Hahn, Five Little Songs (5 petites chansons)

In 1915, Reynaldo Hahn set poems for children by Robert Louis Stevenson in the Five Little Songs (5 petites chansons). The cycle was first performed and published in 1916. The first song, "The Swing" [La Balançoire], is the subject here.

"The Swing" belongs to a very select group of published compositions in which the major dominant-ninth chord is essential to sound and affect. These include Marion Bauer's "The Epitaph of a Butterfly" (link to my post), Charles Griffes' "The White Peacock" (check this blog post for an abstract and link to my essay: 2020 June 5), and of course the "Russian Dance" from Stravinsky's Petrushka, which I wrote about in the previous post to this blog.

The evocative accompaniment figure in bar 1 is repeated, with slightly shifting harmonies, in all 35 bars, excepting an abbreviated form in bars 32-33. Since the pedal will certainly be held down through each beat, the initial--and frequently repeated--tonic, which I have labeled "I" is just as easily heard as Iadd6. The V11 (or V9sus4) of the second beat "relaxes" into a clear V9 by bar 2, beat 2. In context, the notated Fnat4 in bar 3 sounds like a neighboring E#4 (so G-F#-E#-F# in bars 1-4), but the pitch as Fnat4 will play a role later. The G-F#-E#-F# motion, of course, adds a slightly longer-range swinging figure to the mix.

The poem is in three verses. Each is set slightly differently. Here is verse 1. The letter above each bar indicates the accompaniment figure, as they were labeled in the example above.

Here is verse 2:

And here is verse 3:

Note above that figure C--not figure A or B--appears in the first three bars of this verse. From this point, new twists on the harmony show up in each bar--see below, the score for the second line to the end of the verse. Now the Fnat4 of figure C signals a turn toward IV, which in turn leads quickly to the closing cadence, where the V is again a clear V9.

The piano's brief coda brings a small but interesting play on the ancient post-cadence turn toward IV. In bar 33, Fnat4 hints at a repeat of bars 25ff. and it does go down to E4, but not over IV: instead it's over I to make Iadd6. The arpeggios  to prominent E5 and E6 (arrows) are a delightful (but still safe) "swing" just past the tonic triad.

On Perfect Fifths and Complex Chords

 In a previous post (Bauer, Part 1), I created a chordal reduction and wrote the following about the last bars of the B section, leading to the reprise:

"Also, the V7/ii itself [see the final bars in the graphic below] can be explained by separating out the left-hand elements in bar 17 [at the farthest right]. The first thing we hear is in fact ii—not V—as iiadd6; only on the third quarter beat is the bass G2 sounded. Although the overall effect here is certainly that of a break, the harmony does offer some continuity."

The device that the composer uses in this passage is firmly within late-19th and early-20th century practice. Recall that the notion of the identity of viiø7 as V9 without its root goes back to the 18th century. By the time we reach an era where the voicing of sonorities becomes an important factor, it is not surprising to see what we might call a "play of functions," grounded in perfect fifths. In the graphic below, (a) is the major dominant ninth chord with the two P5s bracketed; (a1) and (a2) depict what Bauer does in "Epitaph"--that is, briefly drop the root and thereby "expose" the upper fifth D-A. I have filled out the scheme with V9#11 at (b), and V13 at (c). At (b1) is the common diatonic -2 voicing of V11, which offers a third P5. By the time we reach (c), there are four P5s, and--theoretically at least--any of the upper ones could replace the lowest fifth. As an aside, (a3) and (c5) as quintal chords lose almost all the character of the traditional V9 and V13.

Here are some additional examples of the play of functions and bass/upper-voice layering. The simplest type is the familiar common-tone modulation, a single note held between the two keys. Schubert uses it for a striking textural punctuation that announces the beginning of the second theme in the Unfinished Symphony, first movement:

Because the relationship is diatonic (B minor to G major), this passage often appears in harmony textbooks. Johann Strauss, jr., does something similar in the transition--moving from Eb major to Ab major--out of the second into the third waltz in Frühlingsstimmen ("Voices of Spring"; second box below):

Appropriately for our blog, he gives strong expressive emphasis to V9 in the cadence (first box) and in the transition, too (second box again). The cadential V9 is very prominent in the vocal edition of this waltz set:

Another textbook example--indeed, the one that almost inevitably shows up in a section on V9--is the opening of Franck's Violin Sonata. I wrote a long post about the entire movement in 2019: link. Franck briefly drops the root and third of E9 (box), creating a wonderful expressive effect that contrasts the simple minor triad against the fuller colors of the major dominant ninth on either side of it.

In an earlier post I referred to Brahms as "a genius at suggesting but avoiding the two characteristic chords of scale degree ^6: the dominant ninth and the add6" (link to post). The moment boxed below--from the Intermezzo in A Major, op. 118 no. 2--is a familiar style device of his that involves layering of bass and upper voices and "suggests but avoids" a directly stated V9/V.

In its "proper" form, the passage should have been built on one or the other of these: at (a), E in the bass is understood as a pedal point; at (b), the bass note changes to match the upper-voice chords and a V9/V is fully expressed. In both cases, I have inserted the tonic chord that Brahms only hints at with the bass A2.

Here is a version with the tonic chord repositioned so that the strongly marked IV6/4 remains on the first beat:

This compacted progression can be related to its opposite, where the bass does move as expected but the upper-voices don't correspond as neatly as one might like. The final cadence of the "Russian Dance" from Stravinsky's Petrushka is a famous example: C5 as the top note doesn't budge, nor does the A5 below it, as the bass pounds out a simple ii-V-I.

Given the presumed Impressionist influence on "The Epitaph of a Butterfly," it should be easy to locate examples of the "play of functions" in Debussy. Layering is of course a basic technique in his music, but as to using layers to suggest a change of function or modulation, my admittedly brief search has offered only this from the reprise in Reflets dans l'Eau ("Reflections in the Water"). A strongly defined Db: V9 (root and fifth circled) loses it root, perhaps by the second but certainly by the third bar, leaving eb7. The reverse process follows, as a b-flat minor triad is undergirded a couple bars later by a tonic fifth Db2-Ab2. 

Unlike Bauer's iiadd6, which gives an entirely plausible V7/ii–iiadd6–V9 progression, here it would be V9–ii7–vi–I, but better as V9–(ii7–vi)–I. The overall effect is not much different from that in the opening of Franck's Violin Sonata.

Eight songs by Marion Bauer, part 4

The last three of the eight songs, all published in 1921, are "Gold of the Day and Night," "Night in the Woods," and "Thoughts."

"Gold of the Day and Night": A point of interest is the CM7 at the beginning (circled). Another of the many cases in music after 1890 where much attention is given to a particularly voiced if traditionally dissonant sonority--observe that the CM7 is promptly repeated--but where one can, if one insists, hear a triad resolution (on the fourth eighth note of bar 1 in this case, at which point the 7 is gone). The parallel instance--a possible CM13 (second circle)--is pushed off more quickly by the chromatic voiceleading (D# making a V#5), but the repetition in bar 4 definitely sounds independent.

The first section ends with a clear cadence using V9b5 (boxed).

After that, a major dominant ninth chord appears once, but as part of a descending bass progression, once the bass begins to move down the section's Ab pedal.

"Night in the Woods": A contemplative song with stronger presence of classically voiced major and minor triads, diatonic dissonances, and wavering tonal center (Phrygian at the outset, possibly A minor or A Dorian in the section below, ending in/on D major). There are three sections: this is the second half and ending of the first section.

This is the parallel place in the close to the second section.

"Thoughts": Much more traditional than "Night," with a V9 to begin the piano's introduction. The dotted box shows that V7, not V9, is the presence just as the voice enters.

Here is the parallel place ending the first section and overlapping into the second. In bar 21, the same "throw-away" ninth (F4; arrow) that we saw in "Only of Thee and Me" renders the resolution an almost proper V9.

Eight songs by Marion Bauer, part 3

Here are two more of the songs published in 1921: "A Parable" and "Roses Breathe in the Night." 

As a dramatic song in a minor key, "A Parable" does not offer much of an opening for the major dominant ninth. In fact, this is the best we can do:

Someone *might* construe the climax chord as a ninth with flat 5 (dotted boxes), but honestly I don't think so. I don't trust chords in the middle of a pedal point passage (and in any case the ninth is immediately lost, both times).

Things are really not much better in "Roses Breathe in the Night." The motivic middle-voice half-step play (see the accented notes B-A# in the opening) does not invite anything like the open sound of the ninth chord, but we get at least this in bars 6 & 7: a V9, then a raised fifth (and seventh)--as A#4 and C#4) and continued movement up to B4 and D4.

At the end of the first section, the climax chord is not a V9 but A: iiø7 (circled); V9 does appear in the cadence (boxed) but then the mode promptly shifts to minor with the tonic, erasing any subsequent influence.

Eight songs by Marion Bauer, part 2

In this post I will look at the two earlier songs: "Send Me a Dream" (1912) and "Only of Thee and Me" (1914).

"Send Me a Dream" has an unusually large number of direct and "almost direct" resolutions of the major dominant ninth chord. Here are two near the beginning. Neither ninth resolves by step, but both chords are clearly independent harmonies acting as V9s in context. Note that the second chord is inverted.

The situation is less clear a few bars later. In the dotted box is a harmony better heard as Eb: viiø7/V. I have made the second box solid but its identity as a ninth is only slightly improved, as the voice's F5 could still be heard as an appoggiatura.

At bar 44 is another instance of a clearly defined secondary V9.

And here are even more just a few bars later.

The climax chord (bars 67-68) is a V9 with more iterations of the ninth than I have seen anywhere else to date. At bar 72 is the chord from bar 12, now in root position, and as a surprise G9 appears in the final bars without function, as part of a coloristic wedge figure.

By comparison, "Only of Thee and Me" has just one point of interest, and it's a dominant 7th with raised 5th that only becomes a ninth chord (still with raised 5th) when the voice puts in a "throw-away" note D5. The first time (end of the first verse) D5 disappears for sake of A4; the second time (third verse and ending) it acts as ^6 resolving upward to ^8.

Eight songs by Marion Bauer, part 1

Twelve songs by Marion Bauer are readily available through IMSLP. Of those, eight make use of major dominant ninth harmonies: "The Epitaph of a Butterfly," "Gold of the Day and Night," "Night in the Woods," "Only of Thee and Me," "A Parable," "Roses Breathe in the Night," "Send Me a Dream," and "Thoughts." I am uncertain of composition dates; IMSLP has publication dates of 1912 for "Send Me a Dream," 1914 for "Only of Thee and Me," and 1921 for the others. These correspond to the copyright notices.

The poets are Thomas Walsh (Epitaph), Katharine Adams (Gold; Thoughts), Edward Rowland Sill (Night), Louis Untermeyer (Only), Stephen Crane (Parable), Margaret Widdemer (Roses), and Emilie Francis Bauer (Send).

The first of the eight--"The Epitaph of a Butterfly"--is remarkable in being grounded on a G9 harmony. Treatment of V9 in the others is more typical of American songs in the period after about 1890, both in operettas and musicals and for domestic or recital use.

I'll begin with "The Epitaph of a Butterfly"--see the score below. The poem is a brief narrative of a butterfly in late autumn, falling into a pool to die. The imagery of light and color were an invitation to write in an Impressionist style that reminds me, at least, of Griffes' song "Symphony in Yellow" and perhaps even the opening of "The White Peacock." (Bauer and Griffes were friends, incidentally.)

I have ventured a chordal reduction below and emphasize that it is both informal and biased. The former is inevitable, the latter acknowledges that I have firmly resisted any further reduction to triad abstractions or even to a more plausible series of chord roots. In any case, observe that the chordal repertoire is entirely major dominant sevenths (on G, A) and ninths (on G, C, Eb, B), half-diminished sevenths (on G, B) and a mixture of major seventh and add6 (on C).

Here is an annotated version of bars 7-16 (with chord roots added in bars 9-10). The passage begins with a familiar succession of roots in fifths and thirds (G, C, Eb, implied Ab to follow) but with dominant ninth chords. After that is some typical late-19th century chromaticism relying heavily on the ambiguous half-diminished seventh chord. The shift is easily explained by the contrasting texts: "hope" in bars 7-10, followed by a vain search for a "comrade." Finally, note the curiously traditional 2-3 bass suspension at the end (2-3 or 9-10 being the only bass suspension allowed in ancient counterpoint). Also, the V7/ii itself can be explained by separating out the left-hand elements in bar 17--see the end of the example below. The first thing we hear is in fact ii, not V, as iiadd6; only on the third quarter beat is the bass G2 sounded. Although the overall effect here is certainly that of a break, the harmony does offer some continuity.