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Enharmonicism and the Omnibus Progression in Classical-Era Music Author(s): Paula J. Telesco Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Autumn, 1998), pp. 242-279Published by: {oupl} on behalf of the Society for Music TheoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746049Accessed: 18-09-2015 11:58 UTC

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Enharmonicism and the Omnibus Progression in Classical-Era Music

Paula J. Telesco

Every so often, the music of Haydn and Mozart contains strange harmonic progressions that dramatically exceed the usual limits of classical tonality-progressions such as the one from Mozart's G major Piano Concerto (K. 453) shown in Example 1. This paper surveys late eighteenth-century manifestations of such progressions, and offers an explanation for these seemingly singular chromatic passages, all of which ex- emplify a harmonic formula that, with variations, gained currency during that period. These densely chromatic progressions facilitated remote harmonic excursions, anticipating the more pervasive use of chromaticism and enharmonicism in nineteenth-century music. The present survey provides a context for hypothesizing the development of this formula from early Baroque models to its various eighteenth-century forms, leads to a deeper understanding of the emotional impact and rhetorical weight this progression evoked, sheds light on the issue of eighteenth-century enharmonicism in one of its most potent forms, and links these progressions to the more idiosyncratic enharmonicism of the nineteenth century.

The underlying source of this progression, shown in Ex- ample 2, has been called the "Omnibus," a term whose origin is obscure. Victor Yellin, who used the term in a conference presentation in 1972, traces his awareness of it to Roger Martinez of the University of San Juan. The most thorough published account of the omnibus to date appears in Robert

Example 1. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453, first movement, mm. 196-203 (reduction)

a A4 F7 bW6 E7 2 4 B

Example 2. Omnibus progression

c: i V6 (V7/?II ii46 Gr6ii) V7 = Gr6/ii

Omnibus Chords: 1 2 3 4 5



Enharmonicism and the Omnibus Progression in Classical-Era Music 243

Example 3. Schubert, Piano Sonata in A Minor, op. 42, first movement, mm. 32-39 (1825)

1, L I L; L.J ,JL' 1

lA JJ J J7 J J J nJJ ;JT3JJ L-J - J JJ -IJ JLJ JJ J -J *~~~~d 9-

I)

C: V7/iii? V6

3rd-related dominants

Wason's Viennese Harmonic Theory from Albrechtsberger to Schenker and Schoenberg. Both Wason and Yellin examine the progression's harmonic structure and usage by selected composers, but neither explores the early history of the omnibus and its related chord progressions.

In its simplest classic form, the omnibus is five chords long and prolongs a dominant seventh via a chromatically filled-in voice exchange involving scale degrees 5 and 1; the resulting progressions are filled with enharmonic double entendres.2 For instance, the third chord in Example 2 ("omnibus chord 2") can be heard as both a dominant seventh of El major and as an augmented sixth chord leading to a cadential 6 in D minor, enharmonically linking these two keys. Given that the first two chords of the example establish C minor, a tonicization of the mediant is likely to be expected when the chord first sounds. But rather than a resolution to III, the

1Victor Fell Yellin, "The Omnibus Idea," paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society, Dallas, 1972; Robert Wason, Viennese Harmonic Theory from Albrechtsberger to Schenker and Schoenberg (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985), 15-19. I would like to thank Pro- fessor Yellin for providing me with a copy of his paper.

2Yellin, "The Omnibus Idea."

V7/blII? Vs A A

V7/bIII? V6 V7/bIII? V6 Gr6/ii ii6 Gr6/ii V7 viio7N I1 G6i G6 =4

3rd-related dominants O Omnibus Chords: 1 2 3 4 5

chord resolves instead as a German sixth in D. Yet the ex- pectation of a modulation to ii dissipates almost instanta- neously, and one quickly realizes that these were passing chords embedded within a chromatically filled-in voice exchange. An elegant nineteenth-century instance of enharmonic ambiguity within a classic omnibus appears in Schu- bert's A minor Piano Sonata, op. 42, shown in Example 3. Schubert suggests V7/bIII (as well as V7/iii!) several times, at least by his spelling, before realizing the Bb7 chord as a Gr6/ii.3

The pervasive enharmonicism of the omnibus distinguishes it from more common eighteenth-century enharmonicism, in which the diatonic context is clear both before and after the enharmonic event. Example 4 provides a simple illustration from music of Haydn. When the chord in mm. 47-49 is first encountered, it is clearly a dominant seventh in Ab major. But its resolution and the new harmonic context starting in

3As shown in this example, Schubert spells chord 2 (m. 36) as a Gr6/ii, but chord 4 (m. 37) as its enharmonic equivalent, a B6 dominant 4. As this and the following omnibus examples demonstrate, composers were inconsistent in their spelling of chords 2 and 4. I consistently label them as Gr6/ii.



244 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 4. Haydn, Piano Trio in Bb Major, H. XV, No. 20, first.movement (reduction), mm. 47-51 (1794 or earlier)

47 - '

Example 5. J. S. Bach, "Erbarm es Gott!" Recitativo No. 51 from St. Matthew Passion, mm. 9-12

( j> r ~ " IJ}J [ r fi-

Mar- ter - sau - le gleich und noch viel har - ter sein. Er - barmt euch, hal-tet ein!

J J IJ C r- ^ 1- D 7- -D 10 I 6 i k 6* 4t 2*

6*t 4t *t

6 41 6

6 7 tt

m. 49 cause the chord to be treated as a Gr6 in G minor. At some point, in principle, it is simultaneously two different chords with an enharmonically transformed pitch (Db becomes CO), whose chronology is unambiguous. Other in- stances are reinterpretations of diminished seventh chords, by far the most common form of enharmonic reinterpretation in the eighteenth century. Among numerous examples that could be cited, the recitative "Erbarm es Gott!" from Bach's St. Matthew Passion excerpted in Example 5 is particularly telling. Prior to this excerpt the music tonicizes increasingly sharper or "harder" keys as the text refers to harder and harder hearts, moving from C major to A minor, E minor, and the FIt minor shown here. Then in m. 11, at a moment of extreme passion, b?o7 is reinterpreted as an f#o7, bringing the music to an abrupt cadence in G minor.

Even amidst such musical and textual anguish, the diatonic context on either side of the enharmonic event is clear. Chord 2 in Example 2, by contrast, is ambiguous. This inherent ambiguity places the omnibus in a specialized category of enharmonicism that is for the most part peculiar to the nineteenth century; its judicious use in the eighteenth century, therefore, is all the more compelling. Furthermore, in practice the omnibus was not a single immutable progression, but a family of progressions, meaning its presence in a passage may not be immediately obvious. This paper demonstrates that several different progressions may be viewed as manifestations of a highly chromatic formulaic pattern cultivated for its dramatic effect within the convention-laden musical world of the late eighteenth century. A look at three such seemingly unorthodox examples provides our starting point.




Example 6. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 18 in Bb Major, K. 456, third movement, mm. 162-71 (1784)

162 _ . k m ^ ^ A

,sJB. L~J J _ J J'FJFJF J FL

Jl ~S ~ Jm J. J.

-',~ h~~m" ~ ~ i. J '. _____ __ _ _ r r r - - r jr

vBb B /-ill--

G7C r r r

3

Bb: I V4/IV V7/ii b: Gr6

Example 6 shows a portion of the third movement of Mozart's Bb major Piano Concerto (K. 456).4 The passage begins in Bb major, the key of the movement, but ends several measures later in the strikingly distant key of B minor- all the more striking because of the\swift enharmonicism that leads to it. (One might posit that the key is really Cb

4The passage in Example 6 occurs at the end of the second A section in a concerto-rondo, constituting the transition to the development section.

minor, the key of the minor Neapolitan, but that is even more remote.) A traditional functional analysis would yield the results shown below the score. The G7 chord in m. 165, con- cluding a chromatic third relationship, appears to be left unresolved, but is in fact enharmonically reinterpreted as a Gr6 in B minor. This reinterpretation is particularly noteworthy because, unlike the more common enharmonic reinterpretation of a primary dominant into an augmented sixth, the G7 is an unprepared secondary dominant.

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

VI. 1

VI. 2

Via.

D.B.




Example 6 [continued]

167 :^: A &ttfE 6 -

itt t Utt t L_fT 17 7 !.

Lr r r F r :r r r r r r r rTT r Tr r*.

^ J-J rd . _. "~d^~'i-

.... . ij^r----C.' -' ~' ' - I'

b6 Fi?7b

i6 14

The next excerpt, Example 7, appears in the first movement of the G major Concerto discussed above (Example 1).5 The framing keys of the excerpt are Bb major and A minor- again distantly related, although not as distant as the Bb major to B minor relation in K. 456. The standard functional

5This passage appears at the beginning of the development section. The music has been in D major, the dominant, but has just modulated to Bb major by way of a deceptive cadence.

analysis shown beneath the score has obvious similarities to the previous example: (1) the first four chords of both examples are the same; (2) the first three chords have identical functions in the key of Bb; (3) the pivot chord is a V7/ii in the first key; and (4) the pivot chord is reinterpreted as a Gr6, albeit a primary Gr6 in Example 6, but a secondary Gr6 in Example 7. This single point of contrast means that the modulation in Example 7 is more distant and tenuous with respect to the enharmonic pivot chord than is the modulation in Ex- ample 6.

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

VI. 1

VI. 2

Via.

D.B.




Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453, first movement, mm. 186-92 (1784)

Lt- _ r t ?r tr

r j .J J h- ? r r r ' , -

Li;

- r

-1 -

| ^, boi.

B^t k" o bf

Bs2 1 3 -

V4/IV V2H

iple 7.

186

Exan

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

Pf.

VI. 1

VI. 2

Via.

D.B.

Bb

I





189 -fA A

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

Pf.

VI. 1

VI. 2

Via.

D.B.

A4

$o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~a $1'

3 30 J 0

MM7 .

t

3

3LID

[ G7

_3 3 V7/ii

a: Gr6/ii

6 b4

ii6

E7

V7

a

vi "? o




Example 8. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453, first movement, mm. 196-203 (1784)

196 r A

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

Pf.

VI. I

VI. 2

Via.

D.B.

r

L'i -K r -

m^ lt be_

(i q o o -0 yi o 4 b 'SEf Lab

a: i V4/iv V7/ii

g#: Gr6/ii =ab: Gr6/ii ii6 114 V7

f: Gr6/ii

;I t ,, ,

i

.





200 PAa, - l

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

Pf.

VI. 1

VI. 2

Via.

D.B. I

1P r Fr l

0

-: .. _

6 g4

i6 114

C*07 c~?7 (instead of Eb )

vii07

C7

e: Gr6

B

V

,,--A '

; o 0

J.




Finally, Example 8 (pp. 249-250) shows the full score for the progression of Example 1. This passage occurs immediately after the Example 7 passage, sequencing and extending the pattern. It begins in A minor and ends in the closely related key of E minor, yet the path from A to E is circuitous, requiring atleast three enharmonic reinterpretations. The analysis in the Example demonstrates that the first four chords are functionally the same as the first four of Example 6.

These three excerpts obviously reveal a recurrent enharmonic pattern, yet they also share a feature that fundamen- tally sets them apart from music exhibiting the more common type of eighteenth-century enharmonicism shown in Exam- ples 4 and 5. In these latter three excerpts ambiguity arises not just from the pivot chord but from the reinterpretation of secondary dominants and secondary Gr6 chords, ap- proached by unresolved secondary dominants, which then obscure the entire diatonic context.

THE PASSACAGLIA AND THE LAMENT ARIA

How could such a strange form of enharmonicism arise in the tonal universe of eighteenth-century music? An answer lies in the voice-leading context. Each of the examples we have just seen features a chromatically descending bassline, clearly reminiscent of a passacaglia bass. The passacaglia bass and its characteristic progressions were major sources of expressive chromaticism in seventeenth- and eighteenth- century music, and provided a wellspring of inspiration and ideas for composers as diverse as Purcell, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. This harmonized bassline has a long and venerable history, and appears to have arisen from two distinct yet related genres: not only from the instrumental passacaglia, but also from the lament aria, which, like the passacaglia, often features a ground bass. Given the highly expressive character of this formulaic bassline and its

long association with intense emotional expression, a short history of the passacaglia and the lament aria are in order here.

The passacaglia arose around 1600, and was originally a ripresa or ritornello used to accompany Spanish guitar songs, a function it maintained until about 1640.6 It was popularized through rasgueado, or strummed style of guitar playing (as opposed to the more refined punteado, or plucked style of playing, cultivated on the lute and vihuela), which became enormously popular in Spain and Italy during the seventeenth century. This style of playing was harmonically rather than contrapuntally conceived-the player strums chords rather than plucking out contrapuntal lines.7 Harmonically, the earliest guitar passacaglias were based on a I-IV-V-I ostinato, but later versions, beginning around 1620, began to incor- porate mode mixture and additional chords into the basic framework. For example, the following progressions might occur:8

1) i-iv-V-i 2) I-iv-V-I 3) i-IV-V-i 4) I-IV-iv-V-I 5) i-iv-VI-V-i 6) I-IV-V-I-( )VII-IV-V-I 7) i-v-VI-iv-V-i

6Richard Hudson, Passacaglio and Ciaconna: from Guitar Music to Italian Keyboard Variations in the Seventeenth Century (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1981). Hudson writes, "The first music for both Ciaconna and Pas- sacaglio appears in 1606 in Montesardo's Nuova inventione d'intavolatura per sonare li balletti sopra la chitarra spagniuola, published in Florence" (17).

7Thomas Christensen points out that rasgueado playing was considered by some to be vulgar and coarse. He quotes Sebastian de Covarrubias, lamenting in 1611 that "now the guitar is no more than a cowbell, so easy to play, especially in the strummed style, that there is no stable boy who is not a musician on the guitar." Thomas Christensen, "The Spanish Baroque Guitar and Seventeenth-Century Triadic Theory," Journal of Music Theory 36/1 (1992): 3, note 5.

8Richard Hudson, The Folia, the Sarabande, the Passacaglia and the Cha- conne, Musicological Sources and Documents 35/3 (American Institute of Musicology, 1982), xvi-xvii, 18-26.




Gradually, the passacaglia developed into a triple-meter minor-mode variation form. Sets of variations appear for

keyboard beginning in 1627 with Frescobaldi's Partite sopra passacagli (from his Secondo libro di toccate), and for guitar in 1640. In general, Frescobaldi wedded the purely chordal/ harmonic approach of the rasgueado style of playing to the

contrapuntal punteado style. The result of this marriage is a melodic, stepwise descending bassline (along with its variations and elaborations) that replaces the former I 4 5 i

(I-IV-V-I). The insertion of scale degrees 7 and 6 between i and 4 produces basslines that gradually became characteristic of passacaglias, including the following:9

)i 4 S 2) I S64 S 3) 1 6 4 4)i76S

Once a passacaglia formula becomes established as the central idea of a piece (through the opening phrase, prominent placement, or repetition), other formulas may be used as variants. According to Hudson, "although the ostinato involves an equal phrase length, it is also concerned with a selected group of formulas. Therefore, the fundamental tech-

nique of the Passacaglio and Ciaccona is an ostinato of selected formulas."'0 One of the most common passacaglia basslines, i 7 6 5, is frequently harmonized i-VII-VI-V, or i-v6-iv6-V, or some combination of the two. " A typical dis- cant for these progressions is the descending line 3 2 i 7, which fits either of the above harmonizations. Chromatic bassline descents begin to appear in the first quarter of the seventeenth century: Frescobaldi's Partite sopra passacagli (1627) contains a chromatic descent in the sixteenth variation,

9Of course, not all pieces based on descending tetrachords were called

passacaglias. "'Hudson, Passacaglio and Ciaconna, 271.

"Many examples of early passacaglias and ciaconnas appear in Hudson's The Folia and Passacaglio and Ciaconna.

and Sweelinck's Fantasia Chromatica (before 1621), opens with a chromatic descent from D down to A, a motive that permeates the piece.l2 Such chromatic basses support not only i-V6-v6-IV6-iv6-V progressions (as found in Purcell's "Dido's Lament" of 1689), but may also support secondary dominants and cadential 6s (also employed in "Dido's La- ment"), as well as major seventh chords (VI7), minor seventh chords (iv7), augmented mediants, and chords in parallel sixths. 3 This early usage of such dissonant chords is probably typical of the kinds of harmonies one would find in impro- vised passacaglias of that time, although little printed evidence survives. The passacaglia bassline, especially the chromatic version, virtually begs for improvisatory treatment, whether by keyboard, lute, or singer above a bass.

Passacaglias and ciacconas began to appear in Italian vocal music around 1630, particularly in the lament aria. Several such pieces are II Fasolo's "Lamento di Madama Lucia," II carro di Madama Lucia (Rome, 1628), Frescobaldi's "Aria di passacaglia: Cosi mi disprezzate," Primo libro di arie mu- sicali (Florence, 1630), and Felice Sances's "Usurpator ti-

'2Frescobaldi's Partite sopra passacagli is included in Hudson, The Folia, 32. Sweelinck's Fantasia Chromatica is included in K Marie Stolba, The De-

velopment of Western Music, vol. 1 (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1991), 257.

'3The following all appear in Hudson's The Folia: (1) Frescobaldi, Partite

sopra Passacagli (1627), p. 32, Var. 16: chromatic descent and a secondary dominant; p. 33, Var. 19: secondary dominant and minor seventh. (2) Alessandro Piccinini, Passacagli (1639), p. 41, Var. 2: major seventh; p. 44, Var. 21: secondary dominants; p. 44, Vars. 22-23: augmented mediant. (3) Anonymous, Passagalli p[er] A la mi re (c. 1640), pp. 53-54: numerous cadential 6s. (4) Anonymous, Passagalli (c. 1640), p. 56, Var. 1: secondary dominant and cadential 6. (5) Anonymous, Passagalli (c. 1640), p. 57, Var. 9: parallel-sixth chords. (6) Lully, Passacaille from Armide (1686), pp. 102-3, Vars. 24-25: chromatic descent and cadential 6. Secondary dominants also

appear with ascending chromatic basslines: Andrea Falconiero, Passacalle

(1650), p. 69, Var. 23.




ranno," Cantade e arie a cove sola; Libro secondo, parte prima (Venice, 1633).14

Why is it that this minor-mode tetrachord bassline (especially the chromatic version) was (and still is) considered to be so emotionally expressive that it became de rigueur for laments and other emotionally charged music? One answer

may lie in arguments proposed by Leonard Meyer. Speaking first of the effects of chromaticism, Meyer says:

The affective aesthetic power of chromaticism not only arises because chromatic alterations delay or block the expected motion to the normal diatonic tones but also because uniformity of progression, if persistent, tends ... to create ambiguity and hence affective tension. Moreover, ambiguity leads, particularly in the realm of harmonic progression, to a general tonal instability.'5

Speaking of the minor mode specifically, Meyer explains further:

First, the minor mode is always potentially chromatic. ... Second, the tendencies of tones as they approach substantive tones is stronger in minor than in major .... From a harmonic point of view, the minor mode is both more ambiguous and less stable than the major mode . . . because the repertory of possible vertical combinations is much greater in minor than in major and, consequently, the prob- ability of any particular progression of harmonies is smaller.16

The minor mode is not only associated with intense feeling in general but with the delineation of sadness, suffering, and anguish in particular. This association ... is also connected with chromaticism in general. . . . States of calm contentment and gentle joy are taken to be the normal human emotional states and are hence associated with the more normative musical progressions, i.e., the diatonic

'4Ellen Rosand states that "II Fasolo" is almost certainly a pseudonym for Francesco Manelli. See Ellen Rosand, "Lamento," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 6th ed.

S5Leonard Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956), 218.

16Ibid., 225.

melodies of the major mode and the regular progression of major harmony. Anguish, misery, and other extreme states of affectivity are deviants and become associated with the more forceful depar- tures of chromaticism and its modal representatives, i.e., the minor mode. 17

Thus the association between the minor mode and emotional states depicting sadness and suffering is a product of the deviant, unstable character of the mode and of the association of sadness and suffering with the slower tempi that tend to accompany the chromaticism prevalent in the minor mode.18

Thus the descending tetrachord ground bass, which had already appeared in contemporaneous passacaglias, must have seemed an obvious choice for early Baroque composers writing lament-type arias. The ostinato bass in general was

perfectly suited for monody: the repetition of an ostinato would not draw attention away from the text, but could provide some formal organization while allowing for a certain amount of declamatory freedom in the vocal line. The lament aria itself can be traced back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, with Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna," from his 1608 opera Arianna, occupying the premiere position.19 But the lament's association with the tetrachord bass does not become explicit until around 1640, and then particularly in opera.20 Each of Francesco Cavalli's twenty-seven

'7Ibid., 227. 18Ibid., 228. "9According to Rosand ("Lamento"), this was the most influential lament

of the early seventeenth century, "confirmed by the publication of monodic Ariadne laments by Severo Bonini (1613), Possenti (1623), and F. A. Costa (1626) and most conclusively by Monteverdi's own reworking of this piece as a madrigal (1614), the publication of the monodic version (1623) and his adaptation of the madrigal to a sacred text (1640)."

20Nevertheless, earlier examples do exist. Monteverdi's "Lament of the Nymph," with its descending tetrachord bass, was published in 1638 (in the eighth book of madrigals), although Rosand speculates that it was composed c. 1632. See "The Descending Tetrachord: An Emblem of Lament," The Musical Quarterly 65/3 (1979): 352, fn. 16. Sances's "Usurpator tiranno" of




extant operas contains one or more such laments, bringing his total to over fifty.21 According to Ellen Rosand,

All these lamenti exploit the tetrachord as a source of harmonic, melodic and rhythmic dissonance created by suspensions, syncopa- tion and overlapping phrases between the voice and the bass.22

They are generally distinguished by their slow tempo, heavily stressed triple meter, and string accompaniment, as well as by their heightened affective style.... In addition ... most of Cavalli's laments are marked by a clear relationship to the descending minor tetrachord as ostinato. Frequently an unaccompanied statement of the pattern in the bass at the outset signals the association. This framing device distinguishes the piece from its surrounding narrative context; the tetrachord pattern sounds the mood, a declaration of "lament" that sets the piece apart, as if in quotes.23

Another noteworthy feature of some of these tetrachordal

laments, not present in the instrumental passacaglias I have

seen, is the use of the augmented-sixth chord, or at least the interval of an augmented sixth built on 6. For example, a lament aria from Cavalli's L'Egisto (1643), "Piangete occhi," contains an F in the bass against Dot in the vocal line in two different statements of the descending bass, and in each instance the pitches expand outward to an octave E. Since Cavalli notated only the vocal line and an unfigured bass, it is hard to know how he might have intended the inner parts

1633 is another lament set to a descending tetrachord bass. Also noteworthy is Monteverdi's harmonic treatment of the "Nymph" bassline. Linda Ciacchi

points out that Monteverdi uses the root position harmonization (i-VII- VI-V) to suggest the older harmonic system, and first inversion triads (i- v6-iv6-V) to suggest the newer harmonic system. See Linda Ciacchi, "The Rhythm of the Nymph: Long Range Motion and Coherence in Monteverdi's 'Lament,' " paper delivered at the fifth annual meeting of Music Theory Southeast, 16 March 1996.

21Rosand, "The Descending Tetrachord," 353. 22Rosand, "Lamento," 413. 23Rosand, "The Descending Tetrachord," 353-54.

to be filled in.24 But the augmented sixth clearly heightens the expression of grief or lament. Another example is in the renowned conclusion of Carissimi's oratorio, Jephte (c. 1650). A solo section for Jephte, which has a chromatically descending bassline, includes figures suggesting a French/Italian sixth complex. Again the text is one of sorrow and grief.

Lament arias continued to occur in operas, oratorios, and cantatas of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth cen- turies. The term "lament" also appears appended to music of a programmatic nature. One striking example is Bach's "Adagissimo. Ist ein allgemeines Lamento der Freunde" from his 1704 Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo [Capriccio on the Departure of his Most Beloved Brother]. Bach's inclusion of the Italian word "lamento" in an otherwise German inscription is an obvious reference to the Italian lament aria genre. In this Capriccio, the term "lament" probably refers not only to the programmatic nature of the piece, but also to the descending tetrachord (and its variants) on which it is constructed. Yet another notable feature is Bach's use (twice) of an augmented sixth chord in harmonizing this bassline. By this time the augmented sixth chord appears to have become a member in good standing of the standard repertoire of chords used to harmonize the descending bass, especially to underscore some aspect of lament, regardless of whether any text was present.

Indeed, the passacaglia/lament, with its associated secondary dominants, augmented sixths, and major-, minor-, diminished-, and half-diminished sevenths, had become one of the only sources of extreme chromaticism in Baroque music. Fur- ther evidence of the continuing sway the passacaglia/lament held over the imagination of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and even nineteenth-century musicians appears in Jer6me-Joseph

24Raymond Leppard, in his piano-vocal arrangement, realizes the chord first as a French sixth, then as an Italian sixth. See Francesco Cavelli, L'Egisto (London: Faber Music, 1977), 93, mm. 71, 79.




de Momigny's Cours complet d'harmonie (Paris, 1803-5). To highlight the effect of the bass descending tetrachord in the opening of Mozart's D minor String Quartet (K. 421), Mo- migny adds beneath the full score a piano-vocal arrangement of the passage, complete with text from a lament of Dido.25

TRANSFORMATION OF THE PASSACAGLIA PROGRESSION INTO THE

OMNIBUS

At this point, a closer examination of some typical early harmonizations of diatonic and chromatic descending basslines will be undertaken to postulate the development of these harmonizations into more chromatic ones, and ultimately, into the classical-era omnibus. Example 9 gives diatonic and chromatic versions of the descending bass in minor. Each of these progressions contains a prototype of a basic tonal op- eration: a voice exchange within a dominant prolongation, with iv6 or IV6 occurring as passing chords. (In the diatonic form the exchange is chromatic: an upper voice ascends from

to raised 1, while the bass descends from unraised f to 8.) The upper voice of the exchange in a minor key cannot

ascend diatonically by step because of the augmented second that would result. Since this is not a problem in major, the voice exchange produces a wedge between the bass and some upper voice as shown in Example 10a. Examples 10b-d move this voice-exchange one step closer to the omnibus with the addition of seventh chords replacing the triads on the dominant. Note also that Examples 10b-d provide three different versions of the major-mode exchange between V6 and V7: the intervening chords are respectively IV6 (b), vi (c), and ii6 (d). In the latter instance, two voices hold common tones a minor third apart while the other two voices exchange.

25Ian Bent, "Analysis," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Mu- sicians, 6th ed.

Example 9. gressions a. diatonic

Diatonic and chromatic passacaglia bass-line pro-

. a. ,.

or: i ,,' 0 . -o.

: i c: i v6 iv6

5 V

b. chromatic

s A A A

) ' 0 ho . o . --. A 7

c: i V6 v~6 IV6 iv6 VA v6 IV6 iv6 V

One way to obtain a wedge between the bass and the upper voice in the minor version is to replace one chord and alter another: substituting a V4/IV for the v6 (cf. Ex. 9b) and an augmented sixth for the iv6 results in the progression shown in Example 11. This in fact became an extremely common harmonization for these passacaglia basslines in the classical era; it includes a chromatic wedge between the chromatically ascending upper voice (usually the soprano), and the chromatically descending bass voice, and the prototypical voice exchange (similar to those shown in Example 9a, and especially Example 9b) in another voice. Examples of these progressions, from mid-century on (some with the wedge in the outer voices, some without) may be seen in various compositions by Purcell, J. S. Bach, C. P. E. Bach, Haydn, Mozart




Example 10. Model voice exchange patterns in major a.

Example 11. Passacaglia progression

Chord# 1 2 3 4 5

3 - j /8 8

a lre w

o a

C: I V IV6 V I

1+3}' ?- i - = 8

9: am aal C: I VS IV6 V7 I

a2 0 o " - 0

l 0 .10 a o I~ 0

C: I V6 vi V7 I

d.

C: I V6 ii6 V7 I

c: i V6 V4/iv IV6 Gr6 i V

and Beethoven.26 Two representative Mozart examples are shown in Example 12.

For further confirmation that these harmonizations were common currency by the early classical era, one can look to no less an authority than C. P. E. Bach. Bach discusses

augmented-sixth chords in the second part of his Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, in the chapter entitled "Thoroughbass." One of his three examples of the It6 istrat the following: V/iv-iv6-6. And he illustrates the usage of the Fr6 in two passacaglia bassline progressions: iv6-Fr6-

26E.g., C. P. E. Bach's "Prussian" Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, W. 48/4

(1740-42), first movement, mm. 4-7 and 57-58; "Prussian" Sonata No. 5 in C Major, W. 48/5 (1740-42), third movement, mm. 14-17; Sonata in C Major, W. 62/10 (1749), second movement, mm. 1-4; Haydn's Symphony No. 7 in C Major ("Le Midi," 1761), first movement, mm. 80-84; String Quartet in D Major, op. 76, no. 5 (c. 1797), first movement, mm. 26-27; Mozart's String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 (1783), first movement, mm 1-8; Don Giovanni

(1787), Overture, mm. 5-11; and the excerpts from Mozart piano sonatas shown in Example 12.

Many other imaginative and innovative harmonizations of this bassline can

easily be found. A few notable examples are: (1) "Dido's Lament," from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1698), mm. 14-17: i-V-vii"/iv-IV6-iv6-V, and mm. 19-22: i-V6-v6-vi07-vii0-iv6-V; (2) the "Crucifixus," from Bach's B Minor Mass, BWV 232 (1733), mm. 1-4: i-VI6-vii?7-v6-vi7-iv6-i-V, and mm. 13-16: i-vii?/V-V6-iv-vii3 -IV6-iv6-Fr6-i6-V; and (3) the opening

iv4 9 _ 4 of Beethoven's "Waldstein" sonata, op. 53 (1809), mrn. 1-9: I-V/V-V6- lVV2 -IV6-iv6-V7 (or, alternatively, IV7-V6 - Il-V IV6-iv6-V7). IV v IV

b.

c.



Enharmonicism and the Omnibus Progression in Classical-Era Music

Example 12. Classical examples of passacaglia progression a. Mozart, Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 284, third movement, Variation VII, mm. 2-4 (1775)

2 , b '1 ir- r- wfT t IrCrrfrtrrlrl T

6W1:, r a

2/ q/ L

L.

i V4/iv IV6 It6 i6 V

b. Mozart, Piano Sonata in C Minor, K. 457, third movement, mm. 205-10 (1784)

205

* I

. .

...,;'-'.. '... p f P f. f P

, r0 fw 0 1 P . r P P

J~ ~~~~ ~ ~ z! , z! J

J r x- ar/i

:i v6 V4/iv Gr6 * 6

4 C

i6-V, and i-V4/iv-IV6-Fr6-V.27 Later, in the chapter on "Improvisation," Bach explains to keyboardists, "particularly [those] of limited ability," how to extemporize: "With due caution he fashions his bass out of the ascending and descending scale of the prescribed key, with a variety of figured bass signatures."28 For his first minor diatonic descending scale progression, Bach shows two harmonizations: i-v6-iv6-V; and i-V2/iv-iv6-viio6/iv. For the chromatic descending scale progression, Bach's first two harmonizations

27Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, trans. and ed. William J. Mitchell (New York: Norton, 1949), 216, 238.

28Ibid., 431. Emphasis added.

are I-V6 -V4/iv-IV6-+ 6-V; and I-V4/V-V6-v6-V4/IV- 5 2 2 2 IV6-+6-V.29 Although he makes no mention of the fact, some of his scale harmonizations in this chapter are those of the earlier regle de l'octave, which dates from 1716.30

It is not hard to imagine, especially given Bach's own remarks above, that the sorts of chromaticism that first arose

29Ibid., 433. I am showing the chords for the descending tetrachord only. Bach harmonizes the entire scale.

30Ibid., 431, fn. 3. For more on the regle de l'octave, see especially Joel Lester, Compositional Theory in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992), 72-74; and Thomas Christensen, "The Regle de l'Octave in Thorough-Bass Theory and Practice," Acta Musicologica 64/2 (1991): 91-117.

257




in the passacaglia bass and lament aria, combined with the well-known regle de l'octave, inspired keyboard improvisers to explore heightened juxtapositions of distant harmonies over chromatically descending and ascending basses, culmi- nating ultimately in the omnibus family of progressions. To wit: if the passacaglia progression as shown in Example 13a is modified such that the chromatic wedge becomes part of the voice exchange, instead of being independent of it, the classic omnibus will result, as shown in Example 13b. A comparison of the passacaglia to the omnibus reveals the fol-

lowing similarities:

1. Both progressions instance a dominant prolongation man- ifested through a voice exchange;

2. In both progressions, the chords built on the lowered seventh and sixth scale degrees are dominant-seventh sonorities. In the passacaglia progression, two different dominant-seventh chords are used (V4/iv, Gr6), while in the omnibus, the same dominant-seventh chord is used each time, in different inversions (V7/III, or Gr6/ii);

3. In each progression, the chord built on the raised sixth scale degree is essentially the same chord, IV6 or ii6- these are the diatonic passing chords used between V5 and V7. The passacaglia progression tonicizes IV or iv, while the omnibus contains a tonicization of ii nested within the dominant prolongation; and

4. Each progression has a Gr6-i6 pairing.

Even in the absence of an eighteenth-century discussion of this issue, the evidence strongly suggests that this chromatic harmonization of the passacaglia bassline is the prototype of the omnibus. Moreover, compositions such as C. P. E. Bach's Rondo in A Minor (W. 56/5) and Mozart's Don Giovanni contain both the passacaglia and the omnibus

progression, suggesting that composers did indeed recognize a linkage. Don Giovanni comes tantalizingly close to making this connection explicit, as is discussed below.

Example 13. Comparison of passacaglia and omnibus progressions a. passacaglia

V4/iv IV6 Gr6

Dominant 7th sonority (Different Chords) Dominant 7th sonority (Different Chords)

b. omnibus

Chord# 1 2 3 4 5

c: i V6 (Gr6/ii ii Gr6/ii)

Dominant 7th sonority (Same Chord) Dominant 7th sonority (Same Chord)

One variation of the omnibus, which I call the small omnibus, includes a voice exchange between V7 and V4, as shown in Example 14a. With only one whole step between 8 and 4, only one chord can intervene. If the two voices not involved in the exchange hold common tones, the intervening chord will be a non-functional vii6 chord. As with the classic omnibus, the dominant preceding the 6 chord is enharmonically that 6 chord's own Gr6; given just the first two chords, a likely interpretation is shown in Example 14b. When the subsequent chord is V4, however, it becomes clear that the i6 serves as a passing chord, possessing no functional signif- icance or structural weight. Nevertheless, there remains a




Example 14. Small omnibus

a.

Example 15. Haydn, Symphony No. 98 in Bb, Major, fourth movement (reduction), mm. 270-75 (1792) b.

270 ,

Ii - -r J-.r m ytT -"

lrl- r '' - r *y^0 J,.- his .

Bb: V7 =a: Gr6

Bb: V7 (vii6) =Gr6 i

vii

momentary sensation of an enharmonic exchange. Haydn used this progression in the excerpt shown in Example 15.31 In that instance the small omnibus functions independently, although it can also be subsumed as chords 2-4 in a classic omnibus as demonstrated in Example 16. It can also be fused to a classic omnibus as shown in Example 17, creating subsequent voice exchanges between V6 and V7, and between V7 and V4 (i.e., between S and 9, and S and 4, respectively). The resulting progression, now seven chords long, contains two nested Gr6-i6-Gr6 pairings, making the diatonic under- pinning even more tenuous.

Despite their inherent aural ambiguities, both the classic and the small omnibus may be taken to be, in principle, unambiguous. The framing dominants make it clear that the intervening chords participate in a prolongation of V, even though they may temporarily suggest deeper structural functions. But if one of the framing dominants is removed, or becomes part of a separate voice exchange, the progression loses its tonal anchor. This happens when several omnibus progressions a minor third apart are strung together, as shown in Examples 18 and 19. The connection is made by treating the last V7 of one progression (chord 5) as chord 2 of the

Example 16. Small omnibus as segment of classic omnibus

I-., IFo o. . l

g: Vs Omnibus Chords: 1

V7

2 3 4 5

Example 17. Small omnibus fused to classic omnibus

Chord: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

i V6 (Gr6/ii ii6 Gr6/ii) V7 (vii6) V2 i6 = Gr6 i6 Gr6

vii 31The passage appears in the recapitulation of the second theme area of

this sonata-form movement.

16 vG Gr6

a L L o..

.: , M , B. V r V.

BS:V7 vii6 V4

Gr6/ii ii6 Gr6/ii




omnibus progression a minor third lower, where it functions as a Gr6/ii instead of as a framing V7. Without a V6 marking the beginning of each omnibus segment, any sense of a starting or ending point within a dominant prolongation is ne- gated. Wason calls this progression an "extended omnibus."32 We might also refer to it as an "overlapped omnibus," or an "omnibus cycle." A complete cycle, which traverses an entire chromatic octave, requires four overlapped statements. And since the notes held as common tones throughout one complete cycle comprise a diminished seventh chord, there are only three possible cycles. Example 18 shows these three cycles; Example 19 presents the first of these (Ex. 18a) in musical notation, including a functional analysis.

By considering any of the dominant seventh sonorities in a complete cycle as either a V7 or a Gr6, a progression can potentially move to one of eight different tonics, each of which can be either major or minor.33 It is precisely these tonally ambiguous cyclic progressions that are found in the Mozart Piano Concerto excerpts discussed above, all of which contain extended and/or varied omnibus progressions. In the Bb Concerto excerpt (shown in Examples 6 and 20), Mozart overlaps two omnibus progressions, taking chord 5 of the first as chord 2 of the second to produce a rapid modulation from Bb major to B minor. In the excerpt from the G major Con- certo (Examples 7 and 21), Mozart uses the omnibus to take the music from B major to A minor, but with one slight deviation from the omnibus cycle: chord 4, which would have been be a G4, has been omitted.

32Wason, Viennese Harmonic Theory, 18. 33For the cycle given in Example 18a, the potential keys are A, B, C, D,

Eb, F, F,, or G#, all major and minor.

VOGLER'S CHROMATIC-SCALE HARMONIZATION

The third Mozart concerto excerpt discussed above (shown in Example 8) exemplifies another of the omnibus variants: a conflation of the omnibus with the harmonization of the chromatic scale as proposed by Georg Vogler (which probably predates the omnibus, as discussed below). It was common for eighteenth-century theorists to present harmonizations of major and minor scales (the regola dell'ottava, or regle de l'octave), but Vogler additionally recognized the chromatic scale as a separate entity (apparently the first to do so, at least in print) and provided a harmonization of it in both his Kuhrpfdlzische Tonschule of 1778 and his Handbuch of 1802.34 Since this progression is essentially a composing-out of a diminished seventh chord, it is limited, as is the omnibus, to three transpositions. The earlier Kuhr- pfdlzische Tonschule shows all three, while the Handbuch illustrates only the c0o7 transposition. An important analytical insight can be gleaned from a comparison of the two different presentations of this progression: Vogler was inconsistent in his chord spelling, suggesting a recognition of the enharmonic equivalence of these chords in this tonally ambiguous progression. For example, in the Kuhrpfdlzische Tonschule he spells successive chords as Gk7 and go7, but in the Handbuch he spells those same chords as Ft7 and fxo7.

34Abbe Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814), Handbuch zur Harmonielehre und fuer den Generalbass nach den Grundsaetzen der Mannheimer Tonschule (1802), 133ff. and Table XII; Kuhrpfalzische Tonschule (1778), Table XXX. Regarding Vogler and his recognition of the chromatic scale, see Wason, Viennese Harmonic Theory, 15.




Example 18. The three omnibus cycles

a. b07 cycle Chord #1 2 3 4 5

G6 Bb7 d6 Bb4 G7 2 3 4 5

(E6) G7 b6 G4 E7 5 4 2 2 3 4 5

(C#6) E7 g#6 E4 C7 2 3 4 5

(B6) =Db7 f6 D6 B7 2

(G6) Bb7 b. c#o7 cycle Chord #1 2 3 4 5

A6 C7 e6 C4 A7 5 4 2

2 3 4 5 (F#6) A7 c#6 A4 F#7

2 3 4 5 (E16) =Gb7 bb6 Gb Eb7 2

2

(C^) Eb7 g6

c. f#07 cycle Chord #1 2 3 4 5

D 6 F7 6 4 D I F7 a6 F4 D7 5 4 2

2 3 4 5 (B6) D7 f#6 D4 B7

2 3 4 5 (G6) B7 d46 B4 G#7

2 3 (F6 ) =Ab7 C

3 4 5 d6 Bb G7 4 2

3 4 5 Eb2 C7

2 3 4 5 (A6) C7 e6 C4 A7

4 5 Ab F7 2

2 3 4 5 (D6) F7 a6 F4 D7 5 4 2




Example 19. Complete omnibus cycle with functional analysis

V7 ? fv Di- r P- ev

by

A: Gr6/ii ii Gr6/ii V7 F#: Gr6/ii ii6 Gr6/ii V7

Eb: Gr6/ii ii Gr6/ii V7

Example 20. Chord progression from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18 in Bb Major, K. 456, third movement, mm. 162-171 (1784)

163-64 Bb4

/IV2

165-66 G7

V7/ii b: Gr6

167 168-70 171 b6 F#7 b

4

V7 i

Example 21. Chord progression from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453, first movement, mm. 186-192 (1784)

mm. 186-87 Bb

Bb: I

Omnibus Chords:

4 5 2 3

188 Bb4

V2/IV

189 G7

V7/ii a: Gr6/ii

190 191 192 b6 E7 a 4

ii6 V7 i

4 5 2 3() 5

Example 22 presents an analytic renotation of the Hand- buch example, including the resulting harmonic pattern, each

overlapping segment of which is four chords long. Example 23 shows each of the transpositions as the composing-out of a single diminished seventh chord, without respect to function in any particular key.35 Like the extended omnibus, where the

35The transpositions are shown descending through the octave, although composers also used them in their ascending form.

dominant seventh serves a dual role (enharmonically) as both a V7 and a Gr6, the viio7s in the Vogler progression function enharmonically as viio7/V in keys a minor third apart. Also like the omnibus, four overlapped statements are required to traverse an octave. But unlike the omnibus, which nests Gr6- i6 between two framing dominants, Vogler's harmonization nests that two-chord progression between two viio7s/V, and does not employ an elision when the segments are overlapped.

C: Gr6/ii ii Gr6/ii

mm. 162 Bb

Bb: I

Omnibus Chords:

V7

i6 4




Example 22. Renotation of Vogler's chromatic scale harmonization

Gr6 viio6/ bb: vii7/V i6 Gr6 viijO/

c#: viio7/ i6 Gr6 vii?/V e: vii?7/V i6 Gr6 i6 viio7N

c#: vii?6/V

cS: Gr6 i6 vii7N/V r-

' bb: vii?/V Gr6 i6 iiO7/V

g: vii?/V Gr6 i6 viio7N e: vii?6/V Gr6

C: V7IV IV V

Example 23. Descending scale chords for the three diminished-seventh cycles

Chords: a. cot7 cycle:

b. b07 cycle:

c. fo07 cycle:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 c#07 C7 e6 c#o A7 ct6 c#o0 GK7 b6 co E7 g6 c#7 C7

b07 Bb7 d6 bo4 G7 b6 bo4 E7 g#tt6 b D f bo7 BK7

f#o7 F7 a6 f#4 D7 f#6 f#o4 B7 d6 f#06 A7 C6 f#t7 F7 4 274 3 4 D 4




Example 24. C. P. E. Bach, Rondo I in A Major, W. 58/1, mm. 85-87

83 A . 4t

e#O? f#6 eo7 f

85

6, r

rS.r r >r rr

tr ,r 8 >6 * ^( _ _ _ _ _ _ _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

D7 d0"7 a6 D? dd# a46 (=Gr6/f#)

Two examples from C. P. E. Bach's Rondos serve to il- lustrate Vogler's progression. The first, from the 1783 A ma-

jor Rondo, is shown in Example 24.36 In mm. 85-86 four successive chords correspond to chords 5, 4, 3, and 2 of Vo-

gler's f#07 cycle shown in Example 23c. (The order is reversed because the bass ascends.) The second example, from the 1785 C minor Rondo, is shown in Example 25.37 Here seven successive chords in mm. 99-101 are comparable to the first seven chords in the b07 cycle of Example 23b (in reverse

order). Yet another instance appears in the famous Finale

36C. P. E. Bach, Rondo I in A Major, W. 58/1, Clavier-Sonaten und Freye Fantasien nebst einigen Rondos furs Fortepiano fur Kenner und Liebhaber, Vierte Sammlung, 1783 (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, n.d.). The excerpt appears in the developmental C section of this rondo.

37C. P. E. Bach, Rondo II in C Minor, W. 59/4, Clavier-Sonaten und Freye Fantasien, Fiinfte Sammlung, 1785. This excerpt is in the final A section of this seven-part rondo.

F7 (= Gr6/a = V7/Bb)

from Mozart's Don Giovanni (1787), where the Commen- datore confronts Don Giovanni and demands a response to his own dinner invitation. As demonstrated in Example 26, Mozart uses seven chords of a C#o7 cycle, overlapping two

statements, although he substitutes a triad for a dominant seventh as the final chord in the pattern (m. 500). This progression corresponds to the first two measures of Example 22, or to chords 8-13 of Example 23a (reversed).

The Don Giovanni example is compelling due to its use of and explicit connection between the passacaglia progression and the Vogler/omnibus progression. In the Overture to the opera, after the initial tonic and dominant chords, mm. 5-11 contain a passacaglia progression with a chromatically descending tetrachord, set in dotted rhythms, answered several measures later (mm. 23-30) by a chromatically harmonized ascending bassline in the same dotted rhythm, above which Mozart writes sixteenth-note ascending and descending

s lo * ( o




Example 25. C. P. E. Bach, Rondo II in C Minor, W. 59/4, mm. 96-101

(6 NN1 t S 7f f - I r I , I r , p I I r I F ! | / ff

I -

p:, t - b- b 6

b?o b6

d6 C

Example 26. Mozart, Don Giovanni (reduction), Act II Finale, scene 15, mm. 494-501 (1787)

II1 Commendatore

Vc./D.B.

494 - or | I I i i r 1 - r I-rr ri- spon - di - mi, ri - spon - di - mi: ver- ra - i tua cen ar me - co

.. . . Ij " ' " "-Ir p Ir v I I r '1 p ir r p i Ir p r pr I Gb (substituting for F$7)

VI (substituting for Gr6)

scales.38 This music returns in the Finale, at the entrance of the Commendatore. The passacaglia begins in the dotted

38The passacaglia progression is: i-vii4/V-V6-viio4/iv- tvi7 [!]-iv6-Gr6- 3 5 4 4

iS-V; the ascending bassline progression is: i-N6-V6/V- v3v3 -iv6-N6 -Gr6- i6 -V7-I.

rhythm as the Commendatore intones Don Giovanni's name. The ascending bassline progression of the Overture returns for four statements, similarly harmonized, twice accompanied by the sixteenth-notes scales, twice without. Mozart ups the ante on recurring statements, harmonizing them more chromatically until the fourth statement concludes with the

96 A I

c#07

g: viio7/V

g4 Eb7

i4 Gr6

e07 bb

viio?/V

b6: vii07/V i6 4

. ;W i 161 -1 f - 1 . - Fi




Vogler progression, completing a modulation from A minor to the far-removed key of Bb minor.39

It is quite likely that this diminished-seventh progression, or segments of it, antedates the omnibus, and, along with the passacaglia, lament aria, and regle de l'octave, provided the materials out of which the omnibus finally emerged in its classic form. The earliest example of the classic omnibus in the theoretical literature of which I am presently aware is in Bonifazio Asioli's L'Allievo al clavicembalo (1819), cited by Yellin. Yellin states that Asioli's treatise contains examples of the omnibus with and without substituted diminished seventh chords, "as well as the complete omnibus, expanding and contracting extended sequentially."40 The earliest musical example of which I am aware in which segments of the diminished-seventh progression are used appears in Handel's opera, Tamerlano (1724), a full fifty-four years before Vogler wrote about it in his Kuhrpfalzische Tonschule. It appears in the lament aria, "Si, figlia, io moro," shown in Example 27. The functional anlalysis beneath the score is accompanied by the corresponding cto7 Vogler progression for comparison. (The full Vogler progression appears in Example 23a.)

Although not literally the same, it is a close match. The most obvious difference is Handel's use of four different chords (C6-f-F4-D7), in place of Vogler's single Eb7 (chord 11 in Example 23a), thereby delaying slightly the steady bassline descent. A similar instance appears in Rameau's 1735 opera Les Indes galantes, in "Les Incas du Perou," immediately following the chorus "Dan les abimes" (scene V,

39The passacaglia progression (scene 15, mm. 437-43) is: i-v6-VI-iv6- i6-V; the three ascending bassline progressions (mm. 461-70, 470-78, and 479-85) preceding the Vogler statement are, in order: i-i6-N6-ii0 -

V3-.v iv6-N6-Gr6-i -V-i; i-viio -i6-ii6-V/V-V-Fr-V7-i; and iv 4 4 5 - V W i-V6/iv-N6 (or VI56/iv)-V/V-V3/iv-iv6-viiN/V -V-i.

iv 4?Yellin, "The Omnibus Idea."

the "Earthquake" scene).41 The progression and a possible functional analysis are as follows:

f F4 D f#6 F#4 Eb g6 G4 C6 f f: i V4/iv V/ii

f#: VI i6 V4/iv V/ii

g: VI i6 V2/iv

f: V4/V V6 i

There are obvious similarities to the Handel example as well as to the omnibus. The first half of this progression resembles part of the f#o7 omnibus cycle, and the second half fits into the C#"7 omnibus cycle:

f#o7 omnibus cycle: F4 D7 f#6

Rameau: f F4 D f#6 F#4 Eb g6 G4 C6 f

C#07 omnibus cycle: Gl Eb7 g6

41This is one of the two passages Rameau cited most often in his own writings on enharmonicism, especially in Generation harmonique (Paris: Prault Fils, 1737) and Demonstration du principe de l'harmonie (Paris: Durand, 1750). All of Rameau's writings are available in The Complete Theoretical Writings of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), 6 vols., ed. Erwin R. Jacobi (Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1967-72). Both the Ge'neration harmonique and the Demonstration du principe de l'harmonie are in vol. 3. English translations of each of these treatises appear in Deborah Hayes, "Rameau's Theory of Harmonic Generation; an Annotated Translation and Commentary of Gendration harmonique by Jean-Philippe Rameau" (Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1968); and Roger Briscoe, "Rameau's Demonstration du principe de l'harmonie and Nouvelles reflexions de M. Rameau sur sa D6monstration du principe de l'harmonie: an Annotated Translation of Two Treatises by Jean-Philippe Rameau" (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1975).

The other famous passage cited by Rameau is "Quelle soudaine horreur," sung by the Trio de Parques, in the second act of Hipolyte et Aricie (1733). The enharmonicism of this passage is also sequential, but does not involve an omnibus. For more on these two passages, and on eighteenth-century enharmonicism in general, see my diss., "Enharmonicism in Theory and Prac- tice in 18th-Century Music" (Ph.D. diss., The Ohio State University, 1993).




Example 27. Handel, "Si, figlia, io moro," (reduction) from Tamerlano (1724)

J _ILPIL.. ,..h IL Bajazet 6.- _ t rl \ \ i i \ 1 i V p r p p

- Fb

.

Si, fi-glia, iomo-ro; ad-di-o! tu re-sti ahi-me, che dirnonpos-so in

$ :Jto .. . iII8 : q_

Str. & b.c.

;P <0 = i - t S r --?? tibO F0

Ft bb e07 C6 Ft: I bb: VI i vii0o7

f: vii07 Vs

Vogler progression: F# 7 bb6 e07 [Eb7

Bajazet Ji d i - - J) - . i \ 4 1 1 L i I |

pa-ce! tu re-sti, fi-glia, ne-gli af-fan-ni, e que-sto 6'1 so-lo af-fan-no mi-o.

if Str. & J..Jb.c. Str. & b.c.

(^^TT !>^^"E!T- - r - ^r-^=--^ <iJ---J iJ W f F2

f: i V2/iv D7

V7/ii

g: V7

g6 a?tso C7

i 6 viio7/V e: vii07/V Gr6

] g o

C#07 C7

While neither of these examples is an exact match to the overlapped Vogler or omnibus progression, both probably represent incipient stages of the sequential cyclic progressions, especially in their use of third-related dominants and Gr6-i6 relationships. It seems unlikely that these remarkable excerpts are unique for their time; a thorough search of the early eighteenth-century literature would likely turn up others.

B d#?t

V 6

e4

B7 e

viio7

As we have seen, Vogler's progression and the omnibus are closely related. Example 28 pairs descending versions of the three omnibus cycles with the corresponding Vogler harmonizations. (Example 28a displays fully notated chords, while 28b and c show chord symbols only.) The sole difference between the two progressions is that the omnibus contains a dominant 4 chord wherever the corresponding Vogler harmonization contains a diminished seventh chord rooted a

V7 i




Example 28. Comparison of the three omnibus cycles to the three corresponding Vogler chromatic-scale harmonizations

a.

C$#7 omnibus cycle:

6n 4* ' b ft iR k ^fi ^ ;n '? | l |11^ k? ^

H 11 0 -, -----$-u h8 1 io, T .

A6 C7 e4 C4 A7 c$6 A4 F#7 bi6 Gb6 Eb7 g4 Eb4 C7

Vogler's c0?7 cycle:

n

bn a $ l ,R $ B ' e

1^ >6 t 4| 6 Tr 1 i---- --^? ko " I0 ^ it0 o I $0 6~~~ ~~~~~. M

c#07 C7 e4 c2? A7 c# c$04 F#7 bb46 c ? 6 Eb7 g6 c#o7 C7 9

b?7 omnibus cycle: G6 Bb7 d6 Bb6 G7

Vogler's b07 cycle: b07 Bb7 d6 bO? G7

b6 Gb4 E7 g46 E4 Db7 f6 Db4 Bb7

b6 bo? E7 g46 bo6 Db7 f6 bo7 Bb7 4 4 5 4

C.

f#t07 omnibus cycle: D5 F7

Vogler's f0 7 cycle: f o7 F7

a4 F2 D7 ft 4 D B7 d<64 B A7 4 Ab F7

a4 fto?4 D7 f ft04 B7 d# f#06 A67 c f07 F7

b.




Example 29. C. P. E. Bach, Die neue Litanei, W. 204/2, mm. 211-23

211

8 J

${- f " - *= r f r r r r J r J o J r r r

6* 4# 7 6 4 3

5 6# 6 2t 7 4 7 5 4 t 2 5

E6 Gr6/b b6 g#O4 E7

6 7 q

2 6# 4# 6#

major third higher; the corresponding chords thus differ by only one note. The utilitarian aspect of Vogler's progression is apparent as well: taking any of the diminished seventh chords in the progression as either viio7 or vii7/V of some key enables a composer to modulate to the same eight major and minor tonics as the corresponding extended omnibus. Con- sequently, these progressions can be mixed, substituting the diminished seventh chord for the analogous dominant 4, or the reverse, thereby further subverting a sense of key and introducing numerous opportunities for enharmonic puns.

A simple example of this combined progression exists in C. P. E. Bach's 1786 Die neue Litanei, shown in Example 29.42 Measures 213-15 contain a single omnibus statement (the prolongation of an E dominant seventh chord) with a substituted diminished seventh chord (g#o4) in place of the dominant seventh (G2): E6-Gr6/b-b6-g?t4-E7.

Two other examples by C. P. E. Bach deserve special mention for their respective treatments of these progressions. The first is a passage from the A major Fantasia, Example 30.43

42C. P. E. Bach, Die neue Litanei, W. 204/2 (Neuhausen-Stuttgart: Hanssler-Verlag, 1980).

43C. P. E. Bach, Fantasia in A Major, W. 58/7, Clavier-Sonaten und Freye Fantasien, Vierte Sammlung, 1783. This passage appears near the beginning of the piece; a simlar instance appears near the end of the piece.

In the unmetered Adagio-Allegretto section, shortly before one complete cycle). More importantly though, with respect to the explicit recognition of the relationship and interchange- ability of these progressions, rather than using just the diminished seventh chord from Vogler's progression, or the corresponding dominant 4 from the omnibus, Bach uses both chords in each of two statements. This is the only such example of which I am aware. Bach's progression:

D6 F7 a6 [d?o7 F4] D7 f#6 [D4 b?07] Cb7 eb6 Bb

Vogler's corresponding fo"7 progression:

d#o6 F7 a6 d#o7 D7 f#6 b#o7 B7 dt6 4 4

And the corresponding f#07 omnibus progression:

F D7 f#4 D4 B7 d6

The second Bach example, shown in Example 31, is from a Rondo in A minor (1780) and uses a complete Vogler/omnibus cycle to descend chromatically through an entire octave from A3 to A2; this is one of the two earliest such examples




Example 30. C. P. E. Bach, Fantasia in A Major, W. 58/7

--C?-^ ?ten.

'a1 " "r=r: J: - ^-. r..' tf--- : k -

D ; e ' U S tv [, ? VLhX~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

D6 F7

(instead of D6) (= Gr6/a)

D4

I I a I

b#o7 Cb7 eb6

(= Gr6/eb)

Adagio.

of which I am aware.44 A comparison of this progression to Example 28b clearly reveals the identity of the progression, with its intermingled diminished seventh and dominant 4

2 chords. It would be hard to underestimate the effect this

44C. P. E. Bach, Rondo III in A Minor, W. 56/5, Clavier-Sonaten und

Freye Fantasien, Zweite Sammlung, 1780. This excerpt appears in the final A section of the rondo. Complete cycles through an entire octave are far less common than single statements of an omnibus, or several overlapped statements. The other contemporaneous example I am aware of is by Vogler, shown in Example 38. Two later examples of complete cycles appear in Hum- mel's Piano Sonata in F# Minor, op. 81 (1819), first movement, mm. 118-23; and Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony in B Minor, op. 74 ("Pathetique," 1893), first movement, mm. 259-62.

Rondo must have had on contemporary audiences, who must have been utterly astonished by the novelty and harmonic daring of the passage.

If we now reexamine the third Mozart excerpt from above (Examples 8 and 32), it becomes clear that this too is an example of an extended omnibus with a substituted diminished seventh chord. A comparison of this progression with chords 7-14 of the Vogler progression in Example 28a reveals that the match is exact. Mozart overlaps three omnibus progressions to get from A minor to the closely-related key of E minor. He obviously wants to exploit the instability and tension generated by this highly chromatic extended omnibus, with its inherent enharmonicism. Another remarkable

Allepretto.

d#07

(= f#"7)

6 a4

DV I

D7 f,46

U,Rl PE V; I ;




Example 31. C. P. E. Bach, Rondo III in A Minor, W. 56/5, mm. 142-56

ten.

..b j L6M. 3 i ten. ten.

ff pP P f ff o p I

9 $ i J hJ Jj $J ffPPPfff"ffirf~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

b07 C 7 (= Db = Gr6/f)

g#o7 B( 7 (= Gr6/d)

Example 32. Chord progression from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453, first movement, mm. 196-203 (1784)

mm. 196 a A4 2

197 F#7

198 bb6

a: i V4/iv V7/ii 2 g#: Gr6/ii

= a: Gr6/ii

4 5 2

ii6 ( )

199 200 ( ) E7 g6 94

V7 f: Gr6/ii ii6 4

3 () 5 2 3

201 tt07

(instead of Eb4)

viio7

202 203 C7 B

V7 e: Gr6 V

Omnibus Chords:

4 5

149* n




moment in this excerpt is what may be called double enharmonicism. The F#7, which is chord 5 of the first omnibus, becomes upon its reinterpretation not a Gr6 of A# minor, but of Bb minor. Without this extra, or double enharmonic reinterpretation, the music would move not to the closely related key of E minor at m. 204, but to the very distant key of Dx minor.

Yet another Mozart concerto example is exemplary in set-

ting the V7/Gr6 duality of the extended omnibus in high relief. Example 33 shows mm. 125-129 of the D major Piano Concerto (K. 537).45 The framing keys are G major and A

major. The process begins with a tonicization of G major, clearly articulated by five and one-half measures of exclusively G6-D7 chords beginning in m. 120.46 On the fourth

appearance of the D7 (m. 125), the overlapped omnibus be-

gins, but with some alterations. Two chords are different from those that would appear in an overlapped omnibus: a?o7 substitutes for d#6, and g#o7 substitutes for G#7. Both substitutes have the same bass note as the chords for which they are substituting, thereby maintaining the chromatic wedge, but neither of these chords fits into the corresponding Vogler progression. The g#o7 substitute obviously functions as viio7

of A, leading the music back to A major for the close of this section. But with two chords missing, particularly the critical d#6 (chord 3) that makes the surrounding dominants sound like Gr6s, the third segment of this extended omnibus does not cohere as such. This unusual progression is more prof- itably compared to the model shown in Example 17, which fuses the classic and small omnibus. Using that model, the excerpt shown in Example 33 can be interpreted as a two- statement overlapped omnibus, whose second segment is con-

45Piano Concerto No. 26 in D, K. 537, third movement ("Coronation"). This excerpt appears in the closing section (and thus the dominant key area) of the B part of this concerto-rondo form.

46This is without doubt an unusual key to tonicize within a section in A

major (i.e., tVII).

nected to a small omnibus.47 This excerpt still contains one substitution in the small omnibus segment-a viio7/V instead of vii6-diluting somewhat the omnibus effect.

Since the keys in this section, G and A, are separated by only two accidentals, no extraordinary means are required to modulate from one to the other. Mozart's use of the extended omnibus here clearly demonstrates his desire to make a musical pun. He accomplishes this in two ways. First, by re- peating the G6-D7 formula four times, D7 is unquestionably treated as V7/G. When it is then followed on its fourth appearance by f#6, its enharmonic reinterpretation as a Gr6/f# is unmistakable. Second, Mozart maximizes this effect through the voicing of the D7. In both the piano and violin parts, this D7 is arpeggiated upward, placing the critical Cq in the uppermost voice of the figuration. When the chord is reinterpreted as a Gr6/f#, the prominent placement of the C~ (respelled as Bt in the piano part), highlights the C~/B# duality. Mozart has brought the enharmonicism inherent in the omnibus progression into full relief.

While some of the examples I have examined show omnibus progressions in developmental or transitional passages -as one would expect for harmony of such ambiguity and instability-composers also use them in what would normally be harmonically stable sections of music. This creates an el- ement of surprise, allowing for excursions into remote keys in the most unexpected places, as is the case in the Mozart D major Concerto and the Bach C minor and A minor Ron- dos discussed above. In the Concerto, the omnibus is found in the closing material of the B section of a rondo form, a place where one would expect relative harmonic stability and confirmation of the dominant key before the obligatory return to tonic, rather than the nebulous omnibus harmonies. Similarly, in the two Bach Rondos the omnibus appears in

47This is also the case in the C. P. E. Bach Fantasia shown in Example 30.



Example 33. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 26 in

125 6

Fl.

Ob.

Bsn.

Pf.

VI. 1

VI. 2

Via.

D.B.


D Major, K. 537 ("Coronation"), third movement, mm. 125-29 (1788)

A t t S& h4 L

I t '? ? rr r- I rr -r r

1, o l f 'f l ''# f '1' 1

rCI T *r r?fr*rrr

I^IF f F F!F iF

i > ---

(

S --^ -- --- --

D .-p Y h-- -

f^$ J t D - D - p ---p-- P----

.-- .- h- h? . -

-h - '

~~~~~~. , h

G46 D7

G: V7 e: Gr6/ii

Omnibus Chords: 5 2

G: V7 e: Gr6/ii

Omnibus Chords: 5 2

f6

.6 i14

3

..6 114

3

4 D2

Gr6/ii

4

Gr6/l

4

B7

V7 Key?: Gr6/d$? Eb?

5 2

OR V7

5

ado7 (instead of d#64)

g$07 (instead of G$7)

A

(3)

viio7/V

(instead of vii4)

6

4

4 V2

7

(5)

viio7/iv

A: vii07 I

I




the final A sections. The melodic component of an omnibus passage is usually underplayed. Rather than clearly defined melodies, as would be used to articulate sections of harmonic stability, such passages tend to be athematic, with lots of passage work. The harmony is the center of attention and generator of musical interest. Thus, even if the omnibus progression no longer carried specific lament connotations for classical-era composers, it still carried much of the rhetorical and dramatic weight from its origins in the passacaglia basses and lament arias, and would therefore be a felicitous choice for the dramatic climax of a composition.

LINK TO NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENHARMONICISM

The omnibus and its related progressions represent a link between the simpler, more typical manifestations of eighteenth-century enharmonicism (such as those shown in Examples 4 and 5) and the more idiosyncratic exploitation of enharmonic relationships in the nineteenth century. This is so not only because the omnibus (with its seemingly anach- ronistic enharmonicism) was enthusiastically adopted by nineteenth-century composers (Beethoven actually begins the third Razumovsky quartet of 1805-06 with a Vogler/ omnibus progression), but because its ambiguous tonality likely encouraged nineteenth-century composers to experi- ment with even more remote enharmonic possibilities.48 One

48Yellin cites many nineteenth- and even twentieth-century examples, including: the Finale to Weber's Der Freischiitz; the Overture to Rossini's William Tell; the first movement of Schumann's Third Symphony and the third movement of his Second Symphony; the first movement of Brahms's Second Symphony; the Finale of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and the first movement of his Sixth; excerpts from Wagner's Rienzi, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal; Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum; Schoenberg's Gurrelieder and Kammersymphonie; Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat; and Bart6k's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

nineteenth-century example of a similarly ambiguous type of enharmonicism will suffice to show this link. The passage appears in Schubert's Piano Sonata in D, shown in Example 34. Gregory Proctor cites this passage as typical of nineteenth-century enharmonic usage.49 Briefly, Proctor explains that the Ft major triad can be generated in two ways, and is therefore simultaneously two different chords, as shown in Example 35:

1. It is a V/vi, whose goal chord is delayed for a measure and preempted by a return to the tonic D major chord; and

2. It is a chromatic neighbor chord to D. The At is an enharmonic spelling of the Bb upper neighbor, borrowed from D minor.

Unresolvable enharmonicism exists because one cannot claim that the A#/Bb is exclusively one pitch or the other, nor can its chronology be unequivocally established-it is both pitches simultaneously. There is no diatonic context that ac- commodates a D major-Ft major-D major progression, so the generation and identity of the A#/Bb pitch is ambiguous. At first blush, it would appear that this type of enharmonicism is unimaginable in eighteenth-century music, and would therefore have few counterparts or antecedents. But a closer look at the omnibus reveals a striking similarity due to the questionable identity of the omnibus's second soprano note. In Example 2, for instance, can that note be labeled unequivocally Ab and not Gf, or vice versa? Labeling the chord as a passing chord does not identify its pitches uniquely. Given an enharmonic transformation, the chronology is clear: the pitch is first Ab (as part of a V7/III), then Gf (as part of a Gr6/ii). If there is no enharmonic transformation, then

49Gregory Proctor, "Technical Bases of Nineteenth-Century Chromatic Tonality: A Study in Chromaticism" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1978), 140-42.




Example 34. Schubert, Piano Sonata in D Major, op. 53, third movement, Trio, mm. 9-18 (1825)

(-4\ i i j w f+F- rF r F r r A AH

[I V4 I6] vi

Example 35. Proctor's two generations of the Ff major triad shown in Example 34

4 .-^r 1 II

e - L] W * L W

V/vi and chromatic neighbor chord

the chord is exclusively a Gr6/ii (by virtue of its resolution) and the pitch in question is G#. But after chord 5 makes clear that this progression was an omnibus, might one not also choose to hear the soprano as the mirror image of the passacaglia bass (G-Ab-A -Bb-B -C in the soprano against C-B -Bb -A -Al -G in the bass), and reinterpret again the Gf as an Al? At this point, does the identity of the pitch become immaterial? Is this simply a succession of chromatic half steps within a prolongation of V? If so, then it follows that Ab is structurally equivalent to Gt and that the chronology is trivial. This is in principle exactly analogous to Schubert's harmony in Example 34, which otherwise has few counterparts or antecedents in eighteenth-century music. The omnibus, and to an even greater degree the extended omnibus, clearly is an antecedent.

TWENTIETH-CENTURY VERSUS EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VIEWS

OF THE OMNIBUS PROGRESSION

This discussion of the omnibus would not be complete without differentiating a twentieth-century view of the omnibus from an eighteenth-century perspective. Above, I describe the omnibus as a prolongation of a dominant- seventh chord. While it may profit us at times to view it this way, it is not clear that an eighteenth-century composer or theorist would have done so. In fact, it is difficult to find an eighteenth-century omnibus passage that is simply that: a straightforward dominant prolongation, without any overlapping statements (e.g., G6-B 7-d6-Bb4-G7). The closest such example I have found appears in C. P. E. Bach's Die neue Litanei (Example 29), but even this passage substitutes a diminished-seventh chord for the dominant 4 and the framing dominants do not function as such with clarity and stability. In all but one of the other eighteenth-century examples I have found, the omnibus is overlapped, starting in one key and ending in another, and the surrounding context is often tonally ambiguous. In fact, eighteenth- century examples are as a rule more tonally ambiguous than those of the nineteenth-century, where classic omnibuses are relatively easy to find. So rather than being used to pro- long a primary dominant, or even an augmented sixth, the

. g v-t WII




Example 36. Vogler, Prelude XII in E Major, mm. 15-19

:J-^' i. r r r p ! f - .^ F f F o r+ ??? '

1 F f r r P Y~~~~~~~~~~x1

b#"7 f 6 Gr6/f#

(= d#07, substituting for D2)

omnibus was typically used instead as an exotically colorful, chromatic, yet utilitarian progression to take the music from one key to another, close or distant, providing a wild enharmonic ride along the way. The same holds true for Vo-

gler's related progression, his harmonization of the chromatic scale, and what I call the diminished seventh progression.

An analysis by Vogler of one of his own keyboard pre- ludes, dating from 1806, is pertinent here.50 The Prelude,

50Prelude XII, Georg Joseph Vogler, Pieces de Clavecin (1798) and Zwei

und Dreisig Prdludien (1806), ed. Floyd K. Grave (Madison, Wisc.: A-R

Editions, Inc., 1986), 79-80. The analysis appears in Vogler's Zwei und dreisig Praludien fur die Orgel und fur das Fortepiano, nebst einer Zergliederung in

shown in Example 36, contains the following short, single- statement omnibus with a substituted diminished seventh chord (and one additional C major chord, which is not part of the omnibus):

B7 C b#07 f#6 Gr6/f# B6 E

This omnibus is easily analyzed as a prolonged dominant, especially if the b#o7 is spelled or heard as a d#7--the statements do not overlap, the framing chords are V7/e and V6/E,

asthetischer, rhetorischer und harmonischer Ricksicht, mit praktischem Bezug

auf das Handbuch der Tonlehre vom Abt Vogler (Munich, 1806), 33-34. I

would like to thank Professor Grave for making this available to me.

B7 [C]

e




and a tonic E major chord follows the B6 chord. (This may be compared to the single-statement omnibus prolonging a B dominant seventh chord shown in Example 18c, second row. The same progression with a substituted diminished seventh would include dt?4 in place of D4.) Vogler, however, analyzes the progression not as a composing out of a dominant seventh or diminished seventh chord, but as a modulation. This omnibus excerpt is much cleaner and clearer tonally than any of the Mozart or C. P. E. Bach examples discussed above, yet Vogler analyzes it in two keys:

mm. 16 17 18 19

e: V VI vii?7 // f: V #iv / E: V7 I

Interestingly enough, Vogler never mentions this passage at all in his commentary, yet he refers to other parts of the piece that are not nearly so complex. This is particularly surprising, coming from a theorist who often takes great pains in other analyses to show chord roots, function, non-chord tones, and the like. For instance, in one example he discusses a cadential 6 as being a dominant with a prepared 13th and 11th that resolve down by step, and he shows the chord root as V.51 But clearly he does not interpret the above passage as belonging to a single chord root.

On the other hand, Vogler's analysis of the final movement of his Keyboard Concerto No. 2 in Bb , shown in Example 37, suggests more of a linear perspective. The passage contains a complete diminished seventh cycle, traversing an entire octave. As with his Prelude analysis, Vogler provides no Roman numerals, only a figured bass.52 The section follows a half cadence on F, and is itself followed by a ii-I6-

51Floyd K. Grave and Margaret G. Grave, In Praise of Harmony (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987), 55-61.

52Ibid., 65. This concerto excerpt is discussed in and excerpted from the second volume of Vogler's Betrachtungen der Mannheimer Tonschule (Mann- heim, 1778-81).

viio7/V-I6 progression leading into a cadenza. Grave points out that Vogler declines to comment in detail on this section. According to Grave, "by omitting mention of any chord roots, Vogler suggests that the harmony involves a purely linear elaboration, with no harmony of structural importance occurring between the two dominant chord roots that frame the chromatic scale."53 Whether Vogler viewed this chromatic extravagance explicitly as an extended dominant or diminished seventh prolongation is hard to determine, but he probably at least understood it as an interpolation, unable though he was to account for it in his harmonic theory (thereby accounting for his lack of comment on these measures).

From this and other evidence I conclude that eighteenth- century composers such as C. P. E. Bach and Mozart understood such progressions to be chromatic and enharmonic se- quences (moving mostly by third), segments of which could be linked and overlapped to produce modulations that reside at the outer reaches of diatonic tonality. While modern theorists may gain some insight by emphasizing the prolongation of the dominant, in so doing they may also miss the intricacy and fluidity of the progression in eighteenth-century practice.

ABSTRACT The music of Haydn and Mozart occasionally contains chromatic progressions that dramatically exceed the usual limits of classical tonality. This paper traces the development of one particular formula, called the omnibus, from early Baroque models to its various eighteenth-century forms, and in so doing, leads to a deeper understanding of the emotional impact and rhetorical weight this progression evoked, sheds light on the issue of eighteenth-century enharmonicism in one of its most potent forms, and links these progressions to the more idiosyncratic enharmonicism of the nineteenth century.

53Grave, In Praise of Harmony, 64.




Example 37.

a. Vogler, Concerto No. 2 in Bb Major, second movement, mm. 73-89

72 [Alia polacca] .,

__ .

L

f0O7 c6 Ab7 a07

eb 4 B7 b#?7 f#6

D7 d#o7 aS F7

S P Y f r r--VW " f Q^ S : ' f v I

tr~~~~~b~~Io 7 01

fto7





b. Vogler's analysis

73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

7 7 6 76 76 6b 5# 5(1) 6 7 7 6 6 6

7 4 5 5 4 3# 3(#) 4(#) 3(X) 3(#) 4 7 7 3 4 7 4

bass line F$ G AS A BI B B# C# D D, E F F$ G F E F

preparation for cadenza

