The 4 "C"s: on second phrases

In my PDF essay Dance and Dance Designs in 18th and Early 19th Century Music (link), I came to the following conclusions about first strains after a study of Beethoven menuets and German dances:

(1) the surprising variety of forms -- or, to put this negatively, the "stereotypical" period is by no means the most common type--although the "weak antecedent" [compound basic idea] plus consequent does appear, in fact more often than any other type--nor is the sentence so common as one might expect; 


(2) the large number of hybrid forms; 
 

(3) the weakness of the functional terminology at capturing a strong sense of contrast between bars 1-4 and 5-8 -- it is evident that the label "continuation" is too broad, but it is, on the other hand, difficult to think what might effectively distinguish a "contrasting phrase" from a continuation. Nevertheless, the idea of immediate and sharp contrast between phrases (and strains) is a particular feature of the waltz, one that is related to a similar tendency in later 18th-century menuets and that persists -- as a contrast of strains -- far into the waltz's later history.  (48)

The first of these has been the focus of posts on this blog over the past month or two. The second is obviously a corollary to the first. The third is the point of interest here. (Material in this post comes in part from my online essay Form Functions in Menuets by Beethoven and Others, 1770-1813:
A Contribution to the History of Design for Dance Musics: link.)

With the caveat that I make no claims about other genres than music for social dance, I have expanded terminology for the second phrase in an 8-bar theme from two items to four:

1. consequent, as in Caplin. This has two subclasses: literal repetition of bars 1-2 as 5-6, and transposed bars 1-2 as 5-6. The transposition is most often by step.
2. continuation, as in Caplin. This subsumes continuation-cadential and cadential as subclasses (which is in any case the way Caplin treats them: harmonically determined variants of the "classic" continuation phrase). For dance music, the two new classes of complement and contrast effectively reduce continuation to the "Op2n1" case (Caplin's first example for the sentence), where the motive of the opening is repeated but fragmented in bars 5-6. I have discarded continuation-cadential and cadential because they are harmonically determined, where I would claim that melodic features are more expressive and determinative in music for social dance (even in Schubert).
3. complement. Use "complement" or "complementary phrase." The most common case uses rhythms and/or melodic figures internal to the first phrase.
4. contrast. Use "contrast" or "contrasting phrase." Figures are pointedly different from anything in the first phrase.

The list assumes a continuum from a strong sense of repetition to a strong sense of contrast or difference. As always, many themes may accept labels easily, others may require interpretation. In the latter case, it is important to preserve the interpretation through comment (as Caplin routinely does), rather than simply apply the label and therefore threaten to conflate the clear and the ambiguous.

The justification for these additions—beyond taxonomic completeness or subtlety—is that dance pieces are miniatures, and qualities that we might give little attention to in the larger-scale environment of a small ternary or sonata movement acquire more importance in the close quarters of a 16 bar menuet or ecossaise. Dances in Mozart's or Schubert's generations were chains of such miniatures, tied together by the continuity of the dance itself, not by some sort of emergent unity of motive, tonality, or expression.

Here, without comment, are "classic" examples of each of the four types listed above.

Consequent (1): Mozart, 12 Menuets, K. 164 (1772), n1 trio

Consequent (2): Beethoven, 12 Menuets, WoO7 (1795), n11

Complement: Beethoven, 12 Menuets, WoO7 (1795), n12

Continuation: Mozart, K. 585, n6

Contrast: Beethoven, 12 Menuets, WoO7 (1795), n7

Guide to the Schubert blog

I have put together a guide to the 200+ entries in my blog Hearing Schubert D779n13: link. Among its sections are several that are also relevant, directly or indirectly, to this blog, particularly Topics 2 & 3 and Appendices 6 & 7. Here is the table of contents:

Introduction 

Topics 1: Analyses of Schubert, Valses sentimentales, n13, Waltz in A Major
Topics 2: Schubert, Playing for Dance, Dance in Vienna 1815-1830
Topics 3: Formal Design and Functions in Music for Social Dance
Topics 4: Responses to Criticism of the Ascending Urlinie 

Appendix 1: Complete list of blog posts, with links
Appendix 2: Complete list of tags (“Labels”)
Appendix 3: Tally of the analyses of D779n13
Appendix 4: Bibliography (that is, an alphabetical list of all literature citations)
Appendix 5: Blog Ascending Cadence Gestures in Tonal Music, complete list of posts, with links
Appendix 6: Blog Dance and Dance Music, 1650-1850, complete list of posts, with links
Appendix 7: Blogs Ascending Cadence Gestures in Tonal Music and Dance and Dance Music, 1650-1850, complete list of tags (“Labels”)