Analysis of a late-19th-c song or Aria

Part I (two tasks for Part I, both listed below): Due Wednesday, November 20 [for specific song assignments, scroll to the bottom]

1. Text translation

— Listen to a recording of the song, then find a translation of the text on recmusic.org. Read through both the original language and the English, making guesses as to the specific meanings of the original words.

— Listen again. What are some features of the text that stand out in the musical setting? Use an online translation engine to ensure you know the specific meanings of each word in the text that stands out.

— To turn in:

a. A translation of the text, with the original language alongside it, underlining at least two lines that seem to have been set to music in distinctive ways.

b. List specific meanings of a few key words in the original langauge—focusing on meanings that might not have been captured by the recmusic.org translation.

2. Harmony:

— On the score, identify any clear cadences you find, including a marking “PD” next to a pre-cadential bass note, where appropriate. (You do not need to identify structural melodic notes at this stage.)

— Wherever possible, analyze harmony in terms of a goal cadence: use bar notation to indicate how digressive or remote harmony relates to cadences, for approximately 3-10 chords proceeding the cadence. If you do only 3 prior to the cadential harmony, it will be because those harmonies last at least / approximately 8-12 quarter-note beats; if you analyze more, it will be because the harmonic rhythm is dense and filled with chromatic passing gestures. (Use your instincts and try to analyze most of the music back to some prior cadence, so that your analysis reflects a complete expression leading to a cadence.)

— Identify one phrases at least 6 bars in length, which includes the voice, and compose a simplified version which contains all of the harmony and bass line, but which is easier to play. This could be as simple as a progression of block chords (edit: in keyboard progression style, avoiding parallel fifths/octaves!), but it must include the sung melody, and fit accurately to that melody as a revised accompaniment.

3. EXTRA CREDIT: Identify motivic features. A motivic feature is any idea in the piece that repeats at least once, usually in some transformation. These features may be melodic, harmonic, or both. Write the feature clearly on a separate work of paper, identifying where in the score it’s found.

  — For melodic ideas, write at least one transformation of the idea (indicating mm #s as with the original). Indicate how the transformation differs from the original. Is it a change in contour? A change in rhythm?

— For harmonic ideas, explain in 1-2 sentences why it doesn’t work as a traditional structural function or elaboration.

***

Song Suggestions

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Johannes Brahms

Op. 49 (Fünf Lieder) No. 2 - “An ein Vielchen” (“To a violet”)  

Op. 86 (Sechs Lieder) No. 5 - “Versunken“  (“Drowned”)

Op. 86 (Sechs Lieder) No. 6 - “Todessehnen”  (“Yearning for death”)

Op. 94 (Fünf Lieder) No. 1 - “Mit vierzig Jahren”  (“At forty years”)
Op. 95 (Sieben Lieder) No. 1 - “Das Mädchen”  (“The maiden”)  
Op. 105 (Fünf Lieder) No. 2 - “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer”  (“My sleep grows ever more peaceful”)
XC Op. 105 (Fünf Lieder) No. 5 - “Verrat” (“Betrayal”)
 

Hugo Wolf — Mörike Lieder:

XC “Er ist’s” (“(Yes, spring,) it is you”)

“Verborgenheit”  (“Seclusion”) 

“Agnes” (“Agnes, or Time of Roses”)     

“Heimweh”  (“Homesickness”) 

 Richard Strauss

Op. 26 No. 2 - “O wärst du mein!”  (“If you were mine…”)  

Op. 36 No. 1 - “Das Rosenband” (“Rose ribbons”)

XC Op. 36 No. 3 - “Hat gesagt, bleibt’s nicht dabei” (“It’s been said, but it won’t stop there”)

Op. 39 No. 2 - “Lieses Lied”   (“Quiet song”)
 

Gustav Mahler

Rückert Lieder - “Liebst du um Schönheit” (“If you love me for beauty”) [originally for orchestra, commentary on orchestration is not required]    

Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit - No. 2 “Erinnerung” (“Souvenir”)

XC Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) [choose one from this voice-piano score; find orchestral original on imslp and refer to instruments and orchestration in your discussion]

Arnold Schoenberg

Op. 2 No. 2 - “Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm” (“Present me with your golden comb”)  
Op. 3 No. 2 - “Aufgeregten” (“Aside from everything”) 
Op. 3 No. 4 - “Hochzeitlied”  (“Wedding song”)

 

 

Listening 2: F. Schubert, F. Hensel, R. Schumann

1. Franz Schubert

2. Fanny Hensel

3. R. Schumann

Analysis of a Schubert / Schumann Song

PART ONE (Due Monday, October 21):  

By Friday, October 18, please do instructions 1a, b, and c, and begin instruction 2 (sketching the two-voice framework of at least one phrase).


1. [3 points] Begin a Roman-numeral harmonic analysis of the work (chosen from this list) on a copy of the score, marking the principle phrase-defining cadences — distinguishing half, full, and other types where appropriate. Do at least two full phrases; more if the phrases are short.

a. Your Roman-numeral analysis should include all harmonies that “progress.” No need to mark each inversion of the same function (I, I6, I64) in an arpeggio, and no need to identify a new chord that results merely from a pair of contrapuntal passing or neighbor tones. On the other hand, don’t leave out any clearly spelled-out chords, even if they are ornamental. When in doubt, label! (And put the uncertain label in parentheses.)

b. Via stems in the bass and treble, mark all “Cadential” chords (usually 2, often 3 in the treble with cadential 6/4) clearly associated with phrase-endings, and where appropriate, “slur” a bass note associated with a pre-dominant harmony (not stemmed).

c. Again using stems in bass and treble, mark one “starting” chord and one “starting” melodic note that you think are the most basic, essential chord and note beginning the “Prolongation” portion of the phrase. This will often be the first chord of the phrase, unless there are long “pickup” gestures, and it will usually be the tonic.


2.  [6 points] Choose two phrases with strong cadential endings, to graph neatly, showing essential voice leading features. As with the Mozart example, write the melody completely with stems-up notation, and write bass notes for each essential harmony (see 1a above). Try not to introduce line-breaks in the middle of phrases.

Then locate examples of a few types of elaboration discussed in class:

a. elaborating tones: P, N, E, A, Arp., CS … and elaborating “chords.”

b. voice exchanges

c. unfoldings: stepwise movement through an interval that functions in the harmonic progression.

(Reminder: The outermost (top and bottom) notes in an unfolded interval are always supported, i.e. , they are always parts of a harmony that supports the figure. Notate unfoldings by putting an up-stem on the bottom of the interval, and a down-step at the top of the interval. Then draw a diagonal beam connecting the two stems.)

You will use these same two phrases to create two phrases of a transposed and simplified keyboard part to be played in your musicianship lab. The phrases you choose should result in a reduction consisting of at least 10 chords in total. 12-15 is more likely.

3. [1 point] Text translation: Enter the German text into Google Translate or a similar translation engine, and learn which German words refer to which English counterparts by selectively removing or modifying the German words. (Google Translate auto-updates, allowing you to recognize which part of the German text corresponds to the English meanings.) Print a version of the Google Translation. Feel free to “edit” it when you have a better guess as to the text’s meaning.

4. EXTRA CREDIT [up to 5 points] — 
Using the same phrases chosen for step 2 (and for your lab assignment), sketch out the essential intervals of the entire chord progression. Elaborate both voices with 4:1 counterpoint following guidelines in Kennan Chs. 2 & 4.

 

PART TWO (Due Monday, October 28):

To complete your preliminary analysis of the complete piece, use a double grand staff in landscape (horizontal) format, showing the surface of the piece (basically all of its notes) on the bottom pair, and its fundamental progression on the top pair.

(A) The lower staves include:

(i) Stems-up notation of the full melody, with barlines and key signature(s). Write beams, stems and flags lightly.

(ii) Measure numbers corresponding to the score, in small boxes above the staff.

(iii) Most of the rest of the notes unstemmed — written lightly according to their positions in the score. Include inner voices. Show no rhythmic information pertaining to non-melodic voices.

(iv) Show no clef changes anywhere in your analysis; keep the same clef reference point throughout even if the clefs change in the score. Limit ledger lines above the bass clef or below the treble.

(v) Clearly marked & labeled “structural” notes in the treble: These are marked with a long stem (extending above the flags and beams of the rhythmic notation), and a karated (^) scale-degree number.

— one melodic note representing the most stable “primary tone” (Kopfton) of each phrase—usually in the first phrase of the piece it will be 5^, 3^, or 8^—and in other phrases, a member of a stable triad.

— at least two representing the cadence—usually descending by step (e.g. 3^ 2^ or 6^ 5^) or repeating (e.g. 5^ 5^). 

(Note: If the Kopfton seems not to be “prolonged” all the way to the intermediary and cadential harmony of the phrase, consider either (a) choosing a different primary melodic note, or (b) identifying an additional prolonged note 1 step away, that “bridges” to the cadence. In either case, IF you choose Kopfton, bridging tones, and cadential tones that connect via stepwise motion … this will express that you hear the melody in a coherent, overall stepwise structure.)

(vii) clearly marked & labeled notes in the bass:

— the bass notes that are the “essential support” of the primary tone and cadential tones in the treble. Mark them with stems (down) and Roman numerals with figures. (No additional marking is necessary to clarify that these are the prolongational and cadential harmony!)

— if the cadence is authentic, you should usually locate one bass note that prepares the dominant. Mark it “PD,” and slur it to the bass note of the cadential dominant. (No additional marking is necessary to clarify that this is the intermediate harmony.)

— if appropriate, somewhere between the prolongation and the cadence, stem a bass note a third above or below the bass of the prolongation: usually I6, vi, or iii in major, i6, III, or VI in minor. (This is a “third divider”; discussed in Chapter 3 of Cadwallader & Gagne.)

(vii) Finally, to help explain any remaining notes, mark them as elaborations: NCTs, CS/Arp., voice-exchanges, unfoldings (only when necessary!), and linear intervallic progressions.

(B) In the upper staves, produce a simplified version of the detailed graph, that works directly “in rhythm” with the lower analysis. You don’t need to include Roman numerals of bass stems, because they should be clear in the bottom pair of staves. The upper staves include:

(i) notes corresponding to the basic harmonic structure 

— show the prolongational harmony, intermediate harmony, and cadential harmony as simple chords with stemmed melodic notes

— add any “thirds” elaborations of the prolongation (I6, VI, III, etc.), and any harmony that supports the important stemmed notes in your melody.

(ii) the basic melodic structure, clarifying how the melody moves by steps, toward the cadence