The poems in Op. 40 are by William Henry Gardner and are largely simple expressions of love in a style that is a restrained version of sentimental songs from the late 1800s. "Thy Beaming Eyes," however, introduces irony. Its text:
Thy beaming eyes,
Are Paradise,
To me, my love, to me.
Thy trembling kiss
Is heavenly bliss,
To me, sweet love.
But oh, thy heart!
It has no part,
With thee, my dear.
Tis strangely cold
And doth withhold
Its love, I fear.
Thy beaming eyes,The sentimental expression (in the opening at least) helps to account for the ninth chords (I have noted in earlier posts that major dominant ninth chords are more common in lyrical, sentimental genres), and the irony accounts for the increased dissonance.
Are Paradise,
To me, my dear.
"Passionately" and "loud" signal something unusual from the start, although one could say that "beaming eyes" and "Paradise" are worthy of intensified expression, the more so for sake of contrast with the familiar soft and sighing notes of the second phrase, "Thy trembling kiss . . .". Here "Paradise" is set to a second-inversion dominant ninth -- at (a). The ninth D5 is duly placed at the top, but the voice then doubles it (as a written D4) and resolves that note upward (while D5 remains in the piano part). That E4 remains in the subsequent A7 over C#. The phrase ends with a plaintive "to me" on another dominant ninth, this time in root position with the ninth at the top in both voice and piano. With the following second-inversion C7, the ninth disappears more than it can be said to resolve (it's B-natural3 that's readily heard as moving to Bb3, and G—to which the ninth A might resolve—is already stationary in the bass). Whatever the explanations, both major dominant ninth chords here are prominent and striking in their voicings and treatment.
In the second phrase, we find the first hint of trouble: at (c) "kiss" is set to a version of the same dissonance that we saw in Hull's quote. Here it is heard not as a ninth, but as an F# diminished seventh chord with upper neighbor D4. At (d) and (e) the same chord pair as at (b) but now with forceful expression and the C7 in root position. Here the textbook writers' suggestions about the ninth chord as offering intensified expression are certainly realized.
The third phrase brings us to the poem's second verse. Apparently a reprise of the opening in the melody, the music quickly takes another direction, but not before "kiss" has become "heart" set to the same chord in the voicing of Hull's example -- at (f). At (g) I imagine a textbook writer might call this a dominant ninth with its root deleted. This is one of the few places in practice I might find that plausible. Supporting this hearing is the conversion of the ninth chord from (a) to the same half-diminished seventh at (a?).
The second phrase returns with harmonies intact—(b) through (e) below—but "kiss" and "bliss" are now "cold" and "withhold." The singer's final reiteration of the opening, then, is wistful and without much hope. It is here that the irony reaches its natural end-point, as "Paradise" is overtaken by the D minor ninth chord (this is Hull's example). At the very end, note C9 and C13 in the cadence--at (h1) and (h2).
