JMT series, introduction

Recently I uploaded the 200th post to this blog. By way of celebration for another milestone—thirty years since the publication of my article, "The Ascending Urlinie" (Journal of Music Theory 31/2: 275-303)—I begin a series based on its examples and notes.

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).

Minor key series, part 9 (Wolf; Brahms; Duparc) continued

Brahms, Op. 69n7, consists of two musically identical verses. The first is reproduced here.

The pairing of a simple rising line with a descending alto from ^5 is reminiscent of the Couperin passacaille, but here the alto descends more quickly. For much more on this song, possible analyses, and the text, see my essay Rising Gestures, Text Expression, and the Background as Theme: link. The section for which Op69n7 serves as the principal example begins on page 17.

Henri Duparc's "Lamento" was written in 1868, while the twenty-year old was a student of Cesar Franck, whose influence shows. Walter Everett (2004, 52) reads the pitch design in very nearly the way I do below, with ^5 prolonged for quite some time. then the line rising through A#4 to ^6 (B-nat4) and through C-nat5 to ^7 (C#5) and finally to ^8 (D5). The bass support is the tonic for ^5, nat-VI for ^6 (!), V7 for ^7, and the tonic again for ^8.   (Score notation is by Pierre Gouin and is available on IMSLP. My apologies for artifacts I've introduced in the first section below through compressing the width and moving measure 7 up a system.)

Reference: Everett, Walter. 2004. "Deep-Level Portrayals of Directed and Misdirected Motions in Nineteenth-Century Lyric Song." Journal of Music Theory 48/1 (2004): 25-58.

Minor key series, part 9 (Wolf; Brahms; Duparc)

I had intended this post to show a later 19th century treatment of figure g in Hugo Wolf's setting of Goethe's satirical "peasant" poem "Der Schäfer." Two things happened, however. First, I realized on examining the piece more closely that figure g is not the model; instead, it is a convoluted or distorted version of figure c. More on that below. Second, I remembered that I had just written about a minor-key Brahms song in the essay Rising Gestures, Text Expression, and the Background as Theme (published on Texas Scholar Works: link). Then, looking at the work materials for that essay, I found another Brahms song and also one by Henri Duparc (both are mentioned in Walter Everett's article that was the starting point for my Rising Gestures essay).

Neither Brahms song (they are, btw, Op59n1 and Op69n7) nor the Duparc "Lamento" uses figure g, so the end result is that this post may perhaps be best regarded as an excursus in the minor key series. The nineteenth-century theme will continue, however, in the following post, where I look at the opening of the Tristan Prelude in connection with figure i. After that, I'll finally introduce figures k-n, which as it happens lack examples in the repertoire, and two interesting cases—Beethoven's 32 Variations in C minor, WoO80, which ought to have a rising line based on its harmonic plan, but doesn't—and a movement-length partimento by Durante. The last entries in the series will form a longish appendix on 17th century Dorian-mode pieces.

In brief, Goethe's poem "Der Schäfer" is about a shepherd who is lazy and neglects his work but who suddenly perks up and becomes energetic and responsible when a woman accepts him. This turn happens in the final lines, and is set by Wolf with a rising line.  The first structural tone of the melody is unclear, largely because of the contortions in line and harmony—see the score below—but also because neither ^8 nor ^5 is confirmed in the subsequent passage.

At the end, on the other hand, the motion from ^5 is very clear, if also very chromatic in the voice and oddly chromatic in the harmony:

I have removed the text and isolated the harmonies in this reduction. Also note the labeling of local harmonies and functions.

A further reduction shows more plainly that the entire passage, excepting the final tonic, involves prolongation of the dominant.

The end result, then, is that "Der Schäfer" uses figure c (below), not figure g.

Brahms, op. 59n1, is another Goethe setting, "Dämmrung senkt sich von oben," a nature poem that Brahms sets in four verses, the first two in G minor, where the second is a slight variant of the first, the third is a "B-section" contrast that begins in Eb major, and the fourth in G major builds on material of the second half of verse 1. It is the last verse that concerns us here.

The ^5 I have marked at the beginning is without reference to anything earlier in the song. Whether the whole piece should be read from an abstract ^3 (Bb) or ^5 is an open question: I would favor the former in the early verses but the latter in the final two. Regardless, the motion from ^5 and the elongated dominant are unmistakable in verse 4.

Considerable attention is given the subdominant throughout the verse, including the approach to the cadence (see both IV and iv below). The close, then, uses figure c, where ^5, ^6, and ^7 are all over V -- but note that the alternatives for the voice lay bare the simple and ancient opening wedge of counterpoint where the ascent ^5-^6-^7-^8 is balanced by a descent from ^3 to ^1.

Nevertheless, Brahms does here what Schubert did in pieces we examined early in this series (link): he actually avoids the problem of the minor key by switching at the end to the major.

Part 9 continues in the next post: Brahms, Op. 69n7, and Duparc "Lamento."

Reference: Everett, Walter. 2004. "Deep-Level Portrayals of Directed and Misdirected Motions in Nineteenth-Century Lyric Song." Journal of Music Theory 48/1 (2004): 25-58.

New essay published

My essay Rising Gestures, Text Expression, and the Background as Theme has been published on the Texas Scholar Works platform: link. Here is the abstract:

Walter Everett's categories for tonal design features in nineteenth-century songs fit the framework of the Classic/Romantic dichotomy: eighteenth-century practice is the benchmark for progressive but conflicted alternatives. These categories are analogous to themes in literary interpretation; so understood, they suggest a broader range of options for the content of the background than the three Schenkerian Urlinien regarded as essentialized universals. The analysis of a Brahms song, "Über die See," Op. 69/7, provides a case study in one type, the rising line, and also the entry point for a critique of Everett's reliance on a self- contradictory attitude toward the Schenkerian historical narrative.