Minor key series, part 2b (Schubert)

In yesterday's post, I looked at two pieces in which Schubert avoids the problem of a minor-key ascent by shifting to the major mode for the closing cadence. Today I will discuss the opposite case--a change from major to minor--and Schubert's poignantly expressive treatment of the natural-^6 in "Frühlingstraum," n11 in Winterreise.

In the introductory post, I remarked on the problem of the natural-^6 as an Urlinie element. Here is the figure I used:

The opening of "Frühlingstraum" finds the poet, in winter, dreaming of spring flowers and bird calls, these latter imitated in the mordents of the cadence (see the box -- these mordents were already heard in the piano introduction). The melodic frame clearly starts from ^3 (m.1) and a descent can be heard in the piano (B4-A4 in the right hand--not marked in the score), but the voice marks out an interior voice that ascends F#-G#-A.

 In the B-section, the assumed, pleasant small birds promptly turn to roosters and crows, and the symbolic play involving minor versus major is in full swing. A closing passage brings a sudden moment of direct address: "You probably laugh at a dreamer who sees flowers in the winter." Much is made of natural-^6 and ^5 -- see the circled notes, ending with a rising line as in figures "x" or "z" above. This ascent is, however, clearly subordinate to the voice's determined descent, as A minor: ^3-^2-^1.

 The full expressive effect of the ascent through natural-^6 is achieved with the repetition of the passage, also the ending of the song. See the box in the graphic below, where the excruciating dissonance sets "Liebchen."