Schubert's Innovations in Sonata Form: Compositional Logic and Structural
Interpretation
Author(s): Gordon Sly
Source: Journal of Music Theory , Spring, 2001, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring, 2001), pp. 119-
150
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the Yale University Department of
Music
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3090650
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3090650?seq=1&cid=pdf-
reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Duke University Press and are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Journal of Music Theory
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SCHUBERT'S INNOVATIONS
IN SONATA FORM:
COMPOSITIONAL LOGIC AND
STRUCTURAL INTERPRETATION*
Gordon Sly
In his 1927 monograph "Franz Schubert," Donald Tovey outline
defining features of the sonata-form practices of the Viennese Clas
of Schubert, pointing out where their respective procedural tende
most noticeably part company. With that earlier practice explicit
up as exemplar, Schubert's work is found wanting. In saying so, ho
Tovey's comments are gracious as well as suggestive. "But wh
find," Tovey writes, "that some of the most obviously wrong digr
contain the profoundest, most beautiful, and most inevitable pa
then it is time to suspect that Schubert, like other great classics, is p
ing his way towards new forms." And later, "weakness in the actu
text is often indistinguishable from new power in some future art
Schubert forged a distinctive sonata style responsive to his own c
sitional impulses is generally appreciated; Carl Dahlhaus's distinc
between "Schubert's lyric-epic sonata form" and "Beethoven's dram
dialectic form" is but a succinct version of a common observation
Tovey's having seized upon the idea that Schubert's very concept
the form departed substantively from the practices he had inherited
his Viennese predecessors is particularly striking.
119
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Ample evidence of a remarkably independent nature is manifested in
Schubert's earliest efforts. Most conspicuous, perhaps, are the tonal plans
that organize the recapitulations of these early pieces: one beginning in
the subtonic; another in the mediant; still others beginning in the dominant!
Nor are such innovations confined to a youthful daring: Schubert
indulged his penchant for beginning the thematic return away from the
tonic in sonatas composed throughout his career-from those written as
a young teenager, to the framing movements of the Bb Piano Trio and the
finale of the Great C-major Symphony, both conceived in the last years
of his life. His well-known propensity for preserving in the recapitulation
the broad modulation scheme of the exposition underlies many of these
designs, such that the tonic serves as goal, rather than as source, of the
tonal motion. Restating (almost invariably with modifications) the entire
exposition at the lower fifth, which gives rise to the "subdominant recapitulation,"
is his usual-but by no means exclusive-realization of this
architectural strategy. Many other recapitulations, however, begin away
from the tonic and yet are not cast simply as transpositions of their exposition's
key plan. In some of these works, a duplication of that plan does
appear to have some role, but it is confined to only a section of the recapitulation;
in others, it plays no part at all.3
While Schubert continued to use off-tonic recapitulations as long as
he wrote music in sonata form, his involvement with the form itself was
not constant. It fell, rather, into two distinct periods of activity. The first
includes music written before the composer had reached twenty, beginning
with his early essays in the form and continuing through 1817, peaking
in intensity with the extraordinarily imaginative and varied group of
pieces composed in the spring of 1816.4 Following this is a lapse in his
production of sonata forms that, with few exceptions, extends almost six
years; one of these exceptions, a striking product of this period, is the
C-minor Quartett-Satz of 1820-probably his most radical departure
from the norms of sonata form,5 and, interestingly, a work he abandoned
shortly after having begun a second movement. The second period takes
in works dating from 1824-28, a time during which Schubert's apparently
waning interest in the form had clearly been rejuvenated.
One characteristic of Schubert's compositional organization persists
across the hiatus, uniting works of unusual tonal design on either side: a
movement's overarching tonal design reflects some feature presented in
its opening music. A second basic quality of his organization, however,
undergoes important modification during the hiatus, and thus distinguishes
the earlier from the later works. In the early-period sonatas, offtonic
recapitulations are frequently incorporated into larger tonal designs
that contravene the form's usual divided voice-leading structure. Many of
these tonal plans depart so substantially from the norm that attempts to
read this structure become hopelessly forced and meaningless. The late-
120
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
period works, by contrast, invariably exhibit an accommodation between
these two forces of tonal organization. Thematic returns continue to be
carried by non-tonic degrees, but larger tonal contexts that allow the
divided voice-leading structure to unfold are now constant.
This essay examines these aspects of Schubert's practice through the
lens of two sonata-form movements, one from each of his two periods of
sonata composition. The opening movement of the aforementioned Piano
Trio in Bb, D. 898, a work that probably dates from the early months of
1828,6 is considered first, followed by the opening movement of the
Fourth Symphony, one of the remarkable sonatas composed in the spring
of 1816, when Schubert was just nineteen. Examination of these works
will illustrate the underlying similarity noted above: in both cases a salient
feature of the movement's opening music-in the trio, a bassline and harmonic
progression; in the symphony, an uncommon metric/tonal alignment-prepares
the choice of tonal level for its recapitulation. These
opening features, then, act essentially as motives, and will be considered
as such here, though they depart from the more usual sense of the term as
referring to a simple melodic shape or span. Their emergence as foundational
within the broad tonal architecture of these movements illuminates
a depth and elegance of conception not widely ascribed to Schubert as a
composer of sonatas. At the same time, our consideration of the shaping
influence of each movement's off-tonic recapitulation upon the voiceleading
structure will reveal a basic imparity between the two: though a
common impulse may guide the choice of tonal level of each movement's
thematic return, the broader voice-leading contexts that embrace these
off-tonic recapitulations are markedly different-to the point of implicating
fundamentally dissimilar formal processes.
* * *
The recovery of the tonic harm
among the very few virtually con
Schenker, the return to the tonic
voice-leading structure that is the
does this formal conception com
form movement whose recapitul
orists normally interpret such
stances, the misalignment that ex
and the tonal-thematic design is
matic return. This return is hear
sonata's divided structure, but ra
opment section. The recommence
the tonic harmony. A second pos
"auxiliary cadence" idea. Here, t
121
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
structural tonic is also delayed, but the music that precedes it is understood
to prepare or anticipate that tonic arrival. That is, the thematic return
does not belong to the development section; instead, the tonic scale step
exerts conceptual control prior to its actual reappearance. The persuasiveness
of these interpretations, of course, can only be evaluated piece
by piece. In many cases, one or the other seems musically convincing and,
as we will see, can illuminate aspects of the musical organization beyond
the immediate context of thematic and tonal returns. In other cases,
though, the divided voice-leading structure that these interpretations sustain
models the musical organization less well-at best, it is an awkward
fit; at worst, a distortion.
Schenker published no analyses of Schubert's sonata movements that
feature off-tonic recapitulations. He did, however, provide a deep-level
reading of the entire first movement of Mozart's late sonata in C major,
K. 545, whose recapitulation begins in the subdominant.9 Because the
Mozart is the only example we have of Schenker's view of a sonata-form
movement with this sort of unusual tonal design, we will review it briefly
before turning to the Schubert sonatas. As it happens, the chief intent of
the Mozart sketch is to illustrate a direct ascending register transfer that
occurs within what Schenker interprets as the movement's fundamental
line. Other details of the music, not being related to this particular technique
and therefore not to the point of the subject at hand, are reflected
only cursorily in the sketch. Among these is the subdominant thematic
recapitulation, which, in fact, the sketch fails to indicate entirely.
In reading the graph of K. 545 it is necessary, once again, to bear in
mind that Schenker understood form to derive from a work's voice-leading
structure, and therefore viewed the recapitulation solely in terms of
its tonal function. His indication of the beginning of the recapitulation,
then, corresponds to m. 59 ff., where the second theme is restated in the
tonic. The subdominant return of the movement's opening theme at m. 42
ff. is understood to be subsumed within the larger dominant prolongation
that extends from the second theme in the exposition, m. 14 ff., through
the development section, and across to the dominant of m. 57. Specifically,
Schenker interprets the subdominant as a composed-out seventh of
that prolonged dominant harmony. His analysis, then, tacitly invokes the
first interpretation described above, a misalignment resulting from an
early thematic restatement.
Because the anomaly of this movement is reflected only in the most
general way in the sketch and not elucidated in the accompanying text,
and because of Schenker's choice of 3 as primary tone, Edward Laufer's
review of Free Composition places this sketch within a category headed
"problematic readings."10 Laufer's alternate interpretation finds 5 to be a
more convincing choice of primary tone; in fact, he invokes the structural
model described by Ernst Oster in which the 5 is maintained through the
122
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
exposition and development sections and into the recapitulation, where it
finally descends to closure.11 Of the subdominant return, Laufer suggests
that "[i]n this concise sonatina movement..., in keeping with the smaller
dimensions, the development and part of the return are compressed into
a single section .... The return of the first theme (m. 42) occurs parenthetically,
and the V in m. 56 picks up the V from the end of the exposition
... ."12 Since Laufer hears 5 as remaining in force through the development
section and the thematic return, he interprets the subdominant
harmony as a neighbor to the prolonged dominant, rather than as a composed-out
seventh of that harmony, as Schenker understands it. But in the
essential matter of the thematic recapitulation at m. 42 ff. he is in agreement
with Schenker's view-the subdominant return is subsumed within
the prolonged dominant of the development section, and the "real" recapitulation,
as he terms it, begins with the second theme in the tonic.
Though the context of a review constrains Laufer's remarks on any
single sketch or idea, it is clear that he considers this interpretation an
analytical point of departure. As an end in itself, it merely represents an
explaining away-a de-emphasis-of this most striking feature of the
music. Its real value lies in the question it compels us to ask: what do we
gain by the analytical decision that the structural recapitulation begins
after the thematic return?
The "real" recapitulation (m. 58 ff.) might have started with the first theme,
as in a "normal" sonata movement. But the second subject which occurs
instead is really another version of the first, as is obvious. That the first
and second subjects should be intimately related in such a way is perhaps
not recognized in traditional theory; and yet a close, organic relationship
I am sure is always to be found. Often, such an organic correspondence
makes itself known more clearly in a recapitulation; this is indeed part of
the function of a recapitulation: just to reveal such secrets!13
The notion that the unusual thematic deployment draws attention to
the relationship between the two themes-that the second theme is set
where, tonally, the first theme ought to be in order to underscore that the
one is a simple reshaping of the other-is an inviting analytical perspective,
since this relationship extends beyond the themes themselves in
shaping the course of the movement. The second theme may be understood
to derive from the first roughly by inversion-by a reversal of the
direction of its opening arpeggiation. Following a second statement of this
so-derived theme, Mozart reduces the two themes into rising and falling
arpeggiations, respectively, and, alternating the two, fashions a descending-fifth
sequence that prolongs the (local) tonic, running through the
complete harmonic series before giving way to the closing measures of
the exposition. At this point the inversional relationship between the two
themes is joined with the fifth-sequence idea to generate the development
123
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
section: a motion in ascending fifths carries the music from G through D
to A before a reversal in direction of the root movement gives rise to the
new fifth-sequence that descends into the thematic return in the subdominant.
The general process that informs the recasting of the first theme
into the second, then, becomes a guiding force in shaping the movement.
The reading of a misalignment between the structural and thematic
returns derives meaning from Laufer's analytical perspective, which
flows from it, and would not have been considered without it.14 We turn
now to the two Schubert movements.
Trio No. 1 in Bb, D. 898 (op. 99), 1st Movement
The broad tonal plan of the exposition follows the usual pattern of
major-mode works, a progression from I to V. It is answered in the thematic
recapitulation, however, by a motion from bVI to I. Figure 1 provides
an overview of the two sections, charting both the opening theme
and transition through to the onset of theme two, and the corresponding
passages from the restatement, beginning in m. 187. Several features of
the design are represented: to facilitate comparison of the two sections,
the three passages having an individual and characteristic aspect that
comprise the initial thematic area are designated "a," "b," and "c"; the
instrumental assignment of the melody in statements of the main theme,
Placement
of Melody Strings Piano
Theme m a b c a (trans) b C
mm. V 12 118 26 137 149 159
I V I /V - V I V I > III# I
Placement
of Melody
Theme
mm.
- - m=VII V
I= I
1M3rd
Vn - -- =St Vn -IVc Pi
Vn > Vc Vn > Vc Piano
ma a a a (trans) b c [ 2
187 1198 1211 1222 1234 1244
I I I I .
I V I
v
VVT
K1l
VI V I > III
VI III V I
I I
I NM3rd
NM3rd
Figure 1. Trio in Bb, D. 898: 1st Mvt.
Overview of Theme 1 and Transition, and their Return
124
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
"a," is indicated; and the basic harmonic plan of each section is set below
its time line.
The first presentation of "a" closes in the tonic. When it is given by the
piano beginning at m. 26 it functions as the transition, carrying the music
to local closure in the dominant at m. 37.15 The corresponding statements
in the reprise are at mm. 187 and 211. Having the first of these statements
close in the flat submediant would not serve the movement's large-scale
organization, as we will come to see; at the same time, the restatement at
m. 211 ff., the transition, represents the return of the tonic harmony, and
must now remain in the tonic. As the figure shows, Schubert meets the
new tonal requirements simply by exchanging the harmonic schemes of
the two passages.16
Another difference between the two sections is that the material of mm.
12-25 does not return with the restatement. The signal tonal event in these
measures is the arrival on a D-major harmony in m. 18. The approach to
this harmony-a sequential motion in descending thirds leads through an
augmented sixth chord-ensures that it is heard as a dominant, an
expected point of arrival following the opening tonic period. Indeed, our
sense of having reached an important harmonic goal is affirmed, as we sit
on this dominant through the next six measures. At m. 24, though, we
learn that we have been deluded; here the D-major chord-the "wrong"
dominant, of course, V/vi-dissolves into the real dominant that prepares
the tonic of m. 26. Through this early ruse, Schubert begins to foster formal
uncertainty from the outset of the movement. The significance of
this-and of the specific tonal level of this wrong dominant-will become
apparent only with the thematic return in bVI and delayed recovery of the
tonic.
We noted that this music does not appear at the corresponding point in
the reprise. Instead, in the later section, Schubert substitutes for these
measures yet another presentation of the main theme. This one is bound
by a tonal design unlike that of any other statement in the movement; it
begins in m. 198 on V/bVI, or bIII of the main key, and ascends by wholestep
to the subdominant, and on to the dominant in preparation for the
tonic arrival at m. 211.
Schubert's reasons for making this change are probably threefold.
First, mm. 12-25 carry the music up a fifth. Had this material appeared
at m. 198 ff., proceeding from the local Db tonic, it would have overshot
the goal dominant. Second, a blurring of the formal boundary between
development and recapitulation is surely what Schubert seeks here. The
tonal level of the return at m. 187 has already begun this process; a thematic
alteration following the initial presentation of the melody adds to
the uncertainty. Finally, Schubert's fondness for carrying into the recapitulation
some essential feature of the modulation scheme that shaped
the exposition finds expression here. At the broadest level, as we have
125
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
noted, this does not occur in this movement: I-V is balanced by bVI-I.
However, the absence of the striking major-third ascent of mm. 12-18 at
the corresponding point in the return causes the major-third motions that
do occur to be made all the more conspicuous-that from bIII to V in m.
198 ff., but especially the broader motion from the 1VI of the thematic
return to the arrival of I at m. 211. From the vantage point of the reprise,
then, we come to see the exposition's early progression from I to V/vi in
a new light, as precursor of the motion that carries the recapitulation from
its thematic to its tonal return.
The thematic reprise at m. 187 in Gb major is a remarkable and curious
feature of the movement. As I suggested above, I believe that this
choice of key is linked to the underlying shape of the opening music.
Example 1 shows a foreground reading of the first theme and transition,
and, set beneath the sketch, a string of pitches beamed together. This bass
line, the harmonic underpinning of the main theme, is invested with generative
implications that are realized at deep levels of the movement.
In a number of respects the focal point of this motivic line is its central
member-that is, the fourth of its seven-note span, 6. This pitch-class
is introduced in the first gestures of the piece, as an upper neighbor to 5
within the initial tonic arpeggiation. The theme's driving melodic ascent
from the opening bb through the c of m. 6 creates an urgency to reach the
primary tone, 3. When d is achieved on the final beat of m. 10 its striking
metric deemphasis is paralleled by a substitution in the bass for its
expected tonic support-6 and submediant harmony. The approach to
this bass tone introduces a further detail of the motivic life of the movement,
the interplay of b6 and t6. The f on the downbeat is reached via gb,
and then ascends to g~ through ft. At m. 18, the third of V/vi, ft, is approached
from g in an inner voice. When this D-major harmony dissolves
directly into the dominant of m. 24, f# settles back into ft, thus "answering"
over a broader span the 5-#5-6 bass ascent of m. 10.17
The sketch given as Example 2 encompasses the balance of the exposition,
which includes the second theme, at m. 59 ff., and closing material
beginning at m. 77. The mixture of major and minor modes that
pervades the movement, taking its lead from the activity of b6 and t6, is
strongly in evidence in this latter section. The dominant harmony-prolonged
across the entire span represented in the sketch-is altered to F
minor at m. 81. This modal inflection is deepened by the subsequent tonicization
of the local flat mediant, which pushes up to the dominant of F
at m. 91. The motion of this harmony back to the main dominant, then,
concludes a section built upon a bass arpeggiation of the minor dominant
triad.
The metric organization of this closing section also warrants mention.
Regular eight-measure units, the first of which is subdivided into phrases of
four measures length, begin at m. 77. These are indicated in Example 2
126
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
a) Anstieg - .
a) L f--
.,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
,
7--"1--v
I ~ ~~ - F
o~ ~ ~ . r6 rKt` t ,rrf?t
b) N
Al 1 I 1
^-~ " V-- _Vi. 6 165 V43I e r -'1-Yi yi5 V43 r
r I - II IV 7
xV V7
vi
f/'' ;ar .
I I '-' 7r- r r
[1 fl
r0 7 4)
Example 1. Trio in Bb, D. 898: 1st Mvt: Theme 1 and Transition
-:iThis
content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
[V:] 1t- I; II 1
4 t_
IV 2 3t '
Example 2. Trio in Bb, D. 898: 1st Mvt: The
by the numbers between the staves. At m. 91
enth measure in the second eight-bar unit, th
At this point the prevailing hypermetric gr
rupted by an interpolated eight-measure grou
tion of the C-major harmony. The interpolatio
sure rest at m. 99, which one hears, I believe,
128
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
main metric grouping temporarily abandoned at m. 91. It is worth considering
whether one hears in this measure of silence an implied resolution
to F of the prolonged dominant on C, or a further continuation of
that harmony. One's interpretation of this measure largely defines the
character of the gesture beginning in m. 100 (which, incidently, brings
into prominence the 5-4-5 neighbor motion to end the exposition-now
i-12-1 in the key of the dominant-just as 5-^6-5 had begun it).
The development section of this movement contains a number of remarkable
features, certain of which pose interpretive difficulties. Example
3 gives a foreground reading of the music. In Example 4 two differExample
3. Trio in Bb, D. 898: 1st Mvt: Development
129
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
/r\. A
b)
J *,J ,bh' * - 9 ^1 __ t d _
112 132 139 161 187 211
v vj r-^ V: F _ u
V (5- -7)
Example 4. Trio
of Developm
ent interpretation
to these shortly.
in distinct section
with theme one i
figure that echoe
tion bridges the t
version of the m
tonic degree raise
resent a return to
tonic chord subsu
view would imply
dominant that con
prolonged across
assume a three-pa
at the end of the
An interpretatio
musically convin
prolongation of th
position through
opment section,
130
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
believe, to two factors. First, it responds to the large arpeggiation of the
minor dominant triad upon which was constructed the closing section of
the exposition, and in so doing, as we have noted, brings the 5-6-5 version
of the main theme's neighbor motion into prominence. Second, it
sets in motion a hugely expanded statement of the motivic bassline
described earlier.
The minor tonic of m. 112 ff. pushes up through DL and Eb to F at m.
132, which functions as a back-relating dominant, prolonging the initiating
Bb harmony. The music continues through an augmented-sixth chord
to the C major of m. 134, which, in turn, prolongs the F harmony. From
here, a passing-tone bL leads to an Ab-major harmony at m. 139, and the
beginning of the development's second large section. At the deepest level
of motion, then, Bb falls to Ab.
A strategy once again typical of Schubert's developments-an arpeggiation
in major thirds-prolongs the Ab harmony. Here, a fragment of
the exposition's second theme begins in Ab major and is carried by
sequence down through E major and C major before arriving at the main
dominant in m. 161. This dominant is extended for some twenty-five
measures before being transformed into a Db6 chord in preparation for
the thematic return in bVI at m. 187.
The meaning of this GL, of course, is a central interpretive issue. From
a voice-leading perspective, this return must be viewed as part of the
development; indeed, it gives rise to the development's third and final
section. The structural return takes place only with the recovery of the
tonic at m. 211-with music that began life as the exposition's transition
section. The coincidence of bVI and the thematic return occurs, I believe,
as part of the movement's motivic design. This becomes clear when one
compares the bass voice excerpted from the main theme and given as
Example lb with that as shown in Example 4a (to facilitate comparison,
these two examples have been simplified and given together as Example
5). The seven-note motive occurs intact, spanning the ninety-nine measures
from the beginning of the development to the outset of the structural
recapitulation. The emphasis on 6, which derived from its having
been chosen to support the arrival at the primary tone in the opening
theme, is mirrored at this deeper level by its alignment with the thematic
reprise. In its first occurrence 6 appears as gl and supports the minor submediant
triad within the opening presentation of the main theme. In the
expanded copy of the bass motive, however, 6 carries the return of the
main theme, and therefore must support a major triad. Scale degree 6 is
represented here, then, by b6, and the major bVI triad that it supports.
When considered in this light, the motivic alternation of g and gb that so
pervades the music takes on deeper significance.
Two readings of the development section were shown in Example 4.
The principal difference between them turns on their respective interpre-
131
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
132 139 161 187 211
,T. N
112 132 139 161 187 211
426. / "-' v ,
Example 5. Trio in Bb, D. 898: 1st Mvt: Theme 1
tations of the dominant harmony reached in m. 161;
their upper voices reflect the changing status of t
4a views the section as being shaped by a stepw
springs from its opening tonic-minor harmony. The
is understood to derive from the Ab harmony of m.
to introduce the Gb of m. 187. All of this, of corse,
larger dominant prolongation extending from the
position, but in this reading that dominant is not a
just before the entrance of the main theme in the
ple 4b does not acknowledge the tetrachordal bass d
first reading, and instead views the F harmony of m
of tonal articulation in the section. In this interpret
is understood as an upper neighbor to this domina
the thematic return that it carries, is heard very m
insertion within the development's prolonged dom
As we have seen, the reading given as Example 4
opment section such that it mimics the opening tw
a remarkable degree. In the theme, the dominant
submediant that follows; later, the dominant of m
132
_~~~~~~~~~~ ==_
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Theme 2
I ^2 3 2 3 _
)(as eme 1) (as 244-53)
C 3 \ :- - i r i
Closing (as 77 ff)
Example 6. Trio in Bb,
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ered submediant of m. 187. In the theme, vi supports the primary tone;
later, bVI supports the thematic return. In the theme, the opening phrase
moves to a back-relating dominant in m. 4; later, the opening tonal
motion from the tonic minor at m. 112 moves to a back-relating dominant
in m. 132. It is almost as though the development is an expansive echo of
the main theme.
Example 4a, then, emphasizes the motivic kinship between the main
theme and the development, and, I feel, provides a compelling account of
Schubert's choice of tonal level for the thematic return. As a reading of
the voice-leading structure, though, I favor that shown in Example 4b. To
my ear, the dominant harmony of m. 161 ff. is the principal goal of the
development's tonal motion. Once achieved, this dominant is sustained
for twenty-four measures, giving way to the Db6 chord that prepares the
Gb return only at the latest possible moment. In this way, Schubert creates
the sense of IVI as an interpolation that temporarily disrupts the controlling
structural dominant, and ensures that the listener is aware that the
thematic return has occurred away from the tonic.
Before we take leave of the Piano Trio, Example 6 supports a final observation.
Here is represented the movement's recapitulation and coda.
The music through the closing material at m. 262 ff. is similar to the
exposition, and calls for no further comment. But the coda, beginning in
m. 293, does require a word. As is immediately apparent from the sketch,
this music is structured upon another expanded statement of the sevennote
bass motive. And this one carries its resemblance to the main theme
beyond even what we observed in the development section. The top voice
ascends by step to 3, mirroring the movement's initial Anstieg; once
again, it is supported by submediant harmony. It then descends quickly
to closure, just as occurs in the opening theme. In fact, Schubert borrows
the cadential gesture of that main theme to underline the parallel.
Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D. 417; 1st Movement
We turn now to the opening movement of the Fourth Symphony, the
"Tragic,"19 one of a series of multi-movement instrumental works composed
in March-April, 1816. Collectively, the pieces composed during
this period suggest a time of experimentation with large-scale tonal design;
nearly all of their sonata-form movements present an overarching
tonal organization new to Schubert's work. This is so of the symphony's
opening movement, whose exposition follows the two-key scheme i-VI.
Altogether more extraordinary than this novel design, however, is that of
the recapitulation, which begins in the dominant minor, and progresses
v-III. That is, the tonal plan of the recapitulation transposes that of the
exposition to the upper fifth. The music does not end in the mediant, of
course; III gives way to I to close the movement tonally. An overview of
the movement's tonal organization is given in Figure 2.
134
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Exposition
Introduction trans
30 39--
i ,vii,VIV4 i *v/ VI
1 - VI
link
0
67 89 97 10I5 - - (iVI
m i vi)
vI>vi
I I
Development Recapitulation
retrans trans
135 1161 1771186
L~~~~~~vi9VI I/
v i,i V)/ vA V III
a, 6 ,v III
I I I
Lc_. -_- . .............. same as ex
e 2: Shny n. 4, D. 4 1t mt. O o DFgr2SmL ho Tn tPSth
Figure 2: Symphony no. 4, D. 417: 1st mvt. Overview of D
-
m
*
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Schubert devises a most distinctive strategy to regain the tonic late in
the movement. Within the second key area of the exposition, controlled
by VI, orAb major, the music moves through a strikingly odd passage that
advances sequentially by descending major thirds. Each stage in the
sequence prolongs a single major triad. Thus VI gives way to III, which
descends to It and on to VI. At this point the sequence is discontinued,
dissolving into the closing material that maintains its final key. Having
progressed through the complete major-third chain, of course, results
simply in an extension of the departure triad; here, the Ab3-Ab2 octave is
divided into three equal parts. The second key area in the recapitulation
is controlled by the mediant, Eb major. At the point corresponding to the
onset of the exposition's sequence, Schubert pries the music up a semitone
in order to route it through this same major-third chain, beginning
on III, an E-major triad. The first stage in the sequence carries the music
to It, where it is immediately broken-that is, the stage that in the exposition
led the music on to VI is omitted-and the closing material is
grafted on. In short, since the keys that close the exposition and the recapitulation
are a major third apart, Schubert is able-and takes pains-to
use the same major-third chain in both sections, and to treat it essentially
like a traffic circle, departing at the exit appropriate to each case. Now, of
course, it prolongs and concludes the movement in the tonic-but the
tonic major, a striking concession for the opening movement of the
"tragic" symphony.
An extraordinary connection exists between the music that generates
this series of descending major thirds and the initial gesture of the movement's
main theme. This theme is uncommonly ubiquitous in the work.
While development sections frequently begin with their movement's
opening material, the treatment of that material is usually fragmented and
short-lived. Here the full theme is stated, following which its characteristic
opening gesture continues to be present, shaping virtually every
measure of the section. Seemingly, then, the movement's only relief from
the music of the opening theme is provided by the second tonal area,
which is comprised largely of the sequential major-third descent. Example
7 sets the opening gesture of the main theme above the bassline of this
passage (only the passage in the exposition is given; the one in the recapitulation
is similar). As the example illustrates, the former appears to be
present in the latter as well, albeit manifested in a most unusual fashion.
The figure requires little comment; bracketed numbers indicate intervals
in half-steps between successive pitches in the melodic gesture and successive
downbeat pitches in the sequence. It is interesting to listen to that
later passage while imagining superimposed upon it the opening thematic
gesture. The striking ease with which this is accomplished is perhaps
the strongest evidence of their common origin.
Figure 2 also summarizes the basic harmonic motion of the remark-
136
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
2213
t I A \ \ \
2 2 l 3
2 2 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 2 1 3
A A A A A A A A A AA A
Examlr7 r 10 m alnso see^-^,~~~i~~~~~~~~~~~ -- mm 232 ff
Example 7. Symphony no. 4, D. 417: 1st mvt:
Comparison of Theme 1 Opening and Major Third C
able twenty-nine-measure introduction, and the interval
between corresponding sections of the exposition and rec
dotted lines leading from the two internal members of th
scending tetrachord to the dominant are meant to indicate
monies are realized as prominent key areas within the large
the introduction is explored in detail below. To outline the l
ing part and bulk of the recapitulation is a transpositio
sponding section of the exposition at the upper perfect fi
lowed by the reappearance of the descending major-third
at the same pitch level as it occurred in the exposition; t
chain is exited in the recapitulation at IF rather than at VI, m
section a transposition at the upper major third. This tonal
tive in a dramatic sense in several respects. Both the relat
successive keys, and the pattern of modal quality-motion
third, from a minor to a major harmony-are preserved f
to recapitulation. This produces a deep sense of formal b
large-scale resolution, perhaps mitigating to some degree th
by the absence of a reestablished tonic. In this same vein,
third chain reappears in the recapitulation at the same
occurred in the exposition, and that its discontinuation i
major harmony in both sections, strengthens the paralle
ing and closing sections.
Structural interpretation of the movement as a sonata f
is terribly problematic. The development section does n
progress to the dominant of the main key, so there cannot
tion-at least not as it normally occurs-at this point. And
matic recapitulation begins away from the tonic, neither
stand the usual reestablishment of the primary tone to t
137
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
outset of that section. In fact, the unfolding of the tonal design so delays
the recovery of the tonic harmony that reading a divided structure at all
seems untenable. We have seen that the broad modulation plan of the
exposition, a descending major third from i to VI, urges the similar
motion from v to III in the recapitulation. This is the movement's fundamental
tonal architecture. It does not involve the recovery of the tonic
harmony. The tonic is reintroduced only after the main tonal drama has
been played out, to provide closure.
Example 8 gives a middleground reading of the movement that proceeds
from an acknowledgment that a single sweeping tonal motionaway
from the tonic in the exposition, back to the tonic in the recapitulation-rather
than the usual two-part structure is fundamental to the piece.
An immediately striking feature of the sketch is its contention that the
minor dominant that carries the thematic return arises as the result of a
contrapuntal motion within a governing Bb harmony. That harmony, prolonged
through the development and into the recapitulation, is eventually
"corrected" from minor to major to allow its local function as dominant
of the mediant that supports the second theme.
A particularly interesting detail of Schubert's compositional plan tends
to bear out this interpretation of the minor dominant thematic return as a
relatively low-level harmonic event. As we noted earlier, the development
section is dominated by the movement's opening theme, the initial statement
of which, in Bb minor, is treated in precisely the same sentential
form as occurred in the exposition and recurs in the recapitulation, rather
than in the more discursive manner typical of development sections. As
a result, the sense of return carried by the statement of this theme in G
minor at m. 177 ff. is weakened; because it is heard in relation to that earlier
statement, it is perceived more to mark a parallel event within the
development than to signal the onset of the recapitulation, which it actually
does. One remains quite uncertain that the recapitulation has begun,
in fact, until the transition leading to the second theme makes that clear.
That the music at m. 177 ff. is heard, then, more as a continuation of the
A \ 1^^-9- N 3 2 1
r *: \r -5 6 6--- 5
i VI [III:] V
Example 8. Symph
138
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
development than as the opening section of the recapitulation is reflected
in its interpretation here as a contrapuntal extension of that earlier section's
controlling harmony.
Example 8 also illuminates a striking resemblance between the broad
tonal organization of the movement and that of the twenty-nine-measure
Adagio that precedes the main Allegro. The movement's slow introduction
is punctuated by the fortissimo arrival in m. 10 of a major triad on
Gb-a tritone removed from the tonic!-whose articulation parallels
that of the unison C's of the opening measure. In m. 21 the dominant is
reached, and is extended through the balance of the introduction in preparation
for the tonic downbeat of the exposition proper at m. 30. Example
9 simplifies the musical surface of the Adagio by normalizing registral
and rhythmic displacements, and by restoring to single unbroken lines
those individual voices that the music distributes among two or more
instruments. This simplification reveals an essentially three-voice texture
constructed from a single stepwise descending line counterpointed against
itself at staggered temporal intervals. The Gb chord of m. 10 partitions the
opening twenty measures into two phrases, the second of which is a
slightly varied restatement of the first at the lower major second.
An interpretation of the voice-leading appears below as Example 10.
Here the similarities with the reading of the full movement given in
Example 8 come into focus. In both of these interpretations, the successive
5-6 contrapuntal motions over the bass tones C and Bb are the prevailing
events. In addition, both are shaped by descents from 5 as the
principal upper-voice tone. Thus the 5-6 progressions result from prolongational
motions involving this principal melodic line, as the tones G
and F move to their upper neighbors (in the body of the movement the
upper neighbor to F is G; in the introduction it is Gb). Beyond this, both
interpretations provide highly atypical support for 3 before reaching 2
and the dominant.
The most unusual feature of the reading of the movement given as Example
8 was the interpretation of the G minor of m. 177 ff. as being subsumed
within the prolongation of a deeper Bb harmony. This G-minor
harmony, after all, carries the thematic recapitulation, one of the few
points of articulation essential to the sonata's formal coherence. In support
of this interpretation we observed the uncommon treatment of the
first theme at the outset of the development section, whose repeated, full
sentential statement effectively depletes any dramatic sense of return
embodied by the later G-minor statement.
It is the harmonic organization of the introduction, though, that lends
the most compelling support to this reading. Example 9 demonstrated
how the opening twenty measures are generated: the three-voice imitative
web leads into m. 10, which sets off the sequential restatement of the
imitation at the lower major second. Yet the counterpart to the first mea-
139
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
mm 4 8 10 13 16 19
E lS''a'4 4 t mvJt Introduct-io
Exampe I 9. Sihn n
Example 9. Symphony no. 4, D. 417: 1st mvt. Introduction (mm
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
N
I -- iP --j I
Z .... _ _ _ kq!w _
\ Vr v- r v, --_ l_
5 --^ 6
5- 6
N
, K - - K I
I-- 6 1
5--6 ?
N
I l - _- - .
}? , ?\ I '? ? >
I6 6 3 6 4 etc3 2
5-6 5--6
Example
N
^ I rjl J)
b)I
X *- - r- _ . I
!v r '\ /
) L; _ . ' .- _ v - S#
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
sure of the piece, the chord in m. 10, is on Gb-that is, a tritone, not a
whole-tone, removed from the tonic. A glance at the two 5-6 indications
beneath Example lOb clarifies this incongruity. Measures 2 ff. and 11 ff.
are parallel, but m. 1 and m. 10 actually are not. The Bb harmony from
which the second stage of the imitative complex springs-the harmonic
parallel to m. 1-sounds half a bar earlier, in m. 9. The Gb chord in m.
10, then, derives from the Bb harmony that precedes it just as the Ab of
m. 2 derives from the opening tonic. Both arise as a result of similar contrapuntal
motions above the governing bass tones. Consequently, there
exists in this introduction a misalignment between the metric-melodic
design and the harmonic organization that is precisely analogous to that
which obtains in the movement proper between the thematic-formal
design and the tonal structure. Example 11 illustrates. The much smaller
scale of the introduction makes its misalignment more immediate, and in
that sense, much more forceful: the arrival of the Bb harmony that initiates
and is prolonged by the second 5-6 motion is completely obscured
by the phrase structure, being buried near the end of the opening large
phrase; conversely, the Gl derivative of that contrapuntal motion, set by
a restatement of the emphatic opening of the movement, could hardly be
announced by a more insistent articulative gesture. Their counterparts
within the movement proper initiate the development and the recapitulation,
respectively. Here the contrapuntal derivative of the prolonged Bb
mm. (1) (9) (10)
a al
1> II>
Introduction _ C E | ;
- 5 6 5 6
Movement Proper )
5 6 5-6
l I[ ll
A Al
(Expo) (Dev) (Recap)
Example 11. Symphony no. 4, D. 417, 1st mvt
142
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
harmony is the G minor that supports the thematic return. The organization
of the introductory Adagio, then, rehearses the novel design of the
larger movement to follow.
* * *
These two movements unfold
sonata literature, whose most d
matic returns. While the tonal
the larger tonal architectures o
sitional strategies, nevertheless,
ently to the structural voice-le
In the symphony Schubert for
to the "double return" (the coo
and tonic key), as the tonic is
after the essential motion of the movement's tonal structure has unfolded.
The work's novel key scheme, then, precludes the operation of a normative
voice-leading structure. From a Schenkerian perspective, at least,
during this period Schubert was indeed, in Tovey's words, "pressing his
way towards new forms."
In the trio, however, the recovery of the tonic occurs relatively soon
after the thematic return, early in the recapitulation. Further, as we noted,
Schubert fosters uncertainty about the formal boundary, in effect signaling
to the listener at the thematic return that the fundamental point of
articulation is yet to come. That is, the recovery of the tonic, though
delayed, is articulated in such a way that it is heard as the essential initiator
of the section's tonal motion. What Schubert achieves in this movement,
one might say, is an ingenious combination of two seemingly
incompatible recapitulatory strategies: his tonal innovation encompasses
the level of the thematic return, and yet he retains the powerful articulative
force of the double return. From a design perspective, the recapitulation
begins away from the tonic; from a structural perspective, it begins
in the tonic. As evidenced by this work, then, the renewed activity of
Schubert's last years carries with it a new integration of innovative tonal
design and normative sonata-form structure.
143
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
APPENDIX
Edward Laufer
REVISED SKETCH OF MOZART, K. 545/I
AND COMMENTARY
This movement presents many unusual features, which perhaps arise o
of Mozart's wish to make the movement very compact and-psycholog
cally-short and quick. Mozart rushes one section into another. The motivi
continuity, as suggested by the brackets (e.g., the initial c2-b1 becomi
d2-c2-b1, becoming d3-b2 of the second subject), is one aspect of this com
pactness. There is "no time," as it were, to wait for the recapitulation to begi
on the I: the motivic return starts off before the development has ended, on
foreground IV, which, as my sketches show, is enclosed within the comp
ing-out of the V. (The V reached at m. 11, before the second subject, is to
understood as composed-out right up to m. 71.)
Perhaps in keeping with the conciseness and "psychological" speed o
this movement there is no stopping, no interruption of a fundamental line i
the strictest sense (no 5-4-3-2//); the situation is, rather, 5-. Indeed, the 5
3-2
maintained unabated throughout, in the background, and in fact doe
really descend at all in the sense of a fundamental line (as explained be
What does this mean with regard to Schenker's concept of interruptio
a basic characteristic of sonata form? For those movements in which the 5
remains on top while an inner voice proceeds 3-2 (viz. 5-), such as this
3-2
movement, or K. 333, Beethoven's op. 14/I, Seventh Symphony, Cleme
op. 36/4, or-a shorter example-the contrasting phrase (mm. 9-12) o
Theme of Mozart's K. 331, one would not speak of an interruption i
strictest sense, since the upper voice remains on top in the background
yet the above instances (not K. 331, of course) are all indubitably s
movements. In this 5- situation, when the 2 over the V is reached, to b
lowed by a fresh assertion of the 5 supported by the I, there is undeni
kinship with interruption as 5-4-3-2; that is, a different order of interrup
not specifically described by Schenker, but alluded to by Oster. In reco
ing such a "secondary order" of interruption, one must acknowledge
Schenker's principle of interruption as a basic feature of sonata form rem
valid.
This particular movement closes with an auxiliary cadence (starting i
144
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
E:xpo. D..l. Rc,-it.
, -. 7T J Jr
& n.^ aux. cad.
N~~~~
Edward Laufer's
from Laufer's r
I V
Not
I v I
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
59). One idea behind Schenker's concept of the auxiliary cadence concerns
withholding the arrival of the main chord until the end of the progression
(here, m. 71). Thus, I at m. 59 is evaded-its being withheld paradoxically
lending the movement a further sense of conciseness, as the pace of the
movement is thereby not held back or drawn out by presenting the I both at
mm. 59 and 71. Since the auxiliary cadence is not a background procedure,
there is no background support for the descent of a fundamental line. Thus,
one should speak here not of a fundamental line, but rather of a descending
5th-progression, in the middleground, with the g2, the top note of the 5th, remaining.
(Reading a 5th-progression is the reason why, as noted earlier, the 5
is to be understood as being maintained throughout the movement. The same
comment would apply to entire pieces built on an auxiliary cadence, such as
Chopin's e-minor Prelude, or Brahms's op. 118/1 or op. 116/5: these show
3rd- or 5th-progressions, but not actual fundamental lines.) In K. 545 it is as if
the apparent I6 of m. 59 were reaching back into the realm occupied by the
previous V, a V which will only proceed to the real I at m. 71. On such a large
scale this auxiliary cadence is a most unusual procedure for Mozart (although
the slow movement of the Piano Concerto K. 467 is somewhat similar
in certain respects). I should like to think that in the twenty years since my
K. 545 sketch to which Professor Sly refers, I may have come to a clearer
understanding of Schenker's concept of the auxiliary cadence; and hence my
somewhat revised reading.
146
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
NOTES
* This paper is a continuation of work begun with my dissertation, "An Emerging
Symbiosis of Structure and Design in the Sonata Practice of Franz Schubert" (Ph.
D. Dissertation, Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, 1994),
which was advised by David Beach. I should like to acknowledge his deep influence
on the ideas presented here.
1. D. F. Tovey, "Franz Schubert" (Music and Letters, 1927), rpt. in Essays and Lectures
on Music (London: Oxford University Press, 1949): 122 and 124.
2. See "Sonata Form in Schubert: The First Movement of the G-Major String Quartet,
op. 161 (D. 887)," trans. Thilo Reinhard, in Schubert: Critical and Analytical
Studies, ed. Walter Frisch (University of Nebraska Press, 1986): 1.
3. Schubert's practice of casting his thematic return in other than the tonic key has
been chronicled in various writings, including Malcolm Boyd, "Schubert's Short
Cuts," Music Review xxix (1968): 12-21; Daniel Coren, "Ambiguity in Schubert's
Recapitulations," Musical Quarterly lx (1974): 568-82; and James Webster,
"Schubert's Sonata Form and Brahms' First Maturity," Pt. 1, 19th-Century Music
II (1978): 18-35. Collectively, their work identifies several organizational tendencies
and procedures, and arranges pieces under one or another so-defined rubric.
4. For an overview of the sonatas composed during the Spring of 1816, and discussion
of the first movement of the Violin Sonata, D. 408, see the author's, "The
Architecture of Key and Motive in a Schubert Sonata," Integral 9 (1995): 67-89.
5. In this work, the recapitulation begins neither in the tonic nor with the movement's
opening material. For a discussion of its tonal and thematic organization, see David
Beach, "Harmony and Linear Progression in Schubert's Music," Journal of Music
Theory 38.1 (Spring, 1994): 1-20.
6. The exact date of the work's composition is unknown. It is believed to be the Spring
of 1828. See New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, s.v. "Schubert, Franz
(Peter)," by Maurice J. E. Brown.
7. See Free Composition, trans. and ed. Ernst Oster (New York: Longman, 1979):
136-37. Schenker's approach to musical form considers voice-leading to be determinate.
Sonata form arises from a two-part fundamental structure, and the sole requirements
of development and recapitulation sections are those that serve this
structural division: the impulse toward closure is interrupted following the arrival
or prolongation of 2 and dominant harmony; a recommencement of that motion
ensues, this time carrying the music to closure. It is the recovery of the primary
tone and the tonic scale step at the point of recommencement-rather than the reappearance
of principal thematic material-that for Schenker defines the onset of the
recapitulation.
While Schenker's ideas in this area have had an exiguous influence on the larger
musical community's thinking about form, I invoke them here because of my conviction
that his structural approach allows unique insights into the formal processes
of individual pieces: the honed approach to sonata composition found in
Schubert's later works that is the subject of this paper is, I would argue, illuminated
precisely by the conception of the role of the recapitulation peculiar to
Schenker's thinking. Schenker's Formenlehre is generally understood to be incompletely
formulated and fraught with inconsistencies. Nevertheless, its promise-a
conception of form as an image of a work's fundamental structure, rather than an
147
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
autonomous musical parameter-is compelling for many musicians, and has attracted
close scrutiny in a number of recent articles. The most far-reaching is
Charles J. Smith's "Musical Form and Fundamental Structure: An Investigation of
Schenker's Formenlehre," Music Analysis 15/ii-iii (1996):191-297, which takes
an enormous step toward remedying the inconsistencies in Schenker's treatment
of the topic. A complete formulation of Schenker's conception faces several remaining
difficulties, as Smith himself concludes.
8. Perhaps the most vexing difficulty for a Schenkerian theory of form is the reconciliation
of the fundamental structure, with its tonic-dominant orientation, and the
adventurous tonal designs that so characterize Schubert's practice. Schubert's offtonic
reprises represent a central problem, but there are others, including the composer's
frequent use of uncommon second tonal area keys in his expositions, and,
of course, his well-known three-key expositions. For a thorough discussion of
these, and other, features that defy Schenker's structural approach, see Smith's
"Investigation of Schenker's Formenlehre."
9. Figure 47,1 in the Supplement to Free Composition. Figures 88,c and 124,5a show
sections of the exposition in greater detail.
10. Edward Laufer, Review of Heinrich Schenker, Free Composition, Music Theory
Spectrum 3 (1981): 158-84. Discussion of the opening movement of the C-major
sonata extends from pp. 173-76.
11. This is found in Oster's well-known footnote to Schenker's discussion of sonata
form (Free Composition, p. 139). His description of the structure is as follows:
Quite frequently found, yet never mentioned by Schenker, is the following: in a
sonata movement that starts on 5, the upper voice does not descend via 4 and 3
to the 2 at the interruption point, as it normally would (Figs. 24-26). This means
that the composition is not based on the interruption principle in the strictest
sense. The background of the exposition rather resembles the voice-leading of
Fig. 152,4, measures 1-4: the tone that would be the 2 of the fundamental line
(b' in m. 4) comes here from the chordal third of the tonic harmony, and it must
therefore be considered an inner-voice tone. In such a sonata exposition this
tone is then composed out in the usual way, by means of a fifth-progression. In
the meantime the 5 is extended till the end of the exposition and from there to
the beginning of the recapitulation; it only descends to 1 as late as the end of this
section.
12. Laufer, Review of Free Composition, p. 173.
13. Ibid.
14. Another article that takes up Schenker's reading of this sonata is John Snyder,
"Schenker and the First Movement of Mozart's Sonata, K. 545: An Uninterrupted
Sonata-Form Movement?," Theory and Practice 16 (1991): 51-78. It is unfortunate
that Snyder fails to cite Laufer's review, since it anticipates many of his arguments
concerning the interpretation of the piece, including the appeal to Oster's
structural model described in note 11. In fact, the authors' contrasted readings of
the piece derive from their very different interpretations of that model. In Laufer's
view, Oster is suggesting a structural model not fundamentally different from that
which Schenker defines-a derivative of that earlier model that arises through the
textural inversion of the upper and an inner voice. The 5 that is held through the
exposition and development sections is that which in normal sonata structure
would belong to an inner voice, but is here projected into the upper voice. Mean-
148
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
while, the descent to 2 does occur, but it has now become part of an inner-voice
motion. The interruption that follows the 2 in the usual sonata structure, then, in
effect also occurs. It resides, however, in this inner voice as well, and therefore
does not appear in the Ursatz model, which of course consists only of the two
outer voices. This view accords with Oster's characterization that the structure
lacks an interruption "in the strictest sense." Laufer's reading of the movement
(see "Review of Free Composition," p. 175, example 22) shows 5 prolonged
through the exposition's tonic- and dominant-controlled areas, across the development,
and into the regained tonic of the recapitulation, where it finally descends
to closure. Meanwhile, the descent to 2 over a structural dominant harmony occurs
in an inner voice. In Laufer's view, it is the subdominant return of the opening
theme at m. 42 ff. that provides support for that descent: the f4-c4-f3 in the bass at
mm. 42, 53, and 54 supports the melodic stretch f5-e5-d5, or 4-3-2 . All of this
occurs internal to the larger dominant that is in force through the section. (Professor
Laufer comments on this structural type at the end of this paper. His remarks
form part of the commentary to a sketch reflecting his most recent views concerning
K. 545, which, having undergone some revision since the 1981 article, he
wished to make known.)
By contrast, Snyder's analysis (see "Schenker and Mozart's K. 545," p. 68,
example 9b) sets forth a truly undivided structure: there is no internal structural
dominant, and thus no background-level descent to 2 and subsequent interruption
buried in an inner voice. The stemmed g's in the lower voice at mm. 8 and 57,
along with the indicated V's at the same vertical level, suggest that the dominant
is understood to extend across that span. But as the notation clearly indicates, this
dominant is subsumed by, or serves to prolong, the opening tonic, which is in force
through the exposition and development sections, and well into the recapitulation.
It supports the full expanse of the 5, giving way only with the onset of the melodic
descent over the final cadence. This is surely incorrect: the heart of sonata form is
its tonal-dramatic structure, expressed by the background tonal contrast established
in the exposition-development. The principle of large-scale interruption
emphasizes this dramatic contrast. What Snyder has failed to recognize in Oster's
model is the illusion of continuation created as 5, a member of both the tonic and
the dominant harmonies, receives consonant support both at the close of the development
and at the beginning of the recapitulation. But it is no more than an illusion:
the recovery of the tonic still signals a recommencement. The 5 that concludes
the development is not the same 5 that begins the recapitulation: the former
belongs to the structural dominant harmony, the latter to the regained tonic.
15. As will be shown, the dominant harmony is prolonged from this point through the
balance of a 111-measure exposition, most unusual for Schubert, who normally
prefers to reach the dominant relatively late in the exposition. This tonal organization
is more typical of Beethoven.
16. There exists some confusion in the literature regarding the relationships among
these thematic statements. Felix Salzer says that the return at m. 187 "begins just
as it had in the exposition, both thematically and harmonically" ("Die Sonatenform
bei Franz Schubert," Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 15 (1928): 123). Coren
("Schubert's Recapitulations," 581) suggests that the two passages are not quite
parallel, citing the thinner orchestrational texture-the violin and 'cello play in
alternation at the return, rather than in octaves, as they had at the beginning-and
149
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
pointing to the relatively weak preparation of bVI, calling into question its stability
as a tonic. Meanwhile, Webster takes issue with Coren, and announces that "the
section beginning in Gb, places the melody in the strings, and thus corresponds to
the beginning of the movement (other details support this interpretation); but the
Bb statement is a literal repetition of m. 26" (pp. 32-33). Coren's points are well
taken, particularly the second one; the preparation of the thematic return must figure
in our interpretation of the tonal structure. Salzer is correct that the two phrases
begin in similar fashion, but he fails to note their different harmonic goals. Webster's
evaluation of the passage ignores the harmonic goals of both statements.
17. The work of Steven Laitz identifies i6 (or #5) and t6 in combination with 5 as a
principal source of motivic activity in Schubert's music. His insights into the organization
of many of Schubert's songs through the lens of this motive are presented
in his "Pitch-Class Motive in the Songs of Franz Schubert: The Submediant
Complex" (Ph. D. Dissertation, Eastman School of Music of the University of
Rochester, 1992).
18. For a detailed investigation of this issue of interpreting development sections that
begin in the tonic, see Jack Adrian, "The Ternary-Sonata Form, " Journal of Music
Theory 34.1 (Spring, 1990): 57-80.
19. The work was given this title by Schubert himself.
150
This content downloaded from
147.251.6.77 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:10:26 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms