Sunday, December 12, 2010

Eric McKee's presentation in Indianapolis

Eric McKee (Pennsylvania State University) and I proposed a short session for last month's AMS/SMT joint meeting in Indianapolis. The SMT program committee accepted both papers but rejected the session: worse, from our point of view, we ended up cross-scheduled!

Eric has kindly allowed me to post his original proposal here; its title is "Lanner and Strauss and "The Future of Rhythm."

Wildly successful, Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss I are among the first generation of musicians who devoted themselves solely to the composition, performance, and publication of music aimed at a wide audience and designed for showmanship, pleasure, and dancing--music referred to today as "popular music." During the late 1820s and early 1830s Lanner and Strauss refined the characteristic features of the Viennese waltz, which is arguably the most important and certainly the longest living dance genre in the history of Western music. Composers such as Mendelssohn, Wagner, and Berlioz, among others, heaped praise on Lanner and Strauss both for the high level of their orchestral performances as well as their melodic ingenuity. Even the conservative critic Hanslick was not immune from the charms of their music. But despite the historical significance and far-reaching influence of their music, there has been only one published analytical study in English devoted to this vast repertoire of music (Yaraman 2002).

My presentation begins with a discussion of Berlioz's 1837 article "Strauss: His Orchestra, His Waltzes--The Future of Rhythm." In it Berlioz laments the primitive state of rhythmic understanding, especially in France, and advocates treating rhythm as an independent dimension just as important to musical interest as melody and harmony. He observes that "the combinations in the realm of rhythm must certainly be as numerous as melodic ones, and the links between them could be made as interesting as for melody. Nothing can be more obvious than that there are rhythmic dissonances, rhythmic consonances, and rhythmic modulations" (Quoted in Barzun 1969: Volume II, 338 [italics in original]). The true pioneers in this field, he continues, are Germans: Gluck, Beethoven, Weber--and Strauss. Speaking specifically of Strauss's waltzes, Berlioz locates one source of rhythmic dissonance in the cross rhythms found between the melody and accompaniment.

In the remainder of my presentation I continue Berlioz's line of thought by examining two techniques used by Lanner and Strauss that result in rhythmic dissonances: melodic hemiolas and extended anacruses. My methodology is based on the work of Rothstein (1989), Krebs (1999), and McKee (2004). The repertoire I examine are waltzes composed between 1826 and 1836, which constitute the first ten years of Lanner and Strauss's published output.

Melodies that form hemiolic patterns against the accompaniment are the most characteristically "Viennese" type of rhythmic dissonance (Krebs classifies this type of texture as a "G3/2 dissonance" [1999: 31-34]). In terms of our real time perception and the relationship of the music to the physical gestures of the dance, however, the primary level of the accompaniment is more easily heard and felt in 6/4 rather than in the notated 3/4. Playing against the accompaniment's 6/4, the melodies project their own 3/2 grouping patterns. Example 1 provides some examples. (This is a thumbnail; click on the image to see the original size.)


As seen in the first three melodies, a common maneuver employed by Lanner and Strauss is the progression from rhythmic dissonance to rhythmic consonance within an eight-bar phrase or within a four-bar subphrase. In other cases the hemiolic patterns are displaced so as not to begin on the downbeats of the accompaniment's 6/4 meter (Example 2).


Extended anacruses are another potential source of dissonance (or disruption). They typically arise from the noncongruence between the melodic grouping structure, and they typically are associated with a disruption in the hypermetric flow (Examples 3-4). My paper concludes with some general considerations on the expressive, formal, and choreographical implications of such rhythmic and metrical dissonances.



References:
Berlioz, Hector. 2001. Critique Musicale: 1823-1863. Ed. Yves Gerard. Paris: Buchet/Chastel.
Krebs, Harald. 1999. Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonances in the Music of Robert Schumann. New York: Oxford University Press.
McKee, Eric. 2004. "Extended Anacruses in Mozart's Instrumental Music. Theory and Practice 29: 1-38.
Rothstein, William. 1989. Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yaraman, Sevin. 2002. Revolving Embrace: The Waltz as Sex, Steps, and Sound. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Estonia and Schenkerian pluralism

In mid-October, I gave a keynote address during the 6th Music Theory Conference organized by Mart Humal and his colleagues in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Here is the announcement from the MTO site earlier this year, and here is a PDF of the program.

My title was "Themes, Hierarchies, and Lines: Schenkerian Analysis as a Subspecies of Linear Analysis." As that suggests, the talk summarized the argument of my MTO article and provided illustrations, focusing on Chopin's Prelude in A Major, which I identified as a polka-mazurka, a mixed genre dance that was mildly popular in the 1830s. It's unlikely that Schubert knew anything like it, as it was probably invented by a Parisian dance instructor in the late 1820s or early 1830s, but it is highly likely that Chopin not only knew it but also danced it himself.
An article version of the keynote address will be submitted to Res musica, which is the peer-reviewed science magazine of the Estonian Musicology Association and the Musicology Department of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. The journal is devoting an issue to papers from the conference.

The surprise for me was that my usual argument about methodological pluralism in linear analysis -- aimed of course at long-standing reactionary attitudes on the part of some analysts, mainly in my generation and the one before us-- is now out of date. Theorists gathered from Nordic Europe, the United States, and Canada took this pluralism for granted, indeed, actively nurtured it and protected it whenever it seemed threatened. It was quite refreshing to see a sense of community gathered about the utility and practice of music analysis; that's certainly a (generational) step ahead of the master-disciple model that prevailed before and that, for too long, inhibited the practice of Schenkerian analysis and development in Schenkerian theory.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Schubert in Indianapolis

A good crowd attended our SMT short session this past Friday afternoon. Odd little hitches took away a bit (no access to the room till the official start time, a laptop display connection that didn't work today though it had done so without trouble yesterday) but the paper was designed to be efficient, and I think I got my points across in any case -- and the cotillon performance was everything I had hoped it would be.

On the other hand, I realized not long ago that my paper was really three (mediant relations as transformations, Schubert in the space and time of social dancing, and the historical contexts of social dancing in Vienna in the early 19th century), and that I probably couldn't do justice to any of them. Of the three, I think it was the transformations that suffered most; I plan to remedy that in the version I am now preparing for publication.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Handout for SMT presentation

I presented "Schubert's 'Riemannian Hand': An Archaeology of Improvisation for Social Dancing" during last week's joint meeting of AMS/SMT in Indianapolis. I have posted a pdf file with the handout here. [NB: This link was updated on 3 July 2016]

Here is the PROPOSAL as it was sent to the program committee last spring:

Proposal for the annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Indianapolis, 2010
Title: Schubert's "Riemannian Hand": An Archaeology of Improvisation for Social Dancing

Research on improvisation practices in the nineteenth century has looked primarily at the fantasia. The reminiscences of Schubert's friends provide a window into another, equally important, practice: playing music at the piano for dancing. The celebrated Schubertiades varied greatly in their formats but often consisted in musical performances followed by dancing (Litschauer 245). For the latter, Schubert was obliged to string his waltzes into "endless cotillons" (Deutsch 230; also, Litschauer and Deutsch 101). A close relative of the contredanse, the cotillon required frequent repetition of strains, particularly the principal one, which acted as a kind of rondo theme. The number of repetitions depended on the dance caller (some published instructions stretch 24 bars of music across 80 or more bars of dancing).
Using the three-layer texture of the waltz (as played on a piano) and "endless cotillons" as the design, I will demonstrate with examples and through performance (1) how strict small forms, repetition, and variation can reveal pairings and groupings among Schubert's surviving waltzes, suggesting relationships that may have arisen through varied repetition in performance; and (2) how the chordal offbeats can effect transformations with parsimonious voice leading by simply moving thumb, middle finger, or little finger, thus anchoring the more distant modulations that Schubert attempted in improvisation.

During the presentation, I will provide a handout charting and comparing the dances that make use of third relations, and I will perform a "music-stretching" cotillon that will gradually transform one Schubert waltz (as the first iteration of the principal strain) into another (as the final iteration).

An instance of the pairings that emerge from this study is given in Example 1, which shows that the A Major Waltz D. 779 no. 13 (familiar to music theorists from analyses by Schachter and by Lerdahl and Jackendoff) might easily have arisen as an improvised variation on D. 365 no. 6. [ Example 1: At the top, Schubert, D. 365 no. 6, opening; at the bottom, D. 779 no. 13; in the middle, underlying voice leading pattern -- see the presentation handout for this.]
The three-layer texture is associated with the most common ensemble in tavern or small restaurant settings in Vienna about 1800: two violins and bass. The layers are clearly differentiated in Example 2 -- the second violin's double stops would simply become the offbeats in waltzes by Lanner and Strauss. [Example 2: Beethoven, Sechs ländlerische Tänze, WoO15, no. 1, first strain. -- see the presentation handout for this.] The texture of this ensemble could be appropriated for domestic settings when the piano became popular as a replacement for the traditional violin as accompaniment for dancing. For those pieces that used the Ländler-derived "oom-pah" rhythms, the result was three functionally differentiated layers, two in the left hand, one in the right.

I focus attention on patterns of the middle layer (left hand chords) in relation to upper voice figures, particularly on those that generate third-related key areas in the second strain. See Example 3, where the left hand executes an LP transformation. [Example 3: Schubert, D. 779 no. 13, move from the first to second strain, and from A major to C# major, as an LP transformation in the left hand -- see the presentation handout for this.]

By doing multiple comparisons among dances, I try to reconstruct some sense of how Schubert, during improvised performance, may have been—in Kofi Agawu's terms—"thinking in music about music."

Works cited

Agawu, Kofi. "How We Got Out of Analysis, and How to Get Back in Again." Music Analysis 23/ii-iii (2004): 267-86.
Deutsch, Otto. Rosamond Ley and John Nowell, trans. Schubert: Memoirs by His Friends. London: A. & C. Black, 1958.
Lerdahl, Fred, and Ray Jackendoff. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983.
Litschauer, Walburga. "Unbekannte Dokumente zum Tanz in Schuberts Freundeskreis." Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 42 (1993): 243-249.
Litschauer, Walburga, and Walter Deutsch. Schubert und das Tanzvergnügen. Vienna: Holzhausen, 1997.
Notley, Margaret. "Schubert's Social Music: The 'Forgotten Genres'." In Christopher H. Gibbs, The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, 138-54. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Schachter, Carl. "Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Durational Reduction." Music Forum 5 (1980): 197-232.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

new data for themes in dance music

I have added two pages to a set that focuses on theme types as they can be described using William Caplin's terminology. [NB 2 July 2016: The two links below are broken. The material mentioned has been gathered in my essay Dance Designs in 18th and Early 19th Century Music, published on the Texas Scholar Works platform: link to that file]  The first gathers information from the other pages according to theme type: Examples of theme types. The second supplies data for 8 collections by Beethoven, 1 by Czerny, 9 by Hummel, and 1 each by Marschner and Weber: Themes Tables.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

D779n13 as genre mash-up

Many posts in the past two months or so have focused on style or genre questions, especially as they relate to dancing practices. From all this, another way of thinking about D779n13 emerges: as a catalogue of common dance-music gestures piled on top of one another.
1. The simple progression using I and V7 (characteristic of the traditional Ländler) is used in the C#-major section.

2. A common way to vary the I,V7 patterns is to introduce a third chord, IV, typically generating a progression either I-IV-V7-I or IV-I-V7-I. A variant of the second of these substitutes ii (especially as ii6) for IV, as in D779n13.

3. Another common way to "enhance" the I,V7 patterns is to introduce suspensions or appoggiaturas (see the Ländler by Hummel in this post for examples). Schubert, of course, makes leisurely two-bar suspension figures the hallmark of D779n13. (If the slow pace seems to hint at the sacred style, then it would be only in jest, given the parallel fifths that underly the progression.)

4. Improbably, the Ländler style is "enforced" by the rare expression mark, "zart," and verified by the Schnadahüpfl episode in the C#-major section.
Although Schubert's friends might very well have enjoyed the piquant sweetness of this waltz's first strain, they might equally have shaken their heads over its stylistic oddities.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

More on Forms with Refrains (3)

This is a follow-up to the post on the contredanse La Griel. I wrote there: "Contredanse folios published by the dancing master La Cuisse and reproduced on the Library of Congress American Memory site contain two remarkable fold-out graphics that collate music, text and graphic descriptions of figures, and drawings of the dancers."

La Griel, of course, is one: La Bionni is the other. Virtually everything said in the earlier post about La Griel applies equally to La Bionni, including the varying lengths of the figures and the grand rond or rond ordinaire danced to the first strain and its repetition. The music as performed (five strains with repeats, in an ABACA design) is reproduced below. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.)



From all this, three points may be made. First, it is hard to overemphasize the importance of the more or less formal (or ritualized) frame for the dance (in the rond ordinaire at the beginning and courtesies at the end). Second, it is equally hard to overemphasize the importance of the refrain. Third, although the musician is tempted to say that the refrain "structures" the music, that is only half the story, because a refrain in the music by no means signals a repetition of a figure in the dance.


Saturday, June 5, 2010

Ländler moments in the coda of Hummel's dance sets

Facsimiles of eleven sets of dances by Hummel, arranged for piano by him or by the publisher's staff, may be found on IMSLP. Two of those are particularly interesting, in that they embed sections identified as "Ländler" into extended instrumental codas.

Both sets were written for balls during Carneval 1811: op. 39 for the Apollo-Saal, op. 44 for the "Ste. Catharinen Redoute." The Apollo-Tänze consist of 6 menuets (each with trio) and 4 Deutsche, each with multiple trios (n4 includes a vocal trio and its own short coda section), plus a long coda labeled "The Eruption of Vesuvius" and totaling some 450 measures. The Laendler is the penultimate section; a narrative logic for its placement is obscure, at best -- given that exactly the same placement occurs in the coda of the Catharinen-Tänze, it may simply have been a convention that Viennese audiences expected. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.) The characteristic violinistic key (D-major) and figuration, the design in a series of strains played en rondeau, and the Schnadahüpfl episode (section B), here generalized to a soft-loud alternation, are all present. Note, however, that the oom-pah bass shows up only in the third strain (C).

The Catharinen-Tänze consist of 12 Deutsche (each with trio) plus a coda of well over 200 measures. Here again, the Ländler is the penultimate section; plainly, it would be played more slowly than the rest -- see the "Tempo primo" that marks the beginning of the final section of the coda. The design is simpler than in op. 39: characteristic violinistic figuration and ABA form with A played softly and B loudly (Schnadahüpfl episode). In this case, the oom-pah bass is present throughout, simplified as a Leier (hurdy-gurdy) ostinato.

Another milestone: today's entry is the 175th post to this blog.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

More to the trio texture

In an early blog post, I wrote this:
While thinking about improvisation, about Schubert sitting at the piano playing while his friends danced, I realized that the piano permitted the sound of the waltz that would have been most familiar to people in Vienna about 1800 -- two violins and bass -- to be transferred from tavern or restaurant to the home.
-- and added this more recently (5-19-10): Litschauer and Deutsch give an example of this texture (44); so does Rainer Gstrein (82) .

And now I add this: Alexander Weinmann's Verzeichniss for Johann Strauss, sr. & jr., shows that the elder's early compositions were published in one or more of the following formats: piano solo, piano four-hands, violin and piano, 2 violins and bass, guitar, flute solo, csakan [Hungarian flute] solo, and orchestra. Beginning with Op. 56 (1832), "2 violins and bass" was replaced by 3 violins and bass, but as 2 violins, violin 3 ad libitum, and bass. Only with a handful of Strauss's last works was the "standard" string quartet specified instead: Opp. 225 (1848), 232, 237, and 241 (1849).

References:
Litschauer, Walburga, and Walter Deutsch. Schubert und das Tanzvergnügen. Vienna: Holzhausen, 1997.
Gstrein, Rainer, "Ländliche und urbane Tanzmusik im Biedermeier in Österreich." In Boisits, Barbara, and Klaus Hubmann. Tanz im Biedermeier: Ausdruck des Lebensgefühls einer Epoche, 73-87. Proceedings from the Symposium Musizierpraxis im Biedermeier: Tanzmusik im ländlichen und städtischen Bereich, Graz, Austria, 26.-27. März 2004. Series: Neue Beiträge zur Aufführungspraxis, vol. 6. Vienna : Mille Tre Verlag Robert Schächter, 2006.
Weinmann, Alexander. Verzeichnis sämtlicher Werke von Johann Strauss, Vater und Sohn. Series: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alt-Wiener Musikverlages. Reihe l: Komponisten, Folge 2.
Wien: Musikverlag L. Krenn [1956].

Monday, May 31, 2010

More on Forms with Refrains (2)

Contredanse folios published by the dancing master La Cuisse and reproduced on the Library of Congress American Memory site contain two remarkable fold-out graphics that collate music, text and graphic descriptions of figures, and drawings of the dancers. For La Griel, I have reproduced the music below, labeled the strains and phrases, and then pulled out and labeled the music as it is shown in the large graphic. Note that the music is played as marked in the score, en rondeau, and dance figures vary in length from 2 bars to 8 (a gap in the music notation corresponds to a new figure in the dance). The greater complexity (compared to the long-dance style) is possible with a smaller group of dancers in the more formal quadrille square-dance structure, which was broadly speaking a compromise between the skilled, formal couple dancing of the menuet and the informal, highly social English long dance.

Music as distributed over the 8 figures of the dance:

La Cuisse published his contredanse folios in the mid-1760s, the French style became popular in Vienna in the early 1770s at the latest, and Bülow's manuscript compilation was made in the early 1780s -- therefore it is reasonable to assume that we are speaking about closely related practices. By Schubert's time, things had changed -- the menuet was often reduced to a comical Grossvater dance, and the formal quadrille had by and large been superseded by the decidedly less formal cotillon, or else adopted the latter's tendency to mix dancing with party games. More than ever, the design of a dance was in the hands of the caller or lead dancer (Vortanzer), and the music was shaped accordingly (and sometimes on the spot). As Schubert was playing for cotillons, then, he would take his cues from the Vortanzer (from the reminiscences, this was usually Josef von Spaun).

In this environment, the reprise was the principal device available for an aural structuring of the dance to complement the sequence of dance figures; the refrain, on the other hand, was a way of extending and enriching a particular sequence. The refrain and musical coda are obviously closely related -- the only real difference being that the coda usually consists of stereotypical cadence gestures mixed with material from the preceding sections , where the refrain is substantially new material. It's entirely possible that the refrain was not danced -- along the lines of the published waltzes of the 1830s and later, an instrumental introduction was likely (whether a prelude in the old manner, a vamp to establish rhythm, or a more elaborate piece) and -- if the Vortanzer directed it -- a final strain not danced was possible. One can, for example, easily imagine the dancers standing and clapping in rhythm to the yodeling refrain of D734n11.

The comments above can be regarded as an addendum to the post on performance designs.

Friday, May 28, 2010

More on Forms with Refrains

This is an addendum to last week's post on forms with refrains. Here are two contredanses from a manuscript collection preserved in the Royal Library, Copenhagen: the volume is simply labeled "Dances 1782-84" with the name Johan Bülow: a PDF file can be accessed through IMSLP.

Note that the first piece has two strains and four dance figures are described (that's one per strain with repetitions).


The second contredanse has three strains and six corresponding figures in the dance.


From the instructions (especially the mention of three couples), it seems clear that the music is intended for dancing in the English long-dance manner, not the square or round forms of the French quadrille. That means the music as given is probably only the barest outline of what actually happened when the music was played for dancing. (At the least, one would expect the strains to be played en rondeau, that is, with repetitions of the first strain following each successive strain.) On the other hand, the arrangements are clearly for keyboard (others in this and related collections are for violin; a few are marked "Flauto"): these could not be used in a hall but instead for private dancing occasions, including dance lessons for members of the Royal family or others in the Court. The simplicity of the given design would suit the needs of pedagogy.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Schubert's soprano-alto pairs

Dances with consistent soprano/alto pairings comprise a distinct subcategory in Schubert's dances. D779n13, of course, represents it well. Here are some others.

D969n10 is a simple case where the source of the soprano/alto pair in the 2v/bass trio texture is especially obvious (see my rewritten version below the score).


Rewritten in trio texture:


D924n11 is more elaborate (I wonder if it's an imitation of improvised variation by violinists) but at the same time holds more closely to the thirds/sixths pairings typical of the violin pair.

Two examples from the early dances:
Among the Laendler of D145, no. 9 is another simple case. Obviously, the key of Db major is another expressive alteration of a typical violin key (D), like the Ab (from A) that dominates D365.


The same for D365n15:


Friday, May 21, 2010

Forms with refrains

D734n11 is a 16 bar dance with an additional eight-bar segment added onto the second strain. These violinistic "Ländler codas" were a trademark of the genre and of course are very closely related to the yodeling figures placed at the ends of songs (even into the 20th century, these were common -- in the United States, they are probably most familiar from Western songs as performed by Roy Rogers). (Click on the thumbnail to see the file at original size.)


A version of this design is used by Hummel as well for the theme of his Tyroler-Lied mit Variationen, op. 118. The example below shows only the primo part. The repeat of section A (which modulates to the mediant, btw) is written out; the second strain begins with a contrasting middle, but a reprise is replaced by an 8-bar Ländler coda that is repeated rather forcefully.


The "extra" segment is a separate strain specifically identified as "refrain" in the theme for Henri Herz's variation set Nouvelle Tyrolienne, Op. 154. Note also the pedal point bass, which invokes a folk style.


Finally, the somewhat free concatenation of strains suggested by the Ländler coda is still evident in this waltz-style exercise from Friedrich Wieck's Piano Studies. The first two strains give a simple A-BA design. The third strain as it is given sounds like a coda, but performance practice for dancing or listening might also make of it another secondary strain, to be followed by A (even if that's not indicated in the score). The fourth strain is obviously a (short) trio.


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Some updates (2)

I have undertaken another round of additions and corrections to older posts.

1. Margit Legler and Reinhold Kubik offer a concise list of the major public dance venues in 19th-century Vienna: see yesterday's post. Also in that post: Andrea Harrandt discusses the professional activities of Johann Strauss, sr., during the Carneval season. She reproduces two page-long lists of his engagements, for 1840 and 1846, respectively (139, 142).

2. Walter Deutsch comments on the "Strassburger": post.

3. Examples of the trio texture for waltzes (from Walburga Litschauer and Walter Deutsch; also, Rainer Gstrein): [edited 6-3-10] meant for this post but since moved into a new post.

4. David Brodbeck has some commentary and an explanatory example for the Scherzo movement from the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet: post.

5. Legler and Kubik reproduce instructions from a dance manual by one Edward David Helmke (1830): post.

6. Barbara Boisits reproduces the sequence of dances (Tanzordnung) for the first ball of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (1830): post.

7. I corrected "Schuhplattl" to "Schnadahüpfl" in a couple recent posts. I also corrected several early posts, where I reversed the designation of marked and unmarked terms in an opposition.

8. I added a link to an ad for Franz Mailer's 10-volume biography of Johann Strauss, jr., in the post reviewing his Strauss-Verzeichniss.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Dance venues in Vienna

This updates the four summary posts on dancing in Vienna during Schubert's lifetime: post #1.

Margit Legler and Reinhold Kubik offer a concise list of the major public dance venues in 19th-century Vienna (91-92).
Der Sperl: correctly, "Zum Sperlbauer," after the name of the first owner of the inn (opened 1701). A public dancehall and gardens with a performing pavilion were added in 1807, and the venue quickly became a favorite local destination. It was drastically remodelled in 1839 and retained its popularity for another 30 years; it was torn down in 1873.
Zur goldenen Birne, started in 1702, was remodelled in 1801, including the addition of a large dancehall, which became known as the "Wiener Annentempel."
Apollosaal, built in 1807 and opened in time for Carneval 1808. In addition to a great dancehall, the site had smaller halls and rooms, grottos, etc., along with an orchestral performance area in the shape of a small hill. As many as 8000 visitors could be accommodated. Perhaps in part because of its size, which had the disadvantage of an unwieldly complexity, the venue suffered an unstable, shifting history, finally burning down in 1876 after being turned into a textile factory.
Dianabad opened in 1804 and was extensively remodelled in 1829-30, its special trait being a swimming area that could be converted into a dancehall for the winter (!). The leading dance orchestras played here. The building was rebuilt in 1893, and suffered severe damage in 1945.
The other venues in Legler and Kubik's list were all opened after Schubert's death: Dommayers Kasino (1833-1907), Sophienbad (1838-2002), Kettenbrückensaal (1840-1904), and Odeonsaal (1844-1848).
In the same volume, Andrea Harrandt discusses the professional activities of Johann Strauss, sr., during the Carneval season. She reproduces two page-long lists of his engagements, for 1840 and 1846, respectively (139, 142). Between 11 January and 3 March, 1840, Strauss's band had well over 40 appearances, on weekends often more than one in a day. The venues: Sperl, 36 times; Dommayer, 11 times. In 1846, between 11 January and 24 February: Sperl 35 times; Sophienbad, 7; Odeon, 6; Redoutensäle, 4. The tables, unfortunately, don't quite agree with Harrandt's text: for 1846, Strauss is said to have played for 31 balls at the Sperl, and three days a week for the afternoon "Konversation" [see more on this below] in the Volksgarten (143) -- that would make a total of 49 engagements at the Sperl alone. In any case, the number is remarkable, and certainly corroborates statements about the intense dance-oriented social activity of the Carneval season in Vienna.

[added 5-26-10: A more extensive list can be found in the work catalogue edited by Schönherr and Reinöhl (343-53). The list covers the years 1827-1849. The book is structured as an annotated chronological list, somewhat in the manner of Franz Mailer's Strauss [jr], but the annotations are generally more contextual or anecdotal than focused on the individual work at hand. Early on, they identify the "Konversation" (alternate names: soirée, Reunion, among others) as a fashionable entertainment in Viennese venues, distinguished by the performance of quite varied types of music and sometimes including magic and similar acts. The sessions finished with some dancing (15-16). Except for the dancing, these sound remarkably similar to vaudevilles at the end of the century.]

Reference.
Legler, Margit, and Reinhold Kubik. "Anmutige Verschlingungen. Tänze des Vormärz: Quellen – Notation – Ausführung." In Boisits, Barbara, and Klaus Hubmann. Tanz im Biedermeier: Ausdruck des Lebensgefühls einer Epoche, 89-131. Proceedings from the Symposium Musizierpraxis im Biedermeier: Tanzmusik im ländlichen und städtischen Bereich, Graz, Austria, 26.-27. März 2004. Series: Neue Beiträge zur Aufführungspraxis, vol. 6. Vienna : Mille Tre Verlag Robert Schächter, 2006.
Harrandt, Andrea. "'Das Leben ein Tanz.' Zu den Tanzkompositionen von Johann Strauß Vater für den Wiener Fasching." In Boisits and Hubmann, 133-149.
Schönherr, Max, and Karl Reinöhl. Johann Strauss Vater: ein Werkverzeichnis. London, Universal Edition [1954].

Monday, May 3, 2010

Archaeology of Improvisation

In November, I will be giving a paper-presentation during a conference session on improvisation. The place is Indianapolis; the occasion is the joint national meeting of the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory.

The title is "Schubert's 'Riemannian Hand': An Archaeology of Improvisation." Here's the abstract:
Schubert was said to string his waltzes into "endless cotillons" for dancing. A close relative of the contredanse, the cotillon required frequent repetition of strains, particularly the principal one. Using the three-layer texture of the waltz (as played on a piano) and "endless cotillons" as the design, I will demonstrate (1) how strict small forms, repetition, and variation can reveal pairings and groupings among Schubert's surviving waltzes, suggesting relationships that may have arisen through varied repetition in performance; and (2) how the chordal offbeats can effect transformations with parsimonious voice leading by simply moving thumb, middle finger, or little finger, thus anchoring the more distant modulations that Schubert attempted in improvisation. By doing multiple comparisons among dances, I try to reconstruct some sense of how Schubert, during improvised performance, may have been—in Kofi Agawu's terms—"thinking in music about music."
[note added 5-19-10: Legler and Kubik reproduce instructions from a dance manual by Edward David Helmke (1830), one of which is "A waltz may last no more than 15 minutes and a cotillon no more than 45 minutes" (95).]

Reference.
Legler, Margit, und Reinhold Kubik. "Anmutige Verschlingungen. Tänze des Vormärz: Quellen – Notation – Ausführung." In Boisits, Barbara, and Klaus Hubmann. Tanz im Biedermeier: Ausdruck des Lebensgefühls einer Epoche, 89-131. Proceedings from the Symposium Musizierpraxis im Biedermeier: Tanzmusik im ländlichen und städtischen Bereich, Graz, Austria, 26.-27. März 2004. Series: Neue Beiträge zur Aufführungspraxis, vol. 6. Vienna : Mille Tre Verlag Robert Schächter, 2006.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Dance collections (2)

This continues yesterday's post, which provided links to several dance collections available from IMSLP and described those collections in terms of design and key sequence.

It is perhaps a little embarrassing that one conclusion to be drawn from comparing Schubert with Czerny and Marschner manages no more than to repeat some old clichés: If Czerny's dances are a bit dull in their routines, despite some technical "glitz,"


and Marschner seems already to be striving toward opera,

then Schubert distinguishes himself as an inexhaustible fountain of charming and memorable melodies. (first strains of D365ns7-9)


On the other hand, with respect to design and style, Schubert's dances are completely within the limits of typical practice for the period 1815-1830. Arguments made for Schubert's uniqueness on those terms are indefensible.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Dance collections

Here are a few links to dances or dance collections from IMSLP:
Carl Czerny, Les Etrennes, Op. 32. 24 waltzes published by Tobias Haslinger, Vienna, reissue after 1826.
Stephen Heller, Ländler und Walzer, Op. 97. 12 waltzes published by Friedrich Kistner, Leipzig, [date?]
Johannes Brahms, arr. Theodor Kirchner. Liebeslieder-Walzer, Opp. 52 & 65. Piano solo arrangement of both sets, complete. Simrock, Berlin, 1881.
Carl Maria von Weber, Allemandes, Op. 4. 10 dances with trios. From collected edition of music for piano (c. 1890).
Heinrich Marschner, 12 Dances, Op. 53. 6 waltzes and 6 ecossaises. Halberstadt: C.Brüggemann (1820s?)
Czerny's set, details: All 24 dances are in 8+8 design, except n22, which is 16+16, including a truncated reprise. Numbers 7, 12, and 22 make demands on technique in isolated passages; otherwise, any pianist who could play the published waltzes of Schubert could easily play these, as well. The sequence of keys: ns1-6: A major; ns 7-9: C major; ns 10-12: F major; ns 13-14: F minor; ns 15-16: Db major; ns 17-18: F major; ns 19-20: A major; ns 21-22: E major; ns 23-24: C major. Or, overall: A-C-F-Fm-Db-F-A-E-C.

Heller's set, details: The designs vary quite a bit; they are listed below along with keys.
n1 8+8; first strain repeat written out F major
n2 16+16 with reprise D major
n3 8+8+8 as ABA Bb major
n4 8+16, partial reprise D major
n5 8+8 A major
n6 16+8 A minor
n7 8+8+8+8+18 as ABABA with last A extended in coda fashion. No repeat signs. F major
n8 8+16+10, where 16 includes a full reprise and 10 is a separate coda. Ab Major
n9 8+16+16, where 16 includes a full reprise and the second 16 is a slightly varied version of the first 16. Both 16s are repeated as a group (error?) Db major
n10 8+8 with the second strain repeat written out. C major
n11 16+(10+16)+32. First strain no repeat sign; full reprise in the second strain; 32-bar coda is marked "ad libitum." F minor
n12 16+16+8+16+8+16+40. F major
Overall key sequence: F-D-Bb-D-A-Am-F-Ab-Db-C-Fm-F.
The set was probably published around 1860 and shows the hybrid character of Schumann's early sets, especially Papillons. The early pieces could be grouped for dancing, but progressively the set becomes more and more pianistic, more in the nature of character pieces and not social dances.

Weber's set, details: all dances and their trios 8+8. Keys: C-F; G-C; Cm-CM; Eb-Bb; D-D; Dm-F; C-F; Db-Ab; C-F; Bb-Eb. Thus, tonic-subdominant pairings predominate (6 out of 10). It's hard to imagine these dances being played in succession as a complete set. A division into two groups (1-4 or 1-5; 5-10 or 6-10) is plausible, but even then one would probably want to employ some alternativo designs (repeating the trio, then going on to the next dance without a reprise).

Marschner's set, details: The waltzes are clearly meant to be grouped, as in a "single" Strauss or Lanner set. An 8 bar introduction; 8+16 in A (with reprise); 8+12 in E (with reprise); 8+8+8, each section repeated in A; 8+16 with reprise in D; 16+44 in Bb, with second strain as 28+16 (reprise); 8+8 in F. At the end of n4 is a notation "I da capo al Fine" -- somewhat mysterious, as it could mean that n4 should be played as an independent trio to n1 OR that n1 should be reprised at this point perhaps to close the sequence 1-4: so, 1-2-3-4-1 OR it might suggest that n4 is the last in a series of trios, so: 1-2-1-3-1-4-1. Of course, in performance, any of these was possible. A similar notation at the end of n6 is easier to decipher: "V da capo al Fine," making n6 a trio to n5.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Schenkerian hermeneutics; Schenkerian

I did an internet search (as well as literature search) on "Schenkerian hermeneutics" a few days ago, for the sake of class notes. The result: although I had assumed the term is commonly used, it clearly is not.

In the course of the internet search, I was surprised to see how often and how early in the results this blog appears. I strongly suspect -- but certainly can't prove -- that it has something to do with the fact that the blog sits in Google's own blog space.

However that may be, a switch in the results list from links to "Images" turned out to be truly amusing:

Monday, April 19, 2010

William Drabkin on Schenker and Strauss

In the final paragraph of his survey article on Schenker, William Drabkin notes the following:
Schenker's admiration of the music of Johann Strauss and his efforts to promote it by providing voice-leading graphs of his more famous waltzes in Der freie Satz suggests that, his outright dismissal of jazz and other forms of popular music notwithstanding, he saw the difference between good and bad as greater than that between serious and popular. (838)
For this most capable historian and editor, whose guidance of the Cambridge editions of translations of Der Tonwille and two of the three volumes of Das Meisterwerk in der Musik was masterful, work for which we should all be grateful, a statement like this is, alas, a come-down. Drabkin sets Schenker up above the fray, as impartial arbiter of quality regardless of source. That's nonsense, as Drabkin certainly knows. Strauss squeaked into the pantheon because of his close friendship with Brahms, the Lion of Vienna and Schenker's idol -- and only for that reason.

How else, when Strauss represents better than anyone the post-Rossini generations that marry dance music with Italianate melody, a realm of foreground music (chains of waltzes) and larger works of spectacle (operettas) rather than Beethovenian "substance"? Schenker wrote several negative descriptions of Italian music: in brief, he thought that contemporary Italians could write melodies but couldn't build coherent compositions; that people's contribution had been historical, to find and explore counterpoint, which was then properly understood and developed only by Germans.

PS: "--and only for that reason": there is, of course, another, namely Schenker's loyalty to Vienna, his adopted home, great musical city, and seat of the monarchy.

Reference.
Drabkin, William. "Heinrich Schenker." In Thomas Christensen, ed. The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, 812-843. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

On the Laendler in D734

Here is another passage from Litschauer and Deutsch (39; trans.):
Among Schubert's dances in triple meter are about 130 Ländler, composed between 1815 and 1826 and by and large preserved in manuscript sources. In contrast to the schottisches, german dances, and waltzes, however, the Ländler do not appear among Schubert's albumleaves or dedication compositions, and thus it is not suprising that these dances are rarely mentioned by the composer's friends and acquaintances. Furthermore, as two journal entries by Franz von Hartmann indicate, Ländler were commonly confused with German dances. (In both instances, the reference is to Schubert's "16 Ländler, opus 67" D734, which were published by Diabelli in December 1826 under the title "Hommage aux belles Viennoises: Wiener-Damen-Ländler.")
17 December 1826 (Sunday): By Spauns, where Gahy played brand-new Schubert German dances (with the title "homage to the belles of Vienna," which made Schubert quite angry).
6 January 1827: We went to Spauns, where we were invited, along with Gahy, to breakfast. . . . then Gahy played two superb sonatas by Schubert and the German dances that had enchanted us so at M on the 17th.
Hartmann probably should have known better, as few collections outside the first dozen or so numbers in D365 and D779 represent the Ländler style more consistently, but in his defense we should remember that Deutscher was not only the genre title for a particular group of dances and their musics, but also the family name for all "waltzing" dances.

Several points can be made about D734, many of them reminders of earlier posts:
(1) the boundary between Ländler and Deutscher was always fuzzy with respect to musical style in the urban dance cultures, being reduced by the 1820s to sweeter/quieter/slower (Ländler) versus formal/louder/faster (Deutscher).

(2) in dancing, the types were often intermingled to fit alternations between couple and group dancing. In D734, for instance, n2 comes as close as any Schubert dance to realizing the type of the rural Ländler in the late 18th century: D major, I and V only, violinistic melody with many third doublings. But n16 is clearly a Deutscher that would accompany the obligatory processional that ended an extended dance/cotillion.


(3) the "sweeter/quieter/slower" criterion is muddied by imitations of the Schnadahüpfl episodes in rural dancing. This alternation is clearly at work in D734n1: the first eight bars of Ländler are interrupted by the same music abruptly transformed into a loud, drone-accompanied Schnadahüpfl, then the Ländler returns. Remember that this is also what happens -- down to the direct mediant key shifts -- in D779n13 and D145n7.

Reference.
Litschauer, Walburga, and Walter Deutsch. Schubert und das Tanzvergnügen. Vienna: Holzhausen, 1997.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Litschauer and Deutsch on the Ländler

Here is a free and partial translation from the section on choreography of the Ländler (48-51):
About the dance performance of the Ländler during the Biedermeier period there remains considerable ambiguity. [Like the Deutscher,] the genre title Ländler represents a category encompassing both the so-called "almeric" (alpine) couple dances ("Steirische," "Wickler" "Schuhplattler") and the "ländlerisch" (rural) group dances. We can say with certainty only that the Ländler is a figure-dance for whose performance a moderate tempo is assumed.

Ernst Hamza has noted that the Ländler originally was a couple dance in which "the individual dance couples...had a large individual space at their disposal." The rich choreography of the almeric dances was (and still is) characterized by a number of figures with embracing movements, so that this Ländler type often appears as a lovers' dance. One can infer from dance illustrations in the Biedermeier period that similar arm figures were also typical of social dance, where in fact they were integrated into not the Ländler but [the urban dance most directly derived from it,] the "Straßburger." [the figures in this blog's logo are illustrations of this dance]

[The Ländler was apparently already being danced in Viennese society as early as 1790.] Around 1818 one can trace several variants of this dance in the repertoire of middle class house balls, where it was often danced in rural costumes. Because of the decorative character of the arm figures, the "Steierische" enjoyed great popularity at these festivities.

In the dance instruction manuals of the early 19th century the Ländler is usually called a "Länderer" and its figures are labeled "Ländern."
Reference.
Litschauer, Walburga, and Walter Deutsch. Schubert und das Tanzvergnügen. Vienna: Holzhausen, 1997.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

William Drabkin on Schenker

It's always nice to see one's work mentioned in places where it's relevant. Surveying the field of post-Schenkerian studies in North America and the UK, William Drabkin notes the following (836):
Not surprisingly, the attempt to render Schenker's work accessible has also led to new developments in his theories. Although Schenker himself stressed that his work was artistic, not scientific, succeeding generations of theorists felt the need for it to be more internally consistent. One sees not only a more scientific approach, as early as Forte's seminal essay of 1959, but also numerous attempts to come to terms with ambiguities and inconsistencies in the theory. Both the sanctity of the two-voice Ursatz and the primacy of the descending 3-2-1 Urlinie have been challenged,51 and theorists now generally accept the possibility that a piece may admit more than one valid Schenkerian reading.52
Footnote 51 cites my three 1987 articles, one of David Beach's responses to them, and Geoffrey Chew's "The Spice of Music," which appeared in one of the first issues of Music Analysis (1983). Chew, blending Schenker and Kurth, argues in favor of the primacy of the leading-tone progression, something with which I can certainly sympathize, although I do not think he works it all out in the clearest possible way.

I am pleased to hear the tone of voice in the word "sanctity" -- it shows that Drabkin can retain a critical attitude and has not merely fallen into the old "Schenker's right and you're not" trap that held back serious critical work for quite a long time in the 1970s and 1980s (even later in some retrograde instances). On the other hand, he keeps his place among the (most) traditionalist Schenkerians with "although Schenker himself stressed that his work was artistic, not scientific" [the clear implication being that we should avoid criticizing that position] followed by "theorists felt the need for it to be more internally consistent" ["felt the need" suggests desires rather than objectively necessary action; that is, Schenker seems reasonable while later theorists seem to be reacting on emotion. This is the academized Schenker of the 1978 Free Composition translation, the pale shadow who would have been at home in a Friday afternoon sherry party -- more likely the real Schenker would have despised all the pale academicians at said party]. Alas, (a) Schenker apart from his ideology is an emasculated and pointless Schenker; (b) Schenker said it was a theory and no amount of dodging about art vs. science or culture vs. politics will avoid the responsibilities that come with that claim [which is why I agree with Matthew Brown's agenda -- just not his method or his results]; (c) the theory as offered was (and I think still is) shot through with "ambiguities and inconsistencies."

Footnote 52 cites four items, including Carl Schachter's "Either/Or" and Drabkin's own "Consonant Passing Note." Drabkin misrepresents Schachter in that the article is concerned with locating the correct choice among alternatives, not assuming that both are intrinsically acceptable. Drabkin's essay, which is grounded in a case study -- Schenker's exchange with his student Felix-Eberhard von Cube about an analytic exercise -- does not so much acknowledge alternate readings as say the "verdict" should be left open on the problem of the subdominant that is separated from the dominant by a consonant triad.

References.
Drabkin, William. "Heinrich Schenker." In Thomas Christensen, ed. The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, 812-843. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

more from Wilmot on dancing

Here are three more excerpts from Martha Wilmot's Letters concerning dancing. The first and second come from early in their time in Vienna.
The Spanish Ambassador's ball: The Empress did not arrive till late, that is, till half past nine. After sitting a few moments [she] rose, and followed by her Grande Maitresse and Grand Maitre, she went thro' the assembly room, talking to everybody. How those high people contrive to find something appropriate to say to so many is my astonishment, and She seems to be quite gifted in this way. When she had talked to almost everyone she proceeded to the ball room. Then begun the waltzes. There were not many dancers, except the Court, but if they were not glittering Waltzes never did I see any. . . . The Imperial party retired at eleven, and then begun the fun of the natives, who danced more freely with their equals. (46)
To her sister-in-law, January 1820:
I dare say you imagine us very frisky people, eternally gadding abroad, but you are mistaken if you do, for on an average I think we are 4 or five Evenings out of the seven quietly at home, but when we do go, tis something to make a figure in a letter, for example, the English and French Ambassadors balls, which we have attended, both of which were uncommonly brilliant, gay, and agreeable. One country dance is always danced, and then Waltzes and quadrilles only.
And, finally her account of Carneval season 1825:
All the balls that are given in the course of the year are given during the Carnival, which begins the 1st January and ends Ash Wednesday. This year the Archbishop would not allow it to begin so soon, and it lasted not quite 5 weeks. While it lasts the young people almost dance themselves to death, and then the last thing is a Ridout [Redoute], where the cram and mob is suffocating, the dancing and music maddening. Twelve O'Clock strikes! It announces the arrival of Ash Wednesday! The music makes a sudden stop, the sudden pause and quiet which follows is awful-it lasts a moment, when the buzz which succeeds is worse than the honest ball music and noise. . . .
I do not enter much into the gaietys of the Carnival. You must know that nothing would be easier than for us to go to a ball or two every night, but as our dancing days are over and our childrens dancing days are not come, the stupidity from want of interest is very great, and the expence of dressing very great likewise, added to which [my husband] William dislikes it, and in a wicked town like this I ought to be too happy that his home is his favorite ball room. . . . But my grand delight was the Opera. . . . I have been at 7 or 8 Operas this year and they are allowed to be the very best filled up opera's in Europe, as all the performers are excellent and 2 or three quite first rate. [Our daughter] Catharine begins to enjoy an Opera and a concert, so I take her to form her taste.
Reference.
Wilmot, Martha. Ed. by the Marchioness of Londonderry and H. M. Hyde. More letters from Martha Wilmot; impressions of Vienna, 1819-1829, relating her experiences in the brilliant cosmopolitan society of Vienna as the wife of the Rev. William Bradford, chaplain to the British embassy, during a period when Austria was the political and social centre of Europe, and including a journal of a tour in Italy and the Tyrol, and extracts from the diary of her elder daughter Catherine for 1829. London, Macmillan and co., limited, 1935.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Style topics in D145n7

In this entry, I wrote about the topical contrast in the first strain and contrasting middle of D145n7:
A simple diatonic mediant move (effecting the transformation R twice) is aligned with formal design in an early ternary waltz that also happens to contrast Ländler and deutscher traits (the former in the main theme, the latter in the contrasting middle) using sharp dynamic contrast to make the point unmistakably.
"Deutscher" here was a bit too confident -- I was relying on expressive and functional distinctions that often appear in and between Schubert's dances. First, recall that "deutscher" was a relatively broad category referring -- especially very early in the nineteenth century -- to all the waltzing dances. It was, in effect, the German "back-translation" of the French appellation from the 1760s, allemande (in contredanse allemande).

Second, "deutscher" was used more narrowly for music that had the processional (that is, somewhat formal) character of the menuet; by 1810, it was often impossible to tell the two apart -- to a composer, the deutscher was often just a menuet with few of that genre's long-since-clichéd gestures. It was the contrast between the processional "waltz" (deutscher) and the romantic couple dance of the Ländler that was clearly meaningful to Schubert and that I was relying on.

But, third, the foot-stamping segments of a folk dance could also be represented along with the drone instrument (bagpipe, Dudelsack, etc.) that accompanied folk (rural) dancing well into the nineteenth century (Petermayr, 83-84).

In other words, here Schubert is offering us two very different sides of his tune: as sweet Ländler in the first strain, but probably as accompaniment to rural stampfen thereafter, not to a more refined urban processional dance.

In the course of this, he might even have been duplicating the contrasting segments of rural or lower-class group dancing. Petermayr quotes a description of such dancing from later in the century (NB: the segments are marked by numbers in square brackets):
The string players have tuned their instruments and begun to play dance music in three-quarter time with their characteristically piercing tones, while they stamp their feet in duple time. [1] The dancers don't hold back: pair on pair they step into the line of dance and go some steps forward, following the beat, man and woman side by side (specifically, with the woman on the outside). [2] Then they grasp hands and make several turns [or figures [the word is Schwenkungen]], so that the woman appears briefly on the inside then again on the outside of the line. Then both raise their arms high above their heads and the woman turns herself once under the man's arm. [3] Then both settle back [to side-by-side position] and execute several figures, as before. [4] Again the arms go up and the woman turns quickly twice, so that her skirts swirl upward and out. [5] Each couple then embraces [that is, takes a clasping hold] and turns waltzing in a circle. [6] Again the couples settle back, but now the dancers move forward stomping on the floor so vigorously that the windows shake and the dust rises. While doing this they clap hands in time, call out, and sing in chorus the powerful, not easily forgotten "Schnadahüpfl" [also known as "Vierzeiler" -- commonly known bits of verse, sometimes nonsense]. [When all this is done,] the couples change, as each woman moves forward up the line to the next man, and the whole sequence begins again. This is repeated as often as there are dancing couples, so that at the end each man has his original partner. (94-95; trans.)
Reference.
Petermayr, Claus. "Nieder- und oberösterreiche Quellen zum Volkstanz im Biedermeier." In Harrandt, Andrea, and Erich Wolfgang Partsch. Tanzkultur im Biedermeier: wissenschaftliche Tagung 1. bis 2. Oktober 2004, Ruprechtshofen, N. Ö, 75-96. Series: Publikationen des Instituts für Österreichische Musikdokumentation, vol. 31. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2006.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Sound of Dancing: update

The answer to the question posed in the previous post (Did Schubert's friends change shoes for dancing?) appears to be: No. Lightweight shoes, often without heels, were the fashion. (Whether they were always of cloth, or could be of leather, is unclear.) Sturdy covering boots and shoes were worn when going outdoors. Buxman: "fashion [in shoes] changed -- throughout the first half of the nineteenth century one used flat footwear, shoes with cross straps, cloth shoes or boots" (185; translated).

Here are two details from Viennese drawings, the first from 1816, and other from 1827.



We can assume a consistent style of dress in Vienna through the period of Schubert's adulthood, as Parisian fashions were dropped in 1815 (Congress of Vienna; end of the Napoleonic Wars) and then almost as quickly adopted again in 1830 (July Revolution).

Writing about Carneval 1826, Martha Wilmot (Mrs. William Bradford) describes in great detail a rather unusual costume ball that consisted of 12 very elaborate walking tableaux (she does not mention dancing but as she labels some of the tableaux "quadrilles" it is likely they danced as well as marched). In the paragraph about her own dress, she mentions "white satin shoes and broad flat pink saddle bows" (239). After the final tableau, however, general dancing started, and all characters, classes, and ages intermingled, in the most informal manner of the contredanse. At 2:00am a supper was served. The party was given by the British ambassador; Wilmot was the spouse of the embassy chaplain. (She reports that by request of the Emperor the entire series of tableaux was repeated in the palace the following evening and "the quadrilles for want of dancing Masters as Heralds to guide them, got into . . . glorious confusion" (240); also that "after the Imperial family had seen the quadrilles there was a little dancing in the Crown Prince's Apartment" (241).

Wilmot also mentions dancing in the context of a typical day for the children and their governess. (Wilmot, Blanche, and Catharine are the Bradfords' three children. ) Note particularly the promenade (the polonaise) that offers the characteristic formal close to a session of dancing (equivalent to the procession of couples waltzing about the room to a deutscher Tanz).
The governess "makes both Wilmot and Blanche say lessons twice a day, in french, then she can practice them in dancing, teach work, and superintend . . . their [dancing and] other Masters. She dresses them for dessert, and comes in with them. After sitting about half an hour, I get up and announce a ball; [the governess] then waltzes with Catharine while I play some excellent waltzes that I have got. Then she waltzes with Blanche, (in fun) who will be an exquisite dancer, the little manner of her in setting about it is so admirable. The Squire has his turn [and] when this is ended [he] leads out one in a polonaise, the others follow, and so they proceed to the nursery--after which they sup, tell stories, and the two youngest go to bed. (83)
Alas, this report is from September 1820, before Schubert's D365 was published, but as the Bradfords remained in Vienna till 1829, it is entirely possible that she "got" music of his and played it at some later time -- she reports that the family always had a (rented) pianoforte in the house.

[note added 5-19-10: the longevity of the polonaise as a formal or processional dance is attested by Barbara Boisit's reproduction of the sequence of dances (Tanzordnung) for the first ball of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (1830): the evening was divided into two halves with an hour's rest inbetween -- the first was polonaise, waltz, waltz, cotillon and galop, waltz; the second shuffled the dances but kept the formal dance at the head: polonaise, waltz, cotillon and galop, waltz, cotillon and galop (158, illustration). The same organization's ball for 1847 was considerably more complex, but still placed the polonaise at the beginning of the first part: polonaise, waltz, waltz, quadrille, waltz, quadrille, waltz, quadrille, mazurka, quadrille, waltz. The second part consisted of waltz and polka, quadrille, waltz, quadrille, waltz, menuet (!), quadrille, waltz and polka (Legler and Kubik, 94 illustration).]

References.
Wilmot, Martha. Ed. by the Marchioness of Londonderry and H. M. Hyde. More letters from Martha Wilmot; impressions of Vienna, 1819-1829, relating her experiences in the brilliant cosmopolitan society of Vienna as the wife of the Rev. William Bradford, chaplain to the British embassy, during a period when Austria was the political and social centre of Europe, and including a journal of a tour in Italy and the Tyrol, and extracts from the diary of her elder daughter Catherine for 1829. London, Macmillan and co., limited, 1935.

Buxbaum, Gerda. Mode aus Wien, 1815-1938. Salzburg: Residenz Verlag, for the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Wien, c1986.
Boisits, Barbara. "Der erste Ball der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien im Jahre 1830." In Boisits, Barbara, and Klaus Hubmann. Tanz im Biedermeier: Ausdruck des Lebensgefühls einer Epoche, 151-166. Proceedings from the Symposium Musizierpraxis im Biedermeier: Tanzmusik im ländlichen und städtischen Bereich, Graz, Austria, 26.-27. März 2004. Series: Neue Beiträge zur Aufführungspraxis, vol. 6. Vienna : Mille Tre Verlag Robert Schächter, 2006.
Legler, Margit, and Reinhold Kubik, "Anmutige Verschlingungen. Tänze des Vormärz: Quellen – Notation – Ausführung." In Boisits, Barbara, and Klaus Hubmann, 89-131.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Sound of Dancing

In an earlier post on the geography of dancing (that is, the physical spaces in which Schubert improvised/played dance music) I wrote the following:
The distinct timbres of the three main registers on contemporary pianofortes would be audible nearby, less so on the dance floor, where the swishing of clothes and muffled swish-slide of light cloth dancing shoes would mingle with the music.
Since writing that sentence, I have been wondering about those shoes. I wrote "light cloth dancing shoes" (that is to say, shoes of a fabric, shape, and weight similar to modern ballet slippers) because those are recognized as the standard from historical sources (dance instruction manuals and iconography). Here is a close-up from the rightmost couple in my logo graphic. This comes from 1808 and so can reasonably be regarded as typical at least into the early 1820s, and the dancers are dressed in a way that corresponds to the social class of Schubert and his friends.

A dance party (house ball) was not like a Clara Schumann recital -- strictly ordered, staid, and quiet. And since one of the few predictable elements would have been the alternation between dancing and eating/drinking, one has to ask whether the participants changed their shoes from one to the other. Given the protocols for dress, it would seem uncouth (or else youthfully rebellious) to wear dancing slippers while eating and talking. If Schubert's friends took the time to change their shoes, that action would would have affected the timing and process of the dancing and therefore also of Schubert's playing: it would necessarily articulate or "formalize" the dancing -- setting a particular dance segment off, as when a modern dance band takes a break. For Schubert, the inclination to group his waltzes by some (any) sort of connecting logic would have increased at least as much as with the "endless cotillions." In fact, perhaps more so, as he would have had more opportunity to organize distinct, small sets in the dance-trio(s) mould.

Monday, March 29, 2010

mediant blocking in D145n7

A simple diatonic mediant move (effecting the transformation R twice) is aligned with formal design in an early ternary waltz that also happens to contrast Ländler and deutscher traits (the former in the main theme, the latter in the contrasting middle) using sharp dynamic contrast to make the point unmistakably. In the example below, the mediant moves are outlined. (Another reminder that the graphics are thumbnails -- click on them to see the original-size file.)


Perhaps because of the change of figuration assisting the topic change, the left hand does not execute the transformations directly (in the manner of the Riemannian Hand). Instead, the right hand works out a pattern that combines transformation with registral shifts.

In mm. 3-4, the Hand would seem to be as at "a?": Bb4-Eb5-G5, but the direct move is from the shape at "a". The "b?" to which "a" moves is not literal, however (there is no Eb5); instead, the Eb is shifted upward to Eb6 (as at "b"). In the reprise this shape settles down as C5 goes to Bb4 (at "c?"), but the final move again takes the lowest note up an octave: G5 to G6 at "c."

Thursday, March 18, 2010

16-bar sentences; more to D810

Yesterday's post dealt with the expansion of D790n6 into the scherzo of the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet. For the trio, I'll do the reverse: pull out of the existing piece a plausible dance source. Actually, it's quite easy to do because the trio is set up as strain + varied repetition, and the contrasting middle is cleanly segregated out.


The 16-bar strain is by no means common in the waltzes, and most of those are periods (which, it must be said, are just as easily understood as written-out repetition with a varied cadence). Of 16-bar sentences, there are only seven, and all but one is early. The list is D128n10; D145ns 1, 3 12; D146ns 5, 6; and D969n5; they appear in a gallery below, with the articulation at eight bars marked in red. (D145n3 is an exception: the red line marks the "proper" end of the 16 strain, before the second 8 are repeated.)