Society for Music Theory

Organic Structure and the Song Cycle: Another Look at Schumann's "Dichterliebe" Author(s): David Neumeyer Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 4 (Spring, 1982), pp. 92-105 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746012 . Accessed: 21/06/2013 02:44
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Organic
Another

the and Structure Cycle: Song at Schumann's Dichterliebe Look

David Neumeyer

Those theorists who in the 1830s and 1840s attemptedto bring into music analysis and criticism principlesof the philosophical system of Hegel were the first to advanceseriouslythe notion of organic unity in music. Certainly one of the most influential of these theorists was Moritz Hauptmann,whose Natur der Harmonik und Metrik1is an attemptto define the philosophical-logicalbasis underlyingboththe prevailingphysical explanationsfor music theory and also the practicaltechnever niquesof composition. In his inimitableway, Hauptmann makes clear the connection between his essential principle of organic unity and the larger-scaleaspects of composition (or apprehension).As he says, his purpose is to discuss only the very general (i.e., the precompositional,the universal)and the very particular(e.g., how the nature of the triad determines chord-to-chord successions, orhow the realizationof an abstract formulationof correct chord succession is transformedinto a progression with a voice leading).2 The closest he comes to
1MoritzHauptmann, Die NaturderHarmonikundMetrik(Leipzig:Breitkopf from the second edition (1873) as TheNatureof und Hirtel, 1853). Translated Harmonyand Metre by W. E. Heathcote (London: Novello, Ewer, and Co., 1888). 2TheNature of Harmony and Metre, 170.

consideration of large-scale structure is in the section on enharmonic change, which in fact deals mostly withthe "modulatory organizationof a piece."3 without We see [today] intelligent rhapsodical, productions shapeless, of of manifold contents without up periods, organicunity building have favour .... Buttheworks thathavebeenableto keepin lasting andmodulation; everbeensuchas ... preserve order of rhythm i.e., whichweartheirbeauties set in the beauty of the whole.4 The "order" Hauptmannadvocates is effectively limited to the general harmonicplan of the traditionalbinary design or sonatamovement, with motion to the dominantat the half and "miscellaneous" modulationsrestrictedto the opening of the second half. This constitutesthe "beauty of the whole." Any unusual details of modulation within this plan, unless they threaten to destroythe shapeof the whole, constitutethe special or peculiar "beauties" of that particularcomposition.5
3TheNature of Harmonyand Metre, 170. 4TheNature of Harmonyand Metre, 169. 5The importanceof Hauptmann'sappeal to an ideal of harmonic-rhythmic of "misceland the subordination architecture (i.e., hierarchicdifferentiation) laneous" or "peculiar" modulationsto Schenker's eventual formulationof a

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and the Song Cycle OrganicStructure Several of Hauptmann' s students felt it their duty to explain to his readers what it was their mentor was about, and, especially, to make those connections to practical music with which he himself was not concerned. One of them-Otto Baehrreduced Hauptmann's requirements for harmonic organization to the following: We demandof every musicalcompositiona certaindefiniteinnerunity, which reveals itself in that the whole piece is governed by a single tonality.6 Thus, organic unity is associated with key unity, but no specific plan of modulation (so long as it is "orderly"). This reformulation allows Baehr to consider music with harmonic plans other than those modelled on I-V-I (e.g., works by composers of his own generation) without abandoning the demand for "order of rhythm and modulation." It also allows him to make comments on cyclical or multipart compositions, to which the single key requirement is also made to apply. Baehr is unable to carry this particular rule very far, however; he praises Mozart for beginning and ending his operas in the same key, but admits that "in later opera composers this unity of key is not maintained."7 Because of Baehr's generally positive-if sometimes with respect to the music of his contemcautious-stance poraries, it is evident that this comment is not so much disparaging as it is an admission that he simply did not know what to do with music he accepted but which did not conform to his principle of "one piece, one key."

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That length was in itself not to be regarded as detrimental to organic structure-or key unity-is shown by the following comment: This feeling for the whole composition, to which we arereadilyaccustomed in shortand simple pieces, is certainlymade more difficult, the longerthe compositionandthe widerthe rangeof its developments.But I still believe that even in the longest compositions [this feeling] is intrinsic to us-though ratherless plainly set in our consciousness.8 Some thirty years later, August Halm took a view of organic unity as expressed in "order of rhythm and modulation" that was essentially that of Hauptmann and his students, expanding it into demonstrations of the complex, but integrated, interworking of formal design and harmonic-tonal patterns, even in cyclical symphonic works.9 Halm's contemporary, Heinrich Schenker, on the other hand, avoided multimovement structures, but for individual pieces or movements developed a more convincing, systematic analytic method by taking extended patterns of harmonic organization and combining them with melodic or voice-leading patterns in hierarchical structural relationships, eventually producing his limited set of universal stereotypes for organic unity in music: his "fundamental structure" or Ursatz. All other structuring factors were regarded as subordinate to this fundamental structure: formal design, motivic organization and development, text or dramatic structure. We read, for example in Free Composition: Wagner... objectedto the recapitulation [Richard] [inLeonore Overture No. 3] because [such] a repetitiondoes not bearout the events of the drama .... His error is obvious. In music, the drama of the fundamentalstructureis the main event.10

diatonicbackground shouldnot be underestimated. In a broadsense, Schenker' s theoryis based not only on Fux andC. P. E. Bach, but equally on a marriageof the objective-idealistic harmonic theory of Hauptmann-in part as filtered -with the fundamental-bass "Stufenthroughhis studentsandotherinterpreters theorie" of Simon Sechter. 6Otto Baehr, Das Tonsystem unserer Musik (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1882), 122. 7Das Tonsystemunserer Musik, 122 (footnote).

8Das Tonsystemunserer Musik, 145. 9See in particularHalm's Die Sinfonie Anton Bruckners (Munich: George Mueller, 1913; 2d ed., 1923; reprinted., Hildesheim: Georg Olms,1975). l0Heinrich Schenker, Free Composition, translatedby Ernst Oster (New York: Longman, 1979), 137 (footnote).

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Behind the "dramaof the fundamental structure"lies the obvious requirementof key unity. Only occasionally is Schenker willing to consider organic structureacross more than one movement, and that only when key unity is threatened.This is the case with "incomplete" movements, those with closes on a non-tonic degree. For example, he discusses the secondkeyboardsuiteby Handel, which has four movementsin the sonata da chiesa plan:the first is an adagioin F, butwith an unusualfull close in a minor;the second is an allegro plainly in F; the third, an adagio in d with a Phrygiancadence to its dominant;the fourth, a fugue, again securely in F. Schenkercalls the two adagios "introductions" and says there are in fact only two movements-not four"since the two introductory pieces exhibit no truefundamental line.""l Because harmonicclosure is lacking, the incomplete movements must be connected to their complete successors, which lend to the formeran explanationadequatein the termsof Schenker's organic structuralstereotypes. By this means, incomplete movements can, in other words, be salvaged. It is significant, however, that harmonicclosure is not sufficient in itself: the fundamentalline-the Urlinie or essential uppervoice melodic component-must also achieve closure. On this point, Schenker says in a footnote: noendorseemto findnoend,it If recent musical havealmost products is at thisi a work arrive a is because do not ... 1;without they genuine boundto give the effectof incompleteness.12 For the attemptto extend Schenker's method to analysis of multimovementcycles, these two of its fundamentalassumptions (alreadycited) areespecially pertinent:1) organicunity is line linkedto key unity(butdemandsclosurein the fundamental as well as harmonic closure); 2) the harmonic-contrapuntal fundamentalstructureoverrides any other structuringforces.
l Free Composition, 130. 12FreeComposition, 129 (footnote).

Problems arising from these assumptions-and possible solutions-can be demonstrated using the familiar,butdifficult, case of Schumann'ssong cycle Dichterliebe. A conspicuousobstacleto analysisis the fact thatthe first and last songs are not in the same key-Baehr's relatively modest ideal requirement for cyclic unity. To make mattersworse, the first song is tonally ambiguous.Schumann'sothercycles, however, do at least achievethis minimumlevel of tonalunification: in the Heine Liederkreis, Op. 24, songs 1 and 9 are in D; in Myrthen,Op. 25, songs 1 and 26 are in Ab;in the Eichendorff Liederkreis,Op. 39, song 1 is in f0, endingin F#, and song 12 is in F#;in Frauenliebeund -Leben, the first song is in Bband the final song, though it begins in d, in fact closes with a reminiscence of the first. Only Dichterliebe among the major song cycles fails in this respect.13 Of the piano character-piece cycles, all butKreislerianaopen and close in the same key. The first and last numbersof Carnaval, for example, are in Ab;and-perhaps because of the A. S. C. H. motto-the internalnumbersnever wander very far away, either (all are in keys of two to four flats). Kreisleriana, on the otherhand, begins in d, but its eighth, final numberis in
g.

No clear message can be said to come from this. Schumann, in general, keeps the traditionalbeginning and ending in the samekey of baroqueandclassic-erainstrumental music, butit is that associated to whether he tell unity with an key impossible organicor cyclic structure.One would tend to think not, since the exceptions-Dichterliebe and Kreisleriana- are no less
13Thefact thatthe first song begins and ends with a dominantseventh chord on C# andthe last (sixteenth)song is in Ct/Db mightbe thoughtto presentsome sort of link of this kind across the cycle. This interpretationis not at all convincing, however: for reasons presentedbelow, the Ct dominantseventh chord of song 1 cannot be understoodto be an independentharmonicentity, representinga "structural" harmony. In its context, it is dependent on the second song, so that, if one wantsto use purelytonal or harmonicarguments,it would be better to compare the second song to the last.

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and the Song Cycle OrganicStructure cyclical in character than any of the other compositions cited above. If this is the case, we should then be very wary indeed of simply trying to expand Schenker's method-which relies on key unity-from single pieces to multipart cycles. Patterns of key succession within the cycle do not provide any better basis for judgment, either. Certain habits with respect to tonal changes from number to number seem to have prevailed among composers of sets in the early nineteenth century. Specifically, key successions by second were avoided, but those by third, fourth, or fifth (the relationships being diatonic or chromatic, with or without mode change)14 were used freely. For instance, in Kinderszenen, Op. 15, the sequence of keys is as follows: G, D, b, D (ends on V7), D, A, F, F, C, g#, G, e (ends on iv), G. These changes are mostly diatonic, except between numbers 6 and 7, 9 and 10, which are chromatic. Numbers 10 and 11 are in the rare relationship of the second (g# to G), but Schumann smooths this over with a non-tonic opening on e (vi in

95

occur:between Schumann,only once does a secondrelationship the fourteenthandfifteenthsongs of Myrthen(relationship: d to Dichterliebe balances successions third with e). roughly by those by fourth or fifth, almost all being diatonic. The only featureperhapsunusualis thatthereare no parallelkey relationships or repetitions,except between the deleted 12b and 13:16
1. ft orA (?) 2. A

3. D
4. G 4a. Eb 4b. g

G).
If there is a model for Schumann's song cycle key successions, it is to be found in the earlier piano cycles, not in the song cycles of Schubert. In Schone Miillerin and Winterreise, second successions occur eleven times (nor, by the by, does either cycle begin and end in the same key). Schumann's keyboard character-piece sets are plainly based on the conventions of dance collections-we need only think of what Papillons and Carnaval, for example, owe to the waltz-and it is on those works of his own that Schumann bases his song cycle tonal schemes. The waltz sets of Schubert-to cite what could be possible models-use key successions very much like those of Schumann's cycles: freely chosen successions by third, fourth, and fifth. In 159 waltzes of seven sets, only twice do successions by second occur.15 In the major song cycles of
14Inthe diatonicrelationship,the tonic triadof the second numberis in thekey of the first; in chromaticrelationship,it is not. 15Those instancesare:in D. 365, nos. 18 and 19 (A to G); D. 145, nos. 2 and3

5. b 6. e 7. C 8. a 9. d 10. g
11. Eb

12 . Bb 12a. g 12b. Eb 13. eb 14. B 15. E 16. ct/Db

in theoriginal version (Nos.4a, 4b, 12a,and12baresongscontained butdeletedbeforepublication.) Ourfirstconclusion, then, mustbe negative:neitherkey unity (i.e., beginningand ending in the same key) norintra-cyclekey successionpatternssupportthe idea thatan expandedharmonicstructurein itself representsor generatesorganic contrapuntal
(B to a). A possible thirdcase-D. 969, nos. 4 and 5 (G to a)-is problematic, because no. 5 only begins in a; it closes in C. The seven waltz sets examinedare D. 145, 146, 365, 734, 779, 924, and 969. 16The of the songs is adoptedfromArthur Komar,ed., Schumann: numbering Dichterliebe (New York: W. W. Norton, 1971).

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structurein the keyboardor song cycles of Schumann.This is plain from the fact that those sets which most people would be willing to agree are merely collections (like the majority of Schubert'swaltz sets) or that have the barest sort of narrative integration(like Schumann'sFantasiestucke, Op. 12) do not differin any significantway with respectto key unityor succession fromthose workswhich most people would probablyagree are in fact integratedcycles (like Carnaval or Frauenliebe und of or-Leben). For this reason, ArthurKomar's interpretation ganic unity in Dichterliebe, based on supposed patterns of progressionin the key successions, mustbe rejected,along with his assertionthata song cycle in which the individualsongs can be transposed at will constitutesa "dubiousmusicaltotality."17 The implicationis that tonal and harmonicpatternsalone have structure.I am the capacityto createan organicmultimovement not in any way convinced that the extension of Schenker's method outside the bounds of the single movement-or disbecause I am far from tinctlypairedmovements-is warranted, in a work is cohesion multimovement that structural persuaded terms or that a supto be understoodsolely in harmonic-tonal patternmustnecessarilyhave precedence posed tonal-harmonic over narrativeor psychological factors. The constant, shifting tensionbetween "collection" and integrated"cycle" one feels not only in Schumann's work but also in that of his contemplane alone. porariescannotbe resolved on the tonal-harmonic The sources for Dichterliebe suggest that at the time of compositionits statusas collection or cycle was not yet fixed in Schumann'smind. In the sketch manuscript,he made melodic sketches(for the most part)for the first seven poems of Heine's LyrischesIntermezzo,in order;but he changedhis mind on the
17Arthur Komar, "The Music of Dichterliebe:The Whole and its Parts," in Schumann: Dichterliebe, 63-93, especially 63-66, 77-81. The quotationis from page 63. I can, on the otherhand,agreethatsomethingis probablylost if the key successions from one song to the next, at least, are not maintained,but whether what is lost is of a "structural"character,I am not at all sure.

second day of composition(May 25, 1840), decidingto set only certainpoems. Again in the sketchmanuscript, he wrotein a list the numbersof those he hadchosen, sketchesfor a few of which appearin the manuscriptas numbers9-12. But he changed his mind again and set only nine of the poems from the list, adding four others to these and the original seven to producea set he titledZwanzigLieder und Gesange. Only in 1844, afterpreparations for publication had begun, did Schumanndelete four songs and change the title to Dichterliebe, which Rufus Hallmarksuggests may have been chosen by analogy withFrauenliebe und-Leben;18 thatis, the voice of the brideansweredby the voice of the groom. From this history, it would seem that Schumannnever did quitesolve the problemof whetherhis Op. 48 was a collectionof songs or an integratedcycle--Zwanzig Lieder und Gesdnge or Dichterliebe. The few changes he madejust before publication do not in themselves constitute an argumentin favor of "cycle," and certainly not "cycle" in the sense of an organic structure.On the other hand, narrativeor dramaticaspects of were alreadypresentin the original(1840) version, organization andwe mightvery well interpret Schumann'sseveralchangesof directionduringcompositionas stages in the processof perfectAs Hallmark structure. observes, ing a cyclical, narrative-based Schumann,throughhis choice of poems to set, did modifyreinterpret-the narrativealready in Heine's poetic cycle.19 Schumannemphasizesthe character of his own interpretations, his own reading, in the several piano postludes, in one case producinga significantmusicalreminiscencewhich has almost narrativeforce and whose sense distinctly differs from that of the text in the song to which it is appended.The piano postlude
18Rufus The Genesis of Schumann'sDichterliebe:A SourceStudy Hallmark, (Ann Arbor:UMI [University Microfilms] Research Press, 1979), 125. The is taken from summaryof the compositionalhistory given in this paragraph pages 110-114. 19The Genesis of Dichterliebe, 119-20.

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and the Song Cycle OrganicStructure

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of song 16 ("Die alten b6sen Lieder") quotes part of the postlude to the twelfth song ("Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen"), a simple device of recall similarto-but more subtle than-the quotationof the first song in the last of Frauenliebe und -Leben. This reminiscenceat the close of Dichterliebe can readilybe construedto be a personalcomment aboutthe narrative from the composer himself; that is, a meditation on the flowers' address to the poet which ends the text of song 12: "The flowers/look with pity on me:/'Do not be angrywith our sister,/you sad, pale man.' "20 Unlike Heine's poet-knight, who in the last poem burys his love and his suffering in the ocean, Schumannhas not given up, despite the difficult circumstances surroundinghis courtship of Clara Wieck. The postludein the majorafterthe minorof the song propermitigates the element of bitterness undoubtedlypresent in the text and adopts a tone of "coming to terms with the situation." If an expanded harmonic-contrapuntal or tonal structureis inadequateand the narrativeaspects seem to suggest only a loose sort of integration,we may ask if there is any means by which Dichterliebe can be interpretedin terms of a model of organicunity, or arewe finally obliged to abandonthataesthetic criterionto an unresolvable"collection-cycle" dichotomy(and by extension imply the same of other cyclical works by I suggest thatDichterliebe Schumannand his contemporaries)? can be understoodto be an integratedwhole andthatas a clue to an appropriate procedurewe should look to Stephen Pepper's criticism of Roger Fry, an organic structuraltheorist of the visual arts and Schenkercontemporarywho is especially wellknown for his monographon Cezanne.21Fry excluded what he called "literary [i.e., representative,dramatic, and symbolic]
20TheGenesis of Dichterliebe, 120. 21StephenPepper, The Basis of Criticism in the Arts (Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1946; 6th printing, 1965); Roger Fry, Cezanne:A Studyof his Development (London:Macmillan, 1927; reprinted., New York: Noonday Press, 1958).

values" from criticism of the visual arts, to which Pepper counters: in theirfeelingreferences withthe If the "literary" valuesintegrate of workof are intrinsic materials the or vice values, versa, they plastic infactis anintegration whojudges a work of artwhich art.... A critic of one type of bothtypesof values,by followingout the references whenone of thesetypesleadsintothe to be frustrated only, is bound fulfillment.22 otherfor its organic In other words, when the closed analytic system-in our case, Schenker'smethodappliedto single movements-is confronted with a situation outside its capacities-here, the problem of in multimovement forms-the way to proceed oragnicstructure is to add other pertinent structuralcriteria and develop an expanded, but again closed methodology. Thus, for the song cycle and other expandedvocal works (including opera?), we need to add to Schenker's harmonic-tonaland voice-leading model as expressed in the Ursatz the narrativeor dramatic criteria,and from this develop a broaderanalyticsystem which can treat these two as co-equal structuraldeterminants.The vocal work, then, is understoodas organicallyunified multipart on a higher plane, as it were, since the combination of the harmonic-tonalwith narrative-dramatic aspects should potenallow an tially adequate interpretationof organic structure which eitheraspect alone could not achieve. Only in this way, I suggest, can we hope to deal with the song cycle within the confines of a theory based on the principle of organic unity. Ratherthan try to analyze the whole of Dichterliebe here in terms of such a higher-level integratedmethodology (which, if it is to be at all systematic, will requiresome time to work out), I will attemptonly to give some idea of whatcan be gained from the "equalizing" of text and music, from treating organic structure as a balanced interaction of narrative and tonal progression (or networks of references), by exam22TheBasis of Criticism in the Arts, 91-92. Emphasis added.

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ining the first two songs of Dichterliebe. These are good subjectsfor this purpose,in partbecause they arereadilyunderstood as a connected pair with a single fundamentalline contained in the second song (following Schenker's model, cited earlier, of paired movements in the Handel Suite). The first song, then, is only a prologue:the poetic and tonal action both, so to speak, begin in song 2. This interpretation has the added that we can with certain advantage grapple questions of interstructural connections without, however, song having to confrontthe presentlyunanswerable whether we may link question the Ursaetze of two songs with completed harmonicstructures(and, if so, how). contrapuntal There are several precedentsfor the Dichterliebe 1/2 pair in Schumann's earlier cycles. In Kinderszenen, for example, numbers4 and 5 ("Bittendes Kind" and "Gluckes genug") are pairedby virtueof key andof an incompleteclose in the former (see Example 1). Similarly, numbers 12 and 13 ("Kind im Einschlummer" and "Der Dichterspricht")areplainly meant to be connected (see Example 2). The harmonic-contrapuntal structureof this 12/13 pair, then, is to be understoodas in Example 3. Note that in both cases narrativeconsiderations dictate the incomplete close of the first piece. In no. 4, the dominantseventhis a query, the child's entreaty.In no. 12, the which chord child, so to speak, falls asleep on the subdominant, very effectively gives the feeling of stoppingin media res, but withoutthe tensionof V or V7, which wouldbe inappropriate. In a real sense, this subdominant is a substitutefor the tonic, as the complete cadence progressionwhich undoubtedlyis the basis for Schumann'selliptical one makes clear: Example 4. In no. 13, the poet is left to make a final comment directly to the listener. Of severalpairingswhichoccurin the earliersong cycles, that of the eighth and ninth songs of the Heine Liederkreisis of the most interest. The eighth song ("Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen") is in d, the ninth ("Mit Myrthenund Rosen") in D, the former ending with a question in the text, which Schumann

cadenceto the dominant: expresseswith a Phrygian Example5. Both the dominant seventh of "Bittendes Kind" and the Phrygiancadence of "Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen" are factorsin the close of Dichterliebe's first song. To begin with, Schumannrevoiced the elements we associate with the stereotypical Phrygian cadence: the voicing in Dichterliebe is in Example 6a; the traditionalmodel from which it derives is in of the upperpartsin this Example6b, (In fact, the rearrangement cadencetype is by no meanslackingin the baroqueliterature. At the end of the second movement of J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, for instance-see Example 7a-the cadence chords are essentially as shown in Example 7b.)23 Schumannchanges the effect of the cadencenot only because he uses it severaltimes earlierin the song (which is uncharacteristic), but also because he adds the seventh to the final chord. Since Schumannknew he wanted this ending at the time he made the melodic sketch for "Im wunderschonen MonatMai" (the presentmeasure26-the last-stands by itself at the end of the sketchwith the notation"Schluss" above it),24 he musthave
23Thereadinggiven here appliesto the immediatevoice-leadingmovements measureto the closing chord. In fact, at the fromthe last beatof the penultimate level of the entire movement-i.e., actually the II/III pair-Bach did lead the voices in the stereotypicalmanner, 6-8 in the outer parts:

mI.

fift h

( ? (@
6 -8

9:
B!: IV

^C
vi

No
"1II"

__

24TheGenesis of Dichterliebe, 34-35.

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and the Song Cycle OrganicStructure Example 1. End of Kinderszenen, no. 4, and beginning of no. 5
ri .
(I^~i. i/

99

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dan.

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i

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M. M. :132

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100

MusicTheorySpectrum
Example 2. End of Kinderszenen, no. 12, and beginning of no. 13

Der Dichterspricht
M. M. J=112

I 7"Jt J i (( 13.
I

el

, I

.
-

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rr

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Example 3. Fundamental structure of Kinderszenen, nos. 12/13

Example 4. Complete cadence from which close of Kinderszenen, no. 12 derives

':?'

i.- -.

V"-6t --

---

Jd I
G: vi ii V I V I
e: V

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Organic Structure and the Song Cycle

101

Example 5. Heine Liederkreis, Op. 24, no. 8 A mf

--tr rr ir

Anfangswolltich

r n',-ir

r
ich

fast ver-za-gen,

und ichglaubt,

'T^,.~X,~j

'
T

rr~tE"
_j-

rit.

it.

T nit.

tit.

wrrr
triigesnie,

Ir

r rhl
es doch

i '-'-

und ichhab

getragen,-

a- berfragtmich

JI r
nurnichtwie?

i
nichtwie?

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rit f

. U

\1'j

71

jj

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j4j

Example 6. a. Close of Dichterliebe voice leading of the final chords a)

1 (voice leading); b. Phrygian

b)

from:

A' #'
f

* *?_^^__._ j--

:--

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MusicTheorySpectrum ConcertoNo. 6, BWV 1051, Example 7. a. J. S. Bach, Bradenburg close of second movement;b. voice leading of the final chords

seen in the poem something that suggested a querying or indeterminate ending and a reason to link the first two songs as a pair. I suggest the following: Schumann may in fact have set out to compose a cycle or collection of songs that would constitute a direct parallel to Frauenliebe und -Leben (as was mentioned above). If the latter is the voice of the bride, then Schumann may have wanted to write an equally positive expression of love and matrimonial sentiment from the groom's point of view. Thus, he ignored Heine's prologue to theLyrisches Intermezzo and began with the first poems, setting them in order. He only stopped when he encountered a significant change in tone; that is, when Heine plainly interjected his poetic knight's regret and grieving for a lost love. Schumann eventually went ahead with the "lost love" theme, but in general he chose from among the remaining poems those that minimize negative sentiments; and he not only softened the effect of, but nearly contradicted, the final poem's burying of love in the ocean by adding to the postlude of the setting the quotation from song 12. The original title may well reflect Schumann's dissatisfaction that he could not reinterpret Heine's text any further.

If we accept the view that Schumann began with a positive expression of love in mind, then "Im wunderschonen Monat Mai" is an apt prologue to the whole: in the fashion of the narrator, the poet announces that this is to be the groom's confession- "Then I confessed to her/my longing and desire."' The C# dominant seventh chord leaves this prologue open for the action to begin in earnest, as it does in the second song with the direct speech of the poet (groom) to his love (bride). At the same time, this chord preserves a faint sense of irony or of doubt.25 The images of opening (or coming forth or up) in the first poem- "buds opening," "love rising in the heart," "love's confession made"-are also contained in the second poem, which begins "out of my tears spring forth/many flowery blooms." Furthermore, the second song comes to the point in
25Onthis point, and on Schumann'srole as careful editor in his choice of poems to set, see The Genesis of Dichterliebe, 119-120. Schumannmay simply have wantedto allow the piano to echo the sense of the last line of text-''mein Sehnen und Verlangen." If so, there might even be an autobiographical reference: at the time, Schumannwas waitingfor the conclusionof courtproceedings that would allow him to marryClara Wieck over her father's objections.

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the statement"and if you love me." The groom's confession is "resolved"-or, better, transformed-into his hope (for Schumanna firm hope) of the bride's positive reply. Thatdoubt is not altogetherbanishedis shown by the fact thatthe voice in song 2 ends on the second scale degree, leaving the piano to supply the final tonic. The third song, then ("Die Rose, die Lilie"), is the ecstatic song of love requited. In Example 8, I have used Schenker'sprocedurefor pairing structure the harmonic-contrapuntal movementsand interpreted of song 1 as a prefix to that of song 2. The principalmelodic event in song 1 at a structural level is the middleground neighbor-notefigure C#-D-C#. Some corrections need to be made, then, in the opening measures of Schenker's now very familiar analytic graphs of note (3) on the first song 2.26 Schenkerplaced the first structural Ct and regarded the A-major triad in measure 2 as a chord passing between IV and V. If the first songs are paired, however, we can recognize in the portamento"tear droplets" of a resolution measure1 a subtlyexpressedharmonicprogression: of the Ct dominantseventh from song 1 to f# (as vi in A major) and repetitionof the neighbor-notefigure C#-D-Ct in the small tonic chordandthe first via the subdominant.The first structural
instance of 3, then, are in measure 2.

was capable, but also of thatintegrationof feeling referencesof of text which Pepperspeaks. Note especially thatthe integration transcends each structure and harmonic-contrapuntal expression alone-the formeris not a delightfulornamentto the latter,but in fact here stronglyaffects the latter'sinterpretation, including of some of its controllingelements (e.g., the the determination placement of the first note of the fundamentalline). Both are determiequally significantand tightly interwovenas structural nants. To the questionof the key of song 1, we may follow Schenker's rule here and assertthatthe song pair 1/2 is in A major. At line is containedin the same time, the fact thatthe fundamental a the tonal 2 sense of ambiguityof the song correctlypreserves firstsong which would be lost if thatsong were graphedby itself (because of the constraintsof the method, we would have to strucchoose a single key).27Even if the harmonic-contrapuntal
27Schenker's partialgraphof song 1 is presentedas an example of non-tonic opening and plainly shows thathe thoughtthe key to be A:

A ( = 3

.n

The "question" of the first song, harmonicallyembodied in the Ct seventh chord, is "resolved"- but at the same time "continued"-in the poet's tears(andthe ft triad).This feeling unit of questionandtears, however, then "opens outward"into the images of hope: flowers, nightingales, the chance that love be requited(the secure key of A major in song 2). This is an example not only of the wonderfulsubtletyof which Schumann
26FreeComposition,Figure22b. See also Allen Forte, "Schenker'sConcepin tion of Musical Structure,"Journalof Music Theory3 (1959), 1-30;reprinted MauryYeston, ed., Readings in Schenker Analysis and otherApproaches(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), 3-37; sections dealing with Schenker's graph of song 2 are also reprintedin Schumann:Dichterliebe, 96-106.

BCT A
(= III ---v

ft

..1

ILt

1)

< J-

-__ - I)

(Free Composition,Figure 1lOc, 2). There is no indication,however, of what Schenkerthoughtof the song's ending. For anotherview, see Komar, "The Music of Dichterliebe," 66-67, 77 ff. Komaralso concludesthat song 1 is in A, but his opinion is based on his problematic interpretationof the structuralrole of key successions. Hallmark'sposition is not clear:he stressesambiguityat one point(TheGenesis of Dichterliebe, 35-36), but assumes the song is in A at another(142). For an extended,but curiouslyuncommitted,analysisof variousaspectsof song 1, see Peter Benary, "Die Technik der musikalischenAnalyse dargestelltam ersten

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Music Theory Spectrum

8. Dichterliebe (in part) 1/2, analytic Example graphs

A:

I
A

not:

A:

vi

IV

IL

r%i~ j,

O
0-1 Stt

-.1t~~~~t----:~ 0-

tureis only a middleground featurein the song pair, bias toward one key orientation-f- or A-must still enter. I have favoredf# somewhat(throughits dominant,of course), becauseI find that treatingthe tonal emphasis of the piano prelude and postlude frame as more significant than the internalmove to A is more satisfyingthanthe reverse, which would make the close simply gratuitous--or worse, not just "open," but inexplicable. Still, if obligedto do so, I wouldthinkof the firstsong, takenby itself, as in both ft and A-an indefinite harmonic relation of the third.28 (It has, however, been the argumenthere that the first should not be taken by itself.) song
Lied aus Robert Schumanns 'Dichterliebe'," in Benary, ed., Versuche musikalischerAnalysen (Berlin: Merseburger, 1967), 21-29. Benary asserts tonalambiguityas the interpretation of song 1, butneverthelessseems to favorft (26). 28As is well-known, nineteenth-century composers frequentlymingled the

Analytic methodsbased on procedures(or presumedideals) of harmonicdesign and phrasestructurein eighteenth-century music will not bear extension to multipart,cyclic instrumental or dramatic vocal forms;considerations of narrative progression are not trivial, but in fact can be structuraldeterminantsgeneratorsof organic unity-co-equal with formal design or a structure. Dichterliebe is especially useharmonic-contrapuntal ful in this regard,because it shows that key unity is not necessary to an integratedsong cycle; whateverthe mannerof tonal
characteristicsof parallel major and minor modes, but they also sometimes mingledthe relative modes, as Schumannhas done here. Thereare at least two precedents in his earlier works: the sixth number of Carnaval (one of the Florestannumbers), which mixes g (also establishedmostly by its dominant) and Bb;and the fourthnumberof Kreisleriana, which wandersaboutthe same two keys, avoidingeithertonic chordclearly expressedin a controllingcontext and finally closing with a full cadence on the dominantin g.

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and the Song Cycle OrganicStructure

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integrationmay be, it has not been identified yet. Schumann's choice of poems to set fromHeine's collection, his modification role of the of the sense of the narrative,includingthe important severalpostludes(especially in songs 12 and 16), andthe subtle cross-fertilizationof text expression and details of compositional means (as demonstratedabove in the song pair 1/2), all suggest in addition that the composer's reading of a text is a critical factor in the binding and blending of a poem and its musical setting.

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