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'TheAb-C-E Complex:The Origin and Function of Chromatic

Major Third Collectionsin Nineteenth-Century Music

MATTHEW BRIBITZER-STULL

The Ab-C-E major-third constellation stands as a prototype for nineteenth-century composers'

expressive and structural uses of chromatic major-third relations. After tracing the origins of the
collection, this article presents a conglomeration of hierarchic and transformational analytic approaches to AL-C-E music by central European composers to demonstrate that recognition of the
complex comprises a valuable added dimension to our structural and phenomenological hearings
of romantic-era music.
Keywords: Chromaticism, Schenkerian Analysis, Neo-Riemannian Analysis, Third Relations,

19th_CenturyMusic

When asked "Whobut yourself would dare go directlyfrom C major to E

major?" C.PE. Bach replied, "4nyone can and will assuredly do it who
knows that E is the dominant ofa, and that a minor is very closelyrelatedto

inspiration for the investigation herein is no different, but

the premise-that a specific complex of sonorities can elucidate major-third collections in central European music of
the nineteenth century--introduces a new angle to this field
of study. Succinctly put, this article suggests that the
A?-C-E complex constitutes a romantic-era prototypea benchmark for both structural and expressive trends in
nineteenth-century music.3 A topic this rich necessarilyinvites numerous avenues of approach, but in the present context I restrict myself to three: first, how the AV-C-E complex most naturally demonstrates the emergence of
major-third collections' expressive and structural functions
from classic-era compositional and tuning practices;second,
how tonal music theory copes with some problems posed by
chromatic major-thirdcollections; and third, how one might
profitablyapproachexamples of Ak-C-E music using a conglomeration of hierarchicaland transformationalthinking.

Cmajor."1

I
2

FASCINATION WITH TONAL RELATIONSHIPSbased on

major thirds has provided the motivation for inquiries from C. P. E. Bach's day to the present.2The

Earlier incarnations of this paper were delivered to the Music Theory

Society of New York State (Columbia University, 2002) and to the
Society for Music Theory (Columbus, 2002). At the MTSNYS meeting this was but one of three papers on the Ab-C-E complex; my discussions with Eric McKee and Charles Youmans, the authors of the
other two papers,, were fundamental to shaping my thoughts on this
topic. Additionally, I wish to thank the many scholars who shared with
me examples of Ab-C-E; Michael Cherlin; David Damschroder; and
the anonymous readers of this journal.
Kramer 1985, 552; cited in Irving and Riggins 1988, 106.
In recent years, the topic has received much attention. See for instance,
Krebs 1980; Cinnamon 1984; Todd, 1988, 93-115; Cinnamon 1992,

1-30; Todd 1996, 153-177; and Kopp 2002.

167

Throughout this paper, upper-case letters signify major keys and triads
while lower-case letters signify minor keys and triads.

168

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

A number of studies in the last three decades address

third relations in tonal music. Most either treat generic
properties of these relations or focus on a specific work,
genre (such as Lieder), or composer. By selecting music featuring Ab, C, and E, I am able to enjoy the benefits of a new
vantage point. First, the music engaged by this approachcuts
across genres and composers, featuring works composed
throughout the "long" nineteenth century. (Many of these
are listed in the appendix.) Second, major-thirdrelations in
general-and Ab-C-E, specifically-typify chromatic third
relationsin ways that other collections do not. And third, the
consideration of works containing the completecycleof thirds
raises theoretic and analytic issues endemic to music that includes all three sonorities.
A recent study by David Kopp divides the eight possible
third relations into three categories: diatonic (sharing two
common tones), chromatic (sharing one common tone), and
disjunct (sharing no common tones).4 (See Example 1.)
Neo-Riemannian transformation labels explicitly show the
common-tone relationship between sonorities, as each transformation indicates the motion of one pitch class between
two triads.5 When A6, C, and E major or minor triads
progress from one to another, they form eight possible root
progressions whose tonal functions and directionality may
bear extra-musical associations. (The move from I to WVI
(PL), for instance, relies not only upon the use of mixture,
but also upon the falling root motion to evoke the dreamworld state so often associatedwith this progression.6)These
4
5

The "uncanny" nature of disjunct (hexatonic polar) progressions is

treated at length in Cohn 2004.
For a fully formal exposition of the L and P operations see (among others) Hyer 1995. Despite their strengths, Kopp's M transformations are
not used in this context since they, in effect, conflate two voice-leading
transformations.
Just as individual key centers may have rich, extra-musical associations,
so too may harmonic progressions between members of the Ab-C-E
collection. The sense of progression from one key to another or of tonal
motion between keys was crucial to Joseph Schalk's understanding of

(a) diatonic (C to e)

LP

(b) chromatic (C to E)

PLP (or LPL)

(c) disjunct (c to E)
Adaptedfrom Kopp 2002, 10-11, Figs. 1.3-1.5
EXAMPLE

I.

Diatonic,

chromatic, and disjunct major-third

progressions.

eight root progressions are summarized in Example 2. Here

Roman numeralsand Neo-Riemannian operations are wedded in an attempt to place the parsimonious voice-leading
transformationswithin a functionally tonal context. Four of
these harmonicprogressions,labeled with possible harmonic
musical association. See Wason 1997, 131. Hatten 1994, 44 goes so far
as to imply that associations based on relationships between keys are of
greater analytic value than absolute key characteristics, a position propounded earlier by Donald Francis Tovey ( 1944, 61).

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION

C-E

I - III#

2.

PL

4.

I - iii
III - v

5.

C-at,
rare

PLP

c- E

6.

rare

c-Ab
i- VI

vi - IV
iv - rII
PLP

7.

c-e

EXAMPLE 2.

8.

rare
PL

c-at
rare
LP

STRUCTURAL

Swinden 2005 opens his study of pluralharmonicfunction in chromusic.

matic music with the "bvi3',chord from Wagner's"Tarnhelm"
Swinden'sarticle relies heavily on Harrison 1994 (especially43-72).
Both studies present a cogent scale-degree-basedtheory of harmonic
functionapplicableto much nineteenth-century(andlater)music.

I69

AND EXPRESSIVE UNDERPINNINGS

Chromatic major-third root relations are intrinsic to

nineteenth-century central European music.10 A predilection for these relations (more specifically,those including the
complex of At, C, and E sonorities) is most obvious in the
music of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Wagner, Brahms,
and Liszt."l Because the At-C-E complex was not invented
by these composers, but rather emerged from earlier praxis,
I begin with a consideration of how the tuning and compositional practices of the classic era contributed to the

Some tonal contextsfor root motions by major third.

interpretations, occur with relative frequency in commonpractice music. The remaining four progressions are relatively rare,perhaps due in part to the lack of clear harmonic
function. Does t~vi3have a submediant function, due to its
root? A dominant function due to its (respelled) leading
tone? Both? Neither?7
Perhaps more than any other development in compositional technique, the increasedapplicationof chromaticthird
relations distinguished the harmonic practice of the nine-

MUSIC

teenth century from that of the eighteenth. Even a cursory

survey of the literature strongly suggests that nineteenthcentury composers favored progressions featuring major triads whose roots were a major third apart.8The reasons for
this may include the following phenomena: first, majortriads
were preferredover minor simply due to the largerrepertoire
cast in major keys; second, chromatic-third relationships
were preferred over diatonic relationships because they
evoked a distinct sonic color, and they were preferredover
disjunct relationshipsbecause they retained a common tone;
and three, cycles of major-third-relatedtriads were preferred
over cycles of minor-third-related triads because each triad
in the former shares one common tone with the others, unlike the complete minor-third cycle, which includes tritone
root relationships (like c and f#, or eb and a) that are less directly intelligible.9

VIIP - V

LP

C- e

C-At,

I - kVI5

III - V#
3.

OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

8
9
io
ii

Somer 1995, 216 notes that the most frequent chromatic third relations
earlier in the nineteenth century involve major triads.
See Krebs 1980, 117-18; Brown, Dempster, and Headlam 1997; and
Kopp 2002, 217-18.
See Kopp 2002, 151 and 213, and Hyer 1995, 130.
Examples of third relations from the music of Verdi, Debussy, and
Rimsky-Korsakov, among others, are also copious. See, for instance,
Somer 1995, 227 (Ex. 5) and 231-33 (Ex. 10); Berlioz's "Au cimitiere,"
mm. 9-15; and the opening of Act II of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden

Cockerel.

170

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

emergence of Ab-C-E collections. In so doing, I examine

both these collections' expressive(or coloristic) origins and
their structuralorigins as notes, chords, and key areaswithin
a tonal context.
Expressiveorigins andfunctions of the Ab-C-E complex.I
first consider a suggestive idiosyncrasy of the eighteenth
century-namely, its relative lack of works cast in the socalled "enharmonic"keys (B/CL, F#/G6, and C#/Db). The
key choices of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven are representative of the time; complete works in keys with five or more
flats or sharps in the key signature are rare in both Haydn
and Beethoven, and missing altogether in the music of
Mozart.'2 (See Example 3.) The few exceptions that prove
the rule fall into three categories:works whose overall tonic
key includes five or more accidentals; interior movements;
and extended sections within a single movement. These are
illustrated in Examples 3(a), (b), and (c) respectively.13
Though slightly more common than their parallel major
keys, minor-mode works in c#, f# and b are also rarer in
classic-era music than those in f, c, and g minor, their counterpartson the flat side of the circle of fifths. Thus, it appears
that it was not the diatonic collections alone that composers
avoided, but rather that the sense of tonic, regardlessof mode,
influenced their key choices.
Ultimately, the rationale for eighteenth-century performers'key preferencescan be attributedto two related phenomena: C-centricity and temperament. In the classic era, the
key of C major ranked as the most common; it was the key
of the neophyte and of the amateur-the people's key. As
Donald Francis Tovey put it: ".... nobody can name a key
12
13

C. P. E. Bach, for instance, also rarely ventured beyond key signatures

with four flats or sharps. See MacDonald 1988, 222.
Collections of pieces in all twenty-four major and minor keys, like
Bach's Well-TemperedClavier and Chopin's preludes, are not cited here.
Even in these contexts, however, composers seemed to favor certain
enharmonic keys over others (like F# over G ). See MacDonald 1988,
222.

without being aware of its distance from C major."14

Thus,
the notation, physical instruments, and psycho-acoustical
frame of eighteenth-century musicians exhibited a clear
preferencefor C major as the "default"tonality.15 This conception of C remained at least until Kurth'sday, when the
theorist wrote:
C major is perceived as the middle and foundation for two reasons.
First, in the historical sense the C major region is the homeground and
point of departure of harmonic development in sharp and flat keys; the
church modes already revolve around this center [sic]. Further, though
-and this is by far more significant than the historical developmentC major signifies again and again the origin and central starting point
of musical sensibility for individual development, starting from the beginnings of musical training. This position establishes itself and determines not only the character of C major itself but all other keys as well.
The effect of E major, for example, depends on the way it distinguishes
itself essentially from C major. The whole absolute character of a key,
reflecting back to C major, is thus not given in the nature of music but
rather in the particular course of [music] history and pedagogy.16

Though Kurth located the center of the church modes on

C ratherthan D Dorian, his prose reflects a strong tradition
in Western music theory--conflating a sense of key with a
sense of location. Words like "middle"and "homeground"
indicate tonality's spatial connotation. Thus, the distance
one ventured from C could be measured metaphorically as
the distance traveled from the commonplace toward the
esoteric, a metaphor of alienation predicated upon keyboard
intonation.17 The increasing intonational difficulties as one
moved away from C were, in turn, a function of non-equal
temperament.
While close approximations of equal temperament in
Western Europe were used for fretted instruments as early as
the sixteenth-century,true equal temperament on keyboard
14

15
16
17

Tovey 1944, 61.

See Steblin 1981, 103-51, especially 105-6, 113-14, 117, 125, and 128.
Kurth 1923, 298, n. 1 (translated in Rothfarb 1991, 126, n. 18).
See the comments of Bruckner's disciple, Joseph Schalk, in Wason
1997, 130-31.

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION

OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

MUSIC

171

Hob. V: 5
B
Baryton Trio
Haydn
attributed
Minuet
Hob. IX: 26
F#
Haydn
Trio Sonata
Hob. XV: 31
e6
"Jacob'sDream!"
Haydn
B
Divertimento
Hob. XVI: 2c
Haydn
B
Hob. 46
Haydn
Symphony
95 out of more than 1,500 compositions (including attributedworks and folksong arrangements)
Mozart
*0 out of more than 600 compositions
Beethoven
Sonata
* 1 out of more than 200 compositions

op. 78

F#

(a) complete works

Haydn
Haydn
Haydn
Beethoven
Beethoven
Beethoven
Beethoven
Beethoven

Sonata
String Quartet
String Quartet
Sonata
Sonata
Sonata
Sonata
String Quartet

Beethoven
Beethoven
Beethoven

String Quartet
String Quartet
String Quartet

Hob. XVI: 46, Adagio

op. 76 #5, Largo
op. 76 #6, Fantasia
op. 26, "marciafunebre"
op. 27/2, Allegretto
op. 57, Andanteconmoto
op. 110, Ariosodolente
op. 130, Presto

D6
F#
B
ab
D6
D6

ab
bb

op. 130, Andante con moto ma non troppo

op. 131, Adagio quasi um poco andante
op. 135, Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo

D6
g#
D6

(b) interior movements (sample listing)

Haydn
Haydn

Symphony
String Quartet

Beethoven

Fantasia

Beethoven
Beethoven

Sonata
String Quartet

H. 45 "Farewell,"ending
op. 64 #2, ending

F#
B ->

op. 77

g ->

op. 106, Adagio

op. 131, Allegro

F#
C#

(Picardythird)
(Picardythird)
parallel
(Picardythird)

Both Haydnand Beethovenwrotemanyminuet/triopairsin whichthe triois in the minuet'sparallelkey andhas fiveor moreaccidentalsin the
keysignature.
(c) extended sections within movements (sample listing)
EXAMPLE

3. Worksby Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven cast in "enharmonickeys."

172

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

instruments was not universally accepted until 1917.18

Theorists and other musicians up through the nineteenth
century espoused the virtues of equal temperament even
though keyboard instruments of that century were almost
universally tuned according to the principles of welltemperament, a tuning philosophy that made useable all the
major and minor triads without sacrificing the "charactersof
the keys"-a set of extra-musical associations that arose, in
part, from the meantone temperaments previously in use.19
By the eighteenth century meantone tuning had been abandoned, largely due to its intonational problems. It was these
very problems, however, that were responsible for producing
the different qualities of meantone thirds that had, in turn,
contributed to the establishment of the characters of the
keys.20
Of the three contiguous major thirds within a given octave, only two (e.g., C-E and E-G# but not A6 (G#)-C)
were intonationally suitable in meantone systems, thus leaving four major thirds as noticeably out-of-tune.21 While all
twelve major thirds were used in eighteenth-century music,
those that were most out-of-tune were not usually part of
the stable tonic sonority. If the C-E major third (as part
of the common C major tonic) was to be among the most in
tune of meantone thirds, then the smallest major thirds (i.e.,
most in tune) almost always included F-A, C-E, and/or
G-B. The thirds belonging to major triads opposite these on
the circle of fifths tended to be the largest and, consequently,
18
19

20

21

Jorgensen 1991, 4-7 and 45.

In 1721 well-temperament began to surpass meantone temperament in
usage. See Jorgensen 1991, 714, as well as xxi, 48, and 715 for other
comments on the relationship between well-temperament, meantone
tuning, and the characters of the keys.
Jorgensen 1991, 2. Though these intonational problems were a function
of keyboard instruments, music for other instrumental forces written
during this time period reflected the strong influence of keyboard
thinking, probably because so many musicians used the keyboard during the act of composing.
Jorgensen 1991, 47 and 774.

the most out-of-tune.22 (See Example 4.) Hence, the sharpside boundary interval of usable major thirds tended to be
E-G#, the flat-side third, A6/(G#)-C.23 The three major
thirds that lay outside these boundaries (B-D#, F#-A #, and
Db-F) belonged to the tonic triads of the underused major
keys.24
While there were more tonally-distant keys than Ab and
E (speaking in terms of C-centricity), these two keys often
markedthe outerlimits of acceptableintonationon unequallytempered instruments-a boundary that has persisted into
modern-daynotation, as E and Ab still mark the edge of the
enharmonic keys (D6/C#, G6/F#, and Ck/B). Like the
dragon-infestedwaters that signaled the edge of terraincognito on the maps of early explorers, one can almost imagine
the eighteenth-century circle of fifths breakingat this point.
Venturinginto this "musicalbeyond"during the age of rationalism and enlightenment was rarely done, and then only
22

This is but one of countless meantone schemata. Tuning during these

centuries belonged more to the realm of art than to science. Since many

subtlevariationsof both meantoneand well-temperedtuningsproliferated, intonation and the concomitant characters of the keys comprised
more of a continuum than a hard-and-fast rule.

23
24

Notable exceptionsdid occur.For two, see Jorgensen1991, Fig. 15-2,

pg. 47; andFig. 39-1, pg. 138.
Both tuning and compositionalpracticein the latterpart of the eigh-

teenth century reinforced the sense of the major key (and its tonic
triad's 1-3 major third) as normative; minor keys were "marked"in the
semiotic sense, shadowy reflections of their major-mode counterparts.(See
Hatton 1994, 34-38, and Wheelock 1993, who uses the term "en-othered".)
Since this markedness bore a reflexive relationship to the minor mode's

greaterdegreesof chromaticismand tonal adventurousness,it is less

easy to generalize about the intonational acceptability of minor keys

simplybecauseintonationalpuritywas compromisedby the natureof

the minor mode itself, which had to admit to augmented seconds,
augmented sixths, and altered scale degrees (b2, ti, ti, and 47f)-

intonational miscreants that were much less common in the well-

orderedworld of the relativemajormode. The resultwas that minormode works in the eighteenth century were restricted to even fewer

keys than their major-modecounterparts:b, f#, c#, g#/a6,d#/e6, and bb

were all extremely rare in the classic era.

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

The largestthirds

.OS
/ C'E

F"A"

DbF GBb

CbE&

BD\

the same size

.*a
S
a

~L

EbG
E

-G

<-.

the same

EG'

4 flatsand4 size
sharps

----

AC

thirds
equaltemperament
-

B"D ------

thesamesize

3 flatsand 3 sharps

->

thesamesize 2 flatsand 2 sharps >the same size

&,

TheA

CE

AC'

DF'

a-

0
4

S.

part.27
Because E and Ab were the most distant keys from C in
common usage, their associations were among the most
powerful. While these associations have never been fixed as
to exact meaning, nor applicable to every work, there exists
evidence of general expressive trends: Ab is linked to slumber, darkness, and death while E major is associated with
transcendence, spirituality, and the sublime.28 Thus, we

GB
thirds

The smallestthirds
4. Major thirds in meantone temperaments. From
Jorgenson 1991, 180, Fig. 51-1: Well-Tempered Tuning-Vallotti'sTheoretically-CorrectMethod.
EXAMPLE

with good reason. Hence, the edges of the known tonal

world--Ab and E-could function as marked keys, destination points that were far removed from the harmless tonal
clarity of C. As such, these keys were often invested with
rich associations and served as tonal settings for composers'
most profound musical utterances-a habit that persisted
even during the theoretical hegemony of equal temperament.
This leads us to a consideration of these keys as associative entities, markers of extra-musical significance. While
"associative tonality," as it is referred to today, was most
famously explored by Wagner in his Ring cycle, key symbolism, stemming from the aforementioned "characters of the
keys," had a rich history long before the Wagnerian music

I73

drama.25 Wagner's key associations were most often piece

specific, but the associations comprising the characters of the
keys infused all manner of works from the second half of the
common practice era. C, lacking the artifice of black keys,
was often used to represent light, truth, purity, and the common folk. D was the key of choice for triumphant and military music; Eb, for the heroic; F for the pastoral, and so
forth.26 In addition to meantone intonation-largely a keyboard phenomenon-instrumental
associations (e.g., trumD
horns
with
with
Eb
major,
major, English horn with
pets
F major), tessitura, written notation, absolute pitch level, and
prior compositional practice all added to the summary character of each key, even in compositions without a keyboard

enharmonically
equivalent
thirds
Pythagorean

MUSIC

25
26

27

28

For discussionsof "associativetonality"see Bailey 1977, 48-61, and

1985, 113-46; McCreless 1982, 88-95, and 1983, 60-62; and Stein
1985, 43-44, and 141-87.
Schalkunderstoodeachkey to haveessentialdifferencesfromthe others; that is, he believedthat music should not be treatedas simply a
transposablepattern(a misconceptionhe laid at the feet of those who
espousedequaltemperament).See Wason1997, 132-33.
Detailed descriptionsof these key associationsappearin tables compiled by numerouseighteenth-centurytheorists.Since some of these
tablesalsoend upon reachingthe keyswith fouraccidentals(e.g., those
of Voglerand Knechtin Steblin1981, 133), it is temptingto hypothesize on the chicken-and-eggrelationshipbetween composition and
theoryon this issue.
E may havedevelopedthese associationssince it is the dominantof vi
in C major.The motionfromI to vi as a spiritualsymbolis discussedin
McKee 2001. One might also conjecturethat the upwardarpeggiation
of I-III#-V vs. the downwardarpeggiationof I-WI-IV accountsfor

174

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

might conceive of the eighteenth-century's E and Ab as

positive and negative tonal-dramatic poles about a central C.
The developing usage of E as the erotic key in the nineteenth century enriched this opposition between E and Ab
by setting up an Eros-Thanatos antithesis.29
The Act II finale of Mozart's Coslfan tutte illustrates the
eighteenth-century prototype of Ab and E serving as expressive boundaries about a central C. This finale, like most of
Mozart's, is a conglomeration of independent tonal structures, although C major is understood as the large-scale referential tonic. The opening C-major number is followed by a
chorus in EL. The ensuing AL quartet features the main
charactersdwelling upon the virtues of wine for drowning
sorrowsin slumber or, in Guglielmo's case, death, should the
wine be poisoned. By means of a chromatic 5-6 shift in mm.
199-200 there is a quick segue into the next scene, an active
E-major ensemble piece in which Despina, disguised as a
notary,reads the marriagecontract. (See Example 5(a).) This
moment is the action the four main characters have both
feared and hoped for all along, a dramatic counterpoint to
the preceding, reflective A6 reverie.Using a fascinating tonal
gambit, Mozart then proceeds to make his way back to C
major (at which point the truth is revealedand there is much
rejoicing) via numbers cast in closely-related keys on both
the flat and sharp sides of the circle of fifths. A summary of
this tonal motion appears in Example 5(b). Before the final
tonal-dramaticresolution can occur,Mozart illustrates, stepby-step, how far the tangled plot has come from the simple
clarity of C major.30

29
30

these positive and negative associations. Finally, one must not overlook
sharp vs. flat symbolism. Schalk noted that sharps "press upwards, towards light," while flats "strive toward the depths, into darkness." See
Wason 1997, 130. Apparently, Riemann concurred: see Wason and
Marvin 1992, 93, as well as the synopsis in Hatten 1994, 43.
Wagner uses E as the erotic key in Tannhauser.See also Gilliam 1991,
68 for a discussion of Strauss, E major, and the erotic.
Steptoe 1988,232-42 suggests that flat keys in Cosi represent falseness;
keys near C, neutrality; and sharp keys, sincerity. The whole opera is

Throughout the later common-practice period, Ab and E

persisted as expressive tonal locales; increasingly,composers
invoked their expressivitywithout referenceto specific extramusical associations.31The same held true of the juxtaposition of Ab, C, and E sonorities-sonorities whose harmonies
had a profound impact on tonal structure.
Structural origins andfunctions of the Ab-C-E complex. When

eighteenth-century composers featured two (or all three) of

the members of the Ab-C-E complex in their works, these
sonoritieswere usually related indirectly.In the excerpt from
Cosijust examined, for instance, Ab and E as keyareasare related only indirectly to the overarchingtonic C via fifth cycles and to one another through the central C (as shown in
Example 5(b)). However, the tenuous foreground link between the Ab and E triads provided by the 5-6 shift (mm.
199-200), produces the sound of a directchromatic third relationship, a forerunner of the increasingly important role
such relationshipswould play in romantic-eracompositions.
The earliest strategies nineteenth-century composers
used for incorporating direct chromatic third relationships
into their music usually followed earlier diatonic models,
providing coloristic alterations of them more than substantive changes to their structural functions.32Thus, common
surface- and middleground arpeggiation paradigms such as
I-I6 (or iii)-V and I-vi (IV6)-IV (ii6) evolved into I-III#-V
and I-LVI-iv6 (iio6) respectively.33Likewise, diatonic oscillation patterns expanding tonic with iii and/or vi came to in-

31
32
33

thus organized around a central, neutral C major. Burnham 1994, 98, n.

35, citing E-major music in this opera, states: "In its exotic twilight
realm at the far edge of the tonal world of Mozartian opera, E major
may well stand for the phoenix that is this opera."
For more on the degree of specificity of emotion in expressive music,
see Kivy 1980, 46-49.
See Somer 1995, 219-27.
In Schenker's theory, ascending arpeggiations from tonic are also possible on the first order middleground, while descending arpeggiations
operate on more surface levels. See Schenker 1979, Figs. 7b, 14/la-b,

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION

IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS

MUSIC

175

66

63

Ab: I
E:

\VI
16

"7

V7

(a) modulation by chromatic5-6 shift, mm. 199-203

Sharp Keys
mm.

66

149

208

280

310

291

372

483

576

539

developmental

E?

EA

E--------(I-V)

(F---d/F)

Measures are numbered from the

beginning of the finale.

Flat Keys
(b) overall tonalplan
EXAMPLE
5. Act IIfinale of Mozart's Cosl fan tutte.

34

clude III# and 6VIb5.34 Such examples support the claim

often made to undergraduatesthat modal mixture is essentially a coloristic device that inserts chromatic alterations

into one or more voices of the tonal structurewithout requiring a shift in understanding of fundamental harmonic or
contrapuntalprinciples.

15/2b, 98/3a, 100/5, 108, 112, and 113/2 for examples.See also Beach
1997, and Kopp2002, 109-12.
Krebs1980, discussesoscillatorythirdprogressionsand circlesof thirds
involvingtonic harmonies(94-121) and describesthe same techniques
prolonging non-tonic harmonies (84-94). Kielian-Gilbert1990, 5052, uses terminology drawn from the definition of the transposition

operation described in Proctor 1978, 181-200, and describes these

tonal itinerariesin termsof theirbass motion. Bass lines that articulate
a seriesof the same interval(e.g., majorthirds)maybe directional(e.g.,
moving from C to Ab via E), circular(e.g., startingand ending on C
with Ab and E by equal division of the octave),or axial (e.g., starting
and ending on C with Ab and E providingupperand lower mediants).

176

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28

(2006)

Beethoven's "In questo tomba oscura" illustrates how this

chromatic alteration functions. Example 6(a) shows that the

Ab tonic is prolonged by a chain of descending major-third
root progressions.35Here we notice that the song's opening
Ab Stufe is followed in m. 14 by a chromatic 5-6 shift to E,
which in turn leads to a cadence on a C major triad in bar
19. This III Stufe is also labeled by its local function (V of
vi) on the graph for two reasons. First, this chord makes reference to the diatonic vi Stufethat is replacedwith the chromatic WVI,Fb, enharmonicallyrespelled as E major. Second,
hearing this C chord arising in some sense from an unarticulated f-minor Stufeis an example of the exact tonal relationship described by C. P. E. Bach at the opening of this article;

65

b"VI"
Ab:

4-6V/vi

IV
V

,,

(a)graphicanalysis

it illustrates a common, indirect, and diatonic context for re-

lating two of the three keys in the Ab-C-E complex. Rather

than arising out of a direct chromatic relationship to Ab (as
its III for instance), C's relationship to Ab can be heard indirectly, as the dominant of Ab's most closely-related key.
Thus, both chromatic Stufen can be restored to a diatonic
prototype without radicallyaltering the middleground. This
is shown in Example 6(b).

The ease with which the chromatic replaces the diatonic

in such examples is perhaps predicated on the appearanceof
only two members of the A6-C-E collection. That is, one
direct major-third relation is usually easy to accommodate
within a tonal context that is still clearly controlled by a
background tonic-dominant hegemony.36The appearanceof
35

36

Proctor 1978, 178-79 analyzes the opening of this Lied as a bass arpeggiation of the augmented triad. The deep middleground here would
look quite different if the Db and Eb quarter notes in m. 21 were taken
to be bona fide harmonies, certainly a viable reading. Note that
Schenkerian graphs throughout the present paper are middlegroundoriented and thus lack foreground detail. Accidentals apply only to
their immediate context and do not carry throughout.
Krebs 1980 argues that in Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, thirds
(often chromatic) above and below tonic either lead directly to V (as in
I-III#-V or I-bVIb5-V) or embellish V (V-III#-V or V-1VIs5-V).
Numerous examples are cited in pages 24-59 and 73-84.

Ab:

b dt
oiro

[IV6

(b) diatonicprototype
EXAMPLE

6. Beethoven, "Inquesta tomba oscura."

all three members of the collection does not necessitate the

erosion of familiar structuralfunctions, but if the three are
directly related on the same level of tonal structureanything
from the surface-level triad to the background Bassbrechung
itself may be disrupted.The C-E-G# augmented triad, for
instance, often arises because one of the three tones effects a

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

39

See Anson-Cartwright 1996, 60, Ex. 3.

This excerpt was first described as a chain of chromatic thirds by Ernst
Kurt. See Kurth 1923, 226-27 (translated in Rothfarb 1991, 133-34).
More recently, Brian Hyer demonstrated the manner in which neoRiemannian L and P transformations control both the harmonic and
melodic structure of the Magic Sleep music. See Hyer 1995, 111-16.
Another strategy was to include the three sonorities in a chain of predominants that ultimately lead to the dominant. See Krebs 1980, 60
(Fig. 1.46, v.2, 26) who illustrates this technique in Beethoven's piano
concerto in E6 major ("Emperor"), iii, mm. 138-89 as a VI-IV-bIbs
chain embellishing the motion from VI to V. See also, Beethoven's
piano concerto in c minor, iii, mm. 138-220 (a VIP-IV-II succession

I77

these keys, chromatic thirds could be strung from (or to) the
tonic. This happens in Chopin's Polonaise, op. 53, in which
the tonic Ab is prolonged first by its upper third, C (III), an
arpeggiation both in m. 49 and again in m. 58 (functioning
locally as V/vi), and later by its lower third, F6 (spelled as E),
beginning in m. 81. (See Example 7.) This music comprises
a concatenation of two separate oscillating progressions on
different levels of structure-Ab-C-Ak and Ab-E-A .40 C
major, a local expansion of A6, exists at a more foreground
level than E, the tonic of the work's entire middle section.
Despite this, C is emphasized both as the most obvious tonal
departure from the tonic Ab within the first section and
by virtue of its recurrence at the end of the retransition
back into Ab (mm. 145-51) and in the final cadence (mm.
179-80).
When anchored by the dominant, two less obvious tonic
contexts-a minor and f minor-predominate. In each key,
one of the three members of the complex can function as III
(the relative major) and another as V# (the functional dominant). The third member is often used to connect the two.41
The scherzo movement of Schubert'sSonata in a minor, op.
42, provides an illustration. (See Example 8.) Here, the expected modulation to the mediant during the first reprise of

chromatic passing or neighboring motion. Even when all

three are chord tones within an augmented dominant triad,
the C-E-G# sonority may remain unquestionablydominant
in function. But, when the augmented triad is not anchored
by a diatonic Stufe its symmetry can threaten tonality altogether (as in Liszt's "Nuages gris"). Likewise, an E-major
(III#) structuralthird divider between I and V on the middleground of a C major work (in the first movement of
Beethoven's"Waldstein"Sonata, for instance) would hardly
compromise the sense of tonal unity. An extension of this
technique might feature a nested chromatic mediant relationship (III of III#) to invoke the third member of the
complex (as in Wagner's SiegfriedIdyll).37 When such chromatic third chains achieve independence from tonic and
dominant, however, they may replace tonic prolongation
with other structuralfunctions as in the symmetricaldivision
of the octave evinced by the Schlaffenakkorde
of Wagner's
Ring.38
Since the use of multiple major-third relationships requiresgreat care to avoid disrupting the sense of tonality,it is
unsurprising that nineteenth-century composers tended to
rely on just a few strategies. In short, they anchored these
third relations on tonic or dominant Stufen,thus prejudicing
the tonal contexts in which an Ab-C-E collection could
occur.39 Naturally,Ak, C, and E majorwere among the most
common tonics for the incorporation of the complex. In
37
38

MUSIC

40

41

that leads eventually to V) and Schubert's Eb String Trio, i, mm.

434-52 (whose recapitulation features a biib-VIP-IV predominant
chain).
Direct chains of thirds appear in the literature as well. See Schubert's
Lied, "Fiille der Liebe" and the analysis in Krebs 1980, 110 (Fig. 11.37,
v. 2, 49). Example 7 presents only the opening of the Ab-E-A6 progression. Interested readers may wish to consult Krebs for a graph of
mm. 80 to the end. See Krebs 1980, Fig. 11.9 (v. 2, 34), which links
both chromatic Stufen to V.
The other minor key capable of containing these tonal relationship, c#,
does not provide many examples of the Ab-C-E complex, perhaps because of its own relative scarcity in common-practice music. Note that
the six keys mentioned (A6, c, E, a, f, and c#) together comprise
Weitzmann's Region I, a grouping noted in Cohn 2000, 93, and further
explored throughout his article.

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

178

a:
A:

III

ii

I
EXAMPLE 8.

42, iii.
EXAMPLE

op.53.

@@@@@@

III

Analysis of the scherzofrom Schubert'ssonata, op.

7. Analysis of the opening of Chopin's Polonaise,

ANALYTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS

the scherzo eventuallyleads to the structuraldominant in m.

80. These two key areas, C and E, are connected by a tonicization of Ab in measure 43. Although this Ab is preceded
by its own dominant and is followed by harmonies that prepare the arrivalof the e-minor dominant (made major in bar
80 to set up the return of the opening material in a minor),
these intervening sonorities do not prevent us from hearing a
key succession of C-Ab-e /E. That is, Ab connects C and E
by a descending major-third arpeggiation. Interestingly,
surface-level references to the combination of A6, C, and E
are also audible in the opening a-minor measures. Here E
functions as a local dominant (passim) and Ab appears during the modulation to C major (m. 17).42
42

Similar AL-C-E collections in a- and f-minor music occur in Brahms's

Intermezzo op. 118, no. 4 (see Example 10); the prolongation of V
in mm. 26-62 of the first movement of C. P. E Bach's Piano Sonata in f
minor, H. 173; and the "dreamlike"Ab that intercedes between a backrelated dominant, E, and motion to the mediant, C, in mm. 81-152 of
Schubert's Allegro for piano, four hands, op. 144 ("Lebensstiirme").
Schmalfeldt 2002 describes some intriguing formal implications of the
parenthetical Ab in the Schubert Allegro.

OF THE A--C-E

COMPLEX

As chromatic-third usage evolved, nineteenth-century

theory naturallydeveloped alongside composition. Whether
reactive or innovative, much of this work focused on A1C-E collections. Hugo Riemann, for instance, eventually
came to believe that chromatic third relationswere perceptible as direct harmonic progressions,43and, at one point, redefined tonality specifically to model the A?-C-E collection.44 And Carl Friedrich Weitzmann both distinguished
himself from his contemporaries and influenced Franz Liszt
by his thoroughtreatmentof the Ak-C-E augmentedtriad.45

43

44
45

Riemann[1893], 165, stated that the third of a triad(Klang)can take

on an independentsignificancejust as the fifth of the tonic triad does.
He even adapteda separatefunction symbol for chromaticmediantsin
the last edition of the Handbuchder Harmonielebre
(1920) published
duringhis lifetime.See Kopp2002, 94. Other Al-C-E examplesoccur
throughoutRiemann'swritings on third relationsand tonality.See, for
instance,Riemann1882, 189, 1890, 38, and 1902-03, 76.
See Riemann1922, 1304.
The continuingforceof C-centricityled Weitzmannto choose the collection as his augmentedtriad prototype,derivingit from the default

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION

OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD

Riemann and Weitzmann were accompanied by a host of

others who used A6, C, and E as a prototypicalcollection to
direct or explain the harmonic advances of the nineteenth
century and the changing nature of tonality.46Paraphrasing
Kurth,one might go so far as to say that the symmetryof the
Ab-C-E collection paved the way for the eventual dissolution of functional tonality itself.47
This may be why chromatic-third relations continue to
affect our modern-day conception of tonality.48While relations by perfect fifths fit our existing theoretic and analytic
approacheswith few problems, chromatic thirds are another
story. Some scholars have proposed that these chromatic
relationships constitute another form of tonality, a sort of
secondaprattica, distinct from the diatonic practice of the
eighteenth-century.49Others argue that chromatic-thirdrelations, rather than replacing a still-viable tonal tradition,
simply added another dimension to it.50While there areob-

46

47

48

49
50

key of C major. See Weitzmann 1853 and the commentary in Todd

1996, 158-59.
These include Dehn 1840, 157; Kurth 1913, 124-28; Lobe 1861, 80;
Rimsky-Korsakov 1895, 98, 102-103; Schwartz 1982, 70, n. 5, and
386-7; Weber 1846, 503; and Ziehn 1887, 8 and 119.
Taruskin 1985, 135-36, reproduces Rirnsky-Korsakov's "false progressions" by thirds from his harmony text, two of which feature major and
minor triads built on AK, C, and E; McCreless 1983, 70-71, summarizes Kurth's belief that symmetrical, chromatic sequences were crucial
forces in the destruction of tonality.
The prodigious body of scholarly literature on this topic aside, current
music theory text books for undergraduates continue to present examples of Ab-C-E in "back-of-the-book" topics like augmented triads
and enharmonic modulation. See, for instance, Laitz 2003, 645-46;
Ottman 2000, 229; Roig-Francoli 2003, 830-31; and Kostka and Payne
1984, 383.
After Proctor 1978, this philosophy gained ground. Proponents include
many authors in Kinderman and Krebs 1998.
These scholars support the applicability of Schenker's theory for
nineteenth-century music, arguing that his analytic method is fully
chromatic, lacking only the ability to model direct tritone relationships.
See Brown 1986 and Brown, Dempster, and Headlam 1997.

COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

MUSIC

179

vious examples in which functional monotonality has been

stretched to the breaking point by the predominance of
chromatic-third relations (Liszt's Die Trauer-Gondel I, for
one), determining which flavor of tonality governs a given
work is perhaps less important than recognizing and articulating the ramifications created by the addition of chromatic
thirds to a largely fifth-governed tradition.
As an example, consider the first movement of Beethoven's "Appassionata" sonata. Schenker's graph of the development section in Derfreie Satz indicates that, on the deep
middleground, 3 of the Urlinie falls to 2 as an Ak (III) Stufe
moves to a C Stufe (V) in f minor.51 Example 9 presents a
slightly more extended middleground analysis, beginning at
the end of the exposition and continuing through to the end
of the development. The Schenkerian prolongation of an Ak
Stufe supporting 3 is accompanied by the bubbles marking
the appearance of A6, C, and E sonorities, and also by neoRiemannian transformational symbols that illustrate how the
Ab Stufe is prolonged by a series of P and L motions. Note
that five of the six triads in Cohn's northern hexatonic collection are traversed.52 In chromatic-third chains of major
triads, the third of one triad becomes the root of the next
(ascending thirds) or vice versa (descending thirds). The
smoothest voice leading, however, is maintained when the
intervening minor triads are articulated. In such examples,
like the "Appassionata" development, two common tones are
retained by adjacent triads as the harmonic progression
circles the northern hexatonic pole in a series of LP (or PL)
cycles.

51
52

Schenker's analysis begins with the ab-minor sonority in m. 65. See

Schenker 1979, Fig. 114.8.
See Cohn 1996, 17, Fig. 1. In Cohn's figure the Ab-C-E collection is
given preferential placement at the north, the direction most commonly
indicated on maps. It can be inferred from his remarks that Cohn made
this choice consciously, due to the conventional primacy of C. Op. cit.,
38, n. 34.

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

I80

@ @@@@@@@@
o_?M??????'

f:

EXAMPLE

III

VL

Ab~'l?"H
E He
H

54

with neo-Riemannian analysis.

9. Graphic analysis ofBeethoven's Sonata, op. 57 (W4ppassionata")

While the Schenkerian graph in Example 9 shows the

parsimoniousvoice leading of Beethoven's development section, the neo-Riemannian analysis, undergirded by an understanding of AK, C, and E triads as a group structure,
highlights the skipped member of the northern hexatonic
collection: C major.Its absence is audible because it disrupts
the previous voice-leading transformation stream. One explanation for this omission is that C Major (as V) is required
shortly at the retransition.53But it may also suggest why the
bass C remains active at the opening of the recapitulation,
creating the sound of a tonic 6 underneath the return of the
opening material.54

53

C refuses to relinquish its role in the development as dividing dominant. Rather, an unstable neighboring 6 elaborates the V Stufe when the
primary material appears, only giving way to a root-position tonic later
in the recapitulation. Thus, the inclusion of neo-Riemannian thirdcentric analysis with the Schenkerian graph provides one explanation
for Beethoven's disruption of the paradigmatic sonata form retransitional tonal structure.
A motivic rationale for the idiosyncratic recapitulation that cites the
transferal of the DB-C neighbor to the bass is also viable. See Smith
1995, 268-70, for an unconventional reading of this movement's tonal

Just as a neo-Riemannian analytic vantage point may inform a Schenkerianreading,as in the "Appassionata"
analysis
above, the converse is also true. The indeterminacyof directionality implied by "polar progressions"-motion across a
hexatonic pole (PLP or LPL)-can be clarified by the
prolongational context.55 While the distinction may seem
academic,the two different labels-LPL and PLP-suggest
two different hearings that imply a differentiation between
clockwise and counterclockwise motion about a hexatonic
pole, or-in linear rather than cyclic space-ascending and
descending harmonic root motion. When considered as "up"
vs. "down,"the directionality of such harmonic progressions
can play an integral role in a work'sdramaticeffect.

55

structure that highlights these falling bass half-steps and suggests that
the "apparenttonic" recapitulation grows out of a dominant prolongation at the opening.
Cohn's reading presupposes a lack of directionality. In examples from
the literature, he cites direct motion between the hexatonic polesmotion that lacks common tones-rather than an incremental shift
from one pole to the other is responsible for this progression's uncanny
effect. See Cohn 2004 and Cohn 1996, 21-22.

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

This is the case in the middle section of Brahms's

Intermezzo in f minor, op. 118, no. 4, in which a descending
chain of major thirds prolongs the dominant. (See Example
10.) At first glance, it may seem immaterialwhether the motion from Ab major to e minor in mm. 52 to 75 is marked
PLP or LPL. But directionality is an important aspect of
this work, whose tonal and dramatic structureis predicated
upon contrast between the middle section and the sections
that frame it. The energy of the opening section drives constantly toward the dominant. On the foreground and middleground levels, weak (or implied) tonics resolve to clear,
emphasized dominants-comprising, in effect, a half cadence writ large. In the middle section, the illusion of motion within the dominant rather than motion to the dominant is of primary importance. The relaxed texture and
feeling of descent created by the chain of thirds (PLP, or
counter-clockwise about the northern hexatonic pole) and
the upper-voice arpeggiation of C major contrast sharply
with the opening section'sascentto the dominant.The opening of the middle section (mm. 52-67) firmly establishesthe
Ab Stufe,opening up another potential reading in which this
III is part of a middleground I-III-V arpeggiation (relegating the V that closes the opening section to a back-relating
dominant). This reading, however, contradicts the strength
of the many motions to V in first section and the sense of
downwardmotion throughout the middle section. Thus, not
only does the sense of counter-clockwisedirectionalityin the
Ab-e-C succession suggest one middleground reading over
another,it also informs our choice of a PLP transformational
model over an LPL model. This readingis also supportedby
foregrounddetails (the cadence in abin m. 67 and the preparation of E in mm. 68-74) that point toward a tonal motion
from Ab to abto E, and then to the cadence in e (m. 75) that
ultimately leads back to C.
The preceding analysis juxtaposes Schenkerian graphs
and neo-Riemannian transformationalsymbols. At times the
two analytic approaches complement one another, as in
Example 10, in which the Schenkerian prolongation of C

MUSIC

181

Sv)
PL

PLP

IO. Analysis of mm. 52-83 of Brahms's Intermezzo,

no.
4.
op. 118,
EXAMPLE

(V) matches up with a counter-clockwise spin about the

northern hexatonic pole. But, more often, this analyticjuxtaposition generates unavoidable conceptual frictions. These
are patent in an excerpt from Wagner's Der Fliegende
Holliinder.56
The progression in Example 11(a) occurs at the end of
the Dutchman's Act I recitativeand aria.57The scale degrees
above the score and the Roman numeralsbelow it representa
Schenkerianhearing of a localized auxiliarycadence in which
the Ab-major chord harmonizes an upper-voice passing
tone.58 This reading presumes that Ab plays a more foreground melodic role than c and E. At odds with this reading
are the neo-Riemannian symbols below the score. These
imply that the structuraldominant seventh chord on G is of

56

For another discussion of the benefits and contradictions generated by

juxtaposing Schenkerian and neo-Riemannian thought, see Bribitzer-

57

Measure numbers from Wagner's operas refer to the widely available

Schirmer piano-vocal scores and are cited in the format: page/system/
measure.
For an overview of the Schenkerian auxiliary cadence, see Burstein
2005.

Stull 2006.

58

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

182

(PT)

auf!
all!

auf!
all!

Str.
p espr.

PP

'Cel o

K.-dr

c:

tII

LP

(a) "Ghost-ship"cadence,Hd/42/3/1

Section
Measures
Key
Synopsis

Recit.
29/1/1
Dutchman
makesland

A
32/1/1
c
Deathless
wandering

B
35/5/5
ab
Beseeches
anangel

C
38/1/1
c
Longsfor
the Day of
Judgment

(b)formal overview
EXAMPLE

II.

Dutchman'sAct I recitative and aria.

Coda
41/3/5
C-E-c
Crewwelcomes
death

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION

OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

less interest than the succession of triads: E, Ab, and c.59 In

this second reading, the linear, root-motion cycle of ascending major thirds takes precedence over the hierarchical,
Schenkerian reading. Since neo-Riemannian transformations are capable of incorporating the G dominant into the
harmonic event stream, why omit it from the analysis? An
investigation of the preceding music provides the answer. As
Example 11(b) shows, the Dutchman's aria proper divides
into three sections, cast in c, ab (with shifts to Ab major),
and c respectively. The coda to the Dutchman's aria picks up
the C major Picardy Third at the end of the third section
and moves toward E for the ghostly crew's confirmation of
the Dutchman's longing for death. E then passes through
Ab to c, bringing an otherworldly quality to the number's
In effect, then, we have two conflicting readings of this
cadence. One favors a tonally-hierarchical view that models
prolongation, while the other models a transformational
event-stream.61 While Schenkerian analysis effectively represents tonal-prolongational structure, this structure is just
one facet of musical construction and of musical experience.
Associativity, referentiality, and salience are also important:
even when Ab, C, and E are not adjacent on the same tonal
level they are often marked by tonal, formal, rhetorical, referential, or associative processes, as in the Dutchman example,
above. Stufen, significant cadential tonal centers, unexpected
62

The presenceof a functionaldominant does not necessarilyabrogate

a neo-Riemanniangroup structure. See Santa 2003, whose hybrid
nonatonic/hexatonicgroup involves the dominantsof the three tonics
in question,in effect turningthe model advocatedin Krebs1980 upside
down.

60

61

There are also referencesto Ab-C-E in the recitativebeforethe aria

proper.See the foregroundviio7of c (29/4/2), viio7 of e (30/1/2), and
resolutionto Ab (30/2/1) in the recitative.
Samarotto2003 sets forth an introductorymodel of interactionbetween tonal coherence (Schenkerian analysis) and transformational
event streams(neo-Riemanniananalysis).

183

or parenthetical tonal shifts, irregular formal units, and

extra-musical connections can all draw the listener to a phenomenological awareness of AK, C, and E connections.62
Placing neo-Riemannian
analytic symbols below a
Schenkerian analysis shows where Ab, C, and E sonorities
occur and suggests an abstract voice-leading connection between them.63 But the implications go far beyond merely labeling an event stream. They point to a group structure-a
connection between A1, C, and E-that is non-hierarchical
in nature, though the members of the group may exist within
a tonal hierarchy. While some analysts maintain these as discrete forms of tonality, this study suggests the possibility
for the interpenetration of these two spaces-that the second practice of nineteenth-century tonality can exist within
a diatonic background structure.
Brahms Piano Quartet in c minor, op. 60. My final analysis
draws upon the E-major slow movement of Brahms's Piano
Quartet to suggest that the relevance of the Ak-C-E complex in tonal contexts may range from the structural foreground to intra-movement connections, even within the
same work. The G#-E-C major-third chain of the opening
cello solo's first notes comprises the initial statement.
While these notes are naturally divided by the harmonic
progression from I to iv, their linear appearance together

close.60

59

MUSIC

63

Schachter 1987, 304-08, discusses the distinction (not made in

Schenker's Free Composition) between "structural"keys and more foreground keys, all of which form part of the listener's "moment-bymoment experience."
As Cohn suggests, neo-Riemannian analysis can be used in conjunction
with Schenkerian analysis to understand both group structure (the
Ab-C-E complex as Cohn's northern hexatonic pole), as well as tonal
and linear aspects of various works. See Cohn 1996, 33, in which he
suggests the use of hexatonic thinking in conjunctionwith standard diatonic (sic) models such as Auskomponierung.See also Lewin 1986, 362
ff for examples illustrating the possibilities multiple perceptions have
for multiple analytic approaches to the same passage, neither of which
is "better"or "more valuable" than the others.

184

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

here constitutes a striking motivic gesture that recurs

throughout the piece, on both surfaceand deeper levels.64
Later in the work, for instance, the retransition into the
return of the opening material expands the G#-E-C majorthird collection. (See Example 12.65) Two aspects of this
passage are noteworthy. First, the descending augmented
triad motive is itself stated three times on the musical surface, beginning on E, then C, and finally G#. The third iteration marks the return to the opening material played, this
time, by the piano. Second, there is a discrepancybetween
the upper and lower voices. The structuralupper line traces
the chain of descending major thirds, E-C-G#, with the
composing-out of the first third, E-C, transposedexactly to
compose out C-G#. Thus, the upper line seems to model
Proctor's"transpositionoperation"and suggests that Brahms
has entered a fully-chromatic, equal-tempered tonal space.66
But the melodic pattern is not mirroredby the harmony.The
g# markedin the neo-Riemannian analysisbeneath the score
is illusory,an implication that is never realized.For while the
V? of c in m. 72 resolves as expected, the V# of g# in m. 77
does not. The deceptive bass motion to E coincides with the
return of the opening material in a bait-and-switch tactic
that reveals the passage to be a prolongation of the E Stufe
by its lower third, C.67While G# does not play a vital structuralrole in this prolongation, however,the neo-Riemannian
analysisbelow the score points to its referentialrole in evoking the motivic descending third chain, a reference that
enriches our hearing.
The previous use of falling thirds throughout the
Andante,in part, lends this movement its tender, contempla64

65
66
67

Peter Smith argues that the G#-E-C augmented triad achieves a motivic and expressive importance that transcends its role in the structural
hierarchy. See Smith 1994, 258-60, and 2005, 17-18.
Interested readers may wish to compare this graph with that in Smith
2005, 102.
Proctor 1978, 181-200.
This passage bears a striking resemblance to a similar retransitional
third chain with deceptive motion in Liszt's Orpheus,mm. 114-30.

tive aspect.Arguably,so does its tonic key of E major.As we

noted earlier, E major was often reserved for composers'
most expressivemusic, a tonal marker for the spiritual and
sublime. Given Brahms's allusions to remembrancesof his
feelings for Clara Schumann in this quartet, the expressive
connotation is appropriate.68But the tonal relationship between the E major Andante and the c minor of the other
movements is odd. This unusual key relationship might be
considered an isolated idiosyncrasywere it not for the number of other works in which it occurs. Despite the rarity of
this third progression within a single Ursatz (i to #III#), the
motion from tonic minor to the raised major mediant appears with surprising frequency between the movements of
multi-movement works cast in c minor, and, as such, deserves considerationas a furtherramificationof the Ab-C-E
complex.69
Two things are immediately striking about this intermovement tonal relationship. The first is the tonal contrast
-the key of E represents a luminous and ethereal refuge
from the surrounding c minor.70 But this tonal contrast
seems to be predicated on the associativityof E, rather than
absolute tonal distance, as E is not the most tonally distant
majorkey from c minor; it lies five steps awayon the circle of
fifths, while A major lies six steps away-directly opposite c
68
69

70

See MacDonald 1990, 225 and Smith 2005, 24 and 227.

For discussions of tonal relationships between the movements in multimovement works see Neumeyer 1982 and 1997. See also Krebs 1981,
14-15, who notes that non-monotonal works often feature tonic keys
related by third. See the keys of the movements in Beethoven, Piano
Concerto no. 3; Brahms, Symphony no. 1 (c-E-Ab-c!); Grieg, Violin
Sonata, op. 45; Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto no. 2; Schubert,
WandererFantasy (major mode variant: C-E-(c#)-Ab-C);
and Liszt,
Annees de Pdlerinage, "Premiere annie: Suisse" (multi-work variant)
for other pieces that exhibit this tonal relationship. Note that many of
these works feature A6-C-E collections on surface and middleground
levels as well.
Smith 2005, passim (see, for instance 218) refers to the E-major
Andante movement of Brahms's op. 60 as "solace"and a "dream."

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION

motive on: E
EXAMPLE 12.

mm. 70-78.

The Ab-C-E

OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD

c:

V4

15

IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

MUSIC

I85

G-

complex in Brahms' Quartet, op. 60, Andante: Graphic analysis of the retransition to the opening material,

minor.71 Second, no other pair of keys with this unique rela-

tionship seems to occur with any frequency. (How many

multi-movement works in d minor, for instance, have slow
movements in F# major?)Narrowing the pairs that exhibit
this tonal relationship to the accepted classic-era keys with
four or fewer accidentals requires enharmonic reinterpretation in all cases but two-a possible reason for composers'
avoidance of these pairs. And the one pairing apart from c
minor and E major that doesn't require enharmonic reinterpretation, f-minor works with A-major middle movements,
apparentlyoccurs with substantiallyless frequencythan the c
minor-E major relationship. Thus, in works like Brahms's
op. 60 Quartet, we can hear tenuous connections back to the
previous century, faint echoes of the enormous impact tun71

COLLECTIONS

While intra-movement relationships of hexatonic poles are exceedingly

rare in common-practice music, a few examples do exist. See, for instance, Mendelssohn's g-minor Piano Concerto, whose middle movement is in E major.

ing systems, key associations, and the conventions of functional tonality had upon earlier music.72

Short of cataloging and counting all the tonal works from

the late eighteenth century forward, it is impossible to contend that Ak-C-E collections are more common or more
important than other major-third cycles. But the evidence
for these keys' expressive significance and prevalence in
romantic-era compositions suggest that they typify the
chromatic-third relations that lie at the heart of nineteenthcentury compositional practice. The composers who most
72

Smith holds that E is not only an expressive reprieve from the surrounding tragedy of c minor, but also bears motivic cross-references
with the first movement. The Andante's E major can be heard as an outgrowth of the pizzicato E's from the Allegro (Smith 2005, 101).
Likewise, the foreignness of the C0 in the augmented triad highlights
the tonal distance between E and the quartet's overarching c tonic
(Smith 2005, 17).

MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 28 (2006)

i86

favored the use of the Ab-C-E complex span the final days
of the classic era to the "progressive"New German school
and its antipode, the "conservative,"Johannes Brahms.
Moreover, the examples cited above include chamber music
and orchestral music, concerto and symphony, Lieder and
opera, and musics both dramaticand absolute. From surfacelevel melodies to multi-movement connections, the Ab-C-E
complex appears in almost every conceivable context, transcending the boundaries of genre, form, and tonal hierarchy.
More importantly,an awarenessof its origins, tonal functions, and expressivityenriches our analytic practice. Recognition of these sonorities' group structureuncovers intersections and contradictions between tonal/hierarchical and
phenomenological/referential hearings of music, impacting
our understanding of musical form and musical meaning.
That we can appreciate these intersections and contradictions in an artistic style period that embraced duality and
ambiguity seems only fitting. And, despite the nineteenthcentury's flowering of stylistic diversity fueled by individual
expression, the AK-C-E complex allows us to trace a scarlet
thread of sorts through the structuraland expressive compositional practices of the romantic era.
APPENDIX:

SOME Ab-C-E

COMPLEX PIECES

Bach, C.P.E., Piano Sonata in f, H. 173, i, mm. 26-62

Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 3 in c, op. 37, iii, mm.
182-265ff
Beethoven, Piano Sonata in f, op. 57 ("Appassionata"),i,
development
Beethoven, "In questa tomba oscura,"WOO 133
Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 5 in E , op. 73 ("Emperor"),
i, mm.

138-89ff.
Fidelio
Beethoven,
Beethoven, String Quartet in e, op. 59, no. 2, i, mm. 209-21
Beethoven, String Quartet in E&,op. 127, ii
Brahms, Piano Quartet in c, op. 60, mm. 70-78
Brahms, Symphony no. 1 in c, op. 68

Brahms, Concerto for Violin and Cello in a, op. 102, i, mm.

238-57ff
Brahms,Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 4
Brahms, Clarinet Sonata, op. 120, no. 1, ii, mm. 41-49
Chausson, Piano Trio, op. 3, ii, 139-48
Chopin, Rondo, op. 1, mm. 54-100
Chopin, Nouvelle Etude in A6, mm. 1-25
Chopin, Polonaise in AL, op. 53
Chopin, Mazurkain A6, op. 59, no. 2, esp. mm. 85-88
Chopin, Waltz in A6, op. 64, no. 3
Chopin, Piano Concerto no. 2 in f, op. 21, i, mm. 200-15
Debussy,"Soupir"from Troispoemesde Mallarme'
Debussy, "Lejet d'eau"from Cinqpoemesde Baudelaire
Elgar,Cello Concerto, op. 85, iv, mm. 197-255
Franck,Symphony in d minor, i, development
Haydn, Sonata H. XVI: 52 in E6, i, development
Haydn, Quartet, op. 76, no. 3 in C ("Emperor"),i
Liszt, AnneesdesP6eerinage, "Premiereann&e:Suisse"
Liszt, Orpheus,C. 682, mm. 72-130
Liszt, "Blumeund Duft," C. 698
Liszt, Eine Faust-Symphonie,C. 697b
Liszt, Die Trauer-Gondell,C. 1279
Mahler, Symphony no. 2 in c ("Resurrection"),
i, exposition
Moussorgsky,Picturesat an Exhibition,"Limoges,"mm. 16-18
Mozart, Cosifan tutte,Act II, Finale
Mozart, Symphony No 39 in Eb, K. 543, iv, mm. 108-25
Prokofiev,Piano Sonata no. 7, op. 83, ii
Rachmaninov,Piano Concerto no. 2 in c, op. 18, opening of
ii and iii
Act II, opening
Rimsky-Korsakov,The GoldenCockerel,
Trio
in
D.
Piano
Schubert,
Ek, 929, i, recapitulation
Schubert,Piano Sonata in a, D. 845 (op. 42), i, mm. 1-80
Schubert, Allegro in a for Four Hands, D. 947 (op. 144,
"Lebensstfirme"),exposition
Schubert, Wanderer
Fantasy,op. 15
Octet
D.
803
Schubert,
(op. 166), vi, mm. 172-78
4 in c, D. 417 ("Tragic"),ii, mm.
no.
Schubert, Symphony
83-109

THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF CHROMATIC MAJOR THIRD COLLECTIONS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY

Schubert, Symphony no. 6 in C, D. 589 ("Little"),iv, mm.

292-316
Schubert,Symphony no. 9 in C, D. 944 ("Great"),i
Schubert,"Antigoneund Oedip,"D. 542
Schubert,"Der zurnenden Diana,"D. 707
Schubert,"Fiille der Liebe,"D. 854
Strauss,Richard,Horn Concerto no. 1 in EB,op.11, ii
Strauss,Richard,Also SprachZarathustra,op. 30
Stravinsky,Piano Sonata
Verdi,II Trovatore
Wagner,Die Feen, "O ihr des busens Hochgeffihle"
Wagner,DerfliegendeHolldnder,"Die Frist ist um"
Wagner,Die Walkiire,Magic Sleep music
Wagner, Die Meistersingervon Niirnberg,Act III, "Wahn"
monologue and Dream theme
Wagner,Siegfried,Act III, Siegfried and Briinnhildelove duet
Wagner,SiegfriedIdyll
Wagner, Parsifal, Prelude to Act I; transition music in Act
III; and final scene, among others
Wolf, "Nimmersatte Liebe," no. 9 from Gedicbtevon Eduard
M&rike
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