Cadence and Closure in Brahmss Late Piano Music

Joan CampbellDepartment of Music Research, Schulich School of Music

McGill University, Montreal

A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Music Theory

June, 2010

2010 Joan Campbell

Abstract

The nature of closure is a major topic in modern theoretical discourse, as theorists recognize that the type of closure in a composition has an impact on its

structure, direction, and overall character. The music of Johannes Brahms

(1833-97) attracts great interest due to his deliberate and complex manipulations

of the harmonic, formal, and melodic idioms associated with tonal music.

Through utilizing both syntactic and semantic devices to close his pieces, Brahms

creates intricate endings which potentially confirm or deny the listeners

expectation that a piece will come to a complete and satisfying close. In this

thesis, I explore Brahmss manipulations of cadential progressions and rhetorical

paradigms in the late piano works, and I discuss the fluid relationship between the

two as a result of the attenuation of common-practice harmonic and formal norms.

I extend William Caplins theory of cadence and Kofi Agawus theory of

rhetorical analysis to evaluate the individual devices of closure in the

Klavierstcke, Op. 76, 118, and 119, the Rhapsodien, Op. 79, the Fantasien, Op.

116, and the Intermezzi, Op. 117. After I discuss the specific parameters of

syntactical and rhetorical closure, I present analytical case-studies which highlight

the complex interactions between devices of closure in five of the most

ambiguous of the Klavierstcke. I suggest that as soon as the cadence in a piece is

problematized, the semantic devices play a compensatory role in the creation of

closure in Brahms. Furthermore, I demonstrate that closure does not necessarily

occur at a discrete point in time, but that it is a process which can extend through

the piece as a whole.

ii

Rsum

La nature de la clture est un sujet important au discours thorique

moderne, car on reconnat limportance du type de clture pour crer la structure,

la direction, et le caractre dune composition musicale. La musique de Johannes

Brahms (1833-97) attire lattention cause de ses manipulations complexes et

mesures des idiomes harmoniques, mlodiques, et formels de la musique tonale.

En utilisant des moyens syntactiques et smantiques pour terminer ses pices,

Brahms cre les dnouements qui ont le pouvoir de confirmer ou bien dopposer

le sens dune clture complte et satisfaisante aux auditeurs. Dans ce mmoire,

jexplore les manipulations de la cadence et de la rhtorique dans les dernires

compositions pour le piano, et puis je discute du rapport fluide entre les deux

types de clture grce laffaiblissement des conventions harmoniques et

formelles du style classique.

Jlargis la thorie de la cadence de William Caplin et la mthode de

lanalyse rhtorique de Kofi Agawu pour identifier et pour analyser les moyens de

la clture utiliss dans les Klavierstcke, Op. 76, 118, and 119, les Rhapsodien,

Op. 79, les Fantasien, Op. 116, et les Intermezzi, Op. 117. Aprs avoir bien

explique les moyens syntactiques et rhtoriques de la clture, je prsente

quelques analyses compltes qui soulignent les interactions complexes des

moyens de clture dans les cinq morceaux les plus ambigus parmi les

Klavierstcke. Je suggre quaussitt que la cadence finale dune pice soit bien

problmatise, les moyens rhtoriques jouent un rle de plus en plus

compensatoire dans la cration de la clture chez Brahms. En outre, je soutiens

que la clture ne se trouve pas un moment prcis, mais que cest plutt un

processus qui se droule tout au long de la pice.

iii

Table of Contents

Abstract iiRsum iiiTable of Contents ivList of Musical Examples vAcknowledgements vi

Introduction 1 Brahms Research and Closure 1 Methodology 3

Chapter One: Cadence and Closure in the Theoretical Literature 7 Defining Closure 7 Cadential Modes of Closure 14 Rhetorical Modes of Closure 19

Chapter Two: The Cadence in Late Brahms 28 Melody, Cover Tones, and Cadence 32 Cadential Interpolations 36 Contrapuntal Cadences 37 Cadential Resolution to V7/IV 40 Elimination of Cadential Closure 43

Chapter Three: Rhetorical Closure 47 Semantic and Structural Functions of the Coda 47 Subdominant Harmony and Closure 52 Pedal Points and Static Harmony 58 Thematic Return and Closure 62 Motivic Fragmentation 68 Closure and Character 69 The Limits of Rhetorical Analysis 72

Chapter Four: Analytical Case Studies 75 Intermezzo in B Minor, Op. 119/1 75 Intermezzo in A Minor, Op. 118/1 81 Intermezzo in B-flat Major, Op. 76/4 86 Capriccio in C Major, Op. 76/8 89 Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116/4 95 Conclusion: Closure as Process 100

Bibliography 104

iv

List of Musical Examples

Example 2-1: Intermezzo Op. 117/3, mm. 98-108 28Example 2-2: Intermezzo Op. 118/2, mm. 110-16 29Example 2-3: Romanze Op. 118/5, mm. 51-57 29Example 2-4: Intermezzo Op. 116/5, mm. 35-39 31Example 2-5: Capriccio Op. 76/1, mm. 62-65 33Example 2-6: Rhapsodie Op. 79/1, mm. 213-33 34Example 2-7: Intermezzo Op. 76/7, mm. 39-46 36Example 2-8: Capriccio Op. 116/3, mm. 93-103 38Example 2-9: Reduction, Capriccio Op. 116/3, mm. 98-102 38Example 2-10: Recomposition, Capriccio Op. 116/3, mm. 98-102 39Example 2-11: Intermezzo Op. 116/2, mm. 81-86 39Example 2-12: Intermezzo Op. 76/3, mm. 25-30 41Example 2-13: Intermezzo Op. 118/4, mm. 108-33 42Example 2-14: Capriccio Op. 76/2, mm. 99-119 44Example 3-1: Rhapsodie Op. 119/4, mm. 230-62 48Example 3-2: Intermezzo Op. 116/7, mm. 71-92 50Example 3-3: Intermezzo Op. 117/1, mm. 49-57 54Example 3-4: Intermezzo Op. 119/3, mm. 49-70 59Example 3-5: Intermezzo Op. 117/2, mm. 70-85 60Example 3-6: Intermezzo Op. 116/6, mm. 55-64 63Example 3-7: Intermezzo Op. 76/6, mm. 80-91 64Example 3-8: Intermezzo Op. 119/2, mm. 96-104 65Example 3-9: Ballade Op. 118/3, mm. 105-17 66Example 3-10: Rhapsodie Op. 79/2, mm. 116-23 70Example 4-1: Intermezzo Op. 119/1, mm. 1-17 76Example 4-2: Recomposition, Intermezzo, Op. 119/1, mm. 58-60 80Example 4-3: Intermezzo Op. 118/1, mm. 1-12 81Example 4-4: Recomposition, Intermezzo Op. 118/1, mm. 5-8 82Example 4-5: Intermezzo Op. 118/1, mm. 13-22 84Example 4-6: Reduction, Intermezzo Op. 118/1, mm. 30-39 85Example 4-7: Intermezzo Op. 76/4, mm. 8-15 87Example 4-8: Intermezzo Op. 76/4, mm. 40-47 88Example 4-9: Capriccio Op. 76/8, mm. 1-6 90Example 4-10: Capriccio Op. 76/8, mm. 10-15 91Example 4-11: Capriccio Op. 76/8, mm. 16-22 92Example 4-12: Capriccio Op. 76/8, mm. 32-34 93Example 4-13: Capriccio Op. 76/8, mm. 50-58 94Example 4-14: Intermezzo Op. 116/4, mm. 63-71 97Example 4-15: Intermezzo Op. 116/4, mm. 53-57 98Example 4-16: Intermezzo Op. 116/4, mm. 37-41 98Example 4-17: Intermezzo Op. 116/4, mm. 42-57 99

v

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement of my advisor, Prof. Jonathan

Wild, who has supported this project since its beginning as a seminar paper. Our

many discussions about this material have made me a stronger analyst and writer.

I would also like to thank Professors William Caplin and Carmen Sabourin, who

have generously shared their knowledge of tonal music with me over the past two

years. While not directly involved in the preparation of this thesis, they have

profoundly influenced my understanding of music theory, and the many lessons

which I have learned from them are reflected on every page. Prof. Ren Daley,

my external reader, provided thoughtful and detailed comments which have not

only shaped this final version of the thesis, but will also influence my future

development of this material in other projects.

The graduate student community at McGill has supported me in

innumerable ways, both academically and personally. Extensive conversations

with David Sears, Meghan Goodchild, James Palmer, and Andrew Schartmann

helped to focus my analyses and refine the scope and goals of the thesis. Dana

Gorzelany-Mostak proofread my citations, and, perhaps more importantly, could

always tell when a trip off-campus for a coffee or chocolate break was necessary.

Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Jesse Huguet, for his

unyielding and unconditional support of all my musical and academic endeavors.

vi

Introduction

Brahms Research and Closure

The late piano works of Johannes Brahms (1833-97) are short, lyrical

pieces that embrace a variety of harmonic and formal techniques. Brahmss

audience for these pieces was not the general Viennese public, but a small group

of musically literate friends who would have been thoroughly familiar with

archetypical tonal and formal devices.1 These brief works, deceptively simple at

first hearing, are in fact complex experiments in which manipulate the educated

listeners expectations for the behavior of tonal music. Jean-Pierre Armengaud

describes these pieces as unique in the common practice repertoire and as filling a

conceptual void with condensed musical energy.2 Prior to Brahmss work in the

genre, he suggests, the Intermezzo was merely filler music, meant to be

performed in between acts or movements of a more serious work.3 Brahms, while

preserving the concise form of these pieces, accords to them a new level of

autonomy, as each individual Klavierstck (piano piece) stands alone and

complete, with its own unique form and character, unlinked to any larger genre.

The relatively short lengths of the Intermezzi result in a magnification of the

importance of each structural area, as Brahms often compresses the compositional

devices used in much larger pieces, reducing them to their essence and relying on

1

1 Camilla Cai, Forms Made Miniature in The Varieties of Musicology: Essays in Honor of Murray Lefkowitz ed. John Devario and John Ogasapian (Warren, Mich: Harmonie Park Press. 2000), 77.

2 Jean-Pierre Armengaud, Lintermezzo chez Brahms: la tragdie de la mlodie et la renaissance du son, Ostinato Rigore 10 (1997): 138.

3 Ibid., 138.

the listener to perceive the importance of each part within the whole. This reliance

on the listeners ability to understand structural forms is especially apparent when

one examines the ways in which Brahms brings these pieces to closure, using both

semantic and syntactic devices to create complex endings which simultaneously

confirm and deny the listeners expectation that the piece will come to a complete

and satisfying close.

Many scholars have described the unique combination of cultural context

and musical characteristics which make Brahmss late music analytically

rewarding. Carl Dahlhaus, for example, suggests that the increased compositional

complexity of the nineteenth century was a direct result of the emphasis placed on

social and technological progress during this historical period.4 Walter Frisch, on

the other hand, focuses on the manifold compositional procedures which Brahms

uses in the sets of Intermezzi, stating that his manipulations of the typical tonal

and formal structures are almost infinite in their variety.5 John Rink sees the late

pieces as particularly emblematic of an opposition between stylistic integrity and

evolution which characterizes Brahmss compositional output as a whole.6 Indeed,

such a concept can be applied not only to Brahmss personal development of a

compositional style, but also to his constant study and manipulation of historical

devices and idioms.

2

4 Carl Dahlhaus, Nineteenth Century Music, trans. J. Bradford Robinson (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 255. 5 Walter Frisch, Brahms: From Classical to Modern, in Nineteenth-Century Piano Music, ed. R. Larry Todd (New York: Routledge, 1990), 375. 6 John Rink, Opposition and Integration in the Piano Music, in The Cambridge Companion to Brahms, ed. Michael Musgrave (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 79-80.

Much of the previous analytical work on Brahmss instrumental music

considers the compositional processes of a single piece, thus creating a body of

individual case studies which generally does not examine Brahmss use of

compositional techniques in multiple pieces.7 While the value of these isolated

analyses cannot be denied - indeed, many of which have profoundly influenced

the analytical project detailed in this thesis - the current study examines the

broader characteristics and tendencies of Brahmss methods of achieving tonal

closure in his late piano works.

Methodology

This thesis examines Brahmss manipulation of archetypical common-

practice syntactical structures and semantic techniques to create and problematize

closure. I also document the larger tonal and formal contexts which frame and

contextualize each device. Through this analytical exercise, I demonstrate that a

changing relationship between structural and rhetorical closure creates an

increasingly complex definition of closure in which rhetorical devices can

compensate for the ambiguity or absence of cadential closure.

Chapter One defines the concept of closure, discussing how the theoretical

literature explains the meaning of tonal closure in nineteenth-century music, its

reliance on eighteenth-century precedents, and the idea of ambiguous closure.

Agawus definition of tonal closure as a dynamic process serves as the central

3

7 Representative works include First Case, Brahms: Intermezzo in B-flat, Op. 76, No. 4 by Wallace Berry, Attacking a Brahms Puzzle by Edward T. Cone, , and Three Contradictory Criteria in a Work by Brahms by Joseph Dubiel. Complete citations for these works may be found in the bibliography at the conclusion of the thesis.

point of reference for the evaluation of other viewpoints and provides the primary

conceptual basis for the analyses in the following chapters.8 This section also

presents theoretical explanations of the many structural and syntactical techniques

that I discuss in the context of the late Brahms piano pieces in Chapters Two,

Three, and Four.

Chapter Two analyzes the syntactic elements of Brahmss cadential

progressions. As the common-practice cadence functions as a constant point of

reference in Brahmss music, even when not present in its unmodified Classical

sense, I base my analyses upon William Caplins research on the Classical

cadence in order to illuminate the ways in which Brahms adheres to and deviates

from common-practice cadential idioms.9 Topics of discussion in this chapter

include staggered closure, in which the melodic, formal, and harmonic processes

at work do not resolve at the same point in time; the blurring of the distinction

between the melody and the bass line; the interpolation of material between the

penultimate and final elements of a cadential progression; and the elimination of

the cadence altogether.

Chapter Three examines the semantic gestures which affect the listeners

perception of closure, taking Agawus work on semiotic analysis as a starting

point.10 As in the previous section, I analyze these gestures as being essentially

4

8 Kofi Agawu, Concepts of Closure and Chopins Opus 28, Music Theory Spectrum 9 (1987): 4. 9 William E. Caplin, The Classical Cadence: Conceptions and Misconceptions, Journal of the American Musicological Society 57, no. 1 (2004): 51-118. 10Kofi Agawu, Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Classical in conception, rising from the rhetorical emphasis which typically

accompanies a Classical cadence. I discuss the plagal emphasis present in the

codas of many of Brahmss late piano pieces, as well as its importance in post-

cadential idioms. Other techniques analyzed in this chapter include the pedal

point, a harmonically static foil to the forward-driven motion of the Classical

cadence; thematic liquidation; and the rhetorical functions of a coda. I conclude

the chapter with a discussion of the role of statistical parameters such as

dynamics, texture and register in the creation of a distinct approach to closure in

each piece.11

After the separate analyses of both the syntactic and semiotic elements of

closure, the ties between the two are discussed in Chapter Four through detailed

analyses of five Klavierstcke. This chapter explores the idea of closure as a

process, focusing on the various roles that semantic forms of closure can play in

relation to cadences, as well as the ways in which Brahms uses the interactions

between the two to manipulate the listeners expectations throughout the piece. In

the pieces discussed in this chapter, closure is not created through the presence of

a discrete event or technique, but exists along a continuum influenced by a range

of variables unique to each situation. Conflicts thus arise between the degrees of

closure associated with different musical parameters. I explore how the semantic

functions as a reinforcement of, substitution for, and contradiction to the

syntactic, analyzing the impact of each of these three roles on the overall structure

5

11 The concepts of syntactical and statistical parameters is explored in detail in Leonard B. Meyers book Style and Music: Theory, History, and Ideology (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989).

and character of the piece. These analyses demonstrate that Brahmss marked use

of semantic gestures in the absence of true syntactic closure can reinforce large-

scale tonal planning even in the most ambiguous of his works.

6

Chapter One: Cadence and Closure in the Theoretical Literature

Defining Closure

Numerous theorists have addressed the problematic concept of closure in

tonal music, attempting to define its components, describe its impact on musical

form and structure, and discuss its limitations as a theoretical tool.12 In his article

Concepts of Closure and Chopins Op. 28, Kofi Agawu states that closure is a

function of formal principles and/or generic signs . . . the sum total of all the

tendencies to close that occur in the composition, whether or not they are actually

fulfilled.13 Closure, according to Agawu, is a dynamic process, dependent upon a

synthesis of many dimensions of musical activity in both the syntactic and

semantic domains. Mark Anson-Cartwright clearly delineates between cadential

closure and formal closure, defining closure in three ways, each referring to a

different structural level of music.14 His first and most foreground definition states

that local closure is achieved at the point of structural tonal resolution.15 A broader

view of the pieces tonal and perceptual processes informs Anson-Cartwrights

second definition, which asserts that closure is the condition of rest or finality

which occurs near the end of a piece. His final, broadest, definition embraces all

7

12 For the purposes of this study, I define tonal music as referring to the common-practice period, beginning with Bach and ending with Brahms. The author acknowledges the inherently problematic nature of this statement, but feels that such a distinction must be made in order to clearly delineate the boundaries of the work at hand.

13 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 4. 14 Mark Anson-Cartwright,Concepts of Closure in Tonal Music: A Critical Study, Theory and Practice 32 (2007): 10. 15 Ibid., 2.

of the processes in the piece as inevitably leading towards some form of closure.16

Agawu agrees with this point of view, stating that closure comes about as a result

of the content and the musical processes, whereas the point of ending, an isolated

entity, is the product of the formal container.17 As such, one cannot consider the

ending of a formal structure alone to be an effective means of bringing a piece to

a close; instead, other parameters such as harmony, voice-leading, texture, and

register must all combine to create a distinct and comprehensible sense of closure.

In his later work, Agawu expands upon this idea, describing the concept of tonal

closure as a sort of playing with signs, a process by which the interaction of

separate musical elements creates a different, higher level of musical discourse.18

According to Robert Hopkins, closure varies in strength depending on the

structural level at which it occurs, as well as on the number and type of musical

parameters which come together to create a recessive dynamic.19

While it is generally accepted that there are specific musical paradigms

and compositional tools that create a sense of closure, theorists also emphasize

that closure is perceptual, dependent upon the listeners ability to understand the

stylistic techniques being employed.20 Leonard Meyers cognitive studies played a

foundational role in establishing this mode of thought. He wrote that

completeness and closure in music are only possible because the motions

8

16 Ibid., 3. 17 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 4. 18 Kofi Agawu, Playing With Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991), 78. 19 Robert G. Hopkins, Closure and Mahlers Music: The Role of Secondary Parameters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), 13. 20 Ibid., 2.

presented in music are processes between antecedents and consequents.

Completion is only possible where there is shape and pattern.21 In short, Meyer

believes that because the articulations of music in some way reflect the perceptual

patterns of life, humans can understand and interpret musical structures as being

unified and closed entities, writing that our sense of closure is in part a product

of the general configuration of relaxation and quiescence.22

As suggested earlier in this section, closure, whether one is considering the

compositional tool which creates its potential or the cognitive processes which

realize it, is dependent upon a sense of temporality. Jonathan Kramer suggests that

tonal music defines its temporality in at least two ways: by order of succession

and by the conventionalized meanings of gesture.23 Agawu agrees with this

concept, cautioning against the conflation of the distinct entities of closure and

ending, stating that each event is part of a larger, dynamic, total structure,24 and

that closure cannot be understood with respect to a single moment. The moment

itself is the result of numerous preparatory processes.25 Agawu also expounds

upon Kramers conventionalized meanings of gestures through his beginning-

middle-end paradigm, which suggests that musical characteristics give a passage a

temporal identity independent from its place in the real-time sequence of musical

9

21 Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1956), 129. 22 Ibid., 139. 23 Jonathan Kramer, Beginnings and Endings in Western Art Music, Canadian University Music Review 3 (1982): 11. 24 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 1. 25 Agawu, Music as Discourse, 57.

events.26 Hopkins presents another aspect of the relationship between closure and

temporality by exploring the contrast between motion and rest in music. He wrote,

Only a sense of motion can lead to closure, since closure is the arrival at a state

of relative rest, not merely the condition of rest.27

Further complicating our discussion of closure is the issue of formal and

tonal ambiguity and its effects on the global structure of a piece. Robert Jordan

and Emma Kalafenos suggest that Brahms succeeds in writing pieces which

remain ambiguous throughout, stating that, The intensity of his manipulation of

ambiguous relationships in this piece [Op. 119/1] results in a structure that cannot

be reduced to a single tonal trajectory.28 They read this Intermezzo as prominently

featuring unresolved tonal ambiguity, and as such, assert that while the piece

comes to a temporal end, it does not possess tonal closure. Edward T. Cone

discusses the prospect of musical ambiguity more cautiously, writing that

ambiguity must be bounded - not all instances admit of resolution, but the most

successful are delineated by a context of relative directness and clarity.29 Agawu

expresses an even more restrictive perspective on the possibility of musical

ambiguity, stating that once context is taken into account, ambiguity dissolves

into clarity.30 He then suggests that musical ambiguity requires a fork in the

10

26 Agawu, Playing With Signs, 138. 27 Hopkins, Closure and Mahlers Music, 5. 28 Roland Jordan and Emma Kafalenos, The Double Trajectory: Ambiguity in Brahms and in Henry James, 19th-Century Music 13, no. 2 (1989): 142. 29 Edward T. Cone, Attacking a Brahms Puzzle, The Musical Times 136, no. 1824 (1995): 72. 30 Kofi Agawu, Ambiguity in Tonal Music: A Preliminary Study, in Theory, Analysis, and Meaning in Tonal Music, ed. Anthony Pople (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 86.

road scenario, where the two possible paths are equally plausible musically.31

Such situations are quite rare in Classical music due to its clear syntactical rules.32

In the nineteenth century, however, the ongoing breakdown of tonality

created situations which, if not ambiguous in the narrow sense defined by Agawu,

nonetheless called into question the presence of closure at one or more structural

levels of a composition. Agawu suggests that the nineteenth century style

foregrounds this issue, writing that the rhetoric of nineteenth-century music, in

particular, shows that the strategy by which a composer takes leave of his

audience is of fundamental importance to the works total effect.33 William

Caplin promotes a similar point, suggesting that formal irregularities in the

nineteenth century resulted in a wider variety of compositional and closural

techniques. In Classical Form, he suggests that although music from earlier and

later periods also exhibits formal functionality in a variety of ways, form in these

periods is considerably less conventional, thus frustrating the establishment of

general principles.34 Agawu supports this point, describing a breakdown of the

beginning-middle-end paradigm of the Classical period. He writes, Romanticism

dissolves the props of a semiotic interpretation without ever renouncing their

function . . . [and] remains inextricably linked to the fundaments of Classicism.

By merely rearranging the weights attached to the various components of

11

31 Ibid., 89. 32 I define the Classical style, as Caplin does, as consisting of the works of Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven. Middle and late period Beethoven, on the other hand, begin to possess many of the manipulations detailed in this thesis as characteristic of Brahmss late style.

33 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 2. 34 William Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 3.

Classicism, Romanticism retains its inevitable dialectic with what is only apparent

uniformity.35 While beginning, middle and end units retain the musical

characteristics which define them as such, the syntactical relationships between

the three categories are blurred or abandoned altogether. This problematizes the

identification of points of closure in nineteenth-century music, often forcing the

analyst to choose between analytical interpretations which privilege the actual

temporal order of the piece and those which lean more heavily upon non-temporal

signs of closure.

Lawrence Kramer, on the other hand, reads the differences in closure

between eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century music as a function of the

different types of expectation created by each style. He suggests that while

Classical music locates its inevitability in the heightening and satisfying of the

specific expectations that it creates, Romantic music achieves inevitability when

its presentational patterns provide a release from the ambiguity, the continuous

tension, of non-specific expectancy.36 As such, Kramer explicitly links the

creation and resolution of musical ambiguity to the achievement of a satisfactory

close in nineteenth-century music, as opposed to in the eighteenth century, when

the creation and resolution of harmonic and formal ambiguities was not a

principal compositional strategy.

The barriers to a theory of closure are significant, as such a pursuit is

restricted by considerable stylistic constraints. Many theorists thus discuss the

12

35 Agawu, Playing With Signs, 143. 36 Lawrence Kramer, The Mirror of Tonality: Transitional Features of Nineteenth-Century Harmony, 19th-Century Music 4, no. 3 (1981): 196.

concept cautiously, highlighting its limitations. Jonathan Dunsby attacks the very

idea of unity and closure in tonal music, writing that, The concept of whole

pieces is a crude premise about musical structure - the archetypical Common

Practice piece is inherently sectional.37 Agawu agrees that the concept of closure

is problematic when discussing nineteenth-century music, suggesting that theory

of incomplete closure might be a more appropriate analytical tool.38 He describes

several situations in Chopins Prludes Op. 28 as embodying this concept, stating

that the legitimacy of global closure is attacked in great style, leaving in its wake

a functionally unstable piece in which closure is almost redundant.39 If

nineteenth-century composers such as Chopin were indeed systematically

dismantling the concept of closure in such a way, then what is its purpose in

discourse about music? Nicholas Cook suggests that while the concept of closure

might not function as a strategy for listening, it can still play an important role in

musical understanding. He writes, theories that explain the organization of

Classical and Romantic compositions in terms of large-scale tonal structure may

not correspond in any direct manner to the perception of such music, but they may

still be of value in revealing something of the manner in which composers of the

tonal period conceived their music.40 By extension, one can hypothesize that

such a study of the compositional techniques used by the late Romantic

13

37 Jonathan Dunsby, The Multi-Piece in Brahms: Fantasien Op. 116, in Brahms: Biographical, Documentary, and Analytical Studies, ed. Robert Pascall (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 1. 38 Agawu, Playing With Signs, 68. 39 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 15. 40 Nicholas Cook, The Perception of Large-Scale Tonal Closure, Music Perception 5, no. 2 (1987): 204.

composers to both create and evade tonal closure will provide valuable insights

about the gradual disintegration of tonal practice.

Cadential Modes of Closure

Caplins discussion of the Classical cadence as the fundamental

articulation of tonal closure serves as a starting point for the following discussion

of cadence and closure in late Brahms. Caplin explicitly supports such an

extension of his work, noting that, If the concept of closure can be grounded in

the Classical style, it might be possible to extend or refine the notion to later

styles with greater confidence.41 Any variations from Caplins cadential rules

will thus be treated as conscious deviations from Classical practice and as grounds

for an expanded definition of cadential closure in Brahmss music. While Caplins

work provides an encyclopedic range of criteria for the identification of cadences,

three fundamental principles most directly relate to the present study. The first of

these states that an authentic cadence must consist of a root-position dominant

followed by a root-position tonic, with no intermediate harmonies or bass-line

motions between the two.42 A second important point concerns the construction of

half cadences. Caplin writes, To acquire the requisite stability for an ending

harmony, the half-cadential progression must take the form of a root position

triad. Adding a dissonant seventh - appropriate to the penultimate position in an

authentic cadential progression - would overly destabilize the ultimate dominant

14

41 Caplin, The Classical Cadence, 52. 42 Ibid., 54.

of a half-cadential progression.43 The final major point states that the cadential

form-functional unit is conceptually distinct from prolongational and sequential

materials, and that one thus cannot consider the end of a prolongation or a

sequence to be a cadence.44 Because of the loosening of harmonic and formal

syntax, Brahmss piano music appears to challenge these conventions. The

specific techniques by which this is realized will be discussed in Chapter Two.

While the status of the cadence as the principal closural device of tonal

phrases is indisputable, the level of structure at which it operates is debatable.

Caplin argues that the cadence is a middleground phenomenon, citing Schenkers

claim that the Ursatz and the cadence are fundamentally different structures.45

Caplin accepts Schenkers claim at face value, stating that there are good reasons

to believe that the forces defining formal functionality on some levels of structure

are essentially different from those defining it at higher levels.46 Caplin thus

rejects a major idea about cadence and levels of structure; namely, Schoenbergs

hypothesis that an entire piece can serve as an extended cadence.47

Dunsby, on the other hand, expands upon Schoenbergs view of cadence

and closure, writing, Schoenbergs approach to the subject is . . . that closure,

and the cadential formulae of closure in tonal practice, is satisfying to the extent

that it fulfills a stylistic expectation.48 This idea marks a return to the idea of

15

43 Caplin, Classical Form, 29. 44 Caplin, The Classical Cadence, 71. 45 Ibid., 64. 46 Ibid., 65. 47 Ibid., 60. 48 Jonathan Dunsby, Schoenberg on Cadence, Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute 4, no. 1 (1980), 43.

closure as a perceptual phenomenon: because the listener expects a cadence to

occur in certain formal situations, the cadence thus acts as a concrete close

regardless of the inherent inability of such an event to even exist in purely musical

terms. Dunsby acknowledges this paradox, stating that to Schoenberg, Closure

by cadence resembles a necessity without being one.49 Some other theorists, in

contrast, completely avoid the problematic nature of cadences and their effects on

musical structure, relying more directly on the real-time surface events of the

piece for determining relative strength of closure. Jonathan Kramer, for example,

asserts that the final cadence of the piece is of course the strongest, since it must

bring to a close the entire work. Thus closure, like tonality itself, is

hierarchical.50 Caplin would disagree with this point of view for several reasons,

the first of which is that there are typically not varying degrees of syntactical

strength within a single type (perfect authentic, imperfect authentic, half) of

cadence.51 Additionally, Caplin suggests that cadences do not achieve closure at

the level of the whole piece, but that another mechanism altogether is responsible

for this phenomenon.52

Several modifications to nineteenth-century cadential procedures have

been discussed in the theoretical literature. Agawu describes Ideal Closure, the

standard Classical cadence, as not being foregrounded by the Romantic

16

49 Ibid., 43. 50 Kramer, Beginnings and Endings, 2.

51 With regard to the imperfect authentic cadence, it is possible that different voice-leadings can create stronger or weaker cadences: a descending melody from scale degree four to scale degree three, for example, creates an IAC which is arguably stronger than an ascending melody from scale degree two to scale degree three. Such a claim, however, is unsupported in the current theoretical literature and thus requires further research.

52 Caplin, The Classical Cadence, 54.

composers, who actively sought out alternative, marked methods of attaining

closure.53 He also suggests that expectations continue to play a vital role in

cadential manipulations, stating that the effect of a promised cadence is in some

ways comparable to that of an actual cadence.54 Peter H. Smith suggests that the

nineteenth-century cadence as a closural device requires a flexible interaction

among parameters which sustains the value of the traditional procedures.55

Through manipulation of the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic content normally

associated with the Classical cadence, composers could thus refresh the tonal

norms without abandoning them completely. Smith also discusses at length

Milton Babbitts concept of dimensional counterpoint, which he describes as the

layering of structural parameters [so that] the individual strands of musical fabric

function quasi-independently to yield multiple interpretive possibilities.56

Through the use of this technique, Romantic composers could separate the

different musical processes which combine to form a cadence, spreading them

across the musical surface in order to create a blurred cadential effect. Walter

Frischs claim that Brahms made use of a new conception of musical space

reflects this idea of dimensional counterpoint, as he suggests that Brahmss

cadences reflect a breakdown of the division between melody and harmony.57

17

53 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 7. 54 Ibid., 7. 55 Peter H. Smith, Expressive Forms in Brahmss Instrumental Music (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), 7. 56 Ibid., 7. 57 Frisch, Brahms: From Classical to Modern, 386.

A final factor which must be considered in a discussion of the nineteenth-

century cadence, most particularly in the music of Brahms, is the increasing role

of historicism in intellectual and musical thought. David Lewin elaborates on this

point, stating that Brahmss citations of historical models manifest historical

modes of musical thought, and as such contribute to an ongoing process of

dialectic synthesis that lies at the center of his compositional discourse.58

Likewise, Carl Dahlhaus suggests that Brahmss reliance on multiple historical

models directly affects the structural features of his pieces. He asserts, Even in

his lyrical piano pieces, Brahms pursued the idea of blending motivic

counterpoint and developing variation, the legacy respectively of both Bachs

fugal style and Beethovens sonata style, to produce a hybrid cognitive pattern

divorced from existing generic trends.59

Does the complex web of modifications and allusions to which the

nineteenth-century composers subject the cadence compromise its eighteenth-

century status as a purely syntactical structure? Hopkins argues that this is indeed

the case, writing that the clear-cut differentiation between syntactic form and

semantic content does not exist in [nineteeth-century] music.60 He also suggests

that secondary parameters such as dynamics, timbre, and register play an equally

strong role in confirming or denying closure. While it might be an overstatement

to suggest, as Hopkins claims, that there is no difference between syntactical and

18

58 David Lewin, Brahms, His Past, and Modes of Music Theory, in Brahms Studies: Analytical and Historical Perspectives, ed. George Bozarth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 13. 59 Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, 258-59. 60 Hopkins, Closure and Mahlers Music, 20.

semantic closure, it is clear that the relationship between the two is blurred, a

phenomenon which will be further discussed in the following section.

Rhetorical Modes of Closure61

In spite of the ambiguous relationship between syntactic and semantic

closure in the nineteenth century, it is nonetheless clear that the latter played an

increasingly important role in the articulation of form, and that any analytical

model developed must account for this shift. Caplin makes this point, stating that

in the nineteenth century, mid-level closure was attained by a wider variety of

non-cadential means, compared to eighteenth-century music.62 Agawu agrees,

suggesting that there is more to tonal life than cadences.63 He thus urges

analysts to take into account all of the rhetorical, gestural, and phenomenal signs

of closure in a composition, considering them as processes within a whole.64 The

following section will describe research on several specific rhetorical techniques

utilized by late nineteenth-century composers in order to effect closure.

While the beginning-middle-end paradigm played a central part in creating

syntactical relationships in the eighteenth century, its breakdown in Romantic

music created strongly marked rhetorical statements. Agawu describes the fall of

the paradigm as one of the principal stylistic developments of nineteenth-century

music, suggesting that its simultaneous reliance on and rejection of eighteenth-

19

61 By rhetorical modes of closure, I mean any element of music which can serve an affective as opposed to structural/syntactical functions. For example, while the IV chord in a cadential progression serves the syntactical role of a predominant, a post-cadential IV prolongation serves a rhetorical role in that it establishes a sense of closure due to its inherent plagal quality.

62 Caplin, The Classical Cadence, 52. 63 Agawu, Music as Discourse, 32. 64 Ibid., 59.

century syntactical laws renders Romantic music inescapably paradoxical and

profoundly parasitic.65 Instead of a strict reliance on syntactical order, Agawu

views the music as embodying a broad sense of periodicity, in which a musical

unit possesses the general characteristics of a beginning, a middle, or an end,

without necessarily fulfilling that function in the actual temporal ordering of the

piece.66 L. Poundie Burstein details a specific theoretical occurrence of this

phenomenon in his discussion of the Schenkerian auxiliary cadence, in which a

phrase or formal unit begins with a harmony other than the tonic. He states that

the omission of the opening root-position tonic gives rise to a feeling of

expectancy by shifting the weight of tonality to the end.67 By compromising or

altogether eliminating the beginning function in such a way, the composer places

increasing importance on the articulation of closure as a means of resolving the

beginning ambiguity. Joseph Dubiel describes this technique as playing a

particularly important role in Brahmss music, stating that to postpone the first

clear presentation of a compositions tonic is a typical Brahmsian gambit. Troping

on the delay of closure, this maneuver delays an aspect of initiation, reaching its

point of reference only by conclusion.68 Burstein describes such instances of

harmonic play as creating profound hermeneutic implications, suggesting that

20

65 Agawu, Playing With Signs, 143. 66 Agawu, Music as Discourse, 76. 67 L. Poundie Burstein, Unraveling Schenkers Concept of the Auxiliary Cadence, Music Theory Spectrum 27, no. 2 (2005): 161. 68 Joseph Dubiel, Three Contradictory Criteria in a Work by Brahms, in Brahms Studies, ed. David Brodbeck (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), 81.

through manipulations of basic elements of the tonal system, auxiliary cadences

give rise to a sense of surprise, unrest, momentum, and ambiguity.69

Robert Snarrenbergs application of the Derridean concept of diffrance to

Brahmss music offers another perspective on manipulation of the beginning-

middle-end paradigm. He suggests that motivic patterns can become associated

with the three temporal categories and that composers can then create dialectics

between sameness and difference over the course of the temporal space of a piece.

He writes, Diffrance both dislocates and repatterns motives in such a way that

motives differenced previously in temporal location and prolongational pattern are

re-formed to reveal that sameness can replace difference.70 Such play with the

distinction between temporal and formal units calls into question the very validity

of Agawus paradigm, suggesting that temporal sectionality can be sacrificed for

the sake of a higher dialectical unity.

The articulation and prolongation of the subdominant tonal area, separate

from any sort of cadential progression, is fundamental to the creation of closure in

nineteenth-century music. Agawu strongly emphasizes the importance of this

harmonic gesture, writing, The subdominant serves a primary responsibility for

the articulation of closure when harmony is foregrounded.71 Deborah Stein

suggests that a thorough understanding of the subdominants role is essential to

knowledge of Romantic tonal idioms as a whole. She writes, In the later

21

69 Burstein, Unraveling Schenkers Concept, 183. 70 Robert Snarrenberg, The Play of Diffrence, In Theory Only 10, no. 3 (1987): 18. 71 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 2.

nineteenth century, the subdominant came to acquire new functions and to assume

more autonomous structural roles, and concurrently with this change in status of

the subdominant came a reassessment of the dominant and even the tonic

functions.72 She further suggests that plagal harmony can in some cases

substitute for both tonic and dominant functions, thus creating intriguing new

options for tonal closure. This clearly contrasts with Classical harmonic practice,

which, according to Caplin, uses plagal emphasis solely within tonic-

prolongational contexts.73 Caplin does, however, admit to the increased

possibilities for the subdominant in nineteenth-century music, writing, It is

perhaps possible to speak of the plagal cadence in the nineteenth century, as a

deviation where rhetoric is present despite the absence of a genuine cadential

progression.74 Margaret Notley applies nineteenth-century dualist modes of

thought to the topic of harmonic function, stating that the inherent inequality

between authentic [dominant] and plagal [subdominant] harmonies profoundly

affects Romantic harmonic practice.75 She further suggests that the importance of

subdominant harmonies at large-scale formal boundaries becomes a marked

element in nineteenth-century music.76

Much like the manipulation of the beginning-middle-end paradigm, the

increasing importance of the subdominant affects interpretation of meaning in

22

72 Deborah Stein, The Expansion of the Subdominant in the Late Nineteenth Century, Journal of Music Theory 27, no. 2 (1983): 153. 73 Caplin, The Classical Cadence, 71. 74 Ibid., 82. 75 Margaret Notley, Plagal Harmony as Other: Asymmetrical Dualism and Instrumental Music by Brahms, Journal of Musicology 22, no. 1 (2005): 92. 76 Ibid., 119.

Romantic works. Robert Hatten describes both deceptive (penultimate) and plagal

(postultimate) motion as ways of marking the presence or absence of a harmonic

or a formal boundary, stating that both are marked events which affect

interpretation of the expressive genre of a piece.77 Notley offers a specific

interpretation of the meaning of plagal gestures, stating that they express qualities

of otherworldliness, distance, timelessness, and alienation, in clear opposition

to the goal-directed tension and release of the dominant.78

Pedal points play a vital part in the prolongation of tonal areas, providing a

means of prolonging a harmony or key area without necessarily creating cadential

closure. Such pedals, in spite of their clear presentation of a harmony, can be

difficult to interpret, as the static implied harmony of the pedal note often

conflicts with the dynamic harmonic, melodic, or formal processes which occur

above it. Cone suggests that instead of confirming a tonality, pedals actually call

into question the functional role of the bass.79 Ratner, on the other hand, suggests

that pedal points should be interpreted solely based upon the harmonic function

represented by the scale degree being prolonged. He thus interprets tonic pedals

as implying beginning or ending functions and dominant pedals as expressing

functional middles.80 The number and variety of pedal points in Romantic music,

23

77 Robert S. Hatten, Interpreting Deception in Music, In Theory Only 12, no. 5-6 (1992):40. 78 Notley, Plagal Harmony as Other, 95. 79 Cone, Attacking a Brahms Puzzle, 75. 80 Leonard Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer, 1985), 124.

however, calls for a more nuanced theoretical methodology for the analysis of

pedal points and their effects on formal and harmonic closure.

The return of previously stated material as a closural device is discussed

extensively in the theoretical literature. This method of closure relies heavily upon

the listeners expectation of unity, such that a unified piece will both depart from

and arrive at the same point of rest. According to Agawu, the idea that the end of

the piece should reflect its beginning is central to a discussion of closure.81 While

in tonal music this concept is most typically applied to harmonic closure, stating

that a piece typically ends in the same key in which it began, it can also be applied

to such characteristics as register, melodic units, or formal groups. Agawu further

suggests that repetition of more than one musical parameter creates stronger

closure. He writes, An important rhetorical device for closure is repetitions in

various dimensions and at various structural levels.82 Hopkins suggests that such

devices play only a supplementary role in effecting closure, stating that closure

can be enhanced, but not created, through the principle of return.83 Meyer,

however, suggests that such repetition, by precluding the introduction of new

materials, participates in the recessive process which marks the end of a piece. He

writes, On the whole, the slowing down which brings a piece of music to a close

is not a slowing down of the physical tempo, but a slowing down of the rate of the

musical process.84

24

81 Agawu, Concepts of Closure, 3. 82 Agawu, Playing With Signs, 67. 83 Hopkins, Closure and Mahlers Music, 15. 84 Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music, 140.

The primary formal area in which composers utilize the techniques of

subdominant emphasis, pedal point, and repetitions in order to create rhetorical

closure is in the coda. According to Schoenberg, the coda does not play a

harmonic role, as it could scarcely compensate for failure to establish the tonality

in earlier sections.85 He instead suggests that the coda, as a structurally

unnecessary unit of music, is merely extra content without formal support. He

writes, perhaps somewhat facetiously, In fact, it would be difficult to give any

other reason for the addition of a coda other than that the composer wants to say

something more.86 Caplin describes the coda as embodying a post-structural

after the end formal functionality, suggesting that such units include a variety

of compensatory functions, for here the composer can make up for events or

procedures which were not fully treated in the main body of the composition.87

Agawu focuses on the codas perceptual effect on the listener instead of on its

compositional construction. Dwelling on the prevalence of repetition in post-

cadential devices, Agawu approaches the coda as representing the act of

reminiscence, an invitation to relive the past in compressed form.88 Perhaps the

most whimsical hermeneutic interpretation of the coda, though, is French

musicologist Mark Delaeres suggestion that the coda of a work is the musical

25

85 Arnold Schoenberg, Fundamentals of Musical Composition (London: Farber and Farber, 1967), 185. 86 Ibid., 185. 87 Caplin, Classical Form, 179. 88 Agawu, Music as Discourse, 59.

equivalent of the phrase and they lived happily ever after at the end of a fairy

tale.89

All of these sources thus interpret the coda as only occurring after the final

cadence of the piece, once the fundamental tonal conflict has been unambiguously

resolved. In Romantic music, however, the presence of strong harmonic closure at

the end of a piece is not guaranteed, and coda-like material is often fused with that

which precedes it. As such, nineteenth-century analysis requires a new

understanding of coda, one which understands it not merely as retroactive

confirmation of a previously achieved syntactical closure, but as a powerful

rhetorical device capable of effecting closure independently of any cadential

requirements. This new understanding of coda will be more fully developed in the

analytical portion of the thesis.

Caplin strongly emphasizes the importance of preserving an impenetrable

barrier between syntactic and semantic modes of closure, implying that only the

former can effectively close a tonal piece. While this sort of analytical rigor lends

itself to analyses of Classical forms, it fails to adequately describe the delicate

balance of syntactic and semantic relationships utilized by Brahms and other

Romantic composers. Dunsby acknowledges this point, writing that when

analyzing nineteenth-century music, such unconventional criteria as repetition,

symmetry, and registral relationships can be crucial in the construction of an

26

89 Mark Delaere, Et ils vecurent encore longuement et heureusement: La fonction de la coda dans quelques oeuvres instrumentales de Brahms, Ostinato Rigore 13 (1999): 75.

appropriate analytical description.90 Perhaps the most interesting option on the

subject of the relationship between the two types of closure, though, is that of

Hopkins. He writes, Secondary parameters such as dynamics and duration

became more and more important in shaping musical processes and articulating

musical form . . . it is likely that the use of such parameters was not only an effect

of the attenuation of tonality, but also a cause.91 If one agrees with this idea that

the encroachment of rhetorical closure into the realm of tonal closure led to the

downfall of the tonal system, then it becomes particularly crucial to substantiate

this claim in the repertoire of Brahms, the last of the Common Practice

composers.

27

90 Jonathan Dunsby, Structural Ambiguity in Brahms: Analytical Approaches to Four Works (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1981), 108. 91 Hopkins, Closure and Mahlers Music, 1.

Chapter Two: The Cadence in Late Brahms

A discussion of cadence in late Brahms must begin by emphasizing his

reference to the normative common-practice cadential models. Indeed, many of

the Klavierstcke end with such cadences. These pieces, although they may

feature many of the same harmonic and formal ambiguities discussed in the

context of closure in this thesis, articulate these conflicts in ways which do not

directly involve their endings.

One example of completely unproblematic cadential closure occurs at the

conclusion of the Intermezzo Op. 117/3, shown in Example 2-1.

C-sharp minor: V^ IV^ VI Vs_ (VI II^ ) VX Is f

CX : [II&&& ]V [V& ]V II&x3 Vs %x3 I

Example 2-1Intermezzo Op. 117/3, mm. 98-108

This extended cadential progression features a steady harmonic rhythm of one

chord per measure, articulating a clear cadential progression. The melody, an

28

augmented version of the A section theme, exhibits melodic closure through a

descent from scale degree three to scale degree one. The expressive features, most

notably the piu lento tempo and the diminuendo dynamic markings, contribute to

the recessive quality of the phrase. As such, all of the musical processes at work

in the A1 section come to a close at the same time, and this piece thus represents

an example of Agawus concept of ideal closure. The clear harmonic and melodic

closure reflects a general sense of formal symmetry and harmonic simplicity

which is present throughout the A section. Through backgrounding the syntactical

parameters in this manner, Brahms can highlight other musical parameters; in this

case, the Intermezzo serves as an exploration of texture, register, and

counterpoint.

While in the Intermezzo Op. 117/3 the unproblematic mode of closure

reflects a normalization of syntactical processes over the course of the entire

piece, this type of consistency is not always the case in late Brahms. The cadence

which concludes the Intermezzo Op. 118/2 features a standard harmonic

progression and a final (inner-voice) melodic descent. (Ex. 2-2)

A: I VI IV II Vs (IV^ ) V^ _% I

Example 2-2:Intermezzo Op. 118/2, mm. 110-116

29

This cadential regularity, however, belies the unusual harmonic and rhythmic

events which occurred earlier in the piece. The subdominant harmony, which

threatened to overtake the tonic at numerous points in the piece, is not given

special emphasis in the cadential progression, but instead appears as the middle

element of a descending thirds predominant sequence. The cadence not only

restores the proper harmonic weight to the subdominant, but also serves to

regularize the unusual harmonic rhythm of the piece. While the majority of the

phrase continues the established pattern of changing harmony on the third beat of

each measure, the arrival of the dominant on the downbeat of measure 114

corrects this pattern, allowing for a resolution to the tonic on the downbeat of

measure 116. This piece thus exhibits a progression from marked harmonic and

rhythmic events to normative syntactical behavior, in contrast to the consistently

unmarked tendencies of the previous example.

When the final cadence of the piece is the only authentic cadence in the

home key, the structure of the piece as a whole changes, as the burden of

definitively confirming the tonality is pushed back to the conclusion. Such a

situation occurs in the Romanze Op. 118/5, which is comprised of an A section in

F major followed by a B section in D major and then a compressed reprise of the

A section. The A section consists of a double period, a statement and three varied

repetitions of a four-bar phrase. Half cadences in F major articulate the boundaries

at bars four and twelve, and half cadences in D major fulfill the same function at

bars eight and sixteen. After a contrasting middle over a D-major pedal point, the

30

A1 section ends with a standard perfect authentic cadence, the only authentic

cadence in the entire piece. (Ex. 2-3)

F: I E V*__& I V VI I% _^ IV % _^ I^ II CTo& V&

I# @ # *6 &5 I [V& ] IV I

Example 2-3:Romanze, Op. 118/5, mm. 51-57

At this moment, only eighteen measures of the Romanze, though, have been in the

key of F major. While the listener certainly expects for cadential closure to occur

in some capacity, particularly when the regular formal and cadential profile of the

piece is taken into account, one must question whether this completely normative

and unmarked cadence in F major can counteract the perceptual effect created by

thirty-one bars of D major pedal in the B section of the piece. Does this cadence

represent the resolution of an underlying harmonic problem and thereby create a

satisfying structural ending for the piece, or does it bypass the true conflict of the

piece, the problematic relationship between the relatively distantly-related keys of

F major and D major? The discussion of this piece, taking into account the

31

rhetorical features which bring this piece to a satisfying close in spite of its

unusual tonal plan, will continue in Chapter Three.

Melody, Cover Tones, and Cadence

An extremely common feature in these late works is the absence of an

upper-voice descent to scale degree one, thus creating an imperfect authentic

cadence at the end of a piece, when one would normally expect a perfect authentic

cadence. This occurs in the Intermezzo, Op. 116/5 (Ex. 2-4), whose cadence raises

several analytical questions.

E: Z II& V$3 Vs &5 I94 *3

Example 2-4:Intermezzo, Op. 116/5, mm. 35-39

The first problematic characteristic of the cadence is the upper voice descent from

C (scale degree six) to B (scale degree five), which then acts as a cover tone to the

inner voice descent to scale degree one. Also unusual is the harmonic rhythm of

the phrase, which features second-inversion dominant on the weak second beat of

measure thirty-six. This move to a second-dominant calls into question the

validity of the cadential progression, as the cadential dominant thus appears in the

incorrect inversion. This dominant inversion, however, immediately moves to a

cadential 6/4 in measure thirty-seven which resolves to the dominant on the

32

downbeat of measure thirty-eight. The root of the tonic follows suit in the bass

register on the second beat of measure thirty-eight; the upper voices, on the other

hand, resolve to tonic harmony on the downbeat of measure thirty-nine, thus

creating a disjunction between melodic and harmonic resolution. Yet despite

Brahmss structural manipulations of the cadential unit, it still possesses, in

modified yet immediately recognizable form, all of the features of a Classical

cadence. Whether or not these structures combine to create a perceptually sound

sense of closure, however, is another question altogether.

Issues of melodic closure similarly arise in an analysis of the Capriccio

Op. 76/1. (Ex. 2-5)

F#: V& I

Example 2-5:Capriccio Op. 76/1, mm. 62-65

In this piece, as in the previous example, the upper voice remains on scale degree

five even as the bass moves from the cadential dominant to the tonic, as the

melodic descent to an inner-voice F-sharp retreats into an inner-voice, signaling

that the upper-voice C-sharp is a cover tone. The rhetorical strength of the

forceful octave C-sharps, combined with the sudden shift in register and texture,

minimizes the structural impact of the structural close. Although the piece has

achieved authentic cadential closure, there is no doubt in the listeners mind that

33

the piece must continue from this point. Over the course of the extensive coda,

which will be more fully discussed in the following chapter, Brahms explores

register and texture through an expansion of the tonic, yet never arrives on scale

degree one on a downbeat in the upper voice. The piece thus concludes with a

strongly emphasized Picardy third in the upper voice, with scale degree one still

relegated to the alto voice.

In a related cadential scenario, the melody features a descent, but it does

so at a different temporal point in the piece than the harmonic resolution, creating

instances of dimensional counterpoint. In the Rhapsodie Op. 79/1 (Ex. 2-6), the

cadential dominant resolves to the lowest B octave on the piano, while the upper

voice rests. In the coda which follows, Brahms introduces elements of modal

mixture and then brings the melody to an ambiguous close in a higher register

than expected in measure 227, continuing to circle scale degree one until the piece

fades away. Although the harmonic element of cadential closure clearly takes

place in the form of root motion in the bass and the melodic element rests on scale

degree one at the end of the piece, the lack of a clear melodic descent nonetheless

renders the exact point of melodic closure ambiguous.

B minor: I^ [V^ ]IV Z II [VII^ ]V V

(example continues on next page)

34

B: I (no melodic closure)

B: Tonic Pedal

B: Tonic Pedal with Tonicization of IV

B: Tonic Pedal with Tonicization of IV

B: Tonic Pedal with Tonicization of IV and Melodic Liquidation

Example 2-6:Rhapsodie Op. 79/1, mm. 213-233

35

Cadential Interpolations

In a cadential interpolation, material is inserted between the cadential

dominant and its resolution. Similar to the usage of staggered closure discussed in

the previous section, this technique serves to call into question the structural

integrity of the cadence. The examples which follow, however, differ from those

presented before in that the melodic and harmonic elements required to create an

authentic cadence do occur at the same point in the piece. The disjunction in these

examples is not between melody and harmony, but between the dominant and the

tonic harmonic elements.

An interpolation can be as small as a single note, if the note interrupts the

direct root motion in the bass which is required for an authentic cadence to take

place. In the final phrase of the Intermezzo Op. 76/7 (Ex. 2-7), the presence of the

third of tonic, C, between scale degree five and scale degree one in the bass

prevents direct cadential motion from occurring.

A minor: I VII^ III II^ Vs f V s f I

Example 2-7:Intermezzo Op. 76/7, mm. 39-46

While the presence of such a minor detail may seem inconsequential, it serves to

undermine one of the fundamental principles of Classical cadential closure. The C

36

serves to add a contrapuntal element which calls into question the functional role

of the E which precedes it, as the final three bass notes of the piece now form an

arpeggiation of the tonic triad. This descending thirds arpeggiation blurs the

perceptual divide between the dominant and the tonic. The harmonic ambiguity of

such descending melodic thirds is a recurring theme in Brahmss music, and a

more extensive discussion of this technique appears in my analysis of the

Intermezzo Op. 119/1 in Chapter Four.92

Contrapuntal Cadences

Contrapuntal motion at cadences, whether viewed as a historical reference

to species counterpoint or simply as a means of refuting the Common-Practice

cadence, is perceptually similar to the cadential interpolation in that both

problematize the articulation of an effective cadential bass line. The Capriccio Op.

116/3 reaches a dominant on the downbeat of measure ninety-seven; instead of

resolving immediately to the tonic, however, the music rests for two beats before

launching into an extended cadential progression which is divorced registrally and

texturally from that which precedes it. (Ex. 2-8, next page)

In the first half of this phrase, a melodic motive consisting of a descending

third followed by two descending seconds is harmonized by predominant

harmony, and the dominant returns on the downbeat of measure 100. Instead of

moving to a tonic to end the piece, though, the bass presents a tonally-adjusted

restatement of the motive presented in the upper voice two measures earlier. (Ex.

37

92 Please see page 73 for the analysis of 119/1.

2-9) The upper-voice melody does not feature a stepwise descent, as is typical for

the end of a piece, but instead presents a stepwise ascent with octave transfers.

G minor: VX Is IVC V

G minor: IV [VII& ]V V [VII;]V VII^ I

Example 2-8:Capriccio Op. 116/3, mm. 93-103

Example 2-9:Capriccio, Op. 116/3, mm. 98 - 102Outer-voice Contrapuntal Reduction

If bar 101 were removed and the A from the predominant chord were held over to

become part of the dominant, as shown in Example 2-10, then both the bass line

and the upper-voice melody would be normalized.

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Example 2-10Capriccio Op. 116/3, mm. 98 - 102

Recomposition of Cadence

Bar 101 thus serves as a purely motivic and contrapuntal elaboration with no

impact on the structural elements of the cadence, in spite of its unusual surface

characteristics.

Another example of the use of contrapuntal procedures at the final cadence

appears in the Intermezzo Op 116/2. (Ex. 2-11)

A minor: [VII& ] V VI^ _% V interp. I V interp. I

Example 2-11:Intermezzo Op. 116/2, mm. 81-86

After the arrival of the dominant on the downbeat of eighty-three, the cadential

progression is seemingly abandoned with a move upwards to VI on the third beat

of the measure. The next downbeat, however, marks an immediate return to

dominant harmony, which resolve to tonic on the second beat of measure eighty-

four. What makes this excerpt noteworthy is not the harmony, but the marked

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arrangement of the voices. The descending stepwise melody which serves as the

upper voice in measure eighty-three moves to the bass in measure eighty-four.

The direct root motion which one would expect in a cadential bass, on the other

hand, appears in the upper voice. Brahms thus creates a situation in which the two

voices required for a cadence to occur become interchangeable, reminiscent of

contrapuntal styles of writing in which the functional role of the bass is

minimized by the equality of the voices.

Cadential Resolution to V7/IV

Another cadential device which recalls an earlier compositional style, in

this case the instrumental Baroque style of J.S. Bach, is the resolution of the

cadential dominant to a V7/IV chord instead of to the tonic. This technique, used

frequently by Bach in the Well-Tempered Clavier, shifts the harmonic weight

away from the tonic and to the subdominant, by transforming what should be the

goal harmony of the cadential progression into yet another penultimate chord.

An example of this technique occurs in the Intermezzo Op. 76/3. (Ex.

2-12, following page) After the cadential dominant arrives in bar twenty-six, a

shift from duple meter to triple meter ushers in what appears to be a coda, as

evidenced by a slower tempo, recessive dynamics, and subdominant harmony in

measure twenty-eight. All of the post-cadential features, however, bely the fact

that cadential resolution has not been concretely achieved, due to the resolution of

the dominant to a secondary dominant of IV instead of to the unmodified tonic

triad. In fact, an unambiguous tonic chord does not appear until four bars later at

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measure thirty, after a subdominant prolongation leads to yet another dominant,

which then resolves as expected to the tonic triad.

A-flat: V*6 &5 ^4 &3 [V& ]IV

A-flat: IV V*6 &5 I^ _%

Example 2-12:Intermezzo Op. 76/3, mm. 25-30

In the Intermezzo Op. 118/4, a highly-emphasized cadential dominant

resolves to the secondary dominant of the subdominant twice, creating a situation

in which the deceptive resolution of the dominant delays closure of the piece for

twenty-five measures in spite of the clearly-achieved root motion in the bass at

measures 111 and 119. (Ex. 2-13, following page) The resolution to V7/IV in this

piece is particularly effective due to its minor tonality, which thus mandates not

only an added seventh but also a chord quality shift in order for this technique to

be utilized.

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f: V^4 V^4 %3 (IV^ ) V*6 &5 ^ % [V& ]IV CTo&

f: [V& ]IV IV Ger+6 V^4 %3 V^4 %3 Vs %3 s f

f: [V& ]IV IV Ger+6 Vs (aban.)

f: I^ I IV IVX %__^ IC

Example 2-13:Intermezzo Op. 118/4, mm. 108-133

When compared to a commonly cited example of this progression in Bach,

the end of the C major prelude in Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavier, the

two endings are harmonically similar, featuring subdominant emphasis after a

cadential dominant before a resolution to tonic. Indeed, one could argue that

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Brahmss gesture is even more conclusive than Bachs, due to the fact that in the

Bach prelude, the upper-voice melody concludes on scale degree three at the point

where the cadential dominant resolves to V7/IV. The final bars of the Prelude thus

play an integral role in the creation of melodic closure as they effect the final

descent to scale degree one. In the Intermezzo, on the other hand, the melodic

descent has been achieved, albeit with considerable registral play, as evidenced by

the frequent presence of the pitch F in the upper voice and the repetitions of the

descent throughout bars 111-128.

Why did Brahms choose to utilize this method of closure for the

Intermezzo? Such an ending, with multiple failed cadential attempts, represents an

inability of the frantic perpetual motion of the piece as a whole to come to a rest.

In addition, it reflects the pieces modeling of imitative contrapuntal writing, and

thus represents Brahmss imitation of Bach as a historical model of musical

structure and syntax.

Elimination of Cadential Closure

The most drastic manipulation of cadential procedure in Brahms is the

loosening of the cadential progression and arrival to the point that one can suggest

that Brahms eliminates a final cadence altogether. Such a situation occurs in the

Capriccio Op 76/2, due to the presence of three problematic cadential arrivals.

The final thematic unit, shown in Example 2-14 on the following page, begins

with an exact reprise of a phrase which first appears in measures thirty-eight

through forty-four.

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B: IV V [VII^ ]V V^4 %3 V^4 %3 I IV

B: V$ # I II^ [Vk] IV V& (B ped) I

B: I V& Ger+6 embellishment of tonic

B: Ger+6 embellishment of tonic [V& ] IVX IVC IX

Example 2-14:Capriccio Op. 76/2, mm. 99-119

While the first iteration of this unit ends with a perfect authentic cadence, its

statement at the end of the piece bypasses a cadential resolution at three different

points. At measure 103 harmonic and rhythmic motion continues uninterrupted,

leaving no possibility of interpreting the dominant-tonic progression at this point

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as being cadential. A similar moment which occurs in measure 105 is perceptually

even less cadential due to the absence of an upper voice; at this point, it is clear

that the process of melodic fragmentation must continue despite the harmonic

attempts to close the phrase. Perhaps the most convincing point of cadence occurs

in measures 106-108, where a clear cadential progression begins in the bass. Two

features of the music, however, prevent this moment from serving as a point of

syntactical closure. The first is that the tonic pedal begins a bar too early, over the

cadential dominant. In addition, the tonic in bar 108 is separated from the

dominant which precedes it both thematically and registrally, causing it to sound

like a new beginning instead of a goal. In spite of the lack of unambiguous

cadential closure, though, the music in this section displays post-cadential

semiotic gestures throughout. A brief predominant prolongation in measures

105-106, followed by an expansive tonic pedal point, confirms the listeners sense

that the piece is drawing to a close, in spite of the absence of a cadence.

What features of this piece allow Brahms to evade cadential closure, yet

still unambiguously convey the sense that this Capriccio comes to a satisfying

structural close? Except for its atypical ending, the piece displays a high degree of

harmonic and formal regularity, exhibiting symmetrical phrase divisions, a strong

sense of a harmonic center, and frequent tonal confirmation through the presence

of internal cadences. Indeed, until the conclusion of the piece, all of its structural

elements are completely normative. This regularity, combined with the strength of

the rhetorical devices associated with the final theme, suggest that this piece

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offers an example of a situation in which unambiguous and stable tonal closure

can be achieved despite considerable weakening of the cadence at the end of a

piece. The following chapter will discuss these rhetorical means of closure and

their relationship to cadence and syntactical closure in more detail.

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Chapter Three: Rhetorical Closure

Rhetorical devices of closure, unlike the cadential methods discussed in

the previous chapter, are non-syntactical, by which I mean that they are not

governed by functionally harmonic issues. Instead, these devices draw on the

meanings ascribed to them outside of any particular musical context, not on the

meanings created by their relationships with other musical elements. It is difficult

to separate the two types of closure, as evidenced by the frequent mention of the

rhetorical techniques of closure in the discussion of cadence. This chapter will

nonetheless attempt to isolate examples of each device in order to demonstrate

their projection of semantic meaning in both the presence and in the absence of

syntactical closure.

Semantic and Structural Functions of the Coda

The coda in Brahmss late piano works often provides the formal space for

the exploration of semantic devices of closure after a structural conclusion has

been achieved through a cadence. In such a coda, which follows the rules of

Classical form and harmony, the coda does not create closure, but acts to confirm

it, adding a rhetorical dimension which distinguishes the final cadence of the

piece from the structurally identical internal cadences throughout the piece.

While in Classical form the coda functions purely as an after the end

confirmation which can only occur after all of the syntactical processes have

closed, this is not always the case in the late piano works. In the Brahmsian

concluding unit, dimensional counterpoint frequently creates situations where one

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musical process remains open in spite of the closure achieved by the other

parameters. Such structural ambiguities create a contradiction between the various

functions that a unit involved in such a situation can perform. In relation to the

parameter which has closed, it is post-cadential. At the same time, though, it

serves to bring about the closure of the open element. In such cases, semantic

gestures of closure play a particularly important role in determining the listeners

perception of the units function as bring either pre- or post-cadential, as their

presence or absence can privilege one of these two possible form-functional

readings in spite of the structural ambiguity which is present.

The Rhapsodie Op. 119/4 features a classically ideal coda in which both

the harmony and the melody come to a complete and unambiguous close before

the start of the coda in measure 237. (Ex. 3-1) The extensive and virtuosic coda

which follows features almost all of the semantic gestures which are discussed in

this chapter, including subdominant emphasis, pedal points, and melodic

fragmentations. As such, this piece will serve as an example of these and other

parameters and the role within a normative coda paradigm in the discussion which

follows.

E-flat minor: IV Z II Z VII VIIl I^ II& Vs f

(Example continues on the following page)

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E-flat: Tonic Pedal

Vs %z3 Z VI pedal [V]V

Vs (IV [V]V) V& I - Tonic Pedal

Tonic Pedal continued I IV

Tonic Pedal [VIIl] V I VI III IV I

Example 3-1:Rhapsodie Op. 119/4, mm. 230-262

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In the Capriccio Op. 116/7, the presence of rhetorical elements minimizes

the impact of the cadential dominants deceptive resolution, creating a strong

sense of closure despite the lack of a true dominant-tonic resolution in all voices.

(Ex. 3-2) The cadential dominant in measures seventy-four and seventy-five,

instead of resolving to a tonic chord, moves to a second inversion VII/V chord.

D minor: IV^ VC IV V^ _% V ^ _ %

D: [VIIo]V V [VIIo]V V [V] IV [VIIo]V [VIIo]IIITonic Pedal

D: Tonic Pedal over Stepwise Seq. VC IV IX

Example 3-2:Capriccio Op. 116/7, mm. 71-92

While the resolution of the dominant to the D pedal which ensues in the bass

gives the sense that harmonic closure has been achieved, the high level of

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chromaticism and lack of melodic closure over the tonic pedal suggest otherwise.

The music after the problematic moment of closure consists largely of oscillations

between tonicized dominants and subdominants, with equal emphasis on each,

before coming to a close on a Picardy third tonic chord. Harmony is not, however,

the principal musical factor at work in this coda; instead, Brahms uses a dense

texture, fast harmonic rhythm, and extreme registral contrasts to create a formal

unit which minimizes the harmonic and thematic content of the unit in a process

of liquidation. The arrival of melodic closure is rendered irrelevant as a multitude

of parameters (including register, dominant-tonic root motion, and dynamics)

convinces the listener that, in spite of the resolution of the cadential dominant to

its own secondary diminished seventh chord, not by any means a sanctioned

cadential progression in the Classical idiom, closure has nonetheless been

achieved without question.

This example thus suggests that the definition of the coda must be

revisited in order to accurately apply it to Brahmss late music. Due to the

increasingly complex counterpoint of musical parameters at work in these pieces,

it is often the case that one or more processes continues its path to resolution in

the coda, even as the other musical elements articulate the rhetorical devices

which clearly express an after the end function. This trend reflects a greater

integration of the coda into the formal design of the piece as a whole, as it comes

not only to fulfill a rhetorical function, but also to serve as a continuation of the

process of structural closure. Indeed, in the previous example, it is plausible to

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think of the material after the cadential dominant as not being a coda at all, but as

a cadential i