Fledermaus essay published

I have gathered all the blog posts in the Fledermaus series, added additional information, and published an essay on the Texas Scholar Works platform: Johann Strauss, jr., Die Fledermaus: Ascending Cadence Gestures on Stage. Link.

Here is the abstract:

Die Fledermaus (1874), today the best-known operetta by Johann Strauss, jr., is also a treasure trove of ascending cadence gestures. This article documents and interprets those multiple instances and their effects.

Strauss, Die Fledermaus, addendum: Act II n10 Csardas

Apart from Adele's "Laughing Song" ("Mein Herr Marquis," n8b), the best known solo aria in the operetta is Rosalinde's Csárdás, n10. The two sections of the standard slow-fast design both make use of rising gestures.

In the opening section, unfoldings over a simple cycle of fifths progressions—ii-V-I, mostly in inversions—bring ^9 (E5) down to ^8 (D5) in the first four bars. A rising line fills the second fourth, A4-D5 (bars 3-4). The figure is repeated and stretched into the final cadence (bars 5-8). Considered abstractly, then, a background for this section would be a stationary ^8.

In the second, fast section, ^5 is the focal tone, aided by its upper neighbor (B4 circled in bars 2 and 6) and a descending figure running across V7 closes (also circled). A line of the rising fourth is now the bright flourish at the very beginning.

The Più Allegro—another of those codas that confound the difference between formal-structural and coda-accessory closes—takes the same figures, but shifts the focal note up an octave to A5 and carries that into the voice's ending, where ^5 substitutes for ^7 in order to give even more dramatic emphasis to the final D6!

Strauss, Die Fledermaus, addendum: Act II n6 chorus

After finishing the series on Die Fledermaus, I again watched the excellent performance from the Wiener Staatsoper starring Lucia Popp and Bernd Weikl, with Theodor Guschlbauer conducting  (1980; DVD release 2007).

In the course of this audio-viewing, two more numbers revealed themselves as having rising cadence gestures. The first of these is an omission: the opening chorus of Act II (n6) reprises, but also develops, Falke's "Komm mit mir zum Souper" invitation to Eisenstein (from n3). The reprise is also a reminder to the audience that Falke is the driver behind the narrative's events.

The chorus takes full advantage of this charming polka as guests laud the pleasures of Prince Orlofsky's party/dance. In the principal strain, neighbor notes moves about ^8:

After a second strain, the first is repeated. Then the tempo changes abruptly, to Molto animato as the singers call out their orders, after which a new strain, Vivo, uses an eight-bar unit as the presentation phase of a 16-bar sentence -- see bars 1-8 below, with its remarkable treatment of ^7 and ^6. The continuation moves quickly up to ^8 (bars 9-12 below) then adds four more bars of descent ending with an IAC.

The continuation is then repeated, but now the ascent is the main event, and ^8 is celebrated, fortissimo, for several more bars:

Concluding comment on Die Fledermaus

The number of ascending cadential gestures in Die Fledermaus is substantial. Certainly there are many more than one would expect in the waltz sets of Johann Strauss, jr., where he tends to be conservative in the cadences (apart, of course, from the characteristic figures of the waltz repertoire). On the other hand, significant ascending motives and cadences are very typical of the opera bouffe and operetta repertoires. Clearly Strauss knew and responded to those genre-based opportunities.

 In the introduction to this series, I wrote that—in addition to continuing documentation of rising cadential figures—I wanted "to put more emphasis on the expressive and dramatic functions of ascending cadence gestures in texted works. My method is quite simple: for each song or number I will ask the question, Why does an ascending melodic figure dominate the cadence(s) and not the clichéd falling version inherited from 18th century practice?"

As will be obvious if you have read earlier posts, I didn't follow through on that plan. After n2—the trio for Rosalinde, Eisenstein, and Blind—I largely gave up. I did manage these observations there: [link to the post]

In this case, (1) the focus on the upper edge of the register in the main phrase (bars 1-5 above); (2) the repetitions of the pick-up chromatic ascending figure (bars 9-12), which invite continuation in the same direction (bars 12-13); (3) the more and more peremptory "hinaus" (get out!) (bars 12-13); (4) the exaggerated melodramatic humor in the subverted tonic at the end, as Rosalinde hits and holds her high note. 

The Vivace [ending] is a typical operatic ensemble close, whose simple harmonic progressions and repetitious figures are similar to "one more time" passages in Classical-period instrumental codas. After waltzes and polkas, these ensemble endings are the most frequent source of rising cadence gestures in 19th century music.

Perhaps  Die Fledermaus wasn't the best subject for an inquiry like this, if the goal is to make fine distinctions (why rising in this aria, falling in that?). Almost all of its songs and ensemble pieces are dance-based, with particular emphasis on the waltz and polka. By 1850 at the latest, the endings of songs, but especially ensemble pieces and finales, generally favored rousing high-register gestures. Thus, the answer to my question is simple: genre expectations assumed the possibility of significant ascending motives and cadences.

I would like to be able to claim the following, as well, but I will do no more than hint for now. A study now underway of songs by Cécile Chaminade and Hugo Wolf will, I hope, offer some insights.

Such genre expectations also made it easier to experiment with ascending figures and cadences in relation to mood or affect: instead of the typical falling line for slow-tempo melancholy, a rising conclusion could signal an existentially charged sighing regret, nostalgia, or utopian feeling. In a faster tempo, a falling cadential line could more easily signal assertion, firmness, or resolve when understood as balanced against the option of the lighter, brighter quality of an ascending line. 

Waltz "Du und Du," op. 367

Die Fledermaus draws on a variety of musical resources, including—as we have seen—popular dances of its era: the polka, galop, and waltz.

Strauss published a set of waltzes derived from the operetta; it is named "Du und Du," after the choral section of Falke's "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein" in Act II.

The set consists of an introduction, three waltzes (not the standard five), and a lengthy coda. The introduction immediately quotes "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein":

but before too long inches its way toward "Ha, welch ein Fest," the climactic dance of the Act II Finale:

The first waltz, then, offers up the two strains of that waltz:

Waltz n2 gives us Rosalinde's rebuke to the jail warden Frank in Act I and Adele's rebuke to Eisenstein from Act II.

Finally, n3 brings us two strains from "Du und Du":

In typical fashion, the coda then recapitulates several strains from the waltzes, separated by dramatic transitions.

As a point of interest, Strauss published several other pieces with material derived from Die Fledermaus: a Fledermaus-Polka, Op. 362; a Fledermaus-Quadrille, Op. 363; a polka "An der Moldau," Op. 366; and a polka-mazurka "Glücklish ist, wer vergisst!", Op. 368.

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n16, Act III finale

In Act III, as we saw in the previous post, everyone converges on the jail, for different reasons but mainly to participate in Falke's revelation of his trick on Eisenstein. Since that trick was to induce Eisenstein to flirt with his disguised wife, the main element of the plot now is their reconciliation. Consistent with the farcical nature of the plot, when Eisenstein blames the champagne, Rosalinde promptly forgives him and all ends well.

The finale is brief, compared with those for the first two acts. A polka sets up an explanation of the ruse. Its introduction generates a simple ascent from ^5 to ^8. The theme that follows consists of unfolded intervals; the main voice is the lower one, ^1-^7-^1, with a covering ^5-^4-^3.

When Eisenstein says "Du siehst, nur der Champagner war an allem Schuld!," everyone joins in a reprise of the Prince's toast that opened the Act II finale—and now closes the operetta.

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n14, Act III, "Spiel' ich . . ."

In one of the subplots (if we can dignify them with that term), Rosalinde's maid Adele aspires to be a professional singer and actress. During the evening party, she comes to believe that Frank (the warden disguised as a marquis) can help her. The following morning (we are now in Act III), she and her sister show up at the jail. In n14, the couplets "Spiel' ich die Unschuld vom Lande," Adele presses her point. Musically, she shows off a variety of styles within a compact form. 

A1   8 bars        — for the naïf from the countryside, a 6/8 tune like a contredanse gigue, one of the types that had become identified as French folk song by the later 19th century.
A2   8 bars with 4-bar extension  (on V)
B1   8 bars closes on tonic -- the second from section
B2   12 bars coda, repeats 4 bar phrase of A1 

C    8 bars    meno mosso in 3/4   — leads to a bit of a waltz at the end. Adele makes the point of her varied skills.
2 bars transition 

D1  8 bars  Tempo di marcia    -- "Spiel' ich eine Königin"  (for the queen, a regal march)
1 bar intro
D2  8 bars
D2   repeat with Ida and Frank 

C   reprise
repeat 2 bars transition 

E1   10 bars 2/4 Allegretto grazioso.  "Spiel ich 'ne Dame von Paris" (for the lady of Paris, a 2/4 grazioso--these have their source in the 18th century contredanse-gavotte and remain a staple as late as film music underscore in the 1940s)
E2    8 bars
F      12 bars
E2’   9 bars; with cadence to tonic

The music of interest to us here is in sections D and E/F. The 8-bar consequent of D finishes with a descending but open cadence. The focal tone is ^5 (as D5); in the cadence this moves to ^4 (C5) and one then imagines ^3 (B4). (So, an unfolded third C5-A4 to the third G4-[B4]).

In the repeat of the consequent--with added sound effects from Ida (Adele's sister) and Frank--Adele takes the focal tone ^5 up to ^7 and ^8 (F#5-G5) in the cadence:

In the analogous place in the E theme (specifically, the repeat of it that closes the aria), the focal tone is again ^5 (D5), the singer takes it up through D#5 to E5 over the cadential ii6, then substitutes ^5 for ^7, while the orchestra provides the ^7:

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n12, Act III, Entre'act & n13, Melodrama

The scene for Act III is the jail. The Entre'act--which functions as the introduction to Act III--helps switch locations for the audience in that it is a reprise of all of the Vogelhaus march, both the 2/4 and 6/8 sections. In the course of that, the powerful (con forza) cadence is repeated:

In n13, Frank has returned to the jail and settles down, all the while recalling pleasant memories (and, of course, several musical fragments) of the evening's party, including the Prince's toast, with its ascending cadence gesture. At the end of the melodrama (that is, a scene of action--or in this case rather less and less action) he falls asleep.

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n9, the "Eins, Zwei, Drei" galop

Before we leave Act II, there is one further number to discuss. The action during n9 is between Rosalinde (disguised as a Hungarian countess) and Eisenstein, who is trying to seduce her using his special chiming pocket watch (which, we learned in Act I, he claims never fails). A brief galop, "Eins, Zwei, Drei," appears three times in the course of the scene. Its melody is about as obvious a rising line as one could want, but it is given a proper harmonization only in its first iterations, not the repetitions.

In the first instance, the repetition of the theme is cut off partway through by a dissonance as Eisenstein reacts to Rosalinde's miscounting:

In the second instance, Eisenstein deliberately miscounts wildly and the final tonic is replaced by another dissonance.

The third instance is at the end of the number, which the two singers bring to a dramatic close, but where the tune only appears once the cadence is finished, over a tonic pedal (circled). Adding insult to cadential injury, the codetta surges past ^8 to ^10 (F#6; see the box) and we hear several V-I's in a row.

Postscript to Strauss, Die Fledermaus n11, Act II finale

The five parts of the Act II finale are (1) Orlofsky's toast to champagne--which we discussed in the previous post; (2) a comic exchange between Frank and Eisenstein; (3) Falke's waltz-song "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein," which leads into the "Du und Du" waltz; (4) ballet (handled in various ways in different productions); and (5) Prince Orlofsky's call to dance "Stellt Euch zum Tanz" and the dance itself "Ha, welch ein Fest, welche Nacht voll Freud!"

In the last of these, Strauss shows one of the strong tendencies in his later waltzes: toward 32-bar units, either by "stretching out" double periods or sentences (making them 16 + 16 rather than 8 + 8), or--as here--by so closely linking two 16-bar strains that they make a single musical unit:

There are no ascending cadence gestures in this extended and exhilarating waltz, but it doesn't have the last word in the Act II finale, as the proceedings come to a halt on a resounding cadential dominant -- see the beginning of the example below -- and everyone offers up a last salute to champagne by repeating the music for the Prince's toast. In the process the choral sopranos mark out the essential elements of the voice leading for the tune that Rosalinde—along with Orlofsky, Adele, and her sister—sings in a register that makes its yodeling topic even more obvious than it was earlier.

The orchestra, then, goes loudly to it one more time, stretching ^6 over IV and ^7 over V to two bars each and then beating on ^8 for no less than nine bars.

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n11, Act II finale

The setting of Act II is the ball to which Eisenstein and Falke have stolen away. Thanks to Falke's plan for revenge on Eisenstein, however, pretty much everyone shows up, although in disguise; the only person who isn't in disguise is the host, Prince Orlofsky. Unlike the first act, the second has no rising cadence figures outside of the finale.

The Prince opens with a toast to champagne. The music is mapped out as three eight-bar strains (A, B, C below; C is repeated as C') with a twelve-bar insert. Strain B, in the dominant, functions as Caplin's contrasting middle, a "B-section" in traditional form terms, to which the insert adds a retransition. Strains A and C are distinct, but both use ascending lines in their cadences.

The two phrases of A are essentially the same, and they would form a simple wedge figure except that ^2 in the descent has to be imagined. The ^3 (as F#5) is clear enough as a focal tone, but all the attention after the first bar goes to ^5 and then its tra-la-la-ing ascent in the cadence. The voice is accompanied by lower orchestral voices in this segment, and one can find the requisite ^2, though as E4 not E5 and in the third horn and viola, which placement doesn't inspire confidence about the musically revelatory.

Strain C has the toast itself, and its tune is built much like the one in A, but with the lower line stretched out to a sixth and the force of the upper ^3 as focal tone much diminished. In the cadence it's more plausible, to my ears anyway, to hear F# moving up to its similarly expressed neighbor G than it is to pull out the sixteenth-note E4 for a descent. The priorities I am hinting at here become obvious in C', where the cadence brings more attention to ^6 and an over-reaching ascent in the Flute 1 part (marked and notes circled below).

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n5, Act I Finale, "Mein schönes, grosses Vogelhaus"

The final two scenes of Act I involve a farewell kiss that Alfred manages to extract from Rosalinde and Alfred's departure, which is initiated by the warden Frank ("Nein, nein, ich zweifle gar nicht mehr") but whose principal tune is his "Mein schönes, grosses Vogelhaus," a comic march:

Eventually all three characters sing the tune together and then close with a 6/8-time coda, whose tune is:

This is repeated, with an elaborate and forceful cadence at the end of which Rosalinde finds her way to a high C:

Here is the line she follows from ^3 (E5) to ^8 (C6), in course of which ^5 substitutes for the scalar ^7, presumably to give even more dramatic weight to the final high note.

Strauss, Die Fledermaus n5, Act I Finale, "Herr, was dächten Sie von mir"

Alfred and Rosalinde's duo in the "Trinklied" was the first musical section of the Act 1 finale. In the subsequent section the jailor Frank enters and a comic szena ensues in which Alfred continues to sing phrases of the "Trinklied" while Frank attaches his own meaning to them, in the process mistaking Alfred for Eisenstein. Rosalinde realizes what is happening and, because she is trying to get rid of Alfred, claims he is in fact Eisenstein. Her strophic song "Mein Herr, was dächten Sie von mir" elaborates on this ruse ("How could you imagine I would be here with anyone other than my husband? Etc.). See the opening below. Strauss often uses polkas for happy moods or congeniality, but sometimes for irony or, as here, for a series of comic double entendres. (The polka I am referring to is the original type from the 1840s, known in the second half of the 19th century as the polka française, or a slower tempo polka. The music of the polka schnell, in a fast tempo, is barely distinguishable from a galop.)

Note the very strong emphasis on ^6 (E5) as the ninth in a V9. Also note the tonic with add6 at the end.

Still putting emphasis on ^6, the second half of each strophe switches to a waltz, which consists of a double period (Caplin's 16-measure theme) that is repeated. In the first iteration the melody makes its way through an octave -- see the beam.

In the second iteration, Frank and Alfred join in, making for a bit of contrapuntal play. In the cadence, Rosalinde takes the melody back up to G5.

Here is a reduction of the voice leading for the final bars.

Postscript 2 to "Trinklied": parallel fifths

Postscript to "Trinklied": assuming a dominant-root in the bass, the "fall from the dominant" in the cadence traces a V9 chord, which -- in the major key -- poses the danger of parallel fifths if 9 in one voice descends to 8 (that is, ^6 goes to ^5 in the tonic resolution), and 5 in a second voice descends by step (or ^2 goes to ^1) below the first voice. The problem is easily seen in the figure from my previous post (below): E5 goes to D5, A4 goes to G4.

Musicians obviously found ways to deal with this, as the sound of the V9 chord is a particular feature in 19th century music of all but the most conservative sorts—and it began early, with Schubert's generation. In yesterday's post on The Blue Danube waltzes, we saw Johann Strauss, jr., use the simplest method: resolve 9 to 8 before the tonic chord. Thus one gets the expressive sound of the ninth chord without the voice-leading hassle.

The problem of parallels in certain progressions--and clever devices of detail to overcome them--is far older than the 19th century. In the 16th century, the 5-3 sequence was occasionally used -- see Ex. 1a. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the ubiquitous circle of 5ths sequence avoided parallel octaves and fifths while invoking the sound of a stream of perfect intervals--Examples 1b and 1c.

In Example 2a, I have condensed the "Trinklied" falling figure into a chord. At 2b is the older voice leading for viiø7-I; this assumes that both C5 and A4 resolve to B4, but that means one cannot have a descending cadence melody: ^2 goes to ^3, not ^1. The recommended textbook voice leading for V9 in four parts (Example 2c) conveniently leaves out the fifth (A5 here), erasing the problem of parallels, but still making V9 unusable in closing cadences. Example 2d translates 2c into a cadential form, but that means ^7-^8 in the uppermost voice. Finally, Example 2e overlays 2d on the "Trinklied" melodic figure, which reintroduces ^2 (A5) but doesn't sustain ^6 (E5) throughout the bar, thus barely escaping directly sounding parallels.

In general the orchestral parts reinforce this. For example, one of the horn parts holds D4 throughout the four measures of the cadence phrase. One of the woodwind parts even traces a melodic line through A5 but then is silent during the final bar's tonic chord!

There is an exception, though. While the second violins hold A3 and resolve it directly to G3—

—the second clarinet (which is in C) holds E4, clashing with the F#4 in the second violins' double-stop, and only touches on F#4 for an eighth note before dropping to D4. This is as "barely" as barely escaping fifths can get.

Strauss's generation was the last to try to observe the prohibition against parallel fifths. In the next generation, Debussy and his peers divided parallel intervals/chords and contrary motion into two sets of effects, both equally expressive and usable.

Postscript to "Trinklied": The Blue Danube

At the end of yesterday's post on the "Trinklied" (first section of the act 1 finale in Die Fledermaus), I showed several examples of the cadence figure I call the "fall from the dominant" in one of the early waltz sets by Johann Strauss, jr., Die jungen Wiener Walzer, op. 7 (1845). In previous work I have shown that this gesture is a characteristic one in the waltz repertoire, starting in the early 19th century Ländler.

Here are more examples from one of the most famous of Strauss's later Viennese waltzes, The Blue Danube (1867).

The simplest is in the first strain of n5: a rise to 9 over V, resolved to 8 (circled) before a drop to ^7 (the whole figure boxed).

Note that Strauss—unlike his father—has not singled out the cadence for a higher register: we hear that already in the second bar of the excerpt. The most dramatic instance of this "early" arrival is in the first strain of n1 (below), where a firm upper-register ^3 over I is reached before settling to the cadence, which includes another simple 9-8 over V (circled).

An even more dramatic version is in in the second strain of n5  (below), where the high register is reached over the cadential dominant 6/4, and the "fall" is a long scale figure that moves through an entire octave.

Here (below) is another that reaches its (literally) high moment over the cadential dominant 6/4. This is the second strain of n3. Arrivals of this sort are the most traditional of Strauss's cadential constructions, as a dramatic expressive arc toward the cadential 6/4 was a commonplace in the early 19th century (its most exaggerated expression being the orchestral chord that signals the beginning of the cadenza in a concerto movement). Note here that the figure over the dominant seventh (the second circle) is the one used in the "Trinklied" (the key, G major, is even the same).


Here are two examples where significant emphasis goes to the S or pre-dominant chord in the cadence. The first example below is from the first strain of n2; below that is the second strain of n1.

In the first strain of n4, S and the cadential 6/4 are nicely linked (below). Note that, as in the first strains of n1 and n5, the high register actually precedes the cadence by several bars.

 Finally, in the second strain of n4, several of the elements shown above are combined: the highest point is over the root-position tonic (fifth bar from the end below), the fall from the dominant is again stretched to a leisurely scale (boxed), but the "Ur-form" of 9-8 over the dominant with a drop to the tonic note nevertheless concludes (circled).