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).