<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Dear List,</div><div><br></div><div>Some comments to Dimitar Ninov's and William Caplin's dialogue concerning Schumann's Der Einsiedler:</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><br>1. A true neighboring 6/4 in m. 4 and m. 19.<br></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">2. Aeolian mode between mm. 1-5 and mm 16-19 (considering both melodic contour and harmony).<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I initially hear this sonority as a cadential six-four in A minor, where the music seems to be heading, but gets deflected when the expected melodic G# remains G natural. This is the second time that an expected "sharp" fails to appear: in the previous bar 3, we could well expect the melodic C of m. 3 to be C#, not C natural. Simply "explaining" these bars as residing in D aeolian fails to acknowledge the strong implications for tonal motions that Schumann sets up, but denies. </div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div></div></div></blockquote><br></div><div>First, I would emphasize (in agreement with Caplin's point) that the 6/4 in m. 4 can be readily classified as an accented 6/4, in which the upper voices resolve by step through the typical 6/4–5/3 motion. To some extent, this hearing is also supported by somewhat comparable appoggiaturas (accented dissonances) in preceding music (downbeats of m. 3 and m. 4). Hence, this 6/4 is not caused by a neighbor in the bass but by upper-voice resolution. Another thing is that the bass E might be well be perceived structurally as a neighbor to the surrounding Ds, but the primary chord above it is not 6/4 but 5/3.</div><div><br></div><div>Second, whether the music is Aeolian. While I do not want to dispute Caplin's points about tonal implications, I think there is a strong sense in which we CAN speak of Aeolian or natural minor or whatever we wish to call it. In mm. 2–5 there is an easily hearable D–C–Bb–A framework in the melody (supported by D–A–D6–C#6 in FB notation), which is archetypal of natural minor. Hence, I think we should recognize both the local implications for tonal motions that fail to take place and the larger pattern that actually does take place.</div><div><br></div><div>Third, concering Ninov's question whether things such as occur in this song are described in theory books. At least, Aldwell and Schachter (3rd edition) readily recognize that "descending lines in minor tend to use the descending melodic (or natural) form" (p. 17) and describes the use of minor V in such lines (p. 258). They also discuss accented 6/4s (p. 307) in a way that helps to explain the 6/4 in m. 4. Moreover, they describe a "consonant 6/4–5/3" (p. 320–321), in which the upper voices of I momentarily appear above V before the bass moves to I, as in m. 9 of the Schumann song, another point mentioned by Ninov. Incidentally, while A&S mention Brahms as a composer for whom the last-mentioned usage is typical, their example (19-26) is actually from Schumann.</div><div><br></div><div>Olli Väisälä</div><div>Sibelius Academy</div><div>University of the Arts, Helsinki</div><div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:ovaisala@siba.fi">ovaisala@siba.fi</a></div></body></html>