Strauss, Die Fledermaus, introduction

With this post I begin a series on the classic Viennese operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, jr. The series will continue the basic task of this blog—to document rising figures and especially cadence gestures in European and European-influenced music from roughly 1600 to 1950, with somewhat greater attention naturally falling on the 19th century. Now, however, I intend 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?

First, however, the overture, justly as famous as any of the vocal numbers. The design is one that was well known in the 19th century as the potpourri, but which has more recently been dubbed the "medley overture." That is to say, it doesn't follow the clichéd sonata or sonata-like design inherited from the 18th century and that was still present in many early to even mid-19th century opera overtures, but instead consists of a lively preview of important melodies to be encountered later. This early auditing of the show's tunes makes eminent dramatic sense, and it is hardly a surprise that the "medley overture" had almost completely replaced the old-fashioned sonata overture by 1874, the year that Die Fledermaus premiered.

The sections and their themes:

Allegro vivace 2/2
  --from Act 3, in no. 15, “Ja, ich bins, den Ihr betrogen”
Allegretto  4/4
  --same
. . . .
Allegretto 2/4
  --from Act 3, also in no. 15, “Was sollen diese Fragen hier?”
  --from Act 3, in no.16, “So erklärt mir doch”
Tempo di valse   3/4
  --from Act 2, the final section of no. 11, “Diese Tänzer mögen ruh’n”/"Stellt Euch zum Tanz"  First
    & second strain are recalled in Act 3, no. 13 (melodrama)
. . . .
Andante  3/4
  --from Act 1, no. 4, beginning, “So muß allein ich bleiben”
Allegro moderato  2/4
  --from Act 1, no. 4, “O je, O je, wie rührt mich dies”
Tempo ritenuto   2/4
  --reprise of “So erklärt mir doch”
Tempo di valse   3/4
  --reprise of “Diese Tänzer mögen ruh’n” / "Stellt Euch zum Tanz"
[Allegro moderato  2/4]
Più vivo
  --reprise of “O je, O je, wie rührt mich dies” and “Ja, ich bins, den Ihr betrogen”

Here is the list again, with musical excerpts:

--from Act 3, in no. 15, “Ja, ich bins, den Ihr betrogen”

--from Act 3, also in no. 15, “Was sollen diese Fragen hier?”

--from Act 3, in no.16, “So erklärt mir doch”

 --from Act 2, the final section of no. 11, “Diese Tänzer mögen ruh’n”/"Stellt Euch zum Tanz"

--from Act 1, no. 4, beginning, “So muß allein ich bleiben”

--from Act 1, no. 4, “O je, O je, wie rührt mich dies”

--reprise of “So erklärt mir doch”
--reprise of “Diese Tänzer mögen ruh’n” / "Stellt Euch zum Tanz"
--reprise of “O je, O je, wie rührt mich dies” and “Ja, ich bins, den Ihr betrogen”

There's little point in investigating  ascending cadences in the overture, since all the significant ones will show up again in the vocal numbers, where they are relevant to my concern in this series on gestures and text.

JMT series, part 10 (Beethoven, Op. 22, III)

I intended this originally as a response to an article by Jason Yust; the menuet movement from the Piano Sonata, Op. 22, is the author's main example: link. There is, however, little to be said from the standpoint of traditional Schenkerian analysis, as Yust's goal is to rationalize the orthodox form of the theory, and therefore the analysis of Op, 22, III, assumes a priori Schenker's analysis from Free Composition and seeks to formalize it. Broadly, his position is similar to Matthew Brown's rationalization of Schenkerian theory (2005). Brown rejects the ascending Urlinie with a bit of circular reasoning; Yust doesn't engage it at all. The closest he comes is a critical note on the waltz ninth in this menuet's Urlinie: "Neumeyer (1987) . . . considers G to be an ascending passing tone rather than an upper neighbor. According to his interpretation, the G and A at the end of m. 7 are successive notes in a single voice, even though they both are sustained as part of the dominant ninth harmony over all of mm. 5–7" (2015, n33). More on that at the end of this post.

Yust does mention my article on proto-backgrounds (2009). As I noted above, he belongs among the "rationalizers" of Schenkerian theory (and so do I--in Neumeyer 2009, at least); he summarizes the earlier history very well (in paragraphs 0.1.1 & 0.1.2, and introductory paragraphs to subsequent sections). Although I can hardly claim to have offered a formalized theory in Neumeyer 2009, I did focus on a generative model (that is, building out from the background through transformations), which Yust also favors. Here is a sample, his Example 15; I have removed its analysis of the bass to show only the reading of the treble parts. The specific aim of the work is to portray contrapuntal melody (2 or more part-writing "voices") in a single diagram or figure (which presumably can then be subject to computerized comparisons). Level 0 is the "chord of nature" and is indistinguishable from one of my proto-backgrounds. At Level 1 the passing tone C is represented as a digression from the interval; then a second voice appears--as a hierarchically subordinate voice it is shown below the primary voice. Level 2, so to speak, harmonizes the two voices, drawing them together into a single diagram. The only comparison I can possibly make is to say that, in my view, Level 0 could just as easily have had the fourth F5-Bb5 instead of the third Bb4-D5.

In the details of his analysis, Yust brings out motivic thirds, beginning with the pick-up gesture. In my view, the fourth is more prominent, tying together accented notes at the beginning, F4-Bb4, and then being repeated. Stretched to a fifth -- one can hear the stretching in Enat5 -- the fourth can still be heard as a shadow within the compressed thirds that follow and continue throughout the continuation phrase. This theme, incidentally, is in the antecedent + continuation design, which Caplin regards as a hybrid but which I have found to be fundamental to 18th century galant style and have re-named the "galant theme" (link).

A reading using proto-backgrounds is not kind to my JMT analysis of the theme as using the registral variant, ^5-^6-(reg.) ^7-^8, since the stable interval would strongly imply/imagine ^5 (as F5) at the end. See below.

Thinking of the proto-background more abstractly, the initial fourth could be recovered -- circled notes below -- but the registral variant of the Urlinie would be undercut by this version, as well.

I still do think that a registral variant (link) is not difficult to hear in this theme and in the reprise (below), but it is obviously not compatible with a reading based on proto-backgrounds, which are after all biased in favor of registral definition and stability.

Note on the note: "Neumeyer (1987) . . . considers G to be an ascending passing tone rather than an upper neighbor. According to his interpretation, the G and A at the end of m. 7 are successive notes in a single voice, even though they both are sustained as part of the dominant ninth harmony over all of mm. 5–7" (Yust 2015, n33). I have written about the "waltz ninth" many times by now--here's a (link) to a recent post in this JMT series. Yust's criticism is the same as the one I've just made with respect to proto-backgrounds and does tend to undermine the registral variant. The waltz ninth is another matter. Nineteenth-century practice is broader--more creative and expressive--than eighteenth-century proscriptions. At (a), the ninth as neighbor note; at (b), the directly resolving ninth, a cliché in the waltz repertoire by no later than 1830. Note that the essential Schenkerian melodic note, C, is nowhere to be seen (or heard) -- in four-part writing of ninth chords, one leaves out the fifth. At (c), the figure that applies to all three "extended" chords: keep the seventh below the newly added top note in ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords. At (d), the voiceleading for the rising line with waltz ninth, understood as at (e) splitting the ninth in two; the same at (f) in Schenkerian notation.

References:
Brown, Matthew. 2005. Explaining Tonality: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond. Rochester: University of Rochester Press.
Neumeyer, David. 2009. “Thematic Reading, Proto-Backgrounds, and Registral Transformations.” Music Theory Spectrum 31 (2): 284–324.
Yust, Jason. 2015. "Voice-Leading Transformation and Generative Theories of Tonal Structure." Music Theory Online 21/4: link

Schubert, Piano Sonata in E Major, D 157, III (1815)

Schubert's Piano Sonata in E Major, D 157, is in three movements, with a menuet as finale. Thinking of this in Schenkerian terms, the emphatic ^1 in phrase 1, repeated, is preliminary to the focal tone ^3 in bar 9. That note, D#5, promptly drops to an interrupted ^2 (as C#5) and the typical fifth line -- at (a) -- runs down from it to the cadence (beamed notes). The actual gesture at the cadence, however, is a rising line -- at (b); it repeats C#5, then rises by step as F#: ^5-^6-^7-^8. The two fortissimo chords that follow -- at (c) -- confirm the significance of this rising fourth, to which the falling fifth is now clearly understood as subordinate.

In the reprise (beginning at bar 49), the emphatic opening is repeated but F# in the second phrase is diverted to Fx (F-double-sharp) -- at (b) -- the result being to bring out the (already obvious) interval frame B4-F#4, shown as unfolding at (a). The Fx goes as expected to G# in the 9th bar of the reprise but then promptly relaxes back to F# two bars later -- at (c). An octave leap to F#5 enables the rising line in the cadence, and again we hear the energetic confirmation of the two fortissimo chords to end.



Overall, then, the shapes move from the ^8-^5 frame of the opening to the (expanded) upper fifth ^1-^5 and finally the upper fourth ^5-^8, as shown below.

Haydn, part 6b

Repeated from the previous post:

In footnote 32 to my "Ascending Urlinie" article, I included the Haydn Piano Sonatas in Eb and Ab—the slow movement of the former (Hob. XVI/52, II), the menuet of the latter (Hob. XVI/43, II)—among pieces that use one of the variants of the rising line: the form ^5-^6-(reg.)^7-^8.

Yesterday I wrote about the Ab menuet; today, the slow movement of the Eb sonata. And again I am making use of my holograph analytical sketch from 1982. See the entire sketch here: page 1 link; page 2 link. Score links: page 1; page 2.

The opening phrase is more easily read from ^3 than from ^5: the end of the initial tonic prolongation is at the 32nd note topped by G#5. I chose ^5 because of its longer-range implications, specifically in the internal reprise within the A section (more on that below). My sketch of the opening, then, consigns ^3 (as G#5) to a convoluted unfolding pair; I marked it "over" for "overlap" because that's the term that my mentor, Allen Forte, used (see his Schenker textbook co-written with Steven Gilbert).

In the elaborated restatement ending the A section, ^5 (B5 in the second measure) is more obviously a cover tone, but it is the sudden sweep up from it to E6 that is the major expressive event. This radical expansion of the upward leaps from the opening bars starts a chain of leaps: B5 to E6 in the fourth measure and G#5 to C#6 in the fifth measure. The line splits at the first of these (see the two ^5s marked in the score and the branching lines in the sketch), the lower one reaching G#5 and the upper one taking C#6 before both lines drop an octave over the dominant, G#5 to F#4 and C#6 to D#5.

Haydn, part 6a

In footnote 32 to my "Ascending Urlinie" article, I included the Haydn Piano Sonatas in Eb and Ab—the slow movement of the former (Hob. XVI/52, II), the menuet of the latter (Hob. XVI/43, II)—among pieces that use one of the variants of the rising line: the form ^5-^6-(reg.)^7-^8. We've seen this version already in the menuets of Symphony no. 86 and no. 104.

In this post, I will use my holograph sketch of this piece; it's probably from 1982 (when I did most of the initial research on rising lines for the sake of a Schenker seminar). I have placed a facsimile in my public folder on Dropbox: link.

The opening is one of those designed to frighten beginning Schenker students, as it offers ^5, ^8, and ^3 as plausible starting points for an Urlinie. Although ^3 is weak, since it is over vi, not I, the move to ^2 in bar 4 has to be encouraging; and you can almost always read chord support backwards to the beginning if you really want to (true here), so that ^3 is understood to be supported by the initial tonic chord rather than the vi that prolongs that I.

In 1982, however, I read the Urlinie from ^5, not at all disturbed by its cover-tone quality, as ^5 very often sounds like that in its prolongations. The ^3 and its interruption, then, are placed in an alto voice. See the condensed version of my sketch below.

In the second strain's altered reprise, one can certainly be forgiven for wondering about ^3 again—note the prominent C6, then the double neighbor figure—but one is obliged to imply/invent the ^2 in the cadence. A line consisting of ^5-^6-(reg) ^7-^8 is more direct and also more musically satisfying.

Virtuosi and improvised counterpoint in the early 17th century, part 3

Book 2 of Dario Castello's Sonate concertate in stil moderno was published in 1629. The fifth sonata is for winds: solo cornet and trombone with continuo. The pattern of soprano and bass instrument that we saw in sonatas from Book 1 continues, as does the treatment of the bass solo as largely an ornamented version of the continuo part. The overall design is very similar to the sonatas we have already looked at in previous posts (nos. 7 and 10 from Book 1). Like those pieces, this sonata has eight sections: a fugal section in duple time is followed by a short homophonic section [probably meant to be an adagio, though it's not marked] and another fugal section; next are two solos, first for cornet and second for trombone, a fugal section in triple meter, a short section in sequences, and a closing adagio that begins in imitation but quickly turns into a cadenza.

The points of interest include the closing cadence of section 1 and its approach, which is the most extended and direct that I have seen in Castello's sonatas (but see also the end of section 4 below).

 Within the brief section 2, there is a rare 6-8 cadence:

The end of section 4 is similar to that of section 1, but this time note the firmly marching parallel tenths between the continuo and the solo cornet.


Finally, a curiosity: the cadence ending section 7 and leading into the final adagio attempts to combine the cadenza perfetta and the cadence with 4-3 suspension. Presumably performers would have understood ways to manage this that were more musically effective than the written notation.

Virtuosi and improvised counterpoint in the early 17th century, part 2

This is the second post in a short series on Dario Castello, a virtuoso wind player in Venice in the early 17th century. Sonata 10 from book 1 (1621) is for two violins, bassoon, and continuo. Like sonata 7 that I discussed yesterday, it has eight sections. The first section closes with a scalar flourish after the cadence (another feature of soloistic music in this era). Note also the 3-1 cadence (circled) in the two violins—this realizes the "three-part rule" that I mentioned in the previous post: cadenza perfetta in the upper voices, root of the chord in the bass.

A triple-meter imitative section—similar to the one in sonata 7—does close in the upper register. Note the cadenza perfetta in the two upper voices, and the C# (as ^#3) rather than A (as ^1), breaking the cadence in order to supply a third for the final chord.

The ending of the sonata repeats the cadence of the first section and adds a block-chord adagio that is very likely to have been heavily embellished in performance, perhaps resulting in something that sounded similar to the written-out ending of sonata 7.

Virtuosi and improvised counterpoint in the early 17th century, part 1

Little is known about Dario Castello, except that he worked in Venice in the first decades of the seventeenth century, that he worked at St. Mark's cathedral, and that he was apparently a virtuoso wind player, probably first of all a bassoonist. In his own time, though, he was quite well known: as Andrew dell'Antonio puts it, "The unusual number of reprints of [his two] books of sonatas is an indication of the popularity and wide diffusion of Castello's works" (Oxford Music Online).

Book 1 was published in1621 as Sonate concertate in stil moderno, libro primo. The seventh sonata is typical. Eight sections of varying lengths—but mostly short by modern standards—are typical of the canzona style, as is the continuo bass and virtuosic solo writing. It is from works like this that the sonata da chiesa and the mid-eighteenth century sonata developed.

In this post I first present an overview of the design with incipits for each of the eight sections. After that I look at the closing cadences for same.

An imitative, "fugue-like" section opens (1), but is interrupted by an expressive ornamented adagio at (2). An extended imitative section in triple meter is next (3), then two solo sections follow, first for violin (4), then for bassoon (5). A short section (6) consisting of elaborated sequences is followed by another "fugue-like" section in triple meter (7) and an elaborate cadenza-like close (8). The opening in duple with a change to triple later on, the fugato work, ornamentation, and elaborate close are all typical of solo musical practices from at least the 1590s on.

Now for the cadences. The range of the violin is restricted; the topmost significant note is A5: Bb5, B5, and C6 are *briefly* touched on only once or twice in sections 1, 3, and 4. Most of the section-ending cadences show the soloist's tendency—which will only be exaggerated in subsequent generations and centuries—to want to end brilliantly and therefore in a higher, not lower, register. As a result, rising gestures are common. The cadenza perfetta does not appear because the bassoon matches the continuo, and the "three-part rule" of basic counterpoint, where the bass provides the root of the dominant, is followed throughout.