JMT series, part 5b (notes 29 & 30)

The second post on notes 29 & 30:

n30: ^5-^6-(^5)^7-^8: Winterreise, no. 2, “Die Wetterfahne.” No comment in the note.  The piano opens a large space of a compound fifth in the introduction ("geschwind, unruhig"), but the voice constrains its opening phrase by sequence, so that a line rises from ^3 to ^5 (beamed).

The sudden turn to the parallel major in the verse cadence is sarcastic, as his former lover "ist eine reiche Braut" ["a rich bride'].

The final cadence of the song amps up the cry of despair with a strong sequence but odd chord progression -- first system below -- then drops back into the "reiche Braut" figure to end. In the 1987 article I enclosed the second ^5 in parentheses, and have repeated that below, but nowadays I am more inclined to accept the "primitive rising line" and so would probably read the ending as ^5  (^#6 ^5)  ^#7  ^8.

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."

Minor key series, part 2a (Schubert)

In this post, I offer two examples in which Schubert avoids the problem of a minor-key ascent by shifting to the major mode for the closing cadence: "Wetterfahne," n2 in Winterreise, and the ninth number of the Grazer Walzer, D924. In a subsequent post, I will discuss the opposite case--change from major to minor--and Schubert's expressive treatment of the natural-^6 (in "Frühlingstraum," also from Winterreise).

We'll begin with the waltz. I've written about it before, in my Rising Lines essay, p. 72. Minor-key waltzes are very rare; in the few that Schubert did write, there is almost always a turn toward the major key to close, either in the parallel or the relative major. In D924n9, he does a bit of both. In the first strain, a second, quiet phrase in the major answers a first, louder phrase in the minor. The second strain, however, is firmly in the relative major. I can't make any broader claim about tonal design in the fluid contexts of a waltz set (the set is a collection, not a fixed composition; n9 is possibly a trio to n8; the first strain might well be repeated to make an ABA design), but it doesn't matter for my point: Schubert creates a very simple ascending Urlinie in the second strain and changes to the major mode to accomplish it.

 In the first song of Winterreise, the poet stands outside his beloved's house, ready to leave for good. The second song finds him looking at the weather vane (Wetterfahne) and contrasting his sorrows with the interior of a household that knows nothing about them. Here is the opening.

Here is the first version of the conclusion. For "meinen Schmerzen," VI and an augmented sixth chord, but then a harmonically ungrammatical turn to I6 and a cadence in A major, where the melodic frame is a variant of the ascending Urlinie, or ^5-^6-(^5)-^7-^8.

 In the second version of the close, Schubert adds a sequential repetition of the "Schmerzen" idea, thereby driving home a chromatic melodic ascent toward E4/E5, but the result is the same: the cadential formula and rising line are in A major, not minor.