), cases), then the chromaticism erupts into the titanic diminished seventh chords that begin the closing phrase in bar 20. These diminished seventh chords develop the augmented second idea of bars 13-14 in two ways, first by setting the outer voices with the interval B-over-Al>, then by using melodic augmented seconds to exchange the outer voices in the flourish that announces the beginning of the cadential progression progression leading into bar 23. Thus the chro matic elements int roduced in bars 9-12 gain ever ever-incre -increasing asing prominenc e and guide the mo dula tion to the minor dominant. Bach's development section continues reworking these chromatic elements in a bold and ingenious manner. He works out a progression in descending major thirds connecting the minor dominant that ends the exposition to the dominant seventh chord that ends the development section; the bass moves C—AlrC—Al r-FI FI>( >(/E /E''0-C. 0-C. Aga inst this pa tte rn of falling falling m ajor thi rd s, he writes an up pe r line that descends chromatically ffrom rom C throug h O to   B^, th e  B \>   preparing the return of the   Al>   that begins the recapitulation. At two points in the developme nt section, he provides provides enharmo nically equivalent consonant setti settings ngs of of dis dissonances heard in the exposition: a minor third   A\r-C\>  beginning in bar 49 reinterprets the striking augm ented second  Al>-B  of bar 20, and the m ajor third Al>-FI> in bars 53-54 reworks the diminished fourth A[>-E of the phrase ending in bars 7-8. (Example 2 illustrates the diminished fourth/major third with a curly bracket.) Indeed, the stunning   Fl>   triad in bars 54-57, which forms the focal point of the development section, sets both leading tones of the exposi-

14. On the skillful introduction of the leading tone, see Bach,   Essay,  Essay,  p. 434;  Versuch,  Part II (Berlin, 1762), Chapter 41, §8, p. 330. A point of clarification on the reading of bars 13-16: the C minor triad in bar 15 is a chord prod uced by bass arpeggiation against a prolonged F root; it also provides an initial consonant setting of a passing   6> 2  between f2   and d2. When the root F returns at the end of bar 15, the el>2  does not simply hold to become a dissonant seventh; instead, it gives way to a d 2 which anticipates the fifth of the G major triad that arrives in bar 16.

 

Wayne Petty

 

Example 2 C. P P.. E. Bach, Sonata in F minor,  H.I73  (W.57/6), first movement: middleground analysis Exposition

Phrase:

OPENING

TRANSITIONAL to  V of V

(suffix)

Pres. Continuation

Presentation

Standing on  V

© ©

N.B.

Continuation

® ©

Foreground: I Middleground: I

Recapitulation

Phrase:

OPENI OPENING NG repeated

TRANSITIONAL omitted

suffix transposed

Pres. Continuation

Presentation Continuation

Standing on  V

(S) (&)

72

rhymes with bars 15-16 2 =

= 2

J-jfJ>>-r-J. N.B.

•5 6 65

56 8

7

Middleground:  Middleground:   I

 

C.  P.  t he  fine  art of of transposition  P .  E . Bach and the

59

Recap.

  evelopment CLOSING in V Lead-in

(POSTOPENING in III with CADENTIAL) longer contin uatio n

Cadential

®

23

RETRANSITION

(26)  (26)—(34)

 

q

mm. 3rd f

/ 

cover tones

\

3rd-prg.: C

register transfer

^ f lower lOths

7  c 

7 6

4  2 

6   5l| 4   i,

6

6 4

(becomes E ^ — 

>

j

CLOSING CLOSI NG transposed to I Lead-in

Cadential

-(falling major 3rds to >-

iv v

(POSTCADENTIAL)

7 I,

c -f:

V

I

 

60

Wayne Petty

tion, E and B, to be consonant w ith eac eachh other. Thus some of tthe he prom inent chromatic notes in the exposition finally become temporarily stabilized in the development secti section on when they assume an enharm onically equivalent guise. guise. The recapitulation will take up these chromatic notes and restore their original tendencies in the key of F minor. As the lower system of Example 2 illustrates, what was originally the obsessive Ftt-G idea above the dominant pedal point in bars 16-20 of the exposition now becomes B-C in the transposed closing phrase of bars 72- 76 , as if to revoke the chrom atic prog ression   Cl>-Bl>  o  off the dev elopm ent section. In additio n, Bach revisits revisits the dim inishe d fo urth Al> Al>-E at the end of the opening and transitional phrases in the recapitulation, now highlighting the return of the leading tone E to the domain of F minor. Thus transposition in this case serves not only the formal requirement of resolving the large-scale dissonance created by the modulation in the exposition. It also serves to restore, and emphasize through surface repetition, the tonal tendencies that the enharmonic progressions in the development section had overthrown. In this F minor Sonata, Bach shows a mastery of chromatic harmony for which justly unfolds, famous in hisfinally time. Chromatic elements grow in prominence he as was the work they assume provisional stability in the development section, then they return with comparable emphasis in the recapitulation as their original tendencies in F minor are restored. Bach was no less a master of diatonic writing, however, and some of his more modest works show an equally uncanny ability to use simple transposition in his sonata recapitulations. Our next work, the A major   Probestuck  H.72 (W .63/3), first mov emen t, is of this this type. 15 Bach based the A major  major   Probestuck on   on Plan  B, which is to rewrite the ope ning phrase, omit the transitional phrase, and transpose the closing phrase. In the exposition, he writes the opening phrase (bars 1-8) and transitional phrase (bars 9-16) as eight-ba r perio ds; the clos closing ing phrase consists of a  four-bar leadin (bars 17-20) overlapping with a four-bar cadential phrase aiming for a perfect cadence in bar 23. A parenthesis delays the cadence, however, until bar 28 .  In the recapitulation, after rewriting the opening phrase, he departs from literal transposition at two points in the closing phrase. First, he changes the transposition level from a fourth above to a fifth below at the end of bar 59; second, he rewrites the parenthesis beginning in bar 63, in part to regain the high register for the final cadence in bar 68. (Why he might have made these changes in the recapitulation will become clear when we consider the middleground structure.) In this piece, as in the F minor Sonata just discussed, all the sections develop around issues of tonal tendencies, except that now those tendencies involve diatonic elements. establishes a com posiIn the opening phrase of the A  major  Probestuck, Bach establishes

tional idea that he will develop throughout the piece (Example 3). He treats the stable scale degrees   1  and 5 as though they tend to move toward the active scale degrees that serve as their upper neighbors. When the time comes for these the Probestucke,  see note 5  above. For the A major  Probestuck, see  T he  Collected Works  Probestucke, see 15.   For editions of the fo r  Solo Keyboard,  ed. Darrell Berg, Vol. 1, p. 46; and the  the  Sechs  Sonateny   ed. Erich Doflein, Vol. 1, pp .  12-13.

 

C. P. E. Bach and the fine art of transposition

61

Exam ple 3 C. P. E. Bach, A major   Probestuck,  Sonata H.72 (W.63/3), first movement, bars 1-4 >f|2N

m

e  2 omitted

 =5

active elements to return to their stable points of origin, however, they are left hanging, resolved only implicitly. As Example 3 illustrates, Bach activates the dominant pitch e 2   from the start, with the snapped turn ornament  geschnell2 2 ter Doppelschlag),  then he leads the e   to its upper neighbor ff   over sub2 dom inant harm ony in bar  3, marking the ft  for special special emp hasis with the sho rt 2 2 however, occurs only implicitly. implicitly. A similar pr oappoggiatura g . A return to e , however, 2 gression gres sion ornam ents the tonic pitch a  in this ope ning . Bach leads leads the a2  t o b 2  i n bars 1-2, bu t he lea leaves ves the b 2   hanging, not literally resolved in the foreground. W hat be gins to em erge is a reve reversal rsal ooff tonal tend encies. The stable scal scalee degrees move directly directly to their upper neighbors, but the return occurs only iindirectl ndirectlyy or implicitly. Having set up these tendencies tendencies in his opening phrase, Bach works them out in both the exposition and recapitulation. Example 4 aligns middleground readings of the outer sections of the A major  major   Probestiick  to illustrate how he accomplishes this impressive compositional feat. As Bach begins the modulation in the transitional phrase of the exposition, a 5-6 exchange in bar 9 intro2 2 duces ft   as upper neighbor to the primary melodic tone e . Bach will prolong this upper neighbor ft2   through the arrival on V of V in bar 16. (The descent from 3 to 2 and fift fifth-progre h-progression ssion from 2 thu s occur in an inner voice.) The prim ary ton e return s at the beginning of the cadent cadential ial part of the clo closing sing phrase in bar 20, graced by its its upper neigh bor again, as as a kind of summ ary, concealed in the triplets of bars 20-22. Thus the middleground of the exposition devel-

ops the idea of leading E to Ft but returning only indirectly to E. Bach's foreground also expresses this idea. As the upper staff of Example 4 illustrates, he highlights an Ft at se several veral poin ts (se (seee the asterisks asterisks at bars 5, 9,13 ,  but, except for the lead-in to bar 9, each tim e the Ft appea rs, he un der m ine s 21), but, 21), a direct connection back to E. (These frustrated returns to E are marked "x" in Example 4.) The Ft rises (bar 5), it leads to Et rather than to E (bar 10), the

 

Wayne Petty

62

Exam ple 4 C. P. E. Bach, A major  Probestuck,  Sonata H.72 (W.63/3), first movement, exposition and recapitulation: middleground analysis Exposition Phrase:

OPENING Fore

After

0

TRANSITIONA L to V of V

CLOSING in V

Fore

Lead-in

After

© * /

fix rises

 2)

cons. P bass

cons. P -(7th-arp.)-

| -

IV(=

Foreground: I

6

A: I5 |lin 6

5

Middleground: I ~

Recapitulation Phrase:

O P E N IN G rew ritten

T R A N S IT I O N A L o m i tt e d

CLOSING transpo sed to I

Middleground: I

 

C.  P. E. Bach and  the fi fine ne  art of transposition

Cadential

(parenthesis)

©  © ©

©

triplets

E follows indirectly

ft/

rises 5 N

a. /  J> )   expan

3

JTY

"^—

6 

4 f

IV V

 

J

 

-sion

expansion

,  J

J

h

- >^V —

 

 -- . —J -

5

(I

IV   V

)

I i

(parenthesis rewritten)

©

68

* 

resolution

b 2 

high L. register regained

2

a

63

IV V

(

)

I

 

64

Wayne Petty Exam ple 5 C. P. E. Bach, A major   Probestuck,  Sonata H.72 (W.63/3), first movement, bars 55-56 ft 2

from:

r

IV 8 55)

 56)

f

would-be resolution E turns out to be a passing tone (bar 14, at the sudden piano   dynamic), and so forth. Even the conventional imperfect cadence that initiates the parenthesis in bar 23 speaks of this idea: Ft (now heard as 2 of E major) can lead only indirectly to E E,, aft after er the p arenthesis intervenes. And even in those cases where th e Ft leads more directly to E, as in in bars 2 1-2 2, Bach conceal cealss the progr progression ession in the dim inutio n. Bach now faces a compositional problem in the recapitulation: how to recreate the effect of the prolonged neighboring tone ft 2   in a section that will not 2 mo dulate or prolong a harm ony that might sup port the ft . His solution is bril2 liant. He achieves such an effect by keeping ft   melodically active without technicallyy prolon ging it. Fir nicall First, st, aass Example 5 shows, he rewrites the op enin g phrase 2 to introduce ft   in bar 55, as par t of the appro ach to the half cadence at the e nd of the opening phrase. The half-cadential diminution in bar 55 is based on the progression IV 8 " 7 -V, in which the ft2   would normally return to e 2 . As he did in the exposition, however, Bach omits the e 2  resolution . In bar 56 he leave leavess the ft2 hanging, only to pick it it up a mo m ent later later in the transposed clos closing ing phrase (bar 57). As the "x" markings in Example 4 indicate, he continues to avoid a direct return to e 2   in the transposed closing phrase. (The e2  in bar 58 and the e1  in bar 2 2 59 cannot be considered resolutions of the ft   of bar 57.) Having left the ft hanging, Bach then changes the transposition level to a fourth below the exposition in bar 59, as a way of leaving the high register open. Only after having regained the high register in the rewritten parenthesis (bar 65) does he

return to the ft 2   and provide the resolution to e 2 . Thus he has recreated the 2

effect of a composed-out neighboring tone ft   in the recapitulation to answer that of the exposition, but he does so by leaving the ft 2   melodically active, a hanging no te that hovers oover ver much of the recapitulation. At the same time, Bach's transposed music and rewritten parenthesis develop the othe r issue presen t from th e start: the tenden cy of B  to retur n to A only indi-

 

C.  P. E. Bach an  and d the fine art of transposition

65

Example 6 C. P.  P. E. Bach,  Bach, A major  Probestuck, Sonata H.72  (W.63/3), fi firs rstt mo vem ent, development section: middleground analysis Development

Recap. CLOSING  in II

Phrase: OPENING Fore

( 5 ) (5 (5o) o)

Aft After er (modulating)

(3 (32) 2) —  

34)

Lead-in

37)

RETRANSITION

Cadential rewritten

(38)   39)

IT) 

f|2 omitted

42) 

a p p e a r s 

44)

45)

46

(47) e2 omitted

D2

f

e

N   i mplied

(49) e 2 appears oo

5 implied

6 N

5

cons.

^

' 

1f = 

6

\5

6

6 5 3 

8V3-

6 5

3

L[

r

3

 

2

±

i c  r c  i

-^—\ —

5 

c

\ 5

-|

8

7

— 6  6

VI-V

6

6

|

6

6

5

1

7^

8  6 

7 5

II ( u p p e r 5th to V)

rectly.  Th e  imperfect cadence that prevented  a  direct progression from  Ff to E in bars 22-23   of the exposition  now  becomes transposed  to the indirect  progression   B-A in the recapitulation. T hus Bach Bach  has ha s found  a way to restate th e indirect progression from   B to A that  was als alsoo present  in the opening. T  The he rewritten parenthesis beginning   in bar 63  finally provides  a  clear statement of 2 2 the b - a   progression  as well, in bar  barss 65-6 6. The relations just described   in the exposition  an d recap itulation also help account   for  Bach's choice  of B m i n o r  for the modulation  in his  development section.   The  middleground analysis  of Example  6 illustrates  illustrates tha t  th e development, like  the other sections in this piece, com poses out the upper neighbor ft2, n o w   as the loca locall prim ary tone  5 in B minor.  As before,  e2  leads directly to ft2 2 (barss 32-34 ),  b ut no (bar  now w it passes  passes throug h  the th e ft  to approach  the th e hal  halff cad ence in 2 2 B m i n o r   in bar 38,  where fit   is implied.  Th e f  ftt tt   appears in the middle  of the 2

closing phrase  in bars 4 2 - 4 3 , leading chromatically up to b  in bar 44  44  just before the cadence. Thus  by  b y modulating  to B m i n o r  in the  development section Bach th e  composed-out upper neighbor Fit of the  the exposition; h as  n o t only  only recreated  the he also provides  a stable setting of its  tonic image B.  B . The quick retransition th en 2 restates th  the e f f,  only to leave it hanging  hanging , precisely precisely as the  recapitulation will then do. In   the th e A  major  Probestuck, then,  all the  sections develop around  th e central

 

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Wayne Petty

idea for the composition, which is to treat the stable tone E as though it has a tendency to move to its upper neighbor Ft, then to return from Ft to E only indirectly or implicitly. The tonic pitch A and its upper neighbor B receive similar treatme nt. We have see seenn that Bac Bach' h'ss recomposing of the opening phrase and his modified transposition of the closing phrase in the recapitulation served this idea by recreating structu res like those he ard earlier. This m an ne r of composing testifies to Bach's sensitivity to diatonic tonal relationships and the creativity creati vity with which he used close transposition . I began by noting th at C. P. C.  P. E. Bach's Bach's keyboard sonatas pre sent a curi ous mix of fre freee dim inutio n a nd strict transpositio n, a combination which has led some scholars to sense a rigidity in his handling of the sonata form. While it may be tru e tha t som e of Bach' Bach'ss sonatas fa fail il to transcend the rigid effec effectt of cl close ose tran sposition, in his best sonatas, like those discussed here, he found imaginative ways to use strict transposition without such an effect. In the G minor Probestuck,   he used transpo sitio n to make explicit a concealed c onn ectio n between two pas passag sages es in the expositi exposition. on. In the F mino r S onata and the A major Probestiicky   the transposed music developed the same tonal issues that organize Probestiicky the oth er sec tions. Throu gh such creative techni ques, C. P. E. Bach raised raised th e device of transposition to a fine art, with an inventiveness not so far removed from that which informed other features of his style.

 

Com edy and st structure ructure  in H  Haydn' aydn'ss symphonies L   Poundie Burstein

That then which seems generally  generally  the the cause  cause of laughter is laughter is the bringing together of images which have contrary additional ideas, as ideas, as well as some as some resemblance in the principal idea: this contrast between ideas ooff grandeur, dignity, sanctity, per perfection fection and ideas ooff me anness, baseness, baseness, profanity, seems to be the very spirit  of burlesque; and the greatest greatest part of our raill raillery ery and jest are foun founded ded upon  it.  it. Francis Hutcheson, Thoughts Hutcheson,  Thoughts on Laughter (1758) Laughter  (1758) The foundations of humor

"Lowliness" and  humor As  the second  second m ovement  of Haydn'  Haydn'ss Sym phony phony   N o . 93 draws to its conclusion, the exquisite opening subject   is stated for the first tim e by the fu full ll orc hestra in a resounding forte resounding  forte (bar  (bar 71). But the expected peroration is soon cu t short. After After two bars   the th e  music becomes increasingly quiet, increasingly broken  up  into shorter  a nd shorter fragments. Eventually it becomes imm obilized  on the th ird C-E, sounded   by flutes  an d  violins, whose entrances  are separated  by delicate pauses, much   as if the  incomplete theme  is n o d d i n g  off to  sleep.  In bar 8 80, 0, however, it is rudely awakened  by th e  two bassoons, w ho interrupt  the th e reverie with   a unison low C, played  played fortissimo.  fortissimo.  Th The e sound  is reminiscent  of  someone attacked by  a b o u t  of flatulence - a  striking contrast with t he refi  refinemen nemen t  of t h e rest  of the m ovement. This well-known passage exemplifies   the th e h u m o r  for  which Haydn  has long been celebrated. Yet one  might well wonder  how ho w  such coarseness  can  find  a place within   a serious work  of art. And, pu tting this question w ithin  the th e larger framework   of h u m o r  in general,  on e  might ask: why do  people delight  in the crassness, silliness,  an d degradations  of comedy?

The humor equation

The answer lies largely  in the ability  of comedy  to provide  a  counterweight  to li life fe's 's disapp ointm ents   an d failures. The joys of  striving toward ideals ar e often accompanied  by a sense of shame a nd frustration  as we fall fall s ho rt  of our goals. By deriding   ou r attempts  to achieve a  higher, more serious, better,  an d  lofty place   in  life, humor helps relieve  the th e  tension between such attem pts  and our failure  to achi  achieve eve them .  Th e higher  th e goal, th e greater  th e r  reli elief ef com edy can 67

 

68  

L.  Poundie Burstein

provide.  In a way, humor celebrates excellence by recognizing th  the e s  struggles truggles tha t 1 are faced   in  striving toward greater dignity. and d thus In humor, "lowly" aspects  are always linked  an  thus contrasted with higher elements. By such mean s  th e deris  derisive ive elem ents of  humor differ from pure derision. Th  The e linking a  and nd contrasting  of things that a  are re somehow serious, sensible,  are e trivial, silly, illogical, or base creates logical,  or "lofty" with things that ar creates wh at  t o I shall refer  to as the  humor equation.  The degree  of  humor directly relates to the degree  of contrast between high  and low elements, as well as to the persuasiveness sive ness with wh ich   the two a are re related. Audiences tend   to  recognize only  the th e  lower side of the  humor equation  by focusing   on the  ridiculous. Skilled comedians, on the  other hand, realize that and d  that  the th e  person the "setup"  is as  i m p o r t a n t  to a joke  as the  punch line,  an th e role of  the "straight man" is as vital to  t o a comedy skit as the jokeassuming   the ster.  For a full full unde rstan din g of the sources of comedy, it is impo rtant t o realize t h a t h u m o r   is not  derived merely from  low  elements; elements; both high  and low elements must   be present  for  comedy to  t o exist. For example,  in  Aristophanes's Lysistrata, Aristophanes's Lysistrata, the th e  lustful intentions  of the Greek w o m e n   are  contrasted with their grand designs  to  stop  a war by  controlling  are e ultimately unsucces their passions (designs which  ar unsuccessful sful owing  to their lack of willpower). Without this contrast between   low and  high, their erotic desires would   not be  funny,  bu t  merely pornographic. Similarly, Charlie Chaplin's tramp tickles  us not  simply because  of his  destitute state, b ut also because  of the airs  of gentility  an and d power  he  adopts despite  his rag  ragged ged con dition. An d in th e Symphony   No. 93, the  crass sound  of bar 80 is  funny precisely because  the sounds   of the previous seventy-nine measures are so  refined. Appreciation   of the impact  of the  high elements  of the  humor equation  is particularly crucial   in  approaching musical humor. Within  a  serious piece of music, there   is a limit to the emphasis  a composer  can place  on th e low end of the humor equation. Other arts allow   for a  clearer distinction between  a "persona" project projected ed   by the work  (for instance,  a  character  in a novel  or  play) a n d   the th e  work's creator.  (For  example,  it is  obvious that  Mrs.  Malaprop's absurdly m angled English results results fr from om Sheridan's mastery of the language.)  But  i n m usic. As a result, an excess it  is relatively difficult  to make such distinctions in of silliness might tend  to mar the integrity of  a composition. This problem   can be avoided if the composer emphasizes emphasizes th e high  end of t h e  t he serious side of a joke are well humor equation. T he advantages  of stressing the k n o w n  to all good com edians. This explai explains ns why characters w  who ho intimidate u  uss or whom   we regard  as powerful  or  exalted (such  as politicians  or  clergymen) are prime material   for  humor. With such people,  the th e  serious aspect  of the humor equation  is so acc  accentuated entuated that comic contrast  can e  easil asilyy be es tablishe d.

Likewise,   a  composer  can  readily create comedy  in  music  by  stressing  the th e serious side  of the  humor equation,  so  that only  a  small degree  of  silliness is   of  Comedy 1.   See See James  K.  Feibleman,  In   Praise  Comedy   (1938; reprinted  New  York: Horizon Press, 1970),   (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968), pp. pp .   178ff.;  Elder Olson,  The  Theory of Comedy 13-14; Arth ur Asa Berger Berger,,  An A natomy of Humor (Ne w Brunswick: Transaction Pu blishers, 1993), p. Humor (New Gutwirth, Laughing  (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Press, 11;  and  Marcel Gutwirth, Laughing  Matter:  An  Essay on  th e Comic 1993),  p p. 59ff. 59ff.,,  among others.

 

Comedy and structure in Haydn  s  symphonies

69

required to create humor. By such means, musical humor can be created without having to resort to truly ludicrous effects. Of course, the musical idiom of the Classical period incorporates a panoply of styles and topics ranging from learned contrapuntal writing, stately marches, and eerie ombra eerie  ombra  passages on th e "lofty" side to to opera  opera  buff   buff    elements aelements and rauco us peasant dances on the "lowly" side. 2  In the hands of a master com poser who is also a master humorist, this musical language is an unsurpassed means for the creation of the most varied kinds of compositional comedy.

Incongruity and humor Tho ugh inco ngruity is vita vitall to hum or, hum or can not derive derive fro from m incongruity alone. I find untenable the notion that humor results merely from the recon3 of a   confusion between ciliation of incongruities.  This theo ry arises partly ou t of a humor and wit. Although humor and wit are frequently treated as equivalent in everyday language, they are not quite the same. Wit is a kind of cleverness that uncovers and expresses paradoxical relationships between unlike things. Though witty statements can be quite funny, they are not necessarily so. The resolution of incongruities may indeed form the main source of wit, but one should avoid concludin g that such resolution by iitse tself lf constitutes the essence ooff humor, for incongruously linked things are by no means always funny. 4 Consider the following passages: But ere the crown he looks for liv livee in peace,  mo thers' sons Te Tenn thousan d bloody crowns of of mo Shalll ill become the flower Shal flower of    of England's face.  Second,   III.iii.94-96) (Shakespeare,  Richard the Now is the the winter of our discontent Made glorious glorious summ er by this su sunn [so [son] n] of  York,  Third,  I.i.1-2) (Shakespeare,  Richard the These two ingenious puns of Shakespeare each set up incongruities, yet these incongruities do not involve a conflict between high and low interpretations. The pu ns actually ennob le bot h their subjects; subjects; noth ing is trivialized. As a result, these quotations display much wit, but no humor. If a pun is to be funny, it must link a sensible interpretation of a word to a trivial or absurd interpretation. Such a linkage occurs in the following joke: Ratner, Classic New York: York: Schirmer Books, 1 980), 2.   See Leonard Ratner, Classic  Music: Expression,  Form, and Style ( Style (New pp .   9-26 and  386ff. Leacock,  Humor and Humanity 3.   See, for instance, Stephen Leacock,  Humanity   (New York: Henry Holt, 1938); Mary K. Rothbart and Diana Pien, "Elephants and Marshmallows: A Theoretical Synthesis of IncongruityResolution and Arousal Theories of Humor," in  in   It's a Funny Thing,   Humour, ed. Humour, ed. Anthony Chapman

and Hugh Foot (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1977), pp. 37-40; Jerry M. Suls, "Cognitive Processes in Humor Appreciation," in  in   Handbook of Humor  Humor  Research,  Research,  ed. Jeffrey Goldstein and Paul McGhee (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, Springer-Verlag, 1983), pp. 81-9 9; variou s essays essays in in   Th e Philosophy  o f Laughter  and Humor, ed. John Morreall (Albany: State State University of New York York Press, 1987); and John Morreall, "Enjoying Journal o f Humor Research 111  111  (1989), pp. 1-18. Incongruity, Humor International Journal o Lewis, S tudies in Words  (Cambridge: 4.   For more on th e distinction between wit and hu mor, see C. S. Lewis, in Words Cambridge University Press, 1960), pp.   86ff.;  Charles Gruner,  Gruner,  Understanding   Laughter (Chicago: Laughter (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1978), pp.  91ff.;  and Thomas MacArthur, ed.,  ed.,  The Oxford Companion to the English the English  (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 1116. Language (Oxford: Language

 

70

L Poundie Burstein Why don't people be become come hun gry in the desert? desert? Because of al of  alll the sandwiches [sand which is] there To be sure, the difference between the logical and silly interpretations here involves little shift in status. Accordingly, this pun (like most puns involving 5 simple word play) is not very funny. In truly funny jokes, the high and low elements must be starkly contrasted: Groucho M arx (as Captain Spaulding): One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. pajamas. How he got into my paja pajamas, mas, I'll I'll neve neverr know. {Animal Crackers) {Animal  Crackers)

Despite its simple structure, this statement manages to deflate an imposing show of bravado by means of an utterly ludicrous statement. T hus, thoug h it is les lesss cle clever ver or incong ruo us th an th e sandwich riddle, Gro uch o M arx's joke is fa farr 6 funnier. Hu m or stems from from the degree degree of iincongruity ncongruity only ins insofar ofar as the incongruity delineates a shift in status between high and low interpretations. This notion becomes crucial when approaching humor in music. In compositions, incongruous elements are frequently associated by means of motivic parallel enha rm onic associat associations, ions, and other m usica usicall analo analogies gies to puns. Of course, isms, enha isms, one cannot say that all such musical devices are comedic. As in literature or speech, a musical pun becomes funny only when it links passages or elements that are serious with those that are less serious.

Parody   Clown humor It may appear that certain comic forms, such as burlesque or clown humor, stress only silly or foolish aspects. Such an emphasis does not negate the presence of contra st, however, for seemingly pu re silli silliness ness will almost inevitably be contrasted with an unnamed, general standard. For example, it might app ear that Bottom's transformation to hal halff ma n, half ass in Shakespeare's  Shakespeare's  A Midsummer Night's Dream Dream is  is an insta nce of p ure silliness. silliness. After all, Bottom is clearly a fool from the moment he steps on the stage, and thus there seems to be no contrast with a higher element. Nevertheless, foolish as he is, Bottom has at least some dignity, and his ass's ears are funny insofar as they repres ent an insult to whatever little dignity he has. (Ev (Even en so, the contr ast becomes greater, and the situation more humorous, through Bottom's prePiddington,   Th e Psychology 5.   For an excellent discussion of puns, see Ralph Piddington,   of Laughter (New Laughter (New York: Gamut Press, Press, 1963), pp. 98-104. Also, Also, a number of incongruity-resolution incongruity-resolution hum or theorists (such (such as

those cited in note 3 above) have have made insightful insightful o bservations on th e mechanics of puns and similar jokes, though I fee feell they often often w rongly credit the working -out of these incon gruity reso lutions as the mainmech source of humor. 6. The anism of hu mo r in this joke can be further demo nstrated by trying trying to reshape it as foll follows: ows: One m orning I sshot hot an elephant in my ballet ballet tutu. How he got into my ballet tutu, I'll never know. Though the above statement statement is more ludicrous than and just as incongruous as Groucho M arx' arx'ss joke, it lacks lacks a serious side - there is noth ing that provides a con trast to th e silliness. silliness. As As a result, result, it is not funny.

 

Comedy and structure in Haydn s Haydn  s  symphonies

71

tenti ous bragg ing as well as Titania's infatuatio n with him .) If Bo ttom had be en truly deformed (so that his appearance could not be fairly compared to that of a norm al p erson ), he would inspire pity pity,, not laughter. Here again, the degree of humor directly relates to the degree of contrast between high and low elements, regardless of whether the context explicates the opposing aspects. Music, too, can establish humor merely by emphasizing the ridiculous. Yet such an emphasis does not deny the presence of contrast with loftier elements. After all, a certain amount of grandeur normally accompanies a performance of a symphony or other serious piece of music. Thus broad extra-musical mim icry and other obvious jests jests,, ssuch uch as may be found in Symphonies N o. 6600 ("Der Zerstreute") or No. 94 ("The Surprise")* are readily recognized as humorous, for they glaringly conflict with the atmosphere one expects from a symphony. 7

Playing with musical convention Not all of Haydn's parodies are so blatant, however. To appreciate the passages in which Hay dn plays with co nventio ns in a gentler fashion, one needs familiarity with eighteenth-century style and genres. A person totally unfamiliar with other works from Haydn's time would find nothing peculiar or humorous in the closing movements of Symphonies No. 45 ("The Farewell") and No. 46 (where the minuet returns in the midst of the finale). Those acquainted with the historical situation, however, will quickly see the mockery in these works. The most extensive published investigation of Haydn's manipulation of convention in the service of humor may be found in Gretchen Wheelock's book,   Haydn's Ingenious Jesting With Art.  book, Art.  Wheelock declares that "Haydn's gambit in a musical jest is to make the simplest stock-in-trade convention opa que , iits ts expected function indecisi indecisive, ve, and to subvert the mo st familiar topic, 8 rendering it ambiguous."   In her study, Wheelock examines the stylistic norms of create Haydn's time and ways which Haydn subverts them to humor. Thisdescribes strategy the has various been used by by many other analysts of Haydn. Indeed, Haydn's parody of convention - along with his use of broad m im ic ry 9 are central to most discussions of Haydn's humor in the recent literature. 7. The m ost not oriou s example of parody in the repertoire is Mozart's "Ein musikalischer Spass Spass." ." This composition can hardly be considered a true musical artwork; the antics here are so wild that they do not merely parody convention, but rather they parody the futile pretensions of lesser musicians (withh M ozart temporarily adopting the persona of a (wit of  a mediocre  mediocre compo ser). Eve Evenn so, the humo r in this piece does not come from pure silliness, for it maintains enough of  a  a normal  normal compositional framework to allow ready compariso n with a work created created with high artistic aspiration s. Signifi Significantl cantly, y, th e Spass" is most clumsy at those those mo ments where the musicians are tradiwriting in "Ein musikalischer  musikalischer   Spass" is

tionally expected to flaunt their skill, such as at the cadenza or the fugato section. Without such a frame of reference, reference, this piece would no t be funny, but m erel erelyy bad. 8. Gretchen Wheelock, Haydn Wheelock, Haydn  s  s Ingenious Jesting  (New York: York: Schirmer Books, 1992), p. 205.  W  W ith Art Art (New 9. See James C. Kidd, "Witaand H um Humor or in Tonal Syntax," Synta x," Current  21 (1976), pp. 70-82 ; Jane  Current Musicology Perry-Camp, "A Laugh Minuet: in the Late Eighteenth Century,"  College Music  Symposium 19 (1979), pp. 19-29; Steven E. Paul, "Comedy, Wit, and Haydn's Instrumental Music" in   Haydn Studies: Proceedings Proceedings of the International Conference, Washington, D.C., 1975,   ed. Jens Peter Larsen,

Howard Serwer, Serwer, and James Webster (New York: York: Norton , 1981), pp. 450-56 (as well well as Paul's Paul's Ph.D. dissertation, "Wit, Comedy, and Humour in the Instrumental Music of Franz Joseph Haydn," Cambridge University, 1980); Howard Irving, "Haydn and Laurence Sterne: Similarities in

 

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Hum or through musical contrast contrast The humor equation and harmonic structure structure It is is no t necessary, necessary, however, that o ne side of the hu m or equa tion draw on referreferences or material outside the composition   itself.  Many of of Haydn's Haydn's hum orous works do not parody convention; rather they set up a contrast within the composition  itself. The "lowly" parts in such works need no t be funny in th em selves. If the contrast between high and low elements is strong enough, and these elements are linked convincingly through harmonic, motivic, or other structural means, then humor will result. Humor arising from such means is responsible for some of the most brilliant and subtle examples of Haydn's comic craft. An example of such humor may be found in the first movement of Symphony No. 78 in C minor. Nothing is overtly crude or ridiculous in this movement. Yet humor arises in the exposition as Haydn juxtaposes the earnest and the mirthf mirthful ul thro ugh harm onic means. This movem ent begins in a  St  Sturm urm und Drang Drang fas  fashion, hion, bu t quickly establi establishes shes a more cheerful mood by the second theme group. The second theme group becomes increasingly boisterous until bar   48 , where there is a sudden shi shift ft back to a serious serious m ood . At this point, a somber them e appears that starkl starklyy contrasts with its jovial jovial surrou nding s. This dark, dark, ombra  ombra  them e is mo re reminiscent of the first theme group, with its C-B^-C neighbor motion, F-Ftt-G passing motion, and emphasis on Dk That this som ber section would m ore readily readily fi fitt into a secti section on in m inor can be seen in in the recap itulation , for it retu rns precisely precisely within such a setting in bars 162ff.  The second them e group is transposed fr from om   El>  major to C minor here, but the measures analogous to bars   47ff.  return untransposed. This untransposed passage is thoroughly compatible with the mood of the recapitulation, where the contrast set up in the exposition no longer obtains. Example  1  shows how the so mbe r passag Example  passagee (set off off in this example by brackets) is tightly woven into the larger larger harm onic framework of the exposition, exposition, m uch as the an alogou s passage is woven in to the recapitu lation. Ye Yett the passage is not reconciled to its cheerful surroundings, but rather seems shoved aside as it is swallowed by the larger El El> major context. (Note in partic ular the ungain ly parallel   \  chords of bars  5 2 - 5 3 ,  which lead back to the key of Et major; the parallel D major  major   \  chord here substitutes for a diminished  diminished  over a bass At) This integrated harmonic structure helps make light of the severity of bars   47ff.  b y embracing them within a playful harmonic framework.

Footnote 9 (cont.) 9  (cont.) Eighteenth-Century Literary and Musical Wit," Wit,"   Current Musicology   40 (1985), pp. 34-39; Hubert Current Musicology Daschner,  Daschner, Breitkopf Breitkopf  pp. Journal 98-174   of (passim);   Mark   Humor in der Musik (Wiesbaden: Evan Bonds, "Haydn, Laurence Sterne, and the Origins  & of  Hartel, Musical1986), Irony," of the  the  American Musicological   Society  Musicological Society 44/1 (1991), pp.   57-91;  and Janet M. Levy, "A Source for Musical Wit and Humor," in Convention in  Convention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music: Essays Music: Essays  in Honor of Leonard of Leonard   G G.  ed. Wye J. J. Allanbrook, Janet M . Lev Levy, y, and W illi illiam am P. Ma hrt (Stuyvesant, N.Y N.Y.: .: Pendragon Ratner, ed. Ratner, Press, 1992), pp. 225-56. Most other discussions of humor and music tend to focus on the impact of surprise: see below. below.

 

Comedy and structure in Haydn s Haydn  s  symphonies

73

Example 1 Haydn, Symphony No. 78 in C minor, first movement   to)

a)

J

p

53) •  j

s

^

6 4

6 4

6 4

compare with bars 162-169

16 3

b) ^ 

s

* b»

* kiZ

Fl

\

J

 

J

/

1

1_1Z

The humor equation and motivic structure Sometimes the contrasting elements of of the hum or eq uation are linked throu gh motivic parallelis parallelism m rather tha n thro ugh harm onic connections. Such iiss the case case in the first movement of Symphony No. 83 ("La Poule"), which opens with a powerfully angry theme (shown in Example 2a). This theme features a chromatic m otion from from H to 5, fol followe lowedd by dotted r hythm s. The second second them e section mimics these motives (Example 2b). Here, the once threatening  threatening   H  is dem oted to th e rank of a harmless grace grace note, aass a wind instru me nt travesti travesties es the formerly ominous dotted rhythms. Evenn withou t the m otivic connections, the second theme w ould be fun Eve funny. ny. As suggested by this symphony's nickname, the theme reminds us of barnyard noises, and these sounds do conflict with the dignity normally associated with a symp honic w ork. Still Still,, bbyy motivically motivically joining this giddy theme to the und eniablyy grim them e of the opening, Haydn increa abl increases ses tthe he contrast and, correspon d-

ingly, the humor. The fourth movement of Symphony No. 93 provides another example of contrasting elements linked motivically in the service of humor. The jocund opening theme of this finale features a neighbor-note motive (Example 3a). This motive reappears at the stormy climax of the development section, over a V of the apparent local key of Ft minor. Here, however, the positions of the chord tones and neighbor tones are reversed (Example 3b). But the musical situatio n quickly rest restabiliz abilizes es  itself: the bass Cf at the end of the development is

 

L Poundie Burstein

74

Example 2 Hayd n, Symphon y No. 83 in G min or ("La ("La Poule"), fi firs rstt mov emen t

a )

 

1

14

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5

14

fL f   , T t  t

 

sfz sf z

Example 3 Haydn, Symphony No. 93 in D major, fourth movement

©

 

b)

154

m

Recapitulation

c

118)

(136) (138 (138))

(152 (152)) (154) (154)

A

(At)

B

Bit

Ci

 

Comedy and structure in Haydn's symphonies

75

 58 in F in F major,  major, fourth movement Examplee 4 Haydn, Symphony Exampl Symphony No. No. 58 a) First First theme g roup of Expositio Expositionn and Recapitulat Recapitulation ion

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F

(D

C)

Bt

A

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first first 4  4 bars  bars repeated (

b) Secon b) Secondd theme group g roup of Recapitul R ecapitulation ation

reinterpreted as a leading tone, heralding the return of the main theme in the background tonic key of D  D.. The restoration of the of the neighbor-note motive in its original format and context mocks the dark pretensions of these very same notes only a few bars earlier. The harmonic and formal structure amplify the humor here. The motion illogical, forming from the Ct chord to D at the end of the of  the development is not illogical, as itit does a part of of a  a lar  large-scale ge-scale ascent (see (see Example Exam ple 3c). Y  Yeet after such a strong and lengthy emphasis on CI on  CI as an as an apparent d ominant, the sudden resolution resolution of of this chord as a VIII   of of D  D i  iss utterly utterly flippant. The prem ature arrival of of the ton ic in bar 170 170 in particular seems to debase debase the rhythm ic figure figure that in the previous measures seemed so dire dire and forbidding.  4) , high and low low In the fourth m ovement of Symphony No . 58 (see Example 4),

elements are likewis likewisee linked both harmonically a nd motivicall motivically. y. The tight harmonic framework embraces even bars 146-47, with their menacing effect, incorporating them within a passing chord that elaborates a 5-6 contrapuntal motion. The motivic parallelisms occur in the middleground, as the F-(D-C)-BI>-A motive from the first theme returns in expanded form during the second theme. (This motivic connection between the first theme and second theme arises both in the exposition exposition and the recapitulation, though it is

 

76

L Poundie Burstein more obvious in the recapitulation, where a registral shift in bar 134 highlights the motiv e; compa re bar 134 134 with bar 33 iinn the score.) score.) The various c onne ction s humorously disarm the more serious parts by embedding them within a lighthearted context.

The humor equation and surprise surprise The connection between surprise and humor is often emphasized, especially in writings on humor in music. 10  Y  Yeet one sh ould be careful careful not to exaggerate this connection. Many things are surprising but not funny. To a certain extent, all but the most mediocre artworks contain some aspect of the unexpected. If humor were simply the product of surprise, then almost every work would be funny. The reverse is also true: elements of a work can be funny without being surprising. For example, consider the scene in Moliere's  Moliere's   Scapin  Scapin  where Scapin continually fools his master into being beaten (Ill.ii), or Abbott and Costello's famed "Who's on First" skit, with its hilarious repetitions. In these cases, the humor actually increases as the actions become less surprising. An example of musical hum or th at is not de penden t on surprise may be found in Variation Variation IV of the finale to Haydn's Symphony No. 72. Here the jovial and the serious are mixed without the benefit of surprise as a dark, lugubrious contrabass plays an inappropriately dainty melody in  in   stile cantante.11 Nevertheless, surprise frequently does play an important auxiliary role in creating humor. A surprising event can on the surface appear quite illogical. That is, a seemingly seemingly irrational, surprisi surprising ng event can form form one part of the h um or equation if contrasted with a llogi ogical cally ly constructed underlying framework. (The  of the  the  "S urprise" Symphony is incongruously funny no t so much Paukenschlag of Paukenschlag because it contrasts soft music with a loud sound, but rather because it contrasts a logically constructed passage with an illogically brusque event.) Also, low and high elements can be tightly conjoined and thus contrasted when something lighthearted surprisingly replaces the expected arrival of something serious. In many of Haydn's rondo finales, for example, a development section seems to lead to the arrival of a thunderous theme in a minor key. If, instead, an arrival of a lighth earted melo dy in a major key replaces the antic ipated tragic theme, our darker expectations are mocked. For instance, in Symphony No. 88, the development of the rondo finale seems to lead to the parallel minor; in Symphony No. Symphony  No. 93, to the the minor mediant (see Example 3 above); and in Symphony   N o .  6644 ("Tempora ("Tempora mu tantur" ) to the

min or su bm ediant. In each of these mov emen ts, ho however wever,, the recapitulation in the tonic major key appears unexpectedly. The thematic return in Symphony 10.   See Henry  F.  Gilbert, "Humor in Music," The Music," The Mu sical Quarterly 12/1 Quarterly 12/1 (1926), pp. 40-55; James C. Kidd, "Wit and Humor in Tonal Syntax,"  Syntax,"   Current Musicology  Musicology  21 (1976), pp. 70-82; Gretchen Wheelock, "Wit, Humor, and the Instrumental Music of Joseph Haydn"  (Ph.D. diss., Yale diss., Yale University,  University,  pp. 1-6; and Susan Wollenberg,  Wollenberg,  A New Look at C.  P. E. Musical Jokes," in  in C. P . E. 1979), pp. 1979), P. E. Bach's Musical Jokes,"   E. Bach Studies,   ed. Stephen L. Clark (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), pp. 295-314, among many others. Studies, See the discussion in Daschner, Daschner,   Humor in der Musik,  11.   See Musik,  pp. 155-56, regarding the comic use of low instruments.

 

Comedy and structure in Haydn's symphonies

77

Example 5 Haydn, Symphony No. 55 in  in   El» major ("Der Sch ulm eister "), fir first st m ove m e nt

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AkV7 = g:»  

V

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V

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(=V7)   I

N o .   64 contains a particularly brilliant twist. The development section of this work seems to end on a V 9   chord of Ft minor (bars 109ff.). Yet the upper notes of this portentous chord are reinterpreted retrospectively as forming part of a of A   major. This quickly defuses the anticipated tragic outcome by reintroV 7   of A 12 ducing the main theme. Ano ther ingenious instance of of a  a   surprising harmonic reinterpretation in the servic ser vicee of hu m or occurs iinn the opening m ovem ent of Symphony N o. 55 55 ("D er Schulmeister"; see Example 5). Toward the beginning   o f the development 7 section,   a V   is reinterpreted as an augmented sixth chord and unexpectedly moves toward G minor (bars 78-83). The harmonies get increasingly darker, appearing to foreshadow   a bitter them e in  a m ino r key. At its darkest poi nt, however, howeve r, there is another harm onic reinterpretation , the reverse reverse of of the earlier 7 one:   in bars 92-96, an augmented sixth chord is recast as a V . The entranc e of one: the first theme in bar 97 makes sport of the more somber outcome suggested by the previous harmonies. A further source of humor in this passage from Symphony No. 55 involves a conflict of levels. As shown in the graph of Example 5, the V 7   chord of bars 90-96 represents a background dominant. Initially, however, one expects it to function   o n a  m uch lower level  a s a n augm ented sixth sixth  of primarily loca locall significance. The contrast in purpose between these prospective and retrospective interpretations adds to the comic feeling.   It is as as tho ug h the lowly local chord (like Chaplin's tramp in  in   City Lights) City Lights)   is suddenly thrust into a position of power on the largest scale. Such contrast of levels in the service of humor no

doubt influenced Beethoven, who often exploited this comic technique in his compositions. Incidentally, the succeeding section   of  Symphony No.  "corrects" the pran ks of bars 6 7-9 6. The El El> do m ina nt seventh of bars 103-104 resolves resolves as as 12.   Many writers have commented on Haydn's comic use of surprising thematic returns in his rondo finales; see, for instance, Wheelock,  Wheelock,   Haydn's Ingenious Rosen,  Th e Haydn's Ingenious  Jesting,   pp. 117fT., and Charles Rosen,   (New York: Norto n, 1972), pp . 337 337rT rT.. Classical Style Classical  Style (New

 

78

L. Poundie Burstein

expected to Al Al> (co (compare mpare with the E Ell? chord of bars 7 78-8 8-83), 3), an and d th the e augmen augmented ted sixth chord of bars 111-12 resolve resolvess a ass expecte expected d to a domina dominant nt chord (compare with the apparent augmented sixth chord of bars 92-96).

I3

A com bination bination of techniques: Symphony  N o. 90 As I have argued, humor arises not merely through an emphasis on low elements, nor merely through incongruity, but through the incongruous contrast of low and high elements. In most cases musical humor does not depend on the degree to which a situation is ridiculous; rather, it relies on the daring and conviction with which serious and playful events are combined and contrasted. Haydn achieves this through harmonic connections, motivic parallelisms, reversals of expectation, and conflicts between levels. In the first movement of Symphony No. 90, Haydn combines all of these techniques in the service o off hum humor. or. This movement opens with a statel stately y Ada Adagio gio introduction, whose opening phrase ends with the expressive cadential idea of bars 5-8. The mood suddenly brightens as the first theme of the exposition arrives in bar 17. The theme is non none e other tthan han the earlier cadential idea (bars 5ff.) whose cantabile portato notes are now replaced by sprightly staccatos in buffo  style. Yet in spite of the drastic mood change, the first phrase of the

exposition is so tightly connected to the previous material that it indeed seems to parody the introduction. As Example 6a shows, a single harmonic progression spans both the rega regall introd introduction uction and the animated first theme. Ba Bars rs 17-20 are not simply a variation of bars 5-8; they conclude the consequent phrase of the introduction, and thus form a direct structural parallel to the earlier passage. (Incidentally, in no other Haydn symphony are the introduction and first theme of the exposition so firmly bound together.) This opening strategy produces a number of conflicts that enhance the humor. hum or. For instance, bar 17 is a moment of great consequenc consequence e from the standpoint of the formal design. The harmonic structure, on the other hand, belittles the importance of this formal juncture by treating it merely as a component pon ent of a larger progression. Also, there is syntactic co confli nflict ct here: bars 17-20 are uncomfortab uncomfortably ly for forced ced to operate as a an n openi opening, ng, tho though ugh (as has alrea already dy been seen in bars 5-8) this material is more suited to be the conclusion to a phrase. (Compare tthis his with the well-known syntactic con conflic flictt in the first movement of Haydn' Haydn'ss String Quar Quartet tet in G Maj Major, or, Op.  3  33, 3, No. 5. 5.)) The op opening ening theme even manifests an implied rhythmic conflict. Taken by   itself,  the beginning 13.   In my view,  the appearance  of the  so-called "false recapitulation"  of  bars 97-102 should  not be

regarded  as an example  of  humor. Haydn used this device frequently   in his  symphonies written around this time.  As a  result, listeners sensitive  to his style would  not be  surprised  by the  "false recapitulation,"  b ut  would recognize it as a  standard feature  of  Haydn's symphonic sonata form. (Accordingly,  I feel  feel th at the strong reappearance of the first first them e in bar 97 announces a structural  and is not merely an apparent tonic within  the lar return  to the tonic,  larger ger modulation scheme of a development section.) section.)  For more regarding regarding the historical context  and   aesthetic implications  of the false recapitulation,   see Peter  A. Hoyt,  Hoyt,  The Fals  Falsee Recapitulation  and the Conventions  of  Sonata Form" (Ph.D. diss., University University  of Pennsylvania, 1996). There  are examples in other works where the composer seems deliberately to trick us with a false return   (see, ffor  third or  instance, bars 158rT. of  of Beethoven's Sonata  for cello and  piano, O p. 5, No. 2, third movement). But no such tomfoolery arises in Symphony No.  55.

 

Comedy and structure in Haydn s symphonies

79

Example 6  Haydn, Symphony No. 90 in C major, fir first st m ovem ent Introduction a)

Exposition

©  © © ©

b)

29 thematic return

Exposition

Development

Recapitulation

©  ® ®

145

135

^ h K i r > 

I 

V

III**

202

return  of  main theme

i= j

d

1

.J

 

I   X\ 2

^—

i

3

1

4

p

f

w J

 

1

 

6

V 4 

•

5

 

80

L. Poundie Burstein

of the theme would have the character of an upbeat. Yet because of the emphasis created by the formal design, its initial bar is perceived as strong, thus expressing a kind of rhythmic conflict between the trivial and the consequential. The task of composing a composing  return to a to a theme such  ass this In onesurmounting (which seemingly begins in the middle of  asomething) poses asuch a problem. this difficulty Haydn exploits the theme's comic possibilities: he introduces the thematic returns by preceding them with forceful gestures that are in turn 14 harmonically linked to the pl playf ayful ul theme.  For instance, consider consider the approach to the thematic return toward the end of the first theme group. Following the burlesque of the introductory material in bars 17-20, the bassoons and violas waddle in broken octaves as the flutes play a variation of material from bars 9-10. Matters soon appear to become more serious with a strong motion leading to a subdominant chord in bar 28. The resulting tension is instantly defused, however, when the first theme returns in its original lighthearted form in bars 29-32. As a result of the emphasis on F in the preceding measures, however, the harmonic structure of the theme is reinterpreted here (see Example 6b). In this context, the first tonic chord of the theme is demoted to an apparent tonic, apparent  tonic, offer offerin ingg consonant support to a to a passin  passingg tone within a within a deeper prolongation of the of  the IV chord. A sudden decrease decrease in tension also also occurs at the repeat of the exposition. The vehement, reiterated drum strokes on G in the timpani and low strings at the end of the exposition are quickly quickly transformed into the  buffo  repeated notes of the opening theme. A theme.  A similar but even even greater contrast occurs at the beginning of the recapitulation. During the development, material derived from the first theme is treated with the utmost seriousness, undergoing intricate contrapuntal treatment. As shown in Example 6c, the development section is strucof a third-motion from G from G to  to E, a E, a motive  motive which relates tured by tured  by a large expansion large expansion of  to the initial notes of the firs firstt them e. This motivic structure is realiz realized ed th rough a chain of intense modulations which lead to an apparent V of A of A min  min or. Yet Yet once again, the tension is defused as the first theme is recapitulated in its original, much le less ss serious serious form form in bar   153, as ifif mocking the ardent aspirations of the thematic material in the development section. After Aft er the introdu ctory section, the main theme i theme  iss treated in a in a seri  serious ous man ner only at at the end of the second theme group (bars 84-87 and 20 6-209). Here, the theme no longer apes the beginning of a phrase, but arise arisess firmly firmly and comfortablyy as a phrase close. Furtherm ore, H aydn precedes abl precedes the them e at these points with a cadential  \  (Example 6d). This cadential  \  chord forces a rhythmic

reinterpreta tion of the theme, causing causing the fi firs rstt bar of the of the theme to be heard in its more "natural" state as an upbeat bar. As a result, for the first time in the piece pie ce the them e arises in in its "app ropriate" syntactic syntactic and rhythmic setting. It is is as though the theme matured from its prankish youth to become an upstanding member of its musical environment. Haydn seems to celebrate this final, staid presentation of the theme by following it with a flourish and - in the frequent equent comic strategy of Haydn's; compare the first first mov ements of Sym phonies No . 92 14. 14.   This is a fr and 94.

 

Comedy   and  structure  in  Haydn's symphonies 

81

recapitulation   - a  triumphal phrase that swiftly unites material from various (bars 209-17). parts  of th  thee movement (bars Yet Haydn seems unwilling   to end the  movement  on a  serious note. Imm ediately following following the powerful cadence of bar 217, the playfu playfull main theme  in oneappears  the theme f irst   first pokes its head more tim For the theand  im  i mcontained e in the movem  bye.itself, not   a larger  harhere (bars 218-21) withinent, mo nic progression. After After a  short dim inuendo passage, passage, the repeated repeated eighth-no te  a short motive brusquely appears a final f inal im    i m e in the two closing closing bars of the movem ent. In  a sense, the quick transformation  of the opening motive in the  coda from impish   to  bombastic swiftly sums  up the  "maturation"  of the  motive seen throughout  the course of the entire movement, hilariously ridiculing  it in the process.

In closing,   I  would like  to  mention  one  other apparent incongruity:  the incongruity   of  discussing humor  in a  book devoted  to  Schenker. After  all, Schenker  is not  widely regarded  as a  notably funny fellow.  His concern  for for compositional unity might seem  to de-emphasize  the importance  of oddities  the he hallmarks of humor. If  If one argues that and quirks which  are often cited as t musical humor should  be regarded solely in terms of extramusical  or stylistic concerns, Schenker's organically oriented approach would appear irrelevant. Indeed,  it has been implied  by some that Schenker's structuralist approach is antithetical  to any discussion of musica  musicall dram a or emotion. Admittedly, aspects  of the rhetoric  of Schenker and his followers  ma may y well for have inspired such impressions.   The  insights Schenker's theories give  for understanding  the  unifying elements  of a  composition  are so  powerful that many essays relying  on his theories might seem  to seek unity as an end unto itself, as the sol  solee fun ction  of analysis. The presence presence  of unity by no means contradicts the presence of emotion or for dram a. O n the contrary, unifying unifying musical relationships relationships are often often the catalyst catalyst for some  of the most powerful expressions of emotions in music. This is certainly true   of musical humor, where an understanding  of the ability of structure to combine and contrast often proves vital.  nott  counteract appreciation  of oddities  or quirks, Structural analysis does  no but rather highlights them   by  contextualizing them.  It is the  ability of the context  to  convince, rather than  the  extent  of the  ridiculous, that  in  most  Ass Sche instances  has the  greatest impact on the comic in music. A  Schenker nker himself noted   in Free  C ompositi omposition, on, "We hear in the m iddleground iddleground  and foreground  an almost dramatic course  of ev en ts ... . [Musi [Music] c] ma mayy pursue pursue its course b  by y means

of associations, references,  and connectives; it may  may use repetitions of the same tonal succession   to  express different meanings; it may  simulate expectation, preparation, surprise, disappointment, patience, impatience,  and humor."15 15.   Free   Composition, p. 5.

 

"Sym phon ic breadt breadth": h": structural style in Mozartt's sym ph onies Mozar David Gagne

Most music theorists and historians would surely agree that the style and structure of a of  a composition  composition are conditioned in various ways ways by its its performance me dium . Nevertheless, Nevertheless, in dealing dealing both w ith individual works and with general categories categor ies - sonata-allegro sonata-allegro form, for for example - analysts analysts tend to focus focus prim arily on thematic, harmonic, and (more recently) voice-leading factors with the medium regarded only as a means of realization. Analytical essays seldom consider how the structure of a sonata-allegro or other movement of a symphony, quartet, or sonata might have been shaped and, to some extent, even determined by the nature of the medium. On the other hand, historical studies of of a given given style style - studies that may include a consideration of performance media and genres genres - typicall typicallyy discuss discuss the music in prima rily descrip1 ti tive ve term s. In no genre are medium and structure more inseparable than in the symphony, where where the variety and grouping of instrum ents w ithin the ensemble can influence virtually every facet of the compositional process. In a sense one cannot speak speak of the of the symphony  symphony as singlee genre, sin since ce the m akeup an d cha rac as a singl ter of the orchestra changed so radically from the era of mid- and late-eighteenth century ensembles to the larger orchestras of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Nevertheless many aspects of symphonic style that were welll established wel established in Mozart's era, often often initiated by Mozart   himself, continued   continued to have profound implications for the structural character of later symphonic works. In the eighteenth century, the size and composition of orchestras varied considerably; moreover, at the time when Mozart wrote his first symphonies there was not yet a firm distinction between orchestral and chamber music. Nevertheles Neverth elesss the symphony wa symphony  wass generall generallyy understood to be a piece piece ooff instru2 mental music for many voices.   Augustus Kollman, in  A n Essay  Essay   on on   Practical

Musical Composition published in London in 179 1799, 9, stat states es that the sym phony is  more than  than one specific speci ficall allyy conceived as a piece piece calculated calculated to be performed by  more 1. One notable exception is James Webster's recent book,   Haydn's Farewell Haydn's Farewell   Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style: Through-Composition

and Cyclic Integration in His Instrumental Music   (Camb rid ge:

Cambridge University Press, 1991). I am making a distinction here between the type of  description that characterizes man y discussions of style, and  analysisy  which p enetrates more deeply into a work's structure.  A . P.  Schulz, Symph onie, from from  J. G.   G. Sulzer's Sulzer's dictionary of the arts, Allgemeine arts, Allgemeine Theorie der schb nen 2.   J. A  (Berlin Berlin and Leipzi Leipzig, g, 1771 1771 and 1774), trans , by Bathia Bathia Churgin as The Symph ony ony as  as Described Kunste ( Kunste by  J. A.   A. P. Schulz (1774): A Commentary and Translation, Current Musicology 29 Musicology 29 (1980), pp. 7-16.

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  Sympho nic breadth in Mozart's symphonies

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Performer to each part. 3   Thus it is not only the multiple instrumental groupPerformer to  but also the assum ption that parts m ay be performed by many players players that ings, but ings, is fundam ental to the symph ony  as a genre, as J. A. P  P.. Schulz poi nted out in 1774: In the symphony, where each part is more than singly performed, the melody must contain its greatest emphasis in the written notes themselves and cannot tolerate the slightest embellishment or  coloration. Also, because because the sym phony is no  nott a practice piece like the sonata but must be played immediately at sight, no difficulties should occur therein that could not be grasped at once by  a large group and performed distinctly.4 As for the reading at sight, Mozart probably made fewer concessions to such perform ance conditions tha n did man y of his contem poraries; se seee for for instance the Finale Finale of the Haffner Symp hony, with its dif diffic ficult ult string par ts. In add ition , the Viennese orchest ra players players are repo rted to have been extrem ely accom 5 plished players and quick studies. I shall explore the ramifications of such factors for what might be termed structural style:  style:   the characteristics of a work's har m oni c and voice-leading structure, in conjunction with rhythm and with design features (such as texture, orchestration, and dynamics) that constitute the totality of a musical com position . Pas Passa sages ges from from the opening sonata-allegro mov ements of three of Mo zart's symphon ies wil willl be cconsidered: onsidered: Symphony Symphony N  N o . 34 in C major (K.338), the Haffner Symphon y (K.385), and the Prague Symphony (K.504). The opening of Mozart's String Quartet in G major (K.387) will also be examined. In contrast to a solo performer or a chamber ensemble, the massed forces of any orchestra, regardless of its size, constitute a primary aesthetic factor in a n u m b e r of o f   respects. On e is a fund am ental duality between th e proclivity of the orchestra to form a unified whole and the opposing tendency for each section, and for individual instruments within sections, to function with varying degrees degre es of independ ence. A similar spectrum between una nim ity and diversit diversityy also exis exists ts iinn cham ber music conceived for one player on a part - bu t in orche stral music the size of the ensemble becomes an almost gravitational factor that may be expressed, for example, in extended tutti sections, and in broader sweeps of a single type of texture than are generally characteristic of music for a chamber group such as the string quartet. These considerations are inherent in the medium, and necessarily influence the creative imagination of a composer writing a work for orchestra in both obvious and subtle ways. Moreover, as this study will will sshow, how, the dynamic interrelationships of the instrum ents and sections secti ons of the ensemble may con dition not only the way the structu re is articulated but also the nature of the structure   itself.

. 34 in C major, Symphony  N o  34   major, K.338 Example 1 presents the openin g of the exposition of Sym phony No. 34 iinn two le level velss of analytical analytical reduc tion. T he gesture of the sing single le tonic chord, performed Kollmann,  An Essay on on   Practical  Composition  (London, 3.   Augustus Frederic Christopher Kollmann,  Practical  Musical Composition  1799), repr. with an introduction by Imogene Horsley (New York: Da Capo Press, 1973), p. 15. Schulz, Sym phon ic trans. Churgin, p. 11. 4.   Schulz, 5.   See the introductory essay by Paul Badura-Skoda to his edition of Mozart's D minor Concerto (London: Ernst Eulenburg, 1981), p. 1.

 

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D a v id G a g n e Example 1 Mozart, Symphony No. 34 in C major, K.338

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forte   by the full orchestra and isolated by rests, and the following unison that forte  begin the work con stitute an expressi expression on of the unity of the ensemble represen ting one of the poles of symphonic texture that have been described. The very word   symp hony is synonym ous with the words concord or accord that may be 6 used to characterize such a beginning.  Psychologically, the impact of the ensemble and the volume of sound produced create an entirely different effect than a similar opening would produce in a chamber or solo work. This type of massed beginning was typical of many eighteenth-century symphonies, though with notable exceptions such as Mozart's Symphony  No. 40 in G min or. It also conveys a heroic or ceremonial quality that was often associated with the allegro movemen ts of symp honies at this tim e, as stated by J. A. P. Schulz: The sym pho ny is excellently suited to the expression of the good, the festive, and the noble. 7 The unison writing that m aintains this unan im ity of ensemble through b ar 6, and its sharply delineated rhythmic and melodic contour, are also characteristic of symph onic style as described by Schulz: The allegros of the best cham ber symphonies contain great and bold ideas, . . . strongly marked rhythms of unisons?* In bars 3 and 4 , a different kinds, [and] powerful bass melodies  melodies   and unisons?*  quasi-ind epende nt brass ffigur iguree bas basica ically lly supports the un ity of ensemble rather than disturbing it. 6. According to  to   Webster's Unabridged  Dictionary  in Dictionary (2nd edn, 1979), the word symp hony originates in the Greek word  word   symphonia (music), words symphonos (agr  (agreeing eeing in symphonia (music), which itself is derived from the words symphonos sound, harmonious),  harmonious),   syn sy n (together), and phbnein and phbnein (to  (to sound). Thus the word connotes not only the act of of playing playing together, together, but also also harmony and agreement - or concord - in sound.

The New Grove New  Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1980), Vol. Vol. 18, p. 438, points out that the Greek meaning of the word was transmitted through the Latin Latin symphonia,  a term used during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is essentially in this derivation that the term was used by Giovanni Gabrieli   (Sacrae symphoniae,  symphoniae, 1597),  1597), Schutz  Schutz  (Symphoniae sacrae, 1629) sacrae,  1629) and others for for concerted mo tets, usually usually for for voices voices and instru men ts. In the seventeenth century the term was often often applied to introd uctory movements of operas, oratorios and cantatas; the opera  sinfonia was an opera sinfonia an imm ediate predecessor predecessor of the eighteenth-century symphony. 7. Schulz, Schulz, Sym phon ic trans. Churgin, p. 11. 8.   Ibid., p. 12 (emphasis (emphasis added). In addition to the chamber symphony, which constitutes a whole in in and for itself itself and has no following music in view, view, Schulz describes the opera symp hony (or overture), the French French symphon y (or operetta ove rture), and church sympho ny, which consists oft often en of only a single movement.

 

  Symphonic breadth in Mozart's symphonies

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The dynamic quality of the unison writing is reinforced by the participation of the full string section, and the concise thematic ideas and repetitions. Such consistency of texture an d ensem ble for rela relativel tivelyy extended passages passages occurs fre fre-quently in symphonic writing, reflecting the considerations of ensemble and performance discussed above. The descending mo tion from from C to G iinn bars 3-4 is echoed by the the strings and bassoons, extending the opening phrase through bar 6. (This falling figure echoes in inversion the tones in the rising fourth G-C in bars 2-3, as indicated by the brackets iinn Example la. However However,, because because of of the dom inan t ha rm ony that is prolonged by implication in bars 4-6, its meaning is different: the falling figure is is subdivide d, with the accented ton e B initiating a descending th ird to G.) In solo and chamber works such a phrase extension would typically be created by variations in melodic and harm onic structure; here the extension is created entirely through the repetition of the figure, modified only by the contrasting  piano dynam trasting piano  dynam ic llev evel el and the reduction in instru me ntation . While such use of unvaried multiple repetitions could certainly occur in any genre, it is especially characteristic of symphonic writing, and often contributes to the type of of forc forcee and energy described by Hein rich Chr istop h Koc Kochh in the folfollowing comparison of (solo) sonatas and symphonies: Because it depicts the feelings of single people, the melody of the sonata must be extremely developed and must present the finest nuances of feelings, whereas the melody of the symphony must distinguish itself not through such refinements of 9 expression, but through force and energy.

If  we now exa mine the entire passa passage ge analyze analyzedd in Ex ample 1, it al also so becom es clear that the harmonic rhythm is slower than is typical in chamber music genres such aass the string quartets of Haydn and M ozart. A com mo n characteristic of symphonies in this period, such a relatively slow rate of chord change results resul ts in part from th e kind of repetitions and broad them atic gestur gestures es that we 9. Heinrich Christoph Koch, Versuch Koch,  Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition  (Leipzig: (Leipzig: Adam F. Bohme, 1782, einer Anleitung zur Composition as  Introductory Essay 1787,   1793); Sections 3 and 4 trans, by Nancy Kovaleff Baker as  1787, Introductory Essay  on Composition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), p. 203.

 

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David Gagne have seen, and partly from the fact that the bass and inner parts are often less melodically melodical ly ac acti tive ve than in contem poran eous solo solo and cham ber genres. 10 1 shall return to this point short shortly. ly. The writing itself is also primarily diatonic. The only element of chromaticism in the fi firs rstt gro up (b ars 1-20) is the sudde n change to m ino r in bars 13 -15 , enhanced by the drop in dynamic level from   forte  forte  t o  piano.  While a work for any medi um may of course be mo re or less less chromatic, the prevale prevalence nce of diato nicism in many symphonies of this period is at least partly related to the nature of brass instruments and timpani at the time. Since valves were not yet in use on brass instruments, and retuning timpani was a slow and laborious process, the number of notes available for these instruments was limited. Consequently, as Kollman observed: If  a Symphony for an Orc hestra shall not be imperfect, its principal Subjects principal Subjects ought to be  join in them in the of such a nature, that all Instruments can execute can  execute them,  them, or at least join in principal Key.  If this rule is not attended to, a Symphony cannot answer the purpose of employing the whole O rchestra rchestra to advantage advantage;; and Haydn and  Haydn will be found very particular in attending to this rule, for the subjects of most of his best Symphonies are not only calculat calc ulated ed for the Horn and Trum pet, but eve evenn for for the Kettle Kettle Drums . . . n Because of the participation of the brass and timpani, this consideration is undoubtedly a factor in the prevalence of tonic and dominant tones in the opening of Symphony No . 334; 4; these these tones in turn create create a st strong rong conditionin g factor for the harmonic structure, which consists essentially of primary triads (tonic, dom inant , su bdo min ant). In particular, ssca cale le degre degreee 1 as a top-voice tone is emphasized in ways that would not normally characterize a solo or chamber piece. This is perhaps not only because of the practical limitations imposed by the brass and timpani, but also because of the size and weight of the initial sonoric fabric, which seems to demand the most stable and deeplyrooted location in tonal space. Many symphonies (and not so many quartets and solo sonatas) give this kind of pro m inen ce to scale degree 1 at the beg inning. The voice-leading structure is similarly influenced by such instrumental and ensemble characteristics as well as by expressive elements. In the eighteenth century, for example, the spec specifi ificc associations of tru m pet s with the militar y and horn s with the hu nt were vi vivid vid in tthe he m inds of musicians and the pu blic al alike ike.. Accordingly the exposed ho rn fifths fifths in bars 16-20 represent a distinct and topic, y et characteristic figure of the type that L eonard G. Ratn er calls calls a musical   topic, y 12 they are fully integrated into the structural context.   The rising third C-E in

bars 16-17 (which recalls the repeated third B-G in bars 4-6) invokes a response in falling thirds in the oboes in bars 17-18. The oboe entrance is accompanied by unison arpeggiation of the tonic chord in the strings and bassoons, which continues as both figures are repeated in bars 18-20. Though more elaborated, the rising and falling thirds in the structural top voice, 10.   In this study the term bass will sometime s speci specify fy the composite cello/bass cello/bass part as notate d in the score (as here), and sometimes the string bass as an instrument, depending on context. 11.   Kollmann,  An A n   ssay on Practical Musical Composition,  Composition, p.  p. 17. Ratner,  Classic  Music: Expression, Form, and Style ( New York: Schirmer Books, 1 980). 12.   Leonard G. Ratner,  Style (New Ratner calls calls this topic topic military and hun t music (see pp. 18ff.) 18ff.)..

 

  Sympho nic breadth in Mozarfs symphonies

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moving between the root and the third of the tonic triad, echo the falling motions from the third to the root of the dominant triad in bars 4-6. It is difficult to imagine this passage composed for any other medium, not only because of the interchange of different instrumental colors, but also because of of the charact character er - and in particular the rela relativ tivee sim plic ity - of the structure  itself.  In this final passage of the first group the repeated third motions, in conjunction with the harmonic tonic prolongation consisting solely of tonic and dominant chords, create a pattern that both results from the nature of the orchestra (especially the brass instruments and their associations, as described above), and depends upon the varied sonoric resources of the orchestral m ed ium for a realization of this el elemen emen tal tonal fabric that is no t dull or overly repetitive. The fundam entally symph onic character of the opening of K.338 K.338 will will become even more apparent through a comparison with a chamber work. Example 2 presents, in two stages of reduction, the opening ten bars of Mozart's String Quartet in G major, K.387, composed in 1782 (two years later than K.338, and the same year as the Haffner Symph ony, K.385). This initial initial phra se, like bars 1-20 of K.338, is an opening period that constitutes the first group in the sonata-allegro form. The basic harmonic motions of the respective passages are also also comparable in the two works: I- IV -V -I (with a varied repetition) in K.338 (Example (Exa mple lb ), and I-II 6 -V-I in K.387 (Example 2b). However the particular ways in which these essential progressions are elaborated - many specifically related to the respective genres - result in marked differences in the later structural levels. In the Symphony, the opening tonic prolonga tion is achieved achieved with two chords (I and V ), which are expanded with considerable repetition. The Qu artet's opening bars involve involve mo re complexity: 6 the essential progression I—II—V —I is expanded with a large number of other sonorities in conjunction with animated and independent voice leading. It is notable that the cello participates as actively as the other parts, establishing fluid fluid chordal mo tion as well well as rapid harm onic rh ythm in comparison w ith the opening of K.338 where, as noted above, the bass moves more slowly. Con seque ntly one can speak of m ore str uctu ral leve levels ls in K.387 K.387 tha n in K.338. In bars 1-2 1-2 of this Qua rtet, for example, it is possible to distinguish at lea least st five structural levels, as shown in Example 3: (a) the essential motion I—II; (b) the use of the V 6   of II as a passing chord between I and II, in conjunction with an incomplete neighbor in the top voi voice; ce; (c) the expansion of this motio n w ith the 6 intervening chord V   on the downbeat of bar 2 (with its bass note, Ff, serving

as a neighbor to the initial G); (d) the expansion of the initi initial al tonic chord with the rise to G and descent to D in the top voice, and with the bass following in parallel sixths; (e) the addition of figuration tones such as the first violin 13

suspen sions on in the bars other 1 andhand, 2 andthethesustained passing Dtt Dt in bar chord 2 .   In major Symphony, C t major in the barsC 1-3 is embellished only by figuration, creating fewer levels of structure. Of course 13.   Note that the top-voice descending second D-C shown in Example 3 occurs within the larger descending third D-B of bars 1-4 (Examples 2a and 2b).

 

David Gagne Example 2 Mozart, String Quartet in G major, K.387 a)

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many symphonies begin with more complexity - and many quartets with less - than in these examples. Nevertheless the present comparison reveals differences that are broadly characteristic of works composed during the Classical period, and that strongly influenced the evolution of these genres. Returning to Example 2a, we observe the supple polyphonic and motivic character of the opening of this Quartet. The rising chromatic figure D-Dt-E

in bar 2, first first violin (m arked a ), is answered by a fal fallin lingg ch rom atic figure (marked b ) in bar  4 . The  The last two tones of figure a are echoed an octave higher in bar 7 (in the figure marked   a1   ),  followed in the next bar by a rhythmically extended statement of figure a in the bass. Other chromatic figures such as the rising semitones At-B (bar 4) and Gt-A (bar 9) enhance the richness of this opening passage. Such motivic complexity occurs more freely and characteristically in an ensemble of individual instruments than in the orchestra of Mozart's period for reasons noted above; 14   that such factors are not limited to 14. However the late symph onies of Moz art (and a num ber of Haydn's Haydn's symp honies) intro duce d con siderablyy m ore complexity into symphonic styl erabl style. e.

 

  Symphonic breadth in Mozart's symphonies

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10

the Classical period is demonstrated by the well-known fact that many later composers have written some of their most refined and complex music for the string quartet. The melodic freedom and independence accorded to all four instruments results in a relative lack of metrical reinforcement in comparison with the beginning of K.338; however Mozart articulates the beginning of each of the first four bars by changes in dynamic level, with the common rests at the end of bars 2 and 4 further reinforcing the metrical groupings at the outset of the work. The use of dynamics, accents, changes in texture, and other aspects of design to articulate meter and form can of course occur in any genre, but is especially common in the quartet because of the complex and independent voice leading that so frequently occurs. A thinner and more differentiated texture begins in bar 5, articulating the begi nnin g of a new phra se. The imita tion of the viola by the second an d the first violins employs contrasts of register and tone color in ways that commonly

Example 3 Mozart, String Quartet, K.387, bars 1-2

 

90

David Gagne occur in orchestral music. We should also consider, however, another general characteristic of the quartet that is relevant both to the audience's outlook and to the composer's creative imagination: the combination of four individual players establishes an entirely different kind of visual and artistic impression than an orchestral ensemble where the players are perceived less as individuals than as parts of a ensemble. Furthermore, uniting several players in a single section secti on imposes limitations on com poser and perform er that do no t exist exist in the performan ce of a single single part: in the eighteenth-cen tury ensemble (as noted by J. A. P. Schulz in the passag passagee qu oted at the beg innin g of this essay) essay) this involve involvedd such factors as complexity of line and improvisatory freedom. And yet, while each part in a string quartet may unfold more or less freely, ensemble playing also requires tha t such auto nom y be partly relinquish ed, as poetically described in the following passage written by the French violinist and composer Pierre Baillot: In the qu artet , [the performer] sac sacrif rifice icess all the riches of this instrumen t to the general effect; he enters into the spirit of  this other type of composition, whose charming dialogue seems to be a conversation friends, who convey todifferent each other their feelings, their sentiments, their mutualamong affections; their sometimes opinions give 15 rise rise to an animated disc discussi ussion on to which each each give givess his own own d eve lopm ent. .. , Thu s, despite any sacr sacrific ifices es of individu ality that mig ht occur, the flexibili flexibility ty that is possible in an ensemble of individual players fosters great freedom and spontaneity in structure and design. This results in a tendency toward more complex harmonic and voice-leading structure, as noted above, and a consequen t richness of express expression ion in the ensem ble as a whole. (The artistic imp ression created by such a dialogue among the members of a string quartet is quite different diff erent from an exchange amo ng players in the sections sections of an orchestr a, whe re the visual and psychological imp act of the complete ensem ble - as expressed in tutti passages - is always present in the consciousness of the players and the audien ce alike; even solo pas passages sages are pe perceived rceived withi n this larger co ntext.) In an ensemble of four solo players rapid changes in texture may readily occur, facilitated by the relatively homogeneous sonoric character of the string quartet; this allows for great freedom in the interrelationships among parts. In mo st orchestral writing of the mid- to late late eighteenth century, the approach to texture typically typically forms a ma rked c ontras t to that of the string qua rtet excerpt just examined. Because the orchestra comprises distinct sections, composers frequently juxtapose or combine different sections in passages that maintain

relative consistency of texture. This block-like approach to texture in turn invites greater length and more literal repetition than in solo or chamber music, 16 conditions that are directly related to structure. 15.  Pierre Marie Francois de Sales Baillot, Baillot, Hart Paris, 1834), p. 268. Th e   Hart du violon:  violon:  nouvelle  methode ( methode (Paris, translation is from   Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early

Nineteenth Centuries,  Centuries,  trans. R obin Stowell (Cambridg e: Cam bridge University Press, 1985), 1985), pp . 276-77. Zasla slaw w in his excelexcel16.   This cont inued to be generally true of later symphonies as well, as noted by Neal Za lent lent b  b o o k  , Mozart s Sym phonies: Context, Performan ce Practice, Reception Reception    (Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1989), p. 518: In the 1760s, 1770s, and into the 1780s 1780s symphon ies were generally generally viewed viewed as a

 

  Sympho nic breadth in Mozart's symphonies

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Later in the exposition of K.338, following the initial antecedent and conseque nt phra ses of the second gro up, a passage passage occurs that wonderfully illustrates what Schenke Schenkerr termed symph onic breadth 17   - that is, the large gestures that frequently occur in symphonic writing (see Example 4, a two-level graph of bars 64- 82 ). The beginni ng of the passage (bar 64) is is set offby a mark ed r edu ction of textu re as the first violins begin alone in a relativel relativelyy low register register,,   pianissimo. Wh simo.  Wh en th e second violins enter can onically in bar 66, the first violins have moved a third higher than their starting note in bar 64 and now stand apart from the imitating second violins because of staccato articulation, more active figuration, figura tion, and a trill. As the can on co ntinu es in bars 68 and 69 the horn s enter with a G pedal tone in octaves that binds the passage harmonically and texturally through bar 74. While the first violins continue to climb in register, the entrance of the cellos, basses, and woodwinds in bar 70 further intensifies this composed crescendo. The dynamic level of the newly entering instruments is piano,   and the notated crescendo in bar 70 leads to the forte piano, the forte in  in bar 72. With the entrance of the violas, trumpets and timpani all instruments participate in the 2 3 final phrase in the passage as the first violin line rises from g  (bar 70) to d   (bar  reinforced by the obo es at the lower octave octave and, as the ascent conclude s (in 74), reinforced 74), bars 72-74), by the second violins a third below. This precisely scored crescendo, employing so many aspects of design, is so fundamentally orchestral that it would be difficult to imagine in another m e d i u m . 18   Harmonically the entire passage - bars 64 to 74 - prolongs the G major triad as the local tonic of the second group, reinforced by the sustained tones in the horns referred to above, and the repeated bass tones that begin in bar 70. (The figuration and implied local chords elaborate but do not diminish the sense of a single harmony being sustained, as shown in Example 4.) In conjunction with this prolongation, the stepwise rising motion of the upper voice articulates the tones of the G major triad, covering the span of an octave 1  t o d3 , followed by repeated descents of a fifth through the G and a fi fifth fth ffrom rom g  to triad (Examples 4a and 4b ). Thus, despite the harmonic stability of this extended prolongation, Mozart creates intense energy and excitement through his skillful use of the orchestral medium. He does so not only through the gradual addition of instruments in conju nction with the llarge-scal arge-scalee crescendo, bu t  also with the broa d, steady ascent that underlies the figuration of the first violin part (as shown in Example 4) in contr apun tal play play with the second violi violins. ns. These These elements, in in conjunction with

'formality.' And even after the symphony's 'liberation,' its position relative to genres intended for connoisseurs - piano sonatas, Lieder, and string quartets, for instance - remained the same; Beethoven's and Schu bert's sympho nies too were for for a larger larger public and , whatever their seriousness, they tended to avoid the more difficult difficult an d som etimes esoteric ideas of the 'private' genres, striving striving instead for large-scale gestures. 17.   See Schenker's com men tary on Fig. Fig. 124/5b (the slo slow w move ment of the Haffne r Symphon y) in Free in Free Composition,  p. 104. P. Schulz takes takes note of this aspect of symphon ic style: The allegros of the the best cham ber sym 18.   J. A. P. phonies contain . . . strong shadings of the forte and piano, and chiefly of the crescendo, which, if it is employed at the same time as a rising and increasingly expressive melody, can be of the greatest effe effect ct.. Schulz, Sym pho nic trans . Chu rgin, p. 12.

 

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David Gagne Example 4 Mozart, Symphony No. 34

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the prolonged G major harmony, create the characteristically symphonic bre adth of this passage passage,, which w ould scarce scarcely ly be possible wi tho ut the m.

Symphony  N o   . 35 in D major, K.385 ( Haffner Haffner ) It is well kno wn tha t the Haffner Sym phony originated as a Serenade composed in 1782. The Serenade was scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, and included an introductory

march and a second minuet in addition to the four movements of the symphony. Six Six mon ths later Mo zart decided to rework the Serena Serenade de as a sym phony for his first public conc ert or academ y to be given given iinn Vienn a in M arch of 178 1783. 3. 19 A facsimile facsimile of the firs firstt page of the au togr aph score is is gi given ven in Plate I.   On the auto grap h, it is possible to see see the changes in scoring that were mad e: flute flutess and clarinets have been added to the existing manuscript, with the flutes on the top Mozart, Symphony No . 35 in D, K.385:  Haffner Symphony, 19.   Mozart, Symphony Symphony,   facsimile edition with an introduction by Sydney Beck (New  York: Oxford University Press, 1968). 1968). The auto graph is found in the P ierpon t Morgan Library, Mary Flagler Cary Music Collection.

 

  Symphonic breadth in Mozart's ssympho ympho nies

93

 T p t T i ]

(previously empty) staff of the autograph and the clarinets on the bottom staff (also (also previous previously ly em pty). The autograph provides further insights into Mozart's process of composition of this work, which known beenofwritten in considerable haste at a timeis when he from was inhistheletters midst to of have a number projects. As a firs firstt stage stage of comp ositio n of the Allegr Allegro, o, virtually the e ntire exp osition was written out in the violin and bass parts. The different shades of ink and the character of the handwriting show that the other instruments were added later; 20   moreover Mozart makes frequent use of abbreviations to indicate variou s types of doubling s. The uses of these signs are enlightening in that th ey indicate how Mozart conceived the scoring: in the first bar the violas and the bassoons are are marked Col B (with the bass), a recurring markin g iinn the autograph. The second violins are frequently linked with the first violins in unison passages, as in bars 1-5. Such an appr oach to com posi tion is consistent with the large gestures and broad, relatively consistent approach to scoring and texture that may be observed in the work   itself.  Thus there is a direct relationship between this kind of compositional procedure - especially the fact that Mozart began with just the violin and bass parts - and the voice-leading structure of 21 the finished work, which itself often tends to reduce to two essential parts. This is in marked contrast to other Mozart compositions such as chamber music works, where there are often four or more independent parts. The appr oach to the scoring of the work prob ably resulted, at leas leastt in part, from the haste with w hich it was wr itten, b ut its style style iiss aalso lso generally generally consistent with that of other Mozart symphonies composed before 1785.

A graph of bars 1-7 of the work is presented in Example 5. As in K.338, the opening is mark ed by unison texture, and, in this ccase ase,, a unison d oubling of the tonic note. It is is also also noteworthy that the melodic descending fourth fro from m tonic to dominant plays a prominent role in the beginning of both symphonies, different shades of ink and the markin gs are most clearly clearly visible on the original auto graph . 20 .  The different 21 .  See See,, for examp le, bars 19 -35 (which are not repro duced here): one or two two parts form the prin cipal voice leading throughout this passage, sometimes with variations in figuration in different parts, while the remaining instruments complete the harmonic framework with sustained or repeated notes. Such writing occurs throughout much of the movement, alternating with more complex counterpo int in some sections.

 

 

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- -

F i g u r e  e   h (cf. (cf. Figure a)

Vln I

lower strings/bassoons the move upper entirely strings gains increasing at the cadence as the upperand strings ent irely in sixteenth sixtee nth no tes.momentum In the higher woodwinds and brass, sustained tones occur in rhythmic alternation, with motions by the flutes into upper registers heightening the intensity. As in the preceding passag passages es this dense textural and contra punta l fabric fabric is achieved achieved with characteristi character istically cally orchestral means, building tension through the accum ulation of different elements that are expressed by the diverse parts of  the ensemble.

The arrival at D major in bar 181 initiates a sharply contrasting texture in which the forces of the orchestra join together for a common thematic statement. While components of this statement are variously distributed among differ different ent instrum ents, the composite effe effect ct of this triu mp han t passag passagee is one of unity. Together, bars 177-80 and 181-89 form the focal passage toward which the sweep and momentum of the development have been directed. Example 9b clarifi clar ifies es the large-scale large-scale role of  D as a support for for Ff, Ff, neighbor to the prolonged 2 (E). These climactic climactic bars have have particular im portance in the form: they restate bars 59-71 of the exposition, which do not subsequently appear in the recapitulation. Indeed, one might think that this strong arrival on the tonic is

 

104

D a v id G a g n e Examplee 9 Mozart, Symphony No. 38 Exampl

to f^,  bars 181  f.

Sharply contrasting texture

Retransition: extended chromatic descent in Vlns (Figure h); sustained tone in Hns

in fact the recapitulation, especially  since it uses m aterial ffro rom m the first first them atic

group . However, However, this this arrival is almost almost immediately follo followed wed by m otion to the dominant, which is reached in bar 187. This D major passage might be compared to one of the so-called false recapitulations that are sometimes to be found in Haydn's sonata-allegro movements - but here the artistic purpose is dif differ ferent. ent. Rather than a hum orou s, sleight-of-hand sleight-of-hand gesture, the passage passage seems seems to look ahead to the recapitulation, as if lost in a dream for a mo me nt. A comparison of the two occurrences of this passage reveals an intriguing difference in function. When first heard in the exposition (bars 59ff.) the passage forms part of  the initial tonic prolongation, where D is functioning functioning as a stable stable tonic harmony. It then m oves from from tonic harmo ny to the dom inant that marks the beg inning of the extended bridge section. In the development, on the  is s pr other h and, th e overall overall context i  prolong olonged ed dominant harmony (Exampl (Examplee 9b).

 

  Symphonic breadth Symphonic breadth in Mozart's symphonies

164)

10 5

176)

Growing intensity, more motivic fragmentation

(Recap.)

Beginning on a local

D chord,

the passag passagee concludes on the d om inant as the the