AS Music 2012 - 2013 Vocal Music Schubert Der Doppelgnger

Name:

Background
Franz Schubert (1797 1828) From the song cycle Schwanengesang, 1828

Genre
German Romantic Lied Principal composers were Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Loewe.

Date
1828, the year of Schuberts death. Published posthumously.

Text
Der Doppelgnger Heinrich Heine Still ist die Nacht, es ruhen die Gassen, in diesem Hause wohnte mein Schatz; sie hat schon lngst die Stadt verlassen, doch steht noch das Haus auf demselben Platz. Da steht auch ein Mensch, und starrt in die Hhe, und ringt die Hnde vor Schmerzensgewalt; mir graust es, wenn ich sein Antlitz sehe, der Mond zeigt mir meine eigne Gestalt Du Doppelgnger, du bleicher Geselle! Was ffst du nach mein Liebesleid, das mich geqult auf dieser Stelle so manche Nacht, in alter Zeit? English translation 1 The night is still, the streets are quiet, In this house lived my Love; She left the town long before, Yet her house is still standing in the same place. There I also see a man standing and staring into the heavens, Wringing his hands in violent grief. I shudder when I behold his face; The moon reveals to me my own likeness. You Doppelgnger, you pale companion! Why do you mimic my lovesickness, That tormented me at this place For so many nights in the past? English translation 2 3

Still is the night, it quiets the streets down In that window my love would appear She's long since gone away from this town But this house where she lived still remains here. A man stands here too, staring up into space And wrings his hands with the strength of his pain It chills me, when I behold his pale face For the moon shows me my own features again! You spirit double, you specter with my face Why do you mock my love-pain so That tortured me here, here in this place So many nights, so long ago?

Style
The style of the music is typical of the heightened sense of supernatural drama evident in the Romantic Movement in music, literature and painting. Lied simply means song and is an art form which flourished in the 19th Century. Lied is typified by narrative texts which explore the human condition, love, death, folklore and were often pastoral or nationalist in nature. The lied is a work for piano and voice and often appear in collections or song cycles. Lied were performed by professional and amateur alike and were written for both public and domestic consumption. Many were light in character but Schubert was prepared to explore much deeper emotions. He was 31 and knew he did not have long to live. The work is through composed, that is the material is under continual development, with specific reference to the melodic and harmonic material in the first two bars. The piano It is usual in Romantic Lied to compose a piano part that is integral to the drama of the music, as a character in the narrative, expanding the meaning and nuance of the singers text. Here the piano is funereally bleak in pacing and texture. A feature which is typical of Schuberts style is to allow the piano to either complete the singers phrase or to add an echo. Here, Schubert echoes the voices imperfect cadence at bars 11 12 at bars 13 -14, reharmonising and adding a painful false relation.

Setting
The setting of the text is syllabic, thus reflecting the natural speech patterns of the spoken voice. This was a common trait in many of Schuberts more narrative settings.

Text
The text is by Heinrich Heine, a poet very popular with all of the great Romantic Lied composers. The subject matter addresses all obsessions of the Romantic movement: death, love and the supernatural The narrator walks at dead of night to a house where the woman he loved once lived. There he sees a man in agony, overwhelmed with grief. In the moonlight he realises with horror that this man is himself, gone mad with torment. It was a superstitious belief that if you saw a doppelganger - a ghostly image of yourself your death is imminent. Tempo and rhythm and how this portrays the text The piece makes its initial impact from its very slow (Sehr langsam) tempo and minor key. The stillness of the night is represented not only by the very soft dynamics but also by the static rhythm of the accompaniment and the F# inner pedal note. The vocal line has a halting and disjointed rhythm at first with some use of dotted rhythms and rests between each of the short phrases. This almost gives the impression of breathlessness, perhaps due to shock or sorrow and effectively portrays the mood of the text.

Texture
The texture of the work is starkly homophonic, that is chords with melody. Schubert places one chord per bar obsessively throughout the work, above which the melody hangs in a darkly conceived recitative. This coupled with the funereal tempo reflecting the leaden footfall of the songs protagonist and the almost exclusively monosyllabic text setting add to the works dramatic flavour. The first 10 bars is characterised by the homophonic texture with the upper part of the chord, which functions as a melody, being played in

unison two octaves below at the bottom of the chord and in the centre. This greatly enhances the bleak mood of the setting.

Passacaglia
The piano melody in the upper, middle and bottom, a constant feature of the work, acts as a passacaglia/ostinato. This is a musical phrase that is maintained throughout a composition as a counter melody. It is a four bar figure that is heard five times in its original form during the piec. The stark texture of the work is only given slight relief between the voice at bar 11 and the piano at bar 13 where Schubert allows a brief moment of free imitation to occur trough a four note gesture.

The moment is made yet more poignant as the first statement at bar 11 the melody is concordant with the harmony, whereas the free imitation in bar 13 is dissonant, the A natural of the melody clashing with the A# of the harmony (false relation). This idea is given further variation at bars 21 24.

Tonality and harmony Tonality

Key signature
The B minor tonality is a typical key for a text of such supernatural intensity.

Modulation
After the chromatic rise from bar 43 47 the music moves to the key of D# major. The move by a third, a tertiary modulation, is a characteristic use of an unexpected modulation to enhance the drama of the work. The work ends on a Tierce de Picardie, a major tonic chord, which once more is an unexpected harmonic feature. The work opens with a startling B chord, bare fifths of B and F#. The lack of a third is quite daring for 1820 and predates a similar gesture to the equally funereal opening of Mahlers Abschied, from Das Lied von der Erde (1908 1909). Likewise, the F# chord in bar 5 (F# and C#) is in 2 nd inversion and lacking a third. The tonality, however, is unambiguously B minor.

Harmonic phrase
The first parst of the work, bars 1 14, is based on a harmonic phrase which follows:

Z (4 bars)
B (no 3rd); F# 1st inversion; B minor 1st inversion (no root); F# 2nd inversion (no third)

Z (4 bars)
B (no 3rd); F# 1st inversion; B minor 1st inversion; F# 2nd inversion (no third)

Y (6 bars)
B (no 3rd); F# minor 1st inversion; D; F# major 7, 2nd inversion; F# major 7, 2nd inversion; F# major 7, 2nd inversion The 14 bar 4 + 4 + 6 is unnervingly unpredictable, the second half being arrested two bars too soon. There then follows from bars 15 - 24:

Z (4 bars)
B (no 3rd); F# 1st inversion; B minor 1st inversion; F# (no third) 2nd inversion

Y (6 bars)
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B minor; F# minor 1st inversion/F# octave; D; F# major 7, 2nd inversion; F# major 7, 2nd inversion; F# major 7, 2nd inversion A phrase pattern of 4 + 6 which again is unexpected and adds tpo the unsettling mood of the song. Bars 25 33

Z (4 bars)
B minor (third in voice); F# 1st inversion; B minor 1st inversion; F# second inversion (third in voice)

Y1 (4 bars)
B minor (third in voice); F# minor 1st inversion/F# octave; D; F# major 7, flattened 5; F# major 7, flattened 5 The phrasing has been reduced further to 4 + 4. The variation of Y with the flattened fifth is unexpected and adds to the pain of the text. This also coincides with the highest note so far in the tenor at bars 31 32. Bars 34 - 42

Z (4 bars)
B minor (with 3rd); F# major , 1st inversion; B minor 1st inversion; F# 2nd inversion (third in voice) B minor (third in voice); F# minor 1st inversion/ F# octave; D; C Neapolitan 6th; C Neapolitan 6th /F# octave Bars 43 55

X (13 bars)
B minor; C + F# tritone; F# (no third); D; D# minor# A# major; D# minor; A# major; G 7 (#6); B minor, 2nd inversion; B minor, 2nd inversion; F# major 7, #9, #11; F# 7 The 13 bar phrase is as striking a dramatic statement as the chromatic harmony itself. ThC + F# tritone follllowed by the empty F# (no third) is a revolutionary approach to harmony, coupled with the rising chromatic bass from bars 44 47 assures the telling climax of the work.

Z Coda (8 bars)
B minor; F# 1st inversion; B minor 1st inversion (no root); C Neapolitan chord; B major7; E minor 2nd inversion; B major; B major Note how ther C chord in bar 59 is a replacement of the F# 2nd inversion (no third) is unexpected. The C chord is a further example of a Neapolitan chord.The final plagal cadence resolving on a major, not minor chord (Tierce de Piardie).

Pedal point A pedal point is a harmonic device where a note is sustained throughout a chord progression. A pedal point creates tension in music and is often found in the bass. However, there is a pedal point in this work, an F#, but Schubert chooses to bury the note within the harmony, thus the ghostly pedal is revealed: Bars 1 40 (F# pedal) 41 42, beat 2 (no F# pedal) 42 beat 3 47 (F# pedal) 48 (no F# inchord) 49 (F#in chord) 50 - 51(no F# pedal) 52 58 (F# pedal) 59 (no F# in chord) 60 (F# in chord) 61 (No F# in chord) 62 63 (F# in chord) Of the 63, there are only only 7 bars that do not have an F# in the chord. The two Neapolitan chords at bars 41 41 and 59 are examples of this and can explain their importance in their conribution to the dramatic

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tension of the work, firtstly as word painting, secondly as a dramatic device towards the final cadence. The neapolitan chord at bar 41 42 accompanies the tenors highest note of the song, a high G. The pedal point is at the heart of the melodic invention of the voice as is illustrated in the first 22 bars of the song.

Neapolitan 6th and modulation The harmonic phrase established between bars 1 14 is repeated four times between bars 1 40 until a startling Neapolitan chord at bar 41.

A Neapolitan chord is a chord based on the flattened supertonic and traditionally has the function of preparing a V I cadence, and so would precede a dominant chord. by the tonic at bar 43. own death. But here, as with the tonality of bar 1, Schubert merely implies a dominant chord with the F# in bar 42 followed The affect is stunning and paints the moment when the protagonist in the song sees his Doppelgnger, a portent of his

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This portent sets the harmony into flux the chromatic passage from bars 43 47 lifts the music through an extended modulation to D# minor at bar 47 where a tonic to dominant statement occurs twice (D# minor A#) bars 47 48, 49 50. This is a tertiary modulation, D# being a major third from B. The final plagal cadence in bars 61 62/63 finds the tonality in the tonic major (B major). This harmonic device is known as a Tierce de Picardie. Neapolitan chords A Neapolitan chord is a harmonic device which traditional precedes chord V in a perfect cadence. The first, bars 41 42, beat 2 precedes the dominant not (F#) on beat 3 of bar 42 which functions as a dominant chord taking the harmony back to the tonic at bar 43. This chord is a Neapolitan 6th chord, which contains an augmented 6th which lies between C and A#. This striking moment is lacking the F# pedal which has sounded from bar 1. This allows the tenor to reach the highest note of the song, a high G, and so is a key feature of the word painting of the song. The Neapolitan chord in bar 59 of the coda is for dramatic effect, replacing the F# 2nd inversion (no third) first stated in bar 4.

French 6th This is an augmented 6th chord with a flattened 5th (here a sharpened 4th). The French 6th is a common chord of the Romantic Period and occurs at bars 32 -33. Here, Schubert uses the chord for dramatic purpose by substituting a dominant 7th with a French 6th. False relations A false relation is a harmonic device which was a common feature in music in the Renaissance Period. Another term for this device is a blues

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note. A false relation is a dissonant device whereby two versions of a note occur either simultaneous or in very close proximity. Here, the occurrence is A# in the harmony and A natural in the melody at bars 13 and 23.

This highly dissonant moment is an important feature in adding drama and harmonic tension to the music. Appoggiatura An appoggiatura is a harmonic device which adds an expressive tension to the music and high highly dissonant. An appoggiatura is a dissonant note in a melody on a strong beat, usually the first beat, of the bar. The first example occurs at bar 16 in the voice, the dissonant G resolving to the consonant F#. Further appoggiaturas occur at: Bar 25, G F# Bar 50, B A# Bars 55, E D C#

Suspension A suspension is a harmonic device where the motion of one note in a chord progression is delayed, causing a dissonance. The suspensions occur between the empty fifth chord of the piano and the voice and provide moments of poignant word painting. The first example of a suspension occurs at bar 28. Here the melody holds on to the B from the B minor chord of bar 27 into bar 28, resolving onto the A# on the

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second beat. The melody on bars 28, beat 1 is the interval of a fourth from the root of the chord (F#); beat 2 is the interval of a third above the root, a 4 -3 suspension. Here is the example without a suspension:

Here is the example with a suspension:

Further suspensions occur between the voice and piano at: Bars 29 30 (D C#) B minor F# minor 1st inversion Bars 36 37 (B A#) B minor 1st inversion F# second inversion

Melody
The melody is based about the F# pedal which is an important feature in the word painting of the music. By focussing on the pedal point Schubert assures that the isolation of the protagonist is assured (see pedal point). The manner of the melody, its pacing and limited melodic movement, is reminiscent of recitative. This is a style of music, common in Baroque opera, where the singer assumes a style of singing which resembles the rhythms and inflections of speech. Certainly the predominant syllabic setting of the text gives rise to this as does the Sehr langsam (very slow) tempo indication at the beginning of the score.

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The melody subject constant transformation and grows in stature as the drama of the work unfolds. The range of the melody is a compound major sixth, reaching the upper notes at the climax of the music. Upper auxiliary notes This is a melodic device where a consonant melodic note rises up a step (usually a semitone) and resolves back. The first occurs in the voice at bar 9, where F# briefly touches a semiquaver G and then falls back. Further upper auxiliary notes occur at: Turn A turn is a melodic device in the form of an ornament. There is one example at bar 21. This tern, signified by the S like symbol above the vocal part, follows: Note step up one note step down one note This example could be sung: Bar 48, A# - B A# Bar 54, C# - D C#

Echappe note An echappe is where a melodic note rises one step above a consonant note then falls a thirdinto the next chord. There is one example, which occurs at bars 38 39, D E then a fall to of a third to C#.

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Word painting
The melody focuses on the F# pedal point highlighting the loneliness of the protagonist Melody following natural speech rhythms Melody under constant transformation developing in range in conjunction with the unfolding drama Suspensions between the voice and piano Appoggiatura causing dissonance between the voice and piano The Neapolitan C7 chord at bar 41 42 is the first chord in the work not to contain the F# pedal point. This allows the tenor to achieve the highest note on the song, a high G. This occurs at the moment when the protagonist sees his doppelgnger. Chromatic harmony bars 44 47

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Form
The form of the work is not strophic, as one would expect, but sees the composer unfolding the material with continual variation. It is therefore through composed. The poem has three verses, starting at bars 5, 25 and 43 but Schubert doesnt repeat the same music for each of them. In fact, verse 3 has very different music to the music of 1 and 2. The ostinato/passacaglia figure on the piano however, does create some sense of unity between the sections.

Introduction and Verse 1

Bars 1 24

Verse 2
Bars 25 42

A1 B A

Verse 3
Bars 43 56

Piano Coda/postlude
Bars 56 - 63

Metre
Metre: simple triple time, very slow tempo.

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