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Brahms and Schenker: A Mutual Response Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 to Form

Peter H. Smith

Within the of and the analyses of kinship even has a biographical basis. Brahms recommended , we find a mutual response to , the aspiring Schenker to his publisher, and Schen- a result of shared historical positions, musical inclinations, ker later declared Brahms the "last master of German and esthetic values. The composer and the theorist were both composition." 2 Yet despite their apparent conservatism, concerned with the perpetuation of traditional compositional Brahms's and Schenker's response to the music of the past procedures at a time in which untraditional approaches to has a distinct late-nineteenth-century stamp. composition were gaining status in musical circles. Despite A tension between conservative and progressive yearn- the influence of Wagner and the New German School (and ings is revealed in Brahms's and Schenker's attempts to rec- later, for Schenker, the even more radical changes in com- oncile the sharply articulated musical surfaces of the late- positional technique in the early twentieth century), Brahms eighteenth-century sonata style with the esthetics of the late and Schenker still regarded species and figured nineteenth century, which in contrast favored continuous bass as essential foundations for composition, were commit- ted to traditional forms as opposed to , and ton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 83-87. Brahms's reaction to Mahler's revered the great of the German tradition.' Their Second is quoted in David Brodbeck, "Mahler's Brahms," The American Brahms Society Newsletter 10 (1992): 1-5. The enthusiasm for Wag- ner in the second half of the nineteenth century had a strong influence on An earlier version of this paper was read at the Annual Meeting of the Schenker's theoretical work even though his major writings did not appear Society for , Kansas City, 1992. The author wishes to thank until the early decades of the twentieth century. See, for example, his his- Michael Friedmann, Ethan Haimo, Robert Morgan, and Pieter van den Toorn torical sketch of the supposed decline of musical culture in his essay "Organic for their helpful critiques of a preliminary draft. in Sonata Form," trans. Orin Grossman, in Readings in Schenker 1Though Brahms was interested in Wagner's music, he regarded Liszt as Analysis and Other Approaches, ed. Maury Yeston (New Haven: Yale Uni- a mediocre composer, advised the young Wolf that he first had to study versity Press, 1977), 38-53. For Schenker's reaction to modernism in music counterpoint before his potential as a composer could be evaluated, and, after see his comments on the Stravinsky in Das Meisterwerk in reviewing the score of his Second Symphony, dismissed Mahler as "king of der Musik, vol. 2 (Munich: Drei Masken Verlag, 1926), 37-40. the revolutionaries." On Brahms's attitude toward Liszt and the New German 2Heinrich Schenker, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: A Portrayal of Its School see Karl Geiringer, Brahms: His Life and Work, 3d, enlarged ed. (New Musical Content, with Running Commentary on Performance and Literature York: Da Capo Press, 1981), 30-32, 84, and 340-41. Wolf's interview with as Well, trans. and ed. John Rothgeb (New Haven: Yale University Press, Brahms is reconstructed in Frank Walker, Hugo Wolf: A Biography (Prince- 1992), v. 78 Music Theory Spectrum

motion and highly evolutionary formal relationships. With they provide evidence of the new ways Brahms may have

respect to recapitulation, the most significant element of sec- been thinking about sonata form generally, despite the Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 tionalization in sonata form, Brahms and Schenker strove to charges of epigonism leveled against him by some of his con- subsume the elements of division and repetition within a con- temporaries. tinuous and dynamic unfolding. While they remained com- On the other hand, it is also important to acknowledge that mitted to a historically validated formal type characterized by a tension between articulation and organicism is part of the the restatement of large blocks of material, they refused to original fabric of the sonata idea, and precedents for many sacrifice the romantic ideal of an unbroken, goal-directed of Brahms's procedures can be found in earlier music. This flow. They both struck a compromise between a strong or- is certainly the case with other nineteenth-century composers, ganicist impulse and their sensitivity to the realities of a for- in particular Beethoven and Schubert, who have long been mal type based in part on the dramatic delineation of a par- recognized as important influences on Brahms. Nevertheless, allel thematic design. Haydn and Mozart also took great care to invest their re- The similarities, however, are more than incidental. A capitulations with signs of , and all these close examination of the paradigm for sonata form that composers occasionally wrote sonata forms with continuous Schenker presents in , the division of the middleground . 4 Therefore, rather than viewing the Ursatz through interruption, reveals the difficulties he has in issue as a dichotomy between continuous evolution in Brahms its derivation from a continuous background. Yet these very versus large-scale parallelism in earlier music (or even con- difficulties evaporate when his method of analysis is applied tinuous evolution in the nineteenth century versus large-scale to some of Brahms's more unusual sonata forms, for example, parallelism in the classical period), it would be more appro- the first movement of the C-minor , Op. 60, priate to characterize Brahms's approach as an intensification which we shall explore in detail shortly. In its most extreme of the organicist component embedded in the sonata forms form, Brahms's creative appropriation of sonata-form pro- of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. cedures gives rise to an overarching tonal structure that cuts Moreover, the present study is hardly intended as a final across the parallel division, much the way Schenker attempts pronouncement on the subject; future research might explore to derive classical-period sonata forms from a single Ursatz.

In a select group of sonata forms, Brahms achieves creatively 4See, for example, the first movements of Haydn's Farewell Symphony, the specific type of organic unity that Schenker has difficulty Mozart's in , K. 545, Beethoven's Piano Sonata in D demonstrating in his analyses of late-eighteenth-century mu- Minor, Op. 31 No. 2 (Tempest), and Schubert's Trout Quintet, as well as his sic. Though they represent extreme cases, these movements Quartetsatz. For a highly stimulating analysis of the Haydn see James Web- ster, Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style (Cam- can be understood as a logical extension of what Schoenberg bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 30-57. David Beach analyses the called the progressive element of Brahms's style, in particular Trout Quintet movement and several other one-part Schubert sonata forms his tendency to avoid literal repetition and periodicity in favor in "Schubert's Experiments with Sonata Form: Formal-Tonal Design versus Music Theory Spectrum of continuous formal evolution or musical prose . 3 As such, Underlying Structure," 15 (1993): 1-18. Though Schenker reads the K. 545 sonata as an interruption form with a Kopfton of in Free Composition (supplementary vol.: Fig. 47,1), it is possible to graph 3Arnold Schoenberg, "Brahms the Progressive," reprinted in Style and it as an uninterrupted tonal structure with a Kopfton of Š. See John Snyder, Idea: Selected Writings of , ed. Leonard Stein, trans. Leo "Schenker and the First Movement of Mozart's Sonata, K. 545: An Unin- Black (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 398-441. terrrupted Sonata-Form Movement?" Theory and Practice 16 (1991): 51-78. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 79

earlier repertoires using similar analytic strategies to place the of interruption, the parallelism of the Urlinie descents is often

procedures discussed here in a fuller historical context . 5 A reinforced by a parallelism in thematic design. Through the Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 more determinate backdrop could help identify particularly concept of interruption, Schenker downplays the degree to Brahmsian techniques (or particularly Brahmsian realizations which, for example, the consequent of a parallel period is of shared strategies) within the long tradition of blurred re- heard primarily as a repetition or architectural counterweight capitulatory boundaries. One important distinction, however, to the antecedent, a perception that would run counter to his can already be drawn: Brahms, unlike the Viennese classi- predilection for continuous linear evolution. cists, lived after generations of Formenlehre writers had cod- One way in which the indivisibility of the Ursatz can relate ified what they took to be the defining characteristics of so- to a parallel construction is as part of a listening strategy in nata form, a practice that resulted in the fossilization of which a comparison is made between the interrupted descent classical conventions in the eyes of many late romantics. and its hypothetical complete form as a piece unfolds. The Thus, sonata-form composition must have been a much more interruption increases the goal-directedness of the second de- self-conscious affair for Brahms than for his predecessors. He scent, and therefore the unifying force of the Ursatz, because actively chose to substantiate the most prestigious of classical it creates a situation in which the arrival of a predestined goal forms in the historical context of the late nineteenth century is implied but then delayed until a later point. As Schenker by investing all of its component parts with continually de- tells us, veloping motivic content and essential harmonic function in [t]he conventional technical term semicadence, used to describe the an approach very much in the original spirit of the sonata first ... too easily suggests the concept of "" in the sense style. A similar commitment to musical tradition can be un- of closure,v which contradicts the true meaning of an interrup- derstood as a partial motivation for Schenker's analytic work, tion.... The interruption not only creates more content; it also has and the result is an interesting parallel between the composer the effect of a delay, or retardation, on the way to the ultimate goal, and theorist when they, in their own separate ways, tackle . The interruption is able to produce this effect only because it sonata form. carries within it the , which must achieve its fulfillment despite all detours. 6 * * * When applied to sonata form, interruption has the ad- vantage of modeling a dynamic quality of the recapitulation Schenker develops the concept of interruption in an at- in addition to the general increase in tension that arises from tempt to reconcile his view of as an indivisible delayed closure. Schenker's assertion that a return to the unity with formal types that display a strong element of the- Kopfton and the tonic at the , which often functions matic and tonal parallelism, and thus sectionalization. In as the middleground rebeginning in an interruption form, is brief, interruption consists of a stepwise descent from the not a resolution is compelling if the term resolution is defined Kopfton to Z, by a rebeginning and a second descent as the structural close for a movement as a whole. Resolution, that reaches all the way to 1. Though it is not a requirement in this narrow sense, can only be achieved through the pro- gression of the Ursatz to its final goal, which in sonata form

5At least one recent article explores some of the issues I will take up here in relation to an important precursor to Brahms. See Beach, "Schubert's 6Heinrich Schenker, Free Composition, trans. and ed. Ernst Oster (New Experiments." York: Longman, 1979), 37. 80 Music Theory Spectrum

usually takes place across the entire transposed second group. though the listening strategy may also emerge from an aware-

When viewed as the continuation and eventual completion of ness of the background. However, as Allan Keiler demon- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 a goal-directed motion to Ī , the restatement of the second strates, 8 Schenker can derive the two-part middleground only group takes on a more dynamic function than if it is inter- by either contradicting his intuitions regarding the relation- preted merely as a tonal transposition that, in Charles Ros- ships between Urlinie pitches across the point of interruption, en's words, resolves the large-scale dissonance of the expo- or by transgressing a fundamental premise that normally gov- sition. 7 Though Rosen presents his concept of large-scale erns his interpretation of harmonic constituents and the me- dissonance resolution as a dynamic process, Schenker at- lodic pitches they support. The difficulty Schenker has in tempts to pin down the nature of this dynamism in more accounting for the divisional aspect of many sonata forms specific terms. suggests that the articulation at the reprise often remains on Despite its attractive psychological dimension, Schenker's the deepest levels of structure and that the body of the re- interruption paradigm encounters problems when scrutinized capitulation, at least in the late eighteenth century, is heard from the perspective of the axiomatic and hierarchical basis as a hierarchically equivalent repetition that closes in the of his theory. In many sonata forms, neither the middle- tonic through the tonal transposition of the second group. ground rebeginning nor the new tonal structure that results The tension between a highly organicist conceptualization from the transposition of the second group can be derived and the architectonic realities of sonata form reveals that from a single Ursatz within the constraints of his theory. In Schenker was anachronistically forcing a method of analysis the end, these features are often more convincingly explained based on nineteenth-century esthetic principles onto the in Rosen's terms: as aspects of a large-scale repetition whose large-scale formal conventions of the classical period. raison d'ētre is the resolution of large-scale dissonance In Free Composition, Schenker explores two possibilities through tonal transposition, precisely the kind of explanation for the derivation of the interruption paradigm. 9 Ironically, that Schenker rejected as too mechanistic for music he re- his discussion exposes some of the limitations of his theory garded as organic. in accounting for crucial aspects of many standard formal Because Schenker claims that all musical form arises from patterns. The difficulty arises from a determination of which the Ursatz, the two-part middleground of interruption should constituents of a two-part middleground, particularly which derive from a continuous background in the top-down read- of two dominants, should take on greater hierarchical sig- ing of a graphic analysis. Within the context of Schenkerian nificance as members of a continuous background. In his first theory, the generative role of the Ursatz from a synoptic interpretation, Schenker hears the initial Urlinie descent as perspective is more important as a source of unity than the a of the Kopfton. The Kopfton reappears fol- kind of diachronic listening strategy described above, even

8Allan Keiler, "On Some Properties of Schenker's Pitch Derivations," 'See his Sonata Forms, rev. ed. (New York: Norton, 1988). As Roger Music Perception 1 (1983-84) : 200-28. See also Arthur Komar, "The Ped- Graybill states, "Rosen's model is more static [than Schenker's], insofar as agogy of Tonal ," In Theory Only 10 (1988): 23-28. resolution is brought about by the transposed restatement of a block of ma- 9For a more detailed examination of these passages, as well as an illu- terial" (Roger Graybill, "Harmonic Circularity in Brahms's F-Major Cello minating discussion of contradictions in Schenker's analysis of the theme of Sonata: An Alternative to Schenker's Reading in Free Composition," Music Brahms's Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56, see Keiler, On Some Theory Spectrum 10 [1988]: 52, n. 14). Properties," 215-27. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 81

Example 1. Type-1 derivation support for the Urlinie's descent from 2 to I. In the case of

a piece that takes 3 as its Kopfton, Schenker often interprets Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 all tonal activity prior to the structural close as a prolongation of the Kopfton and the initial tonic. Accordingly, the type-1 derivation shows the second Z, more significant than the first, and the Ursatz does not make its fundamental motion to V until the second half of the paradigm, just as a typical phrase might prolong the tonic by means of embellishing dominants before progressing to a more significant cadential dominant. Nevertheless, the type-1 derivation contains one serious lowing the interruption, with the result that the 2 in the par- drawback: by relegating the first 2 and the second 3 to a later allel part of the structure provides the fundamental passing level as contiguous, stepwise members of a prolongation of motion from 3 to 1: "The initial succession 3-2 gives the the Kopfton, the graphic notation might imply a neighbor- impression that it is the first attempt at the complete fun- note interpretation. This would contradict Schenker's intu- damental line," and "[t]he first 3, which is the ition that the 2 "never takes on the character of a lower of the total fundamental line 3-1, although not expressly neighboring note." 12 In fact, one of the reasons Schenker retained, is taken up again by the second 3, as primary tone proposes the concept of interruption is specifically to avoid of the resumed which now leads to 1." 10 a neighbor-note interpretation. Though Schenker does not illustrate this derivation graphi- In an attempt to clarify his position, Schenker proceeds to cally, it could be diagramed as in Example 1. a second interpretation, henceforth to be referred to as the This derivation, henceforth to be referred to as the type-1 type-2 derivation, in which "the first occurrence of y is more derivation, is attractive for its consistency with what Keiler significant than the second [and] the first 3-2 represents a identifies as "an important constituent constraint of Schen- course already run; only the 1 is still lacking. " 13 Now the ker's view of tonal coherence: harmonic progression is goal- paradigm appears as in Example 2, which reproduces Schen- directed in such a way that, generally, the hierarchical im- ker's graphic representation of the type-2 derivation. 14 Be- portance of harmonic constituents continues to increase as cause it is hierarchically more significant than the second 3, the piece unfolds."" One important reflection of this con- the first 2 retains its downward motion as a passing tone to straint in Schenker's analytic practice is his tendency to assign 1 on the earlier level and clearly cannot be confused with a background significance to the final cadential progression as lower neighbor. But to achieve greater clarity with respect to the Urlinie, Schenker must lower the rank of the second , and therefore contradict the aforementioned principle that 10Schenker, Free Composition, 36 and 38. 11 Keiler, "On Some Properties," 211. See also his "Two Views of Musical Semiotics," in The Sign in Word and Language, ed. W. Steiner (Austin: 12Schenker, Free Composition, 37. University of Texas Press, 1981), 138-68, esp. 151-64; and The Syntax of 13Ibid., 37. Prolongation (Part I)," In Theory Only 3 (1977): 3-27, esp. 13-27. 14Ibid., supplementary vol.: Fig. 21b. 82 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 2. Type-2 derivation Kopfton and 2 across the interruption and captures Schen-

ker's ambivalence regarding the proper means of derivation. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 In addition to the contradictions that arise in a theoretical discussion of interruption, the derivation of sonata form is also problematic when examined intuitively. In either of Schenker's solutions, an obvious element of the form is com- promised in an attempt to demonstrate that the large-scale repetition is part of a continuous tonal structure. When applied to sonata form, the type-1 derivation in- dicates that the Kopfton and the tonic are prolonged across the hierarchical importance of harmonic-melodic constituents the exposition and the development and are rearticulated at tends to increase as a piece unfolds. the reprise. The slur that connects the two statements of the Evidence of the contradictions between the two deriva- Kopfton is responsive to the thematic and tonal parallelism tions appears in the examples that accompany Schenker's often manifest between the beginnings of the exposition and introductory discussion of interruption in Free Composition. recapitulation. The drawback of the derivation is that the In these graphs, which are reproduced in Example 3, 15 he analyst must locate the dominant of the background Ursatz beams the first descent to 2 onto the background. This implies within the recapitulation, a part of the form normally devoted that only the final Ī is still lacking and that the second descent to tonic prolongation on the middleground. The elevation of from the Kopfton is on a lower than the first, a dominant that is prolongational on a later level to a con- as in the type-2 derivation. Nevertheless, in each of these trolling status on an earlier level violates a basic premise of figures Schenker simultaneously connects the two statements hierarchical theory — the principle that a subordinate event of the Kopfton with a broken slur and represents the second must remain subordinate as an analysis moves to levels of descent in open noteheads, factors that suggest a prolonga- greater structural priority. (The same problem arises in tion of the Kopfton across the interruption, as in the type-1 Schenker's attempts to derive the tonal structure of the re- derivation. 16 The presence of both alternatives within each capitulation from a single replica Ursatz. We shall discuss this graph presents a conflict in the hierarchical status of the related topic shortly.) It is perhaps for this reason that Schen- ker ultimately seems to favor the type-2 derivation in which the dominant prior to the recapitulation extends across the 15Ibid., supplementary vol.: Figs. 24-26. large-scale restatement. 16Schenker supports this assessment of the dotted slur in the text where But the type-2 derivation is also not problem free. Its he comments, first in reference to interruption in the case of 3, that "the prolongation of the first dominant obscures two characteristic primary tone combines within itself a mental retention, that is, a motionless features of sonata form, both of which depend on an emphasis state, and an actual motion of the linear progression," and later, in the case on the tonic in the recapitulation: (1) the aforementioned of Š, that "[b]esides resting on Z/ , the interruption of Š—I rests also on the first Š as the primary tone of the linear progression Š-L, just as though the parallelism that frequently arises between the beginnings of line of a fourth were not present between these two points" (Free Compo- the exposition and the recapitulation through a coordinated sition, 38-39) . return of the main theme and the tonic; and (2) the recon- A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 83

Example 3. Free Composition, Figures 24-26 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021

A ^ 5 4 5 5 4 3 2

I — III4 5 VO3 I V I I— Vq 3 — — #3 I - al b a 2 ( a l b C = Exposition — Development—Recapitulation- =Exp . Dev. — Recap.a2

ciliation of the second group with the tonic through its tonal only further supports this ultimate point: that if we attend to transposition in the recapitulation. Either derivation does not the implications of Schenker's theory, we are left with a two- well address the formal necessity for an at least partial re- part structure for sonata form. Moreover, Schenker's intro- traversal of the thematic path of the exposition, since Schen- ductory discussion of interruption in Free Composition pro- ker's desire to subsume the recapitulation within a continuous vides evidence that it was important to him to remain tonal structure obscures the motivation of large-scale disso- consistent with the most basic claim of his theory—that the nance resolution. later structural levels all derive hierarchically from a single In defense of Schenker, one might object that the critique Ursatz — and, furthermore, that this claim is to be taken se- presented here rests on the assumption that his is indeed a riously.' 8 In the spirit of analytic pragmatism, however, we strictly hierarchical theory that requires a literal derivation of

interruption from a single Ursatz. 17 But this counterargument 18For an extensive discussion of both the contradictions between Schen- kerian theoretical claims and Schenkerian analytic practice, and the problems 17For example, Larry Laskowski suggests in a recent article on formal that arise when music theorists argue on an ad hoc basis for an informal issues and that Schenker's "dogmatic emphasis on back- interpretation of Schenker's theoretical assertions, see Richard Cohn, "The ground structure is in many cases not to be taken quite literally" (Larry Autonomy of Motives in Schenkerian Accounts of Tonal Music," Music The- Laskowski, "J. S. Bach's `Binary' Dance Movements: Form and Voice Lead- ory Spectrum 14 (1992) : 150-70; and "Schenker's Theory, Schenkerian The- ing," in Schenker Studies, ed. Hedi Siegel [Cambridge: Cambridge University ory: Pure Unity or Constructive Conflict?" Indiana Theory Review 13 (1992): Press, 1990], 90). 1-20. 84 Music Theory Spectrum can accept the fact that the interruption paradigm is not sat- Example 4. Typical tonal structure of a sonata-form exposition isfactorily reconcilable on an earlier level and conceive of the Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 Ursatz as a metaphysical connection between Schenker's chord of nature and a specific parallel construction. The the- oretical issues do not diminish the fact that on the scale of an antecedent-consequent phrase, for example, the interrup- tion model produces a cogent musical interpretation. V However, an additional inconsistency arises within the in- First Group Second Group terruption paradigm when it is applied to sonata form. Unlike the consequent of a parallel period, the recapitulation closes in the tonic through the transposition of a key area, not the acceleration and completion of an otherwise identical har- structural level— another violation of the fundamental prin- monic progression. The alterations between statement and ciple of hierarchical theory referred to in relation to the restatement on the phrase level are essentially rhythmic, type-1 derivation. while on the scale of an entire movement they are tonal, a In the exposition, the v of the interrupted descent is typ- distinction that works against Schenker's interpretation of the ically prolonged by a of the dominant in the first middleground of sonata form as analogous to the struc- second group, as shown in Example 4. In the recapitulation, ture of a period. however, the background Z, be located within the first- Similar to the beginning of a consequent, the return of the order linear progression since the second group returns in the main theme often articulates a reentry of the Kopfton and the tonic. To remain consistent with Schenker's single-Kopfton tonic. Since it arises out of a nontransposed restatement, this axiom, the analyst must retain the fifth-progression only on rebeginning can be graphed convincingly on the same struc- the second middleground level and graph its upper two mem- tural level as the original constituents of the Ursatz in the bers as part of a prolongation of 3. Schenker describes the exposition. However, in the interpretation of a common type resulting structural relationship as the superimposition of a of sonata form, a major-mode movement that takes 3 as its fifth-progression on the final third-progression, but he adds Kopfton, 19 the analyst is in many cases forced to cut across that "[t]here is no doubt that the primary tone remains the the hierarchical boundaries of Schenker's tonal strata to lo- the fifth-progression is merely a final reinforcement. " 20 Yet cate the .3 the second part of the interruption para- a closer examination of this interpretation reveals that Schen- digm. In these situations, the constituents of the recapitu- ker's desire for both a consistent interpretation of the second lation's replica Ursatz can no longer all derive from the same group and a single Kopfton leads him to an unacknowledged violation of the constraints on prolongational derivation. Ernst Oster clarifies Schenker's comments regarding the 19Ernst Oster cites as examples the first movements of Beethoven's Piano Op. 109, Op. 2 No. 3, and Op. 14 No. 2, as well as the first movements superimposed fifth-progression by representing its Urlinie as of the Op. 24 and the Sixth Symphony. See Schenker, Free Composition, 138, n. 16. 20Ibid., 138. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 85

Example 5. Oster's clarification over, the status of the dominant shifts from its dependence

on the tonic within the transposed second group to a more Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 A A A 3(^ 4 3) 2 1 significant structural role on the scale of the entire recapitu- lation. 23 The difficulties in the derivation of the recapitulation from a single replica Ursatz are similar to those encountered in the Example 6. Contradictions in Schenker's reading reconciliation of the exposition and recapitulation with an

A undivided background. Theoretical contradictions arise when 3 2 the analyst must determine which constituents of two replica Ursatz structures should join to form a single, deeper-level

to J \ structure. On both the scale of the entire movement and on ^ . ^ r^ the scale of the recapitulation, the challenge is to find a domi- nant with sufficient structural priority to connect the initial and final tonics. Within the recapitulation of a typical major- J mode sonata form that takes 3 as its Kopfton, it is often difficult to find such a chord. 24 Ironically, Oster's comment I I V that the purpose of the fifth-progression is "to restate in the Recapitulation: First Group Second Group

23 0n at least one occasion Schenker reconciles these problems by inter- preting the recapitulation of the transition as a prolongation of the with in Example 5, 21 but like Schenker, he does not explore the Ļ the second theme expanding only the terminal Ī (Free Composition, supple- theoretical implications of this interpretation. The prolon- mentary vol.: Fig. 35, 1). Though this interpretation conforms to Schenker's gational slur connecting the first 3 with the 3 that appears criteria for linear progressions, it shows the structural close too early, given within the second group indicates that the š-4-3 motion pro- Schenker's normal analytic practice. In formal terms, it has the unfortunate longs the Kopfton, as the graphic notation in Example 6 dem- effect of attributing a coda-like function to the recapitulation of the second onstrates. Only the final two members of the descent from theme. 24In a major-mode movement in which both theme groups articulate fifth- Š are retained so as to complete the larger replica Urlinie. But progressions, Schenker is able to derive the recapitulation from a single rep- this interpretation contradicts the internal melodic indivisi- lica Ursatz. He graphs the first group as a prolongation of Š and elevates the bility Schenker normally assigns to a linear progression. 22 The entire second group to the earlier level so that its linear progression provides stem expresses a conflict in the hierarchical status of the 2 the descent from Š to 1. Though Schenkerians might argue therefore that when moving from the first to the second middleground level, major-mode sonata forms with as their Kopfton represent a special category, the logical conclusion of this argument is highly un-Schenkerian: that these while the slur connecting the 3s creates a prolongational dis- movements are less organically unified than those with Š as their Kopfton. crepancy within the second middleground level itself. More- Indeed, many of the sonata forms that Schenker discusses throughout Free Composition take as their Kopfton. Moreover, the problems in the rec- 21 lbid. , 138, n. 16. onciliation of the two-part first middleground with a single Ursatz remain, 22Ibid., 43-45 and 73-82. regardless of the identity of the Kopfton. 86 Music Theory Spectrum

main key the diminution which appeared at the first "25 cuts vation with the tonal structure of the first movement of ,

to the core of the issue: the new tonal relationships in the Brahms's C-Minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60, demonstrates the Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 recapitulation cannot always be shown to arise out of the relationship between the theorist and the composer in their diminution of a single replica Ursatz. In many cases, Rosen's mutual response to sonata form. Because a parallel structure concept of large-scale dissonance resolution provides a more is merely suggested by the thematic design and the divisional convincing explanation. element proves to be illusory from the perspective of mid- These theoretical problems expose some of the limitations dleground relations, the movement fulfills the ideal of con- of Schenker's approach in dealing with "the confrontation of tinuous tonal evolution that Schenker is unable to reconcile formal phrase structure relationships and presumably con- fully with classical sonata form. tinuous contrapuntal writing. " 26 Nevertheless, Schenker's Across the exposition and development of the quartet, the theory does go well beyond the schemata of late-eighteenth- large-scale coordinates with the formal design and nineteenth-century Formenlehre to reveal aspects of according to the conventions of the classical period. As Ex- tonal coherence in classical-period sonata forms. In so doing, ample 7 shows, the first group prolongs Ī in mm. 1-41 and his theoretical writings provide evidence of both the positive fuses with a transition that modulates to the relative major and negative effects of anachronistic thinking. By approach- for the presentation of the second group at m. 70. The first- ing late-eighteenth-century music from the perspective of a order linear progression of the second group is of the prefix late-nineteenth-century organicist, Schenker delivers pene- type and descends to the Kopfton, which reenters at the struc- trating insight into numerous features of tonal structure, but tural close of the exposition. The development eventually he simultaneously distorts formal relationships to satisfy his introduces the 2 of the Urlinie and the V of the Bassbrechung own esthetic proclivities. at the retransition (m. 177), and the entrance of these con- In contrast, Brahms's engagement with recapitulatory pro- stituents raises expectations for the recapitulation of the main cedures is in the form of a creative appropriation, and he is theme in the tonic. The anticipated reprise would normally thus able to realize to its logical extreme the kind of organicist reintroduce Ī and initiate a second replica Ursatz or, in tra- interpretation of sonata form that Schenker later espoused ditional formal terms, would mark the beginning of the re- for the Viennese classicists. One of the central issues Brahms capitulation as a major point of formal articulation. faced in sonata-form composition was to reconcile the strong Instead of fully confirming these expectations, Brahms re- element of repetition inherent in the concept of recapitulation composes the first group in order to prolong further the re- with the late-nineteenth-century ideal of continuous motion transitional dominant. Though recapitulatory overlaps of this or growth. The Schenkerian Ursatz can also be seen to stem kind are pervasive in the nineteenth century and can also be from this predilection, so that Brahms and Schenker appear found in the sonata forms of Haydn and Mozart, 27 in the to have embarked on curiously parallel projects when they C-Minor Piano Quartet the formal strategy has special sig- approached sonata form. A comparison of the type-2 deri-

27See Robert Morgan, The Delayed Structural Downbeat and Its Effect 25Free Composition, 138, n. 16. on the Tonal and Rhythmic Structure of Sonata Form Recapitulation" (Ph.D. 26Keiler, "On Some Properties," 221. diss . , Princeton University, 1969) . A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 87

Example 7. Brahms, C-Minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60, is Tonal premature and deceptive motion away from the dominant to structure of the exposition and development blur the onset of the recapitulation. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021

70 120 177 The tonic finally enters in mm. 201-4 within the contin- uation of the main theme, but it is not approached directly from the dominant, nor is it articulated as a point of reso- lution in the phrase structure. Instead, the transformed re- statement leads back at m. 205 to the dominant, which re- mains the prolonged . The subsequent statements of the tonic function as either applied dominants to IV in mm. 206 and 210 or, with a suspended Ab , as passing chords be- 111 va tween the IV and the reentry of the dominant in mm. 208 and First Second Retransit ion 212. The dominant of mm. 196-97 is decisively rearticulated Group Group at m. 213, and these two harmonic pillars frame the inter- nificance: it becomes the first stage in a process by which vening material within a prolongation of V. The remaining Brahms reconciles the thematic parallelism of sonata form portion of the first-group restatement clearly prolongs V up with a continuous tonal background. The relevant passage is until m. 227, where the transition to the second group begins. reproduced in Example 8. Though limited aspects of the an- A lack of thematic stability complements the tension pro- ticipated reprise do materialize, including a transformed re- vided by the extension of the retransitional dominant. The statement of the main theme in mm. 199-205 and the reentry blurred reentry of the main theme leads immediately to the of the tonic chord (albeit not the tonic Stufe) in mm. 201-4, motivically bare chord progression of mm. 206-12. The pas- the contrapuntal structure remains continuous; there is no sage is almost completely devoid of motivic content with the tonal rebeginning and thus no interruption. exception of the rhythmically displaced statements of the Brahms overlaps the retransition and the recapitulation head motive of the main theme. The fractured motivic char- through a continuation of the motivic and harmonic processes acter is an example of Schoenberg's concept of liquidation, of the development across the reemergence of the main a process that strips away characteristic features and dissolves theme. The dominant moves deceptively to VI in the cli- motivic fragments into more generic material. 28 As Schoen- mactic bar of the retransition (m. 198) , and no further har- berg suggests, such a severe reduction of motivic content monic change occurs at the thematic entrance in the piano often prepares for something new to enter. The liquidation in the following measure. In addition to the harmonic con- thus contributes to a tension between retransitional and re- tinuity, a gradual dissolution of the climax straddles the for- capitulatory formal functions. mal juncture. The dramatic apex coincides with the entrance The entrance of the sixteenth-note figure in m. 213 con- of a triplet, half-note rhythmic figure, which is transferred to stitutes a return to somewhat more characteristic material a lower register with a reduction of doubling, first in mm. that seems as if it might lead to a thematic entrance at a point 199-200 and then in mm. 200-201, where the cello presents the rhythmic motive in augmentation. Since the dissolution 28Arnold Schoenberg, Fundamentals of Musical Composition, ed. Gerald cuts across the reentry of the main theme, it joins with the Strang and Leonard Stein (London: Faber and Faber, 1970), 30, 58, and 152.

88 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 8. Brahms, C-Minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60, i, mm. 194-246 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021

Vi.

Via.

Vol.

Piano

* ^. 201

^ ^ ^^ I.^y^i•S► ^t ^T^ ^t ^T^ ^ ^ JIM 7^ i< ^ ^ i< 7^ r..^^r^i.^i•i^:I^^^^^it^i^U: s ^ ^^^i.ci^^^ ^s ^ ^

f espress. _ f dim.

f espress. _ dim.

bb J J ^ 4 4•

7,, i I „,...... ,,,.ai , MINI n ^i ...i^ i " NE n ' t =i -; ii /.^1 n M/Qi .^ • ^ i!^ .i n /' ^ n rIi ^^^^ n I^i^" ^i" ...... ^i•it^ ^^^^ n ^..^^ r^i•^^ti^^^r^i^ ^' ^iil^^.i^ ^^^^i. i ^ ...MI siv ^Vrit^^ .S •^t/,^ ^ imil•W, ^i ^l ^ ^iti ^^i^^^^ . ^

r i - ^^ri• MINI ^ ^ ^• ^ ^ ^^^^^ i • - i •

• • 4• ^ A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 89

Example 8 [continued]. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 212

I ś bb r p . 75Lf3=J9 J\ J

p n

.::1 90 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 8 [continued]. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 228 r_ r ^-- r P ,. .91 p dim. • P ,. ^ 9 ' 18 # r r r• C p dim.

, 7. J • p dim.

pp molto dolce

p espress. PP molto doke

iti• 1,111n111=11' 111111i '.11n1=1V r•i• r•7 r.11•1M =W7 JIMINr•711 ^ i rririir r ii^ EMI li MN ME MIMI= MO ME ^ A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 91

of harmonic resolution. 29 The implied transitional function is pect the formal overlap at the beginning of the recapitulation

enforced by the origin of the sixteenth-note figure, which first to resolve at the entrance of the second theme. The transition Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 appeared in the transition in the exposition. However, a goal could prepare for a return of the theme transposed to the never materializes, and the sixteenth notes dissolve back into tonic with an arrival on the home dominant, a situation that a melodic residue at m. 217. The beginning of the recapitu- would invest the structural downbeat at the beginning of the lation, a part of sonata form that is often characterized by a second group with increased significance as both the culmi- return to the tonic and fully formed thematic statements, nation of the recapitulatory overlap and the initiation of the instead sustains the dominant prolongation and fragmentary resolution of the large-scale dissonance of the exposition. motivic character of the retransition. But in an extreme expression of his compositional econ- Brahms may have been motivated to recompose the first omy, Brahms chooses to sustain the tension even further in group by a desire to draw further consequences from a ten- order to create a still more powerful structural downbeat, one sion between the formal functions of initiation and prepa- that combines those elements of resolution with the structural ration that characterizes its original appearance. Though the close for the movement as a whole. For in what is perhaps movement departs from the tonic, the slow surface the most unusual aspect of the movement, he leads the tran- and modest dynamic level, the unison quasi-fermati in the sition not to the dominant, but to V/V via a motivically sig- piano, the absence of a sustained texture, and the large-scale nificant expansion of the anomalous pizzicato E q of mm. arrival on the dominant in the first part of the main theme 224-26. In the process, he transforms the prolonged domi- (mm. 1-31) give the opening a decidedly unstable character. nant of the home key into a middleground tonic. The E q , The sudden shift to a faster surface rhythm and sustained which originally functioned as a lower neighbor to F in the texture in forte for the second part of the first group (mm. exposition, gives rise to a brief tonicization of E minor that 32-41) provides only a temporary resolution for the anacrus- leads by means of a descending 5-6 sequence to V/V in prep- tic quality of the opening, again despite a harmonic departure aration for the recapitulation of the second group in the dom- from the tonic. The agitation of the new setting increases with inant key. the crescendo and expansion into the upper register that be- The tonicized dominant becomes the controlling harmony gins in m. 38 and spills over into the transition. Ultimately, for the second group, which enters at m. 236 and prolongs the instability of the first group does not resolve until the V as if it were the exposition of a sonata form. The reca- structural downbeat at the arrival of the second theme at pitulation, which from Rosen's perspective finds its motiva- m. 70. tion in the tendency of classical-period composers to resolve Given the general importance of the "lyrical" second large-scale dissonance, here creates a large-scale dissonance. theme in nineteenth-century accounts of sonata form and the The second group is in the dominant for some forty-four bars anacrusis-to-structural-downbeat relationship between the before it begins to shift back to the tonic key at m. 279, and theme groups in the exposition of the quartet, we might ex- even at that point the dominant remains in control. The de- finitive resolution to the tonic Stufe comes in the coda at m. 313, only fourteen bars from the end of the movement. 30 In 29As Schoenberg states, "[a] liquidation can, at one point or another, cease to eliminate [characteristic features]; instead it can begin to develop and add new features. It then will have changed into a transition" (Arnold 30It is possible to interpret the tonic on the downbeat of m. 288 as the Schoenberg, "Connection of Musical Ideas," in his Style and Idea, 288). structural close, but the immediate motion to B q in the top voice disturbs the 92 Music Theory Spectrum addition, Brahms continues to develop his material themat- Example 9. Brahms, C-Minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60, is Tonal ically, now by taking advantage of the theme-and-variations structure of the entire movement Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 structure of the original second group. Through a new set of 70 120 177 236 279 313 variations on the eight-bar second theme, he further inten- ^ sifies the tension between continual evolution and large-scale 3 2 repetition in his highly organicist approach to sonata-form . , recapitulation. P . ^ J Through an overlap of retransitional and recapitulatory formal functions all the way to the coda, Brahms conflates ^ the return of the tonic and the structural close into a single entity and merges the divided middleground of sonata form q into a continuous background. This unusual tonal structure III vq vq is shown in Example 9. Because the recapitulation does not First Second Retransition Second Group Coda articulate a rebeginning, its dominant prolongation resides on Group Group and First Group the same structural level as the initial and final tonics, and the analyst can graph the tonal structure of the exposition and development as the background motion from Ī to ,, as in the Or, as Schenker would ideally have it for all sonata forms, type-2 derivation. the formal design and the articulations it creates can be un- When the movement is viewed synoptically, it turns out derstood as part of an ultimately indivisible linear projection that there is no second 3-2, and the first 3-2 truly represents of the tonic triad . 32 a course already run; only the 1 is still lacking. The question as to which middleground constituents form the background *** Ursatz ceases to be a problematic issue. Though undivided sonata forms can be found in earlier repertoires, 31 the ex- tended tonicization of the background dominant in the re- 32David Beach describes a similar reconciliation of sonata-form design capitulation of the quartet takes this compositional strategy with a continuous tonal structure in several Schubert movements in "Schu- to a logical extreme perhaps without precedent. The apparent bert's Experiments." The examples Beach cites involve a reorientation of the recapitulatory element derives not from a parallel voice- main theme around the in the recapitulation and a return to the structural dominant at the end of the bridge material. The restatement of the leading structure, but from Brahms's invocation of the pat- second group, however, prolongs the tonic as in late eighteenth-century so- terns of themes and keys codified by traditional form theory, nata forms. As Beach demonstrates, the status of the tonic in the second group which he subsumes within an overarching tonal continuity. allows for an alternate interpretation of the movements as interruption forms. In contrast, Brahms's emphasis on the dominant throughout the recapitu- lation in the C-Minor Piano Quartet "forces the issue" so that the location sense of resolution and makes the C sound like an appoggiatura. Brahms also of a middleground interruption is not possible. Nevertheless, given Brahms's avoids a structural tonic arrival in m. 308, another point of potential closure, well-known admiration for Schubert, we can view his approach as an inten- by retaining G in the bass across the formal articulation. sification of the procedures of his predecessor, rather than an outright in- 31 See footnote 4. novation. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 93

Though the C-Minor Piano Quartet is an extreme case velopment, an expectation that is further supported by the

even for Brahms, there are other movements in his oeuvre fact that Brahms almost always leads his sonata forms to a Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 in which a single Ursatz can be seen to subsume the thematic large-scale V at some point prior to the recapitulation. parallelism of sonata form. The first movement of the Third However, despite the characteristic motivic processes and Symphony, Op. 90 is an especially interesting example be- fantasy-like modulations of the development section (mm. cause, in spirit, it represents a compositional realization of 71-119), the dominant never materializes. As Oster points Schenker's type-1 derivation of sonata form. In contrast to out,

the quartet where the enters in the retransition and extends - v after I—III# q of the exposition, the composer avoids in the devel- across the recapitulation, Brahms withholds the structural opment section the expected V, which would ordinarily be followed dominant in the symphony until the coda, which finally pro- by I of the recapitulation. Instead, he brings about the I by moving, vides a background passing motion to Ī . in the most ingenious way, to an augmented-sixth chord on GI, (at As in the quartet, the limited degree of articulation at the the end of m. 119), which acts as a neighboring-note harmony of the beginning of the recapitulation is a result of the partial con- forthcoming I. 34 firmation of expectations stimulated by the exposition and Oster identifies the resulting middleground bass as a development. The first group (mm. 1-14) prolongs the tonic I—III—I progression, which he interprets as a reference to and modulates by means of a transition (mm. 15-35) to a Brahms's motto, F—A—F (Frei aber froh). 35 (The bass also thematically distinct second group in the major (m. forms a motivic parallelism with the numerous foreground 36) . Though third relations between the theme groups in a statements of the F—A—F figure, which functions as a kind of major-mode sonata form are rare (or perhaps nonexistent) in Leitmotiv throughout the movement.) In emphasizing this the late eighteenth century, Beethoven and Schubert used extramusical relationship, however, he shies away from a them with enough frequency so that they do not disturb the more complete interpretation of the tonic prolongation, per- associations with the Viennese sonata-form tradition when haps to avoid confrontation with a tonal structure that might coordinated with a conventional expository thematic de- contradict Schenker's conservatism regarding harmonic re- sign. 33 The tonicization of III # can still lead one to anticipate lations on the earlier structural levels. the arrival of a dividing dominant near the end of the de- , however, presents us with a more detailed analysis. His graph, which is reproduced as Example 10, 36 33Among Beethoven's major-mode works, the first movements of the String Quintet in C Major, Op. 29, the Piano Sonata in , Op. 31 No. 1, the in B6 Major, Op. 130, the Piano Sonata in C Major, 34Free Composition, 140. Op. 53 (Waldstein), the in BI, Major, Op. 97 (Archduke), the Piano 35 Recent research casts doubt on the authenticity of "Frei aber froh" as Sonata in B6 Major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier), and the finale of the Piano Brahms's motto. See Michael Musgrave, "Frei aber Froh: A Reconsidera- Trio in E6 Major, Op. 70 No. 2, have second groups in third relation to the tion," Nineteenth-Century Music 3 (1980): 251-58. tonic. For examples of third relations in Schubert's major-mode expositions, 36Felix Salzer, Structural Hearing: Tonal Coherence in Music (New York: see the first movements of the Piano Sonata in B6, D . 960, and the String Dover, 1962), supplementary vol.: Ex. 503b, 297. For a somewhat different Quintet in C Major. The expositions of the Beethoven works all close in the view of the tonal structure of the movement see Robert Bailey, "Musical third-related key; Schubert, on the other hand, eventually arrives on V before Language and Structure in the Third Symphony," in Brahms Studies: Ana- the development begins and thus organizes the exposition of these works lytical and Historical Perspectives, ed. George S. Bozarth (Oxford: Oxford around three keys. University Press, 1990), 405-21. 94 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 10. Brahms, Third Symphony, Op. 90, is Salzer's first middleground throughout the exposition and develop-

reading ment. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 Following the reprise of the main theme, Brahms adopts one of the methods that Beethoven and Schubert established for the recapitulation of expository third relations in major- mode sonata forms: he alters the transition within the reca- pitulation so that the restatement of the second group can appear transposed down a fifth to D-major (m. 149). 38 This procedure, conservative from the perspective of thematic de- sign, simultaneously participates in the restoration of more VI V I M traditional tonal relations. The ultimately func- tions as a connective between the prolonged tonic and the dominant, which finally makes its entry at the coda (m. 183). However, even for the nineteenth century, where composers places the tonicization of C# that appears shortly after the tend to delay closure beyond the crossover into the coda, it beginning of the development on equal footing with the III # is rare for the structural dominant to make its first and only of the second group. The middleground bass can now be appearance this late in a sonata form. In addition, Brahms understood as a series of ascending major thirds, F—A—C#—F, further delays the resolution of the dominant until well be- essentially an Auskomponierung of an augmented triad. 37 yond m. 183, first through a prolongation of the displace- Brahms exploits the symmetry of this unusual Bassbrechung 4 ment up to m. 187, and second, by an extension of the chord to create a circular harmonic progression that avoids the 3 to m. 209, at which point the entrance of the tonic finally tonic-dominant polarity associated with sonata form. completes the Ursatz. Since an interruption form requires a progression to a Despite the transposition of the second group and the dividing dominant in addition to a middleground rebeginning, more paradigmatic harmonic relationships, the recapitulation no structural division takes place in the symphony, and the is undoubtedly part of a progressive approach to the inter- articulation at the recapitulation is a matter of thematic de- action of formal design and tonal structure. The fact that the sign. Though the reentry of the main theme signals the be- recapitulation seems more traditional in its middleground re- ginning of a new section in traditional form theory, in terms lationships only demonstrates how unusual the large-scale of large-scale tonal structure it merely rearticulates the con- tonal structure of the exposition and development is. Even stituents that have remained the controlling elements on the

38Beethoven and Schubert sometimes combine the transposition by fifth

37Though Salzer does not describe this middleground structure as an with the subsequent restatement of the second theme in the tonic. See, for Auskomponierung of an augmented triad, his graph clearly emphasizes the example, the first movements of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas in G Major, Op. series of ascending major thirds, and he does note that the nature of this 31 No. 1, and in C Major, Op. 53 (Waldstein), and the finale of his Piano prolongation "is prophetic in its anticipation of future tonal concepts" (Salzer, Trio in E6 Major, Op. 70 No. 2. The other alternative that they cultivated Structural Hearing, 248) . is the transposition of the entire third-related material to the tonic. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 95

with the chromatic alteration of the submediant, a I— practice is an expression of his conservatism, a fidelity to a

VI # - a —V—I middleground progression is hardly shocking in procedure that he must have considered essential for a per- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 the late-nineteenth-century historical context, especially petuation of the Viennese sonata-form tradition. As evidence when compared to a bass line that outlines an augmented of his beliefs regarding the underlying principles of classical- triad. But the fact that this progression introduces at the coda period sonata form, Brahms's recapitulations express the cur- the first and only deep-level dominant of a sonata form is rently accepted view that the tonal transposition of charac- extraordinary. Brahms manages to prolong the tonic across teristic material originally presented outside the tonic was the exposition and the development without recourse to the historically a more essential feature than either a full re- dominant; only after the rearticulation of the Kopfton and statement of the first group, or even a coordinated return of the tonic at the recapitulation does he finally lead through v the first theme and the tonic. 40 to Ī in the manner of a type-1 derivation. But the Third Symphony also demonstrates that Brahms's conservatism regarding his second groups may be more ap- * * * parent than real from the perspective of large-scale tonal structure. When viewed from afar, his adherence to the so- In the first movement of the Third Symphony and in his nata principle helps maintain a strong element of the parallel sonata forms in general, Brahms's adherence to the sonata design of the form, but upon closer scrutiny the transposed principle can be viewed as the substantiation of a traditional restatement may participate in a continuous tonal structure compositional procedure in the face of late-nineteenth- more characteristic of the late nineteenth century. century esthetics. Despite his predilection for developmental Crucial to Brahms's reinterpretation of the tonal function recomposition in the recapitulation of his first groups, of the recapitulation of the second group in the symphony is Brahms almost always recapitulates his second groups trans- its third relation to the tonic in the exposition. When trans- posed to the tonic, or brings the material into closer relation posed down by fifth, the second group can easily be rein- to the tonic, as the principle dictates. 39 On the one hand, this terpreted as part of a large-scale motion from I to V. In Brahms's sonata forms in general, however, the potential for 39The tendency of classical-period composers to reconcile large-scale tonal a tonal reinterpretation of the second theme more often arises issues was characterized as the sonata principle by Edward T. Cone, Musical from a delay in the arrival of the large-scale harmonic goals Form and Musical Performance (New York: Norton, 1968), 76-77. Criteria for the evaluation of what constitutes a closer relation to the tonic in the absence of restatement in the tonic have yet to be formulated. The need 40See, for example, Rosen, Sonata Forms, and Leonard Ratner. Classic for a study of this topic is especially urgent vis- ā-vis the sonata forms of Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer. 1980). Rosen Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms; the Third Symphony is but one example states that "we must not assume that the eighteenth-century composer was in which third-related material in an exposition appears transposed to another required to begin at the head with the first theme, or that he had to go over third-related key in the recapitulation rather than to the tonic. For a survey the whole of the exposition. Indeed, it was possible to begin anywhere in the of typical procedures in Brahms's sonata forms see James Webster, "Schu- first group." He later adds that "[w]hat must reappear in the recapitulation— bert's Sonata Form and Brahms's First Maturity," Parts 1 and 2, Nineteenth- and this is a rule that holds true from the very beginnings of anything that Century Music 2 (1978) : 18-35, and 3 (1979) : 52-71; and "The General and can be called sonata style—is the second group. at least any part of it that the Particular in Brahms's Later Sonata Forms," in Brahms Studies: Analytical has an individual and characteristic aspect, and that does not already have and Historical Perspectives, 49-78. its analogue in the first group" (Sonata Forms, 285, 287). 96 Music Theory Spectrum

traditionally associated with the beginning of that formal unit An additional method by which Brahms defers the tonal

in the exposition. Our next example, the finale of the same goal of his expositions, one which he adopts in both the tra- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 symphony, provides an instance of this treatment of the sec- ditional two-key and three-key types, is the postponement ond group and also demonstrates how Brahms sometimes of the arrival on the tonicized dominant triad until well be- takes advantage of it to create a continuous tonal structure yond the point at which the dominant key has begun to con- across the parallelism of sonata form. trol the local harmonic progressions. He most likely learned In classical-period sonata forms, the tonic chord of the this strategy from Beethoven, 42 though it is not unusual secondary key often enters via its own dominant immediately for nineteenth-century composers in general to create end- following the transition. A V–I resolution at the entrance of accented formal units through a suspension of local tonic the second group presents an articulated arrival of the new articulation. A famous Brahmsian instance is our current ex- controlling harmony at the outset of the formal unit. In har- ample, the finale of the Third Symphony, in which the second monic terms, the remainder of this kind of second group is group is in the dominant from the outset, but the middle- devoted to the confirmation of the dominant (or mediant) as ground V/V remains the prolonged harmony. The distinction a local tonic to the extent that it forms a polarity with the is between simply being in a key, in which case the local tonic home key. The bipolar orientation is particularly apparent at may be present by implication only, and the explicit statement the end of the exposition, where much time is usually spent of the local tonic as the goal of a cadential progression at a on the repetition of stereotypical cadential gestures. point of formal articulation. By delaying the latter type of In the context of Brahms's severe compositional economy harmonic definition, Brahms invests the final stages of the and rich harmonic vocabulary, an extensive span of music exposition with a more exclusive harmonic function than singularly devoted to the polarization of the dominant might otherwise might be the case. sound empty or formulaic. One of the ways Brahms maintains Before we turn our attention to the second group of the dynamism across the exposition is to insert an apparent ad- finale, it is necessary to examine the main theme in order to ditional key within the large-scale tonal motion from I to V. highlight certain features that are crucial to a discussion of Following Schubert's example, he uses third relations to delay the recapitulation. The first group articulates a small ternary the arrival of the dominant and invest a traditionally stable design as follows: A— mm. 1-18, B —mm. 19-29, and A' — part of the form with a transitional harmonic function. Com- mm. 30-35. Yet despite its unambiguous formal divisions positional economy in the resulting three-key exposition is and thematic circularity, the first group is neither a closed achieved through the expanded harmonic content, the tran- sitional status of the initial stages of the second group on the within the Classical Tradition" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1983); and Web- earlier levels of structure, the delayed arrival of the expo- ster, "Schubert's Sonata Form and Brahms's First Maturity." sition's ultimate harmonic goal, and the fact that the expo- 42See, for example, the first movements of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas in sition does not spend an inordinate amount of time confirm- , Op. 2 No. 1, in C Minor, Op. 13 (Pathētique), and in , ing that goal. 41 Op. 31 No. 2 (Tempest). In the first two examples, Beethoven prolongs V/III into the body of the second group, and in the F-Minor sonata he even with- holds the local tonic until the structural close of the exposition. In the first 41A detailed discussion of Brahms's three-key expositions would be be- movement of the Tempest, the dominant is the goal of the exposition, but the yond the scope of the present study. For a full exploration of this complex second group sits on V/V and holds the resolution to A in check for quite topic see Roger C. Graybill, "Brahms's Three-Key Expositions: Their Place a while. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 97

harmonic unit nor does it provide even a delayed articulation Example 11. Brahms, Third Symphony, Op. 90, iv: Analytic

of the tonic. Instead, it establishes the tonic through a dom- sketch of mm. 1-8 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 inant prolongation. 5 7 8 The opening of the A section implies either the prolon- 3 gation of Š as a one-part melodic entity or the tenuous sug- gestion of a compound in which the C functions as the embryo of a gradually emerging dominant that first ac- quires its third in mm. 5-7, and finally appears in complete form at the half cadence in m. 8 (see Ex. 11). The emphasis on the dominant continues in the phrase repetition (mm. 4 6 46 9-18), which begins with a neighboring ,64 chord over C and v 2 2 culminates in a tonicization of V. Following a subsidiary mo- tion to III in the B section, Brahms returns to the dominant at the entrance of the A' section, and though the V finally of a third-related key and the extended prolongation of V/V resolves at the beginning of the transition (m. 36), it does so —naturally become a means for the delay of the arrival of through a passing seventh in the bass to a V6/IV chord. the tonic triad in the second group of his recapitulations. Still, Following the dominant prolongation of the first group, not all second groups of this type function within the kind of the transition leads to V/C at m. 46 in preparation for the continuous tonal structure we have observed in the C-Minor entrance of the second theme at m. 52. However, the V/C Piano Quartet and the first movement of the Third Sym- extends across the formal boundary and, as mentioned above, phony. In his expositions, Brahms normally articulates the the second group also establishes its key center through a tonic either at the outset or at some point within the first dominant prolongation. The control of the local dominant is group, so that any emphasis on V/V (or a third-related key, particularly clear at the cadential progressions in mm. 55-56 or both) in the second group falls within a middleground and 65-66, which are heard locally as perfect authentic ca- progression from I to V. Likewise, despite frequent overlaps dences in G rather than half- in C (note the stepwise with the development, the tonic Stufe often reenters at some melodic descent from D to G in the cello beginning in m. 54 point prior to the recapitulation of the second group, and the and the C—D—G bass line at mm. 55-56 and 65-66), and at I—V/V—V middleground progression of the exposition be- the climactic arrival in mm. 73-74 on VII/C as a substitute comes a I—V—I prolongation of the tonic when the second for G on the foreground. The prolonged G dominant does group appears transposed down a fifth. 44 not resolve until m. 75, a full twenty-four bars into the second However, on occasion Brahms extends the dominant of group . 43 the retransition not only across the initial stages of the first The two methods by which Brahms delays the arrival of the tonicized dominant in his expositions— the interpolation 44For example, in the recapitulation of the first movement of the Fourth Symphony, Op. 98, the tonic reenters within the first-group restatement (m. 273) before the extended emphasis on V (originally V/V in the exposition) 43For a more detailed discussion and graphic analysis of the entire ex- in the transition and second group begins at m. 297. Though the entrance of position of Op. 90 see Graybill, "Brahms's Three-Key Expositions," 216-76 the tonic within the second group is delayed until m. 339, the prolongation and 372-75. of V is part of a prolongation of the tonic on the first middleground level. 98 Music Theory Spectrum

group, but also up to the entrance of the second group, in Figure 1. Brahms, Third Symphony, Op. 90, iv: Formal rela-

which case the rearticulation of the tonic is left solely to the tionships Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 secondary thematic material. In these movements, a second Exposition Recapitulation group that originally remained poised on V/V or a third- related key will naturally extend the unresolved (or, in Schen- First Group/ First Group/Refrain kerian terms, noninterrupted) retransitional dominant when A(1-18) V XXX transposed down a fifth in the recapitulation. This is the sit- B(19-29) III XXX A'(30-35) V A'(172-80) V uation in the finale of the Third Symphony, where the pro- Transition (36-51) V/V Transition (181-93) V longation of the retransitional dominant across the trans- Second Group (52-107) V/V Second Group (194-251) V formed first-theme restatement in mm. 172-80 is a logical to V as local tonic (75) to I, inconclusive (217) outgrowth of the lack of tonic definition in its original Refrain (108-33) V Refrain (252-59) 'IV form. The formal and tonal relationships are summarized in as dominant Figure 1. Coda (260-309) V to I, In a procedure typical of the nineteenth century, Brahms conclusive omits the A and B sections of the ternary main theme and proceeds directly to material analogous to the original A' formal articulation. In recapitulations in which he delays the section. Recapitulating only the A' material allows him to return to the tonic, Brahms normally presents the resolution sustain the fortissimo and tutti that have characterized the at a significant internal formal juncture—either at the en- development since m. 149 and to avoid the formal articula- trance of the A' section in a tripartite first theme, or the tions within the original main theme in favor of greater for- beginning of the transition, the arrival of the second theme, ward momentum. The transformed restatement functions as or at the focal point of the coda. 45 In the finale of the Third a link between the retransition and the bridge material, and Symphony, the large-scale resolution of the dominant is em- all three formal units form a single dominant prolongation bedded within the middle of the second group and is followed that continues into the transposed second theme at m. 194. by a highly fluid continuation. Through a conflict between a Though Brahms brings the secondary material one notch major point of harmonic resolution and an unstable fore- closer to the tonic on the and in that sense ground setting, Brahms significantly diminishes the resolving conforms to the sonata principle, the first and second groups force of the tonic. are unified on the middleground through a prolongation of Following this mediated structural downbeat, the remain- V, not I. Moreover, the points of tonicization for V/C in the der of the second group avoids harmonic closure. It does not original second theme (mm. 55-56 and 65-66) now give the carry the structural top voice Al, of m. 217 down to 1 , but home dominant a transient tonic function at the analogous instead leads to a transformation of the first theme set in B cadential articulations in mm. 197-98 and 207-8. The tonic enters only at m. 217, the point analogous to the delayed 45For a discussion of the range of locations for the tonic return in Brahms's arrival of the tonicized dominant in the exposition. sonata forms see my "Formal Ambiguity and Large-Scale Tonal Structure in In addition to the length of its delay, the tonic return is Brahms's Sonata-Form Recapitulations" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1992), also noteworthy for its disassociation from a major point of 86-141. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 99

minor that substitutes for the refrain in the tonic at the anal- of the finale (originally heard in the second movement) is

ogous point in the exposition (compare mm. 108-33 with mm. transformed in the brass and woodwinds into a solemn pro- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 252-59) . The definitive harmonic resolution arrives only in cessional that ushers in an ethereal reverie of the Schumann the coda. Ultimately this enormous delay of a more satis- quotation. The veiling of the quotation within the sixteenth- factory structural downbeat serves a poetic function: it im- note figuration transports its original impassioned character, parts greater poignancy to the transformed return in the final which remained earthbound due to internal conflicts (the bars of the symphony of the Schumann quotation originally Ab —Aq cross relation and the syncopated accompaniment), heard as the main theme of the first movement. 46 to the pure sublimity of a shimmering F-major triad. The final The prolonged bass WI at the end of the second group bars of the symphony are programmatically the ultimate rest- functions as a leading tone to the dominant that enters at ing place for Schumann and structurally the only extended the coda. The dominant is then prolonged throughout the and stable statement of the tonic in the recapitulation, a typ- rhythmically expanded restatement of the A section of the ical Schumannesque device. first theme in mm. 260-80, another instance in which Brahms Through the delay of a tonic articulation in the recapit- exploits the original structural tendencies of this material to ulation in favor of a continued dominant prolongation, delay the arrival of the tonic at a major formal juncture. The Brahms reconciles the element of repetition inherent in so- dominant finally resolves to the tonic at m. 281. Yet even here nata form with a continuous tonal background. Similar to the Brahms prevents a complete sense of closure by introducing first movement of the C-Minor Piano Quartet, the motion to VI# at m. 289 in the subsequent tonic prolongation before the dominant in the exposition turns out to be a course al- moving on to the final V—I progression in mm. 296-301. 47 ready run. The reader will recall that this approach represents The thematic substance of the coda consists of the primary a compositional realization of Schenker's type-2 derivation motives from the first group of the finale and from the first of the interruption paradigm from a single Ursatz. From a group of the first movement (compare mm. 1-3, 3-4, and Schenkerian perspective, the parallelism in Brahms's formal 7-10 of the first movement with mm. 297-300, 301-7, and design is an aspect of the foreground; the sectionalization that 272-78 of the fourth, respectively) . With the reintroduction it suggests is deceptive in light of the large-scale harmonic of material from the first movement, Brahms presents a continuity. major-mode resolution for both the finale and for the sym- Though at first glance the quartet would appear to be the phony as a whole . 48 The dirge-like B section of the first group more unusual of the two movements due to the outright toni- cization of the dominant in the recapitulation, the symphony

46The theme is borrowed from mm. 449-54 of Schumann's Third Sym- does hint at a similar elevated status for V at the cadences phony, Op. 97. in mm. 197-98 and 207-8. Furthermore, the harmonic struc- 47Even the final V—I progression at mm. 296-97 does not give way im- ture of the exposition in the symphony is without question mediately to a sustained tonic. The Š—Ē motion and the presence of the minor the more unusual of the two. In the quartet, all is as expected version of the ascending-third motive F—Ab in mm. 297-300 prevent a com- plete feeling of resolution. A full sense of repose is withheld until m. 301. 48For a discussion of cyclic integration across the entire symphony see guage," 405-21; and David Brodbeck, "Brahms, The Third Symphony, and Walter Frisch, Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation (Berkeley: The New German School," in Brahms and His World, ed. Walter Frisch University of California Press, 1984), 129-42; Robert Bailey, "Musical Lan- (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 65-80. 100 Music Theory Spectrum

in terms of key relations for a minor-mode movement with and an extended prolongation of V/V. Up to this point we

I moving through V/III to III; the striking tonal feature occurs have only seen an emphasis on V/V in his second groups. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 in the recapitulation. In the symphony, the entire exposition Though the large-scale goal of the exposition in the string prolongs the dominant, first as V in the tonic key and then quartet is III rather than V, its second group exhibits a re- as a tonicized entity in it own right. The prolonged dominant lationship between formal design and tonal structure similar resurfaces at the overlap between the development and the to the prolongation of V/V in the second key area of the recapitulation, continues into the transposed restatement of symphony finale. Brahms again arrives on the dominant of the second group, and resolves to I only at the mediated the subordinate key at the entrance of the second theme (m. structural downbeat at m. 217, the first appearance of a large- 32) and continues to prolong V/III as the material unfolds. scale structural tonic in the movement. The second group even includes several transient toniciza- In the quartet, the entire recapitulation is a dominant- tions of B b similar to the cadential arrivals on G in the ex- prolonging structural anacrusis to the coda. In the symphony, position of the symphony. Its first and third sections (mm. the entire movement prolongs the dominant until the struc- 32-40 and 53-66) both begin on V/III and culminate in a tural close. The overwhelming emphasis on the dominant in tonicization of B b , only to return to V/III in the foreground part explains why the tonic entrance at m. 217 is so indecisive. at the entrance of the subsequent formal unit. 49 The dominant The enormous dominant prolongation requires a tonic of prolongation finally resolves to the local tonic at m. 75, only much greater foreground assertiveness, and Brahms delays a nine bars before the development. more satisfactory resolution as part of an apotheosis of the The recapitulation restates the second group transposed Schumann quotation. down a third without alteration until the coda, and the pro- longation of V/III appears as a prolongation of the home *** dominant (mm. 173-215). But the prolongation of V origi- nates neither in the second group of the exposition as in the The final two sonata forms to be discussed here, the first symphony finale, nor in the retransition as in the C-Minor movement of the C-Minor String Quartet, Op. 51 No. 1, and Piano Quartet, but only in m. 143, after the entrance of the the finale of the D-Minor Violin Sonata, Op. 108, provide recapitulation. Brahms simultaneously avoids the tonic at the further examples in which Brahms delays the arrival of the reprise, emphasizes the motivic significance of the A b 3 chord harmonic goal of the exposition and takes advantage of the in the original version of the theme, and exploits the end- situation to delay the return of the tonic in the recapitulation. A brief examination of these movements is important because they demonstrate that the tonal structure of the second group 49Though the second tonicization of 136 lacks full cadential articulation, in the Third Symphony finale is not unique and also, in the the prolongation of the F dominant in mm. 62-65 is heard on the foreground case of the C-Minor String Quartet, that this type of harmonic as an expansion of V7 in B b . Furthermore, the arrivals on C q in the structural organization can be used in the context of a type-1 derivation. top voice above the V7/131, chords in mm. 40 and 62 strongly imply a melodic resolution to 136 as I. For a penetrating analysis of the rich structural de- Furthermore, in the Third Violin Sonata, Brahms adopts both tails in the C-Minor String Quartet, as well as a Schenkerian graph of the methods to postpone the arrival of the structural tonic of the first group and transition, see Graybill, "Brahms's Three-Key Expositions," secondary key, a transient tonicization of a third-related key 133-78 and 368-69. A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 101 accentuation of the opening phrase as a means to articulate The vacillation between being on and in the dominant at the entrance of the large-scale structural dominant. 5o the bridge between the A and B sections (mm. 143-50) Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 The development centers around 4 VI (A major/minor) and presages a pattern of harmonic organization in the recapit- eventually leads at m. 133 to an Ab 3 chord (initially heard ulation of the second group. When transposed down a minor as V6/III in A major). Rather than prepare the recapitulation third, the first and third phrases in the second group (mm. with the home dominant, Brahms simply reinterprets the Al, 173-81 and 194-207) also shift back and forth between a triad as VI6 in C minor at the thematic entrance in m. 137. presentation of the dominant as V/C at the foreground level In the process, he transforms the prolonged I—V progression and as a local tonic. Brahms reinterprets the emphasis on of the A section (mm. 1-8) of the tripartite first group into V/III in the exposition as a continuation of the dominant a prolonged VI6—V progression. The dominant goal becomes prolongation introduced by the return of the main theme, and the more significant structural entity and initiates a prolon- he thereby delays the rearticulation of the tonic until the gation of the background V that extends across the bulk of structural close just prior to the coda (m. 216), the point the recapitulation. analogous to the arrival on III in the exposition. Following the VI 6—V progression of the A section, the Because the fundamental motion to the dominant does not further delay of the tonic return is a natural outgrowth of the begin until after the recapitulation, the background structure tendency toward harmonic digression already present in the of the string quartet interacts with the formal design in the dominant-prolonging B section (mm. 151-63), which "com- manner of Schenker's type-1 derivation as is shown in Ex- petes successfully with [the progressive harmony] of many a ample 12. The resulting tonal unity is part of a compositional Wagnerian passage. " 51 But Brahms rotates the recapitulation realization of Schenker's theoretical assertions regarding one notch further to the sharp side on the circle of fifths by the greater hierarchical significance of the second motion to approaching the entry of V at the beginning of the B section y in sonata form. In this respect, the string quartet is more with a cadential progression in the minor dominant (mm. like the first movement of the Third Symphony, where, as 149-50). Not until the return of the major form of V at m. the reader will recall, the tonic is prolonged by a series 151 does the home key reassert itself at the foreground of ascending major thirds until the submediant leads to the level. 52 dominant of the coda. One final example, the finale of the D-Minor Violin So- nata, Op. 108, will complete our discussion of movements 50 For a discussion of the motivic significance of the Al chord throughout in which Brahms subsumes the parallel structure of sonata the movement see Allen Forte, "Motivic Design and Structural Levels in the First Movement of Brahms's String Quartet in C Minor," The Musical Quar- form within a single Ursatz. In the exposition of the sonata, terly 69 (1983): 471-502. Brahms uses the two methods to delay the arrival of the 51 Schoenberg, "Brahms the Progressive," 402-3. Schoenberg refers spe- tonicized dominant in tandem: he combines a three-key cifically to the implied half cadence in B minor in mm. 20-21. At the anal- ogous point in the recapitulation, a digression to A minor is suggested. 52Further evidence of Brahms's intensification of the dominant orientation have been reinterpreted as a rearticulation of the tonic on the middleground of his material is found in his treatment of the A' section (m. 164). In its following the structural V. Brahms instead chooses to recompose it as part original form, the A' section brings back the tonic following the dominant of a tonicization of IV within a continued prolongation of the large-scale of the B section, and in a less developmental recapitulation it easily could dominant. 102 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 12. Brahms, C-Minor String Quartet, Op. 51 No. 1, is Example 13. Brahms, D-Minor Violin Sonata, Op. 108, iv: Mid-

Tonal structure dleground bass Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021

31 75 136 143 173 216 17 37 55 77 104 194 218 234 283 311 ^ 3 1

^ ^t--^ t - --- ^ 4 6 # q# r . ^ I V/V V V First Second Dev. First Second Coda Group Group Group Group

9 f -9-

, III V (See mm. 194-216 and especially the apparent tonic at 206- First Second Dev. First Second Coda Group Group Group Group 8.) The transition is adjusted to prepare for the full restate- ment of the second group transposed down a fifth, and the arrival on V/V of the original is reinterpreted as a contin- uation of the dominant prolongation of the recapitulatory exposition and a continued prolongation of V/V well beyond overlap. The delay in the resolution of V/V by means of the the entrance of the dominant key. The transition leads to V/V C-major episode in the exposition becomes a delay in the at m. 37, but Brahms interpolates an episode in C major 53 resolution of the home dominant by means of an episode in (III in relation to the tonicized dominant) before the V/V has beginning at m. 218. The dominant finally resurfaces a chance to resolve. When he finally returns to the dominant at m. 256, but it does not surrender to the tonic until m. 283, key on the foreground at m. 77, he continues to prolong V/V, the point analogous to the entrance of the tonicized dominant which does not resolve to the tonicized dominant until m. 104, triad in the exposition. And even here the foreground setting a full sixty-six bars into the second group. of the tonic prevents a full sense of resolution in a manner At the beginning of the recapitulation, the tonic reenters that recalls the mediated structural downbeat at m. 217 in the only on the foreground above a dominant pedal, and the finale of the Third Symphony. A more decisive resolution of retransitional V extends beyond the point of thematic return. the dominant finally occurs in the coda at m. 311, the only structural downbeat in the entire movement. The resulting 53The passage is actually a bit more complex than a simple tonicization projection of a one-part harmonic background across the par- of C. It leads back to V/A minor by means of an ascending fifths sequence allel design of sonata form in the manner of the type-2 der- in mm. 42-47, but the E chord is now minor, and Brahms even tonicizes it with a half cadence of its own in m. 54. The tonicized C then returns as VI ivation is illustrated in Example 13. in E minor at m. 55, but this time the passage leads back to the major form Through recomposition of his first groups and the original of V/A in m. 66. harmonic structure of his second groups, Brahms grants the A Mutual Response to Sonata Form 103

dominant a controlling status in a part of the form typically ing tonal background is undivided and the articulation at the

devoted to tonic prolongation at the middleground level. He recapitulation is, in certain respects, illusory. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mts/article/16/1/77/1068547 by guest on 24 September 2021 at once conforms to the sonata principle through tonal trans- Conversely, the Schenkerian analysis of many late- position and modifies its very essence through a delay in the eighteenth-century sonata forms can go only as far as the reconciliation of the second group with the tonic. Though the two-part middleground without facing the theoretical con- first movement of the C-Minor Piano Quartet represents the tradictions that arise when moving to a single Ursatz. In a most extreme form of dominant emphasis in a Brahms re- more classically oriented sonata form, the middleground ar- capitulation, the finales of the Third Symphony and the Third ticulation is "real," and a further derivation from a contin- Violin Sonata and the first movement of the C-Minor String uous tonal structure often remains hypothetical or at least Quartet are only one step away from its progressivism. They problematic. Thus in the movements cited above, Brahms, too reconcile the parallel design of sonata form with the perhaps more than any other composer within the long his- late-nineteenth-century ideal of continuous linear evolution tory of sonata form, unequivocally fulfills the ideal of organic through a recapitulatory overlap and a prolongation of the unity as conceived by Schenker in his theory of musical form. dominant across the second-group restatement. 54 Moreover, as in the piano quartet, the dominant has occasion to function ABSTRACT as a local tonic in the recapitulation rather than as a harmony In approaching sonata form, Brahms and Schenker both struck a clearly in the control of the home key in the foreground. compromise between a quintessential late-nineteenth-century view In these movements, Brahms turns the sonata principle on of musical form in which continuous linear evolution is valued above its head: rather than resolve the large-scale dissonance of the elements of sectionalization, and their sensitivity to the realities of exposition, the tonal structure of the recapitulation either a formal type based in part on the dramatic delineation of a parallel prolongs, or actually introduces, the dominant pole. Through thematic design. This essay explores the difficulties Schenker en- this emphasis on the dominant, Brahms melds the rearticu- countered in the derivation of sonata form from a single Ursatz and lation of the tonic in the recapitulation and the structural reveals that he was anachronistically forcing the ideal of organic close for the entire movement into a single entity in an ex- unity onto the large-scale formal conventions of the classical period. treme expression of his compositional economy. The result- However, these very difficulties evaporate when his method of anal- ysis is applied to a number of Brahms's more unusual sonata forms. Through an overlap of the retransition and the beginning of the 54Brahms fashions a similar relationship between tonal structure and the- matic design in at least two other movements: the finales of the E-Minor Cello recapitulation and a reinterpretation of the sonata principle, Brahms Sonata, Op. 38, and the C-Minor String Quartet, Op. 51 No. 1. The situation achieved creatively the specific type of organic unity Schenker had in both movements involves a mirror recapitulation in which the second theme difficulty demonstrating in his analyses of late-eighteenth-century returns prior to the first. music.