Toward the androgynous ^5 and ^6

Here are several more examples of characteristic uses of ^6, this time adumbrations of Schubert's later, "androgynous" treatment of ^5 and ^6 in the Ländler repertoire. To give some sense of how characteristic an emphasis on ^6 was in Ländler, six of the first seven in D145 (all improvised/composed no later than 1821) feature it.

In n1, which shifts the typical Ländler key of D major up expressively to Eb, the subdominant embellishment in bar 1 is reinforced in the left hand, and in the second strain a very characteristic use of ^6 appears, as the harmony flirts with an outright V9. (Recall that you can click on the thumbnail to see the original size image.)

In n2, probably meant as the trio for n1, ^6 is offered very directly as a rising melodic embellishment in the first strain.

In n3, the play of ^5 and ^6 generates a simple motif -- the pairing of ^3 and ^5, the latter figured with ^6, should seem familiar from D779n13. In the second strain, the subdominant harmony suggested in n1 comes into full bloom, and we also hear the simple ^6 embellishment above I.

In n4, ^6 is an emphatic leap that announces the significance of the upper octave -- the strain closes on Db6, not Db5.

In n5, the alternate harmonization, with vi, is prominent, again followed by a characteristic embellishment, the V9. In the second strain, the V9 with its ^6 is given a very direct violinistic treatment, and the ending might well have gone differently -- see the alternate cadence below the score.

In n7, ^6 is buried in a trill on ^5, but in the second strain ^6 is again harmonized. The strong pairing of ^5 over ^3 with descending cadence motions (^4 over ^2, and finally (^3 over?) ^1) strongly implies ^3 as the alternate ending shows. I have written about this formation in the essay Complex upper-voice cadential figures in traditional tonal music published on the Texas Scholar Works platform: link to essay.

The Strausses and the androgynous ^5 and ^6

Here are examples from the Strauss clan, not the Johanns, but Eduard and Josef.

The first is a version of Eduard's galop "Über Feld und Wiese" (Over Field and Meadow) published as a polka (schnell) by Herzberg & Greenburgh (New York, 1876). Link to this entry on the LOC site. The tempo of a polka schnell was probably not much less than that of a galop, and therefore one could dance a polka to it, but the musical figures are not at all like those of a polka. (A "slow polka," btw, was called polka française.) Link to this piece published as a galop.

In general, Eduard's music tends to be more conservative in its treatment of musical materials than the contemporaneous waltzes of the other Strausses. The first strain here uses quite conventional harmonic progressions, except to end the first phrase (boxed), where a characteristic figure draws ^7 over V down to ^6, and the resulting V9 resolves directly to ^5 over I.

The trio is similar. Here, a "throwaway" ^6 over I (first circle) becomes the ninth in a V9 that again resolves directly (second circle).

The second strain of the Trio is more adventurous in its cadence, finally taking up the implication of the stolid initial motive (first box) and sending the line up to ^8 in a PAC that is far more emphatic than the quick V-I that follows it.

The second example is "Mein Lebenslauf ist Lieb und Lust," a set of waltzes by Josef Strauss, as published in
Philadelphia by Louis Meyer (1870). Link to this entry on the LOC site.

In the second strain of the first waltz touches on both ^5 and ^6 over I and over V7.

The second waltz makes the play of ^5 and ^6 its main motif.

The third waltz, however, goes all out as ^5 and ^6 permeate the melody, disappearing only with approach of the final cadence (but note the reference to ^5 and ^6 over V7/V -- not marked in the score).

The second strain of waltz 3 uses ^6 and ^5 over I as the melodic answer to ^5 and ^4 over V7, quite common in legato strains. (More common though is ^5 and ^6 over I answering ^7 and ^6 over V7, a favorite gambit of Johann Strauss, jr.)

The androgynous ^5 and ^6

This follows from the Schachter series, part 13a, in which I wrote the following:

[Victor] Zuckerkandl's model [of acoustical and dynamic space in the scalar octave] has firm style-statistical support in 19th century music, especially in the popular genres of dance music, where the play of ^6 and ^5 creates a kind of tonal androgyny that makes the identity of ^5 and ^6 interchangeable.

In the post, I analyzed D779n13 on those terms. Here are simply a few more score examples of the play of ^5 and ^6, with the telling moments boxed.

Schubert, D783n2: 1. a simple V9 chord; 2. a delightful (and historically prescient) muddling of scale degrees ^4, ^5, and ^6; 3.& 4. clear division of functions and registers. (Click on the thumbnail to see the original size graphic.)

Schubert, D779n17: the V9 again in the configuration that becomes a stylistic hallmark of the Viennese waltz through (and beyond) the Strausses: the 9 is sustained (repeated) over the resolution and eventually ^6 drops to ^5, leaving the status of ^6 in both sonorities less than crystal clear.

Schubert, D779n8: 1. ^6 as the upper third to the seventh of V7 (sounds like a variation of the V9 in D783n2 above); but 2. ^6 turns down to ^5 before the resolution (but note the ascending figure in the bass); 3. ^6 as an inner voice moves up to ^8 (^1) in the cadence.

Offenbach, La belle Hélène, n18b "Melodrame." This follows and repeats the ending from the rondo "Vénus fond du notre l'àme." We've heard the incessant play of ^5 and ^6 throughout the rondo; there and here, the game is resolved in favor of ^6 and the dynamic space of ^5 rising to ^8.