Schumann Piano Quintet in Eb Major

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The Graduate School
2013
Narratives of Innocence and Experience:

Plot Archetypes in Robert Schumann's Piano
Quintet and Piano Quartet
Emily S. Gertsch
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC
NARRATIVES OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE: PLOT ARCHETYPES IN

ROBERT SCHUMANNS PIANO QUINTET AND PIANO QUARTET
By
EMILY S. GERTSCH
A Dissertation submitted to the

College of Music
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Awarded:
Summer Semester, 2013
Emily S. Gertsch defended this dissertation on April 22, 2013.

The members of the supervisory committee were:
Joseph Kraus
Professor Directing Dissertation
Douglass Seaton
University Representative
Michael Buchler
Committee Member
James Mathes
Committee Member
The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members,
and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university
requirements.
ii
For Oscar, my greatest supporter,

and Mom and Dad, my most influential teachers.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of a number of
people. To my advisor, Joseph Kraus, I owe special thanks for his unending support,
guidance, encouragement, and patience. His doctoral seminar during my first year at
Florida State University exposed me to the world of music and meaning and this project
grew from a research paper begun in that special seminar. I have learned so much from
Professor Kraus, especially in the areas of music and meaning and Schenkerian analysis,
and I will be forever grateful for his guidance and friendship. I would also like to
express my sincere gratitude to the other members of my committeeMichael Buchler,
Jim Mathes, and Douglass Seatonfor their support, discerning editorial comments,
and insightful suggestions. It has truly been a pleasure to work with each member of
my committee and I look forward to continued professional relationships and
friendships with these great teachers and scholars.
The music theory faculty as a whole at Florida State University is special for
many reasons. But it is the wonderful example of a collegial environment and the
enormous amount of work and time that each faculty member personally invests in
their students that has made the most impact on me. I will always be grateful that I had
the opportunity to learn from and work with each music theory faculty member at
Florida State. The professional and personal relationships I developed while attending
Florida State are ones that will last a lifetime, and I will always cherish the times spent
with fellow students (especially Sarah Sarver, Greg Decker, Sara Nodine, and Judith
Ofcarcik).
The support my family has given me during my doctoral studies is
immeasurable. My parents, George and Mary Swift, have provided continuous
encouragement to pursue this dream, and have offered both the material and intangible
resources that have allowed me to achieve my musical and academic goals. The homecooked meals and endless hours of babysitting only scratch the surface of the many
ways they have helped me to complete this project. My gratitude for this and for their
love is inexpressible. My brother, Bill Swift, has also provided an enormous amount of
support and encouragement, and I am proud to call him not only my brother, but also
one of my closest friends. I would like to thank my mother-in-law and father-in-law,
Alida and Bruno Gertsch, for their love, encouragement, and for the weekends of
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babysitting that enabled me to work on this project with no distractions. Finally, I

would like to thank my friend Katie Bray, who is like a sister to me. She has provided
me with support and encouragement for more than twenty-four years.
Most of all, I would like to thank my husband Oscar. He has made many
sacrifices in order to support me in reaching my goals, and I am forever grateful for his
patience, unconditional love, and devotion. I cannot imagine a better person with
whom to share my life. He is an amazing husband to me and a wonderful father to our
children, Charlotte and OwenI look forward to the many new adventures that await
us as a family.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. viii
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. ix
List of Examples .............................................................................................................................. x
Abstract........................................................................................................................................... xv
1.
INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................1

1.1
1.2
1.3
2.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................23

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
3.
1842: Schumanns "Chamber Music Year"................................................................23

Schumanns Chamber Music Models .......................................................................28
Schumann and the Musical Setting of Chamber Music .........................................32
Schumanns Compositional Process .........................................................................34
2.4.1 Schumanns Early Compositional Process .....................................................34
2.4.2 Schumanns Late Compositional Process .......................................................35
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................37
A ROMANCE NARRATIVE: JEAN PAUL AND THE PERSONA IN THE FIRST

MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO QUINTET .........................................................................38
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
4.
Introduction to the Topic ..............................................................................................1

Review of Literature on Music and Meaning ............................................................2
1.2.1 Semiotic Approaches ...........................................................................................2
1.2.2 Narratological Approaches ................................................................................9
1.2.3 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................19
Methodology and Significance of the Project ..........................................................20
Romance Narrative in Literature and Music ...........................................................38

Schumann and Jean Paul ............................................................................................40
The Persona Theory .....................................................................................................44
Analysis: The First Movement of the Piano Quintet...............................................45
3.4.1 The Order-Imposing Hierarchy and Transgression ....................................45
3.4.2 The Exposition: P ..............................................................................................47
3.4.3 The Exposition: TR1 ..........................................................................................49
3.4.6 The Exposition: S1.1 ..........................................................................................58
3.4.7 The Exposition: S1.2 and S2 .............................................................................60
3.4.8 The Development ..............................................................................................64
3.4.9 The Recapitulation and Coda ..........................................................................72
3.4.10 The Persona ........................................................................................................75
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................76
A FAILED TRAGIC-TO-TRANSCENDENT NARRATIVE: THE SECOND

MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO QUINTET .........................................................................78
4.1
4.2
Tragic Topics versus Tragic Narrative .....................................................................78

Analysis: The Second Movement of the Piano Quintet ..........................................79
4.2.1 The Order-Imposing Hierarchy and Transgression .....................................79
4.2.2 Formal Problems That Complicate a Tragic Reading ...................................80
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4.2.3 The Anxiety of Influence and Schumanns Misreading of Beethoven .81

4.2.4 Structural Analysis ........................................................................................ 86
4.2.5 Conclusion: A Failed Tragic-to-Transcendent Narrative ..........................97
5.
COMIC IRONY IN SCHUMANNS DIALOGUE WITH BEETHOVENS FIRST

SYMPHONY: THE THIRD MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO QUINTET ...................100
5.1
5.2
6.
A COMIC ARCHETYPE OF EMERGENCE: THE FINALE OF THE PIANO

QUINTET ...........................................................................................................................126
6.1
6.2
6.3
7.
Schumann and the Beethovenian Tradition of the Scherzo ..............................100

Analysis: An Ironic Comparison of the Scherzo Movements...........................102
5.2.1 Irony as a Narrative Archetype ..................................................................103
5.2.2 Introduction to the Analysis ........................................................................104
5.2.3 A Comparative Analysis of the Scherzo Sections ....................................105
5.2.4 An Analysis of Schumanns First Trio .......................................................114
5.2.5 An Analysis of Schumanns Second Trio ..................................................117
5.2.6 An Analysis of Schumanns Coda ..............................................................121
5.2.7 Conclusion .....................................................................................................124
Comic Narratives and Discursive Strategies ......................................................126

Parallel Forms and its Application to the Quintet Finale..............................128
Analysis: The Finale of the Piano Quintet ...........................................................133
6.3.1 The Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression ............................134
6.3.2 Part I: The Parallel Sonata-Rondo Form ....................................................135
6.3.3 Part II: The Coda ...........................................................................................146
6.3.4 Conclusion .....................................................................................................153
TWO ADDITIONAL ROMANCE NARRATIVES: THE FIRST AND THIRD

MOVEMENTS OF THE PIANO QUARTET ................................................................155
7.1 First Movement of the Quartet: Bildung in the Sostenuto assai, Allegro ma
non troppo ..................................................................................................................156
7.1.1 Part I: A Romance Narrative Archetype ....................................................156
7.1.2 Part II: Bildung and Complications of the Romance Narrative ..............175
7.1.3 Conclusion .....................................................................................................181
7.2 Third Movement of the Quartet: Andante cantabile ............................................182
7.2.1 The Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression ............................182
7.2.2 The A Section .................................................................................................183
7.2.3 The B Section..................................................................................................188
7.2.4 The A' Section ................................................................................................191
7.2.5 The Coda ........................................................................................................193
7.2.6 Conclusion .....................................................................................................195
8.
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................196
8.1
8.2
Summary ..................................................................................................................196
Implications for Further Study..............................................................................199
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................200
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .....................................................................................................209
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LIST OF TABLES
1.1 The Four Narrative Archetypes ........................................................................................12
3.1 Order Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression .........................................................46
3.2 Formal Diagram of the Exposition ..................................................................................46
3.3 The Second Theme Area ....................................................................................................62
4.1 Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression .........................................................80
4.2a Form Chart. Schumann, In Modo duna Marcia ...............................................................81
4.2b Form Chart. Beethoven, Rondo from the Pathtique Sonata .........................................81
4.3 Mapping the Time Aspect of Narrative onto Tonal Areas ...........................................84
4.4a Form Chart. Beethoven, Pathtique Rondo ......................................................................85
4.4b Form Chart. Schumann, In Modo duna Marcia ...............................................................85
5.1 Order Imposing Hierarchy vs. Transgression in Schumanns Scherzo .....................104
5.2 Form of the Menuetto from Beethovens First Symphony .........................................105
5.3 Form of the Scherzo from Schumanns Piano Quintet ................................................105
6.1 Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression .......................................................135
6.2 Sonata-Rondo Parallel Form of Finale ...........................................................................145
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LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Reproduction of Hattens Figure 2.1 from Musical Meaning in Beethoven.....................4
1.2 Reproduction of Almns Figure 1 from Narrative Archetypes: A Critique,
Theory, and Method of Narrative Analysis ..................................................................11
6.1 Reproduction of Roesners Figure 2, Formal Diagram of the Piano Sonata in f,
op. 14, I ...............................................................................................................................129
6.2 Reproduction of Roesners Figure 3, op. 14, I. Depiction of the Symmetrical
Form Based on Tonal Mirror Images .........................................................................129
6.3 Reproduction of Browns Diagram of Parallel Form in a Sonata Movement ..........130
6.4 Reproduction of Browns Diagram of Parallel Form in a Rondo Movement ..........131
6.5 Reproduction of Browns Figure 13.3 and 13.5. A Formal Overview of the
Quintet Finale ....................................................................................................................133
7.1 Form Diagram of the Exposition, mm. 1120 ...............................................................167
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LIST OF EXAMPLES
3.1 P Theme (Heroic Topic), mm. 19 ................................................................................48
3.2 Voice-Leading Sketch of P, mm. 19 ................................................................................48
3.3 TR1, mm. 917 .....................................................................................................................50
3.4a Voice-Leading Sketch of TR1, mm. 917 .........................................................................51
3.4b Simplified Voice-Leading Sketch of TR1, mm. 917......................................................51
3.5 TR2, mm. 1726 ...................................................................................................................53
3.6 Voice-Leading Sketch of TR2, mm. 17-25 ........................................................................54
3.7 TR3, mm. 2750 ...................................................................................................................56
3.8a Voice-Leading Sketch of TR3, mm. 26-50 ........................................................................58
3.8b Deep Middleground Sketch of the Exposition, mm. 1108 ..........................................58
3.9 S1.1 and S1.2, mm. 5158 ...................................................................................................59
3.10 S1.2, mm. 5772 ...................................................................................................................61
3.11 Voice-Leading Sketch of S1.1 and S1.2, mm. 5179 .......................................................61
3.12 End of Second Theme Area, mm. 99108 ........................................................................63
3.13 Development, mm. 116190 ..............................................................................................65
3.14 Voice-Leading Sketch of the Development, mm. 116187............................................70
3.15 Retransition, mm. 185206 ................................................................................................72
3.16 K and Coda, mm. 314338 .................................................................................................74
3.17 Voice-Leading Sketch of the Coda, mm. 313332 ..........................................................75
4.1 Voice-Leading Sketch. Schumann, Refrain (Funeral March), mm. 110 ................82
4.2 Voice-Leading Sketch. Beethoven, Pathtique Rondo, Refrain, mm. 18 ....................82
4.3 Opening Phrase of the Funeral March, mm. 110 .....................................................86
4.4a Opening of Refrain, Framing Motive, mm. 12 .........................................................88
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4.4b Closing of Refrain, Framing Motive, mm. 26-29 ........................................................88

4.5 Transgression, Episode 1, Singing Style, mm. 29b37 ..............................................89
4.6 Voice-Leading Sketch, Episode 1, mm. 29b45 ..............................................................89
4.7a Recomposed Opening Phrase of Episode 1, mm. 29b37 .............................................90
4.7b Actual Opening Phrase of Episode 1, mm. 29b37 ........................................................90
4.8 Episode 2, Agitato, mm. 9296...........................................................................................91
4.9a Main Motive from the Refrain, Funeral March, mm. 34 .........................................92
4.9b Motivic Manipulation in Episode 2, Agitato, mm. 92100 ............................................92
4.10 Metrical Dissonance and Hypermeter in Episode 2, mm. 92100 ...............................93
4.11 Metrical Dissonance Between Piano and Violin 1 in Episode 2...................................94
4.12 Voice-Leading Sketch. Episode 2, Agitato, mm. 92109 ................................................95
4.13 Episode 3, Singing Style, mm. 132b140 .....................................................................96
4.14 Opening of Final Refrain,Funeral March, mm. 165173 ...........................................97
4.15 End of Final Refrain,Funeral March, mm. 183193 ...................................................98
5.1 Beethoven, Menuetto from Symphony No. 1, III, mm. 18 .........................................106
5.2 Opening of Schumanns Scherzo, mm. 116. .................................................................107
5.3 Reproduction of Carl Schachters Voice-Leading Sketch of Beethoven,
Symphony No. 1, Scherzo, mm. 18 ..............................................................................109
5.4a Foreground Voice-Leading Sketch of Schumanns Scherzo, mm. 18......................109
5.4b Middleground Voice-Leading Sketch of Schumanns Scherzo..................................109
5.5 Hypermetrical Structure of Beethovens Scherzo, mm. 1-8 ........................................110
5.6 Hypermetrical Structure of Schumanns Scherzo, mm. 116 .....................................111
5.7 Metrical Dissonance in the Opening of Schumanns Scherzo ....................................112
5.8 Notated vs. Perceived Meter in the Opening of Schumanns Scherzo .....................113
5.9 Schumann, Trio I, mm. 4548..........................................................................................114
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5.10 Foreground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio I ....................................116

5.11 Middleground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio I ...............................116
5.12 Opening of Schumanns Trio II, mm. 123128 .............................................................117
5.13a Middleground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio II ............................118
5.13b Deep Middleground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio II ..................118
5.14 Four-Bar Compositional Blocks and Metrical Displacement Dissonance in the
Opening of Schumanns Trio II ......................................................................................119
5.15 Motivic Transformations in Trio II, mm. 142158 .......................................................120
5.16 Progression of Piano Accompaniment Figuration in Trio II ......................................121
5.17 Coda to Schumanns Movement, mm. 241265 ...........................................................122
5.18 Deep Middleground Sketch of Schumanns Scherzo Movement ..............................124
5.19 Voice-Leading Sketch of Schumanns Coda .................................................................124
6.1 Refrain (A), Style Hongrois, mm. 121 ............................................................................136
6.2 Voice-Leading Reduction of the Refrain (A), mm. 121 .............................................137
6.3 First Episode (B), mm. 2129 ...........................................................................................138
6.4 Voice-Leading Reduction of First Episode (B), mm. 2129 ........................................138
6.5 Second Episode (C), mm. 43b77a .................................................................................140
6.6 Second Return of the Refrain (A) and the Opening of the Development,
mm. 77b93 ........................................................................................................................142
6.7 Development, New Lyrical Melody, mm. 115129 .................................................143
6.8 Recapitulation, Parallel Return of A, mm. 136153 .................................................145
6.9 End of Part I, Introduction to Coda, and Closing Idea 1, mm. 217232 ...................147
6.10 Coda, First Fugato, mm. 245267 ...................................................................................149
6.11 Coda, First Fugato, mm. 268276 ...................................................................................150
6.12 End of First Coda and Beginning of Second Coda, mm. 295318 .............................151
6.13 End of Second Fugato and Introduction to Closing 1, mm. 370-379 .........................152
xii
6.14 End of the Closing 1 Theme and Final Extension, mm. 396-404................................153
7.1 Hymn Topic of the Introduction, mm. 17 ...................................................................157
7.2 Heroic Topic of the Principal Theme, mm. 1118 ........................................................158
7.3 First Transgression, Heroic Topic in F Minor, mm. 2635..........................................159
7.4a Motive y, mm. 19-25 .........................................................................................................160
7.4b Second Transgression, Motive y Recast in G minor, mm. 4147 ...............................160
7.5 Second Transgression and Restatement of Principal Theme, mm. 4155 ................161
7.6 Transition, Agitato Topic, mm. 6477 .............................................................................162
7.7 Transition, mm. 86106 ....................................................................................................164
7.8 End of Transition, mm. 107120 .....................................................................................165
7.9 Development, Motive x in D minor and A minor .......................................................167
7.10 Development, Sequence, mm. 165180 .........................................................................168
7.11 Development, Motives x and y Juxtaposed, mm. 189203 .........................................169
7.12 Retransition, mm. 204212 ..............................................................................................170
7.13 Recapitulation, mm. 213226 ..........................................................................................171
7.14 Coda, mm. 309324...........................................................................................................173
7.15 End of Coda, mm. 334355 ..............................................................................................174
7.16 Voice-Leading Sketch of the Introduction, mm. 112 .................................................177
7.17 Voice-Leading Sketch of the First Theme, mm. 1335 ................................................177
7.18 Voice-Leading Sketch of the Development...................................................................178
7.19a Opposition Between Heroic and Arabesque Topics in Exposition .................180
7.19b Recapitulation, Arabesque topic removed, mm. 213220 .....................................180
7.20 The Cantabile Topic of the Main Theme (A), mm. 118 .............................................184
7.21 Voice-Leading Reduction of Main Theme, Cantabile Topic, mm. 318 ...................185
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7.22 A Section, mm. 2747 .......................................................................................................187

7.23 B Section, mm. 4872 ........................................................................................................189
7.24 Voice-Leading Sketch of the B Section, mm. 4870 .....................................................190
7.25 Middleground Voice-Leading Sketch of the Movement ............................................190
7.26 A', mm. 7391 ....................................................................................................................192
7.27 End of A', mm. 100108 ...................................................................................................193
7.28 Coda, mm. 117130...........................................................................................................194
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ABSTRACT
This dissertation explores the interaction between structure and narrative in
Schumanns 1842 chamber music for strings and piano. This repertoire, while somewhat
neglected in the current scholarly analytical literature, reveals Schumanns success at
creating an identity of his own in the chamber music genrean identity surely
influenced by his love of Romantic literature, which I find makes his music especially
suitable for narrative analysis. Using the narratological approach of Byron Almn as my
primary methodology, I also draw upon the semiotic approaches of Robert Hatten and
Kofi Agawu and the narratological approaches of Anthony Newcomb and Douglass
Seaton in order to enrich the discussion. My analyses use structural support to trace
musical oppositionsincluding oppositions in topic, style, markedness, motive, and
texturein order to support narrative readings. More importantly, I explore how
oppositions in foreground voice leading correlate with expressive oppositions, thus
enhancing narrative interpretations.
In the first chapter I discuss the relevant theoretical and analytical literature
associated with music and meaning, focusing on the current trends in semiotic and
narratological theory as applied to instrumental music. I provide critiques of the
theories discussed as well as insights into how each theory is useful for the current
study. In the last subsection of this chapter I recognize the problems that one-to-one
mappings between structure and meaning can create and discuss the benefits and
pitfalls of this type of analysis. Chapter 2 provides historical context for the year during
which Schumann wrote the pieces studied in this dissertation (1842) and explores
Schumanns chamber music modelsMozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn
and his compositional process.
Chapters 3 through 6 provide comprehensive analyses of the four movements
from Schumanns Piano Quintet, op. 44. Primarily using Byron Almns adaptation of
Northrop Fryes theoretical model of narrative archetypes, I show how the four
movements of the Piano Quintet move in clockwise motion around the circular model:
the first movement as a romance archetype at the top of the circle in the realm of
innocence, the second movement as a fall to the tragic archetype at the bottom of the
circle in the realm of experience and tragedy, the third movement as a move to the
xv
ironic archetype in the realm of experience, and the fourth movement as a move
upward to the comic archetype with a return to innocence and happiness.
Chapter 7 comprises two additional readings of romance narratives in
Schumanns Piano Quartet, op. 47 that reveal new features of this archetype. The first
movement not only presents a hero who is victorious over external transgressions, but a
hero who is also victorious over his own internal transgressions as his character grows
and matures throughout the movement, a process of Bildung. The third movement
illustrates a romance archetype in the form of a duet between two characters: a male
and a female that represent Robert and Clara Schumann.
In the final chapter of this dissertation I suggest implications for further study,
focusing on other chamber music repertoire by Robert Schumann. The research and
analysis undertaken in this dissertation provides both comprehensive structural and
narrative analyses of six movements from Schumanns Piano Quintet and Piano Quartet
and illustrates how the existing theories of music and meaning (both narrative and
semiotic) can be effectively correlated with oppositions in structural voice leading in
ways that provide analytical interpretations that have a greater depth than many that
currently exist.
xvi
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
1.1 Introduction to the Topic

Relatively little attention has been paid to the 1842 chamber music of Robert
Schumann in the scholarly analytical literature. Schumanns chamber music is often
criticized as attempting and failing to live up to the quality found in the chamber works
of Beethoven. While Schumann might differ from Beethoven, he was ultimately
successful at creating an identity of his own in the genrean identity surely influenced
by his love of Romantic literature, which makes his music especially suitable for
narrative analysis. Anthony Newcomb has done some work in this area with the String
Quartet in A Major op. 41, no. 3,1 but Schumanns chamber music repertoire has not yet
been fully explored with respect to structural and narrative analysis.
In this project I will explore the interaction between structure and narrative in
Schumanns 1842 chamber music. Specifically, I will focus my attention on the Piano
Quintet in E-flat Major, op. 44, and the Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 47. After his
marriage in 1840 to Clara Wieck, Schumann turned to the symphony and chamber
music in 1841 and 1842 in an attempt to cultivate a reputation for himself as a serious
composer. The two pieces I have chosen exemplify this turn to the serious in
Schumanns style. In addition to the chamber pieces listed above, Schumann wrote
three string quartets in 1842 (op. 41), but I will focus on the chamber works for strings
and piano. I will not examine his Phantasiestcke from the same year, because they are
free pieces reminiscent of his earlier style that do not belong with the rest of his
serious chamber music from 1842. Although Schumanns Piano Quintet and Piano
Quartet have been somewhat neglected and even scorned by critics, they are worthy of
study, since in them one can observe interesting links between structure and narrative.
In the next subsection of this chapter I discuss the relevant theoretical and
analytical literature associated with music and meaning, focusing on the current trends
1
Anthony Newcomb, Schumann and Late Eighteenth-Century Narrative Strategies, 19th-Century Music
in semiotic and narratological theory as applied to instrumental music. I provide

critiques of the theories discussed as well as insight into how each theory will be useful
for the current study. In the last subsection of this chapter, I address the problems that
one-to-one mappings between structure and meaning can create and discuss the
benefits and pitfalls of this type of analysis. I also discuss the methodologies I will use
and the ways in which I will enrich them for the present analytical project.
1.2 Review of Literature on Music and Meaning

The question of how meaning can be communicated by textless instrumental
music, especially in the absolute music of the nineteenth century, is one that has
plagued scholars for decades. Prior to the late eighteenth century the ideal type of
music was mostly sung and involved a text on which semantic meaning could be based.
With the rise of chamber music and symphonies in the late eighteenth century came a
shift in the idea of meaning in music, as music was emancipated from language. The
music of the nineteenth century is especially well suited to interpretation as musical
narrative because of the self-aware individualization of the period and the sense of
voice in the music that makes the musical experience romantic.
In the field of music theory, three primary approaches to musical meaning have
developed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: a semiotic approach, a
narratological approach, and a cognitive/psychological approach. I will focus on how
meaning can be communicated by instrumental music in the nineteenth century
employing the work of scholars who use semiotic and narratological approaches,
because I have found these approaches to be the most useful to the study of Schumanns
instrumental chamber music, as will be clarified in the subsequent discussions.
1.2.1 Semiotic Approaches

Musical semiotics is based on a model in which the relation between the signifier
and signified involves three levels: poetic, neutral, and esthetic.2 The poietic level
encompasses all aspects of the production of a piece of musicthe process of
2
The three levels of semiotic analysis encompass the central pillar of Jean-Jacques Nattiezs theory of
musical semiotics. Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1990).
creation.3 The neutral level is a level of analysis at which one does not decide a priori
whether the results generated by a specific analytical proceeding are relevant from the
esthetic or poietic point of view neutral means both that the poetic and esthetic
dimensions of the object have been neutralized, and that one proceeds to the end of a
given procedure regardless of the results obtained.4 The neutral level does not refer to
neutral analysis; rather it is the end result of the poietic process of creationthe score or
the music itself. At the esthetic level receivers, when confronted by a symbolic form,
assign one or many meanings to the form.5 The esthetic level, which deals with the
consumption of music, allows us to construct meaning, in the course of an active
perceptual process.6
A semiotic musical analysis involves several stages. On the neutral level, analysis
consists of segmentation of the musical structure into formal units (the musics signs)
and an examination of the use of these units in relation to each other. On the poietic
level, the analyst can proceed either inductively or deductively. Analysts can also
proceed from analysis to the esthetic level, once again either inductively or deductively.
A semiotic musical analysis can be related to the poietic level, the esthetic level, or both
levels.
Semiotic scholars in the field of music theory include Jean-Jacques Nattiez,
Robert Hatten, Kofi Agawu, Raymond Monelle, Eero Tarasti, David Lidov, and Adam
Krims. In the following discussion, I will focus on the semiotic work of Robert Hatten
and Kofi Agawu because their approaches are the ones that most pertain to the work in
the current study.
The Semiotic Approach of Robert Hatten. Hattens work in the area of semiotics
in music began in 1982 (when the field of meaning in music still received a rather chilly
reception in theoretical circles) with his dissertation, Toward a Semiotic Model of Style
in Music: Epistemological and Methodological Bases.7 Hatten acknowledged that his
dissertation, while it provided groundwork for the study of expressive meaning, was
still unable to explain expressive meaning in a more complete sense, and he wanted to
provide a semiotic model of analysis that embraces both expressive and formal
3
Ibid., 12.
Ibid., 13.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid., 12.
7
Robert S. Hatten, Toward a Semiotic Model of Style in Music: Epistemological and Methodological
Bases (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1982).
4
meaning.8 This led to his 1994 book Musical Meaning in Beethoven, in which Hatten
integrates perspectives from semiotics, music theory, and music history to construct a
new mode of interpretation of Beethovens late style.9
Hattens semiotic theory in Musical Meaning in Beethoven combines structuralist
and hermeneutic approaches. Central to his theory are the concepts of correlation,
interpretation, and markedness of oppositions. To begin, Hatten defines two types of
competencies: stylistic competency, which is the understanding of the general
principles and constraints of a musical style; and strategic competency, which is the
understanding of the individual choices and exceptions illustrated by a particular
musical work. Stylistic correlations involve the general mapping of expressive
oppositions onto oppositions in musical structures; expressive states are mapped onto
stylistic types. Strategic interpretations also map expressive oppositions onto
oppositions in musical structures, but in a more specific way for a particular work of
music. The dialectic between the stylistic correlations and strategic interpretations is
best understood by an examination of Hattens Figure 2.1, taken from Chapter 2 of
Musical Meaning in Beethoven.
Figure 1.1. Reproduction of Hattens Figure 2.1 from Musical Meaning in Beethoven.10
The idea of markedness is central to Hattens theory, and he defines it as the
asymmetrical valuation of an opposition. 11 In musical meaning markedness of
structural oppositions correlates with markedness of expressive oppositionsmarked
entities are distinctive and represent the exceptional, while unmarked entities are more
8
Robert S. Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1994), xiii.
9
David Lidov, Foreword to Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation by
Robert S. Hatten (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), ix.
10
Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 30.
11
Ibid., 291.
general and normative. Markedness values can grow over time in particular contexts,
creating a change in markedness values. The idea of types and tokens (taken from
Charles Sanders Peirce) provides another way to account for markedness in music. A
type, which is understood as unmarked (i.e., the tonic triad), is a generalized category
or concept. A token, which is understood as marked, is a physical manifestation of a
stylistic type (i.e., a particular spacing/voicing of a tonic triad in a particular key).
Another important concept in Hattens theory is that of topics. Topics, as
defined by Leonard Ratners work in the field of stylistic references in Classic music,12
are coded style types that carry features linked to affect, class, and social occasion.
Topics, Hatten observes, are a complex musical correlation originating in a kind of
music and they may acquire expressive correlations in the Classical style, and they
may be further interpreted expressively.13 His concept of expressive genres stems from
the idea of topics, and expressive genres are characterized or distinguished by
oppositions in the style.14 In Hattens words an expressive genre is a category of
musical works based on their implementation of a change-of-state schema (tragic-totriumphant, tragic-to-transcendent) or their organization of expressive states in terms of
an overarching topical field (pastoral, tragic).15 Expressive genres, on the level of a
piece or movement, result from the change of state from one topical field to another or
from the use of a single topical field to the exclusion of others.
Also at the heart of Hattens theory is the idea of musical troping. Troping
occurs when two different, formally unrelated types are brought together in the same
functional location so as to spark an interpretation based on their interaction.16 The
idea of a trope stems from literary theory, and in music the musical event must produce
an emergent meaning that crosses the established correlational field.
In summary, Hattens meanings emerge from a correlation of stylistic types with
expressive content. His complex semiotic theory considers how oppositions of musical
elements give rise to expressive oppositions and how the juxtaposition of expressive
types brings about new expressive interpretations. In Musical Meaning in Beethoven
Hatten applies his semiotic theory specifically to the late music of Beethoven. However,
12
Leonard G. Ratner, Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980).
14
Ibid., 70.
15
Ibid., 290.
16
Ibid., 295.
13
the basic structure of his theory, which is built on correlation, interpretation, and
markedness of oppositions, is easily applied to other instrumental music from the
nineteenth century. In fact, Hatten provides an interesting comparison of his own ideas
of expressive meaning with those of Robert Schumann. Schumann suggests that a
program or suggestive title acts like a poetic description of creative criticism; so the
music does not portray the program, rather the program suggests the music.17 Much
like Hatten, Schumann believed that music could communicate feelings or
psychological states.18 However, Hatten, unlike Schumann, uses detailed analysis to
correlate each cultural unit with an opposition in the style of the work, which ties an
otherwise subjective discourse to a theoretical framework.19 Accordingly, Hattens
theory is particularly suitable for the current analytical study of Schumanns chamber
music for piano and strings.
The Semiotic Approach of Kofi Agawu. Kofi Agawu takes a very different
semiotic approach to the analysis of Classic music with his 1991 book Playing with Signs:
A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music.20 Agawus theory relies on the synthesis of
topical signs and structural signs. His goal is to point out features of works by Haydn,
Mozart, and Beethoven that might enhance an understanding and appreciation of
Classic repertoire. He seeks to study works from the Classic repertoire by examining
their structural and expressive attributes in order to determine meaning.
Agawus theoretical notion of playing with signs is based on a semiotic
framework that insists on mutual interaction between structure and expression.
According to Agawu, it is the dialectical interplay between manifest surface and
structural background that should guide the analysis, and it is only within such a
framework that we can appropriately acknowledge the rich and subtle meanings that
underlie the deceptively simple and familiar music of the Classic era.21 This semiotic
theory depends on a dialectic between what Agawu calls extroversive semiosis and
introversive semiosis.
Extroversive semiosis represents the domain of expression with topical signs and
deals with surface-level phenomena. Agawu discusses Ratners idea of topics in Classic
17
Leon Plantinga, Schumann as Critic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), 120.
Ibid., 121.
19
20
Kofi Agawu, Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1991).
21
Ibid., 25.
18
music, which are forms of associative signification.22 Agawu stresses two crucial
facets of a topical analysis: the listener must possess stylistic competence; and natural
and historical associations of topic should point to an irreducible conventional
specificity.23 He also emphasizes the idea that topics are a point of departure but are not
total identities, as they help to shape our responses as listeners; they are suggestive
but not exhaustive.24 While analysis of topics is strictly identification (the first step in
Agawus method of analysis), a topic assumes its identity by the force of contextual
factors, and it is by identifying the interplay of topics that one sets up the possibility of a
topical discourse. Topical analysis must be combined with structural analysis in order
to provide a rich interpretation of the music.
Agawu next discusses introversive semiosis, which deals with the pure signs
of musical structure. These pure signs provide clues to musical organization and he
claims that the most powerful framework for analyzing pure signs analyzes the
dynamic quality of Classic music, which Schenkers theory most clearly conveys.
Agawu discusses the local dynamism within the framework of the Schenkerian Ursatz
while proposing a rhetorical strategy for the Ursatz. By the rhetorical strategy of the
Ursatz, Agawu is referring to the framing of Schenkers theory in terms of a works
beginning-middle-ending paradigm.25 Essentially a beginning is a stable point of
departure that establishes the generic identity and structural unit and contains a
period that provides, in miniature, the structural process of the piece as a whole.26 A
middle is engaged with a process (as opposed to an exposition) that is open-ended and
transitionalit is often unclear and structurally unimportant where a middle begins
and ends. An ending has two goals: syntactic and rhetorical closure. This paradigm is
clearly reflected in Schenkers basic Ursatz (I-V-I harmonic motion supported by 321
melodic motion).
The crux of Agawus theoretical idea is a combination of extroversive and
introversive semiosis: by making explicit the functioning of both topical signs
(extroversive semiosis) and pure signs (introversive semiosis) we can provide a richer
expressive interpretation of the music. Agawu states, It is in the interaction between
22
Ibid., 32.
Ibid., 33.
24
Ibid., 34.
25
Ibid., 51.
26
Ibid., 58.
23
topical signs and structural signs, an interaction that might be described in terms of
play, that the essence of my theory lies.27 He proposes approaching analysis in three
stages. First, one must produce a (Schenkerian) voice-leading reduction to show the
inner workings of the music and then reinterpret it in reference to the beginningmiddle-ending paradigm. Second, one must provide a topical analysis that yields a
discourse or plot. Third, one must examine the points of contact between them, as it is
the dialectic between the two types of signs that offers the richest interpretation. Agawu
uses a short excerpt from the opening movement of Mozarts D-Major String Quintet, k.
593 to demonstrate his theory. The remaining chapters of the book provide further
sample analyses to support his theory.
The final chapter of Playing with Signs provides a short Epilogue on how this
theory might apply to Romantic music. Agawu addresses the issues brought up in this
chapter in his 2009 book Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music, in
which he extends his semiotic theory to the Romantic repertoire.28 In this more recent
book, Agawu draws upon the theoretical work of Schenker, Ratner, Adorno, and the
field of musical semiotics. At the heart of his book is the study of music as discourse,
and Agawu discusses the similarities and differences between music and language. He
goes on to provide six criteria for the analysis of Romantic music: topics; the beginningmiddle-ending paradigm; high points and the dynamic curve; periodicity,
discontinuity, and parentheses; three modes of enunciation (speech, song, and dance);
and the narrative thread. Agawu then explores Schenkers idea that links strict
counterpoint to free composition, explaining that the notion that a work is understood
as a layered structure, where the journey from background to foreground is one of
increasing concretization of musical content.29
Agawu concludes the theoretical portion of his book with an exploration of a
paradigmatic approach to analysis. In this approach, a piece of music is understood as a
succession of events that are repeated (sometimes exactly, other times inexactly) and it
is the associations between events and the nature of their succession that guides the
27
Ibid., 23.
Kofi Agawu, Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009).
29
Ibid., 11.
28
construction of meaning.30 The remainder of the book provides sample analyses of

works by composers including Liszt, Brahms, Mahler, Beethoven, and even Stravinsky.
Agawus semiotic approach to musical meaning provides self-contained
theoretical claims that are supported by frequent analytical demonstrations in both of
his books on the topic. In Playing with Signs his semiotic theory uses works from the
Classic style to integrate analysis of topics (Ratner) and a beginning-middle-end
paradigm (Schenker) in order to understand better the works of Haydn, Mozart and
Beethoven; it is in the play between these modes that semiosis occurs. It is this aspect
of his theorythe interaction between topical signs and structural signsthat I find
most pertinent to my analytical studies of Schumanns chamber music. Music as
Discourse, on the other hand, provides an approach to musical meaning that extends
semiotic principles to the idea of thinking of music as a discourse in itself, as applied to
the Romantic repertoire through mostly paradigmatic analyses, which is also directly
applicable to the analysis of the chamber music of Schumann.
1.2.2 Narratological Approaches

Although music is a temporal phenomenon and therefore amenable to narrative
organization, there seems to be a general disagreement among scholars as to the nature
and range of application of musical narrative. For example, while the vocabulary and
methodology of literary approaches are often applied to musical narrative, many
arguments against the pairing of musical and literary narrative exist. Some of these
arguments include the absence of referentiality in music, the absence of a narrator, and
the absence of a past tense.
While the study of musical narrative is a relatively new discipline, there are
already many recognized scholars in the field, including Carolyn Abbate, Byron Almn,
Edward T. Cone, Marion Guck, Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, Peter Kivy, Michael Klein,
Joseph Kraus, Fred Everett Maus, Susan McClary, Anthony Newcomb, and Douglass
Seaton. The following discussion will focus on the differing narratological approaches
of Almn, Newcomb, and Seaton, as their application to Romantic repertoire is most
germane to the present study.
30
Ibid., 163.
The Narratological Approach of Byron Almn. Almns inspiration for his

recent book, A Theory of Musical Narrative, stems from his 2003 article, Narrative
Archetypes: A Critique, Theory, and Method of Narrative Analysis31 and from his
consideration of three books from different fields: Northrop Fryes Anatomy of Criticism,
Eero Tarastis A Theory of Musical Semiotics, and James Liszkas The Semiotic of Myth.32 In
A Theory of Musical Narrative, Almn introduces a narrative approach to music that
draws on Liszkas derivation of Northrop Fryes four narrative archetypes: romance,
tragedy, irony, and comedy.
To understand Almns theory of narrative a brief explanation of the theories of
Frye and Liszka is necessary. Fryes theory of narrative proposes a set of four narrative
categoriesmythoi that distinguish between possible plot schemes using a circular
model. In this model, each of the narratives is situated around the circle representing
the motion from a state of innocence and happiness (at the top of the circle) to the world
of experience or catastrophe (at the bottom of the circle) and then back (Figure 1.2 is
Almns adaptation of Fryes circular model). The binary opposition of
innocence/experience is expanded into the four categories, which, proceeding
clockwise around the circle are romance (the narrative of innocence at the top), tragedy
(the narrative of the fall, moving downward from innocence to experience), irony (the
narrative of experience at the bottom), and comedy (the narrative of renewal moving
upward from experience to recovered happiness).33 Frye, in his 1957 book Anatomy of
Criticism says, We may apply this construct to our principle that there are two
fundamental movements of narrative: a cyclical movement within the order of nature,
and a dialectical movement from that order into the apocalyptic world above.34 He
goes on to say:
The top half of the natural cycle is the world of romance and the analogy of
innocence; the lower half is the world of "realism" and the analogy of experience.
There are thus four main types of mythical movement: within romance, within
experience, down, and up. The downward movement is the tragic movement,
31
Byron Almn, Narrative Archetypes: A Critique, Theory, and Method of Narrative Analysis, Journal
of Music Theory 47, no. 1 (2003): 139.
32
Byron Almn, A Theory of Musical Narrative (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008), ix.
33
Ibid., 65.
34
Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univeresity Press, 1957),
161.
10
the wheel of fortune falling from innocence toward hamartia, and from hamartia
to catastrophe. The upward movement is the comic movement, from threatening
complications to a happy ending and a general assumption of post-dated
innocence in which everyone lives happily ever after.35
Figure 1.2. Reproduction of Almns Figure 1 from Narrative Archetypes: A

Critique, Theory, and Method of Narrative Analysis.36
Liszkas theory of narrative includes three levels of narrative analysis: agential,
actantial, and narrative. The agential level uncovers the biophysical, social, political,
and economic elements through which assignments of cultural value are manifested
while the actantial level tracks the changes in markedness and rank relations. The
narrative level coordinates the analytical details within a finite number of archetypal
plots. It is with the narrative level that Frye and Liszkas theories intersect, and Liszka
replaces Fryes cyclical metaphor with a binary one, where the narrative categories
result from the intersection of two fundamental oppositions: an opposition between
order/transgression and victory/defeat.37
Almns theory of musical narrative essentially traces the tensions between an
order-imposing hierarchy and a transgression of that hierarchy, the result of which
35
Ibid., 162.
Almn, Narrative Archetypes: A Critique, Theory, and Method of Narrative Analysis, 14.
37
Almn, A Theory of Musical Narrative, 65.
36
11
produces one of four narrative archetypes: romance (victory of an order-imposing

hierarchy over its transgression), tragedy (defeat of a transgression by an orderimposing hierarchy), irony (defeat of an order-imposing hierarchy by a transgression),
and comedy (victory of a transgression over an order-imposing hierarchy) (Table 1.1).
One might question the distinction between a romance and tragedy, since in both
archetypes the order-imposing hierarchy wins, but the difference between the two
archetypes lies in the emphasis on victory versus defeat. The same distinction is true
when comparing an ironic narrative with a comic narrative, even though in both
archetypes transgression wins at the end of the narrative.38
Table 1.1. The Four Narrative Archetypes.
Romance:
the victory of an order-imposing hierarchy over its transgression (victory + order)
Tragedy:
the defeat of a transgression by an order-imposing hierarchy (defeat + transgression)
Irony:
the defeat of an order-imposing hierarchy by a transgression (defeat + order)
Comedy:
the victory of a transgression over an order-imposing hierarchy (victory + transgression)
Almns theory emphasizes the importance of transvaluation in musical

narrative. Liszka defines transvaluation as the process and play of tension between the
two aspects of a value-imposing hierarchy.39 Transvaluation refers to a semiotic
translation process: a hierarchy set up within a system of signs is subjected to change
over time; this change, filtered through an observers design or purpose is interpreted
as being isomorphic to a change applied to a cultural hierarchy.40 Almn asserts that
narrative is essentially an act of transvaluation and it is the tension caused by
transvaluation that creates the dynamism of narrative.41
Robert Hattens idea of markedness in music plays an especially important role
in Almns approach. Hatten defines markedness as the asymmetrical valuation of an
38
In his 2003 article, Almn suggested that the way that the opposition between victory and defeat was
cued musically was through reference to a listeners sympathy for either the order-imposing hierarchy or
transgression. Almn explains in his more recent 2008 book that he finds this approach to be problematic,
and revises his theory to allow the opposition between victory and defeat to be interpreted through
emphasis rather than listener sympathy (235).
39
40
Ibid., 40.
41
Ibid., 51.
12
opposition, with marked entities representing the exceptional and having a greater
specificity of meaning than the normative, unmarked entities.42 The idea of markedness
characterizes the valuative weighting of musical units on the paradigmatic level, while
the idea of rank characterizes the valuative weighting of musical units on the
syntagmatic level. Rank assigns relative value to the distinctive features in a cultural
unit; that is to say, each feature of a cultural unit exists in a particular hierarchical
position with respect to the other features in that unit.43 Almn asserts that the musical
unit is characterized by the paradigmatic use (markedness) of certain features rather
than others by their syntagmatic arrangement (rank) in a particular sequence or order.44
He goes on to argue that determining markedness in the context of narrative
interpretation is equivalent to determining what the narrative transgression is, and
determining rank is equivalent to determining the value of a musical event in relation
to other events.45 Therefore, it is the transvaluation, or rising and falling tension caused
by the markedness and rank relations, in a piece of music that articulates its narrative
trajectory.
I will now briefly summarize the typical profiles of transvaluation in each
narrative archetype. In a romance narrative, a rough high-low-high profile of the rank
of the valued elements exists, in which the low rank represents the impact of the
various transgression elements.46 Unlike a romance, where declines in rank value are
ultimately reversed, a tragic archetype contains a rough high-low profile of the rank
value, ending with the defeat of the valued elements.47 The trajectory of the profile of
the valued elements in an ironic archetype varies depending on the emphasis (and the
narrative phase): a trajectory of an ironic narrative can expose the limitations of a
hierarchy, sharply indict it, show it to be ineffectual or meaningless, or completely
demolish it.48 Because a comic archetype involves a transvaluation in which
transgressive elements successfully challenge and overturn an initial hierarchy, a rough
low-high temporal profile is imparted on the rank value of those elementsin a
42

44
Ibid., 47.
45
Ibid., 53.
46
Ibid., 98.
47
Ibid., 139.
48
Ibid., 169.
43
13
comedy the initial hierarchy is normally flawed or overly rigid, which allows the
transgressive element to adapt and achieve its higher status.49
Almn discusses Liszkas levels of narrative analysis and how they might apply
to his theory of musical narrative. The agential level is where the musical-semantic units
are identified and are categorized as either marked or unmarked. The actantial level is
where the dynamic relationships between the musical units are defined. Taken together,
the agential and actantial levels describe the details of a narrative transvaluation in
which two binary oppositions (order/transgression and victory/defeat) express a
conflict that traces the tensions between an order-imposing hierarchy and a
transgression of that hierarchy, ultimately producing one of Fryes four narrative
archetypes.50
Additionally, Almn emphasizes the importance of topical analysis in musical
narrative, citing the work of Ratner and Hatten. He suggests that the expressive genres
of Hattens semiotic approach can be successfully integrated with a theory of musical
narrative because they form a subclass of possible narrative schemes in which topic
plays a primary role in either articulating the overall narrative frame or the conflict that
embodies the primary narrative level.51 Almn acknowledges that the relationship
between narrative and topic is complex (he brings up five issues in the integration of
topic and narrative) but he concludes that topical considerations have a significant
influence on narrative interpretations.52
In sum, Almns theory of narrative in music provides a synthesis of approaches
from literary theory, semiotics, musicology, and music theory. At the heart of this
theory is the Liszkian idea of transvaluationhow the shifts of tension between rank
and markedness relations produce one of the four narrative archetypesbut he also
remains adamant in his belief that methodological eclecticism is the most productive
direction for analytical and interpretive explorations of narratives to take.53 It is the
methodological eclecticism and flexibility of Almns theory that is most beneficial for
the present study.
49
Ibid., 18889.
Ibid., 74.
51
Ibid., 73.
52
Ibid., 92.
53
Ibid., 222.
50
14
The Narratological Approach of Anthony Newcomb. Newcomb has written

several important articles regarding narrative and music, focusing on nineteenthcentury composers: Schumann, Chopin, and Mahler. This discussion will concentrate
on the two articles that examine the instrumental music of Robert Schumann.
Newcomb examines Schumanns music in terms of narrative in his 1984 article
Once More Between Absolute and Program Music: Schumanns Second
Symphony.54 He begins by pointing out that, while Schumanns Second Symphony
received high praise in the nineteenth century, it fell from favor in the twentieth
century, which suggests that our problems with the piece may be rooted in current
analytical tools for absolute music.55 Newcomb asserts that the idea of music as a
composed novel is an important avenue to the understanding of nineteenth-century
music and that we may find a plot archetype as the basis for these compositions.56
The plot archetype, which may reference a specific work from literature or may
be implicit, is communicated and elaborated bythe musical form of the individual
work.57 He emphasizes that we do well to think of the thematic units partly as
characters in a narrative which interact with each other, with the plot archetypes,
with their own past guises, and with conventions of musical grammar and formal
schemes analogously to the way the characters in a novel interact with each other.58
Newcombs aim in this article is to revive historically appropriate analytical tools
in order to interpret Schumanns Second Symphony effectively. By thinking of the piece
as a composed novel, Newcomb proposes using biographical information, ideas of
thematic transformation, semiotic aspects of the musical style, and thematic allusions in
order to support a reading of this symphony as an end-accented or heroic plot
archetype in which the struggle in the symphony from suffering to healing and
redemption seems also to have been Schumanns own.59
In his 1987 article Schumann and Late Eighteenth-Century Narrative
Strategies, Newcomb uses a deductive approach to narrative analysis, with the goal of
54
Anthony Newcomb, Once More Between Absolute and Program Music: Schumanns Second
Symphony, 19th-Century Music 7 (1984): 23350.
55
Ibid., 233.
56
Ibid., 234.
57
Ibid.
58
Ibid., 237.
59
Ibid.
15
being able to better understand made objects.60 His approach also depends on the
intuition, education, and talent of the interpreter. After a lengthy discussion of narrative
in literature versus narrative in music, Newcomb moves on to the crux of his article,
which focuses on narrative in the music of Robert Schumann.
Schumann, who immersed himself in the novels of German Romantics
(especially E.T.A. Hoffman and Jean Paul), studied how the authors told a story and
was intrigued by their poetics. He also tended to describe the music he liked in terms of
novels. Newcomb says Schumann, like Jean Paul, avoids clear linear narrative through
a stress on interruption, embedding, digression, and willful reinterpretation of the
apparent function of an event (what one might call functional punning).61 He notes
that some narratives from late eighteenth-century fiction like to question paradigmatic
plots by standing conventional situations on their heads and Schumann often delights
in doing the same thing.62
After a lengthy discussion of narrative devices found in literary works and in the
music of Schumann (such as Witz), Newcomb provides a sample analysis of the final
movement of Schumanns String Quartet in A Major, op. 41, no. 3. The narrative is
based on the idea that the movement depends entirely on a transformation of functions
of events in a paradigmatic plot. In other words, the functions of successive events turn
out to be not what they seemed when first encountered, as there is a gradual realization
on the part of the listener of a reversal of formal function in the movement. The paradox
of the movement is that, although the movement is indisputably a rondo, the refrain is
additive in structure and tonally open, which alters the normal relation between
function and succession of events in a rondo.63 Newcomb concludes that Schumann has
defamiliarized narrative conventions and has forced the listener to move beyond
static recognition of formal schemata to dynamic questioning of formal procedures.64
In brief, Newcombs approach to narrative in Schumanns music specifically is
built on the idea that music for Schumann was an expressive enterprise and a form of
communication, reflecting in some way the experience of its creator.65 Thematic
60
Anthony Newcomb, Schumann and Late Eighteenth-Century Narrative Strategies, 19th-Century

Music 11, no. 2 (1987): 16474.
61
Ibid., 169.
62
Ibid.
63
Ibid., 173.
64
Ibid., 174.
65
Ibid., 233.
16
metamorphosis, the implications of form and genre, and intertextual allusions,

combined with historical background all provide support for Newcombs analysis of
narrative in Schumanns music, and it is for these reasons that I find Newcombs
approach to narrative to be useful for this project.
The Narratological Approach of Douglass Seaton. In his 200566 and 200967
articles, Douglass Seaton clearly defines narrative as having two essential features: plot
and voice.68 Plot, which Seaton defines as an action that has (or at least proposes) some
sort of recognizable beginning and end, presents characters that act within the course of
the work, and traces an intelligible contour from stability through rising tension and
conflict to resolution and dnouement,69 is commonly found in music (most notably in
the sonata form). Voice, on the other hand, is not as commonly found, as the presence of
a narrative persona is not always evident in music.
Seaton asserts that the voice of the narrator may be established either within the
music or by extra-musical conditions. Within the music, he lists three devices that may
be used to indicate the persona: the piece might be cast in a particular idiom or
distinctive rhetorical style that suggests a certain type of speaker;70 the voice may be
established by quotation of or allusion to a specific repertoire of music; the plot of a
piece may be interrupted by music that does not participate in the action and may take
the form of commentary.71 Extra-musical conditions that may establish voice include:
paratextual verbal indicators (titles or programs), performance conventions, and the
composers biography.72 However one might establish the presence of a narrative
persona, the listener experiences the persona as the subjectivity underlying the action
and feeling in a work.73 Seaton emphasizes that, in order to be narrative, a musical
66
Douglass Seaton, Narrative in Music: The Case of Beethovens Tempest Sonata," in

Narrative beyond Literary Criticism: Mediality, Disciplinarity, ed. Jan Christoph Meister in cooperation with
Tom Kindt and Wilhelm Schernus (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2005), 6581.
67
Douglass Seaton, Narrativity and the Performance of Beethovens Tempest Sonata, in Beethovens
Tempest Sonata: Perspectives of Analysis and Performance, ed. Pieter Berg, William E. Caplin and Jeroen
DHoe (Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2009), 27392.
68
Seaton acknowledges that this idea was not his own, rather it came from others, for example Bakhtin
and Genette. Mikhail Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M.M. Bakhtin, ed. Michael
Holmquist (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1982). Grard Genette, Narrative Discourse: An Essay
in Method, Translated by Jane E. Lewin (New York: Cornell University Press, 1980).
69
Ibid., 274.
70
Hatten (Musical Meaning in Beethoven, p. 169) discusses the idea that a rhetorical gesture (such as an
interruption) may achieve a reversal that provides a shift in level of discourse.
71
Seaton, Narrativity and the Performance of Beethovens Tempest Sonata, 276.
72
Ibid., 277.
73
Ibid.
17
work must possess narrativity in the same way as a work of literature, and therefore
must contain both a plot and a narrative voice.
Seatons idea of uniting plot and voice in musical narrative is clearly seen in his
2008 article Back from B-A-C-H: Schumanns Symphony No. 2 in C major.74 Seatons
plot for the symphony is generally the same as Newcombs: an end-accented or
heroic symphony in which the course of the music suggests a struggle leading to
victory or suffering leading to healing or redemption.75 While Newcomb suggests that
the protagonist in the plot is Schumann himself, Seaton asserts that we should be
reluctant to fall into this biographical fallacywhich should more correctly be called
the autobiographical fallacyin this way.76 He goes on to consider the use of
allusions and citations in the work and what they suggest about the narrative voicean
aspect that pertains directly to this dissertation. Seaton asserts that the persona is not
Schumann, but a more general voice with an experience related to struggle and
recovery, the symphony as a genre, and German musical culture and tradition.77 He
concludes that the self-identification and self-realization in the Symphony in C Major
amount to Schumanns claim for incorporation into the community that the narratorsymphonist understood by the 1840s as the canon of great German composers.78
Seatons approach to narratology in music holds firm the idea that for music to
have narrative it must have both plot and voice. Seaton says,
Narratology guides an examination of passages with an eye to the ways in which
every detailrhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, articulation, register, and
texturecontributes to character. It demands insightful attention to harmonic
and formal designs, including every nuance of structural implication,
completion, and frustration. It requires multilayered understanding of the inside
of plotted musical action and the outer frame that gives the music a voice. And it
requires thorough study of historical contexts, including biography and
74
Douglass Seaton, Back from B-A-C-H: Schumanns Symphony No. 2 in C major, in About
Bach, ed. Gregory G. Butler, George B. Stauffer, and Mary Dalton Greer (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 2008), 191206.
75
Ibid., 193.
76
Ibid., 195.
77
Ibid., 202.
78
Ibid., 20203.
18
reception history. To cultivate narrative musicality demands a wide-ranging and

synthetic mind.79
The effective way in which Seaton addresses the issue of the narrator is valuable in the
current study, and I will use the conditions discussed by Seaton regarding the
identification of voice to address the narrative persona where appropriate in the
analysis of each movement studied.
1.2.3 Conclusion
The semiotic and narratological approaches to musical meaning discussed above
illustrate a small sampling of current trends in the field of music and meaning. Many of
the difficulties in discussing meaning in textless instrumental music can be overcome
with the semiotic theories of Robert Hatten and Kofi Agawu and in the narratological
theories of Byron Almn, Anthony Newcomb, and Douglass Seaton. While each theory
contains many strengths, there are also some weaknesses.
For example, Hatten is reluctant to use Schenkerian analysis and claims that it
would be difficult to correlate and map oppositions in voice leading onto expressive
oppositions. Yet the use of Schenkerian analysis, when appropriate, allows us to pursue
a more in-depth interaction between structuralist and hermeneutic approaches. Arnold
Whittall, in his review of Hattens book, brings up the same question, saying, Hattens
lack of Schenkerian fire-power leaves him unable to pursue a fuller interaction between
structuralist and hermeneutic approaches.80 Agawus theoretical idea of playing with
signs is a good one, but he does not go as far as he might in making connections
between the topical signs and the structural analysis. The play never seems to contain
any real expressive meaning. Agawu claims that topics reinforce structure, contradict
structure, or are indifferent to structure, which is not particularly helpful for the
construction of semantic meaning, as it doesnt address how structure might actually
contribute to the meaning.
Regarding the narratological approach of Almn, a flaw in his work is found in
his failure to consistently provide strong structural support for his narrative
79
Seaton, Narrativity and the Performance of Beethovens Tempest Sonata, 28889.

Arnold Whittall, Review: Musical Meaning in Beethoven, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 121, no.
1 (1996): 122.
80
19
interpretations. Another problem with the approach of Almn is the thorny issue of the
presence of a narrator, and he concludes that, while the issue of a narrator is
problematic in musical narrative, the presence of a narrator is not a prerequisite for
narrative with respect to music. In addition, the issue of topic is discussed by Agawu in
his review of A Theory of Musical Narrative. Agawu asserts that Almns statement that
topic is static while narrative is dynamic is problematic due to the complex temporal
dispositions of different topics.81
Newcomb, who tends to use more aesthetic and emotional analysis than Almn,
relies heavily on historical matters of style and topic. While Newcombs analysis of
Schumanns Second Symphony provides an exhaustive summary of critical reception to
the work in the 19th and 20th centuries and a well-supported musical plot, he does not
effectively address the issue of the narrative voice or provide sufficient structural
support for his claims.
Seaton addresses the difficult issue of the narrator, which is somewhat neglected
by both Almn and Newcomb, by defining musical narrative as having two essential
features: plot and voice. Seatons article on Schumanns Second Symphony provides a
narratological approach that unites plot and voice, providing a more compelling
interpretation of Schumanns Second Symphony than that of Newcomb.
1.3 Methodology and Significance of the Project

In the analyses in the present study, I will seek to reveal significant connections
between music and meaning by using the narratological approach of Byron Almn as
my primary methodology. However, I will also draw upon the semiotic approaches of
Robert Hatten and Kofi Agawu and the narratological approaches of Anthony
Newcomb and Douglass Seaton as needed, in order to enrich the discussion. I will
provide detailed analyses that use structural support to trace musical oppositions
including oppositions in topic, style, markedness, motive, and texturein order to
support my narrative readings. In addition, I will also explore how oppositions in
foreground voice leading can be mapped onto expressive oppositions, thus enhancing
narrative interpretations. Combining these approaches has ramifications for music
81
Kofi Agawu, Review: A Theory of Musical Narrative, Notes 66/2 (2009): 277.
20
theory, for it can produce analyses that are deeper and more penetrating than many that
exist in the current literature.
It is important to recognize the problems that one-to-one mappings between
structureespecially Schenkerian voice leadingand meaning can create. One pitfall of
combining Schenkerian analysis (or any linear analysis that engages with the
Schenkerian concepts of voice leading, prolongation, and composing out) is the
perceived epistemological priority of the background. This raises a couple of questions.
Just how musical are the deeper Schenkerian levels and how much meaning can one
perceive from a background or even a deep middleground analysis? Lawrence Kramer
addresses these questions in his article Haydns Chaos, Schenkers Order; or
Hermeneutics and Musical Analysis: Can They Mix? Kramer states, The fundamental
structure supplies the underlying unity on which the expressivity of the foreground
ultimately depends.82 Schenkers own study of Haydns Representation of Chaos
from Creation generates meaning from the bottom up by constructing a parallel in
which interpretative unfolding follows compositional unfolding.83 Schenkers graphic
analyses show how he first selects deep structural elements as nodes of meaning and
then scans the foreground realizations for qualitative values, which he then projects
onto an image of chaos.
Michael Klein discusses the pitfalls of relying on structure to bolster semantic
claims in Chapter 2 of his 2005 book, Intertextuality in Western Art Music. Klein claims
that In music analysis, as in myth, the structure is the meaning.84 He acknowledges
that the music theorists preoccupation with structure often comes at the expense of
meaning and culture and suggests that part of a solution to this problem may come
from more open acknowledgment of the intertextual nature of analysis.85
Any credible narrative or expressive analysis must be grounded in the structural
aspects of the music. So the question is not whether there are benefits to combining the
approaches, rather it is how most effectively to use purely musical analysis to support
meaning and vice versa. I agree with Robert Hatten, who says, musical meaning is
82
Lawrence Kramer, Haydns Chaos, Schenkers Order; or Hermeneutics and Musical Analysis: Can
They Mix? 19th-Century Music 16, no. 1 (1992): 6.
83
Ibid., 8.
84
Michael Klein, Intertextuality in Western Art Music (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), 28.
85
Ibid., 29.
21
inherently musical.86 It is important that the interpretation of meaning support the

structural analysis and that the structural analysis support the interpretation of
meaning. By that, I mean that it is potentially easy to fall into the trap of forcing a
structural analysis to fit a narrative or expressive interpretation. But, it is also
important not simply to attach a narrative or expressive reading onto a structural
analysis. The two approaches of analysis must benefit and inform each other while
always being deeply founded in the music itself.
I recognize that one cannot make general correlations between types of voiceleading constructs and specific meanings; such things only hold for a particular piece
and a particular set of circumstances or cluster of musical features in that particular
piece. I also recognize that, as we strip away surface features to move toward the
middleground level, we also strip away elements that define semantic meaning. But the
potential pitfall of combining Schenkerian analysis with semiotic or narrative analysis
can be avoided by taking into account the unity found on the background level and by
focusing on the foreground level, which looks at surface events in the music. It is the
musical surface that provides the support for interesting musical meaning.
In recent years some scholars in the field of music and meaning have been
criticized for the superficiality of their analyses. By combining deep structural analysis
with the approaches of Almn, Hatten, Agawu, Newcomb, and Seaton, I hope to use the
interesting but analytically neglected repertoire of Schumanns 1842 chamber music to
show how structural musical oppositions, including those found in voice leading, can
also relate to oppositions between order-imposing hierarchies and transgressions in
order to communicate deeper musical meaning.
86
22
CHAPTER 2
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 1842: Schumanns Chamber Music Year

Robert Schumanns music of the early 1840s reveals a new compositional
direction for the composer. Prior to 1840 Schumann composed primarily (although not
exclusively) solo works for the piano. In 1840, the year of his marriage to Clara Wieck,
he turned to works for voice and piano, a year which Schumann called his song
year.87 He began to look for new solutions to large-scale form by turning to
instrumental music and the symphony in 1841, a year dubbed by Frederick Niecks
some eighty years later Schumanns symphonic year.88 The large amount of chamber
music produced by Schumann the following year led Niecks to call 1842 the chamber
music year.89
Schumann wrote a remarkable number of chamber music works in 1842. In the
first half of the year he composed very little, but from June to December he composed
chamber music exclusively, completing six works: three String Quartets, op. 41; the
Piano Quintet, op. 44; the Piano Quartet, op. 47; and the piano trio later published as the
Phantasiestcke, op. 88.90 The phrase Schumanns chamber music year has been
accepted in historiography,91 and while he did write the chamber works that would
become the best known of his output during that short time period, this generalization
is problematized when one takes into account the entirety of his chamber music output.
While Schumann wrote a large number of his chamber works during the brief
time period from June to December of 1842, it was not his first encounter with the
genre. One of his earliest attempts at a piece in a larger form was the C-Minor Piano
Quartet of 18281829 (Schumann labeled it as his op. V), which was likely in response to
87
Frederick Niecks, Robert Schumann (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1925), 205.
Ibid., 221.
89
Ibid.
90
Schumann continued his exclusive composition of chamber music into early 1843, completing the
Andante and Variations for two pianos, French horn, and two cellos (op. 46) in January and February.
91
Julie Ann Hedges Brown, A Higher Echo of the Past: Schumanns 1842 Chamber Music and the
Rethinking of Classical Form (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 2000), 1.
88
23
Schuberts death on November 19, 1828. John Daverio suggests that the C-Minor Piano
Quartet reflects a fascination with Schuberts Piano Trio in E-flat, D. 929 and further
links the C-Minor Piano Quartet to Schubert with a statement from Schumanns diary
entry on November 31, My quartetSchubert is deaddismay.92 Schumanns own
chamber group performed the C-Minor Piano Quartet in early 1829, as is noted in his
March 13th diary entry.93 This early attempt at chamber music, although not published
during his lifetime, was an important step in Schumanns compositional development,
especially for someone who had not yet had formal training in composition.
Schumann made other attempts at chamber music in 1828-1829, but none were
completed. Sketches exist for piano quartets in B major and in A major, both from the
same time period as the C-Minor Piano Quartet.94 His interest in chamber music did not
fade, and in an 1838 letter to Clara he writes: Im playing with formsIll write three
violin quartets next.95 While sketches of those quartets never surfaced, Schumann did
sketch two string quartets (D major and E-flat major) a year later. Thus, it is evident that
Schumanns turn to chamber music in 1842 was far from abrupt, as he had made quite a
few efforts to compose chamber pieces prior to that year.
The compositions of 1842 were not the first in the genre of chamber music for
Schumann, nor were they the last. The chamber works that came later further
complicate the problem of calling 1842 Schumanns chamber music year. He
composed many more chamber works after 1842, including the Piano Trio in D Minor
(1847), op. 63; the Piano Trio in F Major, op. 80 (1847); the Violin Sonata in A Minor, op.
105 (1851); the Piano Trio in G Minor, op. 110 (1851); the Violin Sonata in D minor, op.
121 (1851); and a number of works composed as sets of miniatures.
Schumann did not compose all of his chamber works in 1842, but Brown notes
that the works from that year hold a special place because a new and serious intent
underlay their composition.96 Schumanns earlier efforts produced mostly unfinished
sketches, whereas the 1842 works show his desire not only to complete the works but
92
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997),
5051.
93
John Worthen, Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007),
31.
94
Daverio, Robert Schumann, 246.
95
Robert Schumann, Letter of 11 February 1838, in The Complete Correspondence of Clara and Robert
Schumann, Critical Edition, ed. Eva Weissweiler, trans. Hildegard Fritsch and Ronald L. Crawford, vol. 1
(New York: Peter Lang, 1994), 102.
96
Brown, A Higher Echo of the Past, 2.
24
also to have them published, performed, and even reviewed.97 In his symphony year,
in which Schumann composed his First Symphony (op. 38), the Ouverture, Scherzo und
Finale (op. 52), the Phantasie in A Minor for piano and orchestra (later the first
movement of his Piano Concerto, op. 54), and the first version of the D-Minor
Symphony (op. 120), Schumann revealed an attempt to cultivate a reputation for
himself as a serious composer by writing in the large-scale forms of his predecessors.
In 1842 Schumann seems to have attempted to further cultivate that reputation by
writing serious chamber music.
1842 is the year in which Schumanns chamber music aspirations were realized,
but it came with some difficulties in his marriage. In February, while on a concert tour
of German cities intended to showcase Claras virtuoso talent as a pianist, Robert
became depressed after being insulted by court officials following a concert given by
Clara in Oldenberg.98 He returned to Leipzig alone, while Clara finished her concert
tour, and he wrote in their marriage diary, This separation has once again made clear
to me our particularly difficult situation. Should I neglect my talent in order to serve as
your travelling companion? And conversely, should you let your talent go to waste
simply because I happen to be chained to the journal and the piano?99
During the weeks spent in Leipzig apart from Clara, Schumann studied the
string quartets of Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, as well as separate studies in
counterpoint.100 This led to his three op. 41 string quartets, composed in the summer of
1842. Schumann wrote the quartets in record time, finishing the first in A minor during
his birthday week (June 411), then writing the second in F major between June 11 and
July 5, and the third in A major between July 18 and July 22.101 Within six short weeks
he completed three quartets, and Claras birthday (September 13) was celebrated by the
first performance of the three works, which took place in their home with Ferdinand
Davidconcertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and friend of Robert
and Claraleading the quartet.102 Schumann thought of the quartets as among his finest
97
Ibid.
99
Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Gerd Nauhaus, The Marriage Diaries of Robert & Clara
Schumann: From Their Wedding Day Through the Russia Trip, ed. Gerd Nauhaus, trans. Peter Ostwald
(Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993), 206.
100
Eric Frederick Jensen, Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 210.
101
Worthen, Robert Schumann, 220.
102
Ibid., 221.
98
25
achievements, and he dedicated them all to Mendelssohn.103 The public response to the
string quartets was also favorable, and Moritz Hauptmanna music theorist at the
newly founded conservatoire in Leipzigpraised their artistic moderation with fresh,
exuberant fancy.104 The A-Minor Quartet was first publicly performed in January of
1843, and the score of all three works was published in February (as a birthday gift to
Mendelssohn) of the same year.105
Schumann next turned to the keyboard, writing the Piano Quintet in E-flat, op.
44, between September and October. Even before it was completed, Clara was excited
about the new work, commenting in their marriage diary, but thus my Robert
worked more with his mind! He has almost finished a quintet which, according to what
I have overheard, again seems to me magnificenta work filled with energy and
freshness! I hope very much to play it here in public yet this winter.106 Schumann
dedicated the quintet to Clara, and she made it a staple on her concert tour in later
years.107
The Piano Quintet was first played privately in December in Leipzig at the home
of his friends the Voigts and remains one of Schumanns most performed and popular
compositions. Mendelssohn, who sight-read the piano part, filled in for Clara, who was
pregnant and not feeling well.108 The Schumanns faced financial difficulties late in 1842,
and in the same month as the premiere of the Piano Quintet, Robert accepted
Mendelssohns request that he come and teach composition, score-reading, and piano at
the new Leipzig Conservatory.109
The public premiere of the Quintet, which received positive reviews, took place
on January 8, 1843 on a program with the op. 41 string quartets. Franz Brendel (who
bought Schumanns journal in 1844) comments, the most successful of his
103
Ibid.
Niecks, Robert Schumann, 222.
105
106
Schumann, Marriage Diaries, 177.
107
108
John Gardner, The Chamber Music, in Robert Schumann: The Man and His Music, ed. Alan Walker
(London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1972), 222.
109
Worthen, Robert Schumann, 226.
104
26
[Schumanns] later works are, in my opinion, the more significant songs, the Peri, and
the Piano Quintet.110
The Piano Quartet, op. 47, also in E-flat, was completed as a companion piece to
the Quintet in November of 1842. Schumann first mentions the Piano Quartet in a diary
entry in October 1842, writing, Ive also been industrious again; a quintet in E-flat
major is at the copyist, and Ive finished something else, at least in my mind, which I
may not reveal to you as yet however.111 Schumann later revealed that the Piano
Quartet, along with the trio later published as the Phantasiestcke, op. 88, was intended
as a Christmas present for Clara.112 While the trio wasnt finished by Christmas, the
Piano Quartet was completed November 26th.113 The Piano Quartet was performed
privately on programs with the Piano Quintet in early December of 1842, but a public
premiere did not occur until December 8, 1844.114 Despite its delay, the premiere was a
memorable program, as it was the farewell concert of Robert and Clara Schumann at the
Leipzig Gewandhaus before their move to Dresden.115
The last work composed during Schumanns chamber music year was a piano
trio, later published as the Phantasiestcke, op. 88. Schumann began work on this piece
in early December of 1842, and Daverio speculates that the trio may have been
motivated by Mendelssohns D-Minor Trio.116 Schumann commented on the difference
in nature of the piano trio and the other chamber works completed in that year, calling
attention to its much more delicate nature.117 Instead of using the sonata-style forms
of the String Quartets, Piano Quintet, and Piano Quartet, Schumann turned back to the
more intimate forms of the piano miniatures. For this reason the Phantasiestcke is often
not included in discussions of Schumanns chamber music year.
The early years of the 1840s led to Schumanns finally establishing a reputation
as a composer of consequence, with works such as his D-Minor Symphony and the
Piano Quintet. These years also reveal a marked change in Schumanns compositional
110
Franz Brendel, Robert Schumann with Reference to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and the Development of
Modern Music in General (1845), in Schumann and His World, ed. R. Larry Todd, trans. Jrgen Thym
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 331.
111
112
113
Ibid.
114
Ibid., 19.
115
Ibid.
116
117
Ibid.
27
style. His turn from the freer styles and forms of his piano miniatures to the more
serious forms of his predecessors (namely Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven) with his
symphonies and chamber music of 184142 expose Schumanns desire to achieve a
reputation as a serious composer. In the years following 1842, Schumann explored the
genre of the oratorio, with his secular oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri (1843); after the
Schumanns Russian tour of 1844, he experienced a crisis during which he composed
very little. Following their move to Dresden in 1844, Schumann became interested in
musical dramas. Mostly, though, Schumanns compositional output in the years
following 1843 is a mixture of all of the major genres, including musical dramas,
miniatures, piano cycles, sonatas, chamber music, symphonies, concerti, and lieder.
Daverio remarks that Schumanns creativity in the final phase of his career was shaped
by a re-enactment and completion of the march through the genres begun years
before.118
2.2 Schumanns Chamber Music Models

Schumann was quite familiar with the chamber music repertoire of his
contemporaries and composers of the past. He seemed to see himself and his
contemporaries as heirs of a tradition that reached back to Bach and was upheld by
composers like Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Brown asserts that the sense of
purpose he felt by composing instrumental music stemmed partly from a sense of
historical self-consciousness and responsibility.119 Plantinga remarks that Schumann
did not intend for historical models to be imitated literally, rather they serve instead as
a fund of ideas and techniques usable for the enrichment of contemporary stylebut it
must always remain contemporary style.120
By beginning his chamber music year with the creation of three string quartets,
Schumann overtly aligned himself with the rigorous standards set by Haydn, Mozart,
and Beethoven.121 Prior to 1842 Schumann regularly attended rehearsals of a quartet led
by Ferdinand David, gaining exposure to repertoire of contemporaries and of the
118
Ibid., 459.
120
Leon B. Plantinga, Schumann as Critic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), 100.
121
119
28
classical masters.122 In 1839 he began a prolonged study of Beethovens late string

quartets, and it is therefore safe to say that Schumanns study of the works of the
masters began well before 1842.
Schumanns choice to begin with string quartets is notable. Plantinga observes
that Schumann only reviewed fourteen string quartets in his career as a critic,
examining works of Spohr, Cherubini, Reissiger, Verhulst, Taubert, and Schapler.123
Carl Dahlhaus remarks that the history of the string quartet (and the symphony and
sonata) after Beethoven is problematic, being split by a rift, or perhaps we should say a
gaping abyss, between their roles in reception history and in the history of
composition.124 Dahlhaus goes on to say that while Beethovens string quartets may
have previously reigned in the concert repertoire, the later development of the genre
was checkered and disjoint.125 Nonetheless, Schumann tackled the string quartet head
on in the summer of 1842.
As mentioned earlier, Schumann studied the string quartets of Mozart, Haydn,
and Beethoven in the spring of 1842, during the weeks he was alone in Leipzig while
Clara finished her concert tour. In a May 1842 entry in the Neue Zeitschrift fr Musik
Schumann wrote, The quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven! Who does not know
them and who dare cast a stone at them? Though it is definite evidence of the
indestructible vitality of those creations that, after the lapse of half a century, they still
delight all hearts, it is not to the credit of the recent artistic generation that in so long a
period of time nothing comparable has been created.126
He also turned seriously to the study of counterpoint and fugue during March
and April of 1842, and the results of this contrapuntal study are obvious in all three of
the string quartets of op. 41, especially in the introduction of the A-Minor Quartet,
which begins with a motive presented in fugato.127 This interest in counterpoint also
carried through to the finales of both the Piano Quintet and Piano Quartet.
We do not know exactly which quartets of Mozart and Haydn captured
Schumanns attention in the spring of 1842. His high regard for Mozarts music in
122
Ibid.
Plantinga, Schumann as Critic, 18788.
124
Carl Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, trans. J. Bradford Robinson (Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1989), 78.
125
Ibid.
126
Konrad Wolff, ed., On Music and Musicians, trans. Paul Rosenfeld (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1946), 68.
127
123
29
general is seen in his 1841 statement in the Neue Zeitschrift fr Musik that Mozarts music
becomes ever fresher with repeated hearings.128 Haydn, widely known as the father
of the string quartet, did not hold as high a place in Schumanns mind, as he goes on to
say nothing new is to be found in the music of Haydn.129 No matter how highly
Schumann regarded the quartets of Mozart and Haydn, it is evident that he was
familiar with their works from the many rehearsals of Davids quartet group he
attended. In addition, Daverio notes that after Clara returned to Leipzig she and Robert
read through many of the scores of Haydn and Mozarts quartets at the piano.130
Daverio goes on to discuss a built-in affinity between Haydns and Schumanns styles,
especially as regards their respective approaches to sonata form and Schumanns less
obvious debt to Mozart which involves the handling of sonata form.131
I love Mozart dearly, Schumann wrote in a November 1842 diary entry, but
Beethoven I worship like a god who remains forever apart, who will never become one
with us.132 The works of Beethoven seem to play an influential role in Schumanns turn
to chamber music. Of Beethovens sixteen string quartets, the last five held the greatest
attraction for Schumann. Schumann wrote, they [the late string quartets] seem to me to
be on the extreme boundaries of human art and imagination thus far attained.133 In
1842 Schumann said, In Beethovens later quartetstreasures may be found which the
world scarcely yet knows, and amid which we may mine for years to come.134 Jensen
observes the influence of Beethovens late quartets on Schumanns quartets in several
general features: the unusual and unexpected tonal relationships, extreme
chromaticism, disruptive rhythmic configurations, emphasis on fugato and imitation;
and adaptations of conventional structures.135 Beyond these broad similarities, Jensen
asserts that there is a specific association between Schumanns first quartet and
Beethovens op. 132, which bear strong structural and thematic similarities in their
respective slow movements.
128
Plantinga, Schumann as Critic, 94.

Ibid. Quoted from NZfM, 14 (1841), 89.
130
131
Ibid., 251.
132
133
Jensen, 210. Quote taken from Rckblick auf das Leipziger Musikleben im Winter 183738.
134
David Whitwell ed., Schumann: A Self-Portrait In His Own Words (California: Winds Press, 1986), 59.
135
Jensen, Schumann, 211.
129
30
When it came to his contemporaries, Schumann held the highest regard for the
works of his good friend Mendelssohn. While Schumann admired the chamber works
of Schubert as well (recall the earlier discussion of the influence of Schuberts death on
Schumanns C-Minor Piano Quartet in 1828-29), most of Schuberts quartets (except for
the Death and the Maiden Quartet, which Schumann praised) would not have yet
been available to him in published form in 1842.136 Schumann dedicated his op. 41
quartets to Mendelssohn, and he seems to have been most concerned about
Mendelssohns opinion of his work. In October 1842 Schumann, after a performance of
his quartets by Davids string quartet, revealed his pleasure at Mendelssohns reaction
to the music, Mendelssohn told me later while leaving that he cannot really explain to
me how much he likes my music. That made me very happy; since I consider
Mendelssohn the best critic; of all living musicians he has the clearest vision.137
The three string quartets of op. 41 are the only string quartets in Schumanns
output. The majority of his chamber music includes the piano, and Daverio remarks
that Schumann was exposed to works for piano and strings from a young age.138
Daverio goes on to say that in the Bltter und Blmchen aus der goldenen Aue, a book
assembled during his early teenage years in Zwickau, Schumann mentions his first
exposure to chamber music for piano and strings, including Mozarts Piano Quartets in
G Minor (k. 478) and E-flat Major (k. 493) and the Piano Quintet (op. 1) of Prince Louis
Ferdinand.139
Near the end of 1828 Schumann formed his own piano quartet with himself as
pianist, Johann Friedrich Tglichsbeck as violinist, Christoph Srgel as violist, and
Christian Glock as cellist.140 Although there is no documentation to prove it, it is likely
that Schumanns piano quartet from the late 1820s read through the two piano quartets
of Mozart just mentioned and perhaps even the piano quartets of Beethoven (WoO 36,
no. 1 in E-flat major; WoO 36, no. 2 in D major; and WoO 36, no. 3 in C major). It is also
highly likely that Schumann became familiar with the piano quartets of his friend
Mendelssohn: op. 1 in C minor, op. 2 in F minor, and op. 3 in B minor (all composed
between 18221825), although probably not until much later.
136

138
John Daverio, Beautiful and Abstruse Conversations: The Chamber Music of Robert Schumann, in
Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music, ed. Stephen E. Hefling (New York: Routledge, 2004), 210.
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid., 211.
137
31
Regarding piano quintets, neither Haydn, Mozart, nor Beethoven wrote for a
piano and string quartet, although Mozart wrote a famous piano quintet for piano and
winds. Whether Schumann was aware of Schuberts well-known Trout Quintet (D.
667) is uncertain (the Trout Quintet is scored for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double
bass and was composed in 1819 and published in 1829). Despite the lack of clarity on
Schumanns specific models for his piano quartet and quintet, he is definitely not the
first, or last, to have composed in the genre.
The role of the piano in both the Quartet and Quintet of Schumann alternates
between musical substance and virtuosity; the Quintet, especially, is a play of quasisymphonic and more properly chamber-like elements.141 Critics have faulted the
Quintet for what some consider an overly prominent piano part, and according to one
explanation, offered by Homer Ulrich, Schumann conceived the piano as a
counterbalance to the four strings and not as one part among five equals.142
In summary, the primary models for Schumanns chamber music are Haydn,
Mozart, and, especially, Beethoven. Mendelssohns work, especially his Piano Trio in D
minor (op. 49) and piano quartets (op. 1, op. 2, and op. 3), also had an influence on
Schumann. Despite his familiarity with and knowledge of the works of these great
composers, Schumann valued those who came before him but also wanted to forge an
identity of his own. He understood that, to be a worthy successor of Beethovens
innovations, one could not imitate them, but rather transform them into something
new.143
2.3 Schumann and the Musical Setting of Chamber Music

The performance contexts of chamber music, originally composed for small
groups of instruments that could perform easily in a palace chamber, began to evolve in
the nineteenth century. The word chamber signifies that the music was to be
performed in a small room in an intimate atmosphere, and it was most often amateur
musicians who performed the genre prior to the nineteenth century. Although amateur
chamber music playing still thrived in the mid-nineteenth century, it was also a period
141

Homer Ulrich, Chamber Music; The Growth & Practice of an Intimate Art (New York: Columbia Univ.
Press, 1948), 293.
143
142
32
of increasing professionalization of chamber music performance. Professional quartets

were formed, and there were a growing number of professional and public chamber
music concerts and concert series.
Many changes in society and in musical tastes occurred in the middle of the
nineteenth century that had an impact on chamber music composition and
performance. Dahlhaus remarks that chamber music in the nineteenth century was
forced by its technical difficulties to go outside the world of domestic music-making
and into the bright glare of the public concert.144 He further comments that this
dilemma, neatly captured in the self-contradictory concept of a public chamber music
concert has never been fully resolved.145 The spirit of conversation between individual
performers in chamber music began to dissolve with the rise of public chamber
concerts, but despite this the conversation was still there in the texture, although now a
sophisticated enactment of that intimate conversation staged for an audience.
Schumann reached compositional maturity during a time period in which
chamber music had come to occupy an intermediary position between private and
public entertainment.146 Schumann wrote that in a true quartet everyone has
something to saya conversation, often truly beautiful, often oddly and turbidly
woven, among four people.147 An example of a private performance occurred on
January 8, 1843, as a part of Musikalische Morgenunterhaltung (Musical MorningEntertaining or Conversation), where Schumanns A-minor String Quartet and Piano
Quintet were performed for only those who were invited to the event.148 Other
examples of private performances have already been discussed, such as the
performance of the three string quartets in the Schumanns home to celebrate Claras
birthday (September 1842), and the performance of the Piano Quintet at the home of the
Voigts, with Mendelssohn at the piano (December 1842).
Schumann noted in 1838 that the four members of a string quartet, unlike the
members of a symphony orchestra, constitute their own public thus supporting the
144
Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, 171.

Ibid.
146
147
Stephen Hefling, The Austro-Germanic Quartet Tradition of the Nineteenth Century, in The
Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, ed. Robin Stowell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2003), 239.
148
Ibid.
145
33
private nature of chamber performance.149 Adorno mentions the same idea in his
analysis of the changing social function of chamber music in the nineteenth century.150
Daverio remarks that Schumanns [string] quartets, in short, may number among the
last representatives of the true chamber idiom where players and listeners are one.151
The audience for chamber music continued to grow larger, and during the
Schumanns 1844 tour of Russia a private performance of the Piano Quintet drew
close to forty listeners.152 One might speculate that the more orchestral textures of both
the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet (although much more so in the Quintet) deserves,
and in fact requires, a move from private venues to the public sphere. The virtuoso
piano part of the Piano Quintet, Daverio notes, will only receive its due from an artist
at home on the concert stage.153 Schumanns chamber works for piano were intended
for professional pianistsClara and Mendelssohnrather than amateurs.
2.4 Schumanns Compositional Process

The following discussion about Schumanns compositional process is based on
the pioneering work of Linda Roesner and her 1983 dissertation titled Studies in
Schumann Manuscripts with Particular Reference to Sources Transmitting Instrumental
Works in the Large Forms. Roesner examines the manuscripts of a number of works by
Schumann from the standpoint of his creative process as a composer, his working habits
and methods of preparing a work for performance and publication, and his stylistic
development.154
2.4.1 Schumanns Early Compositional Process

Most of Schumanns manuscripts contain evidence that their contents were not
written down in a single continuous actthe variety of inks and pen points or pencil
show the many passes he made through both the sketches and the fair copy. The use of
different ink and pencils indicates where he may have broken off and begun the
149
Ibid., 54142.
Theodor W. Adorno. Introduction to the Sociology of Music (New York: Seabury Press, 1976), 8586.
151
152
Ibid., 254.
153
Ibid., 255.
154
Linda Roesner, Studies in Schumann Manuscripts with Particular Reference to Sources Transmitting
Instrumental Works in the Large Forms (Ph.D. diss., NYU, 1983), iv.
150
34
compositional process again.155 Almost all the manuscripts for Schumanns early piano
music (including the sonatas) are either fragmentary preliminary sketches or more
finished sources ready to give to copyists.156 There are few, if any, manuscripts that
indicate middle stages of continuity drafts in his early works.
Since there are no continuity drafts for early works, we can conclude that
Schumann wrote his early works from the preliminary sketches at the piano and the fair
copies were then subjected to numerous revisions.157 Or, it might be that continuity
drafts existed but were discarded, unlike sketches (which show the moment of
inspiration) or fair copies (which one needs). One exception is the Fandango of 1832
(later the first movement of the Piano Sonata in F-sharp Minor, op. 11), which reflects an
intermediate stage of composition.158 The op. 11 Fandango sketches reveal how the
composer improvised diverse ideas without any consideration of how they would be
fitted together.159
The Piano Sonata in G Minor, op. 22, manuscript (183338) sheds additional light
on Schumanns early compositional procedures. He made changes by extracting,
moving about, omitting, and substituting large blocks of finished material, while
leaving intact the surrounding musical text, indicating a piecemeal approach to
composition.160 In addition, the idea sketch was constructed by writing down an
open-ended improvisation on a basic melodic or rhythmic pattern.161 Schumanns early
approach to composition was mosaic-like, as different ideas can easily be changed
around, added, abridged, or omitted with minimal effect on the overall form.162
2.4.2 Schumanns Late Compositional Process

For Schumanns later works, continuity drafts survived. The manuscripts of his
Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, op. 38, show the same techniques he used in his
chamber worksa mixture of mosaic and improvisatory techniquesbut now he
would leave empty bars in continuity drafts to be filled in later. An examination of the
155
Ibid., 112.
Ibid., 280.
157
Ibid., 301.
158
Ibid., 280.
159
Ibid., 401-2.
160
Ibid., 326.
161
Ibid., 327.
162
Ibid., 342.
156
35
manuscripts of his later large-scale works indicates that his approach changed, as he
worked out structural changes in the sketches, as opposed to earlier works, where he
made major structural changes at the fair-copy stage.163
The sequence for the sketches of the op. 41 string quartets was predominantly
regularthey reflected fairly accurately the compositional order of the music, while
the sketches for the later Violin Sonata, op. 105, and E-flat-Major Symphony are more
complicated and difficult to follow.164 Schumanns revisions in the op. 41 quartets
reflect his growing concern with structural balancefor example, shortening
previously excessive transitional passagesbut continued his earlier practice of
repeating large blocks of material in development sections.165 While Schumann was
increasingly thinking about solutions to problems of large forms with op. 41, the
revisions and music reveal that his approach was still largely rooted in the additive
techniques of his early style.166
By the early 1840s Schumanns improvisational approach to large-scale
composition had been brought under controleven though he still composed at the
pianoas seen in sketches of op. 38 and op. 41.167 In a letter of 1838 Schumann
cautioned Clara against the pitfalls of improvisation.168 Continuity drafts that appeared
in the early 1840s provide a complete sketch outline of the works, which indicates that
long-term planning had replaced the moment-to-moment evolution of the earlier
works; most of the structural revisions took place in the sketch or continuity draft and
not in the fair copy, as it did in his earlier works.169
Less reliance on improvisation in the early 1840s led to a change in how
Schumann handled thematic materialthe works contain fewer thematic ideas than
the early worksand these ideas are more thoroughly worked out.170 However, the
mosaic-like fitting together of ideas in the early works does carry over to the later
works, in that he constructed many of his themes by adding together four-bar phrases
on common or related ideas. Large-scale orchestral and chamber works of his later
163
Ibid., 342.
Ibid., 83.
165
Ibid., 386.
166
Ibid., 387.
167
Ibid., 401-2.
168
Ibid., 402.
169
Ibid., 403.
170
Ibid.
164
36
years (the D-Minor Trio, op. 63, the E-flat-Major Symphony, op. 97, and the violin
sonatas) show a complete break with additive methods in favor of ongoing thematic
processes and continuity in the larger structural sense, the result of his study of
counterpoint of Bach and his involvement with large forms in general.171
2.5 Conclusions
Both practical and personal reasons influenced Schumanns changes in
compositional interests and style in the early 1840s. Claras father was reluctant to let
his daughter marry Schumann and one of the concerns he expressed was how Robert
would support his wife. After their marriage in 1840 Schumanns journal continued to
do well, but he had definitely not met with commercial success as a composer. In
addition, the immensely personal piano works that dominated Schumanns output
prior to 1840 separated him, at least somewhat, from the concert-going public. In a letter
to Clara from the late 1830s, Schumann acknowledges this by writing, You were wise
not to play my piecesthey arent suited for the publicand it would be pitiful if I
were to complain later that the audience hadnt understood something which wasnt
intended for public acceptance; it wasnt intended for anything at all and exists only for
its own sake.172 By turning to the genres of the symphony in 1841 and chamber music
in 1842, Schumann sought to provide works for the public that are both more accessible
and more comprehensible than the immensely personal and complex piano works.
171
172
Ibid., 404.
Brown, A Higher Echo of the Past, 2223. From a letter of March 19, 1838.
37
CHAPTER 3
A ROMANCE NARRATIVE:
JEAN PAUL AND THE PERSONA
IN THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO QUINTET
Northrop Fryes 1957 book Anatomy of Criticism posits a set of four narrative
archetypes (romance, tragedy, irony, and comedy) that use a circular model: the
narratives are conceived as moving around a circle, representing a move from a state of
innocence and happiness at the top (romance), down to a state of experience or
catastrophe (tragedy), moves to a different state of experience with irony, and back up
to the narrative of renewal and recovered happiness (comedy). The analyses that follow
in Chapters 3 through 6 will use Byron Almns adaptation of this circular model,
which maps Liszkas binary oppositions (order-imposing hierarchy/transgression and
victory/defeat) onto Fryes circular model, to provide readings of each of the four
movements of Schumanns Piano Quintet, op. 44. The movements of the Piano Quintet
move around the entire circular model of narrative archetypes, from a state of
innocence or happiness (first movement), falling to the world of experience with
tragedy (second movement), to more experience with irony (third movement) and
finally upward from experience to recovered happiness with comedy (fourth
movement). We begin with the first movement, a heroic romance narrative that is
enriched by the influence of Jean Paul on Schumann as a composer, by the idea of two
characters (Florestan and Eusebius) in the movement, and by the idea of a persona who
is an aspiring Romantic artist seeking a place among the great figures in the world of
art.
3.1 Romance Narrative in Literature and Music

The romance archetype occupies the narrative of innocence and happiness in the
upper right quadrant of Almns circular adaptation of Fryes archetypes. According to
Almn, a romance is the archetype of wish fulfillment, of the valorization of the ideals
38
of a community.173 The romance archetype produces a narrative in which the orderimposing hierarchy is victorious over its transgression, and a rough high-low-high
profile is applied to the rank of the valued elements. This high-low-high rank profile
is the result of the implication of a potentially endless series of confrontations with the
elements that threaten the dominant hierarchy; the low rank represents the impact of
the various elements of transgression.174
In literature, romance frequently employs idealized, mythical, and imaginary
elements that have more to do with the imagination than with current cultural
conditions. This is true in musical romances as well, where extra-musical or topical
references are often pastoral, mythic, transcendent, or divine.175 A romance narrative,
though, does not just embody the romantic topics listed above; rather it must involve
the victory of an order-imposing hierarchy over its transgression. Emphasizing the
victory of the order-imposing hierarchy is crucial with a romance narrative, which means
that the analyst must view the hierarchy in a positive light.
According to Almn, the romance archetype occupies uneasy ground within our
current interpretative landscape, because society of the twenty-first century is the child
of a demythologizing and ironic age. He goes on to say,
While the other three archetypes find productive service in the modern
worldtragedy as a reminder of the necessary limits of human desire
and achievement, irony in its awareness of the insufficiency of any
system, and comedy in its subversive call to hope and redemption in
the face of inequalitythe romance seems at the very least irrelevant, if
not dangerously fatalGiven societys current trend toward
iconoclasm and the dangers of fundamentalisms of all kinds, what
purposes are served by narratives that defend the faith or project the
ideals of a community?176
One answer to this question of purpose is Almns idea that romance narratives
point to the necessity and importance of determining a hierarchy of values through
173
Byron Almn, A Theory of Musical Narrative (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2008), 97.
Ibid.
175
Ibid.
176
Ibid., 97.
174
39
which to negotiate the world.177 In addition, while romance narratives may not provide
a specific productive service in the modern world, they do, according to Almn,
provide a path between nostalgia for an imaginary past and the potential for
engendering a new future.178
In the following analysis of the opening movement to Schumanns Piano Quintet,
the romance narrative contains not only romantic topics such as the pastoral, it also
traces the path of a heroic protagonist who attempts and ultimately succeeds in
navigating through a world full of uncertain hierarchical values and transgressions
against those values. Through his journey, the hero manages to overcome these
uncertainties and successfully navigate this path between nostalgia and a new future.
But, the journey of the heroic protagonist is not one of a conventional succession of
functional events. It is instead one that avoids clear linear narrative, much like the
novels of Jean Paul, which Schumann loved and admired. A brief examination of the
influence of Jean Paul on Schumann is necessary before beginning the analysis of
Schumanns movement.
3.2 Schumann and Jean Paul

Schumann, who was an avid reader of literature of all types, was especially fond
of the works by Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (17631825). In her recent book Schumanns
Piano Cycles and the Novels of Jean Paul Erika Reiman makes the case that the sleight of
mind required to traverse the dense, digressive prose of Jean Paul may find useful
application to the fragmentary, enigmatic, harmonically, and rhythmically surprising
tendencies in Schumanns piano cycles.179
Reiman relays a large amount of evidence from Schumanns letters and diaries to
show his affinity for the works of Jean Paul throughout his life; by the late 1820s his
personal writings displayed the impact Jean Paul had already exerted on his life and
artistic viewpoints. Below are a few of the representative examples of his fascination in
his late adolescence with the works of Jean Paul, as noted by Reiman:
177
Ibid., 98.
Ibid., 98.
179
Erika Reiman, Schumanns Piano Cycles and the Novels of Jean Paul (New York: University of Rochester
Press, 2004), 3.
178
40
I have often asked myself where I would be if Id never known Jean

Paul: but he seems to be entwined with at least one side of me . . . I
would perhaps write in just the same way, but I wouldnt flee others
company as much, and Id dream less . . . I cant exactly imagine what
I would be . . . I cant puzzle out the question.
J. Paul has three sorts of spirit: soul, humour, wit, just as a turkey has
three sorts of meat; one explains another and the three are as closely
related as the three kinds of meat in the turkey.
Jean Paul . . . and Beethoven hang beside one another in my room;
they have already made some people unhappy; these people became
too elated and could not be happyand yet they were happy. For me
its melancholy, a delight made of joy and pain mixed together. . . .180
While the above quotations are from the diaries of his late adolescence,
Schumann did read and reread the works of Jean Paul throughout his life. Reiman notes
that Schumann purchased a complete edition of Jean Pauls works in 1853 at the age of
forty-three, and he mentions reading all five of the major novels in the summer of that
same year. 181 It is evident that Jean Paul had an enormous impact on Schumanns
literary and artistic formation.
In her book, Reiman focuses solely on the influence of Jean Paul on Schumanns
piano cycles from 183139, and she effectively demonstrates how Jean Pauls digressive
style and new ideas of form and genre permeate Schumanns solo piano music. But
Reiman acknowledges that the influence of Jean Paul on Schumanns early piano cycles
could also be traced through Schumanns later output, such as his songs, chamber
music, and symphonies, since there is a strong continuity of style, particularly on a
small-scale level, between Schumanns piano music and his other works.182
Anthony Newcomb does just that in his article "Schumann and Late-Eighteenth
Century Narrative Strategies," which culminates with an analysis of the final movement
from Schumanns String Quartet in A Major, op. 41, no. 3 (1842). Anthony Newcomb
180
Ibid., 9-10.
Ibid., 11.
182
Ibid., 191.
181
41
says knowledge of Schumanns love of the early German Romantics, especially Jean
Paul, is well known and notes that
One can in fact make a documentary case that Schumann recognized as
applicable to music certain narrative strategies in novels of his time, for
he constantly described the music he liked best in terms of novels, and
he explicitly acknowledged the inspiration that he took for his own
compositions from the technique of his favorite novelists.183
In relation to Schumanns own compositional output, Newcomb asserts
Schumann, like Jean Paul, avoids clear linear narrative through a stress on
interruption, embedding, digression, and willful reinterpretation of the apparent
function of an event (what one might call functional punning). He does so in such a way
as to stress the process of narrative interpretation (the listeners part in what Ricoeur
calls following a story).184 Newcomb acknowledges that literary critics have
recognized another ideal of narrative in some late eighteenth-century fiction that is
different from the linear or teleological, and such narratives delight in questioning
paradigmatic plots by standing conventional situations on their heads. He argues that
Schumann often takes pleasure in doing the same thing.185
Newcomb and Reiman are not the only authors to acknowledge the significant
influence of Jean Paul on the music of Schumann. The basic concept inherent in Jean
Pauls style of prose is that of Witz (wit), discussed at length by John Daviero in
Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age. According to Daverio, Witz is that
element which can transform a series of disconnected fragments into a constellation of
mysteriously related terms.186 Reiman discusses Witz in terms of Jean Paul, saying that
Witz brings the most far-fetched comparisons to life, discovering the unknown
similarities underlying immense superficial difference. . . . uncovering the deeper
183
Anthony Newcomb, Schumann and Late-Eighteenth Century Narrative Strategies, 19th-Century

Music 11 (1987): 168. Schumanns Papillions is the only piece in which a clear programmatic connection to
Jean Paul exists, as Schumann drew parallels between Papillion and Jean Pauls novel Flegeljahre, but
Newcomb points out that there are many other parallels between the two artists.
184
Ibid., 169.
185
Ibid.
186
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997),
141.
42
affinities between all things.187 Newcomb notes that the narrative device of Witz, so
beloved by Jean Paul, is the faculty by which subtle underlying connections are
discovered (or revealed) in a surface of apparent incoherence and extreme
discontinuity.188 Schumanns musical equivalence of Witz is found in Newcombs
analysis of the A-Major String Quartet rondo in the way the composer interconnected
seemingly disparate fragments, which is the musical equivalent of Witz.189
In his discussion of the influence of Jean Paul on Schumann, John Daverio notes
that Jean Paul remained the writer to whom Schumann returned most often, and he
indicates that Schumann made his own attempt at a Bildungsroman with his novel
Selene, which is dated from late 1828.190 In Schumanns novel the heroic character,
Gustav, is described by Schumann as a hoher Mensch (high human being). Daverio
observes that Schumann departs from Jean Pauls notion of a hoher Mensch as an
individual sublimely indifferent to earthly cares.191 Instead, Schumann associates the
hoher Mensch with the ability to temper Promethean energy through Olympian
restraint.192 He writes, Gustav must pass through all the schools of life; he must learn
both to hate and to love; his youthful demeanor must be tender and mild in order to
show that the higher being can submit to the fetters of calm, but that his Promethean
sparks remain unextinguished nonetheless.193 It is this idea of a hoher Mensch that
provoked Schumann, a few years later, to split the dual personality of the superior
being into the dynamic (Florestan) and contemplative (Eusebius) characters that
occupy so much of Schumanns critical writings and his own music.194 Daverio notes
that the hoher Mensch emerges in retrospect as a cipher for the author-composers
idealized attempt to neutralize the conflicts in his own being, to rise above his human
limitations.195 This idea of two opposing characters, Florestan and Eusebius, will
play an important role in the following narrative analysis of the opening movement of
Schumanns Piano Quintet. I will map the Florestan personality onto Almns concept
of order as the heroic protagonist, and the Eusebius personality onto Almns concept
187
Reiman, Schumanns Piano Cycles and the Novels of Jean Paul, 16.
Newcomb, Schumann and Late-Eighteenth Century Narrative Strategies, 169.
189
Ibid.
190
Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age," 40.
191
Ibid., 41.
192
Ibid.
193
Ibid.
194
Ibid., 41.
195
Ibid.
188
43
of transgression. The eventual victory of order over transgression will represent the
victory of the Florestanian character over the Eusebian oneat least in this movement.
This discussion of Jean Paul and Schumann barely scratches the surface of the
enormous influence that Jean Paul brought to bear on Schumann in both his literary and
musical works. Nevertheless, it helps to put into perspective the following analysis,
both in terms of the composers use of the literary technique of Witz and in terms of the
presence of the Florestan and Eusebius characters. But before beginning the analysis, a
brief discussion of persona in music is necessary.
3.3 The Persona Theory

The idea of a musical persona was first explored in a scholarly study by Edward
T. Cone in his 1974 book The Composers Voice. Cone suggested every composition is an
utterance depending on an act of impersonation which it is the duty of the performer or
performers to make clear.196 Cone asserted that even in pure instrumental music
there is a musical persona that is the experiencing subject of the entire composition, in
whose thought the play, or narrative, or reverie, takes placewhose inner life the music
communicates by means of symbolic gesture.197
In a recent article Robert Hatten and Jenefer Robinson claim music can
sometimes be heard as containing a persona, a fictional or virtual agent whose emotions
are expressed in the music.198 They go on to say that it is often appropriate to hear or
imagine a fictional or virtual persona in the music with whom we can identify or
sympathize, allowing us as listeners to gain further insights into the structure and
meaning of music.199 They assert, once the listener is able to identify the complex
emotional states as being expressed by a persona; it also becomes possible to identify an
entire piece as enacting the psychological story of a persona...regardless of whether we
identify with the composer, with the performer, orthe most general casewith an
imagined agent in the music.200
In his approach to narratology in music Douglass Seaton insists that for music to
contain a narrative it must have two essential features: plot and voice. His idea of the
196
Edward T. Cone, The Composers Voice (Berkley: University of California Press, 1974), 5.
Ibid., 94.
198
Jenefer Robinson and Robert S. Hatten, Emotions in Music, Music Theory Spectrum 34 (2012): 71.
199
Ibid., 72.
200
Ibid. 79.
197
44
voice, or persona, is deeply rooted in Cones theory and is supported, in some senses,
by Hatten and Robinsons more recent article. Seaton is careful to point out that while
plot is commonly found in music, especially in Romantic music, not every piece of
music contains a narrative persona. In my analysis of the opening movement from
Schumanns Piano Quintet, I will show, using the ideas of Cone, Robinson and Hatten,
and Seaton, that this movements persona can be identified as a Romantic artist who is
trying to achieve some sort of personal success, which can be mapped onto a composer
who aspires to write works in large forms and his desire to rise to the compositional
level of Beethoven.
3.4 Analysis: The First Movement of the Piano Quintet

In the following analysis of the first movement of Schumanns Piano Quintet, I
provide a narrative reading of the movement as an example of a romance narrative
archetype, in which an order-imposing hierarchy is victorious over its transgression. I
suggest that a reading of the movement as a romance narrative, in which a protagonist
is victorious, can be enriched by three ideas: (1) that this movement portrays the
profound influence of Jean Pauls literary techniques especially that of Witzon
Schumann in terms of the formal structure, (2) that this movement could be interpreted
as containing a protagonist who can be mapped onto Schumanns Florestan character
and who in is conflict with a Eusebius character, and (3) that the persona is an
aspiring Romantic artist.
3.4.1. The Order-Imposing Hierarchy and Transgression

As shown in Table 3.1, the structural characteristics of the tonic major key (Eb),
characteristics associated with a normative sonata form, regular four-bar hypermeter,
metrical consonance, and the heroic topic of the Florestan character represent the
order-imposing hierarchy in this movement. Transgression, on the other hand, is
represented by keys that go against the tonic major key (especially bIII), characteristics
of Jean Pauls Witz that prevent the success of sonata form, irregular hypermeter,
metrical dissonance, and topics that represent Eusebius (pastoral and sensibility
topics).
45
Table 3.1. Order Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression.

Order-Imposing Hierarchy:
Transgression:
Structural Characteristics of the Tonic Major

Key (Eb)
Keys That Go Against the Tonic Major

(Especially bIII)
The Characteristics Associated with a

Normative Sonata Form
Characteristics of Jean Pauls Witz that

Prevent the Success of the Sonata Form
Clear Four-Bar Hypermeter
Hypermeter Difficult to Determine
Metrical Consonance
Metrical Dissonance
Heroic Topic
(Representing Florestan)
Pastoral and Sensibility Topics

(Representing Eusebius)
Table 3.2. Formal Diagram of the Exposition.

Exposition
Theme:
TR1
Eb
Eb
Measure #:
Topic:
Heroic
Key:
Character:
Flor.
TR2
TR3
S1.1
S1.2
S1.1
S1.2
S1.1
S2
bIII
Bb
Bb
Gb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
17
27
51
57
73
79
95
99
108
Lyrical
Heroic
Lyrical
Sensibility
Hints at
Euseb.
Hints
Flor.
at
Euseb.
Euseb.
Pastoral/
heroic
Sensibility
Attempt
to gather
energy
46
Pastoral/
heroic
Sensibility
to gather
energy
fuoco
Heroic
Last
Attempt
Foiled
Con
Foiled
attempt
Flor.
to gather
(success)
energy
In addition to establishing the characteristics associated with order and

transgression, it is important for the reader to have an understanding of the overall
form of the movement. While this movement generally adheres to the norms associated
with sonata form, there are several formal anomalies that contribute to the narrative
trajectory of the movement. The most notable is the delay of the arrival of the dominant
key area in the exposition through Schumanns use of Gb major (bIII).202 A summary of
the form of the exposition is seen in Table 3.2.
3.4.2. The Exposition: P

This movement opens with a principal theme (from here on referred to as P) that
exhibits characteristics of order (Example 3.1). In E-flat major, mm. 12 contain a bass
pedal point that stresses tonic, and P goes on to present a single phrase in a clear fourbar hypermetrical structure ending with a perfect authentic cadence in m. 9. The full
chordal texture includes a doubling of the melody in the piano and the first violin, and
the dynamic marking is forte. The accents in mm. 12 and 56 emphasize the heroic
nature of P, which can be divided into two primary motives: (1) motive x, the large
upward leap in m. 1 (and repeated in mm. 2, 5, 6 and 7); and (2) motive y, the leap
down and two steps up which is found in m. 3 (and repeated in m. 4).
This heroic P theme portrays the protagonist as Florestan, the more outgoing of
the pair of contrasting artistic characters. In this theme Florestan is a hero who is
confident, aggressive, and somewhat rambunctious in nature, supported musically by
the sense of urgency imparted by the ascending leaps and the intense rhythmic drive to
the cadence in m. 9. The Kopfton (3) is quicklyeven impetuouslyachieved in m. 3 by
the gestures of reaching-over in mm. 13, and the phrase closes with a local descent to
scale degree 1 in m. 9 (Example 3.2).
202
Peter Smith discusses Schumanns tonal pairing of Eb and eb/Gb at length in his chapter, "Associative
Harmony, Tonal Pairing, and Middleground Structure in Schumanns Sonata Expositions" in Rethinking
Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 238.
47
Example 3.1. P Theme (Heroic Topic), mm. 19.
Example 3.2. Voice-Leading Sketch of P, mm. 19.
48
While Florestan seems generally invincible in the opening eight measures, there
is a slight hint of transgression with the use of b6 (Cb) as a member of a fully diminished
seventh chord in m. 2. While the viio7 is the result of a passing motion in the voice
leading, this harmony is strikingly dissonant due to the tonic pedal. The mode mixture
b6 returns in m. 5, this time supported by a supertonic half-diminished seventh chord in
third inversion. The fleeting sounds of the minor mode through the use of b6 merely
hint at a transgression, as they occur only briefly in inner voices and are immediately
corrected both times to n6 in the following measures. Despite the references to b6, the
rank value of order is high at the end of P due to the heroic nature of the theme and the
strong rhythmic drive to the cadence.
3.4.3. The Exposition: TR1

The opening of the transition (what I will call TR1) provides an antithetic
character to the heroic P theme beginning in m. 9, with a more lyrical and introverted
version of the P material that constitutes the first hint of Eusebius (Example 3.3). This is
a lyrical topic, due to the legato melody, change in texture from thick block chords to
a dialogue between the piano and strings, and the piano dynamic marking. The P
material is reworkedit no longer prolongs tonic but rather leads to a chromatic
ascending 56 sequence that culminates with a tonicized half cadence in Eb in m. 17.
TR1 moves toward the dominant, as expected in a transition, but it reworks the
musical material from P in ways that suggest the influence of Eusebius. There is a
marked downturn in energy in mm. 910 due to the fp and more lyrical statement of the
melody, and energy is only slowly regained through the ascending sequence that
follows in mm. 1016. The new texture, in which the piano presents the melody and the
strings interject in dialogue with the piano, is more intimate than the homophonic
opening version of P, suggesting Eusebiuss more tender nature.
49
Example 3.3. TR1, mm. 917.

The TR1 material contains a willed ascent, but it is not easily obtainedas it is
slow and labored due to the chromatically embellished ascending sequence. The voice
leading, seen in Example 3.4a, only reaches scale degree 2 (the Kopfton 3 is never
achieved). The AbM (m. 10), BbM (m. 12), Cm (m. 14), and Dm (m. 16) triads are illusory
(as clarified in Example 3.4b); even though they are tonicized, they are actually only
apparent chords in the ascending 56 sequence. This connects strongly to Eusebiuss
transgressive nature in this movement, distracting the Florestan character from a
completely goal-oriented motion. While the overall voice leading does lead clearly from
I to V, it does so in a contemplative and thus Eusebian way.
50
Example 3.4a. Voice-Leading Sketch of TR1, mm. 917.
Example 3.4b. Simplified Voice-Leading Sketch of TR1, mm. 917.
51
The beginning of TR1 provides a more introverted form of expression. In

comparison to the extroverted P of Florestan, TR1 is more lyrical, lending credence to an
interpretation of TR1 as hinting at characteristics of Eusebius, or at the very least
moving in that direction. Overall, the opposition between the way that the P material is
presented in mm. 19 and its transformation in TR1 in mm. 917 reveals the first
suggestion of a conflict between the hero and transgressive external forces.

The second subsection of the transition, which I call TR2, begins in m. 17 with a
reassertion of the original form of the P theme (Example 3.5), using the same full
chordal texture, f dynamic marking, and accents found in mm. 18. It seems that the
hero obstinately refuses to relinquish his hold on P material, now standing on the
dominant to create an expectation of a medial caesura (MC)203 at the tonicized half
cadence in m. 25 (V/Eb) (Example 3.6). The octave Bbs that follow in mm. 2526 act as
hammer strokes that seem to confirm that this is, in fact, the MC.
In terms of the narrative trajectory, the return to the original form of the P
material in TR2 raises the rank value of order, as the confident nature of the hero
returns and the transition ends with a half cadence in the tonic key. The challenge to
our protagonist has been set asideat least for nowwith the return of the more
confident version of the P material in m. 17. However, the octave Bb hammer strokes in
mm. 2526 are a marked moment, as the result of the accents, the thinning of the texture
to a single pitch class, and the registral expansion to four octaves. I suggest that we hear
these Bb hammer strokes metaphorically as a fateful warning, as if something is about to
go terribly wrong.
203
James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in the
Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). The medial caesura is defined
by Hepokoski and Darcy as the brief, rhetorically reinforced break or gap that serves to divide an
exposition into two parts, tonic and dominant (or tonic and mediant in most minor-key sonatas); it
separates TR from S (24).
52
Eb:
V7/V
V7/V
53
Example 3.6. Voice-Leading Sketch of TR2, mm. 1725.

The third and final subsection of the transition, which I call TR3, confirms what
the hammer strokes predicted: that something has, in fact, gone amiss. The protagonist
is derailed from his journey in m. 27 with the return of the lyrical topic from TR1, only
now in the lowered mediant, G-flat major (Example 3.7). The character of the lyrical
topic is now more hesitant and introspective due to the texture (the piano alone has the
melody), piano dynamic level, and the added embellishments (the rolled chord in m. 27
and grace note in m. 28). The transition loses energy at this point, transgressing against
the established order because the arrival on the dominant in mm. 2526 is now
undercut by the diversion to G-flat.
54
Eb: bIII6
bIII6
i6
bIII
It+6
55
V/V
It+6
V/V
V/V

TR3 lowers the rank value previously associated with order for several reasons.
First, G-flat major (bIII) is marked because we expect the transition to remain in the
dominant key after its arrival, not to digress to the lowered mediant. As a key area, bIII
is also marked due to the mode mixture required to achieve it. In what appears to be a
strange reversal, the tonic key returns in the minor mode with the lyrical topic
presented a minor third lower (mm. 3138). But a voice-leading sketch of TR3 (Example
3.8a) reveals that the E-flat minor triads in m. 31 and m. 35 are merely apparent tonics
they are ultimately false, since they are generated structurally as part of a bass
arpeggiation from Bb2 (m. 27) to Bb2 (m. 39). This use of E-flat minor is marked because
of the minor mode and the use of b6 (Cb), which was foreshadowed in the opening
measures of the movement. In mm. 3550 (a sixteen-bar phrase) the statement of the
basic idea (mm. 3538) on eb might be an attempt to correct the digression to Gb, but
when the first violin enters with the melody in m. 35, the piano accompanies with
broken eighth-note chords, creating an increase in momentum for another move to Gb
as the basic idea is repeated in mm. 3942 (Example 3.7).204 Measures 4350 lead to the
expected goal of F major (V/Bb) through an augmented sixth chord in m. 43 (the
204
Peter Smith, in "Associative Harmony, Tonal Pairing, and Middleground Structure in Schumanns
Sonata Expositions," discusses the tonicizations of Gb in the transition as participating in an overarching
shift from Eb major to Eb minor, which allows an "abrupt shift from the darkness of a six-flat Eb/Gb tonal
pairing to the tense sharp-side world of Bb" (238).
56
previous Gb triad in m. 42 has become an augmented sixth through the addition of En).
This chromatic predominant ushers in the dominant of B-flat major, and the half
cadence in m. 50 emerges as the true medial caesura.
A deep middleground sketch of the exposition (Example 3.8b) shows that the Gb
introduced in the soprano in m. 27 is actually only an apparent neighbor tone to F (2).
The Gb, through a voice exchange (mm. 2743), eventually takes its proper place in the
bass as b3 in a large-scale chromatic voice exchange that encompasses mm. 143. This
sketch further reveals that the F in m. 17 (TR1 and TR2) is ultimately a consonant
passing tone on its way to En in m. 43; the F at m. 50 is the actual scale degree 2 in the
voice-leading structure. This interpretation of the deep middleground voice leading
supports the narrative: 3 (G) is now chromaticized to b3 (Gb) through modal mixture,
which transforms the consonant tonic triad to the highly dissonant nI+6, thus
weakening the rank value of order associated with major-mode 3 over tonic. The
introduction of the augmented sixth chord in m. 43 prepares for the real medial caesura,
after it was declined at m. 25. From a narrative perspective, since Gb is b6 of the
dominant key, the Gb major functions as a retreat into a strange fantasy world, which is
Eusebian.205 The lowering of the rank value of order by this Eusebian Gb (b3 in Eb/b6
in Bb) prepares for the ascendancy of transgressive Eusebius in the second theme area.
As can be seen in the simplified voice-leading sketch (Example 3.8b), structural b3
(Gb) is, on the surface, a discontinuity (Witz); however the Gb ultimately moves where it
is supposed to go, which is to F (2)although it gets there in a roundabout way by
moving into the bassfor the medial caesura. TR3 thus presents the first significant
transgression against the established order. The digression from the apparent dominant
(Bb) to the marked chromatic mediant (Gb), combined with the more hesitant,
introspective nature of the lyrical topic presents the first substantial obstacle for the
order-imposing hierarchy to overcome in the movement.
205
Michael Klein discusses the use of the lowered submediant as a retreat into the realm of fantasy in his
article Chopins Fourth Ballade as Musical Narrative, Music Theory Spectrum 26/1 (2004): 23-56.
57
Example 3.8a. Voice-Leading Sketch of TR3, mm. 2650.
Example 3.8b. Deep Middleground Sketch of the Exposition, mm. 1108.
3.4.6. The Exposition: S1.1

The second thematic area opens with what sounds like an introduction (which
I call S1.1) to the proper second theme (Example 3.9).206 This S1.1 module features an
idiosyncratic emphasis on the dominant (with an added dissonant ninth) that gives it
both transitional and expository qualities at the same time, contributing to a marked
formal ambiguity that is indicative of the Eusebian character. Labeled as a sensibility
206
Peter Smith, in "Associative Harmony, Tonal Pairing, and Middleground Structure in Schumanns
Sonata Expositions," calls the material from mm. 5156 "caesura fill" that prolongs the dominant of Bb
(243).
58
topic due to the intimate and personal nature of the music, S1.1 begins with a dynamic
collapse and dolce markings.
The immobile S1.1 theme (Example 3.9) is marked for several reasons. First, its V7
chord delays the resolution to tonic (Bb) until m. 57, delaying a sense of forward
progress. Second, this prolonged V7 contains a dissonant ninth that is introduced in m.
51 and does not resolve to an octave until m. 56. Indeed the rising chromatic lines F-FsG in the piano (mm. 5253 and 5455) twice prevent this resolution, resulting in a
marked emphasis on G5 on strong hypermetrical beats in mm. 53 and 55. Finally, the
phrase structure of this theme is marked because it features an eight-bar grouping in
which the tonic resolution in the seventh and eighth measures overlaps the first and
second measures of S1.2 through a phrase elision.
The unexpected nature of this passage in mm. 5157its tentative expansion of a
very dissonant V7 chord with added ninth and the somewhat jarring two-bar overlap in
mm. 5758all support a reading of this passage as being transgressive against the
established order. The music seems to get bogged down with the sensibility topic in this
passage, as it directly opposes the heroic forward-moving trajectory of the first theme.
In most of the recorded performances of this movement the musicians take time at the
end of m. 56 to lead into the more proper S1.2 theme. The Eusebian character is without
doubt in control in S1.1, supported by the introspective, pleading nature of this
introduction to the second theme. Having finally reached an intermediary goal in m. 50
with the medial caesura, a relaxation occurs in mm. 5156 that opens the way to
Eusebian introspection.
S1.1
S1.2
V98
Example 3.9. S1.1 and S1.2, mm. 5158.

59
3.4.7. The Exposition: S1.2 and S2

The arrival of the proper second theme in mm. 5772 (Example 3.10) features
what I call a "pastoral/heroic" topic. Identified here as S1.2, it is based on the S1.1
material, but it indexes the pastoral due to the simplicity of the harmony and slower
harmonic rhythm, the balanced phrase structure, and the simple block chord
accompaniment in the piano. While this theme does have a pastoral tinge, it is
complemented by a sense of heroic striving due to the rising scalar motion in the cello;
hence I read this theme as the heros reaction to the Eusebian character. The strings pass
the melody back and forth, while the piano takes on a strictly accompanimental role
using an ascending 56 technique. One could argue that this rising motion in the piano
builds tension, but when the music reaches D minor (iii) in m. 65 it leads to V7/V, which
sets up the V9 again for a return of S1.1. The circularity of the harmonic progression
provokes a metaphor of the protagonist making slow progress up a hill (S1.2), rolling
back down after the failed attempt to reach the top, then taking a long pause to catch his
breath (return of S1.1) before trying again (return of S1.2). Theme S1.2 lacks the sense of
complete relaxation found in S1.1 due to the piano accompaniments gentle syncopation
and ascending sequencealmost as if it is an attempt to rebuild the energy level
indicative of the heroic topic of P.
A voice-leading sketch of the second theme reveals a motion from F5 (5 locally)
to A5 as a pattern of reaching over (Example 3.11). The motion from an inner-voice D5
connects to the A5, and the ascending 56 sequence supports this line. The reachingover gesture (F5[G5]A5G5) is a marked feature for two reasons. First, the goalrelated descending fifth-progression from F (2 in Eb major and 5 in Bb major), so often a
feature of second themes in sonata forms, is replaced here by a dramatic stepwise ascent
that nevertheless is forced back down to the upper neighbor of F in m. 70 to set up a
return of S1.1 in m. 73. This suggests an attempt at forward progress that encounters a
huge counterforcedespite the presence of several ascending gestures in the voice
leading, the drag of transgression (Eusebius) prevents true motion forward in the
second theme area, since the melodic structure repeatedly falls back to G5 and F5. The
quality of yielding inherent in the stepwise descent of the reaching-over can be
mapped onto transgression, as the theme-actor Florestan strives upward, but is
continually forced back down to F5.
60
Example 3.10. S1.2, mm. 5772.
S1.1
S1.2
S1.1
Example 3.11. Voice-Leading Sketch of S1.1 and S1.2, mm. 5179.
61
S1.2
Table 3.3. The Second Theme Area.

S1.1
S1.2
S1.1
S1.2
S1.1
S2
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
51
57
73
79
95
99
Sensibility
Pastoral/heroic
Sensibility
Pastoral/heroic
Sensibility
Con fuoco
Eusebius
Attempt to gather
Foiled by
Attempt to gather
Foiled by
Last attempt to
energy
Eusebius
energy
Eusebius
gather energy-successful
The second thematic area contains three attempts to regain the heroic directness
and energy required to break through the Eusebian obstacle in a quest for the essential
expositional closure (EEC).207 As Table 3.3 shows, each attempt contains a Eusebian start
(the unsure, questioning sensibility topic of S1.1) and then a quest to refocus with the
pastoral/heroic topic of S1.2, which has a forward drive due to its ascending voice
leading. It takes three full starts of the pastoral/heroic topic to reach the breakthrough
of the con fuoco topic (S2) in m. 99 that brings the EEC in m. 108 and completes a
structural descent from 5 to 1 in the local key of B-flat major. The sense of circling
created by the return of the introduction material and the stubborn refusal of the
voice leading to move forward inspire a metaphor of a protagonist being pulled away
from his desired goal two times by his encounter with the Eusebian character.
When the con fuoco topic is reached in mm. 99108 (Example 3.12), there is a
marked moment with the bell-like sforzando chords that recall mm. 2526 but this time
arpeggiate Bb-Db-Gb. The German augmented sixth in m. 102 moves to a V9 in first
inversion in m. 103, yet another marked feature as the bass Gb is pushed upward
through G to A. This harmonic move signals a reversal: in order to break the surreal,
sugary Eusebian dream in S1.1, the protagonist rejects Eusebiuss dream-like state by
the willed hoisting of the bass upward to initiate a drive to the cadence. The hero
overcomes the obstacles encountered in the second thematic area, as evidenced by the
207
Hepokoski and Darcy define the essential expositional closure (EEC) as the second main moment of
structural punctuation in an exposition after S-space has begun, as the first satisfactory perfect authentic
cadence that proceeds onward to differing material (120).
62
rapid resolution of the dominant ninth and descending fifth-progression that leads to
the goal of the EEC in m. 108 (Example 3.12).
The closing material (K) presents the heroic topic in the dominant key, B-flat
major, creating a rounding effect as the listener prepares for the return of P and the
repetition of the exposition. The use of the heroic topic as closing material also solidifies
the strength of order at this point in the narrative, as the exposition ends with the rank
value of order at its highest level yet due to the struggle encountered in the dream-like
S1.1 theme and overcome in the final iteration of the increasingly heroic S1.2 theme.
Bb: I
n6
V7 y g 6
b6
(n6)
i5b 6
Gr+6 V4 e
4
V7/vi
(3)
(2)
vi V4 w ii6 P6 r ii
V8 y f
-[ 7td
Example 3.12. End of Second Theme Area, mm. 99108.

63
A summary of the narrative of the exposition reveals a conflict between the

heroic protagonist, Florestan, suggested by the energetic, heroic P theme (orderimposing hierarchy), and a more introverted character, Eusebius, suggested by the
lyrical S1.1 theme. After a hint of Eusebius within the lyrical TR1 theme, the heroic
character (Florestan) returns with the P material in TR2, as the transition attempts to
move forward toward the dominant key area. Four hammerstrokes on Bb signal what
one may perceive is the medial caesura, b ut their fateful warning instead ushers in TR3,
which brings back the lyrical topic from TR1, first in E-flat minor (i) and then in G-flat
major (bIII). This digression to i and bIII is the first major transgression of the movement,
as the hints of a Eusebian character threaten to derail the protagonists progress. The
medial caesura is finally reached in m. 50, confirming that the heroic nature of the
protagonist is temporarily resurgent. Then the second thematic area is introduced with
the quiet and questioning theme of the sensibility topic (S1.1), which is transgressive
due to the dissonant harmonies and the irregular phrase structurethese are highly
Eusebian characteristics. S1.2, a pastoral topic that attempts to recapture the heroic
quality of P, makes three attempts to refocus and regain some of the heroic energy, and
it is only after the third try that the heroic agency completely breaks through with the
con fuoco, as the music finally reaches the EEC. The closing material (K) brings back the
heroic P theme, its triumphant mood confirming that despite all the struggles in the
transition and second thematic area the protagonistrepresenting orderagain
prevails.
3.4.8. Development
The development section in this romance narrative brings the conflict between
order and transgression to a head. The tension heard in the development represents a
full-blown assault on the heroic protagonist as he experiences the most intense
challenge yet. A brief introduction to the development introduces a new theme (mm.
11627) that ominously foreshadows the struggle that is ahead for the hero (Example
3.13). In E-flat minor, the falling gesture of this theme and the syncopated whole-note
rhythmic values create a metrical displacement dissonance of D 2-1 (1= half note).208
208
Metrical dissonance, a term defined by Harald Krebs in Chapter 2 of his book Fantasy Pieces, exists
when different metrical interpretive layers are not in alignment. Metrical displacement dissonance is
formed by the association of layers of equivalent cardinality that do not align. They are labeled Dx+a,
64
This metrical dissonance is combined with a harmonic one, viio7, whose accented Cb (b6)
in m. 120 recalls the Cbs that foreshadowed transgression in the opening eight measures
of the movement. An even more dissonant Eb7 with minor ninth at m. 124 leads to the
minor subdominant (ab), creating an ominous feeling that predicts the dark and serious
conflict ahead.
The threat felt in the introduction to the development is realized with a statement
of the P theme in m. 129 in the minor subdominant (ab) that lowers the rank value of the
heroic theme. P does not return in the development until 40 bars later, in m. 167, and
when it does return it is in the supertonic key, F minor. The ominous Cbs found in the
opening of the movement (mm. 2 and 5) return as the third scale degree in A-flat minor
in m. 129. Motive y from P is then fragmented and distorted in mm. 13233 with
staccato eighth notes in imitation between the right and left hand of the piano. The
hocket effect in these measures (broken with rests) and the open harmonic progression
ending on V drastically lowers the rank value of this topic, and prepares for a dysphoric
transformation of P in m. 134.
Example 3.13. Development, mm. 116190.
where D means displacement, x means the cardinality of both layers, and a is the amount of
displacement measured in pulse-layer attacks. A displacement dissonance of D 4+1, 1=quarter note
means that a four-pulse stream is displaced to the right by one quarter-note pulse. Harald Krebs, Fantasy
Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 22
61.
65
Sturm und Drang
Ascending Fifths Sequence: ab
eb
bb
66
67
V6 i
Gb
gb
db
ab
68
eb: V7
The principal theme is further lowered from its position of strength in the
exposition due to the entrance of a very unstable, unsettled Sturm und Drang topic in m.
134 (Example 3.13). This topic is based on a distorted version of Ps motive y in
rhythmic diminution. Its non legato eighth notes in the piano articulate a series of fourbar groups that gradually crescendo through a sequence by ascending fifth (abebbbf
c). As the conflict intensifies, a more agitated dotted-rhythm accompaniment appears in
mm. 14247. When the topic reaches C minor in m. 154, it is pushed back down to F
minor four bars later, suggesting that the hero is unable to advance further. Now in F
minor, a Neapolitan sixth in m. 162 leads to V, and the full P theme returns in F minor
in m. 167.
The return of the P theme in m. 167 creates a sense of dj vu, since it appears
that the P theme is going to be treated in the same way as it was earlier in the
development, with a distorted and fragmented statement of Ps motive y (mm. 17172).
But this time motive y is pushed up a half step to Gb major (mm. 17374). The major
mode suggests a potential breakthrough for the protagonist, but the half-step shift
upward merely intensifies the conflict, and the major mode does not hold for long. In
m. 175 Gb major is reversed by Gb minora strongly marked key because of its distance
from the E-flat tonic through double mixtureand an ascending fifths sequence begins
anew: gbdbabeb. At this point in the narrative it seems that the hero will never break
free from the constraints of the struggle communicated by the sequential blocks. Just
69
when we think there is no chance for success, A-flat minor is pushed up to a B-flat
dominant ninth chord in m. 187 for the beginning of the retransition.
A deep middleground voice-leading sketch of the development provides further
support for my reading of the development as the central conflict of the movement
(Example 3.14). The two ascending third-progressions (supported by the ascending fifth
sequences) in mm. 13454 and mm. 17587 show a voice-leading structure that is
permeated by rising gestures, which creates rising tension. Schumanns use of mode
mixture in both sequences (seen in the ascending melodic lines) creates dysphoric
ascents that support the conflict experienced in the development. (Notice particularly
the transformation of the more normative BbCD in mm. 17587 to BbbCbD.) In
addition, the ascending line from Cb5 (b6) to F5 (2) reveals a deeper meaning for the Cb
(b6). Recall from the exposition that Cb (b6) in mm. 2 and 5 of the P theme was the first
hint of transgression in the movement. The Cb (b6) was immediately suppressed each
time by a resolution to Bb (5), signaling order in the exposition. But in the development
the transgressive Cb in m. 134 is pulled up to Db in m. 142; the Cb in m. 183 is pulled up
further to Dn in m. 187, creating a dramatic rupture in the voice leading. The rank value
of the transgressive b6 is thus raised in the development, as it pulls upwardaway
from its desired resolution to Bb (5). As seen in m. 204 of Example 3.15, it is only at the
end of the retransition that the Cb resolves normally to Bb; since this resolution occurs
over the structural dominant that ends the development and prepares for the return of
Eb major, the order-imposing hierarchy is regaining control as the stage is set for the
recapitulation.
Example 3.14. Voice-Leading Sketch of the Development, mm. 116187.

70
Several details of the retransition (Example 3.15) signify that the conflict between
transgression and order has reached its climax. First, the prolonged presence of V7
chords with added minor ninths, which are highly dissonant, was foreshadowed in the
S1.1 theme and indicates extreme tension. Second, the dysphoric eight-pitch fragments
of the P theme are used obsessively in the retransition, and the string interjections (mm.
196, 198, 200, and 202) communicate the expenditure of great effort as the protagonist
struggles to regain control. The piano finally recovers in mm. 2026 with the falling
octave-progression from Ab5 down to Ab4 (circled on Example 3.15) as the seventh of
V7. It is only in these last four bars of the development that a resolution to the conflict is
at hand; the delayed arrival of the recapitulation indicates that it has, indeed, been a
close call for the elements of order in this romance narrative.
V b9
71
Example 3.15. Retransition, mm. 185206.
3.4.9. The Recapitulation and Coda

After the intense struggle of the development, the return of the P theme in the
recapitulation is a significant moment in this romance narrative. The rank value of P is
the highest it has ever been, as it prevails after having been subjected to intense
distortion in the development through the diminution, fragmentation, and sequencing
of its motive y. The recapitulation presents the themes of the exposition just as one
would expect in a sonata form. While there is still a succession of themes that represent
Florestan and Eusebius in the recapitulation, the tonal tension between the tonic and the
dominant is removed, which supports the idea that this section is a dnouement. At the
72
end of the recapitulation, when the closing theme returns with a final statement of P in
m. 314, it is obvious that the heroic topic and the major tonic key associated with the
order-imposing hierarchy have indeed been victorious. The extroverted Florestan
figure, with his outgoing personality, has succeeded in superseding his Eusebian
counterpart.
While there is not much to note in the recapitulation other than the success of the
heroic Florestan character, the coda presents some fascinating aspects that reveal more
about the impassioned personality of the hero. The coda of this movement is elided
with the closing material of the recapitulation (Example 3.16). The heroic P theme enters
in m. 314, as mentioned above, but instead of cadencing in m. 322, as one would expect,
the P theme moves to the minor submediant (c) via an ascending fifth sequence. The
sequence of motive y in mm. 32023 is intensified, in contrast to its appearance in the
original P theme: two additional copies of the model take the sequence upward by two
extra fifths (Eb-Bb-f-c rather than Eb-Bb) to reveal Florestans inability to let the sequence
go. (One might even regard the hero as obsessive-compulsive at this point because
of the effusion of these extra copies of the model.) This sequence sets up what follows, a
last triumphant utterance in the final measures of the movement.
The dysphoric version of motive y from the development returns in mm. 32327,
but with an entirely different expressive effect. Although the motive articulates the
same metrical displacement dissonance found in the development (D 4-1, 1=quarter
note), its harmonic setting is now quite different. The omnibus-style progression in
these measures sets up a chromatic voice exchange (An to Gb in the bass and Fs to An in
the upper part) that transforms viio7/V in C minor (the fully diminished seventh
chorda possibly menacing harmonic agency since it suggests movement away from
the stable tonic) to a viio4/2/V in E-flat major, bringing the music back to the dominant
in m. 327. Notice that the treble F# (m. 323) is enharmonically reinterpreted as bass Gb
(m. 326) to redirect the bass line to F and V4/3 in m. 327. Hence, motive y from the
development loses its power to transgress, because it is diverted from its initial
harmonic trajectory (as viio7/iii or common tone diminished seventh) in order to return
to the tonic triad for the final gesture (the last exclamation) at the very end of the piece
(mm. 32738). Motive y, mired in conflict in the development, now becomes part of the
agency that leads to the final note of triumph in the movement. As the metrical
73
dissonance is corrected in the final seven measures, a new eight-pitch figure replaces
the diminution of y; as its neighbor motions around 1 and 4 ascend into the highest
register of the piano, it is as if a jubilant Florestan is, in a sense, laughing at
transgression, which has been rendered powerless by its harmonic redirection.
Sequence to C minor: I
vi
1
1
V4e
viio7/V
Chromatic voice exchange
V7
3
1
(V
1
4
Example 3.16. K and Coda, mm. 314338.
74
ii)
The middleground voice leading of the coda reinforces the triumphant nature of
the outcome (Example 3.17). Note that the ascending 105 sequence in mm. 32023
(involving the motive y, not shown) is redirected by the chromatic voice exchange (mm.
32427) to form the rising progression 34n45 in mm. 32027a line that builds energy
and momentum for the final cadence. The coda thus projects the extroverted quality of
Florestan through a later-middleground linein addition to the surface features cited
above. Even the final exuberant ascent in mm. 33238 reinforces the high rank value of
the hero, with its nested 14-3 patterns that refer to the impassioned reachings-over
from the opening P theme, now literally overwhelming all available registers of the
piano (see mm. 33235 in Example 3.16).
Example 3.17. Voice-Leading Sketch of the Coda, mm. 313332.
3.4.10. The Persona

A few words regarding the presence of a persona are warranted at this point in
the analysis. As mentioned earlier, Douglass Seaton maintains that the voice of the
narrator is perceived in Romantic music as the subjective spirit from which an artistic
manifestation emerges.209 Seaton goes on to list several devices found within music
209
Douglass Seaton, Narrativity and the Performance of Beethovens Tempest Sonata, in Beethovens
Tempest Sonata: Perspectives of Analysis and Performance, ed. Pieter Berg, William E. Caplin and Jeroen
DHoe (Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2009), 276.
75
that might be used to indicate the persona of the voice, some of which pertain to the
opening movement of Schumanns piano quartet.
The first device found within the music involves the idea that music cast in a
particular idiom or distinctive rhetorical style suggests a certain speaker. In this case,
the narrative voice seems to be in a dialogue with the conventions of sonata form, but
he plays with the form, making it his own. This can be heard with the unexpected turns
found in the movement, namely the move to bIII in the transition section of exposition,
where a strong arrival on the dominant is postponed until the last possible moment. In
addition, the abrupt shift in discourse that occurs when the con fuoco topic arrives in
TR3 (m. 64) provides a rhetorical gesture of interruption that indicates a sense of
voice.210
Voice can also be indicated through extra-musical conditions. Seatons idea that
voice may be implied by an identification of the persona with the composer, however,
does not come into play in the Piano Quintet because there is no strong documented
evidencesuch as a direct quotation of or allusion to the composers own music or style
or reception historyto pin the narrative persona to Schumann. Instead, the persona in
this movement is one of an artist who is trying to achieve some sort of personal success,
which can be mapped onto a composer who aspires to write works in large forms and
his desire to rise to the compositional level of Beethoven.
3.5. Conclusions
As an example of a romance archetype, this movement is notable for the intense
transformation of the heroic P theme through the course of the movement. P first
represents the order-imposing hierarchy and has a high rank value in the exposition,
but it is subjected to distortion of its motive y in the development section. When it
returns in the recapitulation, the P theme (and its y motive) appears to have been
returned to its heroic and orderly state; in the coda its dysphoric transformation from
the development is emptied of its negative connotations to underscore the triumph of
order over transgression.
210
Vera Micznik applies this principle to Mahlers music when she points out that his music contains a
higher degree of narrativity than does music from the Classical style, due to its individuality the
essential feature of Romanticism in general. According to Micznik, the more unexpected the music is, the
greater its ability to contain narrative. Vera Micznik, Music and Narrative Revisited: Degrees of
Narrativity in Beethoven and Mahler, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 126 (2001): 193-249.
76
My reading of this movement as a romance archetype is enriched by an

interpretation of the two characters in this movement as represented by Florestan (the P
theme) and Eusebius (the S1.1 theme). The outgoing Florestan personality is repressed
in the S1.1 theme area as Eusebiuss theme seems to lose any sense of direction, an
allusion to Jean Pauls use of Witz. After the tumultuous development section, the
conflict between Florestan and Eusebius is ultimately resolved in the coda, where
Florestan achieves complete dominance in a successful and victorious endingthe final
heroic gesture in mm. 33238. It is through the listeners identification of the complex
emotional states represented by the personain this case an aspiring Romantic artist
that one can support identifying this movement as enacting the psychological story of a
persona.
77
CHAPTER 4
A FAILED TRAGIC-TO-TRANSCENDENT NARRATIVE:
THE SECOND MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO QUINTET
In this chapter I provide a narrative reading of the second movement of

Schumanns Piano Quintet, which reveals a failed tragic-to-transcendent narrative. The
fall from the innocence and happiness of the first movements heroic romance narrative
is a long and hard one, as Schumann presents a clearly tragic funeral march slow
movement. In a rondo form, the movement reveals a protagonist who strives for
transcendence throughout the work, with the major-mode singing style of the first and
third episodes struggling to break free from the restraints of the tragic funeral march
refrain, but success is never achieved in this narrative, and transgression is defeated by
an order-imposing hierarchy.
4.1 Tragic Topics Versus Tragic Narrative

Tragic topics in music are easy to recognize: the minor mode, slow tempo, sigh
figures, descending gestures, chromaticism, expressive dissonances, slow march
rhythm, low register, and exact repetition are all indicative of tragic topics.212 Byron
Almn emphasizes that one must tread carefully when analyzing tragic music, as it is
easy to confuse tragic narrative with tragic topical signification. A narrative tragedy
does not just embody the tragic topics listed above; rather it must involve the defeat of a
transgression by an order-imposing hierarchy. Emphasizing the defeat of a transgression
is essential when dealing with a tragic narrative archetype, which means that the
analyst must view the transgression in a positive light. In a tragic narrative the rank of
the valued elements (the transgression) unfolds via a rough high-low temporal
profile that ends with the defeat of those elements.213 It is important to acknowledge
212
The following discussion is based on Byron Almn, A Theory of Musical Narrative (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2008), 13940.
213
Ibid., 139.
78
that there is, of course, a correlation between tragic narrative and tragic topics. Tragic
narrative is reinforced by the presence of tragic topics, and tragic topics are
strengthened when combined with a tragic narrative design.
Almn asserts that, while one can easily recognize the presence of tragedy in the
mood-establishing elements of setting and design, these factors are separate
conceptually from the narrative structure of tragedythe catastrophic fall of the hero,
whose desires and wishes are frustrated by opposing forces and enabled by the heros
weakness, ignorance, overreach, or flaw.214 He stresses that tragic topics in music, as in
literature, are powerful clues that suggest the presence of tragedy and they enable a
certain perspective on it, but they are ancillary to the structural core of the tragic
narrative, the defeat of a transgression by an order-imposing hierarchy.215
4.2 Analysis: The Second Movement of the Piano Quintet

The musical analysis that followsconcerning the second movement (In Modo
duna Marcia) of Schumanns Piano Quintet in E-flat Majorpresents an example of a
tragic narrative that is complicated by formal and structural problems. While this
movement contains many of the topical features one associates with tragedythe most
prominent being the refrains minor-key funeral marchmy analysis will reveal a failed
tragic-to-transcendent narrative trajectory. The first part of the analysis will focus on the
formal problems that complicate the narrative. In addition, I will adduce Harold
Blooms theory of the anxiety of influence to speculate that Schumanns movement may
be a willful misreading of the rondo from Beethovens Pathtique sonata. The remainder
of the analysis will provide detailed structural support that traces musical oppositions
in topic, style, key, motive, hypermeter, texture, and foreground voice leading to
support a reading of this movement as a failed tragic-to-transcendent narrative.
4.2.1. The Order-Imposing Hierarchy and Transgression

It will be helpful to summarize the characteristics of the order-imposing
hierarchy and transgression in this movement before beginning the analysis. As seen in
Table 4.1, order is characterized by the tonic minor key (C minor), regular hypermeter,
214
215
Ibid., 140.
Ibid.
79
metrical consonance, and the sense of restraint and sorrow created by the funeral-march
topic. Transgression, on the other hand, is characterized by musical events that go
against the key of C minor, irregular hypermeter, metrical dissonance, and topics that
oppose the funeral march, as the transgression attempts to break free of the restraints of
order. The protagonist of this movement is associated with transgression, since a tragic
narrative involves the defeat of transgression by an order-imposing hierarchy, and the
analyst must view the transgression in a positive light.
Table 4.1. Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression
Order-Imposing Hierarchy
Transgression
Tonic Minor Key (c)
Keys that Oppose the Tonic Minor (C, f, F)
Regular Hypermeter
Irregular Hypermeter
Metrical Consonance
Metrical Dissonance
Restrained Funeral March Topic
More Overtly Expressive Topics

(Singing Style and Agitato)
4.2.2. Formal Problems That Complicate a Tragic Reading

An examination of this movement reveals that, while it contains many of the
topical features one associates with tragedy, Schumann presents a formal problem that
complicates a tragic narrative reading. Table 4.2a shows an unusual aspect of the sevenpart rondo form that has a profound effect on the final outcome of the movement. A
move from the tragic state of the refrains funeral march (order) to the desired
transcendent state of episodes 1 and 3s singing style (transgression) is prevented by a
premature arrival of the tonic major key in episode 1. Schumanns presentation of the
first episode in the tonic major key and the third episode in the subdominant major key
creates a formal problem that affects the narrative trajectory and goes against the
Beethovenian model of a minor-key rondo.
80
Table 4.2a. Form Chart. Schumann, In Modo duna Marcia.

Refrain
Episode 1
Refrain
Episode 2
Refrain
Episode 3
Refrain
A'
B'
A''
Order
Transgression
Order
Transgression
Order
Transgression
Order
Funeral
March
Singing Style
Funeral
March
Agitato
Funeral
March
Singing Style
Funeral
March
i
(c)
I
(C)
i
(c)
iv
(f)
i
(c)
IV
(F)
iv i
(fc)
Table 4.2b. Form Chart. Beethoven, Rondo from the Pathtique Sonata.
Refrain
Episode 1
Refrain
Episode 2
Refrain
Episode 3
Refrain
A'
B'
A''
i
(c)
III
(Eb)
i
(c)
VI
(Ab)
i
(c)
I
(C)
i
(c)
Schumann, who idolized Beethoven, was surely familiar with his rondos,
including the finale from the Pathtique Piano Sonata (also in C minor). Beethovens use
of the mediant for episode 1 and the major tonic for episode 3 follows a more typical
key scheme (Table 4.2b). Schumanns reversal of the ordering of tonic and non-tonic
keys subverts the Beethovenian model of a minor-key rondo and prevents the
protagonist from achieving transcendence: when the singing style theme returns in
episode 3, the attempt at transcendence fails, because, while it is now in a more
appropriate location near the conclusion of the rondo form, it is in the wrong keythe
major subdominant instead of the expected major tonic.
4.2.3. The Anxiety of Influence and Schumanns Misreading of Beethoven

There is an even closer relationship between the two rondos in Table 4.2a and
4.2b. Despite surface dissimilarities, a comparison of Schumanns funeral-march refrain
with the refrain of Beethovens Pathtique movement in the same key reveals some
striking similarities in the voice-leading structures. Example 4.1 provides a voiceleading reduction of the opening of the funeral march and exposes two important
81
musical features that support order and communicate a sense of resignation regarding
the tragic fate of the protagonist: a distinct emphasis on closure (order), as seen with the
two 321 descents in mm. 56 and 910; and the pianto-related b6-5-1 gestures
(resignation), bracketed in mm. 34 and 78. A foreground sketch of the opening of
Beethovens Pathtique rondo (Example 4.2) shows the same fatalistic gestures, but in
reverse order: the closural gesture in mm. 12 is followed by the pianto gesture in mm.
56.
Example 4.1. Voice-Leading Sketch. Schumann, Refrain (Funeral March), mm. 110.
Example 4.2. Voice-Leading Sketch. Beethoven, Pathtique Rondo, Refrain, mm. 18.
Schumanns reversal of Beethovens tonal scheme and motivic succession led me
to speculate that Schumanns funeral march may in fact be a willful (but subtle)
82
misreading of Beethovens Pathtique finale. The central principle to Harold Blooms

theory of the anxiety of influence is:
Poetic influencewhen it involves two strong, authentic poetsalways
proceeds by a misreading of the prior poet, an act of creative correction that is
actually and necessarily a misinterpretation. The history of fruitful poetic
influence, which is to say the main tradition of Western poetry since the
Renaissance, is a history of anxiety and self-saving caricature, of distortion, of
perverse, willful revisionism without which modern poetry as such could not
exist.216
Blooms idea of creative misprision operates through six techniques, or
revisionary ratios, which form the foundation for Blooms theory. The first
revisionary ratio, clinamen, is most fitting for this analysis.
Clinamen is poetic misreading or misprision properA poet swerves away
from his precursor, by so reading his precursors poem as to execute a
clinamen in relation to it. This appears as a corrective movement in his own
poem, which implies that the precursor poem went accurately up to a certain
point, but then should have swerved, precisely in the direction that the new
poem moves.217
While there is no historical evidence that Schumann intended to misread or
misinterpret the rondo of Beethovens Pathtique sonata, Schumanns affinity for
musical allusion, his great respect for the music of Beethoven, and his idea that we
ought not to repeat the same thing for centuries, but should also think about creating
something new218 lends support to my assertion of a willful misreading. At any rate,
Bloom rarely offered such historical evidence; if the reader (or in this case, the listener)
could perceive such a misreading, credence was granted to it.
216
Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973),
30.
217
Ibid., 14.
218
Robert Schumann, Neue Zeitschrift fr Musik 10 (1839), 74.
83
A comparison of the time aspect of each of these movements provides additional

support for my reading of the Schumann as a failed tragic-to-transcendent narrative. As
seen in Table 4.3, Michael Klein219 expands Charles Rosens220 correlation between a
dominant/subdominant opposition and an active/passive one to a second mapping in
which the dominant is correlated with movement toward the future and the
subdominant is correlated with looking back to the past.221 I suggest that this idea could
be taken further to include a tonic/subdominant opposition in which the tonic is
correlated with the presentwith the idea of realityand the subdominant is
correlated with the pastwith the idea of a nostalgic state.
Table 4.3. Mapping the Time Aspect of Narrative onto Tonal Areas
Mapping 1: Rosen (1971)
Dominant
Active
Subdominant
Passive
Mapping 2: Klein (2004)

Dominant
Movement Toward the Future
Subdominant
Looking Back to the Past
Mapping 3:
Tonic
Present (Reality)
Subdominant
Past (Nostalgic State)
Mapping this opposition onto the key areas of the Beethoven movement reveals
a conventional forward-moving narrative trajectory that leads to the desired and
219
Michael Klein, Chopins Fourth Ballade as Musical Narrative, Music Theory Spectrum 26, no. 1 (2004):
3940.
220
Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (New York: W.W. Norton, 1971), 383.
221
Michael Klein, on pages 3940 of his 2004 article, supports the idea of the subdominant as looking back
to the past by citing Rosens characterization of the subdominant in the early Romanic period as
representing a diminishing tension and a less complex state of feeling, and not the greater tension and
imperative need for resolution implied by all of Beethovens secondary tonalities. (Rosen, 383)
84
ultimately accomplished state of reality (Table 4.4a). Mapping this opposition onto the
key areas of Schumanns movement, on the other hand, reveals a backward-moving
narrative trajectory that undercuts the idea of success: the narrative moves from the
present state of reality to the past, nostalgic state (Table 4.4b). Anthony Newcomb wrote
that Schumann often likes to play with conventional linear narrative: Schumann, like
Jean Paul, avoids clear linear narrative through a stress on interruption, embedding,
digression, and willful reinterpretation of the apparent function of an event.222 He
noted that some narratives from late eighteenth-century fiction like to question
paradigmatic plots by standing conventional situations on their heads, and Schumann
often delights in doing the same thing, and the slow movement from his Piano
Quintet is a good example of him playing with conventional linear narrative.223
Table 4.4a. Form Chart. Beethoven, Pathtique Rondo.
Present
(Reality)
Refrain
Episode 1
Refrain
Episode 2
Refrain
Episode 3
Refrain
A'
B'
A''
i
(c)
III
(Eb)
i
(c)
VI
(Ab)
i
(c)
I
(C)
i
(c)
Table 4.4b. Form Chart. Schumann, In Modo duna Marcia.

Present
Past
(Reality)
(Nostalgia)
Refrain
Episode 1
Refrain
Episode 2
Refrain
Episode 3
Refrain
A'
B'
A''
i
(c)
I
(C)
i
(c)
iv
(f)
i
(c)
IV
(F)
iv i
(fc)
222
Anthony Newcomb, Schumann and Late Eighteenth-Century Narrative Strategies, 19th-Century

Music 11, no. 2 (1987): 169.
223
Ibid.
85
4.2.4. Structural Analysis

I will now turn to a closer examination of structural aspects of Schumanns
movement that support my narrative reading. Seen in Example 4.3, the funeral march
which features minor mode, a slow tempo, simple duple meter, sigh figures, a low
register, dotted rhythms, and soft dynamicsembodies the order-imposing hierarchy
and has a high rank value, as it displays a normal funeral march.
Example 4.3. Opening Phrase of the Funeral March, mm. 110.

This funeral march is normative when compared to other contemporary
examples of funeral marches, most notably the second movement of Beethovens Eroica
Symphony, also in the key of C minor. Schumann, in a review of his own Six Etudes de
Concert after Caprices by Paganini, op. 10, acknowledges his familiarity with the funeral
march from the Eroica: In the working out of [Etude] No. 4 the Funeral March from
Beethovens Eroica Symphony floated before me.224 The slow movement of Beethovens
Piano Sonata in A-flat Major, op. 26 is also a funeral march in the key of A-flat minor.
Beethoven wrote a set of variations based on a march by Dressler (WoO 63), the theme
of which is a funeral march in C minor. Chopins Piano Sonata in B-flat Minor, which
224
Robert Schumann, On Music and Musicians, ed. Konrad Wolff, trans. Paul Rosenfeld (New York:
Pantheon, 1946), 257. Schumanns comment is not a condemnation of the funeral march per se, but rather
a critique of following one minor-mode movement with another that is still more gloomy.
86
uses a funeral march as the slow movement, was composed in 1837, just five years
before Schumann wrote the Piano Quintet. Schumann regularly provided commentary
on Chopin in the Neue Zeitschrift fr Musik, and commented specifically on the funeral
march from Chopins Sonata in B-flat Minor: There follows a still more gloomy Marcia
funebre which is repellent; in its place an adagio, perhaps in D-flat, would certainly have
been more effective.225
The piano provides a short introduction in mm. 12 (Example 4.4a), which
creates a framing effect that establishes the role of the piano as the narrator. The piano
enters quietly with an arpeggiated minor tonic triadthis descent suggests a closing
gesture that functions as an opening, since it initiates the tonic triad. The introduction
serves as a two-measure hypermetrical upbeat and sets the somber stage for the funeral
march that follows.226 The octave leap from Eb4/Eb3 up to Eb5/Eb4 and the immediate
collapse back to Eb4/Eb3 and on to C4/C3, along with the dotted rhythm of the motive,
foreshadows the impending funeral march and implies a metaphor for a narrator
saying I will now tell a sad story. This framing motive returns at the end of the
refrain in the codetta (Example 4.4b), only now it is extended and the gesture of the
motive takes on its appropriate closural function. Whereas the framing motive provides
a hypermetrical upbeat in the introduction, it now sets up a surface quadruple
hypermeter in the codetta. This new hypermetrical context adds to its fatalistic effect,
since complete hypermeasures sound more definitive than upbeats. The falling gesture
of the motive sounds, at this point in the narrative, unquestionably fatalistic.
A defining mark of narration is a sense of the speakers detachment, and
Schumann achieves this sense of detachment with the framing effect of the pianos
opening motive. In the refrain this establishes narrative distance, and while musical
narrative cannot have a past tense in the same way as literary narrativemusic is
inherently experienced in the presentthe framing effect created by the piano
introduction and codetta allows the listener to construct a musical counterpart for a
narrative voice that is speaking in the past tense.227
225
Ibid., 142.
The listener expects a tonic chord rather than a subdominant chord on the hypermetrical downbeat at
m. 3 to harmonize the C4. Instead, Schumann provides the opening tonic in two hypermetrical upbeats
(mm. 12).
227
In Unsung Voices, Carolyn Abbate cites Ricoeurs argument that much narrative discourse is set off
from other discourse in part through its ways of manipulating time, of using tense to achieve a kind of
226
87
Example 4.4a. Opening of Refrain, Framing Motive, mm. 12.
Example 4.4b. Closing of Refrain, Framing Motive, mm. 26-29.

moral distance in recasting the referential object. She discusses the idea of a framing narrator (as there is
in Erlknig) and that the presence of a framing narrator is often kept to a minimum. Carolyn Abbate,
Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1991), 5253.
88
Example 4.1 provided a reduction of the opening of the funeral march, which
exposed two important musical features that support order and communicate a sense of
resignation regarding the tragic fate of the protagonist: a distinct emphasis on closure
seen with the 321 gestures (order) in mm. 56 and 910 (order), and the pianto-related
gestures (resignation) bracketed in mm. 34 and 78. When the first episode enters in C
major (Example 4.5) a powerful transgression reveals a vision of transcendence that
drastically reverses the mood created by the funeral march.
Example 4.5. Transgression, Episode 1, Singing Style, mm. 29b37.
Example 4.6. Voice-Leading Sketch, Episode 1, mm. 29b45.

89
In the singing style, this major-mode episode presents all five instruments in a
higher register, and the new, much fuller texture created by the marked polyrhythms
between instruments creates a shimmering effect that further supports the idea of
transcendencethe textural plenitude of the first episode opposes the sparseness of the
funeral march. A voice-leading sketch (Example 4.6) reveals that the emphasis on the
more pessimistic closural gestures in the funeral march is reversed in the first episode
with a marked emphasis on the more forward-leading, open progression from 3 to 2.
The transgressive nature of the first episode is reinforced by its irregular internal
phrase structure. While the refrain contains a strict 4-bar phrase structure, episode 1 has
an irregular internal phrase organization, which, when combined with the
polyrhythms, results in a somewhat jarring effect. Schumann begins with a twomeasure basic idea, and the listener might expect a repetition and continuation, creating
a sentence structure, 2+2+4 (Example 4.7a). Instead the repetition of the basic idea is left
out and the continuation is extended by harmonic elongation of the cadential dominant,
creating a 2+4(+1+1) grouping (Example 4.7b). The rank value of transgression is raised
in this first episode, but its valiant attempt at transcendence comes too early in the
movementhence, it is unearned, since there are no musical markers that prepare for it
in the previous refrain, and a move to the parallel major in a conventional rondo
structure usually occurs in the second or third episode rather than the first.
Example 4.7a. Recomposed Opening Phrase of Episode 1, mm. 29b37.
Example 4.7b. Actual Opening Phrase of Episode 1, mm. 29b37.

90
After the first return of the refrain, the second episode (Example 4.8) erupts with
an F-minor agitato that transforms transgression into a blatant resistance against order
that elevates its rank value. The transgressive agitato contains the typical characteristics
of Sturm und Drang, such as louder dynamics, diminished seventh chords used in
sequence, and sforzando markings.
Example 4.8. Episode 2, Agitato, mm. 9296.

The second episode is, without a doubt, transgressions response to the refrain
the emotional outburst of this Sturm und Drang passage rages against the controlled
sorrow of the refrains funeral march. The main surface motive from the funeral march,
with its ascending minor third and descending perfect fifth (Example 4.9a) is now
transformed into a dysphoric version of the refrain in the agitato (Example 4.9b). Agogic
accents on b6 (Db) in mm. 92 and 93 and the expansions and contractions of the falling
interval at the end of the motive both contribute to the sense of turmoil and instability
that saturates this episode.
91
Example 4.9a. Main Motive from the Refrain, Funeral March, mm. 34.
Example 4.9b. Motivic Manipulation in Episode 2, Agitato, mm. 92100.

As expected in a rondo form, the second episode is the location of the central
conflict of the movement. Agogic and dynamic accents on beat 2 create a metrical
displacement dissonance of D 4+1 (1=quarter note) (Example 4.10). This displacement
dissonance is corrected every fourth measure, which can be mapped onto a struggle
between transgression (metrical displacement dissonance) and order (metrical
consonance). The transgressive nature of this episode is further emphasized beginning
in m. 96 with a conflict between the pianos D 4+1 displacement dissonance and the
strings D 4+2 displacement dissonance (Example 4.11).
92
Example 4.10. Metrical Dissonance and Hypermeter in Episode 2, mm. 92100.
93
Example 4.11. Metrical Dissonance Between Piano and Violin 1 in Episode 2.
94
A voice-leading sketch of the agitato provides additional structural support for

my claim that the second episode embodies the central conflict of the movement
(Example 4.12). First, the rank value of transgression is raised in the agitato, because the
roles of Ab and G are reversed from the refrain: in the refrain the Ab, as 6 of C minor,
gives way to G in the pianto gesture (a characteristic of order), while in the agitato the Ab
is a stable tone as 3 of F minor (associated with transgression). Second, the sketch
reveals a dysphoric transformation of the voice leading from both the refrain and
episode 1. The b65 gesture from the refrain is foregrounded in the agitato, as seen by the
upward pointing arrows.
Example 4.12. Voice-Leading Sketch. Episode 2, Agitato, mm. 92109.

The open 32 progression from episode 1 also plays an important role in the
voice-leading structure of the agitato, as seen by the downward pointing arrows, but its
reiterated AbG now emphasizes the mournful pianto. The reachings-overseen, for
example, at the end of m. 92 to m. 93 with the AbG, and at the end of m. 93 to m. 94
with the BbAbare yet another source of tension that intensifies the sense of conflict in
95
this section. Allusions to the opposition of voice-leading aspects of the refrains order
and episode 1s transgression, when combined with the registral discontinuities created
by the agitato topic, can be mapped onto the central conflict of the movement. The rank
value of transgression is raised at this point in the narrative, and episode 2s agitato
topic presents the intense struggle that the protagonist needed to have gone through in
order to earn the transcendence presented prematurely in episode 1.
After the second return of the refrain, the third episode reverses the F minor key
of the agitato to F major for a second attempt at transcendence (Example 4.13). The
singing-style theme returns, but transcendence once again fails because, while it is now
earnedafter the intense struggle of the agitatoand is in a more appropriate location
near the conclusion of the rondo form, it is in the wrong keythe major subdominant
instead of the expected major tonic.
Example 4.13. Episode 3, Singing Style, mm. 132b140.

96
4.2.5. Conclusion: A Failed Tragic-to-Transcendent Narrative

The final statement of the refrain ends with an interesting twist that further
complicates this tragic narrative. It begins in the marked key of F minor, which is a
direct reversal of the F major from episode 3. The use of the minor subdominant here
signals a look to the past, but we are quickly returned to the present, as Schumann
restores the C-minor tonic in m. 171 (Example 4.14).
The narrators framing motive returns in mm. 17173 and functions as an agent
that ushers in C minor, seeming to close off any remaining possibility of achieving
transcendence for the protagonist, especially since it is elided with the beginning of the
next phrase in the strings. In a way, the function of the motive here is similar to its
function at the end of the first refrain, when it also sounded quite fatalistic. The return
of the funeral march in the tonic minor key indicates that order has prevailed and
transgression has been defeated. Or has it? The final eight bars of the movement bring
the outcome of this narrative into question. Does it end tragically, or is transcendence
which was attempted and denied twice before in Episodes 1 and 3finally achieved?
Example 4.14. Opening of Final Refrain,Funeral March, mm. 165173.

The final phrase of the funeral march theme begins in m. 184 (Example 4.15), but
a truncated repetition of the pianto gesture a measure later in the first violin delays the
final cadencethe protagonist becomes mired in the plagal realm with the pianto, and
97
doesnt seem to want to abandon the b65 motion. Schumann adamantly continues to
avoid a strong authentic cadence at the end of the movement. There is no sense of a
dominant harmony until beat 2 of m. 188, one beat after the final tonic arrival in the
cello. This misalignment causes the perfect authentic cadence to fail and undercuts the
sense that a goal has been achieved.
Transgression, which fought so courageously in episode 2s agitato, makes its last
feeble attempt at victory with repeated efforts to move toward transcendence in the
final phrase. A hint of transcendence occurs with the major tonic arrival in m. 188, but
the En in the second violin is immediately dragged down to a strikingly dissonant
Bn/Dn against a tonic pedal in the cello, and then moves from C4 down to Ab3 and G3,
to confirm the nagging pianto gestures in the piano.
Example 4.15. End of Final Refrain,Funeral March, mm. 183193.

The final pianto gesture in the piano in mm. 19091 is shortened to just the falling
fifth from G to C in m. 192, an indication that order has prevailedthe fatalistic falling
fifth signals resignation and defeat. The protagonist has indeed encountered a tragic
outcome. The strings pianissimo C-major chord in the final measure is a last response of
transgression to this resignation. This final triad in the high register represents a
98
heavenly vision of a longed-for grace that is not immediately within the grasp of the
protagonist, but is still desired as the movement comes to a close. The attempts of C
major to move toward transcendence in the final refrain are unsuccessful because they
are once again unearnedthere is no hint of C major earlier in the final refrain and the
juxtaposition of the tragic pianto gestures against the C-major harmony indicates that it
is too little too late in this failed tragic-to-transcendent narrative.228
228
There are different ways that the ending of this piece can be perceived. An alternate reading of this
ending could reveal a miracle plot, where transcendence is not won but granted. The miracle could be
heard in the unearned arrival of C major at the end of a piece.
99
CHAPTER 5
COMIC IRONY IN SCHUMANNS DIALOGUE WITH
BEETHOVENS FIRST SYMPHONY: THE THIRD
MOVEMENT OF THE PIANO QUINTET
The analysis in Chapter 4 presented a reading of the slow second movement of

Schumanns Piano Quintet as a tragic archetype, the narrative that represents the fall
from innocence down to experience in Fryes circular model. My narrative analysis of
the third movement, Scherzo, from the Piano Quintet reveals a clockwise move to the
other narrative of experience: irony. With my reading of this movement, I reveal a
comic ironic narrative archetype, in which an order-imposing hierarchy is defeated by
transgressions against it. I suggest that the order-imposing hierarchy is mapped onto
the expectations of a Beethovenian scherzo movement, using Beethovens First
Symphony as a point of comparison, and that the transgressive characteristics of the
movement correlate with the ways that Schumanns scherzo differs from Beethoven
with the ways that Schumann enters into a dialogue with the Beethoven tradition of the
scherzo as a genre.
5.1 Schumann and the Beethovenian Tradition of the Scherzo

Schumann was quite aware of the Beethoven tradition of the symphony in
general and the scherzo in particular, as is evident by many comments made in his
writings. Every German orchestra played the music of Beethoven, especially his
symphonies, and Schumann did much to champion Beethovens symphonic works. In a
survey Schumann wrote just two years before he began to compose symphonies
himself, he comments on how the symphonic works of Beethoven might have
influenced the symphonic writing of composers during the period following Beethoven,
lamenting the fact that we find many too close imitations, but very, very, seldom, with
few exceptions, any true maintenance or mastery of this sublime form in which, bound
100
in a spiritual union, continually changing ideas succeed one another.229 In the same
survey Schumann complains that scherzos following Beethoven have nothing of the
scherzo about them save the name.230
Schumanns own writings that discuss the Beethovenian scherzo tend to focus on
the famous scherzi from Beethovens Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, but there is no doubt
that Schumann was familiar with the scherzi in the other symphonies as well. The
following narrative analysis of the scherzo from Schumanns Piano Quintet will relate
Schumanns scherzo to the one from Beethovens First Symphony, focusing on allusions
to the Beethoven movement as well as the ways that Schumann plays with the scherzo
as a genre. Before analyzing Schumanns movement, a brief discussion of the
Beethovenian tradition of the scherzo is necessary.
While many scherzi were written before the year 1800, Beethovens First
Symphony is noted as having dealt the death-blow to the minuet.231 The perception
that Beethoven transformed the minuet into the scherzo is well known, despite the fact
that each of Haydns op. 33 quartets (1781) contains a movement that is specifically
given the title Scherzo. Michael Luxner speculates that Haydn is denied the honorary
title of father of the scherzo because of a prejudice in favor of the symphony as a
genre; since Haydns scherzi tend to be found in his chamber music, he is not credited
with the establishment of the scherzo.232 In any case, while the scherzo developed from
the minuetit retains the composite ternary form of the minuet as well as the typical
triple meter time signaturethe tempo of a scherzo is considerably quicker than that of
the more stately minuet, and its character is quite different: the Beethovenian scherzo
introduced into the music the element of banter, mischief, and whimsy.233
Beethoven is credited with establishing the scherzo as a regular alternative to the
minuet in four-movement works, and he often took the term scherzo literally by giving
his scherzo movements light and even humorous tones. His first true scherzo is found
in the wind octet of 1792 (published posthumously as op. 103) and scherzo movements
can be found in his op. 1 piano trios as well as in string quartets (op. 18 no. 2, for
229
Robert Schumann, On Music and Musicians, ed. Konrad Wolff, trans. Paul Rosenfeld, (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1946), 62.
230
Ibid.
231
Michael D. Luxner, The Evolution of the Minuet/Scherzo in the Music of Beethoven (PhD diss., The
University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 1978), 117.
232
Ibid.
233
Daniel Gregory Mason, Beethoven and His Forerunners (New York: Macmillan, 1904), 302.
101
example) and sonatas. But the most far-reaching effect is found with Beethovens
introduction of the scherzo into the symphony.
In his symphonic scherzos Beethoven produced forward momentum with a
combination of pace and quickly alternating textures, while still maintaining the
Classical tradition of giving a different speed or character, or both, in his trio section.234
Beethoven retained simple triple meter in all of his symphonic scherzos except for one
(the central section of the Ninth) and he preserved the overall ternary form, through he
sometimes expanded the form to A-B-A-B-A-coda by repeating the first two sections as
a pair. It is noteworthy that Beethovens symphonies contain no scherzi that have two
contrasting trios. The third movement of Beethovens first symphony is actually labeled
Menuetto, but the tempo is marked Allegro molto e vivace, making it essentially a
scherzo. The remaining symphonies all contain a scherzo, with the one exception of the
Eighth, which is marked Tempo di menuetto. While only the Second and Third contain
the title Scherzo, all the fast inner movements (except for the Eighth) have the
characteristics of a scherzo.
5.2 Analysis: An Ironic Comparison of the Scherzo Movements

In the following analysis of Schumanns scherzo, I provide a narrative reading of
the movement as an example of a comic ironic narrative archetype, in which an orderimposing hierarchy is defeated by transgressions against it. I use Beethovens First
Symphony as a model of the scherzos characteristics, to propose that the orderimposing hierarchy of Schumanns movement is correlated with the expectations of a
Beethovenian scherzo movement. The transgressive characteristics of the movement
will correlate with the ways that Schumanns scherzo contrasts with Beethovenswith
the ways that Schumann enters into a dialogue with the Beethoven tradition of the
scherzo as a genre.235 It is in this respect that I sense a narrative voice in this movement.
234
Hugh Macdonald, Scherzo (Oxford Music Online, accessed March 21, 2012).
It is my idea to relate Schumanns scherzo to that from Beethovens First Symphony. Schumann did
not refer to the scherzo from Beethovens First Symphony in any of his writings regarding the Piano
Quintet.
235
102
5.2.1. Irony as a Narrative Archetype

In Northrop Fryes cyclical model of narrative, in which all narratives are
conceived as moving clockwise around a circle, irony (like tragedy) is a narrative of
experience at the bottom of the circle. Fryes theory of narrative further divides the four
narrative archetypesromance, tragedy, irony, and comedyinto a spectrum of
narrative phases. Almn, using his Liszkian reformulation of Fryes theory, decreases
the large number of phases in Fryes model to a smaller number of rough divisions,
dividing the ironic archetype into just two distinct phases: comic irony and tragic irony.
Almn summarizes the two phases of irony below:
In music, comic irony applies to pieces in which the transgressive elements
function to call attention, often humorously, to weaknesses or inequities within
the prevailing hierarchy. The transgression thus prevails in that the initial
hierarchy is rendered more flexible and inclusive as a result of the transgressive
activity. The more seriously the initial hierarchy is undermined, however, the
farther away from the comic pole one progresses. Tragic irony, on the other hand,
features disintegration or an overturning of the initial hierarchy, leaving nothing
or something of lesser value in its place.236
In his discussion of ironic narrative in music Almn says that irony is a
narrative of denial and subversion; it resists the comfortable convictions and illusions of
the other archetypal forms.237 In an ironic narrative, where an initial hierarchy is
defeated by transgressive elements, the very integrity of that hierarchy . . . is the focus
of attention.238 Almn stresses that irony often invokes a complex way of listening that
is divided into two parts: listening within the frame of expectation and listening
without the frame of expectation. In irony, Almn says, narrative conflict generally
revolves aroundand ultimately rejectscertain ideals and conventions that form part
of our filtered experience of reality. This idea of ironic narrative provides the
foundation for my analysis of Schumanns scherzo movement as comic irony.
236

Ibid., 168.
238
Ibid., 169.
237
103
5.2.2. Introduction to the Analysis

Order-Imposing Hierarchy vs. Transgression. The scherzo movement from
Beethovens First Symphony represents the order-imposing hierarchy. This analysis
considers the Beethoven movement as regulatory: order is embodied by the formal
considerations associated with a Beethovenian scherzo (such as the presence of a single
trio and retaining tonic as the primary key area throughout the movement), clear fourbar hypermeter, metrical consonance, and by the heroic topic. Transgression, on the
other hand, is represented by Schumanns exaggerations of the musical characteristics
found in the Beethoven, such as the addition of a second trio, the move to Gb major and
Ab minor in the two trios respectively, irregular hypermeter, the pronounced use of
metrical dissonance, and the hyper-heroic topic. See Table 5.1 for a summary of these
characteristics.
Table 5.1. Order Imposing Hierarchy vs. Transgression in Schumanns Scherzo.
Beethovenian Scherzo
(As Represented by the First Symphony)
Transgression:
Schumanns Take on the Beethovenian Scherzo
The Form of a Beethovenian Scherzo:

Scherzo | Trio | Scherzo
Schumanns Expanded Form:

Scherzo| Trio 1 | Scherzo | Trio 2 | Scherzo
The Tonal Structure of a Beethoven Scherzo:

Remains in the Tonic Key
Schumanns Use of bIII and iv for the Trios.
Clear Four-Bar Hypermeter
Hypermeter Difficult to Determine
Metrical Consonance
Metrical Dissonance
Heroic Topic
Hyper-Heroic Topic
Overall Form. The form of Beethovens scherzo movement follows a typical

scherzo form with one trio, as seen in Table 5.2. As mentioned earlier, Beethovens
scherzi normally contain only one trio section. Schumann, on the other hand, expands
the form significantly to include two contrasting trio sections, as seen in Table 5.3.
In addition to the expanded form, Schumann also uses remote key areas for the
two trios, modulating to Gb major (bIII) for the first and to Ab minor (iv) for the second,
instead of following the Beethovenian tradition of maintaining tonic throughout the
104
movement. Schumanns expansion of the form and his use of bIII and iv as key areas in
the trios is transgressive in naturehe is going against the Beethovenian norm of a
scherzo form.239
Table 5.2. Form of the Menuetto from Beethovens First Symphony.
Menuetto
Trio
Menuetto
mm. 179
mm. 80137
Men. D.C.
I
(C)
I
(C)
I
(C)
Table 5.3. Form of the Scherzo from Schumanns Piano Quintet.

Scherzo
Trio I
Scherzo
Trio II
Scherzo
Coda
mm. 144
mm. 4476
mm. 76122
mm. 12396
mm. 196240
mm. 24065
I
(Eb)
bIII
(Gb)
I
(Eb)
iv
(ab)
I
(Eb)
I
(Eb)
5.2.3. A Comparative Analysis of the Scherzo Sections

A comparison of the scherzo section from Schumanns Piano Quintet to that of
Beethovens First Symphony reveals ways in which Schumann followed Beethovens
tradition and ways in which he broke with it. Although the third movement of
Beethovens First Symphony bears the title Menuetto, it is, as previously mentioned,
recognized as the first appearance of a scherzo in a Beethoven symphony. William
Kinderman comments: the dynamic tension is evident from the very first phrase, in
which a rising scale pattern in iambic rhythm drives with a crescendo to an emphatic
cadence in the dominant.240 The energetic rhythmic character associated with a scherzo
is established with this opening phrase; the rising heroic gesture that spans an octave
239
The only scherzo movement from Beethovens symphonies that does not maintain tonic throughout is
the one found in the Seventh Symphony which contains a chromatic submediant relationshipthe
scherzo is in F major and the trio is in D major.
240
William Kinderman, Beethoven (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 63.
105
from 5 to 5 (mm. 14) is extended into the next octave but is cut off mid-statement as the
gesture falls back to 5 (Example 5.1).
Example 5.1. Beethoven, Menuetto from Symphony No. 1, III, mm. 18.
The theme of the Schumann scherzo reveals an opening gesture similar to that of
the Beethoven: a surge of energy upward in the form of a rising scale that begins on
scale degree 5. While Beethovens opening gesture encompasses the interval of a rising
octave, Schumanns opening gesture encompasses a rising octave plus a fourth and the
gesture is repeated three timesa fourth higher each timebefore falling back to scale
degree 5 at the end of the first section in m. 16 (Example 5.2). It is almost as if Schumann
is trying to outdo Beethoven by taking the opening heroic motive (a rising octave) and
making it hyper-heroic by expanding it to an eleventh and sequencing the motive
upward by fourth several times. The transgressive character of the protagonist in the
Schumann movement can be described as extrovertedin terms of Schumanns alter
egos, it is Florestan-likewith the hyper-heroic topic, the texture of unison scales, and
the marcato and forte expressive markings.
A comparison of voice-leading structures of the openings of each movement
leads me once again to apply Blooms theory of the anxiety of influence to the
Schumann scherzo. This movement falls into Blooms second revisionary ratio, tessera,
which is one of completion and antithesis: A poet antithetically completes his
precursor, by so reading the parent poem as to retain its terms but to mean them in
another sense, as though the precursor had failed to go far enough.241
241
Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973),
14.
106
Example 5.2. Opening of Schumanns Scherzo, mm. 116.
107
Carl Schachters reduction of the Beethoven movement (reproduced in Example

5.3) reveals an opening gesture of an octave up to the Kopfton (G5) that is divided into a
fourth (G4 to C5) plus a fifth (C5 to G5).242 My reduction of the opening of the
Schumann movement (Example 5.4a) reveals an opening gesture of an eleventh (Bb2 to
Eb4). Example 5.4b shows that Schumanns opening gesture is then sequenced up a
fourth three times in order to achieve the Kopfton (G5). The four-fold representation of
Schumanns opening gesture results in a Kopfton of 3 instead of 5, which is a significant
departure from the Beethoven. Schumann completes Beethovens opening gesture by
expanding it both on a small scale (from an octave to an eleventh) and on a larger scale
as he repeats it three times in order to create a more expansive structureBeethoven
failed to go far enough, and therefore Schumann completes Beethovens initial idea.
Another voice-leading distinction between the two movements pertains to the
importance of a motivic fourth versus a motivic octave. In Schachters reduction, it is
clear that the fourth is a foreground detail while the octave is the ultimate goal. My
reduction of Schumanns scherzo reveals that it is the fourth (or eleventh) that is the
important interval of the main motive, while the octave is inferior (this is seen most
clearly in Example 5.4b, mm. 28). Thus, a voice-leading conflict at a motivic level is
also established within the opening of each movement.
The voice-leading reductions in examples 5.3 and 5.4 reveal additional ways in
which Schumanns scherzo is in dialogue with Beethovens. At the end of the A section,
Beethovens melody falls back to scale degree 5 (G5) in m. 8, while Schumann delays the
arrival of the dominant by expanding his A section with a brief tonicization of G minor
(iii) before arriving on the dominant (Bb) in m. 16.243 This move to G minor undercuts
the transgressive heroic protagonist of the themeit is a self-correction that moderates
the excited nature of the protagonist. The falling gestures in mm. 916 (seen with the
descending fifths from D to G in mm. 912 and from F to Bb in mm. 1416 in Example
242
Carl Schachter, Playing What the Composer Didnt Write: Analysis and Rhythmic Aspects of
Performance, in Pianist, Scholar, Connoisseur: Essays in Honor of Jacob Lateiner, ed. Bruce Brubaker and
Jane Gottlieb (New York: Pendragon, 2000), 64.
243
Schumanns use of the mediant to delay the structural dominant is found in the first movements of
both his Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet, and is one way that Schumann establishes his own voice. Peter
H. Smith comments on this feature in Associative Harmony, Tonal Pairing, and Middleground Structure
in Schumanns Sonata Expositions: The Role of the Mediant in the First Movements of the Piano Quintet,
Piano Quartet, and Rhenish Symphony in Rethinking Schumann, ed. by Roe-Min Kok and Laura
Tunbridge (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 23564.
108
5.4b) resist the protagonists overly eager character, balancing it so that, despite the
exaggeration of the opening gesture and the diversion through the mediant, the music
does ultimately achieve scale degree 5 (Bb3) in m. 16, although the Bb (scale degree 5) is
sublimated by scale degree 2 in the overall structure.
Example 5.3. Reproduction of Carl Schachters Voice-Leading Sketch of Beethoven,

Symphony No. 1, Scherzo, mm. 18.244
Example 5.4a. Foreground Voice-Leading Sketch of Schumanns Scherzo, mm. 18.
Example 5.4b. Middleground Voice-Leading Sketch of Schumanns Scherzo.245

244
Ibid.
The G5 in m. 34 of Example 5.4b creates a complete neighbor motion (G-Ab-G) that reestablishes the
Kopfton at the restatement of A. This is the result of the G5 in the first violin marked tenuto.
245
109
An examination of the hypermetrical organization of the Scherzo from each

movement reveals both similarities and differences. The Beethoven opens with an
extremely clear four-bar hypermeter, where the dotted half note gets the beat in a
compound quadruple perceived meter (Example 5.5). Schumanns movement also
opens with a clearly perceived quadruple meter, though this is constructed by
combining two of the notated 6/8 bars; hence, Schumann retains the notated beat value
of the dotted quarter note (Example 5.6). Both composers place a phenomenal accent on
the fourth beat, but Schumanns emphasis is so strong (supported by a crescendo to that
beat, a thicker texture, and a tenuto marking) that the listener most likely will reinterpret
beat 4 as the downbeat, shifting the meter one beat, as can be seen in m. 2 beat 2 of
Example 5.6. This shift creates a metrical displacement dissonance of D 41 (1 = dotted
quarter note) in Schumanns movement (Example 5.7)another transgressive aspect of
the narrative analysisas opposed to the ordered metrical consonance found at the
opening of the Beethoven movement. This is another example of tessera, where
Schumann "completes" Beethovens utterance: Beethovens phenomenal accent on the
fourth beat did not go far enough, so Schumann gave the fourth beat such a strong
emphasis that the listener likely reinterprets beat 4 as the downbeat, creating the
marked and transgressive metrical displacement dissonance.
Example 5.5. Hypermetrical Structure of Beethovens Scherzo, mm. 1-8.
110
Example 5.6. Hypermetrical Structure of Schumanns Scherzo, mm. 116.

111
D 41 (1 = dotted quarter)
Example 5.7. Metrical Dissonance in the Opening of Schumanns Scherzo.
In addition to having a less clear hypermetrical structure than the Beethoven,
Schumanns scherzo also contains a conflict between the notated meter and the
perceived meter that further supports transgression. Beginning with the large
hypermetrical downbeat on beat 2 of m. 2, it is possible to perceive the meter as either
compound duple/quadruple (with the dotted quarter as the perceived beat) or simple
triple (with the half note as the perceived beat) depending on how the listener hears the
grouping of the eighth notes in mm. 116 (Example 5.8). It is not until m. 18 that the
perceived meter is unequivocally established as compound duple/quadruple. The
conflict between the notated and perceived meter is transgressive due to the way that
Schumanns movement presents confusion between a perception of simple triple and
compound duple/quadruple meter.
112
;:
1
2 1
2 1
cv vvv vvv vvv c
D: 1
2 3
4 1
cv vvv vvv vvv c
: 1
2
3
1
c vv vvvv vvvv c
;:
1
2 1
2 1
cv cvcv cvc
D:
1
2 3
4 1
cv cvcv cvc
Example5.8.
3. 7:Notated
Notatedvs.
vs.Perceived
PerceivedMeter
Meterin
inthe
theOpening
Openingof
ofSchumanns
Schumanns Scherzo.
Scherzo
Example
The B section of the Scherzo opens with a tonicization of IV, which is then
sequenced upward by step to tonicize V. The dominant harmony is then expanded from
root position V (m. 24) to V6 (m. 32) through a circle of fifths progression (refer to
Example 5.4b). The descending fifths sequence in mm. 2432 has a temporary calming
effect after the exaggeration of the hyper-heroic topic within the A section. But this brief
respite is immediately reversed in m. 34b, with an even greater expression of the
idiosyncratic transgression when A' returns.
As the first statement of the Scherzo comes to a close in m. 44, the rank value of
transgression is raised at this point in the narrative trajectory. The hyper-heroic
character of the protagonist, represented by the overly eager ascending eleventh
113
gestures and the brief detour through iii (g), resists the constraints of order by its
continuous metrical dissonance and by the excessive and uncontrolled energy
represented by the rising eleventh motive.
5.2.4. An Analysis of Schumanns First Trio

Trio I, which provides a striking contrast to the extroverted, hyper-heroic nature
of the scherzo, is also transgressive (and thus still represents the transgressive
protagonist), but it transgresses in different ways from the scherzo. Schumanns first
trio (mm. 4576) brings the character and strength of the protagonist into question, as
he wanders into unfamiliar territory and seems to lose his sense of direction. The first
trio provides a striking contrast to the extroverted, hyper-heroic scherzo in several
ways. First, the move to the foreign key of Gb major (bIII) is transgressive in the sense
that it goes against the Beethovenian norm of remaining in tonic for the trio section. But
Schumann makes this section even more transgressive with an off-tonic beginning (IV
I) that creates a sense of tonal ambiguity it is unclear whether tonic is Cb or Gb until
the cadence in m. 48 that confirms Gb as tonic (Example 5.9).246 This is in direct
opposition to the opening of the Scherzo, which immediately confirmed Eb as tonic in
m. 2.
Cb: I
or
Gb: IV
V
V7
Example 5.9. Schumann, Trio I, mm. 4548.

246
Robert Bailey discusses this type of tonal ambiguity as reciprocal function, which is a way of
defining ambiguity between fifth-related elements. Robert Bailey, An Analytical Study of the Sketches
and Drafts in Prelude and Transfiguration from Tristan und Isolde (New York: Norton, 1985), 11920.
114
The protagonists character in the scherzo was unquestionably extroverted, with

the hyper-heroic topic, the texture of unison scales, and the marcato and forte expressive
markings. In the first trio, his character enters a more introverted, questioning state due
to the lyrical topic, the change in texture (the piano now has an arpeggiated
accompaniment, while the strings have the singing melody) and the piano dynamic
markings. While thus far the analysis has focused on the conflict between Beethovenian
order and Schumanns transgression against it, it is noteworthy that there is also a
conflict within the transgressive protagonist of the movement that can be mapped onto
a conflict between Schumanns alter-egos: Florestan (the extroverted Scherzo character)
and Eusebius (the introverted Trio I character).
The lyrical topic found in Trio I, with its quiet disjunct melody and simple
harmonic accompaniment (IV-I-V7-I), can be described, perhaps, as a Eusebian
pastoralan unconventional type of pastoral (with the plagal beginning that implies a
sense of the past) that is dysphoric in nature (due to the move to bbsee Example 5.10,
mm. 6168) instead of the more typically euphoric pastoral that remains in the major
mode. Or, perhaps the tonal ambiguity is more pertinent here, as it is unclear whether
Cb or Gb is the tonic; tonal ambiguity is not characteristic of the typical pastoral topic,
but is certainly characteristic of Schumanns Eusebian character.
A voice-leading reduction of Trio I reveals a motivic opposition with the Scherzo
(Example 5.10). In the Scherzo, the prominent motive is an ascending eleventh (the
overly-eager hero), as seen in Example 5.4a. In Trio I, the prominent motive is a falling
third-progression (Db-Cb-Bb). The fact that this line (locally 543) never falls the
remainder of the way down to Gb, completing the local voice-leading progression to 1,
imparts a more subdued, introverted nature to the protagonist at this point in the
narrative. Completion is never quite achieved in the trio, and the listener is left to
wonder about the uncertain outcome of this Eusebian-side of the protagonist. In
addition, the emphasis in the voice leading on bare fifths and octaves due to the 58
linear intervallic patterns (seen most clearly in Example 5.11) is also quite dysphoric.
115
Example 5.10. Foreground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio I.
Example 5.11. Middleground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio I.

The roles of the mediant and the dominant are also worthy of note at this point
in the narrative. In the scherzo I (Eb) represents the order-imposing hierarchy and iii (g)
provided a brief delay (transgression) in the move toward the dominant (Bb) (see
Example 5.4b, mm. 116). In Trio I bIII (Gb) is in control (Example 5.10), but a move to its
mediant (bb) in mm. 61-68 (Example 5.10) is accompanied by a reluctant and indecisivesounding melody in the strings: its rising tonic arpeggiations mimic repeatedly the
speech-like inflection of a question, and its half cadences show an inability to reach
tonal closure. Moreover, the role of Bb has now been reversed: in the Scherzo it was
important as the major dominant, while in the Trio I it is undercut as the minor
mediant, serving locally as iii in Gb major.
116
Trio I, in summary, reveals transgression of a different kind than that found in

the Scherzo. The Scherzos transgression involved a hyper-heroic character, whose
overly eager nature was represented by the rising eleventh motive and a detour
through iii (g) before reaching the dominant at the end of the A section. The
transgression in Trio I offers stark contrast to the hyper-heroic character of the Scherzo
with the change in topic to a lyrical Eusebian pastoral, and is thus transgressive against
the Scherzo itself. In addition, the reversal of the role of Bb confirms Trio Is
transgression against the Scherzo. But, on a different level, Trio I is also transgressive
against the Beethovenian norm in the sense that it is in the foreign key of G-flat major
(bIII) instead of the expected major tonic (I).
5.2.5. An Analysis of Schumanns Second Trio

The second trio is transgressive in terms of the Beethovenian order in several
ways. First, Beethoven never used a second contrasting trio in the scherzo movements
of his symphonies or chamber music.247 Second, Schumanns use of A-flat minoryet
another foreign key is transgressive, because Beethoven usually maintained tonic
throughout his scherzo movements. Third, the blatant use of duple meter is striking, as
consistent use of duple meter is found in only one Beethoven examplethe Ninth
Symphony. In terms of the overall narrative of the movement, the second trio presents
the main conflict within the movement, as it provides a change in character due to the
agitato topic in minor mode that is frantic and restless (Example 5.12).
Example 5.12. Opening of Schumanns Trio II, mm. 123128.

247
While Beethoven used a second trio in the same scherzo movements of his symphonies or chamber
music, his String Quintet in E-flat Major, op. 4 is the only work with two contrasting trios in the minuet.
117
The use of the minor subdominant for the second trio creates a sense of
retrenchmentof holding back, or recedingthat negates the linear discourse of the
movement. The plagal domain is static, and Schumann goes further into the flat side (as
can be seen in the middleground reductions in Example 5.13) with a move to F-flat
minor (mm. 13034) and D-flat minor (mm. 13438). The plagal motion is further
emphasized at the end of the trio (A-flat minor in mm. 17478 to D-flat minor in mm.
17881 back to A-flat minor in mm. 18190). In addition, the ascending 5ths sequence in
mm. 15482 (Cb-Gb-Db-Ab) is antithetic to forward progress, as it culminates in a plagal
progression (ivi) in mm. 18182. The soprano structure of Trio II as a whole is
controlled by a middleground falling fourth-progression (Ab-Gb-Fb-Eb in mm. 12382).
Its descent through the Phrygian tetrachord and its harmonization (iiiiivi) are quite
dysphoric in terms of its effect on the listener; the shift from A-flat minor to C-flat minor
in mm. 15054 is particularly striking and transgressive, especially in terms of what
would be normative for Beethoven. Schumann stretches the tonal system here in a
harmonic transgression that goes farther that his predecessor, Beethovenagain
invoking Blooms concept of tessera.
Example 5.13a. Middleground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio II.
Example 5.13b. Deep Middleground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio II.

118
Conflict between transgression and order is also present on the surface level of
the second trio. Four-bar compositional blocks are repeated and sequenced throughout
this passage (Example 5.14). These four-bar blocks in isolation may be heard as
supporting the order-imposing hierarchy, due to their hypermetrical clarity, but
Schumanns consistent metrical displacement throughout the second trio produces a
subliminal metrical dissonance that is quite transgressive (D 2-1, 1 = quarter note).
Another transgressive aspect of this section is the obsessive repetition of the four-bar
unit, which takes on a sense of the uncanny, or at the very least contributes to the sense
of strangeness in this section. Thus, the rank value of transgression is raised in the
second trio.
Example 5.14. Four-Bar Compositional Blocks and Metrical Displacement Dissonance

in the Opening of Schumanns Trio II.
Further details add to the strange, idiosyncratic nature of Trio II (Example 5.15).
The passage in mm. 14648 (and the subsequent restatements of this passage later in the
trio) is striking due to the way in which the rising scale motive from the scherzo
reappears here but takes on new meaning: it is now chromatic rather than diatonic
(piano, violin II) and leads to a series of fleeting auxiliary cadences in A-flat minor and
B minor that begin with Neapolitan sixth harmony. The original motive in the opening
119
of the scherzo spanned an eleventh (Bb to Eb); now, in the second trio this same motive
(Bb to Eb) spans a fourth with a chromatic lower neighbor to start in mm. 14648. This
creates a dysphoric transformation of the original motive in this passage. In addition, a
further transformation is heard motivically in mm. 14850 and mm. 15658 (the
subsequent repetitions): the motive in the first violin part is expanded in mm. 15658
from a perfect fifth to a minor ninth, which imparts a greater sense of tension (Example
5.15).
Example 5.15. Motivic Transformations in Trio II, mm. 142158.

120
The rising conflict in Trio II is also supported by the transformations of the piano
accompaniment figuration, as it becomes more and more agitated rhythmically
throughout. The heightened sense of agitation is the result of repeated chords with
accents in the piano left hand and the doubling of the melody in the right hand (m. 138).
Tension is ratcheted up again with the introduction of dotted rhythms in the left hand
in m. 182 (Example 5.16).
Example 5.16. Progression of Piano Accompaniment Figuration in Trio II.

Trio II provides the main conflict of the movement with a major change in topic
due to the sudden and jarring agitato and to a simple duple meter. The order-imposing
hierarchy, represented by the clear four-bar phrases, is suppressed by transgressions
metrical displacement dissonance, by the static plagal domain, and by the unique
middleground structure that explores dark regions in the plagal domain. The character
of the protagonist, which was hyper-heroic in the Scherzo, Eusebian pastoral in Trio I,
and clearly agitated and frantic in Trio II, has been through the emotional gamut at this
point in the movement. The return of the hyper-heroic character in the Scherzo
following Trio II brings a continuation of the struggle to transgressa struggle that
culminates in the Coda.
5.2.6. An Analysis of Schumanns Coda

The coda, which provides a triumphant look back at the protagonists journey,
more importantly provides the final stage in the differentiation process from Beethoven,
as Schumann transforms the eleventh motive into a twelfth. As seen in Example 5.17,
the rising eleventh motive from the Scherzo now ascends a perfect twelfth from Eb to Bb,
although it does pause on the eleventh (Ab), before being pulled up to An where the
music pauses for even longer until reaching Bb in m. 246. This new form of the hyperheroic motive is repeated and displays the exuberant triumph of the protagonisthis
excessive energy, which could have been a detriment, ends up gaining him victory over
121
the order-imposing hierarchy. In fact, the Bb is pulled up further to Cb (b6) (m. 250b)
before falling back to Ab (4) and then on to the final G (3).
Example 5.17. Coda to Schumanns Movement, mm. 241265.

122
In addition, the rising gesture now involves eight dotted-quarter beats that end
on the dominant, instead of the four dotted-quarter beats established earlier. Beginning
with a tonic pedal in broken octaves in the piano, a grouping dissonance (G3/2) is
created that engenders an immediate opposition: the stability of the tonic pedal versus
the grouping dissonance (Example 5.17). The metrical displacement dissonance
established in the Scherzo (D 41) is still present in the coda, but it is finally resolved at
the end of the coda in mm. 26065, where the downbeat is emphasized clearly with
accented dotted-quarters in the first violin and viola.
A deep middleground sketch of the entire movement reveals that the voice
leading of this movement, according to Schenkers theory, "works"the fundamental
line descends as expected at the end of the final return of the Scherzo (Example 5.18).
However, a voice-leading sketch of the coda reveals an inner voice motion that adds
further support for a reading of this movement as comic irony (Example 5.19). As seen
in the sketch, an inner voice is superimposed over the structural 1 (Eb5) that states the
original eleventh motive from the scherzo expanded to a twelfth. This expansion to a
twelfth introduces a climatic Bb5 (5) that is approached with a chromatic ascent (G5-Ab5An5-Bb5), intensifying the arrival at Bb and perhaps alluding to the opening of the
Beethoven (refer to Example 5.3), which achieves the Kofpton (5) also through a
chromatic ascent (C-D-E-Fs-G). We find, however, that this climatic Bb5 as 5 is
ultimately "false" since it is in fact a reaching over that resolves down by step to Ab5, an
upper neighbor to the inner-voice 3 (G5). This feature enhances the reading of an ironic
narrative, since the attaining of Bb5 as 5 is shown here to be structurally subordinate
rather than the Kopfton. Once again, an allusion to the Beethoven scherzoin terms of
the treatment of 5is shown to be irrelevant just at the point where Schumann is at his
most joyful and triumphant in the codaSchumann has indeed overthrown his
precursor.
123
Example 5.18. Deep Middleground Sketch of Schumanns Scherzo Movement.
Example 5.19. Voice-Leading Sketch of Schumanns Coda.
5.2.7. Conclusion
My analysis of the plot of Schumanns scherzo movement as an exemplar of the
ironic narrative archetype that falls in the comic phase of irony is rooted in the idea that
irony is a narrative of denial and subversion, it reminds us of the unreality of our
ideals, shatters our convictions, and throws aside our conventions.248 To recall Almns
quote regarding comic irony:
248
124
In music, comic irony applies to pieces in which the transgressive elements

function to call attention, often humorously, to weaknesses or inequities within
the prevailing hierarchy. The transgression thus prevails in that the initial
hierarchy is rendered more flexible and inclusive as a result of the transgressive
activity.249
In this sense, Schumanns movement takes many of the conventions and ideals
associated with the scherzo, as developed by Beethoven, and subverts them. The irony
occurs in this narrative as we the listeners anticipate what will happen within the
Beethovenian frame of expectation, and when those conventions are thwarted (such as
with the duple meter agitato for the second trio in a foreign key), we are surprised or
even disoriented. But ultimately, Schumann effectively changes the hierarchical order:
because this is a successful piece with a positive outcome, he has widened the listeners
narrow expectations for the Scherzo. Ultimately, in my reading of this Schumann
movement the narrative trajectory reveals the limitations of the Beethovenian scherzo
limitations that Schumann effectively overcomes with his strategy of tessera.
249
Ibid., 167.
125
CHAPTER 6
A COMIC ARCHETYPE OF EMERGENCE:
THE FINALE OF THE PIANO QUINTET
My analyses of the previous three movements of Schumanns Piano Quintet

reveal a clockwise motion around the circular model of narrative archetypes created by
Northrop Frye: the narrative for the work as a whole has moved from the state of
innocence at the top with a romance (the first movement), down to the analogy of
experience with a tragedy (the second movement), and over to irony (the third
movement). The final movement falls in the comic category, completing the circular
model with the narrative of renewal moving upward from experience to recovered
happiness.
In the following analysis of the Piano Quintet finale I will highlight tonal, formal,
and topical anomalies to support a reading of this movement as a comic narrative
archetype, in which a transgression is victorious over an order-imposing hierarchy.
Specifically, I will interpret the movement as an example of the discursive strategy of
emergence, where the transgressive elements gradually acquire a higher rank value
until they successfully defeat the order-imposing hierarchy. As preparation for this
topic, we begin with a brief overview of Almns comic archetype and the discursive
strategies used to achieve such a transvaluative result.
6.1 Comic Narratives and Discursive Strategies

Just as Almn warns us to tread carefully when analyzing tragic music, as it is
easy to confuse tragic narrative with tragic topical signification, he cautions us to do the
same with a comedy. Comedy, according to Almn, has many varied associations,
including a generally humorous tone or light-hearted character of a work, cultural types
or genres such as farce, comedy of manners, or parody, or techniques such as
hyperbole, sarcasm, or even irony.250 A comedy can express conventions of storytelling
such as a happy ending, or can reveal an experience of reality, such as an awareness of
250
126
the absurdity of life and human eccentricity.251 Comic topics such as these can be
inserted into music through techniques like exaggeration or incongruity of expectation
and reality. But for a piece of music to fall into the comic archetype, two things must be
present: (1) the victory of a desired transgression over an order-imposing hierarchy, and
(2) a transvaluative structure in which transgressive elements challenge and overturn
an initial hierarchy. Almn further describes the necessary conditions for a comedy in
music:
In order to make the transgressive element acceptable to the reader or listener,
the initial hierarchy is generally presented as flawed, limiting, or overly rigid. By
contrast, then, the critical feature of the transgressive element is its adaptability,
by means of which it is able to achieve its higher status. Comic narratives thus
frequently inscribe a rejection of arbitrary limits; since this dynamic is a
stereotypical component of generational conflict, comic narratives are often
presented rhetorically as involving a conflict between the old and the young,
whether familial or social.252
One element that is essential to the nature of a comic narrative is an increased
freedom or flexibility and the possibility of transgression achieving success; comedy is
the only archetype that inscribes adaptability and change as valued elements in the
narrative design.253 It is because of this that comedies are more likely to feature freer
discursive trajectories. Almn goes on to say that, while the definition of a comic
archetype is the successful overthrowing of an old order, there are several ways to
attain that result in music. He lists three discursive strategiesepiphany, emergence,
and synthesisthat are templates for achieving a particular transvaluative result in a
comic archetype.
The first strategy, epiphany, occurs when an impasse in the narrative conflict
gives way to a sudden, unexpected new development, or epiphany, that enacts this
transvaluationthe victory of the transgressive elementsat a stroke.254 The second
strategy, emergence, occurs when the transgressive element gradually and steadily
251
Ibid.
Ibid., 18889.
253
Ibid.
254
Ibid., 188.
252
127
acquires a higher rank value until the transvaluative result has been achieved.255 The
third and final strategy is synthesis, where the transgressive element merges or
combines with valued elements of the initial hierarchy from which it had been excluded
or devalued.256 When synthesis is found, the transgression achieves narrative victory
through reconciliation with the initial hierarchy, resulting in a newly constituted
synthesis.257
The discursive strategy found in the comic narrative of the quintet finale is that
of emergence, where the transgressive element begins with a low rank value and
gradually increases in value through time. Almn points out that the strategy of
emergence suggests most often a transgressive element whose power is undervalued or
even completely overlooked, and the transgressive element appears to effect its own
victory by building in strength until it is unstoppable.258 Almn uses Debussy s Lisle
joyeuse to illustrate this discursive strategy in a comic archetype, with an analysis in
which the three primary themes found in the piece dictate the narrative trajectory. His
reading reveals that the third theme, presented first in a subdued state and then with
great confidence, initiates a process of reversal that transvalues the hierarchical
relations in the work as a whole.259 My analysis of the quintet finale will reveal a similar
process of emergence, in which a flawed order-imposing hierarchyrepresented by the
minor mediant key, a parallel form that fails, and a low-style peasant topic that creates
the listeners expectation for a normative folk-like finaleis ultimately defeated by a
positively viewed transgressionrepresented by the major tonic key, and a substantial
coda that corrects the failed parallel form and features high-style learned topics. Before
turning to my narrative analysis of the movement, I will summarize the essential
features of a parallel form, and discuss the irregularities of this specific movement.
6.2 Parallel Forms and its Application to the Quintet Finale

Linda Roesner, in her 1991 article Schumanns Parallel Forms, identified the
use of these forms in Schumanns early large-scale piano worksparallel forms are
binary structures with each half containing equal or at least similar content, found most
255
Ibid.
Ibid.
257
Ibid.
258
Ibid., 195.
259
Ibid., 207.
256
128
often in outer movements of his piano works.260 The article uses Schumanns Presto
passionato in G minor, op. Posth., and the outer movements of the Concert sans orchestra
(F-Minor Sonata), op. 14, and Fantasie, op. 17all composed in the 1830sto propose
that, with those pieces, Schumann rethinks sonata structure by replacing the customary
sonata procedures with a more flexible type of parallel form that permits a unique
overall design to each work.261 Roseners Figures 2 and 3 (my Figures 6.1. and 6.2) reveal
a structure of the opening movement of op. 14 that is parallel both tonally and
thematically: the exposition in F minor, development in Ab major, a retransition
that leads to the recapitulation in F minor, and a restatement of the development in
Db major before returning to F minor for a coda.
Figure 6.1. Reproduction of Roesners Figure 2; Formal Diagram of the

Piano Sonata in f, op. 14, I.
Figure 6.2. Reproduction of Roesners Figure 3; op. 14, I, Depiction of the

Symmetrical Form Based on Tonal Mirror Images.
260
261
Linda Correll Roesner, Schumanns Parallel Forms, 19th Century Music 14 (1991): 26578.
Ibid., 266.
129
Julie Hedges Brown, in her dissertation, provides a diagram that shows how the
binary form of traditional sonata form is reconfigured with a parallel sonata form.
Reproduced in my Figure 6.3 below, it is evident that in such a form the recapitulation
restates the development section as well as the exposition, causing a large-scale
sequential repeat, or tonal parallel, for most of the second half of the form. Brown
points out that near the end of the parallel repeat a tonal shift prepares for the return of
the tonic key, and thus a coda becomes functionally analogous to the recapitulation.262
Figure 6.3. Reproduction of Browns Diagram of Parallel Form

in a Sonata Movement.263
Roesner, whose article deals exclusively with parallel forms in terms of sonata
form, asserts that after the late 1830s Schumann did not take parallel form any
further, but she acknowledges that these early large-scale works set tonal precedents
for his later achievements in the large forms.264 Brown disputes that statement in her
dissertation, saying, Yet in 1842, Schumann re-adopted the [parallel] form, using it in
the finales of three chamber works: the String Quartet in A major, op. 41, no. 3, the
Piano Quintet in Eb major, op. 44, and the Piano Quartet in Eb major, op. 47.265
Brown goes on to show how the principle of a parallel form could be extended to
a rondo form (such as the ones found at the end of the A-major String Quartet and the
Piano Quintet) by giving an example of a five-part rondo in which the entire structure is
repeated in full, with the central refrain serving as a dovetail (Figure 6.4 reproduces
Browns diagram). Brown notes that in the finales of both the String Quartet and the
Piano Quintet tonic returns are either delayed or absent altogether, creating an unusual
approach to tonal organization.
262
Julie Hedges Brown, A Higher Echo of the Past: Schumanns 1842 Chamber Music and the Rethinking
of Classical Form (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 2000), 70.
263
Ibid.
264
Roesner, 278.
265
Brown, A Higher Echo of of the Past, 71.
130
Figure 6.4. Reproduction of Browns Diagram of Parallel Form

in a Rondo Movement266
Schumanns instrumental works of the early 1840s have been criticized for failing
to show successful treatment of traditional forms and procedures.267 As noted by
Brown, the finale of Schumanns Piano Quintet is viewed by most critics as a sonatarondo form with a coda, but many fail to recognized the departures from traditional
sonata-rondo formBrown asserts that it is these departures that make the movement
particularly interesting.268
Parallel Form in the Finale of the Piano Quintet. In the beginning of her
discussion of the Piano Quintet finale, Brown notes two major formal principles that are
also found in the finale of the A-major String Quartet: 1) a refrain-based, parallel form
that avoids tonic statements of the theme except at the beginning and end of the form;
and 2) a tonal journey through numerous keysboth closely- and distantly-related
that ultimately returns to the tonic via a large-scale tonal parallel.269
In addition to the parallel sonata-rondo form found within the first part of the
movement, Schumann closes the movement with two codas that recall music from
earlier in the piece through the use of fugatos: the first fugato closes the finale
movement using the thematic material from the opening of the finale, and the second
closes the sonata cycle of the entire piece using thematic material from the opening
movement in combination with the refrain theme from the finale.270 In this movement
266
Ibid.
In her dissertation Julie Hedges Brown discusses two contrasting views of nineteenth-century
reviewers of Schumanns turn to instrumental works and classical models of form: (1) critics of a
traditional mindset saw progress in these works of Schumann; (2) critics of the New German School
believed that Schumanns best works were the early piano works, and that this style became stifled
within the confines of traditional forms (54).
268
Brown, 118.
269
Ibid., 116.
270
In her 2011 essay, Brown notes that Kohlhase first descried the second part of the movement as twofold: a coda to the finale and a coda to the entire quintet (284). Julie Hedges Brown, Schumann and the
Style Hongrois, in Rethinking Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 265299.
267
131
the tonic key, E-flat major, is not emphasized in the first part (the parallel form) of the
movement; rather it is G minor (the mediant of the Quintet as a whole) that dominates.
It is only in the codas that Schumann emphasizes the tonic key, yet another way in
which this movement strays from the norms of traditional sonata-rondo form.
Reproduced in Figure 6.5 is Browns formal overview of the Piano Quintet finale
(Figures 13.3 and 13.5 from her 2011 essay).271
Several aspects of the parallel form of the quintet finale (seen in Figure 6.5 below)
are remarkable. First, the Piano Quintet as a whole is in the key of E-flat major, and one
would expect the finale to begin in the tonic key (Eb). Instead, Schumann begins the
finale in the minor mediant key (g). Second, unlike a traditional sonata-rondo form, the
refrain of this movement appears in mostly non-tonic keys (d, b, g#, d# and bb). The
recapitulation, moreover, begins in the remote key of g# and does not return to g until
the very end of the parallel form. Third, within the exposition of part I there is a tonal
pairing between the A and B sections: first with g/d# (Eb) and then with d/Bb; creating a
local-level parallelism that foreshadows the large-scale parallel form.272 The
development strongly prepares the distant key of gs for the recapitulation.
In part II of Browns formal diagram we see that the first coda of the finale begins
with a closing idea in Eb major, but quickly returns to G minor with a move to a fugato
based on the refrain theme (A) of the movement. However, the end of the first fugato
undercuts the control of G minor with a plagal move to V/c minor (the relative minor
of Eb major).273 Thus the coda to the finale ultimately undermines the control of G minor
in favor of Eb major. The second coda of the quintet contains a new fugato that
transforms the main theme (P) from the first movement into a fugal subject, and the
main theme of the finale (A) is the countersubject. This second coda appropriately
reveals the tonal authority of Eb major as the quintet as a whole comes to a close.
271
Ibid., 280 and 284.

Ibid., 280.
273
Ibid., 285.
272
132
Figure 6.5. Reproduction of Browns Figure 13.3 and 13.5.

A Formal Overview of the Piano Quintet Finale.274
6.3 Analysis: The Finale of the Piano Quintet

My analysis of the Piano Quintet finale will reveal a process of comic emergence,
in which transgression grows in rank value through the course of the movement and is
ultimately victorious over a flawed order-imposing hierarchy. This process of
274
Ibid., 280 and 284.
133
emergence is represented by the gradual subversion of the opening minor mediant key
(g) in favor of the major tonic key (Eb), by a failed parallel form that requires a
substantial coda in order to close the movement effectively, and by a low-style peasant
topic (style hongrois) in the refrain that is transformed into a high-style topic (fugato) in
the coda. This flawed hierarchy requires the substantial coda in order to close the
movement and the work as a wholebringing the themes and tonal center togetherin
a more successful way.
6.3.1. The Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression

Recall that the victory of a desired transgression over an undesired orderimposing hierarchy is essential for a comic narrative. The transvaluative structure must
be one in which transgressive elements successfully challenge and overturn the initial
hierarchy. When the discursive strategy of emergence is present, the transgressive
elements begin with a low rank value that gradually increases through the movement.
The transgressive elements are undervalued at the outset of the movement, and they
build in strength until victory over the hierarchy is inevitable.
Table 6.1 provides a summary of the characteristics embodied by the orderimposing hierarchy and transgression in the finale of the Piano Quintet. The minor
mediant key (g), a parallel sonata-rondo form, and a low-style peasant topic (style
hongrois) represent the order-imposing hierarchy. Transgressive elements in the
movement include the tonic major key (Eb), flaws in the parallel sonata-rondo form that
result in the large-scale coda, and the high-style fugato topic found in the second part of
the movement. The resultant narrative proceeds with the idea that the transgressive
elements are at first overlooked or undervalued, but they build in strength throughout
the course of the movement until they succeed in defeating the hierarchy.
134
Table 6.1. Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression.

A Flawed Order-Imposing Hierarchy
Transgression
Opening Minor Mediant Key (g)
Major Tonic Key (Eb)
Parallel Sonata-Rondo Form
Flaws in the Parallel Sonata-Rondo Form that

Lead to a Coda
The Folk-Like Finale: Low-Style Peasant

Topic (Style Hongrois)
High-Style Learned Topic (Fugato)
6.3.2. Part I: The Parallel Sonata-Rondo Form

The Refrain (A). The finale opens with a refrain theme that establishes a flawed
order from the outset. We expect the movement to open strongly in the tonic key (Eb),
but our expectation is thwarted by a theme in the minor mediant (g). The order is
flawed not only because of the use of the minor mediant to begin the final movement of
the quintet but also because of an ambiguity of tonal center at the beginning of the
theme itself (Example 6.1): the listener is not sure whether C minor or G minor is in
control in the first two measures;275 it is not until the perfect authentic cadence in m. 5
that we realize the theme is firmly in G minor.276
The refrain embodies a low-style peasant topic, one aptly described by Brown as
style hongrois.277 Schumann uses a sempre marcato style to accent each beat of the theme
with a sense of stomping (found first in the piano alone, mm. 15a, and later in unison
with the piano and viola, mm. 5b9a). The beginning and ending of each phrase is
marked by a sforzando accent that depicts the sense of a stronger stomp, reinforcing the
low-style peasant character of the theme. In addition, the theme contains a heavy
texture that features double stops in the violins and a tremolo accompaniment in the
upper strings that is evocative of a cimbalom.278 The Hungarian, peasant-like features
275
Robert Bailey, An Analytical Study of the Sketches and Drafts in Prelude and Transfiguration from
Tristan und Isolde (New York: Norton, 1985), 11920.
276
Recall the discussion of the scherzo movement (Chapter 5) in which tonal ambiguity existed in the
opening measures of Trio I (it was unclear whether Cb Major or Gb major was tonic in that case).
277
Ibid., 281.
278
Ibid.
135
embodied by this theme are further supported by four-bar phrases and the exact
repetition of a very simple theme.
c minor:
g minor: iv
VI
iv
V/iv
iio6t
iv
V6r
5e
iv
iv
iio6t
iv
V6r
5e
V6r
iio6t
iv
5e
iv
V/VI
iio6t
V6r
5e
Example 6.1. Refrain (A), Style Hongrois, mm. 121.

A voice-leading reduction of the refrain reveals a prominent motive that
reinforces the order-imposing hierarchy: motive x shows Eb (b6 of g) as an incomplete
neighbor to D (5 of g), which is the Kopfton of the refrain (Example 6.2). This incomplete
neighbor motion (G-Eb-D) is heard both on the surface (mm. 23 and 1415) and as an
136
enlargement (mm. 1115), and it establishes the status of Eb as a subservient upper

neighbor tone to D (5). The D5 descends to scale degree 1 of G minor in m. 5/9 and in
m. 17/21, solidifying the status of G minor as tonic. Despite the rather ambiguous
beginning, the rank value of order is high for the refrain as a whole, since the Eb5 is
heard merely as a neighbor to the D5 Kopfton, confirming that the G-minor style hongrois
theme is in control of the movement at this point in the narrative.
Example 6.2. Voice-Leading Reduction of the Refrain (A), mm. 121.

The First Episode (B). When the first episode (B) enters in m. 21b, the status of
the order-imposing hierarchy is questioned by two musical features (Example 6.3). First,
B presents a new theme that is in the Quintets tonic key, strongly established by the Eflat pedal in the piano and cello. Eb, which was transgressive in motive x of the refrain,
emerges as a clear tonic in m. 22, and there is no ambiguity as to the tonal center of this
themeEb is in control during this brief, eight-measure passage. Thus, the transgressive
Eb from the refrain gains some rank value in the first episode. Second, the B theme (mm.
21b29) progresses to a marginally higher style. The removal of the sempre marcato
markings results in a smoother, more sophisticated gesture, and the stomping, which in
the refrain occurred with accents on every note, is now only heard every fourth quarternote beat, hinting at progress to a slightly higher style. The tonic pedal and conjunct
motion allude to the pastoral, and the rising four-note gesture that is sequenced up in
137
the piano suggests a metaphor for a protagonist who is striving to break through a
barrier.
A voice-leading reduction of the first episode (B) further clarifies the reversal in
the role of Eb (Example 6.4). Whereas Eb was an incomplete upper neighbor in the
refrain, it becomes the structural tonic in the first episode. Moreover, Eb4 is the goal of
the first four-note gesture in m. 22, and this gesture is sequenced up to end on F4 in m.
23, then expanded to a reaching-over that culminates with G4 in m. 25. The sequencing
of this rising gesture suggests a local Anstieg (123 in E-flat) that reveals the first
glimpse of the potential for the ascendency of E-flat major. The first episode exposes a
nascent state of the actual Anstieg for the entire piece, as the true Kopfton of the
movement, G (3 of E-flat major), is not achieved until the coda.
Eb: Tonic Pedal
Example 6.3. First Episode (B), mm. 2129.
Example 6.4. Voice-Leading Reduction of First Episode (B), mm. 2129.

138
The conflict between the G-minor style hongrois refrain and the E-flat-major
marginally higher-style first episode is the first the protagonist faces in the movement.
The order of the G minor refrain presents a high rank value in the opening of the piece,
but the first episode immediately introduces transgression (Eb) and ever so slightly
raises its own low rank value. The subsequent statement of the refrain, in mm. 29b37a,
is truncated and is in the key of D minor, which once again emphasizes the D5
associated with order, although this time as the goal of the descent rather than the
Kopfton. The second episode presents the B theme again in mm. 37b41, only this time
truncated and in Bb major, which also emphasizes D5, now as the Kopfton goal of an
Anstieg motion from Bb4 to D5. At the end of the second episode, in m. 43, the rank
value of order is high, as the D5 maintains its place of prominence over Eb5, even in the
higher-style B theme.
The Third Episode (C). The third episode, C, begins in m. 43b in the key of G
major and is strongly based on the B material of the first two episodes (Example 6.5).
Derived from Bs four-note rising gesture, this theme is transformed into faster surface
rhythms (now eighth notes instead of quarter notes), with staccato articulation of the
eighth notes in the piano (as opposed to the more peasant-like heavily detached quarter
notes in B), and a piano dynamic level (as opposed to the sempre forte of B). The third
episode (C) is the most substantial section yet, at 34 measures long, and despite many
sequences that seem to modulate, it does cadence strongly in G major on the downbeat
of m. 77.
The C section represents a struggle between order and transgression, where
order is weakened and transgression is strengthened. The presence of the major mode
here shows progress for transgression, despite the fact that the tonic pitch is G, the same
tonic as the A theme. The order-imposing hierarchy attacks the B idea by disfiguring it
through rhythmic diminution (staccato eighth notes). A counterattack by transgression
occurs in the form of a new eight-note scalar idea (indicated by arrows in Example 6.5)
that is extended at the end of the section as the music cadences in G major. This scalar
idea is in a higher singing style, and it articulates a descending third-progression (54
3) thus partially supplanting the complete descending fifth-progression of the A theme.
The completion of the descent, 21 in G, comes at the end of the sectionhence, the
139
voice leading of the A section (54321) has been appropriated by the transgressive
scalar singing theme.
Example 6.5. Second Episode (C), mm. 43b77a.
140
While transgression does acquire a higher rank value at the end of this section, it
is the order-imposing hierarchy that comes out ahead in m. 77b, as the refrain returns
with the style hongrois in the key of B minor, indicating that the transgressive Eb from B
has not only been lowered in rank value but has even been completely removed at this
point in the narrative, as there is no neighboring Eb in the B-minor statement of the
refrain (Example 6.6).
141
Example 6.6. Second Return of the Refrain (A) and

The Opening of the Development, mm. 77b93.
The Development. The development opens with a completely new topic: what
Brown interestingly calls a brief, pastoral fanfare in B major in mm. 85b93 (Example
6.6).279 The texture then thins dramatically in m. 94 with the piano playing a rocking
figuration taken from m. 45 in C (refer back to Example 6.5, the right hand of the piano
part in m. 4547) and the material from C is further developed with a scalar melody
beginning in the viola in m. 98b. The thinner texture, the drop in dynamic level to piano,
and the espressivo marking all support a development section that contains relaxation
rather than the typical tension created in a development. In m. 115 (Example 6.7) a new
lyrical melody is introduced in the first violin. Marked piano and dolce, this new melody
is in the key of E major (a distant key from both G minor and E-flat major), and is set
279
Julie Hedges Brown, A Higher Echo of the Past: Schumanns 1842 Chamber Music and the Rethinking
of Classical Form (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 2000), 120.
142
against a falling four-note gesture in the viola, derived from C. The melody and
countermelody are sequenced and passed imitatively through the strings in mm. 115
30a, while the piano takes a completely accompanimental role with half-note block
chords followed by half-rests. A brief retransition begins in m. 130b that emphasizes V
of G# minor and sets up the return of the refrain for the recapitulation in m. 136b
(Example 6.8).
Example 6.7. Development, New Lyrical Melody, mm. 115129.

The development section of this sonata-rondo form presents an anomaly in terms
of its narrative function. As we saw in the first movement of the Piano Quintet (and will
see in the next chapter with my analysis of the first movement of the Piano Quartet),
development sections in a narrative structure normally present the most significant
143
conflict in the movement. The development section of this parallel sonata-rondo form,
however, seems to remove much of the tension by introducing the new and quiet
pastoral fanfare (mm. 85b93), and the new lyrical melody juxtaposed against the
scalar idea that was developed in C (mm. 11530). The combination of the new,
expansive lyrical melody with the C scalar melody as a counterline represents yet
another step up for transgression against the folk finale tradition of order.
The Recapitulation. When the refrain returns in m. 136b for the recapitulation,
the order-imposing hierarchy is reintroduced more forcefully than ever, with a
fortissimo dynamic marking and wrenched up a half step to G# minor (Example 6.8). In
order to create a parallel return that is entirely sequential yet ends ultimately in G
minor, Schumann immediately restates the refrain in D# minor in m. 148b. This move to
D# minor strengthens the hand of transgression in the recapitulation for two reasons.
First, it is enharmonically equivalent to Eb minor; which exposes another attempt of
transgression to rise in rank value, by transposing the style hongrois refrain to the
transgressive key. Second, because of the shift to D# minor in A, the lengthy C section
is also transposed to the transgressive key of Eb major. Recall that C is derived from the
B materials four-note rising striving gesture that hints at a higher style. The fact that
this longer section returns in Eb major indicates that transgression has gained a higher
rank value; especially since the C section cadences strongly in Eb in m. 212.
Although the initial move from G# to D# minor in the recapitulation sets up the
final statement of the refrain in G minor in m. 212 (see Table 6.2), the final return of the
refrain theme is weakened, again suggesting a transvaluation of order. First, the final
statement of A is truncated from twenty-one bars to eight; this severe compression
undercuts the power of the order-imposing hierarchy at the end of the parallel repeat.
Second, this truncated restatement features a diminuendo in its final four bars, again
diminishing the rank value of the peasant theme. All of the events in the recapitulation
described abovestarting the parallel repeat in D# minor, bringing back C in Eb major,
understating the final peasant refraincontribute to the lowering of the rank value of
order in favor of transgression. The final steps in this process are heard in the lengthy
and unusual coda.
144
Example 6.8. Recapitulation, Parallel Return of A, mm. 136153.
Table 6.2. Sonata-Rondo Parallel Form of Finale.

Exposition
Development
A*
B*
A*
m. 1
m. 22
m. 30
m. 38
m. 43
m. 78
m. 86
m. 115
g M3 to
Eb m2 to
d M3 to
Bb m3 to
G M3 to
V/E to V/gs
Recapitulation
A
A*
B*
A*
m. 137
m. 157
m. 165
m. 173
m. 178
m. 213
gs P5 to ds M3 to
B m2 to
bb M3 to
Gb m3 to
Eb M3 to
145
6.3.3. Part II: The Coda

As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, Brown notes Kohlhases
description of the second part of the Piano Quintet finale as doubly oriented: measures
222318 provide a coda to the finale, measures 319427 a coda to the entire quintet.280
In her essay Brown argues that this second part of the movement continues a pattern
introduced in the parallel form that evokes the Gypsy wanderer trope of continuously
shifting perspectives.281 My analysis will build on her idea of a fugal transformation of
the style hongrois main theme of the movement, but I will focus on the transformation in
terms of its narrative function. The coda will reveal a process of strengthening for E-flat
major and the higher-style topic associated with transgression and a weakening of G
minor and the low-style topic (style hongrois) associated with order.
The Coda to the Finale. At the end of the parallel repeat of the sonata-rondo
form Schumann restored the key of G minor with one final statement of the refrain in
mm. 212b220, but the tonic key of G minor was diminished due to the truncated return
and the diminuendo leading to the cadence in m. 220. The entire first part of the
movement, mm. 1220, therefore ended with the valued elements of the hierarchy in
control but significantly weakened. Transgression, on the other hand, has gradually
gained rank value through the course of the first part of the movement.
The opening of the coda to the finale reveals a transformation of the
transgressive element of Eb major (Example 6.9). The introduction to the coda combines
the rhythm of the peasant theme (A) with a transformation of the rising-fourth gesture
from B: instead of a stepwise rising fourth from Bb to Eb, the gesture is now a third leap
followed by a step, BbDEb. At the beginning of the movement the A theme ascended
by thirds to the G tonic, C Eb G; but its transformation here now ends on Eb, and it is
stated in three different registers (Eb4 in m. 221, Eb5 in m. 223, and Eb6 in m. 224). Thus
this head motive from A reforged in the manner of B leads the listener to hear the Eb
strongly as 1. Note that we may also interpret this repeated BbDEb as a melodic
inversion of motive x from the original peasant theme (GEbD), again signaling a
reversal of the original order.
280
281
Brown, Schumann and the style hongrois, 284.

Ibid.
146
A new closing idea is introduced in mm. 224b32a in a sentence structure that

drives to Eb major through an auxiliary cadence that underscores the discursive strategy
of emergence (Example 6.9).282 This closing idea is restated in mm. 232b40a and then
pushes forward to a third strong cadence in Eb in m. 248. With the powerful
confirmation of Eb as tonic in m. 248 the rank value of transgression is raised to its
highest level yet. We no longer hear G as tonic; rather we begin to hear it as 3 of E-flat
major.
Example 6.9. End of Part I, Introduction to Coda, and Closing Idea 1, mm. 217232.
282
Auxiliary cadences lack an initial strong tonic triad in the root position; they point forward to their
final strong tonic using the formula XVI. See Allen Cadwallader and David Gagn, Analysis of Tonal
Music: A Schenkerian Approach, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford), 256.
147
In a striking reversal, Schumann brings back the G-minor theme of the refrain in
m. 248b, now transformed from a low-style peasant topic (style hongrois) to a high-style
learned topic due to its fugato treatment (Example 6.10). This suggests that the value
order of the low-style topic may have been mistaken: the peasant-like style hongrois
should have been a learned topic from the very beginning. This treatment of the peasant
theme elevates it, making its initial presentation now seem inadequate in comparison.
The strict four-bar phrase structure of the refrain is gone in the fugato, as the irregular
phrase structure of a fugato takes over. While the transformation of the topic from the
low style to a high style suppresses order and therefore raises the rank value of
transgression, order does not entirely let go of its hold on the music, because the fugato
begins firmly in the mediant key of G minor with a tonic-dominant statement of the
subject (mm. 24956).
The tonal center at the very opening of the movement (mm. 13) was ambiguous:
it was unclear whether G minor or C minor was in control. This ambiguity returns in
the first fugato, as the opening tonic-dominant statement (mm. 24956) is balanced by
subdominant-tonic statements (in stretto in mm. 25762) (Example 6.10). Brown notes
that the emphatic G chord in m. 274 now functions not as tonic but as V of C minor, the
subdominant of G minor and the relative key of E-flat major.283 This paves the way for
E-flat major to assume control, as an episode that is based on the lyrical melody from
the development confirms Eb as tonic (Example 6.11) and leads to a second closing idea
in m. 286b.
283
Brown, Schumann and the style hongrois, 285.
148
Example 6.10. Coda, First Fugato, mm. 245267.
149
Example 6.11. Coda, First Fugato, mm. 268276.

The transformation of the style hongrois theme into a fugato that begins in G
minor but ends in E-flat major reveals much about the narrative structure of the
movement. Though hinted at in the first episode of the exposition, the transgressive
nature of a higher style and E-flat major was undervalued in the exposition of the first
part of the movement, but then grew in importance in the development and
recapitulation. These elements build in strength significantly in the first fugato of the
coda to the finale. The style hongrois topic was meant to be used as the subject of a
fugato all along, and G, in retrospect, is meant to be the Kopfton as scale degree 3 of the
movement, rather than tonic.
The discursive strategy of emergence continues in mm. 300318 (Example 6.12).
As E-flat major continues to grow in strength, hints of the P theme from the first
movement of the quintet emerge through the ascending octave leaps in the first violin
part in mm. 300304. The music in mm. 311ff. grows in intensity with the rising gesture
that culminates in a half cadence in m. 318, setting up the beginning of the second coda,
the coda that successfully closes the sonata cycle.
150
Example 6.12. End of First Coda and Beginning of Second Coda, mm. 295318.
151
The Coda to the Sonata Cycle. A second fugato begins in m. 319 that completes
the transformation of the transgressive elements as they take over and fully overpower
the flawed hierarchy. This fugato transforms the main theme from the first movement
(P) into a fugal subject, with the main theme of the finale (A) as an accompanyingand
therefore subordinatecountersubject. Brown notes that, unlike the first fugato, which
stressed both tonic-dominant entries and tonic-subdominant entries, the second fugato
stresses only tonic-dominant entries, clinching E-flat major by reviving the theme that is
first associated with that key (P from the first movement).285
When the Closing 1 material returns in m. 378b, it is the final stage in the process:
G as the true Kopfton now descends to the true tonic, Eb (Example 6.13). Since G5 is the
goal of the imperfect authentic cadence ending the second fugato at m. 371, it takes the
return of the closing material to lead to a final descent to 1 at the perfect authentic
cadence in m. 402 (Example 6.14). An extension follows in m. 40227 that confirms the
victory of transgression, with a tonic pedal in mm. 40210 and a perfect authentic
cadence in m. 421 that is then expanded by a tonic arpeggiation in the last seven
measures. The transformation process is complete: transgression has, throughout the
course of the movement, successfully challenged and overturned the initial hierarchy
with the ascendancy of E-flat major and the high-style fugatos found in the coda.
Example 6.13. End of Second Fugato and Introduction to Closing 1, mm. 370-379.
285
Ibid., 289.
152
(2
1)
Example 6.14. End of the Closing 1 Theme and Final Extension, mm. 396-404.
6.3.4. Conclusion
It is largely the many irregularities in the form of the Piano Quintet finale that
sets the stage for a comic narrative archetype in which the transgressive elements
gradually emerge as successful throughout the course of the movement. The form of
this movement is one that is often discussed by scholars and critics for its anomalies.
The parallel sonata-rondo of the first part of the finale introduces the minor mediant
key (g) as tonic, but then proceeds to present many non-tonic returns of the refrain that
undermine it. Schumanns blurring of the tonic identity in the first part of the finale
delays the crystallization of E-flat major, the key in which the quintet as a sonata cycle
must ultimately end, until nearly halfway through the extensive coda. In addition, the
flaws in the parallel form, most notably the many statements of the refrain in non-tonic
keys (the only statements in G minor are the first, mm. 121, and the last, mm. 21320)
help to open the way for transgression to be successful. The style hongrois topic of the
refrain is transformed from a low style in the refrain to a high style in the coda, first as
the subject of a fugato that begins in G minor but ends in E-flat major, then later as the
countersubject to a second fugato that uses the P theme of the first movement as a
subject that is firmly in Eb throughout.
The gradual yielding of tonal control from G minor to E-flat major is a process
foreshadowed in the first statement of the refrain (G minor) and first episode (E-flat
major) but not realized wholly until the first fugato. The second fugato, then, provides
the ultimate closure with its tonal restoration of Eb and cyclic recalling of the first theme
153
of the opening movement. Through this process of transformation a comic narrative is

revealed, and the sonata cycle as a whole completes a journey around Fryes circular
model of archetypes. After a long journey through a heroic romance (movement 1),
disillusionment is experienced during a tragic funeral march in which transcendence is
never achieved (movement 2). The scherzo (movement 3) reveals an ironic archetype
from the realm of experience, and the finale shows the culmination of it all, returning to
the realm of innocencequite literally when the P theme from the opening movement
returns in the fugatowith a comic archetype that is achieved through emergence.
154
CHAPTER 7
TWO ADDITIONAL ROMANCE NARRATIVES: THE FIRST
AND THIRD MOVEMENTS OF THE PIANO QUARTET
In Chapters 3 through 6 I provided analyses of each movement of Schumanns

Piano Quintet that proceed in a clockwise fashion around Northrop Fryes circular
model of narrative archetypes: romance (first movement), tragedy (second movement),
irony (third movement), and comedy (fourth movement). While it worked quite well to
read the narrative of the quintet in this clockwise fashion, as Frye suggests, this does not
apply to every sonata-cycle work.
In fact, the narrative trajectory of Schumanns Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, op.
47 is quite different from that of the Piano Quintet. The quartet does not follow Fryes
circular model because of the arrangement of the inner movements. Like the quintet, the
quartet begins with a romance archetype represented by a sonata form. But the second
movement of the quartet is a scherzo that is an ironic archetype and the third
movement of the quartet is a slow movement that falls once again into the romance
category. The last movement is another comic archetype of emergence, which, like the
quintet, culminates with fugal passages. Because the scherzo and finale movements of
the quartet share similar qualities with the analyses of the same movements of the
quintet, I will not provide a discussion of these movements in this dissertation.
However, the romance narratives of the first and third movements reveal new features
of this archetype that merit a more in-depth discussion.
The following two analyses will reveal additional readings of romance
archetypes in Schumanns 1842 chamber music for piano and strings. The first
movement of the Piano Quartet is in sonata-allegro form and exposes a heroic romance
that features an order-imposing hierarchy that is victorious over transgression. This
movement differs from the same movement of the quintet in that it presents a hero who
is not only victorious over external transgressions but is also victorious over his own
internal transgressions as his character grows and matures throughout the movement, a
155
process of Bildung. The third movement of the Piano Quartet is a ternary form that
reveals a romance archetype, where a desired order is victorious over transgression, in
the form of a duet between two characters: a male and female voice that can be mapped
onto Robert and Clara Schumann.
7.1 First Movement of the Quartet:

Bildung in the Sostenuto assai, Allegro ma non troppo
In this analysis I will examine the opening movement of Robert Schumanns
Piano Quartet. I will argue that the narrative structure of the movement supports a
Romance archetype in which the protagonist faces both external challenges and an
internal struggle that reveals the Bildung, or psychological and moral growth. The first
part of the analysis will deal with the Romance archetype as supported by the victory of
an order-imposing hierarchy over its transgression. The second part of the analysis will
explore the complications created by an internal conflict as the protagonist undergoes
physical, psychological, and moral maturation.
7.1.1 Part I: A Romance Narrative Archetype

The Sostenuto assai introduction of the Piano Quartet establishes the orderimposing hierarchy of the movement. Presented in the tonic key of E-flat major, a hymn
topic emerges in mm. 27 (Example 7.1) that embodies a slow tempo, slow harmonic
rhythm, simple tonic and dominant harmonies, a homophonic chordal texture, and a
piano dynamic marking. In addition to establishing a sense of order, the opening
texture of the movement correlates with a state of expectancy, suggesting a profound
utterance.286 The chordal texture also suggests the high stylistic register of a hymn,
with its spiritual and solemn connotations.287 The hymn topic of the introduction
establishes order as ideal and suggests a sense of the divine or of a mythical and
utopian world.
286
287
Robert S. Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 14.
Ibid.
156
Example 7.1. Hymn Topic of the Introduction, mm. 17.

At this point it may be helpful to clarify the musical characteristics that support
the order-imposing hierarchy and transgression (Table 7.1). These include structural
characteristics associated with the major tonic key (Eb), the hymn and heroic topics and
the characteristics associated with them, metrical consonance, and sonata-form
conventions such as a move to the dominant in the exposition. The musical
characteristics that support transgression are those that go against the characteristics of
order, such as the minor mode and tonal digressions, dysphoric transformations of the
hymn and heroic topics, metrical dissonance, and the postponement of the arrival of the
dominant in the exposition.
Table 7.1. Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression
Order-Imposing Hierarchy
Transgression
Tonic Major Key (Eb)
Keys that Oppose the Tonic Major
Hymn and Heroic Topics
Dysphoric Transformations of the Hymn and

Heroic Topics
Metrical Consonance
Metrical Dissonance
Sonata Form Conventions
The Postponement of the Arrival of the

Dominant in the Exposition
157
The principal theme that follows the slow introduction (Example 7.2) strongly
resembles the hymn topic of the introduction but is transformed into a new state, which
I will label as a heroic topic (mm. 1314 and mm. 1718).288 While it retains the
homophonic texture, the melody, and the harmonies of the hymn topic, the stylistic
register is lowered as a result of a faster tempo, the staccato rolled chords in the piano,
and the mezzo forte, crescendo, and sforzando dynamic markings. The rank value of the
order-imposing hierarchy established in the hymn topic of the introduction is raised in
the heroic topic of the principal theme, as the theme takes on a new, more confident
state. The forward- and upward-pointing gesture of the heroic topic, labeled motive x,
begins on beat 2 and leads strongly to the downbeat of the next measure, suggesting a
metaphor of a protagonist who is setting out on a quest.
Example 7.2. Heroic Topic of the Principal Theme, mm. 1118.

The order-imposing hierarchy encounters a series of increasingly powerful
transgressions that challenge it. The first challenge occurs in mm. 2631 with a
statement of the heroic topic in the marked supertonic key of F minor (Example 7.3).
This key is marked because of what precedes it. The dominant harmony in E-flat major
(m. 25) is chromatically inflected to become a German augmented sixth chord in F
minor, evading the half cadence that was about to arrive at the end of the previous
phrase. This brief tonal digression to the supertonic constitutes a reversal that brings the
abilities of the hero into question, as the heroic character becomes independent of the
288
The arabesque-like figures found in mm. 14b17a and mm. 18b21a will be discussed in the second
part of the analysis.
158
order imposed by tonic. The statement of the heroic theme in F minor invokes a
metaphor for a brief anticipation of the more powerful obstacles that will follow. This
transgression is quickly reversed with the return of the tonic key in m. 31, although the
lack of the expected tonic resolution at m. 33 and the following one more time
technique289 that extends the phrase indicate that the reestablishment of order is not
obtained, rather it has been earned.
Example 7.3. First Transgression, Heroic Topic in F Minor, mm. 2635.

The second transgression occurs in mm. 4447, after a brief counterstatement of
the first theme that presents the heroic topic in a singing style (mm. 3544). The rising
gesture of motive x (mm. 1314 and mm. 1718) in the heroic topic (Example 7.2), was
countered by a falling gesture that I call motive y in mm. 2125 (Example 7.4a).290 It is
289
Janet Schmalfeldt, Cadential Processes: The Evaded Cadence and the One More Time Technique,
Journal of Musicological Research 12 (1992): 152.
290
The contour of motive y is taken from the bass line of the heroic topic, as can be seen in a comparison
of Example 7.2 (bass line) and Example 7.4a (motive y).
159
motive y recast in the marked minor mediant key (g), which embodies the second
transgression (mm. 4447) against the order-imposing hierarchy (Example 7.4b).
Example 7.4a. Motive y, mm. 1925.
Example 7.4b. Second Transgression, Motive y Recast in G minor, mm. 4147.

In this transgression the rank value of the y motive is temporarily lowered in
mm. 4447 due to the minor mode, since the y motive in the tonic major key (mm. 21
22) originally supported order. While the move to minor is the primary reason the rank
value is lowered, the marked minor mediant key, the dotted rhythms (which retard the
forward motion) and the detached articulation also contribute to the lowered rank
value. The deceptive cadence in G minor (m. 47) leads briefly to the key of B-flat major
(mm. 4851), and then the music returns to E-flat major for a restatement of the original
version of the heroic theme in m. 52 (Example 7.5). This reversal of G minor constitutes
160
a successful fending off of the transgression. The restatement of the original theme in
mm. 5257 presents the order-imposing hierarchy in a more powerful state with a
higher rank value, as the dynamic level is now forte instead of mezzo forte and the first
violin doubles the piano melody. This second transgression, with its brief foray into the
key of G minor, has been turned aside in favor of a more powerful restatement of the
principal theme in the tonic key.
Example 7.5. Second Transgression and Restatement of Principal Theme, mm. 4155.
The most powerful transgression in the exposition of the movement occurs with
the arrival of the transition theme in m. 64 (Example 7.6). In this passage Schumann
presents an agitato topic that functions as a rhetorical gesture. According to Hatten, a
rhetorical gesture is any event that disrupts the unmarked flow of a musical
discourse.291 Here the agitato topic abruptly interrupts the discourse with a dominant
harmony in G minor, immediately following the perfect authentic cadence in the tonic
291
Robert S. Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2004), 135.
161
key on the downbeat of m. 64. The agitato topic, marked forte, is supported by a
sforzando unison entry with an agogic accent on beat 2 and is followed by a marcato
ascending scale and falling accented arpeggiations that lead to a cadence in G minor.292
Example 7.6. Transition, Agitato Topic, mm. 6477.

The marked features of this theme include the minor mediant key (which moves
the music away from the expected dominant goal), the syncopated entry of the theme,
and the imitative overlap between the piano unisons and string unisons. All of these
features of the agitato topic support a reading of the transition material as a
transgression against established order. The marked key of G minor, already found
briefly in the second transgression (Example 7.4b, mm. 4447), opposes the expected
292
The perfect authentic cadence in G minor (m. 76) employs a Picardy third and the G major chord is
immediately reinterpreted as the dominant of C minor.
162
discourse of the movement because the minor mediant postpones the arrival of the
structural dominant.293
The agitato topic, which begins in m. 64 on D (V of G minor), is repeated a half
step higher in m. 68 beginning on Eb (V of A-flat major) and then falls back to D in m. 72
(V of G minor) (Example 7.6). The neighboring motion of the pitches DEbD reverses
the status of these pitches, as compared to their relationship at the opening of the
movement. The higher rank was previously assigned to Eb (the tonic, which supports
the established order) in the introduction and principal theme, while in the transition
the higher rank is assigned to the D (the dominant of the minor mediant key, which
supports the transgression). The rank value of the transgressive material is raised at this
point in the narrative, as the transgression overpowers the musical characteristics
associated with the established order.
The key of G minor with its transgressive qualities continues to assert itself in the
transition. For example, after a failed attempt at a medial caesura in m. 88 (Example
7.7), a rising half-step sequence occurs in mm. 8896 (Bbbc)294 that is immediately
reversed in mm. 96103 (Bbg). Once again, the transgressive traits of G minor move the
transition away from the expected dominant goal, B-flat major. In mm. 1034 the agitato
topic is truncated and transformed with the addition of a dotted rhythm in the key of Bflat major, as an attempt is made to establish the dominant key. The transgression
regains control in mm. 1056, however, as the same truncated agitato topic is presented
in D minor rather than B-flat major.
293
Peter H. Smith comments on this feature in Associative Harmony, Tonal Pairing, and Middleground
Structure in Schumanns Sonata Expositions: The Role of the Mediant in the First Movements of the Piano
Quintet, Piano Quartet, and Rhenish Symphony in Rethinking Schumann, ed. Roe-Min Kok and Laura
Tunbridge (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 23564.
294
This sequence contains the marked quality of the reinterpretation of dominant seventh chords as
German augmented sixth chords, which is rather surprising in mm. 88-96.
163
Example 7.7. Transition, mm. 86106.
164
Example 7.8. End of Transition, mm. 107120.

The authority of order is not reasserted until a striking statement of the agitato
topic in rhythmic augmentation occurs in mm. 11114 (Example 7.8). The
transformation of the agitato in these measures contains two musical factors that rob the
agitato of its ability to transgress. First, the local harmonic underpinning of the topic is
now major and supports the Neapolitan harmony of the anticipated key of B-flat major;
and second, the longer note values and doubling of the gesture in the piano and viola
effect a more controlled ascent of the topic. Now the transgression associated with the
165
agitato topic has been sublimated. The arrival six-four chord296 in m. 115 marks the
arrival of V of the structural dominant and confirms that the agitato topic no longer
transgresses against order but gives way to order as the music cadences decisively on Bflat major. The rank value of the agitato topic is therefore lowered, and the more
controlled ascent to the arrival six-four marks the defeat of transgression as the
exposition comes to a close in the expected dominant key.
Perhaps the most notable formal aspect of the Piano Quartet movement is the
lack of establishment of the second tonal area (V) until the last phrase of the exposition.
Joel Lester comments on this, saying that the failure to strongly establish the second key
is a novel tonal plan that supports the thematic narrative, as Schumanns creative
genius convincingly combines sonata forms thematic narrative with his novel tonal
drama.297 A tonally imbalanced exposition such as this, where the secondary key fails
to establish autonomy, is called a continuous exposition. Hepokoski and Darcy
describe the continuous exposition as one in which a clearly articulated medial caesura
and successfully launched secondary theme do not occur.298
The opening movement of Schumanns Piano Quartet falls into Hepokoski and
Darcys Expansion-Section subtype of the continuous exposition. In this subtype,
following a P-idea, the composer enters TR and continues to spin it out in a succession
of thematic or sequential modules for most of the rest of the exposition, never pausing
for the MC breath and the subsequent launch of S.299 Often a medial caesura is
suggested but abandoned, as the composer creates the expectation of an imminent MC
only to veer away from it for more Fortspinnung or other elaboration.300 This idea of a
failed medial caesura occurs twice in the Piano Quartet, as can be seen in Figure 7.1.
Despite the lack of secondary and closing material in this exposition, the idea
that order prevails at the end of the exposition is supported by the decisive cadence on
B-flat major in mm. 11920. The sense of victory of order is even greater than it might
have been had the music moved to the secondary key area earlier as expectedthe
more arduous and drawn-out the struggle to reach the secondary key, the greater the
sense of victory when it is finally reached.
296

Joel Lester, Robert Schumann and Sonata Forms, 19th-Century Music 18, no. 3 (Spring 1995), 207.
298
Hepokoski and Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory, 51.
299
Ibid., 52.
300
Ibid., 54.
297
166
1P1
51
52
64
EbfgBb
Eb
gcFBbbcBbgBbdEb/ebBb
1P
2P
13
35
Eb
EbfEb
88
120
EEC
MC
MC
Attempt
Attempt
Fails
Fails
Figure 7.1. Form Diagram of the Exposition, mm. 1120.

The development, as expected, presents the central conflict of the movement.
Schumann primarily develops the x and y motives from the principal thematic area,
and the transformations of these motives are symptoms of the most powerful
transgressions faced by the protagonist. As seen in Example 7.9, the development opens
with the x motive presented in D minor (mm. 13637 and mm. 14041) and later in A
minor (mm. 14950 and mm. 15354). The rank value of the x motive is lowered by the
change of mode from major to minor, since the x motive was originally associated with
the order of the tonic major key in the principal theme.
Example 7.9. Development, Motive x in D minor and A minor.

A sequence in C major (mm. 16571) shows the strengthening of transgression
due to several factors (see Example 7.10). Schumann constricts the motive to all half
steps (the smallest possible interval of motion) and creates tension with a half step
ascent (CCsDDsE in cello and piano) and the pungent dissonances produced by a
constant G pedal point (V/C). When the sequence is moved up a half step to C-sharp
167
minor (mm. 17379), this tension is intensified. At this point in the development a sense
of conflict, anxiety, and doubt is associated with motive x that lowers its rank value.
Example 7.10. Development, Sequence, mm. 165180.

The y motive is juxtaposed against the x motive in mm. 189204 (Example 7.11),
providing a striking alteration to the context of the motives, as they are now in dialogue
with each other. The development comes to a climax at this point, and the expansion of
the y motive to an octave in this section is analogous to the widening of the conflict.
This reflects the intensity and energy experienced in the height of a conflict or struggle
against an obstacle. The rank value of the y motive, which was already lowered in the
exposition when it was presented in G minor (mm. 4447), is now even lower due to
several factors: its minor mode; its competition with the x motive for the listeners
attention; the dysphoric exaggeration of the intervals; the descending voice leading; the
dissonant D-flat augmented sixth chord in m. 193; and the extra note that descends by
168
step added to the end of each y motive, three of which create the lamenting pianto halfstep descent.
Example 7.11. Development, Motives x and y Juxtaposed, mm. 189203.

Both intervallic and metrical dissonances are used in the retransition (mm. 204
12) to enhance the anticipation of the recapitulation (Example 7.12). The y motive is
consistently expanded to an octave leap in the strings in this section, emphasizing Ab (4)
169
and Cb (b6) as dissonant seventh and ninth of a Vb9 chord. Against the piano, the
rhythmic diminution in mm. 20811 in the strings creates metrical displacement
dissonance: groupings of four eighth notes are displaced by a quarter note value (D 4+2,
1= quarter note).301 The transgression is at its highest state at this point in the narrative
due to the competition between the x and y motives, the stretching of the y motive to an
octave, the intervallic dissonance (minor 7th and minor 9th) between the y motive and x
motive, and the metrical displacement dissonance between the piano and strings.
Example 7.12. Retransition, mm. 204212.

A triumphant recomposed statement of the heroic first theme marks the
beginning of the recapitulation in m. 213 (Example 7.13). This statement constitutes an
apotheosis, which is described by Edward T. Cone as a special kind of recapitulation
that reveals unexpected harmonic richness and textural excitement in a theme
previously presented with a deliberately restricted harmonization and a relatively drab
301
Harald Krebs, Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert Schumann (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999), 1617.
170
accompaniment.302 The heroic theme is now transformed into a victorious outburst, as

the chords are now accented, marked fortissimo, and doubled in the violin with
repeated-eighth-note accompaniment in the viola and cello parts. A rapid ascending
scale that could be described gesturally as a victorious flourish is added in the strings in
m. 222 in place of the expositions digression to F minor. This scale is a diminution of
the transition theme (agitato topic) and reinforces the idea of victory, because the agitato
has been sublimated.
Example 7.13. Recapitulation, mm. 213226.

Hence, the first transgression from the exposition is removed in the
recapitulation and, moreover, the second transgressionoriginally the y motive recast
in the marked mediant, G minoris transposed to the submediant, C minor, and is then
undercut by a direct return to E-flat major. As a result, there is no longer a need for a
restatement of the heroic theme in E-flat major as there was in m. 52 of the exposition.
302
Edward T. Cone, Musical Form and Musical Performance (New York: W.W. Norton, 1968), 84.
171
The agitato topic of the transition is rewritten in C minor, the minor submediant,
which is a more conventional diatonic third relation that leads to its relative, the tonic Eflat major. Thus the transgression embodied by the marked mediant key of G minor is
removed in the recapitulation. The augmentation of the agitato topic at the end of the
recapitulation once again represents the transgression being brought under control,
only this time in the tonic key.
The coda of the movement offers a reflection upon the adventures of the
protagonist and confirms the defeat of transgression. It opens with a passage that is
reminiscent of the serious, profound tone of the hymn topic in the introduction
(Example 7.14). In this opening passage of the coda (mm. 31120) the subdominant is
outlined (mm. 31113), which invokes a sense of the past.303 An ascending 56 sequence
(mm. 31320) leads to G minor in m. 315, but now G minor moves directly to a first
inversion E-flat triad and is subsumed within a prolongation of the tonic triad. Since the
E-flat major triad retains control of the passage, the ability of G minor to transgress has
been lost, affirming that its rank value has been lowered.
The pi agitato that follows in m. 321 introduces a new theme that contains
contrary motion between the cello and piano, producing several voice exchanges (see
Example 7.14). The theme contains upward thrusts that emphasize triumph and raise
the rank value of the order due to the harmonic emphasis on closure (V7/VV in m. 321,
V7I in m. 323).
303
Michael L. Klein, Chopins Fourth Ballade as Musical Narrative, Music Theory Spectrum 26, no. 1
(2004), 2356.
172
V6t /V
V6t
Example 7.14. Coda, mm. 309324.
Motive x occurs in a new context in m. 338 (Example 7.15), with a change in pitch
level, slower tempo, piano dynamic level, and tonic pedal in the piano part. Another
tonicization of the subdominant in m. 341 again invokes a sense of the past, but the
reflective quality of this passage is even more pronounced, given the slackening of the
tempo. The coda comes to a close with an a tempo section that begins with three
consecutive statements of the heroic topic, which indicates that the order of the heroic
topic now has a much higher rankit is in fact triple charged. When the agitato topic
returns in mm. 35354, it is in major (just as when it was supported by the Neapolitan
harmony at the end of both transition sections), confirming that transgression has
indeed been defeated. The fact that this final statement of the agitato topicoriginally in
the transgressive minor modeis truncated and is now in the tonic major confirms the
removal of the transgression, since it now serves the order-imposing hierarchy. As the
movement comes to a conclusion, there is no question that order is victorious over
transgression.
173
Example 7.15. End of Coda, mm. 334355.

174
7.1.2 Part II: Bildung and Complications of the Romance Narrative

The victory of order over transgression supports the Romance narrative
archetype, but the protagonist also faces internal struggles that complicate the narrative.
The remainder of the analysis explores the complications of the Romance narrative
created by internal conflicts that reveal the Bildung, or psychological and moral growth,
of the protagonist. The idea of a narrative voice in this movement as a composer who
aspires to rise to the compositional level of the Beethovenian Heroic is explored at the
end of this section.
Bildung and the Protagonist. The idea of Bildung was conceived by the lateeighteenth-century Weimar classicists, who focused attention on the cultivation of the
individual. The two German Romanticists who are most often associated with the idea
of Bildung are Schiller and Goethe. Both authors agreed that Bildung is a total growth
process, a Werden, or becomingit is the self-realization of the individual in his
wholeness.304
Schumanns love of German Romantic novels is well known, and he was familiar
with the works of Goethe and specifically with Wilhelm Meisters Apprenticeship, which is
perhaps the most famous Bildungsroman of the German tradition. Schumann mentions
Wilhelm Meister in his diary as early as 1828, and some twenty years later composed his
op. 98 Lieder based on Goethes novel. Musicologist John Daverio goes so far as to say
that, on reflection, we realize that Schumanns works are all artistic documents of just
such a battle between inner and outer worlds and that they are all animated by the
formative power of Bildung.305
The fact that Schumann was very familiar with Goethes Wilhelm Meister and
consequently with the idea of the German Bildung provides support for a deeper
reading of the protagonist in the opening movement of the Piano Quartet as undergoing
the growth and maturation associated with Bildung. Edward T. Cone discusses the
protagonist in terms of vocal music: What he [the composer] deals with is not the
poem but his reading of it. He appropriates that reading and makes it a component in
another work, entirely his owna larger form created by the musical setting.306 With
304
Martin Swales, The German Bildungsroman from Wieland to Hesse (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1978), 15.
305
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press,
1997), 438.
306
Edward T. Cone, The Composers Voice (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), 2021.
175
regard to chamber music, Cone goes on to say that chamber music depends on
permanent characterization, although it is rarely desirable or even possible to single out
any instrument as the protagonist.307 Cone asserts, Sometimes, however, as in
chamber music, the persona can only be inferred from the interaction of equal
agents.308 This is the case in Schumanns Piano Quartet.
The Analysis. The Sostenuto assai introduction, which presents the hymn topic,
contains issues of voice leading that lend insight into the nature of the protagonist and
support a hearing of Bildung as a process in this movement (Example 7.16). In the
introduction the dissonant seventh of the V7 chord, Ab (4), is twice pushed upward
against its natural tendency: first, as part of an ascending third-progression in mm. 16
(where the normal resolution downward is transferred to the bass); second, when Ab
moves through An (n4) to Bb (5) in mm. 1012 instead of resolving down to G (3) as
expected. The nonchalant and idiosyncratic way in which the dissonant seventh is
pulled up with broken octaves invokes a metaphor of uncontrolled energy. This effect
of pushing above the boundary of the Kopfton (G5) invokes an energeticist metaphor.
Schenkers Harmonielehre recognizes the biological urges of tones, and the force of
the scale-step.309 Here, Ab is pushed upward to Bb instead of resolving down to G. This
treatment of the dissonant seventh can be mapped onto the idea of a protagonist whose
youthful exuberance strives upward, preventing a controlled resolution of the
dissonance. Moreover, this lack of control could be interpreted as a character flaw on
the part of the protagonistone that will require correction through the process of
Bildung as the movement progresses.
307
Ibid., 97.
Ibid., 110.
309
Lee Rothfarb, Energetics, in The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 937.
308
176
Example 7.16. Voice-Leading Sketch of the Introduction, mm. 112.

The heroic principal theme contains the same ascending third-progression
found in the introduction (Example 7.16, mm. 16) in mm. 1321 (Example 7.17). The
two rising third-progressions (G-Ab-Bb) within the principal theme (mm. 1321 and mm.
2330) again communicate the unbridled energy of the protagonist that inhibits his
sense of control. While the dissonant seventh Ab does resolve to G in the bass voice, the
rising melodic line shows a protagonist who displays excessive energy. It is only when
the local descents from 2 to 1 appear in mm. 31, 33, and 35 that the protagonist regains a
sense of self-control. The primary opposition within the principal theme is that between
the ascending third-progression (excessive energy) and the local descents of that thirdprogression (control).
Example 7.17: Voice-Leading Sketch of the First Theme, mm. 1335.

177
Further complications occur in the development section of the movement, as the

unrestrained energy of the protagonist reaches its limits and is ultimately brought
under control. Overall, the development shows a large-scale motion from Vb7n7b7 (quasineighboring motion of AbAnAb), which reverses the Vb7n78 motion from the
introduction (Examples 7.18a and b). The unexpected reinterpretation of the Bb7 chord
as a German augmented sixth in D minor supports the quasi-neighboring motion.
Example 7.18c portrays the rising energy of the protagonist, suggested by both
the composing out of the half step between F and Fs (mm. 13657) and the large-scale
rising third-progression from F to An in mm. 136180. Example 7.18c also reveals that
the Ab (mm. 204212) resolves conventionally to G at the point of recapitulation in m.
213, representing the growth and maturation of the protagonist.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Example 7.18. Voice-Leading Sketch of the Development.
178
In addition to the voice-leading oppositions found within the principal thematic

area, there is also a contrast between the heroic topic and what I refer to as the
arabesque gesture (Example 7.19a). In dance, an arabesque is created when the body
leaves its perpendicular position and inclines in an oblique line, moving the weight of
the body onto one leg. According to Blasis, arabesques, like attitudes and other poses,
may conclude a series of pirouettes, steps, entrechats, or enchanements that enhances
the stop and pauses that are the culminating moments of the virtuosic dancers
technique.310 Desrat, in his Dictionnaire de la Danse (1895) discusses the strong
expressive connotation of arabesques, saying that they interpret sentiments of joy and
fear, and even more so those of envy, anger, and pride.311 Arabesques can also express
more placid sentiments, such as desire, attentiveness, attachment to something . . .
indicating a sensitive and delicate soul; gently swaying movements of the body.312 The
arabesquewhether it expresses joy, fear, envy, anger, pride, or desireis a gesture
that prevents forward motion. The arabesque gesture in mm. 1517 contains the rapid,
virtuosic, circular pitch contours that portray a musical arabesque. In addition, this
material is decorative in nature, and is added only at the stop of the musical activity.
The forward and upward-pointing gesture of the heroic topic discussed in the
first part of the chapter contrasts starkly with the excessive arabesque-like figuration in
the piano, which takes away from the impact of the heroic gesture. The arabesques
create internal phrase expansions of the principal theme, thereby delaying a sense of
progress. In the recapitulation, the removal of the arabesques creates a sense of focus
and direction toward success within the protagonists character, contributing to the
Bildung that results from this sense of purpose (Example 7.19b). The protagonist has
reined in his excessive energy by the end of the movement, as he retains more energy
and loses the distraction of the arabesques in the recapitulation. With the achievement
of conventionality comes the completion of the process of Bildung.
310
Francesca Falcone, The Evolution of the Arabesque in Dance, Dance Chronicle 22, no. 1 (1999), 87.
Ibid.
312
Ibid., 99.
311
179
Beat:
(expansion ----------)
Example 7.19a. Opposition Between Heroic and Arabesque Topics in Exposition.
Beat:
Example 7.19b. Recapitulation, Arabesque topic removed, mm. 213220.

Narrative Voice. A strikingly similar narrative voice to the one that was found in
the opening movement of Schumanns Piano Quintet is also evident in the opening
movement of his Piano Quartet. Once again using Seatons devices found in music for
determining the persona, I have found the idea that music cast in a particular idiom or
distinctive rhetorical style suggests a certain speaker to be helpful in determining the
persona. In the case of this movement, the narrative voice seems again to be in a
dialogue with the conventions of sonata form by playing with the form and making it
his own. This can be heard with the continuous exposition, where a strong arrival on
the dominant is postponed until the last possible moment. In addition, the abrupt shift
180
in discourse that occurs when the agitato topic arrives at the beginning of the transition
(m. 64) provides a rhetorical gesture of interruption that indicates a sense of voice.313
Another device found within the music is that of interruption by music that does not
participate in the action and often takes the form of commentary. This is evident in the
Piano Quartet with the exceptional return of the slow introduction at the beginning of
the development section.
Voice can also be indicated through extra-musical conditions. But Seatons idea
that voice may be implied by an identification of the persona with the composer does
not come into play in the Piano Quartet because there is no strong documented
evidence to pin the narrative persona to Schumann. Rather, the narrative voice in this
movement is, as it was in the first movement of the Piano Quintet, the voice of a
composer with ambitions to undertake the chamber genres and the looming model of
the Beethovenian Heroic.
7.1.3. Conclusion
The journey of the protagonist in this movement is one in which he faces
obstacles on both external and internal levels but ultimately experiences triumph and
success. In a narrative reading of the movement as a Romance, the order-imposing
hierarchy and the musical characteristics associated with it are victorious over the
various transgressions experienced throughout the movement. The protagonist, having
begun the movement possessing tendencies that inhibit his progress, makes a journey
that reveals his growth and maturation. These two readings are complementarythe
second reading of Bildung enriches the first reading of the movement as a Romance
narrative. The analysis is further enhanced by an understanding of narrative voice in
this movement as that of a composer who aspires to master the chamber genres and rise
above the intimidating model of the Beethovenian Heroic. Thus the movement can be
understood as supporting musical meaning on two different levels: that of a Romance
narrative and that of the Bildung of the protagonist and the persona.
313
Vera Micznik applies this principle to Mahlers music when she points out that it contains a higher
degree of narrativity than does music from the Classical style due to its individualitythe essential
feature of Romanticism in general. According to Micznik, the more unexpected the music is, the greater
its ability to contain narrative. Vera Micznik, Music and Narrative Revisited: Degrees of Narrativity in
Beethoven and Mahler, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 126 (2001): 193-249.
181
7.2 Third Movement of the Quartet: Andante Cantabile

The other romance narrative archetypes analyzed in this dissertation (the first
movement of the Piano Quintet and the first movement of the Piano Quartet) are in a
clear sonata-allegro form, and the development sections of both movements build to an
expressive climax as the transgressive elements attempt and fail to defeat the orderimposing hierarchy. The slow movement from Schumanns Piano Quartet is another
example of a romance narrative archetype, but it differs from those others in that it is
cast in ternary form. On the surface this movement, which is famous for its sentimental
lyricism in the first and third sections (A and A'), may not seem to contain any conflict
in the hymn-like middle section (B). However, I will show that despite the lack of
surface tension, there is a conflict in the B section (transgression) that is ultimately
overcome by the lyricism of the A sections (order).
7.2.1. The Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression

As shown in Table 7.2 below, the order-imposing hierarchy embodies the
characteristics of the tonic major key (I), the sentimentality of the lyrical topic,
metrical consonance, and a healthy dialogue between distinct individual voices.
Transgression, on the other hand, embodies the characteristics of the lowered
submediant major key (bVI), the more restrictive hymn topic, metrical dissonance,
and a homophonic texture (the voices lose their individual identity and come together
as one). The analysis that follows will trace these characteristics through the movement,
and will show how the desired order-imposing hierarchy is ultimately victorious over
transgression.
Table 7.2. Order-Imposing Hierarchy versus Transgression.
Transgression:
The Tonic Major Key (Bb)
The Lowered Submediant Major Key (bVI)
Sentimental Cantabile Topic
Hymn Topic
Metrical Consonance
Metrical Dissonance
Dialogue Between Voices
Homophonic Texture
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7.2.2. The A Section

The Cantabile Topic of the Main Theme. After a brief introduction, in which
the violin presents a melody that foreshadows the main theme of the movement (mm.
14a), the cello enters with what John Daverio calls a sumptuous cello solo.314 Seen in
Example 7.20, this theme, which I call a cantabile topic, is elided with the violin
introduction and features a disjunct melody that embodies large ascending and
descending leaps (major and minor sevenths). The cellos melody in mm. 418 presents
a single sixteen-bar phrase that is not quite balanced4+4+4+3as it wanders freely
before arriving at a perfect authentic cadence in m. 18. The piano supplies a soft and
simple block-chord accompaniment, the third beat of which is emphasized by the first
violin and violas piano quarter notes in each measure.
A voice-leading reduction of the main theme (mm. 318) reveals two
characteristics that support order (Example 7.21). The first three-quarters of the phrase
(4+4+4) can be clearly heard in mm. 415 as an expansion of the tonic harmony
(signaling stability) through a 56 motion, with the Kopfton (scale degree 3, D4) being
prolonged through an equally stable double neighbor motion (D-Eb-C-D). The D4 from
m. 10 moves to C4 (scale degree 2) in m. 14, which is prolonged until the ultimate
resolution to Bb3 (scale degree 1) in m. 18. Second, the order is further reinforced by the
lyrical melody, featuring the vocal leaps of a seventh in the top voice (see m. 4, 6, 8 10,
etc.) that portray a freely sentimental expression in the A section.
The cantabile topic, first presented in the cello, embodies order but contains a
couple of brief hints at transgression. The fifteen-bar phrase strongly confirms the tonic
key of Bb, a characteristic of order, but the asymmetry (4+4+4+3) is slightly
transgressive. While the theme itself is metrically consonant, transgression is hinted at
with the emphasis of beat 3 of each measure in the upper strings. In a simple triple
meter, it is beat 1 that is naturally accentedand the first beat is indeed accented here
by the contour of the principal cello melodynot beat 3. The theme, which becomes a
clear and healthy dialogue between two distinct voices in m. 17, is first represented by
the cello (the male voice) and then by the violin (the female voice), another
characteristic of order. However, the elision between the violins introduction and the
314
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1997), 260. Daverio notes that this cello solo was not lost on Brahms, who began the slow movement of
his Piano Quartet in C Minor, op. 60 with a similar sumptuous cello solo (260).
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cellos theme in mm. 3-4 does indicate a hint of transgression, as the cello interrupts
the violin.
Example 7.20. The Cantabile Topic of the Main Theme (A), mm. 118.
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Example 7.21. Voice-Leading Reduction of Main Theme, Cantabile Topic, mm. 318.
In m. 17, the cello theme is interrupted before it can complete its cadence as the
first violin sounds the same lyrical theme (only now two octaves higher). Marked mezzo
forte and cantabile a poco a poco crescendo, the violins singing melody grows in intensity
until it cadences in m. 32. In retrospect, we realize that the violins introduction in mm.
14 was interrupted by the cello in m. 3; after the violin allows the cello to state its
lyrical melody, the violin in turn cannot resist interrupting the cello in m. 17, before it is
quite finished. These interruptions by the entrance of the cello in m. 3 and the violin in
m. 17 are mapped onto transgression, since they indicate that the two voices have no
respect for one another.
A Dialogue Between a Male and Female Voice. This dialogue between two
voices is significant in this movement, and quite an obvious feature of the A sections.
The conversation between the voices can be mapped onto a male voice (the cello) and a
female voice (the first violin). While we must be careful to avoid the biographical
fallacy, it is not unreasonable to take this one step further and map the male and female
voices onto two characters that represent Robert and Clara. In some of his music,
Carnaval for example, Robert does explicitly depict Clara musically. While he does not
do that explicitly in the quartet, it is difficult to ignore the facts of Roberts biography
that suggest that he might have been doing so implicitly, invoking a kind of love duet
in this movement.
In Chapter 2 I discussed the difficulties that Robert and Clara were experiencing
in their marriage in 1842. While 1842 was the year that Schumanns chamber music
aspirations were realized, this achievement came at a price. In February, while on a
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concert tour of German cities intended to showcase Claras virtuoso talent as a pianist,
Robert became depressed after being insulted by court officials following a concert
given by Clara. He returned to Leipzig alone to compose while Clara finished her
concert tour; he wrote in their marriage diary, This separation has once again made
clear to me our particularly difficult situation. Should I neglect my talent in order to
serve as your travelling companion? And conversely, should you let you talent go to
waste simply because I happen to be chained to the journal and the piano?315 Thus,
while I cannot explicitly say that the cellos male voice is Robert and the violins female
voice is Clara, I do assert that it is reasonable to map the characters of a male and female
voice onto the cello and violin respectively, since this strained relationship was much
on Roberts mind during this particular time and the low range of a male would
logically be suited to the lower sounding instrument.
The opening three bars of the movement, with the lyrical theme in the violin
interrupted by the cello, seem to begin in media resas if the listener walks into the
middle of a conversation. The dialogue between the cello and violin is once again
interrupted in m. 31, but this time by the piano (Example 7.22). The piano transforms
the lyrical melody to the point where it is nearly unrecognizable. With syncopation at
the eighth-note level, the right and left hand of the piano are out of sync with each other
and are unable to come together successfully until the end of the phrase in m. 47. The
phrase is now balanced (4+4+4+4), a characteristic of order, but this is overshadowed by
the transgressive syncopation of the melody. The rank value of transgression is thus
raised at this point in the narrative.
The male and female characters represented by the cello and violin are removed
from the narrative, and the viola tries to reason with the piano with interjections of its
own (mm. 3335, 3739, 4143, 4547) that try unsuccessfully to smooth out the
syncopations in the piano. This passage (mm. 3147) is the third phrase of A, and
represents an experience of conflict in the movement. The transgressive syncopations in
the piano and the frequent interjections by the viola seem to comment on the imperfect
dialogue of the first two phrases between the cello and violin: the piano and viola,
315
Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, and Gerd Nauhaus, The Marriage Diaries of Robert & Clara
Schumann: From Their Wedding Day Through the Russia Trip, ed. Gerd Nauhaus, trans. Peter Ostwald
(Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993), 206.
186
which are not a specific gender, reveal an inherent tension between the male and female
characters that lies beneath the more tranquil surface of the first two phrases.
Example 7.22. A Section, mm. 2747.

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7.2.3. The B Section

Though quiet and subdued, the middle section (B) of this ternary movement
actually embodies its central conflict (Example 7.23). The B section is transgressive
against the order-imposing hierarchy in several ways. First, B contains a homophonic
texture and a hymn topic whose homorhythm rejects the freer dialogue and lyrical
topic of A. Second, there is an abrupt meter change from simple triple in the A section
to simple quadruple in the B section, and this new meter is undermined by a metrical
displacement dissonance D 4+1 (1 = quarter note) throughout this section due to the
consistent agogic accents on beat 2 of the bar. Third, B is in the key of Gb major (bVI),
which creates an inflection of the Kopfton from 3 to b3 on a deep middleground level
contributing to the disruptive effect of B.
In addition, a change in meter from simple triple to simple quadruple combined
with a metrical displacement dissonance of D 4+1 (1 = quarter note) obscures the sense
of a downbeat, further solidifying my reading of this section as transgressive. The
transgressive metrical dissonance does not merit much further comment, as we have
learned throughout the earlier analyses in this dissertation that metrical dissonance
maps strongly onto the idea of transgression.
A voice-leading sketch of the B section (Example 7.24) reveals further elements of
transgression. A local 3-line exists in Gb; 2 (Ab) is covered by Db (5) and embellished by
an ascending fourth-progression in mm. 5355; the fourth-progression then reverses
itself in mm. 6469, and 2 falls to 1 in m. 70. The voice leading is transgressive due to its
disjunct nature: there are many instances of reaching over on the sketch (mm. 50, 52, 53,
and 66). As shown by my deep middleground sketch of the movement in Example 7.25,
bVI as a key area in the B section supports the large-scale inflection of the Kopfton to b3
that generates the central section of the form. Schumanns employment of modal
mixture on the deep middleground contributes to the disruptive effect of B. The Bb3 at
the end of A (m. 48) is an inner voice that is superimposed over b3 at m. 48. The sudden
shift to F4 at the end of B (m. 71) sounds like a brutal intrusion of B-flat majors reality
to break off the fantasy invoked by the middle section.
188
Example 7.23. B Section, mm. 4872.
189
Example 7.24. Voice-Leading Sketch of the B Section, mm. 4870.
Example 7.25. Middleground Voice-Leading Sketch of the Movement.

In terms of the romance narrative of the movement, the B section is seen as a
significant threat to order: the cello completely loses its identity as the male voice due to
the homophonic texture; and the violins identity (which begins as the melodic voice
but is then suppressed by the piano in m. 56b) is likewise diminished by the
homophonic texture. The serious religious hymn topic of this section can be interpreted
as a threat to the freedom found in the lyrical melody of the A section. In addition, the
metrical displacement dissonance obscures the sense of a downbeat, further solidifying
my reading of this section as transgressive. Thus, the rank value of transgression is
raised to its highest status yet at this point in the narrative. The B section, with its strict
hymn topic and bVI key area may appear on the surface to be positive but actually
reveals a constrained time in the narrative, where the male and female characters lose
their individual senses of identity.
190
7.2.4. The A' Section

The return of the A' section in m. 73 brings back the tonic major key (Bb) and the
sentimental lyrical theme in the viola (Example 7.26). Order reasserts itself here and is
more powerful than ever with the addition of a prominent countermelody in the violin.
The individual voices of the male and female characters return together instead of in
dialogue, although now it is the viola that represents the male voice instead of the cello.
The first statement of the theme in mm. 7388 extends the phrase to the more normal
sixteen bars (4+4+4+4) with the extension of the violin countermelody in m. 8788, thus
eliminating the transgressive and imbalanced compression of the theme from the A
section.
The way that the male and female voices unite in the A' section represents a
coming together of the two characters. Things are now more complicated, with the
addition of the countermelody, but also sound more completethis passage conveys a
sense of textural plenitude.316 The accent on beat 3 from the A section is removed in
the A' section and replaced by a piano upbeat that leads quite naturally to the following
downbeat, actually reinforcing the natural accents on beat 1 of every measure. This
third section of the ternary form movement represents integration of the separate
voices, and the transgressive third phrase (originally mm. 3147 of the A section) that
contained syncopation in the piano and a distortion of the melody is now completely
removed.
316
Robert Hatten describes plenitude as a desired goal achieved by processes that lead to the ultimate
saturation of texture, and fulfillmentperhaps even apotheosisin the case of a theme (43). Robert
Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, And Tropes (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004).
191
Example 7.26. A', mm. 7391.

The structural ending of the piece is in m. 103, and what follows is an extension
in which the cello states the lyrical theme one final time (mm. 102b117) over a stable
tonic pedal in the piano (Example 7.27). The violin is also stationary, playing long note
192
values that support the changing harmony over the pedal. Perhaps the final statement
of the lyrical theme in the cello with long supportive tones in the violin and viola voices
represents a compromise between the two characters: whatever the subject of the
dialogue, the two voices have come into agreement, or, at the very least the female voice
has given in. The male voice (cello) has the last say, and it is noteworthy that Schumann
has the cellist change the tuning on his instrument so that the C string actually plays a
contra Bb, which creates a different timbre, since the Bb is played on an open string. This
sets up the Bb pedal in the cello for the coda that follows.
Example 7.27. End of A', mm. 100108.
7.2.5. The Coda

The final fourteen bars of the movement (Example 7.28) present what John
Daverio says is among the most evocative passages in all of Schumanns chamber
music.317 Daverio goes on to explain the passage; since it is devoid of any ostensible
connection with the sentimental lyricism of the movements principal themes, the coda
conjures up a psychological state in which time and space seem to have been
317
Daverio, 36.
193
abrogated.318 The effects of the pianissimo dynamic level, the tied notes in the upper
strings, and the cellos tonic pedal (recall that Schumann asked the cellist at the
beginning of the final section to tune the C string down a step, so the Bb pedal is on an
open string) all contribute to a quality of temporal suspensionand elimination of all
conflict.
Example 7.28. Coda, mm. 117130.

A mysterious sounding ascending line is spun out of sequential elaborations of a
three-note motive that has religious overtones, almost sounding like bells ringing in the
distance. This three-note motive comprises a falling fifth and a rising sixth (a
contraction of the rising and falling seventh leaps in the cantabile topic) and, when
sequenced up with each iteration, results in a line that rises by the interval of a fourth
(F4 (m. 117) Bb4 (m. 118) Eb5 (m. 119) Ab5 (m. 120)) before it falls to G5 and F5 in m.
12223.319
318
Ibid.
This three-note motive is the head motive for the fugal subject in the finale that follows. This means
that the motive has a cyclical purpose here as wellthough its expressive quality in the final movement
319
194
What follows in mm. 12326 is striking in terms of the narrative content, as the
upper strings and piano move in contrary motion: twice moving outward and away
from each other, then inward and back to each other. These whimsical expansions and
contractions invoke the two characters finally coming together, first in m. 126 and then
again even closer in m. 127. A hint of the conflict of the central section is recalled with
the Gb (b6) as a neighbor tone in m. 126 and 127 and one final wistful statement of the
three-note motive is passed between the piano and viola, almost like an echo, as the
movement comes to a close.
7.2.6. Conclusion
The third movement of Schumanns Piano Quartet, Andante cantabile, with its
beautiful and sentimental lyrical theme, represents a different kind of romance
narrative. It is not heroic in nature, as is the first movements of the Quintet and Quartet;
rather, it is a romance of a sentimental love that encounters difficulties and is ultimately
able to compromise in a successful way. The order in this movement resides in the tonic
key and lyrical topic, as well as the metrical consonance and healthy dialogue of
distinct characters in the A sections. Transgression is represented by the syncopated
piano melody at the end of the first A section, and the bVI key, hymn topic, metrical
dissonance, and lack of individuality of characters due to the homophonic texture in the
B section. Order prevails at the end of the movement, as all elements of transgression
are removed with the return of the A section, and the striking coda at the end of the
movement presents a sense of timelessness and peace, as the two characters come
together in unity.
is transformed into something much more overtly joyful. The resolution of conflict between lovers at the
end of this movement clears the way for a joyful final outcome in the finale.
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CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION
8.1 Summary
In this dissertation I have explored the interaction between structure and
narrative in Schumanns 1842 chamber music. This repertoire, which has been
somewhat neglected in the scholarly analytical literature, is often criticized as
attempting and failing to live up to the quality found in the chamber works of
Beethoven. While Schumann differs from Beethoven, he was ultimately successful at
creating an identity of his own in the genrean identity surely influenced by his love of
Romantic literature, which I have found makes his music especially suitable for
narrative analysis.
Using the narratological approach of Byron Almn as my primary methodology,
I have also drawn upon the semiotic approaches of Robert Hatten and Kofi Agawu and
the narratological approaches of Anthony Newcomb and Douglass Seaton, in order to
enrich the discussion. My analyses use structural support to trace musical oppositions
including oppositions in topic, style, markedness, motive, and texturein order to
support narrative readings. More importantly, I have also explored how oppositions in
foreground voice leading can be mapped onto expressive oppositions, thus enhancing
narrative interpretations. I believe that the combination of these analytical techniques
has ramifications for music theory, because combining these narrative and semiotic
theories with oppositions in surface voice-leading structures can produce analyses that
are deeper and more penetrating than many in the current literature.
Chapter 1 covered the relevant theoretical and analytical literature associated
with music and meaning, focusing on the current trends in semiotic and narratological
theory as applied to instrumental music. I provided critiques of the theories discussed
as well as insights into how each theory could be useful for the current study. In the last
subsection of this chapter, I recognized the problems that one-to-one mappings between
196
structure and meaning can create and discuss the benefits and pitfalls of this type of
analysis.
Chapter 2 contained a brief discussion of the historical background associated
with Schumanns 1842 chamber music year. In addition to providing historical
context for the time during which Schumann wrote the pieces studied in this
dissertation, this chapter also explored Schumanns chamber music modelsMozart,
Haydn, Beethoven, and Mendelssohnwhich have a great bearing on the analyses in
Chapters 3 through 7, especially those drawing on Blooms theory of the anxiety of
influence and Beethoven. The final section of this chapter discussed Schumanns
compositional process, which reveals much about his stylistic development.
Chapters 3 through 6 provided comprehensive analyses of the four movements
from Schumanns Piano Quintet, op. 44. Primarily using Byron Almns adaptation of
Northrop Fryes theoretical model of narrative archetypes, I showed how the four
movements of the Piano Quintet represents the archetypes in clockwise motion around
the circular model: the first movement as a romance archetype at the top of the circle in
the realm of innocence, the second movement as a fall to the tragic archetype at the
bottom of the circle in the realm of experience and tragedy, the third movement as a
move to the ironic archetype also in the realm of experience, and the fourth movement
as a move upward to the comic archetype with a return to innocence and happiness.
The first movement (Chapter 3) revealed a journey during which the hero
managed to overcome obstacles and successfully navigate a path between nostalgia and
a new future. But the journey of the heroic protagonist was not one of a conventional
succession of functional events. It was instead one that avoided clear linear narrative,
much like the novels of Jean Paul, which Schumann loved and admired. In addition, I
used the persona theories of Robinson, Hatten, and Seaton to suggest that the persona,
or narrative voice, in this movement is one of an aspiring Romantic artist.
In Chapter 4 my reading of the second movement revealed a failed tragic-totranscendent narrative. In a rondo form, the movement presents a funeral march that
reveals a protagonist who strives for transcendence throughout the work, with the
major-mode singing style of the first and third episodes struggling to break free from
the restraints of the tragic funeral march refrain. But success is never achieved in this
narrative, and transgression is defeated by an oppressive, order-imposing hierarchy.
The narrative analysis here is enriched by reference to Harold Blooms theory of the
197
anxiety of influence to speculate that Schumanns movement might be a self-conscious

misreading of the rondo from Beethovens Pathtique Sonata.
In Chapter 5 I analyzed the scherzo movement of the quintet as a comic ironic
narrative archetype, in which an order-imposing hierarchy is defeated by transgressions
against it. I suggested that the order-imposing hierarchy is formed by the expectations
of a scherzo movement from Beethoven, and, once again using Blooms theory of the
anxiety of influence, invoked the third movement of Beethovens First Symphony as a
point of comparison to show the ways that Schumann enters into a dialogue with the
Beethovenian tradition of the scherzo as a genre.
Chapter 6 provided an analysis of the finale and highlighted tonal, formal, and
topical anomalies that support a reading of this movement using a comic narrative
archetype, in which a transgression is victorious over an order-imposing hierarchy.
Specifically, I interpreted the movement as an example of the discursive strategy of
emergence, where the transgressive elements gradually acquire a higher rank value
until they successfully defeat the order-imposing hierarchy. In this movement a flawed
order-imposing hierarchy (represented by the minor mediant key, a parallel form that
fails, and a low-style peasant topic) is ultimately defeated by a positively viewed
transgression (represented by the major tonic key, and a substantial coda that corrects
the failed parallel form and features high-style learned topics). Through this process of
transformation a comic narrative is revealed, and the sonata cycle as a whole completes
the journey around Fryes circular model of archetypes.
Chapter 7 revealed two additional readings of romance narratives in Schumanns
Piano Quartet, op. 47. The narrative trajectory of the Piano Quartet is quite different
from that of the Piano Quintet in that it does not follow Fryes circular model because of
the arrangement of the inner movements. The second movement is a fast scherzo that
communicates an ironic narrative, and the third movement is a slow movement that
follows the romance archetype. Because the scherzo and finale movements of the
Quartet share similar qualities to those found in the analyses of the same movements of
the Quintet, I did not provide a discussion of these movements. Instead I provided two
additional analyses of romance narrativesthe first and third movementsthat reveal
new features of this archetype. The first movement not only presents a protagonist who
is victorious over external transgressions, but one who is also victorious over his own
internal transgressions as his character grows and matures throughout the movement, a
198
process of Bildung. The third movement is unusual because it is a ternary form that
reveals a romance archetype, where a desired order is victorious over transgression, in
the form of a duet between two figures: a male and female voice that can be mapped
onto characters represented by Robert and Clara Schumann.
8.2 Implications for Further Study

The research and analysis undertaken in this dissertation provides what I hope
are two substantial contributions to the field of music theory: comprehensive structural
and narrative analyses of six movements from Schumanns Piano Quintet and Piano
Quartet, and demonstrations of how the existing theories of music and meaning (both
semiotic and narrative) can be effectively combined with oppositions in structural voice
leading to provide readings that have a greater depth.
An initial step towards expanding this project will be to analyze a larger body of
complete works by Schumann. I believe that Schumanns String Quartets op. 43 contain
other movements that may offer interesting narrative discussions. Anthony Newcomb
has done some work in this area with his insightful analysis of the last movement of the
String Quartet in A Major, op. 41, no. 3. Although beyond the scope of this dissertation,
my preliminary analysis of the first movement of this Quartet (which is not often
discussed in the scholarly analytical literature) reveals oppositions in voice leading that
I suspect could generate a narrative reading. Ultimately, it is my hope that this
dissertation will not only provide analyses that give readers, listeners, and performers a
better understanding and appreciation of the chamber music repertoire of Robert
Schumann but also give them the tools to analyze other repertoire in this manner.
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208
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Emily S. Gertsch, a native of Springfield, Virginia, earned the Bachelor of Music
degree in piano performance and music theory from Furman University in 2001. She
was awarded a graduate assistantship in music theory at The Catholic University of
America, and received her Master of Music degree in piano pedagogy in 2003. Emily
joined the music theory faculty at Furman University in the fall of 2005, where she
taught the core music theory sequence, form and analysis, and music appreciation, and
was an active accompanist and chamber musician. In the spring of 2007 Emily was
awarded the Phi Mu Alpha Outstanding Teaching Award at Furman University. She
began her doctoral studies in music theory at Florida State University in the fall of 2007,
and served as a graduate teaching assistant during her doctoral study, teaching the core
music theory sequence as well as eighteenth-century counterpoint. While at Florida
State, Emilys efforts in the classroom were recognized with three nominations for
outstanding teaching awards. In the fall of 2012 Emily joined the music theory faculty at
the University of Georgia, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate music theory
courses and supervises the music theory graduate teaching assistants. She has
presented her research at national and regional conferences, including The Society for
Music Theory, The Semiotic Society of America, Music Theory Southeast, and the Texas
Society for Music Theory. Emily was awarded the Colvin Award for Outstanding
Student Paper at the 2012 Texas Society for Music Theory Conference. Her current
research centers on Schenkerian analysis, music and meaning, and the chamber music
of Robert Schumann.
209

Schumann Piano Quintet in Eb Major

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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations

The Graduate School

Narratives of Innocence and Experience:

THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

NARRATIVES OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE: PLOT ARCHETYPES IN

A Dissertation submitted to the

Emily S. Gertsch defended this dissertation on April 22, 2013.

For Oscar, my greatest supporter,

babysitting that enabled me to work on this project with no distractions. Finally, I

INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................23

1842: Schumanns "Chamber Music Year"................................................................23

A ROMANCE NARRATIVE: JEAN PAUL AND THE PERSONA IN THE FIRST

Introduction to the Topic ..............................................................................................1

Romance Narrative in Literature and Music ...........................................................38

A FAILED TRAGIC-TO-TRANSCENDENT NARRATIVE: THE SECOND

Tragic Topics versus Tragic Narrative .....................................................................78

4.2.3 The Anxiety of Influence and Schumanns Misreading of Beethoven .81

COMIC IRONY IN SCHUMANNS DIALOGUE WITH BEETHOVENS FIRST

A COMIC ARCHETYPE OF EMERGENCE: THE FINALE OF THE PIANO

Schumann and the Beethovenian Tradition of the Scherzo ..............................100

Comic Narratives and Discursive Strategies ......................................................126

TWO ADDITIONAL ROMANCE NARRATIVES: THE FIRST AND THIRD

4.4b Closing of Refrain, Framing Motive, mm. 26-29 ........................................................88

5.10 Foreground Voice-Leading Reduction of Schumanns Trio I ....................................116

7.22 A Section, mm. 2747 .......................................................................................................187

1.1 Introduction to the Topic

in semiotic and narratological theory as applied to instrumental music. I provide

1.2 Review of Literature on Music and Meaning

1.2.1 Semiotic Approaches

construction of meaning.30 The remainder of the book provides sample analyses of

1.2.2 Narratological Approaches

The Narratological Approach of Byron Almn. Almns inspiration for his

Figure 1.2. Reproduction of Almns Figure 1 from Narrative Archetypes: A

produces one of four narrative archetypes: romance (victory of an order-imposing

the victory of an order-imposing hierarchy over its transgression (victory + order)

the defeat of a transgression by an order-imposing hierarchy (defeat + transgression)

the defeat of an order-imposing hierarchy by a transgression (defeat + order)

the victory of a transgression over an order-imposing hierarchy (victory + transgression)

Almns theory emphasizes the importance of transvaluation in musical

Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 291.

The Narratological Approach of Anthony Newcomb. Newcomb has written

Anthony Newcomb, Schumann and Late Eighteenth-Century Narrative Strategies, 19th-Century

metamorphosis, the implications of form and genre, and intertextual allusions,

Douglass Seaton, Narrative in Music: The Case of Beethovens Tempest Sonata," in

reception history. To cultivate narrative musicality demands a wide-ranging and

Seaton, Narrativity and the Performance of Beethovens Tempest Sonata, 28889.

1.3 Methodology and Significance of the Project

inherently musical.86 It is important that the interpretation of meaning support the

Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 276.

2.1 1842: Schumanns Chamber Music Year

2.2 Schumanns Chamber Music Models

classical masters.122 In 1839 he began a prolonged study of Beethovens late string

Plantinga, Schumann as Critic, 94.

Daverio, Robert Schumann, 248.

2.3 Schumann and the Musical Setting of Chamber Music

Daverio, Robert Schumann, 256.

of increasing professionalization of chamber music performance. Professional quartets

Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, 171.

2.4 Schumanns Compositional Process

2.4.1 Schumanns Early Compositional Process

2.4.2 Schumanns Late Compositional Process