Christopher Mejias Music Theory I

Music Analysis project: An Die Musik

An die Musik is a song by Franz Schubert in D major set to a lyric poem by Franz von

Schober. It is a strophic song consisting of two verses with the same melody and

piano accompaniment. In this analysis I will examine the underlying harmonies, the

vocal melody, the relationship between the vocal melody and the piano

accompaniment and the relationship between the lyrics and the vocal melody.

The harmony of An Die Musik consists mostly of expansions of the tonic and

dominant chords. The texture consists of repeated chords in the right hand, and

while a bar may contain up to four chords most of the chords are played at least

twice in the right hand. In the intro, which lasts two measures, there is a long

expansion of the tonic along with a leaping bass. The intro ends with a V 7 chord in

the second measure. In the phrase consisting of measures 3 to 6 there is a tonic

chord followed by two unusual predominants vi and an applied seventh chord

(viio7/V) which lead into a V 64 chord. The phrase ends with a tonic chord expanded

with a leaping bass. The next phrase, which lasts from measures 7 to 10 starts off

with a tonic chord followed by a long expansion of the dominant. An IV chord is

followed by a dominant seventh, then a chromatic passing tone in the lowest voice

creates an applied seventh chord (viio7/vi) which leads to the pre-dominant vi

which in turn leads back to the dominant seventh. This is followed by the tonic and

the phrase ends on the dominant, which changes to a dominant seventh through a

descending chromatic passing tone in the bass. The next phrase lasts from measures

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11 to 14. The first few bars alternate between I, V and 𝑉 7 and in measure 12 a

chromatic passing tone is used to transition from V to 𝑉 7 through an applied

seventh as in the previous phase. In measure 14, an applied dominant (V56 /IV) leads

to IV in the next measure. The final phrase for the verse lasts from measures 14 to

18. In both measures 15 and 17 there is an applied dominant (viio7/V). In measure

17, this leads to a 𝑉46 chord in measure 18. In measure 15 however, the expectation

of a V chord is denied and in measure 16 there is instead a tonic chord 𝐼46 . Measure

16 ends with an applied dominant (viio7/vi) which resolves to vi in the next

measure. Measures 19 to 22 are a break between the verses. They start off with a

tonic followed by a seventh chord (𝑣𝑖𝑖 𝑜7 ) and then a I chord which becomes a re-

struck suspension in measure 21 suspending an IV chord. Another 𝑣𝑖𝑖 𝑜7 chord ends

the measure followed by a I chord in the next measure which is expanded with an

𝑉46 chord but with scale degree 3 as a pedal tone. The I chord suspends the ii chord

in the next measure and a 𝑉 7 chord end the segment between the verses. The

remainder of the piece is almost an exact copy of the first half however it ends

slightly differently with the I chord in the final bar delayed by a re-struck

suspension consisting of the notes of the 𝑉 7 chord.

The vocal melody displays a variety of leaps and contours. The first three phrases

(measures 3-6; 7-10 and 11-14) begin with and ascent followed by an immediate

leap downward. The first phrase ends with a flourish, essentially a slow turn

consisting of scale degrees 1, 2 and 3 which is echoed in the second phrase but

shifted back half a bar creating a parallel melodic structure. The second phrase ends

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on scale degree 3 creating less of a sense of closure than the first phrase, which ends

on scale degree 1. The next phrase has a different contour gradually rising after the

initial ascent and descent almost an octave up to scale degree 3 then descending

through an arpeggio of the dominant 𝑉 7 down to scale degree 2. The final phrase

breaks the pattern by slowly ascending to scale degree 3, which is the climax of the

verse. During this ascent, there is dissonance in the bass provided by applied

dominants and sevenths as well as an unresolved applied seventh in bar 15. The

unfulfilled cadence in measure 16 coincides with the climax building up tension,

which is released through a true cadence in measures 17 and 18 in which there is an

indirect descent in the melody down to scale degree 1. A repeated theme throughout

the song is a slow ascent followed by a sudden drop of more than a fifth. This occurs

in every phrase usually near the beginning but towards the end in the 4th phrase.

The fourth phrase is the only phrase in which the melody ends on a strong beat

which provides a greater sense of closure. The fourth phrase also ends on a perfect

authentic cadence with a movement from the leading tone to the tonic in the

melody. The constantly repeated chords in the piano accompaniment fill in the gaps

in the melody that occur mostly in between phrases. The constant repetition also

provides a sense of momentum since most of the notes of the melody are quarter

notes and the notes in the right hand of the accompaniment are eight notes.

As for the lyrics, Schubert chose to use a strophic (two verse form) since the poem

consists of two verses with a fairly regular structure. Each verse consists of four

lines of equal length and each line was set to a musical phrase. The final line of each

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verse was repeated in the song with the focal point of the lines “better world!” and

“thank thee!” repeated once on at the climactic point of the song and again at the

cadence. The song was set in a major key to capture the exuberance and joy that the

poem portrays. In each line, the last word or words consist of the object of the

preceding preposition. Without the object, the phrase is incomplete. The music

parallels this structure by pairing the preposition with a dominant and the object of

the preposition with the tonic. For example in measure 18 the words “enraptured

me to” are harmonized with a dominant and “a better world” is harmonized with the

tonic.