Atzenbrugg transformations, part 3

This continues the account of mediant (and related transformational) moves in the six Atzenbrugg Tänze, which were divided between D145 and D365 in publication.

In n4, a pedal-point tonic finally yields to the leading tone, as the fifth of the mediant, which then receives the cadence -- one of the most direct possible auditory instantiations of the Leittonwechsel. The P move immediately following is masked a bit by the V7 voicing of the second chord.

The fifth dance (also in D365) is the only one of the group without any mediant or parallel play. I have noted below, however, the emphasis on ^6 in the motive and, in the second strain, the sudden lift upward to ^8 -- both moves strongly reminiscent of D779n13 (and, I would like to suppose, another companion in improvisation).

The final dance once again offers a direct R move between the first two phrases -- after that, it's all strictly fifth-roots.

Atzenbrugg transformations, part 2

The six Atzenbrugg dances may well have originated in improvisation during the vacationers' evening dancing at Atzenbrugg Castle in July 1821 -- or they may have been occasional pieces composed during one of Schubert's morning sessions and then played later on in the day. Their somewhat advanced expressive qualities even suggest that they may have been played as a set in performance, rather than for dancing.

Each of the dances exhibits direct (chord-to-chord) mediant shifts. Each on its own is not extraordinary -- even as early as 1820 or 1821 -- but, taken together, they seem to me a remarkable hint at mediant play in Schubert's improvisational-/compositional- thinking at the time.

In n1 (D145n1), a fanfare-processional first phrase is immediately answered by a shift to the relative minor (R). From first strain to second, also, a P transformation, a hint of a linkage between different modes of efficient voice-leading on the "Riemannian hand."

In n2, the R move is complicated a bit more by the octaves but is again associated with a significant design articulation. Ditto the LP move between strains, and P for the second strain's latter half, which transposes the first strain's second half from C to A (an RP move if it were done directly).

In n3 (which is D365n29), the design/transformation alignment continues between the strains (chord roots D-F#; move is LP).

The non-tonic opening is not related to this pattern, but is of course striking in itself. It does announce a round of after-beat parsimony, however, depicted below with the chords of the reprise (change F# in the first and fifth bars to F-natural and you have the sequence of the first strain).

Atzenbrugg transformations, part 1

The first transformation is from: a castle to: a monastery to: a museum commemorating Franz Schubert and the Schubert-Kreis: Atzenbrugg-Schlosspark.

The second transformation is from: the six Atzenbrugger Tänze (also called Atzenbrugger Deutsche) that were composed (or at least written down as a group) in July 1821 and published in two groups of three in D365 and D145 (see list below) to: the visual records of Kupelwieser's watercolor and a remarkable postcard depicting outdoor activities at the castle (see below).

n1 = D145n1 in E

n2 = D145n3 in A minor, ending A major

n3 = D365n29 in D

n4 = D145n2 in B

n5 = D365n30 in A

n6 = D365n31 in C

I just happened across the postcard collection on the website of the UK Schubert Institute (a "fan site" level operation). The link for this specific card is: n218 Atzenbrugg. I know nothing more about its provenance, date of the drawing, etc. Certainly the activities depicted are those we would expect of the summer holidays enjoyed by Schubert and his friends in 1820 and 1821 (Gibbs, 70). I have added two arrows. The lower one points to Schubert lounging on the grass, the upper one to a small building identified in another postcard as the cottage in which he either stayed or, more likely, composed in the mornings (I daresay the cottage is neither so prominent nor so isolated as this drawing suggests).

[update 2-23-10: Dieckmann reproduces the picture as his Figure 4 (a black & white version is Plate XVIII in Deutsch). It was made in 1821 (or 1822) as a collective effort of three persons in the Schubert-Kreis. Deutsch says that Schubert is smoking a pipe. According to Dieckmann's caption, the singer Vogl is on Schubert's left and is playing a guitar, one of the artists is sitting at Schubert's right, and the violinist is Ludwig Kraissl, described by Deutsch as a "landscape painter and violinist" (185) and by one of the Schubert-Kreis as "a mediocre landscape painter who fiddles heavenly waltzes" (325). Kraissl is listed as attending a Schubertiade on 11-11-1823 (302) and a New Year's Eve party the following month (319); he settled in Carinthia (south-central Austria) in 1824 (653). ]

Reference:

Gibbs, Christopher H. The Life of Schubert. NewYork/London: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Dieckmann, Friedrich. Franz Schubert: eine Annäherung. Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 1996.

Deutsch, Otto Erich. Schubert, a Documentary Diography; tr. by Eric Blom; being an English version of Franz Schubert: die Dokumente seines Lebens. Rev. and augm. ed., with a commentary by the author. London, J. M. Dent [1946].