D734n5:
D790n12:
D366n17:
D734n16:
D783n2:
Die schöne Müllerin, n12 "Pause":
Showing posts with label Laendler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laendler. Show all posts
Monday, January 21, 2019
Schubert again
Here are several more examples of dominant ninth harmonies in Schubert, mostly from Laendler but also one from the song cycle Die schöne Müllerin.
D734n5:
D790n12:
D366n17:
D734n16:
D783n2:
Die schöne Müllerin, n12 "Pause":
D734n5:
D790n12:
D366n17:
D734n16:
D783n2:
Die schöne Müllerin, n12 "Pause":
Monday, December 17, 2018
Mozart
Mozart, always keenly aware of music for dancing, held an appointment during the last three years of his life as a composer of dance music for the Imperial court. Among these works are three sets of German Dances, K600, 605, and 606. In none of them does he write a properly functional dominant ninth harmony (that is one with a direct or indirect resolution of ^6 to ^5 in the following tonic), but his treatment of scale degree ^6 is worth some attention. Two additional examples come from late sets of menuets, K568 & 599.
German Dances, K600n2, trio. We've seen this in earlier posts on Theodor Lachner and Josef Lanner: the clichéd 18th century cadence with ii6 as harmonization of a figure emphasizing ^6. It was the simplified harmonies of the Laendler tradition (without the ii6) that led to a distinct dominant ninth harmony, but we can see here that the melodic figure was already well established in concert music (or formal music for dance), too.
K600n3, trio, first strain. What I would call the "other" way to treat harmony below ^6 before the nineteenth century: as viiø7.
K600n3, trio, second strain. The double positioning of ^6 in parallel figures over tonic and dominant is straight out of the Laendler repertoire.
German Dances, K606n1. Attention to the same ^6-^5 figure but only over I. This is one of the closest imitations of the Laendler style in Mozart's music (there are others!).
Menuets, K568n1. Even in the menuets one can sometimes hear the ascending drive across a strain toward an expressive ^6 (circled), but note that Mozart uses IV in the bass.
Menuets, K599n12, trio. The figures in bars 3, 5, and 6 belong to the menuet repertoire and predate 1790 by several decades. The point of interest is the piccolo in bar 7: once again a gradual, persistent rise across the strain toward an expressive ^6 but this time it is firmly over V and on the beat. The sound of bar 7, then, is certainly that of the dominant ninth chord, even if we cannot really apply the label to the harmony.
German Dances, K600n2, trio. We've seen this in earlier posts on Theodor Lachner and Josef Lanner: the clichéd 18th century cadence with ii6 as harmonization of a figure emphasizing ^6. It was the simplified harmonies of the Laendler tradition (without the ii6) that led to a distinct dominant ninth harmony, but we can see here that the melodic figure was already well established in concert music (or formal music for dance), too.
K600n3, trio, first strain. What I would call the "other" way to treat harmony below ^6 before the nineteenth century: as viiø7.
K600n3, trio, second strain. The double positioning of ^6 in parallel figures over tonic and dominant is straight out of the Laendler repertoire.
German Dances, K606n1. Attention to the same ^6-^5 figure but only over I. This is one of the closest imitations of the Laendler style in Mozart's music (there are others!).
Menuets, K568n1. Even in the menuets one can sometimes hear the ascending drive across a strain toward an expressive ^6 (circled), but note that Mozart uses IV in the bass.
Menuets, K599n12, trio. The figures in bars 3, 5, and 6 belong to the menuet repertoire and predate 1790 by several decades. The point of interest is the piccolo in bar 7: once again a gradual, persistent rise across the strain toward an expressive ^6 but this time it is firmly over V and on the beat. The sound of bar 7, then, is certainly that of the dominant ninth chord, even if we cannot really apply the label to the harmony.
Monday, November 26, 2018
Schubert, part 2
This continues last week's post with further examples of the treatment of ^6 and the dominant ninth harmony in Schubert's waltz collections, D365 (1821) and D779 (1825).
D779n30. The ninth first appears in the pickup to bar 5, then is repeated as part of a simple arpeggio (notably without ^7) and is easily heard to resolve as ^6-^5 over I in bar 6.
D365_n12. We hear V9 unequivocally in bar 2, but there is no ^5 in bar 3 (we would have to imagine it). But there is no doubt in bars 6-7, where the figure is repeated an octave higher and the ninth resolves on the strong beat of bar 7. Note that the second inversion of I counts as a harmony for resolution of the ninth -- Schubert was quite fond of dominant pedal points, especially in his early Laendler, and he put all sorts of melodic figures above them.
D779n17. A textbook case of a true V9 harmony resolving directly, with a 6-5 figure over I.
D779n2. Almost identical to the preceding, except that the V9 is more strongly defined.
D365_n30. Like the above, and repeated on the dominant level at the beginning of the second strain.
D779n20. Like the above.
D779n30. The ninth first appears in the pickup to bar 5, then is repeated as part of a simple arpeggio (notably without ^7) and is easily heard to resolve as ^6-^5 over I in bar 6.
D365_n12. We hear V9 unequivocally in bar 2, but there is no ^5 in bar 3 (we would have to imagine it). But there is no doubt in bars 6-7, where the figure is repeated an octave higher and the ninth resolves on the strong beat of bar 7. Note that the second inversion of I counts as a harmony for resolution of the ninth -- Schubert was quite fond of dominant pedal points, especially in his early Laendler, and he put all sorts of melodic figures above them.
D779n17. A textbook case of a true V9 harmony resolving directly, with a 6-5 figure over I.
D779n2. Almost identical to the preceding, except that the V9 is more strongly defined.
D365_n30. Like the above, and repeated on the dominant level at the beginning of the second strain.
D779n20. Like the above.
Monday, November 19, 2018
Schubert, part 1
In an earlier post, I observed that "one can easily find all seven types of the dominant ninth in the waltzes of Schubert alone." Schubert, therefore, deserves to be an early entry in the repertoire documentation that is the main goal of this blog. The examples below are drawn from the Original-Tänze, D365, and the Valses sentimentales, D779. Both are miscellaneous collections of dances, D365 published in 1821, and D779 in 1825. Most have their origins in music improvised for social dancing. The dances are in both Deutscher (German dance) and Laendler style--sometimes both in the different strains of the same piece. The Laendler style dominates in D365, whereas D779 is much more mixed.
This is n3 in the Valses sentimentales, D779 (1825). Apologies for all the boxes—the examples for D365 come from an essay of mine on the sixth scale degree, Scale Degree ^6 in the 19th Century: Ländler and Waltzes from Schubert to Herbert (link). Here the impetus to ascent is as strong as it could be. A direct resolution within V in bar 5 is followed by a remarkable "one note too far" at the end of the long ascent over the strain.
D779n3, second strain. The ^6 in bar 7 (arrow) is somewhat like the preceding—an expressive element within the V harmony—but without the dramatic emphasis, to be sure. The question marks over B5 in bars 1 and 5 indicate the uncertain status of that note: on beat 1, is it a ninth; or is it part of a complicated neighbor figure; or is it a ninth that resolves within the chord to A5 on beat 3? Any of those explanations is plausible.
D365n13:
D779n2: Once again the ninth receives attention: E5 is on the downbeat of bar 3. It resolves immediately to D5. The fourth note in the bar, another E5, is a simple escape tone.
This is the second strain of D779, n14. Despite its resolutions into the underlying V7 chord in bars 6-7, the ninth is an essential element of the sound of these two bars.
D365n2, the best known of Schubert's waltzes in the 1820s and for several decades thereafter. Similarly to the preceding examples, F5 in bars 5 and 7 resolves within the V harmony but is given strong melodic emphasis that lingers as part of the sound. The figure also mimics earlier accented notes--see the various circled notes.
D365n31. What was said just above--about lingering as part of the sound--is even more true here, where Schubert gives emphatic attention to the V9 sound in bars 2 & 6 (boxed) and also to ^6 above I in bar 4.
Post continues on Monday next week.
This is n3 in the Valses sentimentales, D779 (1825). Apologies for all the boxes—the examples for D365 come from an essay of mine on the sixth scale degree, Scale Degree ^6 in the 19th Century: Ländler and Waltzes from Schubert to Herbert (link). Here the impetus to ascent is as strong as it could be. A direct resolution within V in bar 5 is followed by a remarkable "one note too far" at the end of the long ascent over the strain.
D779n3, second strain. The ^6 in bar 7 (arrow) is somewhat like the preceding—an expressive element within the V harmony—but without the dramatic emphasis, to be sure. The question marks over B5 in bars 1 and 5 indicate the uncertain status of that note: on beat 1, is it a ninth; or is it part of a complicated neighbor figure; or is it a ninth that resolves within the chord to A5 on beat 3? Any of those explanations is plausible.
D365n13:
D779n2: Once again the ninth receives attention: E5 is on the downbeat of bar 3. It resolves immediately to D5. The fourth note in the bar, another E5, is a simple escape tone.
This is the second strain of D779, n14. Despite its resolutions into the underlying V7 chord in bars 6-7, the ninth is an essential element of the sound of these two bars.
D365n2, the best known of Schubert's waltzes in the 1820s and for several decades thereafter. Similarly to the preceding examples, F5 in bars 5 and 7 resolves within the V harmony but is given strong melodic emphasis that lingers as part of the sound. The figure also mimics earlier accented notes--see the various circled notes.
D365n31. What was said just above--about lingering as part of the sound--is even more true here, where Schubert gives emphatic attention to the V9 sound in bars 2 & 6 (boxed) and also to ^6 above I in bar 4.
Post continues on Monday next week.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Schubert, three more from D365
The dances in Schubert's first published collection, D365, were mostly written (or written down) in the two years prior to 1821; a few may have been composed as early as 1815. Several exist in single staff versions for violin. The seven examples here come from two sections of D365: an opening large group of Ländler, all of which are in Ab major, and the set of six Atzenbrugger Tänze, named for a summer vacation place visited by Schubert and his friends.
In number 1 (below), ^5 rises to an accented ^6, which reappears over the tonic two bars later. This is audible as an almost direct resolution because of the distinction in register--but I admit that the gap of two bars, causes me to hesitate a bit. But there is no doubt in the variant at (c), where the chromatic passing motion is expanded and ^5 follows just a bar later, the label "almost direct resolution" is obvious.
The tonic 6/4 as tonic-functioning in its immediate context—as in bars 3-4—is common in Schubert's dances, especially the Ländler, but not in those of other composers.
Note that the accented dissonance effect in bar 1 is repeated every two bars in the first strain. Thus, the 9 in V9 is linked to the milder 6-5 over I (or literally 9-8 over the bass Eb), to the very traditional 4-3 at (b), and even to the chromatic passing tone B-natural5 in bar 7. The flagged high note in bar 6 is a "one-leap-too-far" figure that is a cliché within the dominant of the cadence. (Here, the 4-3 that begins the phrase is overtopped by the leap up to Eb6.) To close the second strain, Schubert repeats the figure—with a dissonance (Db6) and timed to the two-bar groups of the first strain.
One can easily hear the first strain of no. 3 as a variation of no. 2, the famous Trauerwalzer. Another sentence, this first strain has a leap and passing tone figure at bar 1.3, repeated a step higher at bar 3.3, then again in bar 5.3. The second phrase is repeated to close the second strain, at (d).
In n13, an expanded V9 with a direct resolution at (a), repeated in the second phrase. The flexible treatment of accented dissonances that is typical of the waltz throughout the nineteenth century is already apparent here in Schubert. In the second strain, boxed at (b) and later, the dissonances are traditional accented passing tones. But if we regard these as parallel to the opening, then G5 is the dissonance and F5, the ninth of the chord, is the resolution.
In number 1 (below), ^5 rises to an accented ^6, which reappears over the tonic two bars later. This is audible as an almost direct resolution because of the distinction in register--but I admit that the gap of two bars, causes me to hesitate a bit. But there is no doubt in the variant at (c), where the chromatic passing motion is expanded and ^5 follows just a bar later, the label "almost direct resolution" is obvious.
The tonic 6/4 as tonic-functioning in its immediate context—as in bars 3-4—is common in Schubert's dances, especially the Ländler, but not in those of other composers.
Note that the accented dissonance effect in bar 1 is repeated every two bars in the first strain. Thus, the 9 in V9 is linked to the milder 6-5 over I (or literally 9-8 over the bass Eb), to the very traditional 4-3 at (b), and even to the chromatic passing tone B-natural5 in bar 7. The flagged high note in bar 6 is a "one-leap-too-far" figure that is a cliché within the dominant of the cadence. (Here, the 4-3 that begins the phrase is overtopped by the leap up to Eb6.) To close the second strain, Schubert repeats the figure—with a dissonance (Db6) and timed to the two-bar groups of the first strain.
One can easily hear the first strain of no. 3 as a variation of no. 2, the famous Trauerwalzer. Another sentence, this first strain has a leap and passing tone figure at bar 1.3, repeated a step higher at bar 3.3, then again in bar 5.3. The second phrase is repeated to close the second strain, at (d).
In n13, an expanded V9 with a direct resolution at (a), repeated in the second phrase. The flexible treatment of accented dissonances that is typical of the waltz throughout the nineteenth century is already apparent here in Schubert. In the second strain, boxed at (b) and later, the dissonances are traditional accented passing tones. But if we regard these as parallel to the opening, then G5 is the dissonance and F5, the ninth of the chord, is the resolution.
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