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Schubert Fantasie Article
Schubert Fantasie Article
Schubert Fantasie Article
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PATRICKMCCRELESS
The Fantasie in C Major for Violin and Piano, distinguished company of the C-Major Sym-
D. 934 (op. posth. 159), occupies a curious and phony, the late string quartets, the string quin-
uncomfortable place in the corpus of Schubert's tet, the piano trios, the late piano sonatas, and
late instrumental works.' Finding itself in the the F-Minor Fantasie for Two Pianos, the C-
MajorViolin Fantasie seems a pariah, an inter-
loper in a neighborhood where it does not be-
19th-CenturyMusic XX/3 (Spring1997). ? by The Regents long. Alfred Brendel, in his essay on Schubert
of the University of California. in Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts, makes
'I follow the modern convention of listing the melodic this sentiment explicit. Referringto all the in-
instrument first in duo works with piano, in contradis- strumental works composed after 1822, Brendel
tinction to the practice of Schubert'stime: that is, Fantasie
"forViolin and Piano" rather than Fantasie "forPiano and writes, "With the exception of a few pieces
Violin." Schubert himself used the latter title, referringto written for virtuoso display in the concert hall,
the work as "Fantasiefilr Pianoforteu. Violine" in a letter such as some of the violin music and the Varia-
(21 February1828) offering the Fantasie and a number of tions on 'Trockne Blumen' for Flute and Piano
other works to B. Schotts S6hne. The autograph(Vienna
Stadtsbibliothek MH3977/c) is untitled. See Otto Erich [D. 802, 1824], nearly all these compositions
Deutsch, Schubert: Die Dokumente seines Lebens, Franz are on the same high level of accomplishment."2
Schubert:Neue Ausgabe simtlicher Werke,ser. VIII,vol. 5
(Kassel, 1964), p. 495.
When the Fantasie was finally published by Diabelli in
1850 as op. 159, it was entitled Fantasie pour Piano et 2AlfredBrendel,Musical Thoughtsand Afterthoughts(Lon-
Violon composeepar FranpoisSchubert.See Deutsch, Franz don, 1991), p. 58. The B-Minor Rondo, entitled simply
Schubert: Thematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke in "Rondo" on the autograph, was published in 1827 as
chronologischer Folge, Franz Schubert: Neue Ausgabe Rondeau brillant pour Pianoforte et Violon . . . Op. 70.
simtlicher Werke, ser. VIII,vol. 4 (Kassel, 1978),p. 597. See Deutsch, Thematisches Verzeichnis,pp. 563-64.
205
206
207
208
. r
7
I
F;I
13
the meaning of the song that is its centerpiece, the genre-the so-called Wandererfantasie (D.
precisely because it subverts the completion of 760) of 1822, and the F-Minor Fantasie for Pi-
the Romantic circle of longing and denial in ano Four Hands (D. 940), the composition of
favor of a (presumably unearned) triumph.'18A which followed immediately after that of D.
crucial feature of this subversion (not men- 934-the Violin Fantasie itself is, of course,
tioned explicitly by Godel) is that the musical easy to find wanting.19 On the one hand, it
motion of the coda is almost entirely ascend- lacks the obvious motivic integration of the
ing: indeed, at the very end the piano has a Wandererfantasie, since no motive of Sei mir
monstrous ascending C-major scale in octaves gegriisst ties its movements together in the
through its entire range, as though, in a bizarre explicit and readily apparent way that the fa-
deus ex machina, the melody's longing to com- mous rhythmic figure from the song Der Wan-
plete an ascent to the higher octave is suddenly derer does for the earlier fantasy-hence the
and inexplicably-indeed, almost comically-- frequent criticism that the song citation in the
fulfilled.
Finally, a third critical view of the work
faults it on structural grounds. Weighed in the '9Inaddition to these three well-known fantasies, some of
balance of Schubert's other two majorefforts in Schubert's earliest works are for piano four hands: D. 1
(1810), D. 9 (1811), and D. 48 (1813). He also wrote an
early Fantasie in C Minor, D. 2E (1811) and the so-called
GrazerFantasie,D. 605A, both for solo piano. See Deutsch,
'8Ibid.p. 202. Thematisches Verzeichnis,pp. 8, 351.
209
210
c. I II III IV
Allegro molto Largo Scherzo/ Tempo I
moderato Trio
f/F---a-f f# f#-D-f# f/F
a simple ternary form rather than a sonata ex- ergy, behaves in a way like a traditional first
position, resembles the Wandererfantasie in movement (see fig. lb). This dancelike move-
that it is in effect a "double-function" sonata ment, however, is not in the global tonic of C
cycle. The sequence of movements, Allegro but in the relative key of A minor. Further-
molto moderato-Largo-Scherzo-Tempo I, si- more, it is not a sonata movement, as would be
multaneously fulfills the functions of the single- expected of an opening fast movement, but
movement sonata form and the sonata cycle, rather a looser structure in which a small part
such that the first movement, in F minor, works form (aabab) alternates with developmental
as an exposition, the two middle movements, material (A-Dev.-A-Dev.), the second develop-
both in F# minor, function as a development, mental section ultimately metamorphosing into
and the final movement, back in F minor, func- a transition to third movement, the variations
tions as a reprise.22 in Ab major on Sei mir gegriisst. The latter
Rather, in the Violin Fantasie a slow intro- movement, after the theme and its three varia-
duction (Andante molto) in C major leads to a tions, also dissolves into a transition, which
jaunty all'ongarese movement (Allegretto), modulates back to C major for a reprise of the
which, with its faster tempo and rhythmic en- introduction. The reprise, now varied some-
what, in turn prepares the final movement, an
Allegro that resembles the Allegretto in that it
is in effect a character piece-now a march
220n the double-function sonata, see William S. Newman,
The Sonata Since Beethoven (3rd edn. Chapel Hill, 1983), rather than a gypsy dance-and in that it adopts
pp. 134-35, 373-78. a similarly simple structure, A-B-(brief Dev. of
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
Zum Trotz der Ferne, die sich, feindlich In spite of the distance, which, separatingus like
trennend, an enemy,
hat zwischen mich und dich gestellt; has placed itself between me and you,
dem Neid der Schicksalsmichte zum Verdrusse and in defiance of the powers of fate,
sei mir gegr~isst,sei mir gekiisst! [might] I greet you, [might] I kiss you!
Wie du mir je im sch6nsten Lenz der Liebe As you came to me once in the brightest
mit Gruf3und KuSientgegenkamst, springtime of love,
mit meiner Seele gliihendstem Ergusse with greetings and kisses,
sei mir gegriisst, sei mir gekiAsst! with the glowing warmth of my soul
[might] I greet you, [might]I kiss you!
Ein Hauch der Liebe tilget Rium und Zeiten, A breathof love dissolves space and time,
ich bin bei dir, du bist bei mir, I am with you, you are with me,
ich halte dich in dieses Arms Umschlisse, I hold you in the embraceof my arms,
sei mir gegrfisst, sei mir gekaisst! [might] I greet you, [might] I kiss you!)
longer than the preceding one, and through in- account in part for the negative critical response
troducing musical contrast and development, to what happens to the song in the Fantasie-is
counteracts the static tendency suggested by that, whereas in the most successful instances
the recurring refrain, and imparts a clear dra- of Schubert's taking one of his own songs as a
matic structure to the whole. basis for a set of variations-the slow move-
In order to adapt the song for the Violin ments of the "Trout" Quintet and the D-Minor
Fantasie, Schubert has to reduce the ninety- String Quartet-he needed to make no adjust-
nine-measure Lied to a twenty-four-measure ments in the form of the songs, which were
binary variation theme. For the first part of the strophic anyway, here he is obliged to alter the
binary form, he simply takes the initial stanza, song radically and thus to do violence to its
aR, of the song (he omits the piano introduc- dramatic psychology. The song builds through
tion). For the second part, he extracts stanza 5 formal repetition, variation, the ongoing reit-
(b'R, mm. 61-77), now making certain melodic eration of the formula "sei mir gegriisst / sei
and harmonic adjustments, and completely ex- mir gekAisst," and other means of intensifica-
cising three measures (mm. 63-65). The ends of tion to the final strophe, which clinches the
the two binary sections, of course, rhyme, since stabbing pain of loss on the bitterly ironic words
the little refrain concludes both (see ex. 2). "ich bin bei dir / du bist bei mir / ich halte dich
Even if we concede that Schubert had of in dieses Armes Umschltisse." The variation
necessity to trim and simplify the song in order theme, on the other hand, flattens this dra-
to turn it into a variation theme, it is difficult matic process into a seemingly endless pattern
not to judge the transformation as resulting in of repetition-especially as the refrain appears
a net loss. A crucial point here-one that may at the end of both parts of the binary form, and
218
0 -- -r 1y 1 rA
l
p
P
F 1 mi -;f - L) I A J
372 ppI
I I I
Scresc Icesc I
379
decresc. ! f 1
pe
I. w•
220
mir gekiisst," he reaches to the higher register and each time it turns out that he does not
established by the piano, even though the pi- really establish the upper register anyway, but,
ano remains, on the whole, a third higher. on the words "sei mir gekiisst," leaps back
Rhythmically the voice sings, of course, on the down to the tonic from which he came, skip-
beat, while the melodic piano part remains off ping the intervening steps of the descent.
the beat. In strophes 3, 4, and 5, the singer attempts to
Now when we compare the variation theme initiate a substantial (middleground)ascent that
to the song, it is clear that Schubert has chosen will legitimately attain the higher register, but
the upper, piano line rather than the vocal line without success (see analysis in ex. 4). But in
for the melody; how could he do otherwise, the final strophe, a'R (mm. 78-97), inspired by
since the opening augmented second of the ini- the words "Ein Hauch der Liebe tilget Riium
tial measure of the voice part in effect identi- und Zeiten"-words that seem to connect him
fies it as a subsidiary, inner voice. Schubert to his beloved in reality (in space and time)
also chromaticizes the new melodic line, 3-4- rather than in his imagination, he adopts one
#4-5, thereby adding a slight schmalzig touch final strategy (see ex. 5). He shifts, for the one
lacking in the original, and he necessarily places and only time in the song, to the present in-
it on rather than off the beat. dicative mood ("ich bin bei dir, du bist bei
All these changes are perfectly reasonable mir," mm. 82-85), having thus far used either
ones to make in changing the song to a varia- the subjunctive mood (in the formula) or the
tion theme for instruments. Yet these ostensi- past tense (in the middle strophes). And it
bly innocent alterations of detail result in a works! Forfour blissful measures (mm. 82-85),
transformation of expressive meaning, espe- the singer is suddenly in the upper register for
cially if in the first place we understand how which he has always longed (3-#4-5,2-3-4), the
the original details structuredmeaning. Because very same register as the melodic voice of the
the normative melodic motion at the begin- piano. Reactingto this unexpectedly happy situ-
ning of the song is 3-#t-5? and the singer always ation, the harmonic rhythm quadruples from
has the third below, 1-#2-3, we might well in- what it has always been in support of this me-
terpret the upper line as representing what the lodic figure (two harmonies to the measure
singer longs for but cannot attain: the beloved, rather than one every two measures), and for
"du Entrif3ne mir und meinem Kusse." And the first and only time in the song it alters its
the Entriflung is literal. She always hovers in a sequential pattern to a conventional circle-of-
space (the higher register)and time (the offbeat) fifths rather than a sequence of pairs of thirds.
that he cannot attain. In his hopes ("sei mir But the fortissimo bass C6 that breaks into
gegriisst / sei mir gekiisst") he can, through an the unreal and unprecedented harmonic se-
act of will, in an unnatural motion that goes quence (a sequence too "natural"for this song)
against the grain of the musical motion already jolts the singer into a desperate fear that he is
established-that is, in what Schenker would not in the real, indicative present, but the delu-
call an Obergreifung-reach up to that higher sional present. The crashing CGmotivates yet
register. But then the piano goes even higher, another Ubergreifung, this time with both
221
30 34 39 42
3 4 3
45 49 54 57
61 65 72 75
singer and the top voice of the piano in the Thus far, analysis has helped us to flesh out
same register. But now the reaching-overis not and perhapsexplain certain aspects of the nega-
to diatonic 6, as always before, but to 66;and tive critical responses to the Fantasie, espe-
while the singer shrieks the melodic gb, the cially those that find it wanting in its adapta-
piano's right hand hammers the same note re- tion of Sei mir gegrfisst. Can analysis at the
peatedly, as if momentarily to help him hold same time offer evidence of Schubert's compo-
on to the illusions, "ich bin bei dir, du bist bei sitional craft in the work, evidence of his tak-
mir," and "ich halte dich in dieses Arms ing it as a serious challenge to his powers of
Umschltisse." The final irony involves this gb: phantasieren, in the tradition of his most ac-
after countless f#s in the piece have resolved complished predecessors?
down to f, at the climactic moment this wrench- Strangely, it can. In spite of its flaws, the
ing melodic gb (the only one in the song) is Violin Fantasie exhibits a formidable level of
enharmonically changed to an f#,which for the compositional skill. Despite the claims of crit-
first time resolves correctly, to g, only to see ics to the contrary, the song Sei mir gegriisst is
the g fall through f# and f and, in the inevitable indeed integrated into the fabric of the compo-
return the status quo, leap back down to the sition, but in a different way from the integra-
tonic on the (again subjunctive) "sei mir tion of the song "Der Wanderer" into the
gekiisst." Wandererfantasie.The crucial differenceis that
All this, of course, is lost in the Violin the motivic connection of the song to the rest
Fantasie's theme and variations, which of the piece is no longer on the surface, as was
smoothes over the rhythm, regularizesthe form, the case in the earlier Fantasie; there the con-
standardizes the harmony, and, most of all, nection is hard to miss, since a single motive
eliminates altogether the play of registers.What from the song serves as a head motive for each
critics surely miss in the Fantasie's version of of its movements. Rather, the connections are
Sei mir gegriisst is not only its expressive ef- more hidden, more subtle: more, I might sug-
fect, but the extraordinarycraft that made that gest, in the manner of Schumann's concealed
effect possible in the song. motivic work in the early piano music; or, from
222
83
dir, du bist bei mir, ich hal - te dich in die - ses Arms __ Um -
A
89 I
J.
~- PP
94
S•
kiifgt, sei mir ge - ktiift!
a theoretical point of view, in the manner of 6), and the previously mentioned similarity of
Schenker's verborgene Wiederholungen. the opening of the final Allegro and the first
All that the Violin Fantasie has yielded pre- phrase of the song-not much reward for a few
viously with respect to motivic connectedness decades of analytical effort. Yet a closer hear-
is the simple relation of the ascending thirds of ing reveals a number of striking connections,
the beginning of "Sei mir gegrtisst" to those of both harmonic and melodic, just below the sur-
the Andante molto and the Allegretto (see ex. face, and quite obvious once we notice them.
223
224
43
II
r-
57
bP
that the two ascending third figures, one in Ab succession in Aband C: I-V-VI-III(V/VI)-V-Iin
and one in C, are linked together (see ex. 12,
Abmajorin mm. 639-48 (the last four measures
which gives the music from m. 639 to the end are repeated in mm. 649-52); and the same
of the Fantasie). progression(with the LVIof mm. 653-54 substi-
The reprise of the song and its sudden turn tuting for the initial tonic) in C major in mm.
to Abfrom C is also, of course, crucial from a 653-60. What this tonal reprise accomplishes
tonal point of view. For here the fundamental is a direct juxtaposition of the three structural
harmonic progressionof the opening of the song, keys of the song in a single progression (see
to which we have heard references in both the harmonic analysis in ex. 12, mm. 639-60, and
introduction and the Allegretto, is stated in reduction in ex. 13). The C-majortriad, it turns
225
AAllegro
b. A
--TI II - I! I I I tl ,e
;- ' -F
Andantemolto
Violin
Andantemolto
simile
Piano P
A _ ______
A A A
5 #4 44
tip-
Example 11: Chromatic third figure in Andante molto and variation theme.
226
644I
vv
649
: IC0 -:-V
:I
IA WO•0
" Iffa ......
657
A44
I
PJcec _OW
-•7 -:
227
667
A1 t
67
2........... . ..
r- i
RK r r
S? I 1I
678 ,...
•,,
de resc. P r
Idecresc. P3
P
Example 12 (continued)
228
695
Example 12 (continued)
IIFl f
A6: I V vi
V/i =C:I V vi
V/vi V I
a: i V
out, is a fulcrum that joins the keys of Ab(the critique of the end of the Fantasie: that the
key of the song theme), C (the global tonic), virtuoso conclusion violates the essence of the
and A minor (the key of the Allegretto). As poem and its text. Having earliernoted the role
shown in the example, the four-chordprogres- of the unrelenting ascending motion in this
sion, beginning in Ab,leads to C. (It could lead peroration, I shall now take a brief moment to
to F minor; but because of the characteristic expandon that observation.The brilliant stretto
melodic turn in the formula, and the return to that is the coda takes flight from the melodic
the tonic, it never does). Starting then from C, figure of the two opening measures of the Alle-
as the progression literally does in the Andante gro finale. After a quick ascent of two octaves-
molto, it leads to A minor; here, unlike in the an ascent that one might suggest as having
song theme, the submediant is actually been effected by Obergreifungrun amok-the
tonicized: what is suggested but never accom- figure gets stuck on the notes A and G, as
plished in the variations, in the foreign key of though it cannot decide which way to turn:
Ab,is fully realized in the Andante molto and down to 5, or up to the tonic of the next octave
the Allegretto. The entire process is summa- (referagain to ex. 12). At m. 671 it seems to opt
rized in ex. 13. for the ascent, since it moves up a semitone to
A final analytical point will return us to the Bk,from which, however, it soon turns back. A
critical concerns with which this essay began. I repetition of the harmonic BV-F-G(bVII-IV-V;
have already cited Arthur Godel's perceptive note the parallel to the formulaic I-V-vi)
229
230