Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal Theory

Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal Theory: Three Case Studies from the
Chamber Music
Author(s): PETER H. SMITH
Source: Music Analysis, Vol. 28, No. 1 (March 2009), pp. 63-110
Published by: Wiley
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DOI: 10.HH/j.1468-2249.2010.00287.x
PETER H. SMITH
Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal

Theory: Three Case Studies from the Chamber Music
Introduction
In his classic essay 'Issues in Composition', Carl Dahlhaus marshalls insig

inspired by Schoenberg's 'Brahms the Progressive' in the service of a la
historical enterprise. Namely, Dahlhaus aspires to uncover 'a single, un
background to the music of the [later nineteenth century], far outweighing
significance of stylistic differences and the partisanship of composers and t
adherents'.1 As one would expect given its Schoenbergian pedigree, the
lavishes considerable attention on teasing out underlying relationships betw
Wagnerian methods of thematic exposition and Brahms's procedures of d
oping variation. Like Schoenberg, Dahlhaus also offers observations on progr
sive aspects of Brahms's harmonic language as a corollary to Wagner's wande
or floating tonality.
One aspect of tonal organisation that Dahlhaus cites as evidence of an und
lying unity of practice is the late nineteenth-century proclivity for what he
the 'individualisation' of harmony. Dahlhaus suggests that eighteenth- and e
nineteenth-century form depends on stereotypical patterns of chord progres
cadence and key to delineate the multi-levelled periodicities he hears as fund
mental to the style. The abandonment in the later nineteenth century of fo
symmetry in favour of musical prose had the consequence of freeing harmo
from the need to maintain generic tonal patterns. The emphasis shifts, in Wa
and Liszt, to idiosyncratic harmonic details that exist as much for their own
as for any role they might play in a larger tonal framework. Individual chor
unusual progressions may even acquire a characteristic identity comparab
that of a Leitmotiv, according to Dahlhaus.2
Dahlhaus observes a propensity for motivic harmony in Brahms as w
although he adds a crucial caveat: 'It is characteristic of Brahms ... that o
one hand, as the contemporary of Wagner and Liszt, he strove to give harm
details "unique identity", while on the other hand ... he did not wish to sacr
the structural function that tonal harmony could perform over a wide expa
Dahlhaus makes some brief observations about the opening of the D mi
Piano Concerto to illustrate the delicate balance Brahms maintains between
harmonic idiosyncrasy and tonal function. A similar balance characteris
three compositions that will be the focus of my analytical work in this artic
Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) 63

© 2010 The Author.
Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
and 350 Main Street, Maiden, MA 02148, USA
64 PETER H. SMITH
String Sextet in G major. Op.

and the String Quintet in G m
Dahlhaus engages musical details in the concerto only aphoristically,
and music theorists might find themselves disappointed by the absence of a
more extended analytical treatment. However, his larger point about Brahms's
commitment, shared with Wagner and Liszt, to harmonic individualisation is
provocative, and the topic cries out for deeper analysis. Before comparing
Brahms's practice with Wagner's - a project that extends well beyond the
scope of the present article - we must take a preliminary step by examining
Brahms's integration of motivic and structural harmonic functions. The
three movements I will address demonstrate that harmonic individualisation -
like developing variation - was a concern for Brahms throughout his caree
the Sextet (1866) dates from his first maturity, the Quartet (1873) comes
from his middle period and the Quintet (1891) reflects his late style. (A pr
pensity for motivic harmony also - again, like developing variation - cros
genres, despite the present focus on chamber music.) These works are al
appropriate as exemplars due to the range of compositional strategies th
exhibit. These strategies require a flexible analytical response, sufficiently con
sistent to be theoretically coherent, yet subtly differentiated in the speci
technical aspects explored. Analysis of the Sextet, Quartet and Quintet w
help to establish an informal theoretical framework with the potential to serv
as a basis for further study of harmonic individualisation in Brahms and other
composers.
Ex. la reproduces the opening of the Sextet along with annotations highlig
ing two motivic harmonies. Brahms's treatment of these source chords illustr
the dialectic Dahlhaus hears at the root of the composer's tonal language.
harmonies' striking sound momentarily freezes the musical progress and dra
attention to the chords as entities in their own right. Yet these chromatic son
ties nevertheless function within a conventional tonal and formal framework. As
Ex. lb illustrates, V-I motion in each case binds the motivic harmonies to the
governing G diatony and ABA' ternary form. Echoing Adorno, Dahlhaus sug-
gests that Brahms's inclination towards sublimating the sensuous harmonic
moment to the demands of tonal and formal convention betrays his conservative
resistance to his material's tendencies.5
Similar chromaticism marks the Quartet's motivic harmonies, as Ex. 2 illus-
trates. The main theme's harmonic framework couldn't be simpler: an opening
tonic progresses to an imperfect-cadential dominant at bar 7. The elaboration of
this framework, however, is anything but simple. Although, as Ex. 2b indicates,
there are no additional verticalities that are of fundamental harmonic signifi-
cance - for instance, a ii° or iv chord as intermediate harmony or a III chord as
third-divider - the phrase's voice leading gives rise to embellishing sonorities rich
with developmental possibilities. As we will see, the phrase's common-tone
diminished seventh chord, AI» sonority, and F dominant all emerge as motivic
harmonies as the movement unfolds.6
© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal Theory 65
Ex. la Brahms, String Sextet in G major, Op. 36/i, bars 1-67
Allegro non troppo ι - theme la^.
Vnl
fpO
(ÍMp*
ρ mezza voce - ρ ~ ' '
^ "
vn2 |ρ'| - ; - :λ . #=Ξ i
Va. ll'l^JjJJjjjjîjûj. LjjUiiJ-S^ JJJJJJ_^Bp JjJJJjj
vici jy*| -== - ΞΞ : Ξ - jjp "Q ^P ^^Ξ^^

{[Ι pizz. n ^^ >
Vlc 2 ql·^'» ■^ " 1 - ||;J * * I -
■^ ρ ι
r r
B> j, = j, ^^ j, ^^.i _ ji ^^ j, __ y,
arco
On
an
de
ria
ap
Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Pub
66 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. la Continued
ÎJ L
Í-4JLJ1 li IiîJi " ι
^S p^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^S
j ι ι 1 Ij m I 1 l| 11 1 _
the Ursatz, will inevitably strive to hear striking harmonic gestures anchored to
a governing diatony. Neo-Riemannian approaches, by contrast, are much more
willing to regard sonorities and progressions irrespective of their possible func-
tion in an all-consuming hierarchy. Indeed, the motivation for a transformational

Ex. lb Brahms, String Sextet in G major, Op. 36/i, graph of bars 1-53
5
Γ - Γ γ 1" Ι"
k3 4-3 t3 k3 4-3 4 fJ ^"-
I V I V ^1^
j
Ex
CTo7 C^(=Ab) V7/Bl>
Allegro
1» cresc. ^^ ' :
Via BÎTBjJJJj j ^^ $ ^ J· ^ ^ ^=f ξ

^ "9 cresc. '.
Ρ
, ♦· «■ f f: Gb
/ (Bb:i(6)_V)
Λίι/5/ί: Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publish
68 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 2b Brahms, String Quartet

13 5 7 9
r?t
*> "Γ Τ 'Γ [^c^r^M

, Ν
CT°7 Ab F dorn.
ap
co
In
m
ap
th
br
Ne
ar
fu
w
ac
ha
ne
re
pr
tr
in
as
ch
a
Da
tr
bo
Ev
m
ta
ed
ar

symmetry in no way challenges the control of the G diatony. T

demonstrates that although triadic progression may be, in Richa
words, interprétable in diatonic and hexatonic (or more generally,
spaces, more frequently one or the other of these spaces will "control
monopolise a given span or level of a composition'.9
I do not intend, however, in my circumscription of neo-Riemannian
to set up and knock down a straw man. My delimitation of the sc
transformational approach in the Sextet will serve instead as a fo
functional ambiguity of third-related harmonies I hear in the fina
major Quintet. A comparison is suggestive because, on the face of it, t
tet's third relations seem even less likely candidates for challengi
hierarchy. We will see, nevertheless, that the finale develops an ambiv
tionship between its Β mediant and G tonic that is not well accounted
monotonality of an Ursar^-derived interpretation. Rather, there ar
when it is not entirely clear whether Β is the mediant of G or G is the
of B, even though the synoptic perspective of a Schenkerian graph wo
favour a G tonic.
Appreciation of this functional ambivalence may not require neo-Riemannian
concepts, but the relaxation of hierarchical thinking that may come into play with
a transformational approach helps sensitise us to the possibility of alternatives to
monotonality. Indeed, the Quintet movement presents a classic case of tonal
pairing, the nineteenth-century practice of intertwining two closely related har-
monies, as opposed to a more straightforward univalent tonal organisation.
Although a good bit has been written about tonal pairing, the Quintet's finale is
of interest for its adaptation of the technique to a more or less traditional sonata
context. Existing research, by contrast, has tended to focus on tonal pairing in
Schubert's Lieder, Chopin's non-sonata piano music, Wagner's music dramas
and the fin-de-siècle symphonic practice of Bruckner and Mahler. Like harmonic
individualisation more generally, the Quintet's tonal pairing provides a further
link between 'progressive' trends in nineteenth-century compositional practice
and Brahms's absorption of those practices into an apparently more conservative
language.10
Ultimately the comparison of the Sextet and Quintet will join my analysis of
the String Quartet to illustrate a maxim of tonal theory: that it is not the kinds of
harmonies and progressions involved - chromatic and symmetrical in the Sextet,
diatonic and asymmetrical in the Quintet - but rather the contexts in which they
occur that determines their character and function.11 More specifically, the
analyses will underscore the importance of formal context and temporal per-
spective for the evaluation of harmonic relationships. Too often, judgements
about the relevance of symmetrical transformations as an alternative to func-
tional progressions underplay the significance of form as a set of conventional
signals that help to maintain traditional hierarchical relationships even in the
momentary absence of pitch asymmetries.12 Analysis of chromatic third relations
in the tonic area of the Sextet will illustrate this point, even as the discussion

70 PETER H. SMITH
traces ways in which the cod

unarticulated hexatonic imperat
tional tonal functions.
Formal signals are likewise indispensable to Schenkerian interpretation,
despite Schenker's dismissive comments about the heuristic value of traditional
Formenlehre. Interactions with formal processes will prove crucial to perceptions,
in the String Quartet, of associative relationships among harmonies that do not
otherwise connect either prolongationally or through structural parallelism.
Finally, analysis of tonal pairing in the Quintet will highlight the importance of
temporal perspective and, above all, less final perceptions for access to harmonic
processes that temporarily relax the movement's overriding tonal centricity.13
One point is important to keep in mind throughout: my analytical work rests
on the assumption that Schenkerian and neo-Riemannian concepts are relevant,
to varying degrees, to all three of my case studies. The tonally centred prolon-
gational structure I hear throughout the Sextet in no way eliminates the possi-
bility that a neo-Riemannian perspective might shed light on aspects of
development of Brahms's motivic harmonies. Similarly, the parsimonious trans-
formations I hear as a basis for the motivic-harmonic process in the C minor
Quartet do not disavow Schenkerian insights into the composition's rock-solid
articulation of C minor tonality. Neo-Riemannian perceptions do not require a
suspension of tonality any more than a convincing Schenkerian analysis elimi-
nates the possibility of relationships independent of those that derive through
voice-leading elaboration of an Ursatz.14
Case Study I: Chromatic Third Relations and Tonal Function

in the G major Sextet
Let us begin with more detailed observations about the Sextet in order further to
explore how Brahms integrates his individualised harmonies into a functional
framework. As we have already seen in Ex. la, the first of the Sextet's chromatic
chords emerges out of the opening tonic. Note the similarity with the C-AJ>
progression in the String Quartet. For Schenkerians, these are both examples
of prolongation of the 5-6 paradigm from second-species counterpoint, which
here serves to expand tonic function, as Exs. lb and 2b illustrate. For neo-
Riemannians, they represent distinct transformations: a Leittonwechsel in the
Quartet and, in the Sextet, a type of combined transformation merging a parallel
(P) motion with a Leittonwechsel. Ex. 3a illustrates these contrasting conceptu-
alisations. The example also shows that the Sextet engages a similar compound
transformation (LP) in the progression to the mediant at the beginning of the
main theme's Β section.15
Cohn's four hexatonic systems, reproduced in Ex. 3b, provide one possible
musical space in which to contextualise Brahms's harmonies relative to a uni-
verse of symmetrical third progressions.16 The G, Et and Β triads have the
potential to form a cycle of major thirds around the clock face of Cohn's Western

Ex. 3a Schenkerian and neo-Riemannian derivations of Brahms's motivic

harmonies
2nd species
1 diatonic 2 chromaticised
5 - 6 5- b6
3 - b3
p!| t 11^8 ft ||^ g »Hi

(C minor) - |Tj-» (Ab major) (G major)- fPL|-» (Eb major) (G major)- |Tp|-» (B major)
Ex. 3b Cohn's hyper-hexatonic system ('Maximally Smooth Cycles, Hexatonic

Systems, and the Analysis of Late Romantic Triadic Progressions', Music Analysis,
15/i [1996], pp. 9-40)
c+
E~/ 'c~
I Northern |
/aI>+
Eb+ Gi_ Db+
I / Western ' I I Eastern )
G+^-
B- D+ A-
ny ^'~
I Southern 1
F#+' /ßb+
Bb-
hexatonic region. Categorisation according to Ρ and L transforma

to concretise both distinctions and commonalities that otherwise
under the more generalised umbrella of the Schenkerian 5-6 p
contrast between PL and L transformations, for instance, highlig
between the 5-6 motions in the Sextet and Quartet. The Sex
progression connects major triads - a shift between 'next-ad
'modally matched harmonies' with two pitch-class displaceme

72 PETER H. SMITH
Quartet's diatonic progression

diate) adjacencies with one pitch
also allows for analysis of chr
within distinct sub-families. He
monies reside in the Western r
Northern region.
By the same token, the neo-Ri
ship between the Sextet's Β and
in orbit around the tonic (PL an
sation, by contrast, emphasises
are also essential to our underst
sonority is a consequence of a p
contrast to the tonic expansion
sonority. And it is here - in th
prove to be most enlightening
its limitations, at least when ap
In my analysis of motivic ha
emphasise the notion that an in
that transcend that sonority's o
cases, we need partially to bre
open our ears to Brahms's har
analysis of the Sextet, we fac
symmetrical thirds distorts the
distinctions of tonal function
explicitly to deny, the hierarch
context. This is a case, in other
chromatic thirds without a ch
monopolises the theme group
eventually develops a latent hex
so in a manner that might retro
the primary material.19 On the
imperatives maintained through
There is no doubt that the exposition's El· and Β triads momentarily
shift emphasis 'from the general and structural to the particular and instanta-
neous', to borrow Dahlhaus's description.20 Yet the triads' hexatonic potential
scarcely develops in the music. It is true that the B-B inversional symmetry
corresponds with both the formal rhyme of the A and Β sections and the
contour inversion of their thematic material (rising and then falling motion
for the A theme; falling and then rising motion for the Β theme). Note,
however, that neither passage completes a full rotation around the Western
region. There is no direct progression connecting Β to Β (or vice versa), and
neither of these harmonies leads directly to G; the dominant intervenes in each
case. This is why my annotations to Cohn's Western region in Ex. 3b include
arrows pointing in only one direction - from G to Β and G to Β - and why

there is only a broken line joining Β and B. G is not merely one po

tinguishable from any other, in a symmetrical pattern of harmo
remain poised in equilibrium. Rather, it achieves the status of a ce
that functions as both departure and goal.
The absence of a complete hexatonic progression allows the Β and
ties to maintain their particular affective characters with respect to th
Specifically, El· resonates darkly as a harmony four steps flatwards from
circle of fifths, while Β resonates brightly and four steps sharpwards. T
a direct EI^B progression also allows the chords to sound very far
another, despite their abstract adjacency in hexatonic space. One of the
characteristics of complete hexatonic progressions is that such progres
the potential to neutralise or disorientatingly bend such affective
allegiances, with dark harmonies such as El· suddenly becoming bright
such as B. Such circular reversals may have the effect of turning both
and our affective sensibilities on their heads, in a sense calling into qu
centrality of any one of the harmonies as a point of reference. Yet th
tions are defensible only in specific musical contexts. Here, with respe
Sextet, the lack of a full hexatonic circuit allows us to hear Β and Β each in
relation to G, but not directly in relation to each other. They thus sound distant,
like tonal poles balanced about the tonic. We will see that this polarity becomes
especially vivid in the coda, where development of the parsimonious relationship
between Β and Β paradoxically reinforces their harmonic distance despite their
abstract closeness in hexatonic space.
G's temporal priority and the absence of a complete hexatonic cycle are not
the only characteristics that maintain tonal centricity. Contrapuntal relationships
also contribute to functional asymmetries that encourage us to hear the passages
prolongationally. It is not simply a matter of G harmonies standing as bookends
around otherwise semi-autonomous chromatic excursions, but one of progres-
sions that sustain the tonic's implicit presence during its literal absence. The Β
and Β harmonies, in other words, fulfil specific types of contrapuntally defined
embellishing roles. Both the bass pitches that support the harmonies and the
foreground voice leading that connects them - factors that neo-Riemannian
theory often downplays in favour of inversional equivalence and 'abstract' par-
simonious voice leading - are crucial to defining the particular manner in which
the motivic sonorities embellish the tonic and thus remain functional within a
tonally centred framework. In the case of B, for instance, we have already
observed that the tonic anchor remains in the bass even as contrapuntal motion
gives life to a motivic 3 chord. One of the sonority's characteristic motivic
features - its 3 position - paradoxically maintains the tonic's control. A V-I
cadential progression then lifts the veil of Β darkness, thus confirming G's
primacy.
The bass likewise plays a crucial role in binding the Β sonority to the G
diatony. The chord enters in % position in an enlargement of the motivic G-Ff
accompanimental oscillation (shown in square brackets in the bass line of

74 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. lb). In contrapuntal terms, t

embellishing function, even as t
character. The arrival of the
passing function for the % cho
from the bright, sharp-side drea
cycle, when an A minor domina
to G diatonic reality. Thus, in
acquire the character of motivic
their bass pitch and figured-bass
on a diatonic framework. It wou
lation of the dialectic between s
Dahlhaus hears at the core of B
Other details bind the chromat
context also helps to maintain
viously. In addition to its % p
contrasting Β section, an addition
falls within an A section that
statement and repetition of a
cadences on G as tonic.21
The correspondence of formal and harmonic functions continues into the A'
section, where Brahms forgoes extensive recomposition in favour of a parallel
restatement that balances the opening and therefore maintains a focus on G.
Indeed, the Sextet is noteworthy for its clarity of formal relationships through-
out, especially compared to the sectional ambiguities characteristic of Brahms's
sonata forms. The recapitulation, for instance, responds to the stability of the
primary material with a clear articulation of the boundary between the develop-
ment and the reprise (bar 343), in marked contrast to the extended overlaps that
Brahms often fashions across this point of the form.
It is interesting to note, nevertheless, that within this straightforward return
there is one element of development, and it centres on the Et source chord. In
contrast to its contrapuntal function in the exposition, the El· motive achieves
some status as an inversion when it resolves as VAII in the recapitulation, as
shown in Ex. 4. The contrapuntally generated El· now functions as root rather
than as mere displacement of the chordal fifth within an expanded tonic. On
the one hand, this progression illustrates a point that will stand at the forefront
of my analysis of the Quartet: incidental sonorities - those that arise as con-
trapuntal by-products rather than as inversions - often return as forthright
verticalities, with their previously latent harmonic potentials fulfilled. On the
other hand, it also supports a point I have been stressing with respect to the
third-related harmonies in the Sextet. Even though El· achieves some status as
a quasi-independent vertical entity, a hexatonic challenge to G diatony never
materialises. El· remains bound to the functional hierarchy by virtue of its par-
ticipation in a UI6-V-I progression. El· may take on a somewhat more harmonic
character, but this heightened functional independence arises within a

Ex. 4 Brahms, String Sextet in G major. Op. 36/i, bars 407-418
( III ι ^^ggfgC^^^^
%" ι pi^z· p r f ' L ■ l- ρ kr Ί*- ,. *f r . f ί ■
1,1=1
^*- %"
:
: ιJ.
ι J -r φJp I ^==
' :i L J=■ yι l-=ξ Γ'Iρ ιI = '* =p
,. ^= *I. ' :±F=
5
I3
(bVI) V2/HI bll6
! i^g^^ J.
k^==M^
jl
V4
tonic-f
third relations.
The same is true for developments involving the Β triad in the passage from
the coda in Ex. 5. Brahms finally draws Β and Β into a more direct relationship
by substituting Β as harmonisation for the main theme's Β neighbour. This
reharmonisation hints at the PL relationship of Β and Β through the common-
tone function of B, as Ex. 6 illustrates. Up to this point, the tonic area has
exploited this transformation only to move from the tonic to either of these
symmetrical thirds - not to carry us directly from Β to B. Now the substitution

76 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 5 Brahms, String Sextet in G

547 Un poco sostenuto
·*
·* ρ ρ espress. ir M " 1 "
J1 espress.
1^ 'p ρ espress.
I^J J J J J J ÏJJJJjJ Mi J J J J ^JJJJ ^gzgEJ^È J J J^g
j>
j II' ^
I B' J_J J J J J 1*1*1}. Sj^M
arco _ _
y ι ^ξ ι u r ρ ^= . =g= . J ι ^ "ι :
fî u IlZüH . ^^^- . ^ ^- - - ^
x*ft ~ "" ^^ ~ - ~ - - ~ ~ ^
**^ A 5
III *
r]
espress. cresc.
^JJ^Jj^Íl»rj^J ûj^jj gj^j

Ex. 6 PL transformation for El^-B progression
-Q-Or . j>Jq
νΎ ft 9 'il
(Eb major) - [pE|-»(Bli major)
of Β for Β highlights the br

expect the dark one. The subs
forces it. The affective distinc
it suddenly provides the 'wro
harmonic distance between
hexatonic space.
Even in the coda, the El^-B
since it arises out of a substitution of Β for Β rather than an actual E^B
progression. Moreover, the Β harmony leads, as it had earlier, to a standard
ii6- V- I progression and thus again clearly functions within the G diatony. This
is likewise the case for the phrase repeat that follows (bars 563-595, not
shown), even though Brahms delays the arrival of the ii chord of bars 573-574
via an expansion of the Ε dominant (V7/ii) that now enters following the
motivic Β harmony. The passage thus draws the harmonic progression in which
the Β harmony first functioned in the tonic area's Β section - a brief feint to the
bright, sharp-side dream world in the circle-of-fifths B-E-A-D motion in bars
33-44 (IIUM/IMi-V) - into the new context of the heretofore darkly shaded
A section.
Case Study II: Source Harmonies and Motivic Process in the

C minor String Quartet
Having explored some benefits of supplementing a Schenkerian approach with

neo-Riemannian observations in order to analyse harmonic individualisation in
the Sextet, let us turn to the String Quartet, where a combination of the two
methodologies continues to provide insight into Brahms's tonal language.22 My
analysis of the Sextet demonstrated some limitations of neo-Riemannian theory,
but my approach to the Quartet illustrates a complementary point: Brahms's
individualisation of harmony sometimes creates tension with basic Schenkerian
tenets and therefore requires us to expand the scope of the theory in pursuit of
musical insight.23 We will see that the movement instantiates an associative
process of development among motivic harmonies that runs parallel to the
progression of scale steps in the prolongational dimension. It is important to
emphasise from the outset that connections among these harmonies are mani-
fested in ways other than parallelism of function within parallel progressions -
the harmonic analogue to Schenker's concept of motivic parallelism. Rather, the
harmonic-motivic processes involve fundamental shifts in tonal function among
sonorities of the same pitch-class content and even transformational connections

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishi
78 PETER H. SMITH
among different types of ch

leading. In either case, it is es
form of tonal unification not t
Indeed, consequences drawn fro
tural significance complement
the movement's form.
Like the Sextet's Β and Β chords, the motivic harmonies in the Quartet enter
as by-products of voice leading rather than as harmonies with independent root
function. As the graph in Ex. 2b indicates, the common-tone seventh arises as a
consequence of the Ft neighbour bracketed in the first violin's inner voice. The
chord's implicit ΑΊ likewise functions as a neighbour to 5.24 The harmony thus
does not function as viio7/V with Ft as root, but as an incidental sonority or
apparent seventh chord in which C remains the fundamental pitch.25 The sub-
sequent ascent of the violin's inner voice back to G and onward to Aí yields
a % sonority that similarly retains C as root. The 5-6 motion expands the tonic;
it does not introduce an inverted submediant. Note that At maintains its function
as displacement of the tonic's fifth despite the motivic harmony's shift to root
position at bar 5. As the graph in Ex. 2b indicates, the cello's At participates in
a broader C-Ai> [for G]-EI^C arpeggiation that expands C as bass.
In the case of the third motivic harmony - the F dominant in bar 4 - we
might be tempted to claim a more substantial harmonic function, since the
sonority does indeed resolve to Bk Yet as my graph suggests, the Bl> harmony is
itself a passing event: it connects the tonic bass to its further elaboration via the
At of the overriding 5-6 motion. The F and Bl> chords both result from elabo-
rative motions, and their linear ontology remains in effect despite the local V-i
relationship.
At first blush, my attention to the incidental status of these sonorities might
seem pedantic. Aren't such distinctions taken for granted in the context of
Schenkerian interpretation? I highlight the chords' linear ontology, however,
precisely because future events contradict the notion that these 'mere'
by-products of voice leading lack identity as verticalities. It is certainly beneficial
to recognise that the diminished seventh, for instance, functions as a tonic
embellishment rather than as an applied chord to V. C and Β are not dissonant
against an Ft root; rather, Ft is the dissonance in relation to the stable C and El».
Yet although the diminished seventh fails to function as viio7/V, it foreshadows
later motivic repetitions that do. Indeed, all of the main theme's apparent chords
function generatively in ways that indicate that they are, in Patrick McCreless's
words, harmonic-motivic rather than linear-motivic in character.26
The generative status of the incidental harmonies emerges both locally and in
relation to the movement's large-scale form. As this harmonic-motivic process
unfolds, Brahms builds on relationships among the source chords so that these
seemingly unrelated sonorities form a thread of associative continuity to some
extent independent of Schenkerian tonal structure. The potential for motivic
interconnection is first suggested by the parallel position of the source chords

within the opening phrase: the harmonies enter on successive downb

the repetition of the same thematic fragment. This melodic-rhythmic
is emphasised still further by the parallel anacrusic motions in the f
which in each case lead to the arrival of the motivic sonorities.
The familiar enharmonic symmetry of the diminished seventh indicates that
the common-tone harmony of bar 2 has the capacity to return and develop
not only as viio7/V in the home key, but also as viio7/Bk Thus from the outset
the potential exists for a relationship with the F dominant of bar 4. Anothe
way of describing the connection is that an inflection of a mere semitone -
parsimonious Ftt-R shift - distinguishes the sonorities, as indicated in Ex. 7
Similar parsimonious motion in Ex. 7b forms the basis for a relationship
between the diminished seventh and the AI» sonority: ΑΊ shifts to At, while Fl
exits the harmony. We will see that motivic development of the At chord even
eventually reincorporates Fl in the guise of Q>, thus tightening the bond
between the motives.27
It is important to note that the connections I am proposing between differen
types of seventh chords and between a seventh chord and a triad take these
progressions outside the realm of transformational theory, as David Lewin
conceived it. According to Lewin's definition, transformations always act on
entities of the same kind: transformation of consonant triads into other conso-
bx. 7 Voice-leading connections between motivic chords
a r "n> » ii
(Ff °7)_| F#-to-FN"k(FN V7)
b Vw *r I il
(Ft °7) -|Al|-to-Abl·» (Ab V?) - | sup. Gb |-» (Ab major)
DN UV7 (-Eb ( vii°7 ) Al|-] V7J Ab

n' ' ' V J ) icN
' xv CN y /
Music Analysis^ 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

80 PETER H. SMITH
nant triads, of pitch-class sets of

of the same cardinality, of rhyth
forth. Although a number of t
relating chords of different kind
the matter has yet to emerge. M
theorising engage a level of techn
required for my analytical purpo
My solution here will instead be
'transformations' involve a fam
three pitch classes with a central
with the Ft-A-C-Et diminished se
Ex. 7c. All of these dominants
sixth chords, a reinterpretation
tial for enharmonic reinterpreta
as a familiar compositional reso
simply by lowering one of the n
semitone and respelling the resul
ished seventh and the R dominant in Ex. 7a takes the informal transformational
label 'Ft-to-FV. Going a step further in this informal treatment, we can move
from the diminished seventh to a major triad with a 'suppress' label: ΑΊ shifts to
At to produce the At dominant seventh, and Gt exits the sonority to leave the
simple triad (Ex. 7b).29
Putting aside the issue of rigorous versus informal theoretical formulation, we
might confront an even more pressing concern. At first glance, my claims of
significance for these voice-leading relationships might appear to be as specious
as my assertion that the chords have a vertical identity independent of their
contrapuntal origins. The persistence of the tonic's root and third in the opening
phrase does not merely deny the embellishing sonorities an independent root
function, in this sceptical view. It also provides a straightforward explanation for
the common-tone relationships of Ex. 7 and thereby avoids more rarefied specu-
lation about motivic-harmonic transformation. Yet as the movement unfolds, the
motivic sonorities do indeed interact in ways that highlight their mutual inter-
connection as they return in contexts in which they acquire the independent root
function they initially lack.
One of the most direct examples of this harmonic-motivic development arises
in the crossover into the exposition repeat. The passage provides an example of
how Brahms's celebrated powers of linkage {Knüpftechnik) may penetrate the
harmonic dimension, although the technique traditionally has been described as
a characteristically melodic phenomenon.30 Brahms modulates from the Et sec-
ondary key back to the tonic via enharmonic reinterpretation of the diminished
seventh chord, as highlighted in Ex. 8a.31 Here the seventh chord of bar 76 most
certainly achieves harmonic significance. First, ΑΊ functions as the root and Gt
resolves downward, confirming its status as chordal seventh. Then, in the first bar
of the first ending, Ft and Et function as root and seventh. But subsequently, the

Ex. 8a Brahms, String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1/i, bars 62-82
of bars 1-8
~ - ρ dolce - - ^-
y^
[ibj ^^V^-
Ν
Ν
'
'
'
72 rm ^
~ ρ Ρ . ϋΞ>-
diminished sevent
a harmonic linkag
dissonant against
returns to its orig
Recognition of th
across prolongati
Music Analysis^ 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

82 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 8a Continued
exposition repeat
- « - ^- cresc.
- -_ " ' J* cr«c.
I vii°VV *
[c[£vü°7V^ V i i^T«^) i
""^J J J J J fcjF - ^ J ^ g J ^^^-^= ^=ρσ=

.V-î, J J J |J r7 j" |J J J lj J J l | t J t - l -=
function. The first of the diminished sevenths (bar 76) nests within a prolonga-
tion of the exposition's main middleground Β scale step; the second (bar 80a) is
part of a transitional motion from this Β to V/C; and the third (bar 2b) embel-
lishes the opening tonic scale step of the repeat. A line of continuity is audible
only if we admit the possibility for a subsidiary harmony to transcend its
embellishing role and forge connections with other subsidiary chords, which are
themselves embedded within different prolongational spans. The schematic rep-
resentation of Ex. 8b illustrates the manner in which the path cut by the dimin-
ished seventh twists through various levels and across multiple boundaries of the
tonal structure.
Nor does the harmonic linkage consist of simple associative connections
among functionally equivalent chords in parallel progressions, in the manner of
a motivic parallelism. Rather, a motivic relationship arises between two funda-
mentally different types of seventh chord. This is where neo-Riemannian thought
- with its willingness to hear relationships among sonorities irrespective of
traditional functional categorisation - can step in to fill a void in our analytical
response. Linkage with the first ending's viio7/G establishes a vertical ontology
that the common-tone harmony of bar 2b otherwise lacks, thereby solidifying

Ex. 8b Motivic path for diminished seventh chord
[Õ| VÍÍ°7/V V-S-^=S~S^-*
ι |Eb:| 1 1 I vH
ii^^
that apparent chord

alternative - to den
the source chord b
to close our ears to
The significance of
the linkage it cre
crystallises a broad
secondary area and
caesura at the beg
outset. As Ex. 9 illu
mark the arrival o
cadence helps to s
particularly because
Ex. 2a yields a local
the medial caesura.
part of a broader p
motion in turn enla
highlight.) Thus a
progression - indee
step toV/B at bar
In addition to their
respect to key and m
the second emphas
immediately - and
area's first cadent
dominant source ch
minor resonates bot
at bar 9 and on th
subsequent tonicisat
A number of sch
orientation for the
first violin in bar
pretation of this in

84 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 9 Brahms, String Quartet in
jL& I r r Ι 1Γ|"1 ιΓΓΐ ; Ι γ γ Ι 1 γ
βλ r h ^r ^
V V V ' - --»j ψ
fit] vii°
Gl»-F (cf. Ex. 2a, b. 9) ' - 1
32 ^ g
S"!» I i J t " Ξ ~ = " =PI Γ :z=z= Γ Γ zi:^b=

^ : ^
VÜO7/V V
.. . ^Pk C^^ ,τ, n f-> p, ^ ,^,ttfi^,f:
Β Λ kcE[f f Γ Γ γΓ'τγΓ ^ J[p J[j> ^[^[^J ^^[^[[^[ ^^ * f * '

I.Wi.»r 'τ Γ |k> f j 1 j J μ 1 ρ f j 1 J » t Γ t f
[ibi| bll
of bars 29-30 and bar 37 (see the

suggest is that the opening theme
articulation I have just described and
emphasis across the secondary are
material in the key of B, B'> rema
middleground El· scale step finally a
This dominant prolongation further engages the main theme's source
seventh chord, sometimes in the form of the complete harmony and other
times simply as a leading-tone triad. (Here again the notion of a 'suppress'
mechanism could model the connection of seventh chord to triad in an infor-
mal transformational process.) We see this motivic influence in the passag

leading to closure in Ex. 8a, where the applied chords of bars 69-
shadow the codetta's viio7/BI> and its subsequent enharmonic reinter
C minor. The process then continues with the return of the diminish
as a common-tone chord in the main theme. Through a process of
sition, the harmonically incidental common-tone chord retrospective
itself as the source for the somewhat more vertically independent ap
monies in the secondary area.34
Thus far my analysis has focused on connections between differen
of the diminished seventh chord. But what of the relationship I h
between the diminished seventh and the main theme's F dominant? This con-
nection also emerges in the codetta, but now as the passage leads to the devel-
opment, as seen in Ex. 10. The second ending retains a Gi> function for the
chordal seventh even as Brahms again respells the pitch as Ft. That is, Gt/Ftt
sinks down to R in bar 81, thus yielding a V7/V chord in the local key of Ek
Yet in the familiar V7/German sixth reinterpretation, Brahms resolves the chord
to an Ak minor cadential % at bar 82. At first glance, this reinterpretation might
seem to call into question the idea that the passage cements a relationship
between the common-tone and V/R harmonies. Immediately after the F domi-
nant resolves as a German sixth chord, however, it returns twice as VAII in the
Pá minor progressions that follow, as indicated by the Roman numerals in
Ex. 10. Thus it turns out that the semitonal inflection that differentiates the
diminished and dominant seventh harmonies becomes the basis for the devel-
opment's first modulation, while the new A minor context nevertheless sus-
tains a V/BI» function.
With this connection in mind, we might even speculate that emphasis on the
F dominant earlier in the secondary area grows motivically from the F source
chord and by extension from the diminished seventh chord. In bar 62 of Ex. 8a,
Brahms begins an extended prolongation of F as V7/V in Ek This prolongation
continues with the shift to emphasis on viio7/B^ and vii7Bl>, as alternatives to the
applied dominant, in the passage that follows. Recall that these are the very vii°
chords that foreshadow the arrival of the diminished seventh of the codetta.
Thus, the F dominant connects with both the source diminished and dominant
seventh chords in a step-by-step process: V7/B1> in bar 62 shifts to viio7/Bl> or vii°/R
in bars 69-72. The diminished seventh chord then returns in the codetta, where
Brahms eventually reinterprets it as viio7/G. Through tonal transformation, the F
dominant has become the Fit diminished seventh. Then, after the diminished
seventh returns in its guise as common-tone chord when the main theme returns
in the exposition's repeat, the F dominant re-emerges as V/B!> within the con-
tinuation ofthat theme (bar 4b).
But to return to the development: let us observe how the source chords
further influence the movement's tonal trajectory. Following the ΑΊ tonicisation,
the development continues with tonicisations of Ε and Β in an ascending circle-
of-fifths sequence. This pattern breaks with the arrival on Β in bar 108 of Ex. 1 1,
at which point the rising motion continues by means of a 5-6 stepwise sequence.

86 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 10 Brahms, String Quartet i

75
f "J " " I 1" rir^'J
M. «r <r
«r <r
Β Λ J ^>,
^ - ΓΤ - ^ i-r- . Τ" Μςο- ^γτ~^ ,cvGb τ - õSV
|Eb:| iN
[Ã] Ger.|
Βί>ί?,ι
^ ?' (Ger.f)
V'
A connection with the main theme is most obvious in the return of the theme's
head motive as the basis for the 5-6 pattern. The sequence also culminates on
a Gt 3 chord at bar 1 1 1, an enharmonic version of the At source sonority, which
now prepares a dramatic tonicisation of the Neapolitan. This tonicisation never
actually cadences on the Neapolitan, despite a number of attempts. The result is
an emphasis on the Gt dominant, now in root position and with its seventh. Not
only has the At chord returned in its original guise as a consequence of a 5-6
motion above C/Bf at bar 111; it also re-acquires, at bars 111 and 115, the
motivic Q/FI that binds it more closely to the source diminished seventh. Just as
a parsimonious Gt/R inflection connects the diminished seventh to the motivic F

Ex. 1 1 Brahms, String Quartet in C minor. Op. 51 No. 1/i, 5-6 sequence
of AI» motivic sonority
w»ii[Ir dir uff dl/ dlrdlr; dir dlrdU ftlr dlr
|c
I j^^ tf ν ~^"~~ Ι * "*^~y»~^fí|^ ψ mf ί^ί^ Ι μ^μ^^^μ 1J ^^^^^ Ι Ι Ι Ι Ι

y?
Γ·*
j> cresc.
I p cresc.
i ΝΠ V7 (Ab motive now with 7th)
dominant, so too does a parsimonious AV

to the AI» dominant seventh, as outlined
A process of thematic return clarifies t
ment's Gt dominant and the At 3 chor
diminished seventh at the exposition re
ment eventually arrives back on its Gt h
again in 3 position. This 3 chord then bec
the return of the main theme and links
the At 3 chord, as highlighted in Ex. 12.
as much a harmonic as a melodic phen
tonal transition, a relationship between
and the source harmonies is laid bare. Idi
are made a consequence of those motiv
continuity of the linking A!> 3 chord repl
recapitulation.36
Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 20 10 The Author.

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publ
88 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 12 Brahms, String Quartet in

133 recapitulation
$ ^ " sjO I
b^
V V3g
J J
^# 3
#
I'
V/ bll
within main theme here
139 Φ' .ff f

IlPlK r^l,. hOr ir
Ai> Ιι ι J y^J'p·
J1' y jj
ii'iJJ
f &
{ ' and here '

' and here
Case Study III: Tonal Pairing in the G major String Quintet

We have seen, in our earlier discussion of the Sextet, a composition in which
tonal and formal characteristics ensure that traditional harmonic relations domi-
nate despite the presence of symmetrical third progressions. The Sextet's chro-
matic source chords develop the hint of a hexatonic relationship in a dimension
of motivic association and not as part of a challenge - even for brief stretches -
to tonal centricity. My final example, the finale of the G major String Quintet,
appears to be an even less likely candidate for challenges to tonal hierarchy. After
a brief off-tonic opening, this sonata movement settles into a seemingly straight-
forward expository pattern with all of the key-defining characteristics of tradi-
tional sonata form, as outlined in Ex. 13. The exposition eschews the expanded
key schemes of nineteenth-century sonata practice, and nowhere does it high-
light surface chromatic third progressions that might plant the seeds for hexa-
tonic development.
The remainder of the movement likewise articulates traditional harmonic
relationships. Although it is somewhat more formally complex than the exposi-
tion, the finale's second part follows conventions of one of Brahms's favourite
© 20 10 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. 13 Brahms, String Quintet in G major, Op. 111/iv, formal outline
Part 1: Exposition Part 2: Recapitulation
Tonic Key Area Tonic Key Area

bs 1-8: la theme in Β minor bs 81-89: la theme in Β minor (refrain)
bs 9-13: transition to G major -
Development
- bs 90-98: pre-core
- bs 99-155: material based on la and lb themes
- bs 156-170: re transition onV/B with reference to
Β 3 and la theme
bs 13-31: lb theme in G major bs 170-188: lb theme in G major merges into
merges into
Transition Transition
bs 31-37: material of la theme bs 18
returns as part of expansion of
E7 (ii7D)
bs 38-51: standing on A bs 190-203: standing on D dominant
dominant
Secondary Area Secondary Area

bs 52-65: 2a theme in D major bs 204-217: 2a theme in G major
bs 65-80: 2b closing theme bs 217-230: closing theme merges into transition to
merges into retransition on D
asV/G
Coda
- bs 230-247: la theme in Ε major (IV/B) merges into
arrival on Ft as V/B
- bs 248-287: deceptive resolution of V/B to G major.
Expansion of G as closing tonic with material
derived from la and lb themes
sonata-rondo forms (see again Ex. 13). In a strategy modelled on eighteenth

century practice, the refrain of just part of the main theme group leads to
development section. Following this development, the recapitulation resum
where the refrain left off, and the remainder of the second half continues in a
straightforward manner: Brahms recomposes the transition to prepare the toni
return of secondary material, and this transposed restatement eventually flows
into a coda.37
The form thus appears to organise itself solidly around the control of the G
tonic. Even the movement's off-tonic Β minor opening, shown in Ex. 14, scarcely
seems to challenge G's supremacy. By this point in the cycle, we have heard three
movements in a G-D-G alternation of keys that clearly places G in the forefront.
Moreover, G enters decisively along with the tonic group's second idea (lb) at
bar 13, following a brief modulation. These factors coalesce to support an
interpretation of the opening as an expanded iii-V-I auxiliary cadence, as
graphed in Ex. 15a.

90 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 14 Brahms, String Quintet i

theme la (B minor)
Vivace ma non troppo presto

>j
vm l$"Kt I - I - I - I - Ι -ξ^
Aê
Vn 2 l'9 ï = - - " " "

y * :
Vlc
iii
transition theme lb (G major)
pizz.
Β echo B echo
15 I I _^ ^_^
ryf Fill 3*5lji I I ~ I " I " imj*J JJ^JIJ JJ

V

Ex. 14 Continued
Β echo
^0s main theme returns in vn 1 (cf. b. 9) ^
^ ^.
*f 4 4 4 f - "
Ger.!^
Β echo
in passing 4
Yet although the harmonic hierarchy of an auxiliary cadence represents a

viable framework within which to hear the passage, the synoptic perspective it
and my formal analysis imply nevertheless represents only one listening context
for these opening measures.38 Within more local contexts of the theme group and
some of the form's other crucial points, an equivocal relationship develops
between Β and G. To be sure, these harmonies do not mirror each other
symmetrically like triads in a hexatonic progression. The finale nevertheless
develops an ambiguity such that it is not always clear which harmony is control-
ling and which is subsidiary, following conventions associated with the
nineteenth-century technique of tonal pairing. There are moments when Β
clearly functions as the mediant of G, as a synoptic perspective indicates, but

92 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 15a Brahms, String Quintet

14 8 12 13
5
.
Ξ J
PyVyj-
6 6 6 6 6 '^^ ^ ?
iii
th
on a submediant character.
First let us note that aspects of the larger formal context are less definitive on
this point than we might assume: D conventionally functions as a secondary key
in both Β minor and G major. This point would be trivial, however, in the
absence of equivocation between Β and G elsewhere in the form. In order to
bring the interaction between Β and G into sharper focus, it will be helpful to
begin with details of the main theme as perceived in a local context before we
consider three additional formal areas where the harmonies intertwine: the first
refrain, the retransition at the end of the development and the coda, where the
ambiguity intensifies before finally resolving.
We can launch the discussion with an obvious point: by opening in Β minor,
the movement relegates G to a subsidiary temporal position. The initial
sequence of events can be heard as a tonic-submediant motion just as easily as
it can be heard as a G auxiliary cadence. The transition at bar 9 develops the
potential for the characteristic harmonic equivocations of tonal pairing that
these alternative interpretations imply. The modulatory passage begins like a
consequent phrase, but the parallelism quickly dissolves in favour of a pro-
gression to G at bar 11. This G chord, however, does not enter strongly
enough to articulate a prolongational shift away from B, as Ex. 15a indicates.
Only with the repetition of the B-G motion do we finally arrive on G as the
controlling harmony, coincident with the entrance of the theme group's second
idea (lb) at bar 13.
The passage, however, is not as unproblematically univalent as the graph in
Ex. 15a implies, despite the support this interpretation receives from the imbal-
ance between the G articulations. The thematic parallelism between the two
motions to G encourages an alternative interpretation characterised by a har-
monic overlap in prolongational space. This B-G overlap provides the first
manifestation of the tonal pairing that will come to underlie the movement. The
graph in Ex. 15a indicates that Β is in control unequivocally until G moves to the
© 20 1 0 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. 1 5b Alternative interpretation with prolongational overlap
χ Ι χ' χ
If utü-'f χ Ι """rTrrüjET^ χ'

^
Ξ A v Jl v?
[bT] í6 í i6? i6 /{T7]

^- G anticipation ^ B suspension
forefront with the arrival of the lb idea. The interpretation of Ex. 15b hears both
an anticipation of G within the Β prolongation, in prospect, and a suspension of Β
into the gradual emergence of G, in retrospect. The contrasting functions of the G
harmonies in bars 11 and 13 of Ex. 15a contradict the notion of an aural con-
nection between them. By contrast, the analysis in Ex. 1 5b depicts the entrance of
G in bar 1 1 as the leading edge of the gradual emergence of the G scale step.
Perhaps somewhat trivial, but still worth noting as an aspect of this tonal
overlap, is the L relationship between the Β and G tonics. The closeness of the
harmonies, with only the Ftt-G semitone separating them, accounts to some
degree for the fluidity of shifts between them. Ex. 15b also suggests a connection
between the Β % and V7/G chords based on their common D bass and mutual
melodic emphasis on Β and D - that is, the R transformation indicated in Ex. 1 5b.
Although either of these relationships may be described without evoking neo-
Riemannian terminology, the transformational idea responds to the manner in
which the passage blurs the boundary between the exit of Β and the entrance of G,
thus creating a blended space of harmonic overlap. Indeed, the neo-Riemannian
R transformation seems almost to be embedded within the theme's motivic
design. The B-Α alternation in the violins' semiquaver neighbour pattern sustains
a shadow of Β minor in the D dominant, while the % position of Β anticipates the
arrival of D. As the movement progresses, we will see that Brahms treats the '
chord above D as a motivic sonority, above all in passages that direct a spotlight on
the B-G pairing.Thus it is the R relation between Β and D, and not the more direct
L relation between Β and G, that becomes paramount in development of the
movement's elemental tonal dialectic.
Another form of voice-leading parsimony - this one also embedded in the
Quintet's melodic figuration - further contributes to the gradual shift in har-
monic function, as the passage maintains continuity between the Β and D
harmonies. The change from Q to O in the figuration of bar 10 and bars 12-13
is decisive in the emergence of the V7/G function. The metrically weak semiqua-
vers - O and A - suddenly come to the fore as chord tones in the V7/G context,
whereas in the Β minor chord it is the strong semiquavers that correspond with
the harmony. The pitches of the Β minor triad nevertheless receive metrical
Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 20 1 0 The Author.

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publi
94 PETER H. SMITH
emphasis throughout, and the f

across the entrance of the D do
we find an area of overlap in w
completely fade until the entra
One might assume that the lb
off-tonic opening and the ton
chord nevertheless remain as b
sequent D dominant harmonie
tions that the ' chord above D
of the tonic area also continu
theme: note the 'Gypsy Lydian
the Ctt-O motions in the cello
conceive of these Cll-G toggles
between chords, but between
area. A parsimonious shift be
collection to the other, while t
étration of Β minor elements w
Furthermore, although the G
refuses to cadence on G, favo
marked in the example. The pas
G closure. Moreover, the Ε chor
when it connects, through voic
return of the main theme at ba
we had last heard it - the first violin at bar 9 - assists in a recollection of B. Even
the Β minor cello accompaniment of bar 1 returns in the second violin, and both
melody and accompaniment emphasise the pivotal CI. Although the % chord in
this thematic return functions as a passing harmony leading back to the root-
position E, it nevertheless recalls the sound of Β just before Ε finally carries us
onward to the transitional A dominant.
The B-G tonal pairing continues following the D major secondary area,
which itself does not settle the issue: D is a conventional secondary key for both
G major and Β minor sonata forms, as previously noted. The opening phrase is
all that returns as refrain at bar 81, before the development then begins (Ex. 16).
The harmonic focus of this abbreviated return emphasises Β as the tonic without
any competition from G. The retransition nevertheless sustains the memory of
the original conflict. Brahms embellishes the retransitional D scale step with
lightly tonicised G harmonies in bars 72-80. In addition, the retransition avoids
dominant preparation for Β and thus robs the harmony of its full articulative
strength. Neither Β nor G gains the upper hand at this point in the form even as
Β steps to the forefront in the refrain.
A similar equivocation characterises the retransition towards the end of the
development shown in Ex. 17. Brahms returns to restatement of expository
material with the G idea (lb) at bar 170. This strategy easily could have func-
tioned as a signal of G's ultimate tonic status. Dominant preparation would be

Ex. 16 Brahms, String Quintet in G major, Op. 111/iv, bars 67-89
j ' ' ' i ' ' j ' i»
r p r ptop^jJj^r
[d] ν7 ι [g] v7^- -
I
ût r~> ,fT7f ■ffffffft^Î^^
Γ" ^
aim. ^^^^^^^^^ r
_^ I
^- _^
81 refrain
V no, not to G but rather to Β

96 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 17 Brahms, String Quintet in
i'h
Ρ κ á«_T tt*= Γ Γ ^^^^J." Γ_Γ_Γ^" Γ_Γ_Π^~ ^- ijjgj^j^- y jtJ ■ y ^
*y* fl r n~=n r t.- =p^^^ κ y ^^^ ι, ^ κ ι κ ^ ι ϊτ^
[i] vii°VV V^
d^ f y-TJ <ri3 ^ï*t 1 r ^«JftJ J J ^^ p|||>^grf

^TT
•J
Γ Γ ^^^F
·
^*^
·
Ι*·Γ ^')
·
1^=^^^=;
ç
Γ*Γ Γ Γ /"" j ^= J J
■*
B ^y* r ?
- τ *
V V
Β arpeggio with C$ as passing note still hint of Β arpeggio but now with Cl)
•Γ I
i 6 V 7/ G emerges
(B minor)- |~r

Ex. 17 Continued
recapitulation of theme lb
j ^^=^^=^=^" * ί if ρ jji ·> j
ρ Γ ' L - Γ 'Ι - ff
one way the retran

retransition instead
at bar 156. The pas
164, recalling the m
B-D progression on
highlights, the semi
as it suggests a D d
further called into q
theme group (not sh
in the elaboration of
persistent interrupt
The transposition
provides a more fo
favour of G. Yet ju
either Β minor or G
Β minor. Nineteent
material related by t
sis late in the form.
questionable hearing
rial in G, and don't
function? Yet as w
defining G as the o
receives retrospectiv
The close of the sec
224 (see Ex. 18). A n
closure in sonata an
function conventio
pairing. He reinter
chord at bar 228. H
Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 20 1 0 The Author.

Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishi
98 PETER H. SMITH
Ex. 18 Brahms, String Quintet
ygr~T «Η^ΓΡΓ ip j a
[α] ν ι ν7 ι
i
ff ρ -U * "^ ^, juj J-
y ^^^ jsj ^tnj^j ~lj -~ r I r ρ y I ■ I» f Π Γ;

Κ ^^^ /
V7/ IV V7/ IV *4
[β] GerJ
IV IV
(= V/ IV)

Ex. 18 Continued
CT€SC. j CrCSC.
·* ' ^>«^1_ Έ? cresc. y^^^
ÊyTT" '| il ' I ' 'M^L.' ™ M I JP^ ι ^ 11 1J "* I r I r r "" r I ' " I " "" Ψ ' II ι^Τ^~ rlrM
m^ ^^^T^^^M^^^M^rTi^M"'"M^^^M*M- ** ^ZdEIHZl^-Z^^CZZZlZ^ÎZ^^·^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^Î3IÎZZ^^ZZZZ^Z^Z^ r r r I r II !_^ ^^^^Z ^^Z^Ê^h^S^^^^^^Î^^^^bÊ^^^Z
BB^^^Z^^ÊZ^^CI^C^^^ZH^^^ZI-Ze^^^^Z ** ™T^ Z^^^B^Î^Î^^C^^Lh^h^Z^^^hZZ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^__^^^|^^^^^^Z^^_Z ""^^^^""^^^^mê^c^^^ ^Ε^Ξ^Ζ^Ξ^Ζ^^^^™!^^™^ΕΕ3Π^^Ζ
cresc. j J cresc.
wy»y ^^^^^^^^^^^^^■■^p^MM^ JfcJ-Jt^J-β- - ^■^■^■^■e- WmJ I mJ Γ' ρ' [ ι ^'1 Γ^ ^%0 ^w^ II· I I I | ■ l^^l^
crejc.
ii6 V
j^^ ^#^ ^ y ben marc.

I ü. ^»^_ .^ M
I^Bt2^^*^^t^Z^C^^Ï5^L^^Z^C!3Z^^^ S^^bjpVÊ-SE- ^- ^^^H^^M^^^~ ^^■^■^■■■■^■Ib^ZIjC^ÎI^ Z3Ebl23E^^^ZIZ ^^^^^^# » ^^«'i^ju^^l^. ^^^C^p^CSCÊ^- ^^^j^^p'jf ' ^/ 11'^? I f "
I ^ It y™"^MMB^Br"BP^j j^J^jMtypntp1 ^J ' ^ " ""W^B^^^^" ^ JT Κ y # Pf IJ I I k _| L^ M _] " τ ' "" £ I **"
V IjVI
S ι
harmony: this is the same augmented sixth we first encountered in bars 31-3
Ex. 14, where it similarly reawakened the Β pole of the B-G dialectic. In
coda, the Β sonority functions locally as a dominant, ushering in an Ε m
emphasis within the restatement of the main theme at bar 230. Thus it turns
that the coda does emphasise the subdominant - but the subdominant of B, n
G. The sudden shift in favour of Β continues when the theme leads to an
emphatic arrival on an Ft dominant at bar 239. The coda appears as if it has tilt
the scales towards Β in the kind of rousing shift to major common in post
Beethoven minor-mode sonata forms.
The interrupted cadence at bar 248 extends the temporary illusion of a B
major victory. An interrupted progression to (»VI often contributes to a coda's
cumulative effect in sonata-rondo form. Here it additionally underscores G
secondary meaning as submediant across the arrival of what we eventually realis
is the closing tonic scale step. It is true that Brahms remains in G instead of usin
G as part of a progression back to Β or to some other form of Β emphasi

100 PETER H. SMITH
Nevertheless, this final prolongat

a submediant. In that sense, the
elemental tonal conflict even as it initiates the inevitable resolution on G.
The Quintet's coda, along with the other passages from the finale, illustrates a
point underlying all of my analyses: that context - both temporal and formal - is
indispensable to harmonic interpretation. From the synoptic perspective of a
Schenkerian graph, there is no doubt that G is tonic and that all later-level events
arise from the elaboration of a tonally centred Ursatz. Yet in various, less final
contexts, doubts arise as to whether tonal relations should be reckoned from Β
rather than G. Throughout, formal signals play a key role in creating this seminal
tonal ambiguity. A refrain that emphasises B, a retransition that stands on an Ft
dominant, a coda that highlights B's subdominant and culminates on another Ft
dominant, a resolution of that Ft dominant to G as I>VI - all of these aspects of
tonal-formal interaction sustain the B-G dialectic as the piece unfolds in per-
formance time. Whether one wishes to engage this dialectic in relation to neo-
Riemannian concepts or to notions of a double-tonic complex, or informally
folded into a Schenkerian interpretation, there is no doubt that it constitutes an
essential component of the movement.
Formal signals are equally central to my contrasting conclusions regarding
harmonic interpretation in the Sextet. Design relationships at all levels make it
clear that the chromatic third progressions pose no challenge to the Sextet's G
diatony. Brahms marshalls conventions of ABA7 form, for instance, to confirm
rather than question G's tonic status throughout the primary theme group. I
hasten to add, however, that this point does not negate the potential benefits of
conceiving aspects of development among the Sextet's motivic harmonies in
hexatonic space or through neo-Riemannian concepts more generally.
It is also the case that formal-harmonic interaction bolsters the argument for
motivic relations among what might otherwise be incidental repetitions or trans-
formations in the String Quartet. The enharmonic equivalence of viio7/G and
viio7/Bl> - not to mention the relationship of both seventh chords to a common-tone
seventh, an F dominant and an AI» triad and dominant seventh - remains trivial
unless realised by actual progressions in a composition. That the Quartet does so
at major structural points deepens the motivic resonances as it simultaneously
brings those motivic relations to the surface. But again, my point is not that these
extra-prolongational processes should be used to question the relevance of
Schenkerian analysis, but rather that we need to expand our analytical perspective
using whatever tools seem appropriate for enrichment of our musical experience.
The tight interconnection between motivic harmony and form in all of these
movements brings us back to an aspect of Dahlhaus's Brahmsian criticism that
I mentioned at the outset. Following Adorno, Dahlhaus takes a somewhat critical
stance with respect to Brahms's formal-harmonic integration. The composer's
tendency to bind his motivic harmonies to traditional formal frameworks, he tells
us, reflects conservative resistance to motivic individuality, an assertion that can

only have a negative connotation in the Schoenbergian critical traditio

must surely have felt that tendency [of his material] and he was so
note: only 'sometimes' - 'able to do it justice ... [when] he individu
harmony by working with (rather than against) formal harmonic fun
But certainly the movements we have explored demonstrate that an ab
justice to motivic individuality was hardly beyond Brahms's consis
Whether one regards Brahms's formal-tonal conservatism as evidence
cold feet or of compositional integrity is a matter of aesthetic judgem
tening to the Sextet, Quartet and Quintet - from the perspective o
theoretical concepts seem relevant to the relationships at hand - makes
me to know where my opinion lies.
NOTES
An earlier version of this essay was read as the keynote address for the
sium presented on 9 April 2007 as part of the yearlong celebration of Br
music, entitled 'Love, Life, Spirit: the Chiara Quartet and Friends Celebra
of Brahms', at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music in th
College of Fine and Performing Arts. The author wishes to thank Steven
comments and suggestions during the preparation of this final version.
1. Carl Dahlhaus, 'Issues in Composition', in Mary Whittall (trans.), B

ticism and Modernism: Four Studies in the Music of the Later Ninete
(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1980), p. 76.
2. Dahlhaus, 'Issues in Composition', pp. 71-5.
3. Dahlhaus, 'Issues in Composition', p. 74.
4. Scholars have traced other musical links between Brahms and Wagner and Liszt, of
course. For insightful discussions of the Third Symphony from this perspective, see
Robert Bailey, 'Musical Language and Structure in the Third Symphony', in
George S. Bozarth (ed.), Brahms Studies: Analytical and Historical Perspectives
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 405-21; and David Brodbeck,
'Brahms, the Third Symphony, and the New German School', in Walter Frisch
(ed.), Brahms and His World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990),
pp. 65-80.
5. Dahlhaus, 'Issues in Composition', p. 75.
6. For a perspicacious Schenkerian analysis of the entire movement, see Lauri

Suurpää, 'The Undivided Ursatz and the Omission of the Tonic Stufe at the
Beginning of the Recapitulation', Journal of Schenkerian Studies, 1 (2005), pp.
84-90. My graph of bars 1-1 1 is congruent with Suurpää's interpretation generally
and in most details. One difference, however, arises in our reading of the top voice
in bars 5-11. Suurpää interprets the F of bar 11 as part of a broader stepwise
motion from the At of bar 5 to the B» of bar 18. I do not dispute the possibility of
hearing this stepwise continuity despite the shifts in register among its constituents
in bars 7-1 1. These shifts, nevertheless, cause me to attach a special salience to the
entrance of F at bar 1 1, which is further emphasised by the fresh entrance of lyrical

102 PETER H. SMITH
material marked espressivo. My graph

F as a neighbour to the primary note
fourth progression.
7. The tension between the two appro
Hyer, 'Tonal Intuitions in Tristan
which presents a neo-Riemannian approach explicitly as an alternative to
Schenker's, which Hyer considers inadequate to the challenges of Wagner's tonal
language; Richard Cohn, 'Maximally Smooth Cycles, Hexatonic Systems, and the
Analysis of Late-Romantic Triadic Progressions', Music Analysis, 15/i (1996), pp.
9-40, which argues that passages governed by symmetrical divisions of the octave
may break free of standard conceptions of harmonic function and hierarchy and
therefore require an alternative to Schenker's tonally centred system of analysis;
Frank Samarotto, 'Treading the Limits of Tonal Coherence: Transformation vs.
Prolongation in Selected Works of Brahms' (paper presented at the Annual Meeting
of the Society for Music Theory, Madison, WI), which responds critically and
from a Schenkerian perspective to these claims; and a recent polemical exchange
between Hyer and William Rothstein: Rothstein, review of articles on Schenker and
Schenkerian theory in Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (eds.), The New Grove Dic-
tionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edn (London: Macmillan, 2001), Journal of
Music Theory, 45/ii (2001), pp. 204-27; Hyer, Ά Reply to William Rothstein',
Journal of Music Theory, 46/i-ii (2002), pp. 347-63; and Rothstein, Ά Reply to Brian
Hyer', Journal of Music Theory, 47/i (2003), pp. 215-22.
8. For a sensible statement on the topic, see the concluding section of Cohn, 'Maxi-
mally Smooth Cycles', pp. 30-4.
9. Cohn, 'Maximally Smooth Cycles', p. 34.
10. Robert Bailey coined the term 'tonal pairing' and the related term 'double-tonic
complex'. For a representative discussion of these concepts, see his 'An Analytical
Study of the Sketches and Drafts', in Robert Bailey (ed.), Prelude and Transfiguration
from 'Tristan and Isolde' (New York: Norton, 1985), pp. 113-46. Further analytical
applications may be found in William Kinderman, 'Dramatic Recapitulation in
Wagner's Götterdämmerung9, 19th-century Music, 4/ii (1980), pp. 101-12; Kinder-
man, 'Dramatic Recapitulation and Tonal Pairing in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and
ParsifaF, in William Kinderman and Harald Krebs (eds.), The Second Practice of
Nineteenth-Century Tonality (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), pp.
178-214; William E. Benjamin, 'Tonal Dualism in Bruckner's Eighth Symphony',
in The Second Practice of Nineteenth-Century Tonality, pp. 237-58; Christopher Lewis,
Tonal Coherence in Mahler's Ninth Symphony, Studies in Musicology 79 (Ann Arbor,
MI: UMI Research Press, 1984); Harald Krebs, 'Some Early Examples of Tonal
Pairing: Schubert's "Meeres Stille" and "Der Wanderer" ', in The Second Practice of
Nineteenth-Century Tonality, pp. 17 '-33; Krebs, 'The Background Level in Some
Tonally Deviating Works of Franz Schubert', In Theory Only, 8/viii (1985), pp. 5-18;
and Kevin Korsyn, 'Directional Tonality and Intertextuality: Brahms' s Quintet Op.
88 and Chopin's Ballade Op. 38', in The Second Practice of Nineteenth-Century
Tonality, pp. 45-83. Carl Schachter presents an implicit critique of the notion that
tonal pairing in the form of directional tonality represents an irreducible departure
from the tonal norm of unification under a single overriding tonic in 'Chopin's
Fantasy, Op. 49: the Two-Key Scheme', in Joseph N. Straus (ed.), Unfoldings: Essays
in Schenkerian Theory and Analysis (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,
1999), pp. 260-88.

11. Here I develop a point powerfully argued in Samarotto, 'Treading the

Tonal Coherence'.
12. Cohn hits the nail on the head in his discussion of the hexatonic cycle in t
retransition of Brahms's Double Concerto when he states that the passage 'lead
the retransitional dominant ... [and] thus [has] a role to play in the larger A m
context of the movement as a whole' (Cohn, 'Maximally Smooth Cycles', p. 13)
contrast, I find it difficult to hear Schubert's Bl> major Piano Sonata accordin
Cohn's analysis, which asserts unconvincing premature shifts of tonal reg
both the exposition and the development. As in the Brahms passage, formal si
('leads to the retransitional dominant') make it clear that, contrary to Co
interpretation, the dominant region does not arrive until the third section of
movement's three-key exposition (bar 80) and that the tonic region does
re-emerge until the restatement of the main theme (bar 216) following the d
opment's retransitional dominant (Cohn, 'As Wonderful as Star Clusters: I
ments for Gazing at Tonality in Schubert', 19th-century Music, 22/iii [19
pp. 213-32).
13. I borrow the term 'less-final perceptions' from David Lewin, 'Music Theor
nomenology, and Modes of Perception', Music Perception, 3/iv (1986), p. 373.
14. For a full elaboration of these points, see Steven Rings, 'Tonality and Tra
mation' (PhD diss., Yale University, 2006), pp. 1-43. Also relevant is his 'Pe
spectives on Tonality and Transformation in Schubert's Impromptu in El>, D.
No. 2', Journal of Schenkerian Studies, 2 (2007), pp. 33-63, which is based on t
first part of Ch. 4 of his dissertation. Additional analytical discussions t
combine Schenkerian interpretation with neo-Riemannian insights in way
resonate with my own approach may also be found in Mark Anson-Cartwr
'Chromatic Features of E>-Major Works of the Classical Period', Music Th
Spectrum, 22/ii (2000), pp. 177-204; and Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, 'The Al^-
Complex: the Origin and Function of Chromatic Major Third Collections in
Nineteenth-Century Music', Music Theory Spectrum, 28/ii (2006), pp. 167-90.
A more theoretically oriented comparison between Schenkerian and neo-
Riemannian methodologies - one that attempts to develop 'a theory for compar-
ing theories' in that it compares and contrasts the conditions of possibility that
underlie these and Schoenbergian approaches to analysis - may be found in
Jonathan R. Pieslak, 'Conflicting Analytical Approaches to Late Nineteenth- and
Early Twentieth-Century Tonal Music: an Archaeological Examination', Theory
and Practice, 31 (2006), pp. 97-131.
15. For discussion of some of the properties of the PL and LP transformations with an
insightful application to a passage from Wagner's Die Walküre, see Brian Hyer,
'Reimag(in)ing Riemann', Journal of Music Theory, 39/i (1995), pp. 101-38.
16. Cohn, 'Maximally Smooth Cycles', p. 17 (Fig. 1).
17. Yosef Goldenberg makes this point in 'Schenkerian Voice-Leading and Neo-
Riemannian Operations: Analytical Integration without Theoretical Reconciliation',
Journal of Schenkerian Studies, 2 (2007), pp. 65-84.
18. Cohn, 'Maximally Smooth Cycles', p. 19.
19. Cohn, 'Maximally Smooth Cycles', pp. 33-4.

104 PETER H. SMITH
20. Dahinaus, 'Issues in Composition', p
21 . I borrow the term 'tight-knit' from W

Erwin Ratz. Caplin develops the conc
formal regions' as a core component of
of Formal Functions for the Instrumen
(Oxford and New York: Oxford Univers
22. The Quartet's first movement has ser

a series of scholarly polemics in the pag
debate when he critiqued David Lew
phrases; it continued with Robert P. M
analysts who have questioned the value
and these other writers in turn respon
His Past, and Modes of Music Theory', i
Analytical and Historical Perspectives (O
13-27; Kevin Korsyn, 'Brahms Researc
12/i (1993), pp. 89-103; Robert P. Mo
Analysis', Music Analysis, 22/i-ii (200
Analysis? The Concept of Unity Revi
337-51; Daniel K. L. Chua, 'Rethinking U
353-9; Jonathan D. Kramer, 'The Co
Music Analysis, 23/ii-iii (2004), pp. 36
Disagree About: a Reply to Robert P.
pp. 373-85.
23. Readers interested in a comprehensive

complement to my focus on motivi
Undivided Ursatz'
24. The explicit presence of ΑΊ at the analogous location in the recapitulation of

the main theme (bar 138) supports the idea of an implicit ΑΊ neighbour in th
exposition.
25. Here I follow the definition of an apparent seventh chord articulated in Edwar
Aldwell and Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading, 3rd edn (Belmont, CA
Wadsworth Group, 2003), pp. 553-6.
26. Patrick McCreless, 'Schenker and Chromatic Tonicization: a Reappraisal', in He

Siegel (ed.), Schenker Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp.
125-45. McCreless's study provides an important counter-argument to reader
who might object that the tension I highlight between motivic and structura
harmonic functions reflects a kind of idealised Schenkerism, as opposed to Schen-
ker's own analytical practice. It is true that McCreless finds that 'although [Schen-
ker's] theories, both early and late, tend to avoid attributing motivic status t
harmony per se, there are, in both Harmony and Free Composition, observations and
analyses that suggest a willingness to entertain such a notion when musical contex
supports it'. Yet he concludes that Schenker was 'utterly convinced of the power o
his contrapuntally based theories to explain all aspects of tonal music' and therefore
ultimately rejected 'a point of view which focuses on the purely harmonic aspect o
[an incidental chromatic sonority] and raises it to the status of a motive in and of
itself (135).

27. Allen Forte asserts similar connections in the Quartet between his mo
(the ΑΉΟ-Β diminished triad), his motive beta bar prime (C-E^-AJO a
Ft-A-C-B diminished seventh chord in 'Motivic Design and Structural L
the First Movement of Brahms's String Quartet in C Minor', in Michael M
(ed.), Brahms 2: Biographical, Documentary and Analytical Studies (Cambri
bridge University Press, 1987), pp. 193-6.
28. Some relevant articles on the topic include Julian Hook, 'Cross-Type Tr
tions and the Path Consistency Condition', Music Theory Spectrum, 29/ii
1-39; Dmitri Tymoczko, 'Voice Leadings as Generalized Key Signatures',
Theory Online, 11/iv (2005); Graham G. Hunt, 'Transformational Redu
Cross-Analytical Approach to Richard Strauss' Im Abendrot9, in Nico Schu
On Methods of Music Theory and (Ethno-) Musicology: from Interdisciplinar
to Teaching (Frankfurt am Main and New York: Peter Lang, 2005), pp.
Clifton Callender, 'Continuous Transformations', Music Theory Online,
(2004); Richard Conn, 'ATetrahedral Graph of Tetrachordal Voice-Leadi
Music Theory Online, 9/iv (2003); and Jack Douthett and Peter Steinba
monious Graphs: a Study in Parsimony, Contextual Transformations, and
Limited Transposition', Neo-Riemannian Theory, special issue, Journal
Theory, 42/ii (1998), pp. 241-63.
29. My notion of a family of harmonies based on common-tone connections with an
axial diminished seventh chord is similar to ideas developed by Benjamin Boretz in
his Tristan prelude analysis in 'Meta- Variations, Part IV: Analytical Fallout (I)',
Perspectives of New Music, 1 1/i (1972), pp. 146-223. Boretz engages half-diminished
seventh chords in his formulations in addition to dominant and fully diminished
sevenths. He also develops his concepts independently of the idea of neo-
Riemannian transformations, which were not yet current at the time of his
theorising.
30. I explore both harmonic and rhythmic-metric components of linkage in 'New
Perspectives on Brahms's Linkage Technique', Intégral, 21 (2007), pp. 109-54.
31. Roger C. Graybill notes this function for the diminished seventh in 'Brahms's
Three-Key Expositions: Their Place within the Classical Tradition' (PhD diss.,Yale
University, 1983), p. 157.
32. The first reinterpretation of the common-tone chord as viio7/G occurs within the
tonic area itself at bar 18. The B-Ft leap of the first violin in bar 2 returns as an
outer-voice interval at bar 18 to help solidify the connection, as Graybill observes
('Brahms's Three-Key Expositions', p. 139). Brahms follows a similar procedure
in the first movement of the Third Symphony: the common-tone diminished
seventh in the opening motto returns as vii°3/V in bar 6. He may very well have
learned this strategy from Schubert, who features it prominently in the first move-
ment of his C major String Quintet. See the reinterpretation of the common-tone
diminished seventh of bars 3-4 as viio7/V in bars 9, 57 and 75.
33. See Graybill, 'Brahms's Three-Key Expositions', pp. 139-42; and Forte, 'Motivic
Design and Structural Levels', p. 178.
34. The recapitulatory transposition of the secondary material to the tonic level, i.e. by
minor third, dictates that the same vii°7 chords will return, but now to emphasise the
home dominant, in a further manifestation of the motivic relationship between
viio7/G and viio7/Bk

106 PETER H. SMITH
35. The finale of the Quartet provid

motivic f chord and a developme
ment's main theme returns in the
94. Brahms, however, reinterpre
same type of incidental ' found in
another developmental modulation
ways in which the motivic % chor
Quartet, see my 'Brahms and Moti
195-200.
36. See Suurpää, 'The Undivided Ursatz', pp. 84-91, for an analysis that argues
convincingly for a prolongational connection between the Gjt scale step earlier in
the development and the expanded Gt/AI» ' chord of the formal overlap in the
recapitulation.
37. John Daverio explores Brahms's engagement with this type of sonata-rondo hybrid
and its roots in Mozart's compositional practice in 'From "Concertante Rondo" to
"Lyric Sonata": a Commentary on Brahms's Reception of Mozart', in David
Brodbeck (ed.), Brahms Studies, vol. 1 (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press,
1994), pp. 111-38. An earlier, somewhat less comprehensive examination may be
found in Robert Pascall, 'Some Special Uses of Sonata Form by Brahms', Sound-
ings, 4 (1974), pp. 58-63. Joel Galand analyzes movements of this type as part of his
discussion of the eighteenth-century rondo idea and its interaction with various
binary and ritornello forms in 'Form, Genre, and Style in the Eighteenth-Century
Rondo', Music Theory Spectrum, 17/i (1995), pp. 27-52; and 'Some Eighteenth-
Century Ritornello Scripts and Their Nineteenth-Century Revivals', Music Theory
Spectrum, 30/ii (2008), pp. 239-82.
38. On the importance of sensitivity to multiple listening contexts and 'less-final per-
ceptions' for musical analysis, see Lewin, 'Music Theory, Phenomenology, and
Modes of Perception'.
39. Dahinaus, 'Issues in Composition', p. 75.
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Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publ
108 PETER H. SMITH
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ABSTRACT
In his classic essay 'Issues in Composition', Carl Dahlhaus pos

relationship in Brahms between the function of harmony as a so
'individualisation' and as a basis for large-scale formal organisatio
tic may be profitably engaged in light of the current debate betw

110 PETER H. SMITH
and neo-Riemannian views of har

Quartet in C minor and String
studies.
These case studies demonstrate the insights that both Schenkerian and neo-
Riemannian perspectives might afford while drawing attention to the need to
engage the two approaches critically to achieve a deeper analytical understand-
ing. The analyses also underscore the importance of formal context and temporal
perspective in evaluating harmonic relationships. The presence of tonally centred
prolongational structures in no way denies the potential for neo-Riemannian
perspectives to shed light on aspects of the development of Brahms's motivic
harmonies. Parsimonious transformations in the motivic dimension likewise do
not invalidate Schenkerian insights into each movement's rock-solid articulation
of its tonality. Brahms's range of compositional strategies requires a flexible
analytical response, sufficiently consistent to be by implication theoretically
coherent, yet subtly differentiated in the specific Schenkerian and neo-
Riemannian explorations.


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Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal Theory: Three Case Studies from the

Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal

In his classic essay 'Issues in Composition', Carl Dahlhaus marshalls insig

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) 63

String Sextet in G major. Op.

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. la Brahms, String Sextet in G major, Op. 36/i, bars 1-67

Allegro non troppo ι - theme la^.

vici jy*| -== - ΞΞ : Ξ - jjp "Q ^P ^^Ξ^^

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Í-4JLJ1 li Ii^iJi " ι

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

CTo7 C^(=Ab) V7/Bl>

Via BÎTBjJJJj j ^^ $ ^ J· ^ ^ ^=f ξ

Λίι/5/ί: Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Ex. 2b Brahms, String Quartet

*> "Γ Τ 'Γ [^c^r^M

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

symmetry in no way challenges the control of the G diatony. T

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

traces ways in which the cod

Case Study I: Chromatic Third Relations and Tonal Function

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. 3a Schenkerian and neo-Riemannian derivations of Brahms's motivic

p!| t 11^8 ft ||^ g »Hi

Ex. 3b Cohn's hyper-hexatonic system ('Maximally Smooth Cycles, Hexatonic

I / Western ' I I Eastern )

hexatonic region. Categorisation according to Ρ and L transforma

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Quartet's diatonic progression

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

there is only a broken line joining Β and B. G is not merely one po

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Ex. lb). In contrapuntal terms, t

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. 4 Brahms, String Sextet in G major. Op. 36/i, bars 407-418

(bVI) V2/HI bll6

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Ex. 5 Brahms, String Sextet in G

^JJ^Jj^Íl»rj^J ^uj^jj gj^j

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. 6 PL transformation for El^-B progression

(Eb major) - [pE|-»(Bli major)

of Β for Β highlights the br

Case Study II: Source Harmonies and Motivic Process in the

Having explored some benefits of supplementing a Schenkerian approach with

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

among different types of ch

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

within the opening phrase: the harmonies enter on successive downb

bx. 7 Voice-leading connections between motivic chords

DN UV7 (-Eb ( vii°7 ) Al|-] V7J Ab

Music Analysis^ 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

nant triads, of pitch-class sets of

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Music Analysis^ 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

- -_ " ' J* cr«c.

""^J J J J J fcjF - ^ J ^ g J ^^^-^= ^=ρσ=

© 2010 The Author. Music Analysis, 28/i (2009)

Ex. 8b Motivic path for diminished seventh chord

[Õ| VÍÍ°7/V V-S-^=S~S^-*

that apparent chord

Music Analysis, 28/i (2009) © 2010 The Author.

Ex. 9 Brahms, String Quartet in

Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal Theory

Brahms's Motivic Harmonies and Contemporary Tonal Theory

ryf Fill 35lji I I ~ I " I " imjJ JJ^JIJ JJ

y fl r n~=n r t.- =p^^^ κ y ^^^ ι, ^ κ ι κ ^ ι ϊτ^