Op.407 - Italienischer WalzerInstead of going through these one by one, I have sorted examples by topic, or, perhaps more accurately said, by technique or device or figure. With the exception of a few slightly different figures and harmonizations in op. 410 (Frühlingsstimmen) and op. 461 (Gartenlaube), everything in these late sets of waltzes departs little if at all from the mid-1860s through early 1870s (at which point Strauss began focusing more on operetta), in the still-famous waltzes such as An der schönen blauen Donau, Künstler-Leben, Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, Wein, Weib und Gesang, Tausend und eine Nacht, Wiener Blut, and Du und Du (derived from the operetta Die Fledermaus [1874]). That being the case, an inventory of techniques or figures involving the dominant ninth chord seemed more useful than analyses of individual sets. I have enriched the survey, so to speak, with occasional examples from his contemporary Emile Waldteufel and from the late waltzes of his father, Johann Strauss, sr.
Op.410 - Frühlingsstimmen, Walzer
Op.423 - Wiener Frauen, Walzer
Op.424 - Adelen-Walzer
Op.437 - Kaiser-Walzer
Op.438 - Rathausball-Tänze, Walzer
Op.440 - Groß-Wien, Walzer
Op.453 - Hochzeitsreigen, Walzer
Op.461 - Gartenlaube, Walzer
Op.477 - An der Elbe, Walzer
1. Consonance/Dissonance and ^5, ^6.
The place to begin is with the play of consonance/dissonance in parallel figures involving ^5 and ^6. Here is the first strain of the first number of the Kaiser-Walzer [Emperor Waltz], op. 437 (1889). Apologies for the odd-looking score; it's a composite of score and ossia I made to show the harmonies more clearly. The consonant G5 in bar 1 is parallel to A5 in bar 5. We can—and should—take the A5 as an expressive "one-note-too-far" that provides the turn to the cadence (IAC), but at the same time the parallelism reinforces the sense that this is a chord tone, the ninth of V9. Note two features that are basic to Strauss's practice: the harmonies are exactly parallel in the two phrases—I (-?) I V, and V (-?) V I—and there is a strong descending scale-wise frame for each phrase. Though not relevant to the specific point here, I have marked the point (bar 12) where V (in other places, we'll see V9) is turned back, as it were, to ii. Similar figures are routinely used, as here, to make a turn toward the final cadence.
In Wiener Frauen, op. 423, the second strain of no. 1 reveals a second basic method: exchanging consonance for dissonance (or chord member for non-harmonic element). In bar 4, a conservative hearing for the 1880s would make Bb5 and E6 chord tones and D6 (the ninth) a dissonance. In bar 8, a conservative reading would reverse the second and third elements: D6 is a dissonance and C6 a chord tone. One finds hints of things like this even in Schubert, but the later waltz repertoire exploits the ambiguity at every opportunity and in every conceivable way, foremost with ^5 and ^6 but sometimes with the other scale degrees as well. In this particular case Strauss suggests a possible conservative reading, in that we might think of D6 in bar 4 as a non-harmonic note "left open" until its reappearance and resolution in bar 8. See the sketch below the score.
The same motive works differently in Waldteufel's Estudiantina waltzes, op. 191 (1883), the second strain of no. 1. Here the parallelism is strict: C#6 is an appoggiatura, B5 is a chord tone, then B5 is a non-harmonic note and A5 is a chord tone. The eight-bar unit does end with a direct resolution of a V9 chord.
From Strauss again: no. 2 in Gartenlaube, op. 461 (1895). As in the preceding, but now G4, as the ninth in V9, is paired with D5, as the third of the tonic triad. This time the turn in the consequent of this 16-bar theme comes early: where G4 changes from the ninth of V9 to the third of the IV chord.
From Strauss's father, Die Schwalben, op. 208, a late waltz set from 1847. The first strain of no. 4 suggests how the play of ^5 and ^6 helped domesticate not only V9 but also Iadd6. Here E6 resolves internally within I but the parallel note, D6, is consonant within V7, and C6 in bars 5-6 is a chord tone. Below the score I have added an indirect motion of E6 to D6; this gives the same kind of ambiguous weight to E6 as does the immediate resolution in bar 2.
From Waldteufel's op. 101, Myosotis (from the 1860s), an example of ^5-^6 play within a double neighbor figure, with attention given to E5 and thus the sonorities—the sound of—Iadd6 and V9.
From Strauss, jr., Kaiser-Walzer, op. 437 (1889), this time the opening of no. 2. A pleasant muddle of notes in the upper tetrachord of Ab major. The incomplete neighbor G5 (another label is "escape tone") is dissonant, suggesting a possible Imaj7, though the inversion (bass C) makes things less clear, but the parallel F5, also dissonant, is more plainly the ninth in V9. A long distance registral connection to F5 over the tonic in bar 9 brings still another suggestion of Iadd6.
From Waldteufel's op. 148, Violettes (1876), the first waltz. A simple 16-bar period where the consequent takes the melody up a scale degree and the harmony is I-V then V-I. In bars 6-8 and 14-16, we are invited to hear "conservative dissonances" as chord tones, thanks to the parallelism: D5 is a chord tone in bar 14, so perhaps is C5 in bar 6? Bb4 is a chord tone in bars 6-7, so perhaps is C5 in bars 14-15?
From Gartenlaube, op. 461 (1895), no. 4, second strain. The neighbor note figure about C6 is repeated about A5 above the tonic bass. Note also that B5 as a passing tone in the second bar of the strain suggests that G5 in bar 4 might be one, also -- in fact, to my ear, it really does sound like it.
From the Italienischer Walzer, op. 407 (1882), no. 1, second strain. Clear, parallel roles for the half-note pairs E6-D6 and D6-C6. The point of interest is in bar 7: A5 repeated, not G5. The boxes labeled b1 and b2 show another turn effected by harmony.
From Frühlingsstimmen, op. 410 (1883), no. 1, first strain. Still another instance suggesting Iadd6 (G5 in bar 3 is parallel to A5 in bar 9).
From An der Elbe, op. 477 (1897), no. 2, first strain. The thirds make this difficult to decipher. Some recurring elements, at least, are obvious: add6 in bar 1, the suggestion of Imajor7 in bars 1-2, and V9 in bar 4. The Iadd6 is firm in bars 9-10 (circled) and can even be understood as moving upward to D6, so ^6-^7.
