Modality and the Melodic Foreground

Roger Solie

Part II

[8] Initial weak APs-i.e., nontonic upbeats to 1°, or 5° at db⁰:
In this situation, a principle of metric stability comes into play: at the very beginning of a theme, especially a theme at the beginning of a movement, it's important to establish the meter, and therefore knowing which note is db⁰ is crucial. Db⁰ must be made in some way prominent, and among the options are that it be higher, longer, louder, ornamented, accompanied by a change of harmony (or the onset of harmony), etc. This implies that the preferred upbeat forms will be those in which db⁰ is the higher note; and so in the case of initial upbeats to the tonic, the rising AP to db⁰ is preferred:

7-1°: EX 8-1 -all eleven of them
2-1°: Just two, both in 4-2|1° complexes: EX 8-2

For an initial upbeat to 3°, the ascending AP to db⁰ is likewise preferred, even though the 2-3° AP is otherwise infrequent:

2-3°: 12 examples (!): EX 8-3
4-3°: just three, EX 8-4

Only in the case of an upbeat to 5° is the upper upbeat preferred to begin a theme, no doubt because of the tonal disruptiveness of the #4°, and the fact that 4-5° is simply unavailable:

#4-5°: three instances: EX 8-5
6-5°: eight examples, including three in complex upbeats: EX 8-6

There occur no 4-5° initial (weak) APs.

[9] Strong APs
-i.e., those in which the nontonic pitch is stronger metrically than the tonic pitch to which it proceeds-are ubiquitous and apparently free, except for 4-5°, which again is extremely rare: the few counter-instances to this are shown in EXAMPLE 9 (and again those from the Schubert dances feel less like genuine APs than by-products of the keyboard style). Notice the incipits from SQ K.170/ii and the Vn-Pf Rondo WoO 41, 22: even though the onset of the 4° occurs on a weak beat, its re-articulation at the downbeat produces the effect, I think, of a strong AP (an interpretation I have tried to be consistent about).

Likewise, "tonic APs" (weak or strong) to nontonic notes-1-2°, 5-4°, etc-are apparently all unrestricted. The nontonic AP to a nontonic target note, 6-7°, another rising whole-step, is again exceptionally rare.

[10] Gracenotes
Small (written or printed) notes in general occupy a position in a sense indeterminate between strong and weak beats. While the interpretation of some varieties as true appoggiaturas-notes of measured length, borrowing for their duration an appreciable fraction of the length of the ensuing "target note"-is relatively non-controversial standard practice, just as often small notes, slashed or not, allow considerable freedom to the performer, and will be played slowly or quickly, on the beat or before it, in a manner that can vary with the time, the place, and the performer.

We will here adopt a naïve notational approach: all the small notes, slashed or not, will briefly be considered (under the term "gracenotes," or GNs): first in general, then with respect to situations in which the GN is also what we have termed an AP: a nontonic note in the incipit of a theme, approached disjunctly and moving by step to a tonic pitch.

[11] Gracenotes in the Incipits
We will limit our discussion to those occurring within intervals of a third or smaller. Thus excluded are GNs of a larger leap, grace-note arpeggios, "drumrolls" and some other figures; we also exclude the Nachschlag and Vorschlag to trills. In addition, we will take up just those occurring within the incipits (sometimes as late as the first cadence) of a melody.

Also, we here discuss only those notated as gracenotes-i.e., in small notes, with or without a slash-although many figures notated in large notes and measured rhythm (for example, and similar figures) amount to the same thing, and follow the same principles. On the other hand, we consider them regardless of customary performance mode-slow, fast, on or before the beat.

Rising Single (Stepwise) Grace-notes:
In general, these occur only by half-step. (The exceptional cases are discussed below.) Here is a relatively complete list of the 1/2-step rising singlet GN, in the incipits of our repertory, illustrated in EX 11-1 unless otherwise indicated:

7-8°: EX 11-1 [6]
Pf Son H. 35/i
Pf Son H.37/i
Pf Son H.43/i, 12
SQ H.63/iii
Sym H.83/i, 45
SQ D.87/ii

#6-7°:
SQ Op.18#1/iii, trio (EX 8-1)

#5-6°:
Ecossaise D.529/#2 (EX 11-1)
SQ H.63/iii (EX 11-1)

#4-5° (EX 11-1) [7]
Pf Son H.20/ii
SQ H.39/i, 2
Pf Son K.279/ii
Vn Son K.378/ii
Pf Son K.330/i, 19
Sym K.550/iv, 70
Ruins Op.113/#4

3-4°:
Sym Op.92/i, 67 (EX 11-1) [8]

#2-3°:
Str Trio-Div, K.563/i, 27 (EX 11-1) [9]

#1-2°:
Sym Op.60/iii, trio (EX 11-1) [10]

(The point of these and similar lists is to convey a rough idea of the relative frequency of GNs at different pitch-levels; they do not necessarily include all GNs in sequence, imitation, accompaniment, or late in the theme.)

The majority of the rising (half-step) GNs occur in one of two contexts: either the melody leaps down directly after the target note, or the target note occurs at the beginning or in the middle of a series of repeated pitches. (To ornament only the last in a series of repeated pitches, however, the preferred GN is as one can see in several instances in EX 11-1; but cf. also Pf Son H.20/ii in EX 11-1 for an example of the rising half-step GN in this context). Other incipits of this example illustrate further uses for the rising singlet GN, including ornamenting an arpeggio.

All of the very few exceptions I have found to the half-step rule-that is, rising whole-step grace-notes-are shown in

EX 11-2:
Pf Son H.27/i, 24 (2-3°)
Bar Trio H. 5/i (5-6°)
Bar Min H.23? (2-3°)
Bar Trio H.47/i (2-3°)
SQ H.58/iii, trio (2-3°)
Min K.176#8 (2-3°)
Contradance K.267/#4 (5-6°)
Min K.315a/#5 (1-2°)
Ländler K.606/#3 (2-3°)
SQ D.804/iv (5-6°)

Many of these occur in sequence or in imitation, and in all of them the grace-note is preceded by another fairly quick note a whole-step below the target note, making the insertion of a chromatic rising half-step GN fussy; if the tempo were slow enough, a (chromatically-altered) half-step GN would in most cases sound just fine. But the Schubert example (SQ D.804/iv) is a genuine exception: changing the GN to a #5 would, I think, be a terrible idea-evidently this touches something characteristic in Schubert's style.

Notice that even in these exceptions, however, there occur no 4-5° GNs.

Falling single-note (stepwise) GNs:
These are ubiquitous, and we won't begin to list all of them. They occur readily at all diatonic pitch-levels (and are often, of course performed as measured notes, that is, true appoggiaturas). The two most common contexts of their use are:

• as an ornament to the first of a series of repeated notes: EX 11-3, the first four incipits; and
• applied to a note which is followed directly by a stepwise descent: cf. EX 11-3, the last five incipits.

However, EX 11-4 also shows this type of GN used in other contexts. Particularly common is the usage in which the GN is the first note in a four-note turn-figure: or some similar rhythm, as in several instances in EX 11-3, EX 11-4, in EX 11-11 below, and elsewhere.

Doublet GNs (again, within the compass of a third):

This is most commonly used to ornament a target note which generally pauses to descend, or descends not too quickly (EX 11-5, first 4 incipits); or leaps down (EX 11-5, next 4); or in a few cases simply stops-i.e., ends the phrase (EX 11-5, next 2). It is also used in multiple ornamented repercussions (EX 11-5, last 2).

The simple ascending-3rd grace-note:

This I've considered a variant of the type above, used in the same situations: the target note descends, by step or leap: EX 11-6. I don't find any of these used to end a phrase, however. (Mozart writes very few of these; Schubert a great many, especially in his dances.)

The inversion, is used almost exclusively by Schubert (EX 11-7); the only non-Schubert instance is the Mozart in this example). Usually the ornamented note is preceded by its upper neighbor.[11]

The type does not occur in this repertory.

Two other (quasi-) stepwise two-note GN-figures occur less frequently: The figure, grace-notes in the form of a "mordent" or "neighbor tone" occurs (by my count) just 18 times in these incipits (in Haydn twice, Mozart not at all; the rest are in Beethoven and Schubert):

EXAMPLE 11-8[12]
SQ Op.127/iv, 20
Lied D.795/#12
Octet D.803/iv
Lied D.213
Pf Trio Op 97/iv
Sym Op.68/iii, 59

In many of these the ornamented note is preceded by a leap, or by nothing at all (as the first note of the incipit), or by its upper neighbor (which makes the use of somewhat awkward), or by a note of the same pitch (which especially in Haydn usually calls for the figure; see "Three-note GN figures" below).

The figure -"neighbor changing-notes" in grace-note form-I find in just four instances:

EXAMPLE 11-9
SQ H.66/i
Lenore Ov Op.138, 57
Pf Son H.30/ii
Pf Conc K.452c

In all of them the ornamented note is the second of two repeated pitches, a situation where Haydn especially uses the figure-see directly below.

Three-note GN figures:

These are used very commonly by Haydn-I count about 60 instances-and successively less often by Mozart and Beethoven; in Schubert I find just three (one of which can be seen in EX 11-10; the other two occur in Deutsch D.783/#15 and Deutsch D.420/#4).

Which version occurs depends largely on the line following the target note: if the note following the target note descends (by step or leap) then is used; if it rises, then the choice is . The result is that the final grace-note, the target note, and its successor form a line.

The predominant use of this figure is as an ornament to only the last note in a series of two or more repeated pitches (EX 11-10, first 3 incipits; see also in EX 11-1: Sym Op.92/i, 67; SQ H.39/i, Pf Son K.279/ii, Vn Son K.378/ii) ; secondarily, to ornament a note succeeded by an upward leap (mostly in Haydn) (EX 11-10, next four); once in a while something else (EX 11-10, last five).

[12] Gracenotes as APs
Returning now to our discussion of APs, we take up those singlet GNs whose context makes them technically APs, as we've defined them here-that is, nontonic notes applied to 1°, 3°, or 5°, and preceded either by a skip or (at a theme's beginning) by nothing at all; this is in contrast to those gracenotes which are technically neighbor tones-"NTs"-or "PTs," passing tones.

The three kinds of APs that are controlled or avoided altogether are 2-1°, 2-3°, and 4-5°. Since lower whole-step grace-notes are also essentially avoided, the issue of their treatment when they are literally APs hardly arises: The 4-5° grace-note is basically not used. The few 2-3° grace-notes that occur (EX 11-2), are all, as we noted, preceded by a note of the same pitch-i.e., 2°-and seem to carry an effect analogous to that of an ordinary note entering on a relatively weak beat but re-articulated at the downbeat, as discussed in ¶ [9] above: that of a strong-beat (and so unrestricted) AP. (And it is difficult to imagine these grace-notes being performed before the beat.)

We also noted that the 2-3° weak AP was more acceptable when applied to db⁰, apparently because it better marks the higher 3° as the downbeat (¶ [8]; EX 8-3/8-4). However, this does not hold for grace-notes applied to db⁰: I find no initial 2-3° GNs in this repertory. Presumably the brevity of the GN leaves no doubt about which note is db⁰, no matter which note is higher; and in fact in such situations the upper and lower GNs are used about equally to ornament db⁰, except in the case of the 3°. (There occur of course no 4-5° initial GNs; #4-5° is used instead. Neither do I find any #2-3° initial GNs.)

Finally, we have to consider the case 2-1°: it's somewhat controlled as a weak AP, but not as a strong one. So is 2-1° as a GN similarly controlled, or not? Most singlet 2-1° GNs proceed on to 7°, usually in a 2171° turn-figure of some kind, and so if they are technically APs (that is, preceded by a leap or nothing at all) they are treated as carefully as weak 2-1° APs would be (EX 11-11). The remainder occur mostly in 4-2|1° or 7-2|1° formations (and of course many 2-1° GNs aren't APs at all). I can find just two cases in which, if the 2-1° GN is considered a weak AP, its treatment is anomalous: Vn Conc K.218/i, 42 (EX 11-3); and Deutsch D.135, trio (EX 11-11). And of course, if the 2-1° GN is considered a strong AP, its use is unrestricted.

[13] To summarize the treatment of nontonic APs in this repertory:
Strong APs are used freely, except for the 4-5° AP, which is exceptionally rare.

Weak APs are more restricted: the 4-5° AP is virtually forbidden, the 2-3° AP is quite strictly controlled, and the 2-1° weak AP is less rigidly controlled.

Initial (weak) APs-those applied to db⁰-follow similar principles, except that here the 2-3° AP more commonly occurs.

Gracenotes APs follow essentially the same rules as weak APs, except that the 2-3° GN AP is avoided, whether it's applied to db⁰ or not.

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Continue to Section III
References and Appendix

©Roger Solie, 2006

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