Inversions, part 2

This continues discussion of inversions of the major dominant ninth chord.

Apologies for the overlapping boxes in this graphic of the opening of Franck's Violin Sonata. Boxes 1 and 2 include the second inversion of A: V9, each sandwiched between root position chords. The third "clears out" the chord momentarily by reducing it to a root position B minor triad.

Here is a passage from later on. The sounds over C#3 vary, with C#9 briefly touched in the third bar, though against a dissonant passing tone in the violin. The fourth bar gives us a#ø7, which becomes the upper part of the F#9 a bar later.

Now a secondary dominant ninth in its second inversion (MacDowell, To a Wild Rose). I've added the slurs in the bass to bring out the pattern in the harmonies: consonance to dissonance over the same bass in bars 1-2 & 3-4, then the reverse in bars 5-6 & 7-8.

And two examples of the unfolding bass figure: Sousa, Hail to the Spirit of Liberty, trio; James Scott, Broadway Rag. In the latter the boxes and arrows point to the common parallelism in a figure over V9, then over Iadd6.

For the third inversion, a waltz by Alexis Castillon and the introduction to An der Elbe, op. 477, Johann Strauss, jr.'s last published waltz set. There is expressive emphasis in Castillon's version, but as a harmony it is undercut by its middle position in a dominant.

In the second box below, a clever parallelism with a reversed harmonic progression, because of which the ninth (G5) resolves internally.

The best example for the third inversion, though, is in the "Serenade of the Doll" from Debussy's Children's Corner. Here is the second of three divisions of the B-section; it is made entirely of major dominant ninth chords, 15 of them, 9 of which are third inversions (indicated by asterisks (*)).

By way of a postscript: in the third division of the B-section, the F#9 returns to initiate a traditional cadence progression: E: V9/V drops the sharp to become ii13, then follow V7 and Iadd6:

Inversions, part 1

Discussion of inversions of the major dominant ninth chord typically stall on Arnold Schoenberg's famous needling of detractors about a fourth inversion chord in his Verklärte Nacht (see my post on several authors' analyses of the passage: link). But now that I am done with that ritual notice, let's move on.

Looking at examples from posts to this blog and from essays published on the TexasScholarworks platform, I found 25 instances, considerably more than I expected, though as we will see I have included a particular type that some readers may not accept as a proper inversion. The numbers were: first inversion 5; second inversion 17; third inversion 2; fourth inversion a questionable 1.

In the graphic below, I have shown G7 and inversions with simple voicing, then the same for G9, whose inversions are labeled a-d.

A weakness of the first inversion is the likelihood of its collapsing into the most commonly used inversion of V7: see (a1) below; a standard resolution to the tonic is at (a2). At (b1) the loss of the root turns the second inversion into viiø6/5. The standard resolution is at (b2) in five voices, at (b3) in four voices; it must be to I6 in order to avoid parallel fifths between the bass and the voice carrying the ninth of the chord. The "particular type" I mentioned earlier is at (b4). Before you complain--as some certainly will--that this doesn't excuse the parallels, let me remind us all of a very common dodge used in Renaissance-era counterpoint: 5-3-5-3, as at (b5). 

The figure at (b4) is of course a schematic form of the ubiquitous oom-pah bass. Its resolution nicely balances line and bass function; Schenkerians often represent this as shown below.

The third inversion--at (c1) and (c2)--has the smoothest voiceleading of the lot, with a pleasant pair of tenths between the bass and the voice carrying the ninth. At (d1) the fourth inversion collapses into V7; (d2) shows that this inversion leads to I6/4, (d3) that one can avoid the 6/4 with a mediant, but iii is the weakest of the major key's three minor triads and to make things worse is often used functionally as a dominant, which would make the ninth chord resolve internally.

 We begin with the first inversion. Here is an excerpt from the third waltz in Johann Strauss, jr.'s Künstlerleben [Artist's Life], op. 316:

And here is nearly the same in the trio from his father's Damen-Souvenir Polka, op. 236:

Again from Strauss Vater, in the trio of his best-known piece, the Radetzky March:

My added unfolding symbols give you the essence of the "particular type": it is ^5 (E2) that moves directly to ^1 (A2) in the bass, but ^7 (G#2) is given such emphasis that it will still be heard as resolving to ^8 (A2). The balance between line and function is perfect.

A march by Sousa, "The White Plume":

And finally another from Johann Strauss, sr., the second strain of the second number from Die Sorgenbrecher, op. 230, the most often played (or, at least, recorded) of his waltzes:

I will take up the second inversion examples in another post.

New publications: Dominant Ninth, 1900-1924, Parts 1 & 2

I have published The Dominant Ninth in Music from 1900 to 1924 on the Texas ScholarWorks platform. Part 1: link.   Part 2: link.

Abstract for Part 1:

By about 1890, the major dominant ninth harmony had become firmly established in compositional and improvisational practice. After 1900, this harmony was routinely used in many musical genres. The two parts of this essay sample a few of these occurrences in repertoires ranging from those that are surprisingly conservative (American marches and ragtime) to those that are remarkably adventurous (French Impressionists and the English and American musicians influenced by them). Composers represented in Part 1 include Costa Nogueras, Friml, Hageman, Herbert, Joplin, Kern, Lehar, Lincke, MacDowell, and Sousa.

Abstract for Part 2:

This continues the study of the major dominant ninth harmony in European and European-influenced music after 1900. Composers represented in Part 2 are Claude Debussy, Lili Boulanger, and Charles Griffes. Scholarship by Taylor Greer, Keith Waters, and Deborah Williamson is summarized and discussed. Composers whose stage works are discussed in the introduction are Herbert, Lehar, Mozart and Wagner.

John Phillip Sousa, Marches

Sousa was quite conservative in his use of the major dominant ninth chord, though that should not be surprising because the entire 19th century repertoire of the closely related galop, polka schnell, one-step, march, and even the turn-of-the-century rag were all conservative in comparison with the waltz, the early polka or polka française and related and derivative dances. In general, Sousa employs the ninth chord in the typical variety of ways, but not often with direct resolutions. Here are examples from the Sousa March Album for piano published by the John Church company (Cincinnati/Chicago/New York) in 1902.

One of the most interesting collection of figures comes early, in the march Yorktown’s Centennial (1881): in the first and fourth boxes, an almost direct resolution of V9; in the second box a "free note" ninth drops to ^3 rather than ^5, but (third box) in the repetition makes a direct resolution (that is, B4 over V does go to A4 over I).

The White Plume  (1884): an indirect resolution through pairing (bars 2-3 of the excerpt pair to bars 4-5).

In the trio, another drop from 9 in V9 to ^3. (^5 as C6 does show up in the accompaniment embellishing figure--dotted arrow--but with the octaves that imitate the characteristic orchestral doublings any connection would be weak at best).

The Liberty Bell  (1893): another indirect resolution through parallelism (boxes and dotted arrow),, but also note the repetition of 9 in bar 6, closer to the resolution.

Manhattan Beach  (1893): the first arrow shows an instance of prominent hypermetric positioning of the 9 over V; the other two arrows are yet more drops from ^6 to ^3.

The Directorate (1896): the firmest of the lot, V9 through the bar and a direct resolution.

Hail to the Spirit of Liberty (1900): attention to 9, indirect resolution (dotted arrow).

In the trio, the "classic" figure: descent from ^7 through ^6 (as 9 of V9) and direct resolution.

Finally, Congress Hall  (1901): an indirect resolution (first two boxes with dotted arrow), then a 9 over V curiously extended with a chromatic scale that buries the chord's distinctive sound.