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).