Agawu, Schumann's Dichterliebe (Music Analysis 1984)

Structural 'Highpoints' in Schumann's 'Dichterliebe'Author(s): V. Kofi AgawuSource: Music Analysis, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jul., 1984), pp. 159-180Published by: WileyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/854315 .Accessed: 21/06/2013 02:22

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V. KOFI AGAWU

STRUCTURAL 'HIGHPOINTS' IN SCHUMANN'S DICHTERLIEBE

INTRODUCTION The phenomenon of climax is central to our musical experience.* In no other repertoire is this more evident than that of the nineteenth century. When we hear a symphony by Bruckner or Mahler, a tone poem by Liszt or Richard Strauss, or even a song by Schumann or Wolf, our experience is shaped primarily by those focal points into which the various strands of the piece seem to coalesce and thereby make a strong emotional impact. Thus we speak of 'devastating climaxes', 'moving climaxes', 'terrible climaxes', 'anti- climaxes', and so on. Yet, among the large number of music-theoretical studies that have emerged in recent years, there are few attempts to incorporate this experience into the formulation of an analytical model.'

This omission becomes especially apparent in analytical studies of those pieces whose internal dynamic is shaped fundamentally by such focal points or highpoints. Consider, for example, William Mitchell's well-known study of the Tristan Prelude (1967). Mitchell makes only brief and passing references to the various highpoints that shape the piece, indeed shape our experience of the very linear processes that he is primarily concerned with. In the end, he misses the most apparent and immediate overall gesture of the piece, namely the rise to a tensional high-point (b.83) followed by a graceful decline.

Consider too Peter Bergquist's extensive Schenkerian analysis of the first movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony (1980). For the average listener, the salient feature of the piece is the pair of shattering climaxes that occurs about two-thirds of the way through (Figs 26 and 27+5). These moments stand out not only because they reach high dynamic levels but because they have been prepared consistently from the beginning of the movement.2 Bergquist, however, has little use for these important rhetorical signals. In both his and Mitchell's analytical schemes, these highpoints are 'foreground events'.

Further survey of the literature shows that writers who concern *I would like to thank Professor Arnd Bohm of Bryn Mawr College for sharing with me his insights into Heine's poetry. This essay is dedicated to my friend and mentor Ronald Woodham.

MUSIC ANALYSIS 3:2, 1984 159


V. KOFI AGAWU

themselves with notions of climax are not the 'serious' theorists - say, Schenkerians, set-theoreticians and semioticians - but rather those who are addressing a non-specialist audience in such documents as programme notes, books on music appreciation or opera guides. But surely it is ironic that our most ordinary and substantive experience functions only minimally in attempts to unravel the structure of music, suggest ways of hearing, and, through these, deepen our emotional experience of the works we analyse.

In this essay, I shall suggest the terms in which an empirically-derived theoretical model based on the notion of climax might be couched. I have chosen for this purpose Schumann's well-known cycle, Dichterliebe (1840), from which selected songs are analysed. Why Schumann? Because I believe - alongside others such as Grout (1980: 563) and Longyear (1973: 118) - that Schumann is the quintessential Romantic composer. Since the phenomenon of climax is most clearly associated with nineteenth-century music, Schumann may serve as a model for studying other composers. A more pertinent purpose is to illuminate certain aspects of Schumann's style as a song composer, aspects that have received surprisingly little attention in the extensive literature on the songs.3 I will therefore be treading a fine line between theory and analysis.

My study is in two main parts. First, I discuss a recurring principle in Heine's early poetry, the principle of 'reversal', which provides a useful metaphor for certain kinds of musical climax. Then, I analyse Songs 7, 13 and 4 of Dichterliebe, with passing reference to Songs 1 and 11. Each analysis focuses on the moment(s) of reversal which, I argue, are the crucial determinants of the structure of Schumann's songs.

A brief word about terminology: I use 'highpoint' in place of 'climax' to avoid ambiguity. In Greek, 'Klimax' means ladder or staircase. In this sense, it denotes an arrangement of figures in ascending order of intensity. Nowadays, however, climax refers to the highest point only of a given process. Thus, whereas the former meaning includes the process of arrangement, the latter refers only to the point of culmination. My term 'highpoint' is used in this latter sense to denote what is frequently the most decisive turning point in the piece.4

I

A recurring feature of Heine's early poetry is 'reversal', which occurs typically at the end of a poem. This device, also known as Stimmungsbrechung, has been discussed by several scholars, including Prawer (1960: 40-6), Preisendanz (1973: 15-6), Lehmann (1976: 90-6) and Hallmark (1979: 3-7). Prawer analyses the moment of reversal in terms of a play of wit and irony, citing Heine's Die Heimkehr 25 as an example. He describes the contextually absurd last line in terms of 'a douche of cold water', 'a sting in the tail', 'a moral slap in the face', and so forth (1960: 42), noting that this often entails a progression from seriousness to triviality. Prawer finds no precedent for the

160 MUSIC ANALYSIS 3:2, 1984


'HIGHPOINTS' IN SCHUMANN'S Dichterliebe

use of this device in German poetry, and concludes that it must originate with Heine.

A moment of reversal implies that there is a logical progression in the narrative, which is then disrupted, and that this disruption is an event of great dramatic significance. Preisendanz (1973: 15-16) describes this moment using such words as 'rupture', 'contrast', 'break', and 'ambivalence'. Taking his cue from certain statements by Heine regarding the poet's place in the world - the poet's heart, Heine's inflated imagery has it, is the middle of the world - Preisendanz shows that reversal is inevitable and can be thought of in terms of a split of 'unitary expression'.

Schumann, of course, was sensitive to many aspects of Heine's poetry, and although reversal as a poetic technique undergoes some transformation when applied to music, Schumann always marked those moments for attention. Some comments on the Heine poem used in Song 4 of Dichterliebe will help in the understanding of reversal:

Wenn ich in deine Augen seh', So schwindet all' mein Leid und Weh; Doch wenn ich kiisse deinen Mund,

4 So werd' ich ganz und gar gesund.

Wenn ich mich lehn' an deine Brust, Kommt's iiber mich wie Himmelslust; Doch wenn du sprichst: Ich liebe dich,

8 So muss ich weinen bitterlich.*

The poem is typically short - two four-line stanzas - with an end-rhyme scheme. The narrative proceeds in couplets (Hallmark 1979: 49), and the 'sting' occurs in the last couplet (lines 7-8). In other words, Heine's description of various levels of intimacy - from a mere look (line 1), through a kiss on the mouth (line 3), to lying on the beloved's breast (line 5) - proceeds 'linearly' towards a highpoint. But the last line erupts with a change in the direction of the narrative: to his beloved's 'Ich liebe dich', the protagonist must weep bitterly. The ironic nature of this poem has been discussed by several commentators (for example Sams 1975: 111, Komar 1971: 10 and Hallmark 1979: 44-50). The main point is the surprise ending, the change from increasing levels of intimacy to the shedding of bitter tears.

Several of the poems of Dichterliebe use this device. Song 11 is another case in point:

Ein Jiungling liebt ein Miidchen, Die hat einen andern erwaihlt, Der And're liebt eine And're,

4 Und hat sich mit dieser vermiihlt. *See Appendix for translations



V. KOFI AGAWU

Das Midchen nimmt aus Arger Den ersten, besten Mann, Der ihr in den Weg gelaufen,

8 Der Jungling ist Obel dran.

Es ist eine alte Geschichte, Doch bleibt sie immer neu, Und wem sie just passiret,

12 Dem bricht das Herz entzwei. Here is a familiar love-triangle, in which a series of complicated relationships culminates in rupture: the initiator's heart is broken in two. This poetic structure, however, differs from that of Song 4 because, instead of reversal, there is a terminal highpoint which explodes the preparatory processes (line 12). Again, in the final song of the cycle, Song 16, Heine develops an elaborate scenario in the first five stanzas before providing the moment of reversal in the sixth and last stanza, which tells us who inhabits the coffin discussed in the previous five stanzas. The structural highpoint of the song occurs in this last stanza.

The moment of reversal, then, is a point of rhetorical significance. The composer may choose to represent this as a highpoint which could take many different forms. It may be a simple melodic peak, a point of textural culmination, or the point of greatest harmonic tension. We might represent the compositional dynamic of each song in terms of a generalized shape that has been called, variously, a 'dynamic curve' (Ratner 1966: 314) and a 'narrative curve' (Childs 1977: 195):

The curve describes an ascent to a highpoint and a descent therefrom. The specific musical processes that articulate this shape depend on a number of contextural factors. For now, we should bear in mind its 'background' structuring role and the variety of ways in which it may be realized.

II

Song 7 will serve to introduce the fundamental elements of Schumann's song style. Discussion of this justly famous composition has touched on Schumann's distortion of Heine's original verse form (Cone 1957), the unusual succession of seventh chords (Schoenberg 1978) and the outer form- is it binary or ternary? - as revealed by voice-leading analysis (Horton 1979 and Rothgeb 1979). None of these analyses, however, develops from a consideration of the most striking and memorable event in the piece, that is, the ascent to a melodic highpoint on the word 'Herzens' (b. 27) and the subsequent resolution/descent. This




moment of reversal is all the more striking because the particular highpoint is the highest pitch that the voice sings in the entire cycle. This a2, which forms part of an ossia in bs 27-9, was apparently added by Schumann only in the published score (Hallmark 1979: 69). Hallmark says it 'should be sung', and indeed most performers prefer the higher version because of its dramatic impact, which is particularly appropriate in a song that marks a decisive turning point in the cycle as a whole. The break or 'expanded rupture' between the protagonist and his beloved is here completed (Desmond 1972: 24).

It may be argued that the highpoint on 'Herzens' is merely a foreground event not worthy of much analytical attention; but that would amount to underplaying the most salient feature of the song. On the other hand, Schumann's premises at the beginning of the song suggest that the highpoint is the result of a careful strategy; it is in this sense structural, every bit as structural as the 3-2-1 descent which secures closure in bs 29-30.

Ex. 1: bs 1-4 of Dichterliebe, Song 7 Nicht zu schnell

ImfL Ich grol-te nicht und wenndas Herz auch brichf.

imf

A consideration of the first four bars of this song (Ex. 1) will show how Schumann prepares for the highpoint in b. 27. The protagonist announces that he no longer bears his beloved a grudge even though his heart may break. The image of the broken heart, developed extensively throughout the cycle, here underlines the most important rhetorical event in Ex. 1, the highpoint on 'Herz' on the downbeat of b. 3. I refer to this as a highpoint because of a combination of factors affecting melody, rhythm/duration, harmony and texture. Melodically, the Ab on 'Herz' is the highest pitch in the opening line. It is also the pitch with the greatest durational value. Harmonically, the chord on the downbeat of b. 3 represents the point of greatest tension in the phrase. In terms of harmonic distance, this chord is furthest from the centre, C, and is used to enhance the cadential dominant in the second half of that bar. Texturally, the moment represents a physical turning point, as can be observed



V. KOFI AGAWU

in the movement of the outer voices. In other words, the bass reaches a physical lowpoint on D' in b. 3, then changes direction by ascending by leap through G to c. The downbeat of b. 3 therefore spans the largest registral area (D'-ab') of the sonorities in the opening phrase. Thus Schumann presents a paradigmatic four-measure phrase: its internal shape mirrors, in microcosm, the shape of the song as a whole. By focusing on the word 'Herz' he prepares us for the fact that this is to function as a sort of poetic refrain. The word occurs five times in varying contexts throughout the song (bs 3, 16, 21, 25 and 27). First, it is the protagonist's heart that is broken: 'Ich grolle nicht und wenn das Herz auch bricht'. Then, through several intermediary occurrences, the poem concludes with the strangest image of all: the protagonist dreams that his beloved's heart is being eaten by the serpent: 'Und sah die Schlang', die dir am Herzen frisst . .. .' To invoke a musical analogy for the poetic process: the word 'Herz' is prolonged by the accretion of various contextual meanings and associations.

Ex. 2 compares those phrases in the song which contain the word 'Herz'. Most of the dimensions function complementarily to create the highpoint in

Ex. 2: Phrases containing the key word 'Herz' in Dichterliebe No. 7

Undwenndas Herz-auch brict-r

in dei-nes Herz-ens Nacht

Und wenn das Herz auch bricht

n de i-nes Herz-ens Rau-me

die dir am Herz-ens frisst

A-rhythmic reduction showing intervallic and registral expansion in approachtto highpoint:

minor 3rd perfect 4th perfect 5th perfect 5th




b. 27. Note first that the five occurrences of 'Herz' are separated by progressively smaller distances: 13, 5, 4 and 3 bars. Second, the local approach to each occurrence reveals a cumulative intervallic expansion: minor third (bs 2-3), perfect fourth (bs 15-6), minor third (bs 20-1), perfect fifth (b. 25) and perfect fifth (b. 27). This process is further underlined by a gradual registral expansion from ab' (b. 3) to a2 (b. 27) as well as by an increase in dynamics. It may even be argued that A in b. 27 is a diatonic version of Ab in b. 3, a transformation that lends a further dimension to Heine's poetic metaphors. Thus the closing gesture of the last three bars (G-A-G-E, piano) replaces the chromatic version in b. 3 (A1-G-E, voice). Note further how the aftermath of the highpoint confirms the gesture: the melodic contour is reversed, descending consistently but quickly to a lowpoint, C', in bs 32-3 (see Ex. 3) over cadential harmony. My argument, then, is that the dynamic structure of this song is best conceived as flexible background shape, the narrative curve which is not restricted to any one dimension, but is capable of absorbing processes in various dimensions. To the extent that the articulation of this curve occurs over the span of the piece and mirrors the 'compositional dynamic', the process may be described as structural.

Ex. 3: Melodic descent from highpoint in Song 7 (bs 27 ff.)

die dir am Her - zen ,frisst,

ich sah, mein Lieb,wie sehr du e - nd

S Ii I

I

II f Ii I bist. Ich grol-len h

I I I

I

An objection may be levelled against the analysis of a nineteenth-century piece if it gives equal emphasis to register, dynamics, harmony and intervallic succession. But this is precisely the point I wish to emphasize. A hierarchy of dimensions derived from late eighteenth-century practice - with, for example, melody, harmony and rhythm as primary, and texture, dynamics and register



V. KOFI AGAWU

as secondary - is no longer tenable here. This issue has been discussed perceptively by Meyer (1980). Distinguishing between so-called 'primary' and 'secondary' 'parameters', he notes the increasingly important role played by secondary parameters in the shaping of musical process and form in music of the nineteenth century (: 194).5

It is important in this analysis to recognise the advantages of a background 'shape' over a specific succession of pitches as found, for example, in a Schenkerian Fundamental Structure. For reasons indicated above, I do not consider such a proto-structure to be relevant as an analytical premise in this kind of study of Schumann's songs. Further, not all the songs of Dichterliebe use the same dimensions to generate their respective narrative curves. However, just as Schenker's Fundamental Structures are flexible enough to be the common factors for actualizations within a wide historical era, so the narrative curve, functioning as an archetype, is capable of sustaining diverse realizations.

III

In Songs 11 and 1 the basic model is somewhat modified. Song 11, as noted earlier, describes a series of complicated relationships which culminate in a tragic event: the initiator's heart is broken in two. This moment of reversal occurs, typically, at the very end of the poem, producing a truncated version of the narrative curve:

Following this poetic structure closely, Schumann adds an extended in- strumental postlude after the terminal vocal highpoint. The overall gesture of the piece thus consists of an ascent to a melodic highpoint (see 'entzwei' in b. 32) followed by an extended prolongation of that highpoint:

The methods of preparing this highpoint embrace both tonal and melodic dimensions. Of the three quatrains, the first two are tonally straightforward, the first alternating tonics and dominants in the home key, Eb (bs 1-12), and the second using the same basic syntax in the dominant key, Bb (bs 13-24). In the third quatrain (bs 24-32), the voice leading is, by contrast, intensified

166 Music ANALYSIS 3:2, 1984



chromatically to underline the ascent to the highpoint (Ex. 4). This is especially obvious from the cumulative melodic ascent to the primary note, Eb, in b. 32.

Ex. 4: Chromatic intensification in approach to highpoint in Dichterliebe No. 11, bs 25-32

chromatic ascent

I w

chromatic ascent I

There is one important difference between this highpoint and that of Song 7. The highpoint here is not a tensional one in need of resolution, but is rather a point of local melodic-harmonic resolution. In other words, the tension created by melodic and harmonic intensification (beginning in b. 25) is released at the highpoint. This is an example of a stable, terminal highpoint. Indeed the postlude confirms this resolution in a series of operatic gestures hammering home tonic, subdominant and dominant chords.6

The structure of Song 11 contrasts effectively with that of the much-analysed Song 1 (see for example Neumeyer 1982: 92-105, Komar 1971: 66-70 and Benary 1967: 21-9). Each of the two quatrains concludes with a melodic ascent to a highpoint on the words 'aufgegangen' and 'Verlangen' (bs 12 and 23 respectively). For reasons I shall discuss, the terminal F#'s in these bars may be regarded as the structural highpoints, as distinct from the physical highpoints G (b. 12, voice) and G# (b. 12, piano) - two neighbouring notes which are in conflict, corresponding to the uncertainty of the poet's world. The structure of Song 1, then, exemplifies a terminal highpoint structure, although the chordal support for the highpoints, D major, functions in a subsidiary capacity within the tonal structure of the song as a whole.

The methods of organizing this highpoint structure are more subtle than those of the songs discussed previously. In Heine's poem there is a reversal occurring at the end of the second quatrain with the introduction of a disturbing and highly implicative sentiment in the two words 'Sehnen' and 'Verlangen'. We now know that all is not well in this 'lovely month of May'. The buds may be bursting forth, and the birds may be singing, but for the protagonist there is a growing sense of longing and desire. Clearly this sentiment dictated



V. KOFI AGAWU

Schumann's choice of texture - what Desmond calls 'questioning arpeggios' (1972: 23) - of key and of melodic-harmonic design; and these are the dimensions which ultimately create the dynamic structure of the song. Most analysts have drawn attention to the ambiguity of key in Song 1. The point has often been made that the song begins and ends on the dominant of FO minor without once stating the tonic. This dominant prolongation is a 4-bar phrase that occurs three times (bs 1-4, 12-15, and 23-6). It acts as a point of departure and arrival - a true prolongation in the Schenkerian sense. The prolongation creates a level of stasis which is offset in the vocal sections of the song (bs 4-12 and 15-23). In other words, once the voice enters, the piece begins to 'move'. It gains tonal clarity, greater harmonic motion and a clearer melodic profile. This means that the essential dynamic process belongs, not to the 4-bar recurring phrase, but to the intervening vocal sections. Tonal clarity is thus projected by a fundamental ambiguity, not vice versa, as one might expect in this repertory.7

Four simple gestures articulate the dynamic structure of this song as follows: Lines: 1 2 3 4

Function: Statement Restatement Forward Greater motion forward

motion Melodic shape: Closed Closed Open Open

Bars: 4-6 6-8 8-10 10-12 (This scheme also applies to bs 15-23) Line 1 makes an assertion which is confirmed by line 2. Line 3 questions this assertion, and line 4 carries the questioning even further, in musical metaphor, by transposing the substance of line 3 up a third. Successive gestures thus gain in rhetorical strength and, indeed, the music of stanza 1 is repeated literally as stanza 2. Line 4 is clearly the point of culmination; within it, the last two syllables of 'aufgegangen' form a further highpoint.

The reference to 'melodic shape' above is meant to draw attention to the succession of melodic contours in this song, a succession which approximates to another kind of reversal in structural procedure. Ex. 5 shows that lines 1 and 2 describe an overall descending contour, whereas lines 3 and 4, the closing lines, describe a cumulative ascent from A (b. 8) to F# (b. 12). This means that the points of closure, which traditionally descend towards melodic 1, ascend instead towards 3 (D is 3 of B minor in b. 10 while F# is 3 of D major in b. 12). The structural highpoints in bs 12 and 23 are thus products of three kinds of reversal. The first is the poetic reversal in the last line of quatrain 2; the second is the reversal in the sequence of tonal gestures; and the third is a reversal of melodic contour.

One further point about the meaning of lines 3 and 4 (Ex. 6): the ascent towards the highpoint is illusory. We know from subsequent events in the cycle that the protagonist never satisfies his longing and desire. Schumann places the third of the D major chord (b. 12) in the uppermost voice, thus creating the



'HIGHPOINTS) IN SCHUMANN'S Dichterliebe

Ex. 5: Contour of vocal line, Dichterliebe, No. 1 (bs 4-12) G F# F

E

D#

C#2

C

B A# A

G

F0

90ebt

Ex. 6: Bars 8-12 of Dichterliebe, No. 1

sprangen da ist n me - nem Her - zen die Lie - be auf ge-gan-gen ritard.

I.- c-I- . I It ed I w f ,



V. KOFI AGAWU

so-called 'poetic third' effect, and also sets F# in an unstable environment (b. 12) by juxtaposing both diatonic and chromatic neighbouring notes - G on the downbeat of b. 12, and G# on the fourth quaver of the same bar. This conflict reinforces the instability (or temporary stability) of F# and, by implication, of the object of the protagonist's desire or even of the protagonist himself.

IV

The examples discussed so far have shown the highpoint as a single moment, usually on a single syllable of text. But there are songs in which Schumann replaces such a moment by an extended region, which may be described as a 'high region'. This is a stretch of music of high activity, prepared in the same way as other highpoints, but prolonged over a significant period. Song 13 offers an example. The text is:

Ich hab' im Traum geweinet Mir traumte, du lagest im Grab. Ich wachte auf, und die Thrine Floss noch von der Wange herab.

Ich hab' im Traum geweinet. Mir traumt', du verliessest mich. Ich wachte auf, und ich weinte Noch lange bitterlich.

Ich hab' im Traum geweinet, Mir traumte, du warst mir noch gut. Ich wachte auf und noch immer Str6mt meine Thrinenfluth.

Heine presents a linear-dynamic model with three progressive dream states: the death of the beloved (quatrain 1), her rejection of the protagonist (quatrain 2) and her enduring love for him (quatrain 3). Interpretations are numerous and diverse on the various meanings of this progression in the poem, but its existence is the most important factor for our analysis. Note the high degree of textual invariance: line 1 and the first half of line 3 are identical in each quatrain. This forms a constant or static layer within which the more dynamic narration of each dream and the protagonist's response to it take place. Here, then, is another manifestation of the static-dynamic principle discussed with reference to the tonal structure of Song 1.

Although Schumann's reading of Heine's poem fails to take into account the progression in the narrative between the first two quatrains, the composer transforms the concluding quatrain in such a way as to compensate for this apparent omission. Quatrain 3, in fact, contains the 'high region'.

The music of quatrains 1 and 2 features a dialogue between voice and piano in which the voice, in quasi-recitative, narrates the events of each dream, while the




piano comments sparingly with low-register chords, all this in the key of Eb minor often associated with death in Schumann's works (Sams 1975: 120). Quatrain 3 begins, not with the unaccompanied voice as before, but with a piano introduction which presents a more sustained harmonization of the first two bars of the piece (see bs 23-4). This articulative contrast, the first hint of transformation of the earlier music, reaches a peak when Db is tonicized in b. 28. Bars 28-33 (Ex. 7) form the 'high region' of the piece. This passage is marked by three complementary processes. First, there is an intensification of voice leading by parallel chromaticism in the piano lines (cf. Song 11, bs 25-32). Second, a sustained pitch, db2, places the chromatic motion into sharp relief. Third, there is an increase in dynamics from a barely audible pp in b. 25 to a presumed f in b. 31. Here, as in Song 7, both primary and secondary dimensions function equally and complementarily.

Ex. 7: Chromatic intensification in ascents to highpoints in Dichterliebe, No. 13, bs 28-33

gut Ich wach-te auf und noch im mer str6mf meine Thr? - neu- flufh.

' u v"r'L~..f " lmlm: -: ..PE. .w .

PEI

Inevitably, of course, there will always be a single moment in the high region that carries the point of greatest tension. In theory, if the activity in the high region remains constant, the last chord prior to the resolution constitutes the highpoint. In this song, however, the activity is intensified in the course of the high region, culminating, not in a single moment, but rather in two successive highpoints belonging to two different dimensions, melody and harmony. First, a melodic peak is reached on the first two syllables of 'Thrinenfluth' (b. 31), a word which, like 'Herz' in Song 7, embodies the basic imagery of the poem. Second, a harmonic peak is reached in bs 32-3, where an emphatic local dissonance underlines the bitterness of the protagonist on awaking from this third dream. Melodic and harmonic highpoints are thus juxtaposed in the high region.

V

The juxtaposition of highpoints in different dimensions as exemplified in Song 13 provides a clue to understanding the dynamic structure of one of the most effective and powerful songs in the cycle, Song 4 (Ex. 8). This song is



V. KOFI AGAWU

Ex. 8 Lanpqam. I.&LA. U_ k.

I-

AN - I_

IL -------.--t , : , .

W"- -- _= _ d,',-'-'" or de i men = na, so ' e ,' if Pill "ad. , pr g A - - --'L-

bE M. 6,9 ~ l IF

Copyright ? W. W. Norton and Company Inc.; reproduced by kind permission of the publishers.




special because of its paradigmatic use of poetic reversal (as noted at the beginning of this essay). It provides, therefore, a useful model for studying Schumann's reading of Heine's poetry. In what follows, I shall discuss the ways in which Schumann dramatizes the dynamic flow implicit in Heine's poem by moving from one dimensional highpoint to another, thereby achieving a highly integrated and through-composed setting that cuts across Heine's strophes.

Perhaps the most obvious feature of the song is the discrepancy between the structure of the poem and its setting. Heine's poem is in the usual two-quatrain form, whereas Schumann's setting is through-composed, not strophic as one might expect. Hallmark's efforts to hear a background 'strophic outline' (1979: 50) seem misplaced, since that is just the structure that Schumann apparently wished to avoid. The song makes a unifying gesture, with no obvious 'breaks' or moments of hesitation. Schumann responds, not to the poetic structure, the 'outer form' of the poem, but rather to its sense, its dynamic form.

I have already noted that the poem consists of a simple rhetorical progression in which the protagonist describes different levels of intimacy with his beloved (all on the level of fantasy). This progression suggests a through-composed setting, not a strophic one. In other words, since the poem progresses in couplets, the pairs of lines may be grouped in two large parts. The first three pairs (lines 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6) constitute one gesture, while the last pair (lines 7-8), which initiates the moment of reversal and subsequent resolution, constitutes the other gesture. This sense of the poem corresponds to a normative narrative curve:

Lines: 1-6 7-8

The image of this song as a single gesture has been captured effectively by Schenker in a succinct middleground reduction (see Ex. 9, Schenker 1979: Fig. 152, also quoted in Komar 1971: 109). Although this graph is not as detailed as the well-known analysis of Song 2, it raises pertinent issues about the song's dynamic structure and the location of highpoints.

Schenker's aim in Ex. 9 is to illustrate 'undivided form' (1979: 130) as part of his 'new theory of form'. The graph shows how the middleground processes function as primary determinants of form. Since Schenker is not concerned with foreground events, there is no reference to the rhetorical or ornamental factors that contribute to the articulation of the major points of structural arrival. For example, in the approach to the cadence on C in b. 8 (see Ex. 8), the melodic voice soars to a high G, creating the first highpoint on the word 'ganz' while initiating a descent from S in C. Although this descent is part of the structural close on C, it does not appear in Schenker's graph. Nor does the



V. KOFI AGAWU

endpoint of the descent (b. 8, downbeat), but rather the link to the next structural element - the B major chord in b. 9. However, a foreground is implied by Schenker's middleground, which permits examination of the function of the highpoint (see Ex. 10).

Ex. 9: Schenker's analysis of Dichterliebe No. 4

OQ 0? @@@@? ? AA 3 1

Ex. 10: Expansion of bs 1-8 of Schenker's graph (Ex 9)

t A A A 3 5 1)

II I(to b.9) X X

i6 e a6-I G: I -- of 1Y

X = sequential rise to highpoint

The inclusion of b. 13 as a passing sonority in Schenker's graph reflects an attempt to come to grips with a dramatic passage that exists, strictly speaking, only on the foreground level of structure. Schenker includes this diminished seventh chord in the middleground but omits, for example, the intervening chords between bs 1-4 which prolong the motion from tonic to dominant. This inconsistency points to an obvious difficulty in the rigid application of the rules for middleground reduction, rules which may result in the elimination of important surface characteristics. The chord in b. 13 represents one of the most striking moments in the song, and Schenker is clearly aware of this.




There are three major points of culmination in Song 4. The first is the melodic highpoint in b. 7 (mentioned above). The second is a melodic-textural highpoint supporting b2 in b. 9 (and repeated in b. 11). The third is the diminished seventh chord in b. 13.

The first highpoint, g2 in b. 7, forms part of a cadential close on the subdominant, C, thus enhancing the motion towards the first contrasting tonal centre in the song.' Melodically, g2 represents the culmination of a sequence, as shown in Ex. 10. It is also probably the dynamic peak of bs 1-8, and is the peak in range for voice in the entire song.

The occurrence of a highpoint so early in the song - roughly a third of the way through - is likely to weaken the overall dynamic structure. (Cone, commenting on the nature of musical form, remarks about Also sprach Zarathustra that 'the framing introduction . . arrives at a climax so big that the rest of the tone-poem almost sounds like an afterthought', 1968: 22-3.) Schumann forestalls this by making a transition to another dimension and creating a second highpoint (b. 9) different in effect from the first. It is structural in that it supports the return through octave transposition of melodic 3 from the first bar of the song (see Ex. 9). More important, Schumann establishes a direct link between the previous highpoint and this one by means of a stepwise ascent, G-A-B (bs 8-9). This link is conveyed in Schenker's graph. The second highpoint, then, though related to the first, has a unique textural disposition.

The third highpoint underlines the moment of reversal in Heine's poem, and Schumann again switches to another dimension, harmony (b. 13). This final highpoint enhances the more structural supertonic chord in b. 14, just as the first highpoint formed part of the cadential close on C in b. 8. But Schumann includes a variety of distinguishing features to further dramatize the moment of reversal. First, the actual sonority, a diminished seventh chord, is used for the first time in the song. Second, its disposition - a downward arpeggiation spanning a whole bar - is also new in the song. Third, Schumann marks in a ritard., which contributes to the rhetorical emphasis of this passage.

Song 4, then, illustrates the juxtaposition of highpoints discussed in connection with Song 13. These points are either structural in a tonal-harmonic sense or serve to enhance subsequent structural points. They further provide a framework for hearing the dynamic structure of the song as a whole.

VI

I have argued that the background structure of each of the songs approximates a dynamic or narrative curve, which describes an ascent to a highpoint followed by a descent. In Schumann's songs this corresponds to Heine's technique of reversal, which characterizes many of the poems in Dichterliebe. Transformations of this basic shape are possible, including the withholding of the descent portion of the narrative curve, the prolongation of the highpoint, or the creation of a series of miniature curves leading to one supreme highpoint.



V. KOFI AGAWU

What this shape represents takes various forms depending on the context of the song. The highpoint could be: the highest pitch of a melodic line; the last stage of a sequence; a point of textural transformation; the last significant dissonance before the final close; and so on. The flexibility of dimension is important if analysis is to avoid the pitfalls of prescription. The advantage of this flexibility is that it offers a model which provides unity, facilitating comparison between pieces. The model described here is, of course, not restricted to the Dichterliebe songs, nor even to the works of Schumann. Rosen has written that '. . . the music of Schumann . . . comes in a series of waves, and the climax is generally reserved for the moment just before exhaustion' (1971: 453). Yet the implicit archetypal pattern may be said to provide the single, most consistent principle of formal structure in nineteenth-century music.

In an attempt to come to terms with the convenient but misleading dichotomy between structural and ornamental factors, I have had to abandon the dimensional hierarchy stemming from Schenker and postulate, instead, a biological or Darwinian model in the form of a shape or curve (Wintle 1982 touches briefly on this in the context of a critique of Dahlhaus's theories). I believe that attempts to unravel the structure of mid-to-late nineteenth-century music which take as premise the hierarchy of dimensions derived from eighteenth-century music are misguided. Thus, as discussed earlier in this study, Meyer's distinction between 'primary' and 'secondary' dimensions, while appropriate for Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, is less effective if applied to Schumann or later composers.

Finally, I have sought to include in my analyses those 'dramatic', 'moving', 'disturbing' and 'striking' aspects of this music which are often not mentioned in the search for structural process. The importance of representing these elusive aspects of nineteenth-century music analytically is not to be overlooked, since composers in this era were concerned with the immediacy of communicat- ion over the use of normative moulds of formal expression.

NOTES 1. There are some significant exceptions, however. Newman (1952) is, to my

knowledge, the first study devoted exclusively to the phenomenon of climax. Muns (1955) develops and amplifies Newman's ideas in a historical framework. Muns's study is very useful in providing an overview of various occurrences of climax in music from the medieval period to the early twentieth century, but it is necessarily limited in its analytical rigour. Pierce (1978, 1979 and 1983) is a three-part study of climax from a performer's viewpoint. Although it is not presented in any specific theoretical mould, it is full of insights. Meyer (1980) is the most recent, and, for my purposes, the most useful study of the phenomenon, which attempts to integrate the notion of highpoint with ideas about Romanticism in general.

2. For a different analytical approach to the first movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony, see Kaplan (1981), where the author provides a convincing explanation for the structural origins of the central climax of the piece.




3. There are few rigorous analytical studies. The following may be considered representative of the various approaches developed so far: Desmond (1972), Hallmark (1979), Komar (1971), Moore (1981), Neumeyer (1982) and Sams (1975).

4. For further discussion of the etymology of 'climax', see the introductory chapter of Muns (1955).

5. The elevation of so-called 'secondary parameters' to the level of primary ones goes back as far as Beethoven. In a stimulating paper on Beethoven's Symphonies, Morgan (1980) has shown how timbre - which would be classified as a secondary dimension - plays a primary role in certain passages from the First, Third, Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Symphonies.

6. This point depends on one's initial definition of highpoint. In general I have favoured a definition in which the highpoint is considered tensional, requiring resolution. It may be argued, in connection with Song 11, that the tensional highpoint occurs just before the Eb in b. 32. This would avoid describing a harmonic resolution - especially one that has been preceded by an extensive chromatic intensification - as a highpoint. Nevertheless, as I have tried to show, the postlude of this song performs a further 'resolutory' function since the single Eb chord in b. 32 is not capable of neutralising all the tension accumulated in the course of the chromatic build up. Bar 32 is, in that sense, a highpoint.

7. This has eluded most analysts of the song; but it is an important point, not only because of what it shows about Schumann's music, but also because it sheds light on compositional procedure in other nineteenth-century music. Liszt offers examples where so much durational prominence is given to what we traditionally describe as dissonances that there seems to be a reversal of function between consonance and dissonance.

8. Heine's poetic structure here is an example of what Smith calls a 'paratactic structure'. On the formal and thematic aspects of this structure, see Smith (1968: 98-108).

9. There are disagreements among critics about whether the optional melodic line in b. 7 of Song 4 should be performed or not. Hallmark says that the alternative notes, first added in the published version, should not be sung (1979: 50). His main reason is the need to preserve a melodic correspondence between bs 6-7 and 14-5. Moore, on the other hand, prefers the higher notes, but warns the singer against placing too much emphasis on this preliminary highpoint, since '. . . infinitely bigger and more dramatic climaxes come later in the cycle' (1981: 5). Moore's comments are pertinent because they show an awareness of a highpoint scheme and of an implicit hierarchy in the distribution of highpoints.

10. The next stage in the analysis would be to hierarchize the succession of highpoints, a procedure that would require the establishment of adequate criteria for determining the relative weights of the various highpoints.

REFERENCES

Benary, Peter, 1967: 'Die Technik der musikalischen Analyse dargestellt am ersten Lied aus Robert Schumann's "Dichterliebe" ', in Benary, ed., Versuche musikal- ischer Analysen (Berlin: Merseburger), pp. 21-9.

Bergquist, Peter, 1980: 'The First Movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony: An Analysis and an Examination of the Sketches', The Music Forum, Vol. 5, pp. 335-94.



V. KOFI AGAWU

Childs, Barney, 1977: 'Time: A Composer's View', Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 194-219.

Cone, Edward T., 1957: 'Words into Music: The Composer's Approach to the Text', in Northrop Frye, ed., Sound and Poetry, English Institute Essays (New York: Columbia University), pp. 3-1.

- 1968: Musical Form and Musical Performance (New York: Norton). Desmond, Astra, 1972: Schumann Songs (London: BBC). Grout, Donald J., 1980: A History of Western Music (New York: Norton), 3rd ed. Hallmark, Rufus, 1979: The Genesis of Schumann's Dichterliebe: A Source Study (Ann

Arbor: UMI). Horton, Charles T., 1979: 'A Structural Function of Dynamics in Schumann's "Ich

grolle nicht" ', In Theory Only, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 30-46. Kaplan, Richard, 1981: 'The Interaction of Diatonic Collections in the Adagio of

Mahler's Tenth Symphony', In Theory Only, Vol. 6, No. 7, pp. 29-39. Komar, Arthur, 1971, ed.: Schumann: Dichterliebe (New York: Norton). Lehmann, Ursula, 1976: Popularisierung und Ironie im Werk Heinrich Heines (Frankfurt

am Main: Peter Lang). Longyear, Ray M., 1973: Nineteenth-Century Romanticism in Music (New Jersey:

Prentice-Hall), 2nd ed. Meyer, Leonard B., 1980: 'Exploiting Limits: Creation, Archetypes and Change',

Daedalus, Spring, pp. 177-205. Mitchell, William, 1967: 'The Tristan Prelude: Techniques and Structure', The Music

Forum, Vol. 1, pp. 162-203. Moore, Gerald, 1981: Poet's Love: The Songs and Cycles of Schumann (New York:

Taplinger). Morgan, Robert P., 1980: 'Timbral Composition in Beethoven's Symphonies', paper

read at the 46th annual meeting of the American Musicological Society jointly with the Society for Music Theory in Denver, Colorado.

Muns, George E., Jnr, 1955: 'Climax in Music', Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina.

Neumeyer, David, 1982: 'Organic Structure and the Song Cycle: Another Look at Schumann's Dichterliebe', Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 4, pp. 92-105.

Newman, William S., 1952: 'The Climax of Music', Music Review, Vol. 13, pp. 283- 93.

Pierce, Alexandra, 1978: 'Structure and Phrase (Part 1)', In Theory Only, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 22-35. 1979: 'Performance Phrase - Structure and Phrase (Part II)', In Theory Only, Vol.

5, No. 3, pp. 3-24. 1983: 'Climax in Music - Structure and Phrase (Part III)', In Theory Only, Vol. 7,

No. 1, pp. 3-30. Prawer, S. S., 1960: Heine: Buch der Lieder, Studies in German Literature, Vol. 1

(London: Arnold). Preisendanz, Wolfgang, 1973: Heinrich Heine: Werkstrukturen und Epochenbeziige

(Munich: Wilhelm Fink). Ratner, Leonard, 1966: Music: The Listener's Art (New York: McGraw Hill), 2nd ed. Rosen, Charles, 1971: The Classical Style (London: Faber). Rothgeb, John, 1979: comment on Horton (1979) in In Theory Only, Vol. 5, No. 2,

pp. 15-17. Sams, Eric, 1975: The Songs ofRobert Schumann (London: Eulenberg), 2nd ed.




Schenker, Heinrich, 1979: Free Composition, trans. Ernst Oster (New York: Long- man).

Schoenberg, Arnold, 1978: Theory of Harmony, trans. Roy E. Carter (London: Faber).

Smith, Barbara H., 1968: Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End (Chicago: University of Chicago).

Wintle, Christopher, 1982: 'Issues in Dahlhaus', Music Analysis, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 341-55.

APPENDIX

Translations from Komar (1971):

Dichterliebe No. 4 When I look into your eyes all my sorrow and pain disappear; but when I kiss your mouth, then I become wholly well.

When I lie upon your breast a heavenly happiness comes over me; but when you say: I love you! then I must weep bitterly.

Dichterliebe No. 11 A boy loves a girl who has chosen another; the other loves still another and has married this one.

The girl takes out of spite the first, most eligible man who comes her way; the boy is miserable over it.

It is an old story, yet it remains ever new; and whoever experiences it, has his heart broken in two.

Dichterliebe No. 13

I cried in my dream: I dreamed that you lay in your grave. I woke up, and the tears were still streaming down my cheeks.



V. KOFIAGAWU

I cried in my dream: I dreamed that you had forsaken me. I woke up, and I cried still long and bitterly.

I cried in my dreams: I dreamed that you still loved me. I woke up, and still the flood of my tears is streaming.



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Issue Table of ContentsMusic Analysis, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jul., 1984), pp. 99-224Front Matter [pp. 99-100]Scriabin's Self-Analyses [pp. 101-122]Tonality in Webern's Cantata I. Winner of the Elisabeth Lutyens Essay Prize, 1984 [pp. 124-158]Structural 'Highpoints' in Schumann's 'Dichterliebe' [pp. 159-180]Vocal Range and Tessitura in Music from York Play 45 [pp. 181-199]Review-Survey: Some Recent Stravinsky Literature [pp. 201-208]ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 208-214]Review: untitled [pp. 214-218]

Correction: Bartk Chamber Music[pp. 218]News [pp. 219-220]Back Matter [pp. 221-224]

Documents

Agawu, Schumann's Dichterliebe (Music Analysis 1984)