Modality and the Melodic Foreground

Roger Solie

Part III

NTs in the incipit

[14]
We now move on to the consideration of "neighbor tones" (NTs) in the incipit: nontonic tones interpolated between repetitions of 1°, 3°, or 5°; NTs only in the sense that if the whole is considered to be harmonized with the tonic, they are "dissonant" with this harmony.

Because the treatment of nontonic "neighbor tones" and especially "passing tones" (PTs, ¶ [18-31]) in the incipits of these melodies is more sensitive to rhythmic context than is the treatment of nontonic "appoggiaturas," we are going to discuss NTs and especially PTs in terms of seven "diagnostic rhythms," labeled alpha through eta, with their variants and elaborations, as illustrated in EXAMPLE 14 with the 1-7-1° NT:

rhythm alpha:
SQ Op.127/iv, 20
Fl-Hp Conc K.299/iii, 58
Pf Conc K.466/i, 33 (three uncomplicated examples)
Zbhfe D.644/Ov, 166
Octet D.803/iv (these two are elaborations of an alpha-rhythm)
Str 5t Op.29/i
Pf Son D.959/iv
Vc Son Op.69/iii
Pf Son K.333/iii, 16 (These four are "away from db⁰"; the last actually before db⁰.)

What makes all these "alpha rhythms" is that they preserve the "rhythmic profile"-in this case an accent pattern of 132 (1 strongest) on the pitches 1°-7°-1°, respectively-and the first two elements, the initial 1° and the 7°, are equidurational.

rhythm beta: (EX 14)
Ser Op.25/ii
SQ H.66/iv

rhythm gamma: (EX 14)
SQ H.81/i, 39
Sym D.944/iii, 70

rhythm delta: (EX 14)
Pf Conc K.459/i, 16
WW 8t Op.103/iv, 32

rhythm epsilon: (EX 14)
SQ K.458/ii
Fig K.492/#8, 9

rhythm zeta: (EX 14)
Str 5t Op.29/i, above (at db⁰)
SQ H.79/i
Sym Op.92/iii, trio (and any other "dotted rhythm" in which the proportion of the first note to the second quick note is 3:1 or greater)

rhythm eta: (EX 14)
Sym H.100/i, 94
Sym Op.125/ii, 438
WW Ser K.388/iii, trio (off db⁰)

[15]
The consideration of NTs need not detain us long. There is essentially just one salient feature that I can discover: 5°-4°-5° NTs are so rare as to be virtually forbidden. EXAMPLE 15 attempts to list all such occurrences in the incipits of our repertory, in any rhythm:

EXAMPLE 15
Fig K.492/#18, 44
Pf Son Op.110/i
Pf Trio Op.70#2/ii
Pf Trio D.929/iv
Orch Ser K.247/vi, 40
Lucio Silla K.135/#7, 70
Rondo capriccioso, pf, Op.129
Vn Conc K.207/i, 15
Deutsch K.586/#8, trio
Variations, Pf Duo, D.968a, thema
Ländler D.378/#1
Clock-Piece H.18
Sym K.162/i, 31
Pf Trio H.16/i

This is out of a total of ca. 765 examples of incipit NT-figures in our six diagnostic rhythms, not including modifications and elaborations of these basic patterns. Some of these, moreover, are obviously the by-product of implied two-voice counterpoint, imitation, etc. [13]

Otherwise, essentially every NT-figure on any scale-degree may occur in any rhythm. However, to judge by the distribution of NTs, some varieties are preferable to others, viz:

• as an NT to 1°, prefer (quite markedly) 1-7-1° to 1-2-1°; there occur many more 1-7-1° NTs than 1-2-1°s;
• as an NT to 5°, prefer 5-6-5° to 5-#4-5°; there occur more 5-6-5° NT's than 5-#4-5° NTs;
• as an NT to 3°, slightly prefer 3-4-3° to 3-2-3°; there are just a few more 3-4-3°s than 3-2-3°s.

It appears, then, that half-step NTs are preferred to whole-step NTs, and (to a lesser degree) lower NTs are preferred to upper NTs; except that the 5-6-5° is preferred over 5-#4-5°, presumably because of the potentially disruptive tonal effect of the #4°. [14]

Moreover, the total distribution of NT-types within any given rhythm roughly parallels the order of freedom in the APs:

	AP	NT
free	7-1°	1-7-1°	more frequent
	6-5°	5-6-5°
	#4-5°	5-#4-5°
	4-3°	3-4-3°
	2-1°	3-2-3°
restricted	2-3°	1-2-1°	less frequent
	(4-5°)	(5-4-5°)

The only deviation occurs in those NTs in which 2° is the central pitch: from the behavior of APs, one might expect the 3-2-3° NT to be less common than 1-2-1°: it is, in those rhythms like epsilon and zeta (and possibly eta), in which it most closely approximates a weak AP; but in others, like alpha and beta rhythms, apparently it is preferred to 1-2-1° because it is a lower, not an upper, NT. In delta rhythms, it is important to mark the metrically-dominant central pitch by the upper note, and so 1-2-1° NTs slightly predominate. (In gamma-rhythms, possibly the last two pitches resemble a strong AP, in which -2-3° would be permissible.)

The table below enumerates examples of NT-figures both on and off db⁰ (but excluding elaborations and modifications):

[16]
In the alpha and beta rhythms, the first note of a 3-2-3° NT is frequently stressed with an ornament, apparently to ensure that it gathers up the ensuing 2° and 3° into a single rhythmic group: EX 16-1.

The preference for lower half-step (as opposed to lower whole-step) NTs also shows in the common substitution of 3-#2-3° for 323°: EX 16-2.

Elaborations of NT-figures are relatively rare, and usually consist of composing-out the second (or second and third) pitches of the figure, while the first remains a single note. Some typical examples are given in EX 16-3. Particularly common is the elaboration of the 1-2-1° NT in alpha rhythms by replacing the 2° with a turn, as in the last ten incipits of EX 16-3.

The evident fertility of a formula like throws into relief the question of translatability: is its translation up third: equally as useful?

Evidently not; apart from instances occurring in sequence (such as in Sym H.100/ii and Pf Son K.309/iii, 19 of EX 16-3), I find just one real (and highly-elaborated) candidate:

As often happens, then, we find the translated version of a common Classic-theme motif to be not so utterly awkward as to be completely useless in the incipit, not in violation of any general principle that we can discover; but nevertheless somehow slightly more awkward, and so less common in the repertory, than the original model.

(One possible explanation here, though, is this: the figure is similar to , and the bracketed part can be considered a variant of a gamma-rhythm PT-figure [see below, ¶ [24]. These are common at pitch-level 123°, but at pitch-level 345° are used only by Beethoven among our composers, and then infrequently: see below, ¶ [24] and EX 24-3.)

[17] Summarizing the treatment of nontonic scale-degrees in NT-figures in this repertory:
5°-4°-5° NT-figures are avoided; 5°-#4°-5° is frequently used instead.

323° and 121° NT-figures occur relatively infrequently compared to those on other scale-steps, presumably because the rhythmic, metric, and other musical circumstances that make them appropriate, circumstances we cannot yet specify with any real precision, occur more rarely.

The other possibilities: 1-7-1°, 5-6-5°, 3-4-3° (and 5-#4-5°), occur freely, though in varying frequencies, 5-#4-5° being in most rhythms the least-common of these. The neighbor-tone figure is evidently a situation in which the nontonic note can be treated with somewhat greater freedom that it can in AP-figures; one might say the NT absorbs these tones better. This is even more true of quasi-passing-tone figures, to be discussed next: in these, the nontonic note is treated more freely still.

PTs in the incipit

[18]
We will now examine passing-tone patterns as they occur in the incipits of the melodies in our repertory. Since within a PT-figure any diatonic pitch may occur freely (unlike the situation with APs and NTs), most of what we say will have to do with the way the "nontonic" pitch, the central note of the PT-pattern, is treated, and specifically whether and how it is connected with the pitch that follows it, generally by the two most common means of connection: the trill and the turn.

Moreover, we will concentrate on the 1-5° region of the scale, since many more incipits use PT-patterns from that region of the scale than from the 5-8° region, and that is where issues of translation more readily arise. In the 1-5° region of the scale, we will consider incipits in our seven "diagnostic rhythms" separately (but with delta-rhythms out of order: alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon, zeta, delta, eta).

Incipit PTs in the 1°-5° region of the scale

RHYTHM ALPHA
Since this rhythm is so common in the PT-patterns found in these incipits, we will split its discussion into separate pitch-levels: 1-2-3°, 3-4-5°, 5-4-3°, and 3-2-1° PTs.

[19] Pitches 123°, alpha rhythm:
There occur in this repertory a great many unelaborated simple versions of straight 1°-2°-3° incipits in the alpha rhythm; four typical examples are shown in

EXAMPLE 19-1
Trp Conc H.1/i
Vn Conc K.216/i, 19
Pf Trio Op.97/ii
Sym D.944/ii, 24

When this pitch-sequence is elaborated, it usually becomes two or three co-equal and motivically-related groups. That is, the elaborations are usually in the motivic form AAA (the "anaphor") or AAB (bar-form):

EXAMPLE 19-2
Pf Son H.41/i, 20
Entf K.384/#12
Pf Conc K.503/i, 58
Sinf Conc K.364/iii
Sym K.183/i, 59
Vn Son Op 12 #3/iii

In effect, this kind of construction ensures that the motive carrying the 2° pivots-is rhythmically equipoised between the 1° and the 3°-rather than grouping back with the 1° or forward with the 3°; and this treatment of 2° in this rhythm is characteristic. Since the 4° in the sequence 5-4-3° is treated similarly, let us now promulgate

PRINCIPAL ONE: In alpha-rhythm PT formations moving to 3°-i.e., 1-2-3° or 5-4-3°-the second pitch, or the motive containing it, is by preference clearly pivoted. It is very occasionally grouped back, but is only rarely grouped forward to the 3° (except in the "articulated elaboration" 1-2°, 2-3° pattern; see directly below).

This pitch-sequence is also subject to several kinds of "articulated elaboration"; some of the common schemes are:

[1-2, 2-3°] EXAMPLE 19-3
SQ H.46/i
Pf Son K.280/ii, 9
SQ D.87/ii
Ser Op.8/ii
[1-2, 3-4°] Pf Son H.51/i, 26
Sym H.101/iii
SQ H.34/iii
SQ K.169/iii
Sym H.76/iv (= Sym H.76/iv, 37)
and very occasionally [1-2, 3-2°] Prometheus Op.43/#14, 57

But what we very seldom find in alpha-rhythms is a grouping like [1, 23°]. One possible candidate is SQ H.32/i (EX 19-3), in which the motive containing the 2° is very slightly connected forward, in a way that sounds more Baroque than Classic; cf. the Jeremiah Clarke Trumpet Voluntary tune, or the famous Händel aria:

Another typical elaboration of this schema is the interpolation of notes between the principal pitches. In the case of 123°, the pitches are more often chosen from below: [15]

EXAMPLE 19-4
Sym H.101/iii
Pf Son H.37/iii, 40
SQ Op.59#2/ii
Fig K.492/#12, 9
Vn Son Op.12#3/iii
Pf Son D.850/i, 40
SQ Op.135/iv, 32
Str Trio Op.9#3/i, 48

Trills and turns: The usual function of a turn, and the most common purpose of a trill, is to connect a note or a group forward. Principle One above implies that we should find few trills or turns on 2° in 1-2-3° alpha rhythms, since we don't want the 2° to connect to the 3°; and this is indeed the case. The small number that do occur (out of about 165 instances of 1-2-3° alpha incipits) are all shown in:

EXAMPLE 19-5
Fl/Ob Conc K.314/iii
Bar Trio H.3/i
Vn Romanza, Op.50
Sym K.183/i, 59
SQ K.156/ii, 5
Vn Conc K.207/iii,77
Hn Conc H.3/iii
Lira notturno H.26/iii
Cosi K.588/#31, 372

In the first three of these examples (K.314/iii, Bar Trio H.3/i; Romanza Op.50), there is an upbeat that groups the 1° back and so helps the 123° sequence cleanly divide between 1° and 2°; in the next two (Sym K.183/i, 59; SQ K.156/ii, 5), each pitch of the 123° sequence carries the trill or turn, which neutralizes its connecting effect; in K.207/iii possibly the first 16ths after the 3°, along with the contour, pull it away from the 2° trill. These are subtle grouping effects, the relative strength of which one does not know how to calculate. The Hn Conc H.3/iii is a relatively early piece (1762), and may reflect the lingering Baroque style, in which the trill on 2° in this situation is common.

However, we must now add PRINCIPLE TWO: for some reason, 6/8 turns are appropriate in this situation, as they seem to be almost everywhere. I don't have any real idea why.

EXAMPLE 19-6
Sym H.76/i, 56
Pf Conc K.595/iii, 65
Pf Sonatine Anh 5#1/ii (spurious?)
Lira Conc H.2/iii

[20] Pitches 345° in alpha rhythm

Representative simple examples:

EXAMPLE 20-1
Sym H.101/iv
Sym K.425/i, 20
Sym Op.36/iii, trio
SQ D.112/iii, trio

Here, trills and turns (including 6/8 turns) on the 4° are quite acceptable:

EXAMPLE 20-2 [16]
Vn Son K.454/i, 14
Pf Conc K.456/iii, 58
Pf Rondo Op 51#2
SQ D.804/i, 59
Bar Trio H.52/ii
Fl 4t K.298/iii, 13
Vn-Pf Rondo WoO 41, 22
Rosamunde D797/ballet, 139

Evidently, then, the 4° here is free to group strongly forward, by means of an ornament, to the 5° (in a way that 2° does not with 3° in parallel situations). Less often, but not rarely, the 4° can be grouped backwards, via duration, articulation, or contour, with the preceding 3°:

EXAMPLE 20-3
Str 5t sketch K.515c, 31
Pf Son Op.7/ii
SQ H.40/iii
Pf Trio H.11/ii
Idom K.366/#9, 117
Pf Conc K.488/iii, 62
Pf 4t K.478/iii, 43
Vn Son Op.12#1/iii
SQ H.38/iv
Pf Son K.457/i, 23
Pf 4t K.493/iii, 72
SQ H.70/iii, trio

Strictly speaking, not all of the incipits in this example are alpha-rhythms, but they all illustrate in some form the grouping [34, 5°], a grouping which has few if any [12, 3°] (as opposed to [12, 23°] ) analogs.

Finally, a "pivoted"-equipoised-4° in this situation, either simply or with bar or anaphoric elaboration, is also common:

EXAMPLE 20-4
Vc Conc H.2/iii
SQ H.74/i, 54
Vn Rondo D.895, 347
Pf Son Op.106/i, 4
Deutsch, vn & pf, WoO 42/#5
Sym H.81/i, 51
Orch Ser K.320/ii, trio
Str 5t K.516/iii

There are few 3-4-5° counterparts to the "articulated elaborations" that occur at the 1-2-3° pitch-level (EX 19-3)-that is, I find no plausible examples of an incipit pattern like [3-4, 4-5°] or [3-4, 5-4°], and just a few of [3-4, 5-6°] (Idom K.366/#9, 117, and Str 5t K.515c, 31 in EX 20-3; and also SQ D.112/iii, trio in EX 20-1). Nor are the articulated 123° patterns commonly translated into 543° or 321° schemas, even though an incipit schemas like [3-2, 2-1°] or [5-4, 4-3°] would seem useful. (The second term of a [3-4, 4-5°] pattern might possibly too-closely resemble the avoided 4°-5° AP, but what, if anything, accounts for the neglect or avoidance of these other possibilities I can't say. Cf. ¶¶ [21] and [22] ).

Instead, at the 3-4-5° pitch-level in alpha rhythms the elaboration of the line by interpolated pitches is quite common, as in [3-4-2-5°]; [3-2-4-3-5°], [3-1-4-2-5°], etc. We have already seen instances of this in EX 20-3 above; here are some others:

EXAMPLE 20-5
Pf Trio D.898/ii, 3
Pf Conc K.482/iii, 218
Pf Son Op.110/i
SQ K.458/iv, 81

These schemas have few exact analogs at the 1-2-3° pitch-level, but we have already seen the same basic procedure used in the incipits of EX 19-4.

[21] Pitches 5-4-3° in alpha rhythm

Representative simple examples:

EXAMPLE 21-1
Pf Trio H.20/i
Sym K.543/iv
WW 5t Op.16/ii
Pf Son D.557/iii

The behavior of alpha-rhythm incipits at this pitch-level is similar to that of [123°]-patterns: the middle term (4°) preferentially pivots. Thus trills and turns are rare; EX 21-2 displays all of them:

EXAMPLE 21-2
Sym K.200/iv (the connecting effect of the trill is neutralized by its occurrence on each note)
Vn Son Op.23/ii, 32 (the upbeat pulls the 5° back, against the trill)
Adagio & Rondo, Pf 4t, D.487/Rondo, 58 (off db⁰)
Sym H.94/i, 79: a 6/8 turn.

Just as with 1-2-3°-patterns, in alpha 5-4-3° schemas anaphoria is the preferred elaboration; interpolated pitches (most often 53423°) are also common:

EXAMPLE 21-3
Sym Op.21/i, 69
SQ Op.18#6/i, 63
Vn Son K.376/i, 19
Pf Conc K.537/i, 59
Pf Trio H.25/iii
Sym K.200/iii
Sym H.90/ii
WW Div K.253/ii

The final incipit in EX 21-3 (WW Div K.253/ii) is the only clear example I can find of an articulated elaboration (54, 32°) at this pitch-level.

[22] Pitches 321° in alpha rhythm

Representative simple instances are shown in

EXAMPLE 22-1
SQ H.75/ii
Pf Trio K.502/iii
Pf Son Op.81a/i
Sym D.944/ii, 93

We must now introduce PRINCIPLE THREE: There are virtually no incipit 2°→1° trills anywhere in incipit 321° PT formations, no matter what the rhythm. (The only counter-instances are given below, in zeta and delta rhythms, ¶¶ [26] and [27].)

The only reason I can suggest for this practice is that the [3°→ trilled 2° →1°] gesture is saved for the end of a theme. It cannot be for some reason of connectivity, because turns occur readily in this situation, and in fact turns or quasi-turns on the 2° are the most common elaboration at this pitch-level:

EXAMPLE 22-2 [17]
SQ H.82/iii
Vn Sonatine D.384/iii
Duo WoO 27#2/iii, 29
Zbhfe D.644/Ov, 130
Zbfl K.620/ #11
Pf Trio H.21/iii
Pf Conc Op.37/i, 50

As above with 543° alpha incipits, many elaborations interpolate notes (as in 3-2-3-1°, 3-2-5-1°, 3-5-2-5-1°), sometimes in a parallel line (3-4-2-3-1°):

EXAMPLE 22-3 [18]
Pf Conc Op.73/ii
Sym H.95/iv
Pf Son D.958/iv, 246
Sym H.104/ii
WW Trio Op.87/i, 43
Zbfl K.620/#6, 2
Pf Conc K.482/iii, 128

Bar-form or anaphor elaboration is a little less common at this pitch-level than it is with 5-4-3°s, but some of the incipits above display it, as do:

(EX 22-3)
Pf 4t K.478/iii, 71
Pf 5t D.667/iii, trio
MMus D.780/vi, trio
Fig K.492/#16

Articulated elaborations are rare here; I find just three: (EX 22-3)
SQ H.59/iv
WW Ser K.375/iv, trio
Pf Son Op.101/iv, 4

[23] RHYTHM BETA
In the remainder of our "diagnostic rhythms," we will not discuss incipits at the various pitch-levels separately, but rather all at once-that is, [1-2-3°], [3-4-5°], [5-4-3°], and [3-2-1°]. (The 5-8° region of the ambitus will be discussed later, in ¶¶ [29]-[30]) Here are some representative examples of simple beta-rhythm incipits:

EXAMPLE 23-1
Ser K.525/iii
Sym H.56/iv, 25
SQ Op.18#1/ii, 26
Waltz D.146/#18

There are not a great many beta-rhythm incipits in this repertory, and there are even fewer elaborated versions. Here are four of them, all simple interpolations of a parallel or contrapuntal line:

EXAMPLE 23-2
Vn Son K.306/ii
SQ H.59/iii
Deutsch K.586/#8, trio
Waltz D.365#2

Trills and turns on the nontonic (second) pitch almost never occur in this and certain other rhythms. The reason is apparently this: although turns and especially (for purposes of stress) trills may occur on strong beats, they are normally presumptively weak, and the note following is presumptively stronger. Therefore, in order to avoid any metric uncertainty in the incipit of these melodies,

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Trills and turns do not normally occur in incipit PTs on the middle term in beta rhythms, gamma rhythms, or delta rhythms.

I find just one quasi-example each of a trill and a turn on the middle term of a beta-rhythm, both at the 5-4-3° pitch-level, and both off db⁰:

EXAMPLE 23-3
Bar Trio H.83/i (on another interpretation a zeta-rhythm)
SQ H.38/iii

---

Continue to Section IV
References and Appendix

©Roger Solie, 2006

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