First, however, I would like to acknowledge the crucial role played by then-JMT editor Martha Hyde, who received conflicting recommendations from the editorial board's readers but decided to approve the article after the two of us talked by phone. The pattern of acceptance by one reader and ideologically driven disapproval by another reader has been consistent through the years since, even for my non-Schenkerian linear analysis articles. I am pleased to say that only once was an article actually rejected for publication. That was in 2008, again for JMT. The article was for the most part a response to, and extension of, Walter Everett's "Deep-Level Portrayals of Directed and Misdirected Motions in Nineteenth-Century Lyric Song," Journal of Music Theory 48/1 (2004): 25-58. Two of my principal examples were Schubert's "Die Nonne," D828, and Brahms's "Über die See," Op. 69n7 (this latter song was mentioned, though not discussed, by Everett (55)). For "Die Nonne," see this blog post: link. For "Über die See," see these essays published on Texas Scholar Works: link; link.
To start, here is a list of the examples discussed in the main text, with links where I have also discussed them in blog posts or essays on Texas Scholar Works:
Schubert, Valse noble, D969n7. link
Schumann, Faschingsschwank aus Wien, op. 26, first movement.
Grieg, Pier Gynt Suite No. 1, “Morgenstimmung.” link
Francois Couperin, Pièces de clavecin, 8e ordre, Passacaille (en rondeau). link
Brahms, Waltzes, op. 39, n12.
Schubert, Valse sentimentale, D779n2. link
Schubert, Valse sentimentale, D779n3 (counter-example).
Beethoven, Piano Sonata in Bb Major, op. 22, third movement .
Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E-Major, op. 14, no. 1, first movement.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata in A Major, op. 101, first movement.
The notes mention a larger number of compositions. This first list is by note number, with the original comments.
n28: The Menuet of Haydn’s Symphony no. 100 is a case in point. In the first period (measures 1-8, which stand for the whole), the initial motion is strongly downward, but the final cadence produces a clear ascent from ^5 to ^8 in the upper-most part.
n28: Other pieces that use the simplest form of the rising Urlinie include the following (qualifying comments in parentheses):
J. S. Bach, cantata No. 11, soprano aria “Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke”
Haydn, Symphony no. 104, III
Liszt, Gnomenreigen (^7 strikingly extended)
Debussy, Suite bergamasque, Prelude (^5 is implied over the initial I; ^6 is actually given in m. 1!)
Schumann, Album für die Jugend, op. 68, no. 20, “Ländliches Lied”
Albumblätter, op. 124, no. 3, “Scherzino” (the first ^5 is somewhat muddled by registral confusion, but a rising motive is strong)
Schubert, Schwanengesang, no. 7, “Abschied” (the conclusion is strong, but ^8 could be the initial tone, and the piano overreaches the voice with a descent ^3-^2-^1). Pieces that appear to use a rising line from ^5 but in fact do not include Chopin, Prelude in E Major, op. 28, no. 9 (three-part Ursatz with line from ^3 above ^2 implied in the cadence)
Debussy, Ballade (1890) (in the cadence 9-11 bars from the end, the ascent is actually a doubled inner voice)
Debussy, Valse romantique (1890) (the ascent is literally the top voice in the structural cadence, but properly an inner voice in the Ursatz).
n29: ^5-^6-(^8)-^7-^8 model or one of its variants are
Haydn, String Quartet, op. 76, no. 2, II
and Handel, Jephtha, aria “Waft her angels” (orchestra in the framing ritornello, not the voice).
n30: ^5-^6-(^5)^7-^8
See also Drei deutsche Tänze, D. 973, no. 2
and Winterreise, no. 2, “Die Wetterfahne.”
n31: the “waltz ninth,”
Beethoven, Symphony no. 1, Scherzo (if the structural cadence is taken to be at the end and not in mm. 57-58)
Symphony no. 2, Scherzo (a very clear case)
Debussy, Deux Arabesques, no. 2
Grieg, “An den Frühling,” op. 43, no. 6
Lalo, “Chanson de l’Alouette” (ascent occurs in the piano)
Offenbach, Les contes de Hoffmann, Barcarolle (^5 is prominent in the upper octave as a cover tone, also)
Duparc, “Phidylé “ (in the piano, but quite clear).
n32: The form ^5-^6-(reg.)^7-^8
Haydn, Piano Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI/52, II
Haydn, Piano Sonata in A-flat, Hob. XVI/43, Menuet (the large-scale structure is obscured somewhat by strong emphasis on ^3 in the Trio)
Haydn, String Quartet, op. 76, no. 2, II
Beethoven, String Quartet, op. 74, IV (where ^6 is somewhat extended).
Very occasionally register transfer is applied to other tones: in Corelli, Trio Sonata, op. 2, no. 8, Preludio, the variant ^5-^6-^7-(^8-^7)-^8 has a dramatic octave-leap downward applied to the first ^8.
n33: the “line” ^5-^7-^8 does occur in
Schubert, Ländler, D. 681, nos. 1 & 2 (perhaps as ^5-(^8)-^7-^8)
Ecossaisen, D. 781, no. 9
and the “verlorener Bruder” Trio, D. 610.
n34: This double treatment of the fourth ^5 to ^8 occurs also in
Saint Saëns, Le Carnival des animaux, “Le cygne”
and Telemann, Harmonischer Gottesdienst, cantata no. 9, first aria, where affect and tonal design are nicely linked, as the text is “Liebe, die von Himmel stammet, steigt wieder hinan.”
And here are the pieces from the notes in alphabetical order by composer.
Bach, cantata No. 11, soprano aria “Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke”
Beethoven, String Quartet, op. 74, IV (where ^6 is somewhat extended)
Beethoven, Symphony no. 1, Scherzo
Beethoven, Symphony no. 2, Scherzo
Chopin, Prelude in E Major, op. 28, no. 9 (counter-example)
Corelli, Trio Sonata, op. 2, no. 8, Preludio
Debussy, Ballade (1890)
Debussy, Deux Arabesques, no. 2
Debussy, Suite bergamasque, Prelude
Debussy, Valse romantique (1890)
Duparc, “Phidylé “ (in the piano, but quite clear)
Grieg, “An den Frühling,” op. 43, no. 6
Handel, Jephtha, “Waft her angels” (orchestra in the framing ritornello, not the voice)
Haydn, Piano Sonata in E-flat, Hob. XVI/52, II
Haydn, String Quartet, op. 76, no. 2, II
Haydn, Symphony no. 100, III
Haydn, Symphony no. 104, III
Haydn, Piano Sonata in A-flat, Hob. XVI/43, Menuet
Lalo, “Chanson de l’Alouette” (ascent occurs in the piano)
Liszt, Gnomenreigen (^7 strikingly extended)
Offenbach, Les contes de Hoffmann, Barcarolle
Saint Saëns, Le Carnival des animaux, “Le cygne”
Schubert, Drei deutsche Tänze, D. 973, no. 2
Schubert, Ecossaisen, D. 781, no. 9
Schubert, Ländler, D. 681, nos. 1 & 2
Schubert, Schwanengesang, no. 7, “Abschied”
Schubert, “verlorener Bruder” Trio, D. 610
Schubert, Winterreise, no. 2, “Die Wetterfahne”
Schumann, Album für die Jugend, op. 68, no. 20, “Ländliches Lied”
Schumann, Albumblätter, op. 124, no. 3, “Scherzino”
Telemann, Harmonischer Gottesdienst, cantata no. 9, first aria
My intention in this series of posts is to follow the order of the article's notes, as that makes for a topical sequence.
In 1987, the compositions discussed in main text or mentioned in the notes constituted nearly all of the music I had located and read as using rising-line background figures (with a few exceptions and counter-examples, as noted). After the article was published, I searched primarily through vocal scores of operas and operettas, in part because these are richly represented in the library of Indiana University's School of Music. The results formed the core of what became a table of rising lines, whose first version—so far as I can recall—was published on my university-supported personal web page in 2001 or 2002. Its most recent version can be found here: link. Shortly after 2000, library digitization projects in the United States and in Europe and the gathering power of IMSLP enabled the number of examples of ascending cadence gestures—most of them tied to focal notes and thus plausible as Schenkerian backgrounds—eventually to reach well and far beyond a thousand. And that number continues to rise (pun intended).
