Lesson 2 - Analysis: Schubert's Der Müller und der Bach

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Write Like Mozart: An Introduction to Classical Music Composition

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National University of Singapore

Write Like Mozart: An Introduction to Classical Music Composition

243 notes

This course introduces students to strategies for style writing of common practice European art music. The issues of harmonic progression, voice leading, and texture are addressed in addition to relevant compositional concepts like repetition, variation, and elaboration. The course aims to offer a creative space even within the restrictions of stylistic emulation.

À partir de la leçon

Module Five

This module builds off of the concept of chord substitution that was introduced previously. However, this week we look at chords that are chromatic, rather than diatonic. Some of you may be familiar with the concept of chromaticism. Its simplest definition is the use of chords that are not part of the key of the passage in which they are used. One of the things that chromaticism helps to make possible is modulation to new keys, so sometimes people think that chromaticism is music that changes keys. That’s not completely true - although it is often the case. In Write Like Mozart we will look only at uses of chromatic harmony that do not cause modulation. (Modulation is a large topic that would take perhaps 2-3 weeks to properly cover, and we just don’t have the space here.) We will also get our feet wet with 2-voice counterpoint. We will look at writing 2:1 counterpoint, that is, 2 notes in the upper voice against 1 note in the lower voice. Counterpoint can go much deeper than this, but it is a subject on its own and also well beyond the space we have in this course. However, I did want to give some guidance in it because we will look at a Bagatelle by Beethoven this week in which he uses 2-voice counterpoint. Since this work could serve in part as a model for your own final project composition, I thought it would be good to take a bit of time to give you some insights into how to write simple 2-voice counterpoint.

Lesson 1 - Chromatic Substitutions: The Neapolitan 6 Chord9:14

Lesson 2 - Analysis: Schubert's Der Müller und der Bach8:02

Lesson 3 - Chromatic Substitutions: Augmented Sixth Chords12:53

Lesson 4 Part 1 - Analysis: Beethoven's Bagatelle, op. 119, no I13:09

Lesson 4 Part 2 - Analysis: Beethoven's Bagatelle, op. 119, no I11:27

Lesson 5 - Chromatic Substitutions: Borrowed Chords8:31

Rencontrer les enseignants

Peter Edwards
Associate Professor
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

So lets do some analysis.

This time we pick up with a phrase from Schubert Der Muller and there Bach,

which is the Miller and the stream taken from his collection, his song cycle.

Translated in English as the beautiful Miller girl.

And i have the text actually written down there on the bottom.

Where a true heart in love passes by.

There the lilies wilt in their flowerbeds. So very romantic.

Text typically depressive. So let's listen to it once.

In particular, be on the lookout or I guess hear-out,

for the Neapolitan chord, because there's one in here.

[MUSIC]

Ok, very simple but actually very beautiful.

We're in G minor, that's the one that I've got here.

Let's do some harmonic analysis first.

Clearly we're starting in the one cord, G minor

cord, and this stays for a little while, keeps there.

Curious thing happens here, we've got this G minor here in the

left hand because we have this as well, but this is shifted down.

And if we look at these two notes, and then actually we look at this one.

We see D, F sharp, and A. That, that's the five chord.

Hm, but there's this G here in the bass. Huh, that's not a that's a non chord tone.

Yes we know it look at what he's doing.

He's going to go he's going to stay the same into a non chord tone.

He's going to, going to stay there, then he's going to go back and it's and it's

not going to be a non chord tone and the way he did that was he did nothing.

So we have a pedal tone. That's exactly what this is.

So we have a five chord, and.

[MUSIC]

We can write in here that we've got

this peddle tone. We stay in the five chord here, this is

actually a non quartonozon, an upper neighbor, I'll note that later Stand five.

You see, the harmonic rhythm here is very slow.

Back to one.

So one chord for three bars, and then the

five chord for three bars, and the one chord.

You see, the harmonic progression's extremely simple.

Harmonic progressions do not need to be complex to be effective.

And then here, let's look at this guy. Well, okay, we've got this, this,

A flat and this E flat and this C, when we put it all together we get an A flat

major chord.

We're in G minor, hm, it's in first inversion.

A flat major in a relationship to G minor.

That's a lowered second scale degree. It's a major chords first inversion.

And oh, yeah, that Edwards guy told me don't write flat major two, six.

If you're going to do that, you write.

Instead, Neapolitan. So here's our Neapolitan.

Then just, you know, before I was saying

that it's a substitute for the two six, yeah.

And two six, we usually see right before or often before cadence.

Two six usually goes to to five at the

cadence, and t hat's exactly what we get here.

We can either say, five seven, because of the, there's a melody note here.

That's the seventh.

And then back to one.

So that's essentially the harmonic progression.

It's basically a one, five, one, two six five one,

where the two six has been substituted within the Neopolitan chord.

Now, let's listen to this again.

It's always good to listen many times while we're doing

analysis, so we can, let's listen for this harmonic progression.

[MUSIC]

Good.

Nice single phrase, we get a perfect authentic cadence here.

I guess we could

[MUSIC]

Write that in. Let's look for non chord tones.

Well, I had mentioned that this is a non chord tone, and the way we get into is

by step, and then the way we get out of it is by step but in the opposite direction.

[MUSIC]

Good neighbor tone.

This is all G, G minor so this C isn't there.

Step into it, step out of it in the same direction.

[MUSIC]

Passing tone.

Chord tone, chord tone, chord tone, chord tone, chord tone, chord tone.

Here actually we can probably say that there's

a seven happening, so let me add that in.

So that there's a seventh there.

These are all chord tones. Chord tone, chord tone chord tone.

Step in step out in the same direction.

[MUSIC]

Passing tone. Chord tone chord tone chord tone.

Step in step out same direction.

Passing tone and then these are all chord tones and then step in step out.

[MUSIC]

Same direction passing tone and that should be it.

So we've got This is actually a nice opportunity

to see the pedal tone used in a progression.

But otherwise it's pretty straightforward usage of, of nonchord tones.

And notice how, how few there are.

These non-chord tones are used for decoration and for glue.

Really that's, that's, that's how they function

in, in classical music, by and large.

One more time, we take a listen, and then we're done with our analysis.

[MUSIC]

One last comment I want to make, sorry is that we just

look quickly at the voice leading here particularly in the right hand.

This leading is diminished, third that I mentioned Schubert uses it.

Again its a good example of how that diminished third,

is not something that you should worry very much about.

We also see another good example of how keyboard writing is different

from, from the voice the strict voice leading that we learned before.

Look all of the sudden hes here he's mostly two voices, then

he adds in three voices then he goes back to two voices.

So so again you have a lot more liberty when

you're writing a, a keyboard accompaniment part then if you are

writing for, four voices in a, in a homophonic texture.

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