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”)

More on Mozart K. 164

I have added a post about K. 164 on my blog Ascending Cadence Gestures: link. It can be read as a supplement to my post on this blog: link. The new post concerns rising melodic figures in n4 and its trio.

New essay published

I have published Form Functions in Menuets by Beethoven and Others, 1770-1813:
A Contribution to the History of Design for Dance Musics on the Texas Scholar Works platform: link.

Here is the abstract:

This article adds further documentation for the claim that dance musics in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century were not dominated by the classical symmetrical period but were in fact written in a variety of thematic types and frequently emphasized contrast between ideas (that is, two-bar units). In order to fine-tune descriptions, the terminology for the second phrase in a theme is expanded beyond consequent and continuation (after William Caplin) to include two new categories: contrast and complement.

In addition to two sets of menuets by Beethoven—WoO7 and WoO10—I look at the late menuets of Mozart (K. 461, K. 463, K. 568, K. 585, K. 599, K. 601, K. 604), early menuets by Schubert (D. 41, D. 89), menuets by Friedrich Schwindl (1778), Settree (an English publisher; 1770s?), and Hummel (1807).

Menuets in the keyboard works of D'Anglebert

Five pieces are labeled "menuet" in Jean-Henri D'Anglebert's Pièces de Clavecin (1689), a collection of original compositions and arrangements of orchestral music by Lully.

As in the menuets from Lully's operas, the first strain of the Menuet de Poitou might be read either as a six-bar presentation (the three-bar basic idea is boxed) or a six-bar period with undivided three-bar phrases. The former fits better with Caplin's system, in which an undivided phrase poses a serious problem (we might be reduced to calling it a "phrase-like unit"). Section B (not shown) does have two plausible continuation phrases, at 8 and 6 bars, respectively. Note also that the left hand in bar 4 (circled) differs from bar 1, something better suited to a varied basic idea than to a consequent phrase.

The examples in today's post come from the notated edition by Steve Wiberg (Due West Publications), part of the Werner Icking Music Collection available on IMSLP and used here thanks to Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0.

In D'Anglebert's arrangement of a menuet by Lully, a period is formed by an antecedent-consequent pair, both of its phrases making imperfect authentic cadences on the tonic (though with different figures in the bass). The underlying design, then, might as easily be repetition of a "4-bar theme."

Much the same happens in the next menuet, except that the two closes are half cadences. Again, subtle rewriting of the left hand part (circled) weakens a period designation.

The "4-bar theme" problem is also present in the Menuet "Dans nos bois," where the PAC comes at the end of the first phrase and a half cadence at the end of the second, the opposite of the pattern we would expect as soon as about 1720.

Finally, the first menuet in the volume offers a clear antecedent-continuation theme in eight bars. The section is 16 bars, however, and the stronger cadence arrival appears in bar 8, not bar 16.

Lully and Playford

To provide some context for the two previous posts, in which I described the design of menuets from three Lully operas, here is a figure from my PDF essay on dance design (link). This is also Table 1 in my 2006 article on the contredanse and the finales of Haydn and Mozart sonatas and symphonies (link).

A tabulation of design for first strains of music in various editions of Playford's English Dancing Master (all editions after the first: Dancing Master). The first edition was published in 1651, the seventeenth (and last) in 1728.

What I call "4-bar themes" are similar to Lully's first strains that are really phrases, not themes in Caplin's sense. In Playford's first edition, these 4-bar themes predominate (see the second column in the table). Next in line are the sentence and the antecedent-continuation model, confirmation of the importance of both in 17th century music. In the later editions (see the third column), the obvious change is what we might call the rise of the period and a drop in the number of sentences.

Here is one example of a dance whose music starts with a "4-bar theme": Lady Cullen. "Theme" and "section" are the same, if one takes the repeat sign as a section demarcator, in the same way as in almost all later dances. If we include the repeat, then the resulting eight bars (that is, mm. 1-4 twice) are a period (though an awkward one in which the antecedent closes on the tonic). If we regard the entire piece (mm. 1 to 4 + 5 to 8) as a single theme, then it is antecedent-continuation. If we include all repeats (1 to 4 + 1 to 4 + 5 to 8 + 5 to 8), the result is a compound (16-measure) sentence.

"4-bar theme"; antecedent of an antecedent-continuation; (with repeat) period; presentation unit of a 16-measure sentence. Of course, the actual design of Lady Cullen when used for dancing will be this: if L stands for the music, then LLLLLLLL. . . as many times as needed for all to complete the figures (this is a long dance, where the length of the dance depends on the number of people dancing).

All this reminds us (1) that the formal function depends on the level one is considering; (2) that Caplin's model does have an unfortunate repetition of labels at 8-bar and 16-bar levels; (3) that in 17th century music there is a fluid relationship between phrase, section, and theme.

Three menuets from Armide

This continues from yesterday. Form descriptions of Lully menuets from the operas show the fluidity  (and uncertainty) of design analysis based on Caplin's model and terminology. We saw in the vocal and instrumental menuets from Atys and Proserpine that the design can appear to be simultaneously a small form and a prolonged theme, and that in the latter case an initial phrase is followed by two continuation phrases. The same things are true in one of the three named menuets from the prologue to  Armide (1686).

This is the second menuet in a pair. Note the three-bar basic idea and the overall design as a sentence. In section B, however, the first continuation is 8 bars, which seems quite unreasonable for a phrase, but I see no clear way to parse ideas within it. Perhaps Caplin's "continuation-like unit," used for looser form sections in later Viennese music, would be appropriate here. The second continuation, also, differs from the models in the earlier operas, in that it is a repeat of the first, not aa new phrase.



The first menuet in the pair also repeats the first continuation to form the second. Here an expansion of an underlying 4-bar phrase to six by means of sequences (see bars 19-21) is a plausible explanation and not unlike a design one might find in Haydn or even later composers. The overall design is antecedent-continuation and/or small binary.

 The third menuet is simpler: an antecedent with two contrasting ideas is followed by a six-bar continuation that ends with a perfect authentic cadence. This design is a simple, balanced binary form (with repetition of each part).