Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A Deutscher in D810

In his review of Christopher Gibbs' biography, Brian Newbould mentions Schubert's use of a Deutscher, D790n6, as the basis for the scherzo in D810 (the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet). Here they are, the latter in Salomon Jadassohn's piano reduction. The opening motive is boxed in red, the more extended citation of the melody in purple, then a two-bar block quoted directly but without the eighth notes (again in purple), and finally the eight-bar direct quote that opens the contrasting middle (in green).



The blocking out of the material is convincing -- the dance's opening figure obviously makes a distinctive germ motive, but the harmonic instability of the first phrase is much better suited to the continuation in a 16-bar sentence; the second phrase with its vii°7-i pair lends itself very well to sequences; and of course contrasting middles are easily movable. Schubert also duplicates and expands on the affective contrast: waltzes often make a point of contrast in figuration, dynamics, and dance-style between individual phrases, not just between strains. As one particularly clear example that uses all three elements of contrast, see the opening of D779n16 below.

[added 5-19-10: David Brodbeck goes through the scherzo of D810, noting that the connection to D790n6 was originally raised by Maurice Brown (Brodbeck, 32-34).]

References.
Newbould, Brian. Review of Christopher Gibbs, The Life of Schubert. Notes 58/1(2001): 82-83.
Brodbeck, David. "Dance Music as High Art: Schubert's Twelve Ländler, op. 171 (D. 790)." In Walter Frisch, ed. Schubert: Critical and Analytical Studies, 31-47. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.