[Smt-talk] I - II- IV as a progression

Tue Sep 1 13:24:28 PDT 2009

Dear Colleagues,

Three thoughts, in decreasing relevance to this 
unexpectedly very interesting thread (and at a 
time of year when such giving in to distraction 
is desperately desired but highly unwise!):

1. I've always been impressed by the 
long-standing observation that a rooted 
falling-3rd diatonic progression is "stronger" 
than a rising-3rd one because each new root 
(especially when in the bass) is "fresh" to the 
preceding chord tones. (It's the same for falling 
vs rising 5ths, of course.) Also, the root of the 
first chord is "promoted" to a more-active 
member, in the next chord.

2a. Speaking of Brahms, one thing he does, which 
I love to experience, is to transform a 
"D"-function sonority into an "S" version (to 
"S-ify" it?) -- more to modulate than to 
accompany a chromatic voice-leading (as in our 
thread). For example, C-E-G-Bb, which can be 
heard as f:V7, would be chromatically transformed 
into C-Eb-Gb-Bb, which can be heard as bb:ii7. 
While this could illustrate simply Bb: 
II7-ii7/b5(-V-I), the situation I have in mind 
clearly expresses the C-E-G-Bb as the result of 
an f-minor "S-D" progression, so a true 
"D"-function harmony is heard first. Then it is 
"demoted" to an "S" version, after which it can 
move on predictably (at least briefly) to "D-T" 
in its new key.

The piece I am drawing on is Brahms's Intermezzo 
op. 117/2, in bb, where the retransition reaches 
what will be heard as f:#iv6+/5-V7=>bb:ii7-V7. 
(Hear mm. 42-51.) These are the chords involved 
(bass upwards, in close position):
	Db-F-Ab-Cb[=B]--C-E-G-Bb--C-Eb-Gb-Bb--F-A-C-Eb--(Eb-Gb-A-C--)
[The f:#iv6+/5 is spelled simply as a DbMm7th, 
perhaps in honor of the Db tonic it recalls from 
the previous Part B.]

But wait...there's more! After that, an 
"S-iffication" happens again, now shifting the 
bb:"D" function to an eb:"S" (in mm. 51-52), in 
order to recapitulate the original bb:i-iv-... 
opening (not so definitely "bb" even  in the 
first place) to a further-reaching eb:V-i-... 
Continuing from the above chords, we hear these 
(mm. 51-54):
	Eb-Gb-A-C--Eb-F-Ab-Cb--D-F-Ab-Bb--Eb-Gb-Bb--(Ab--Db--Gb--C--F--)

2b. But wait...there's still more (and way less 
on-topic)! The above doesn't even touch on the 
amazing, now-you-hear-it, now-you-don't 
"D-T=>S=>D(?)-T" within mm. 58-61 (and earlier in 
the piece) -- when bb:^7 of the V7 chord is 
suspended into its bb:VI resolution, "freezing" A 
into a Bbb (=^b1!), transforming bb:VI#2[-3] into 
a chromatic-mediant bb:vi (Gb-minor), to which 
then a bass Eb is added -- perhaps suggesting an 
"S" function (but creating a dm7th quality where 
one is not expected). In spite of this latter 
chord being spelled Eb-Gb-A-Db, with A available 
to be heard as bb:^7, the harmony here strongly 
suggests a chromatically-altered "S"-function to 
me -- and Brahms even spells A as Bbb in the 
treble melody (but for melodic continuity, not 
just to confirm its "S" function).

Thus, the occasion for a possible bb:V7-i, in mm. 
58-59, is transformed to bb:V7-VI, providing 
perhaps a substitute "T" function yet being 
immediately available to recreate bb:"S" and move 
on to a true "D-T". Before the bb:VI even is 
fully heard, though, it is transformed 
immediately (by retaining A) to something 
ambiguous: not bb:"T", but not clearly "S" yet 
either. Adding Eb, making the chord dm7-quality, 
makes hearing an "S" function more likely, but 
probably more in Db-minor(!) than bb. Its 
continuation to a bb triad then, in retrospect, 
unifies the whole unsettled four measures into 
some kind of Bb-minor prolongation (as I recall 
Allen Cadwallader pointing out that Schenker may 
have heard) -- validating the persistence of 
seeing and maybe still hearing Brahms's A -- but 
at each moment of the passage, which function we 
are experiencing, whether "S", "D", or even "T", 
seems unsettled...  (This progression is finally 
heard, in mm. 81-83, unambiguously as bb:"D-T", 
to close the piece. Also, Gb-minor is 
unambiguously tonicized, if briefly, to end Part 
A. We so deserve both of these moments!)

Let me spell the string of chords in mm. 58-61, just described:
F-A-C-Eb--Gb-A-Db--Eb-Gb-A-Db(with Db-Cb-Bbb-Ab 
upper melodic pts)--Eb-Gb-C(no explicit 
A!)--Db-F-Bb.

2c. Interestingly, the two chromatic-mediant 
chords, Bb-minor and Gb(F#)-minor/Eb(D#)-dm7th 
are the striking alternating sounds approaching 
the climactic ending of Part I of Schoenberg's 
Gurre-Lieder -- first heard transposed to 
Eb-minor, and then, for the final sounds of the 
Wood-Dove, back into in bb. The spelling usually 
uses ^7 (D, in eb; A, in bb) rather than ^b1, but 
the chords still suggest to me "S" and "T", 
rather than "D" and "T" (especially through their 
^4 and ^1 bass alternations). However, literal 
F#-minor opens Part II, following the Bb-minor 
(with Gb as an upbeat dissonance) ending Part I.

3. Thanks for John Snyder's interesting 
considerations of the end of the Brahms 4th 
passacaglia theme. Perhaps we should remember 
also that the e:I quasi-Picardy-3rd which would 
be experienced after such a quasi-e:V6/4-5/3 is 
composed in such a way that a pivot to 
a:ii6+/4/3-V also can be heard, preparing for a 
smooth return to the a:i(6)=e:iv6 opening. (Such 
a tonicization of iv is noted for the recap 
within op. 117/2, above, as well.) The end of the 
Sy4/iv theme sort of expresses a "D"=>"S" 
transformation too, although both functions arise 
within the same aug-6th chord [as they usually 
do], in that an e:V7/b5 is then heard as an 
a:ii7/#3...

Way too long -- sorry!

best,

Gerry

Gerald Zaritzky
Faculty, Department of Music Theory
New England Conservatory of Music
290 Huntington Avenue (Room JH 325)
Boston, Massachusetts 02115  USA
617-585-1373; fax: 617-585-1301
gerald.zaritzky at necmusic.edu

At 5:18 PM -0500 8/30/09, John Snyder wrote:
David H Smyth wrote:
>
>  I too am curious about "classical" precedents for this.  Since one
>  fairly common deceptive resolution of V is to IV6, there must be many
>  examples of V/V resolving directly to I6, though none jumps to mind at
>  the moment.

For V7/V resolving to I6 (i6), see the opening of Brahms's Fourth,
mvt. IV: iv6 - iiº6 - i - iv6 - V7/V - i6 - V(7b5)5/3 - I. I
take this as an instance of Brahms using first-inversion tonic where
we might have expected the cadential 6/4 (others have noted his
predilection for this), though the the altered V4/3 would follow
the cadential 6/4 very well. I would expect 
relatively many such instances in Brahms's oeuvre.

Best,

John Snyder

-- 
John Snyder
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
JLSnyder at uh.edu
713.743.3143
_______________________________________________
Smt-talk mailing list
Smt-talk at societymusictheory.org
http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org