Chord as Motive: The Augmented-Triad Matrix in Wagner's 'Siegfried Idyll'

Author(s): Mark Anson-Cartwright

Source: Music Analysis, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Mar., 1996), pp. 57-71
Published by: Blackwell Publishing
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/854170
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MARK ANSON-CARTWRIGHT

CHORD AS MOTIVE: THE AUGMENTED-TRIAD

MATRIX IN WAGNER'S SIEGFRIED IDYLL

I
Motives in tonal music are usually melodic entities, whether they occur on the
surface of a piece, or at deeper levels in the form of 'hidden repetitions'.* The
latter kind of motivic phenomenon is widely known among Schenkerian
analysts as a type of 'motivic parallelism', thanks to Charles Burkhart's
landmark article.' Analysts of tonal music have not given much attention,
however, to the motivic significance of harmonic entities (as opposed to
melodic ones) in relation to the middleground structure of a piece.2 In
Schenker's view, of course, there is a fundamental relation between the major
(or minor) triad as a simultaneity and the horizontal (or composed-out) form
of the triad embodied by the Ursatz. Yet because this relation obtains in every
tonal piece, Schenkerian analysts do not, as a rule, treat consonant triads as
motives. And while dissonant triads or chords may have a motivic function (the
'Tristan' chord springs to mind), their significance is usually limited to the
foreground or to a level quite close to the foreground. Wagner's Siegfried Idyll,
however, is a rare example of a piece whose foreground and deep
middleground are unified motivically by a chord, namely the augmented
triad.3
Throughout the Siegfried Idyll, the augmented triad appears in various forms
and transpositions, and frequently enough to qualify as the most characteristic
dissonant chord-type in the piece. (One might say that the augmented triad is
to the Siegfried Idyll what the 'Tristan' chord is to Tristan und Isolde.) In the
light of the prominence of the augmented triad on the surface of the music, the
modulations from the initial tonic of E major to A6 major (bar 150), then to C
major (bar 296), and finally back to E, take on added significance, for the
tonics of these keys form a horizontalised augmented triad, or a complete cycle
of major thirds: E-A-C-E.
* An earlier version of this
paper was read at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the New England Conference of Music
Theorists, held on 8-9 April 1995 at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts. I am grateful to Carl Schachter for
his invaluable comments and suggestions.

Music Analysis, 15/i (1996) 57

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58 MARK ANSON-CARTWRIGHT

The relation between the foreground augmented triads and the middle-
ground linear statement of the augmented triad is part of a network of tonal
relations that can be abstracted in the form of an 'augmented-triad matrix'.
This matrix will be presented after a more or less diachronic analysis of the
form and structure of the piece.
As shown in Table 1, the Siegfried Idyll is in a kind of ternary form with a
coda. In the middle column of Table 1 are listed occurrences of four principal

Table 1 Form-chart of SiegfriedIdyll

bars theme or group key (harmony)

EXPOSITION (4/4 metre)

1-28 a foreshadowed E (I-V)
29-55 a merged with transition to V of V
55-90 V of V prolonged V of B
91-114 b (a & b combined in bars 109-13) B (V of E)
115 link

TRANSITION to MIDDLE SECTION

116-149 a merged with transition to At major E -4 G --> V of At

MIDDLE SECTION
150-199 c (3/4 metre) At
200-218 a & c combined B (= [III of At)
219-236 a & c combined A6
237-242 transition to F
243-254 a & c combined F
255-258 bass: F (#IV of C)
259-285 d (4/4 metre) V of C

RECAPITULATION
286-295 a & c combined E ('I' or III# of C)
296-305 a & c combined C (bVIof E)
306-313 transition to V of E (bars 308-13 = 50-54) F
314-350 cf. bars 55-90 V of E

CODA
351-365 a E
366-372 d E: 6VI6-V/WVI4VI4II
373-405 b, c, a E

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 CHORD AS MOTIVE: WAGNER'S SIEGFRIED IDYLL 59

themes, named a, b, c and d; Ex. 1 illustrates these themes for reference. The
first large section, bars 1-114, resembles a sonata-form exposition, and divides
into a first group presenting theme a, a transition to and prolongation of V of
V, and, lastly, theme b in the dominant. Interestingly, the prolongation of V of
V in bars 55-90 is longer than that of the dominant, B major, in bars 91-114.
One might prefer to describe bars 55-90 as part of the transition from the
point of view of structure, but as part of the second group from the point of
view of design. Theme b in bars 91-114 would in that case function as a
closing theme.
Ex. 1 SiegfriedIdyll, four themes

Sehr ruhig

:J4
-_

Sehr einfach

Leicht bewegt

c) dolisimo
A I Ij

Lebhaft

d) I p gutgehalten

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It is within the prolongation of V of V that the augmented triad makes its

first appearance in the piece, illustrated in Ex. 2. In bar 80, the chord
Fx-B-D# is incorporated into a complex interrupted cadence in B major, in
which the bass Fx temporarilydisplaces the root of a G# minor chord, VI of B
major. This particular usage of the augmented triad occurs twice within the
prolongation of V of V, again in the midst of theme b, and finally in the
recapitulationand coda.
Ex. 2 SiegfriedIdyll, bars 79-84

f Sf 3 3 3 dim
in.
o:z :::
IL 7

Ex. 3 is a middleground graph of the whole piece. The exposition is clearly

separated from the rest of the structure by the interruption (indicated above
the staff); in other words, the second key, B major, is a divider or back-relating
dominant of E.

Ex. 3 SiegfriedIdyll, middleground graph

A 1
I4I 1. Co
'vFI. . . Hm
2 W ....

? ?U 190-0?
?f5 ?GC
:"""" "
Q'I P"o

A V-I-A
----vi - - ------ iv
-Iv7 -7
.. . . . . . . I IV #IV, V III# I fa- 8 -7
. . ..
46-5
"1
E: I V I of 6VI V
II# (Cmajor)

The return of theme a in the tonic at bar 116 sounds at first like a repeat of
the exposition from bar 29. But the music soon becomes transitional, modu-
lating first from E major to G major (not shown in Ex. 3), and then magically
to Ab major, which is announced by theme c at bar 150 (the cadence in A6
being in bar 151). Theme c contains the second and most frequent usage of
the augmented triad in the piece. This usage differs from the one shown in
Ex. 2 in two important respects. One difference lies in the location of the

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dissonant chromatic note: whereas in Ex. 2 the dissonant Fx is in the bass, in

theme c the dissonant B? is in the soprano, displacing the fifth (B6) of an EK
major chord. More importantly, the augmented triad Er-G-B occurs at the
beginning of theme c, rather than as a passing chord, as in Ex. 2. The
augmented triad announces theme c in a dynamic and striking way (in
contrast to themes a and b, both of which begin on stable tonic harmony).
The change of metre from 4/4 to 3/4 at this point also characterises this
section as a thematically independent middle section, rather than as a
development of a sonata form. Whilst the middle section has a developmental
aspect to it, its distinct thematic character clarifies the structural significance
of the key of A,, to be considered presently.
The duration of the initial chord of theme c varies. Though it usually lasts
for just the first beat of the bar, Wagner sustains the chord for an extra two
bars at its first appearance in bars 148-9 and at several later junctures, thus
highlighting the motivic identity of the chord as a sound or Gestalt
independent of its voice-leading function.
Within the lengthy prolongation of A6 major in bars 150-236, there is a
brief modulation to B major (LIII of At,) in bars 200-218, where theme a
returns in the oboe counterpointed by theme c. (From now on, themes a and
c always appear in combination, except in the coda.) The modulatory path of
the middle section basically leads from At, to F (bar 244) to V of C (bar 259).
The arrival on V of C is underscored by the chromatic bass line
F-Ft-G, with
a dramatic flourish on the F# half-diminished seventh chord, by the subito
piano of the horn theme (theme d) over the pedal G, and lastly, by the return
to the original 4/4 metre.
One of the many analytical enigmas posed by the Siegfried Idyll has to do
with locating the moment of recapitulation. The long dominant pedal on G in
bars 259-85 sets up C major, rather than the home tonic E major, as an
implied goal. But that goal is initially avoided in favour of a return to E major.
Wagner finds his way back to the home key by turning the dominant of C into
an augmented triad in bars 283-5 through the substitution of DfE for D, and
by introducing the A#-B neighbour figure. In bar 285 a passing V4 on F# forges
a link to E major; the preceding augmented triad
G-B-D# can thus be heard in
retrospect as a pivot chord.
In bar 286 there appears to be a 'double return' - James Webster's term for
what usually occurs at the point of recapitulation in sonata form - since theme
a (combined with c) coincides with a return to the home tonic, E. But two
things already indicate that this is not a true structural return to the tonic: the
abrupt, unexpected manner in which the tonic is reached via a passing V4, and
the fact that the preceding dominant pedal on G has not yet resolved to C. To
be sure, dominant chords do not always resolve to their implied tonics. But, in
this case, the expected resolution to C major does occur in bar 296, a mere ten

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barsafterthe putativereturnto E major.The apparentreturnto E at bar 286

is thereforeto be heard as III#of C, dividingthe motion from V to I in C
major(see Ex. 3, bars 259-96). Furthersupportfor this readinglies in the
dynamicsand the instrumentation: note that the arrivalon C at bar 296 is
markedfortissimo,as comparedto the forte of the arrivalon E; also, the
orchestrationis completedby the entryof the trumpetin bar 295. The arrival
on C is drivenhome in bars 296-303 by the repetitionof theme c, which is
abbreviatedin the first violins and flute to the insistent descendingfourth
C-G. The unexpectedand short-livedmodulationto F majorat bar 306 is
structurally subordinateto the C.
Eventually,C is retainedin the bass at bar 313 (see Ex. 3), supportingan
augmentedsixthchordanalogousto that on G in bar54. Some mightquestion
this reading,since the returnto C is so fleeting.But the earliertonicisedC,
which functions as a middlegroundneighbour to B (V of E), remains
unresolveduntil bar 314. Thus the structuralmeaningof the earlierC (VI) is
intensifiedby the Germansixth, which is more active in the directionof V
thana mereVI chord.4
The structureof the middlegroundbass of bars 116-351 requiresfurther
comment.The majorkeysof E, A, and C do not simplyforma cycle of major
thirds,as mentionedearlierfor convenience,but ratherrelatehierarchically to
one another.Ex. 4 shows the bass of this stretchof music at four successive
levels of reduction,startingat level (a) at the deepest level of structure.At
level (b) the motionfromI to V is elaboratedby the incompleteneighbourC.
At level (c) the motionup a sixthE-C is dividedsymmetrically into two major
thirdsby the enharmonicGCAt.
Ex. 4 SiegfriedIdyll,bars1-351 at fourlevelsof reduction

'nuo Fr
r

b)

c) do
o'-T 13U
c)
_

CD
(• @
of'

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 CHORD AS MOTIVE: WAGNER'S SIEGFRIED IDYLL 63

In the music, however, there is no direct enharmonic transformation of

into At. Rather, as Ex. 5 (a reduction of bars 116-51) shows, the basic motion Ca
from E to A6 is heard as a true diminished fourth, with the A6 arising not as an
enharmonically reinterpreted G , but rather as a kind of semitonal
displacement of the anticipated goal G. The road to A, begins at bar 134,
where there is an imperfect cadence in G. (The bare soprano A clearly implies
V of G, since it follows the progression I-II'6 in G.) Instead of cadencing in G,
however, the soprano rises from A to A#. The A# is then enharmonically
reinterpreted as B6 at bar 138, with the support of a B6 dominant seventh
chord. The E augmented triad in bar 148 completes what is essentially a
5-6-5 contrapuntal progression, starting in bar 134 with the implied dominant
of G and ending with the manifest dominant of A6 in bar 148. To be sure, this
progression is embedded within yet another 5-6-5 progression, namely the
pattern of unfolded fifths G-D and EVA6 that spans bars 125-50. But the
modulation hinges on the internal 5-6-5 which contains the enharmonic
transformation of A# into Bb. The fact that G is set up as a goal, but then
abandoned in favour of A,, makes the subsequent arrival of G as the dominant
of C all the more convincing.

Ex. 5 SiegfriedIdyll, reduction of bars 116-51

0--5 -- 6 5 --10

E: I III
G" I vV
AvTvV I

Returning to Ex. 4, compare levels (c) and (d). If the minor sixth E-C is to
be divided into two major thirds, an enharmonic change must occur. Level (c)
shows a normative way to make the change, namely by reinterpreting G# as Ab.
Level (d), however, reveals that the change occurs prior to the arrival on A6,
with the change in bars 136-8 of A# into B6 (see Ex. 5). At level (d), A6 is
notated in two different ways to show its double function. Its primary
function, indicated by the open note, is that of a dividing note between E and
C. But in the course of the modulation to C major, can be understood
retrospectively as 6VI of C, an upper neighbour to V of A6,
C. The two Als at level
(d) thus capture the function of the A6 triad as a middleground pivot chord,
which starts life as a local tonic but later serves as bVI of C.

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64 MARK ANSON-CARTWRIGHT

II
The enigmatic structure of the Siegfried Idyll can be explained in part by an
implicit programme for the work. As is well known, themes a, c and d
originally appeared in the love duet at the conclusion of Act III of Siegfried;
theme b was newly composed as a lullaby for Wagner's new-born son,
Siegfried. Note that the operatic duet begins and ends in C major, with the
E major music appearing as a kind of interlude or moment of repose, whereas
the Siegfried Idyll begins and ends in E major, with interludes in Aband C, thus
reversing the roles of the keys. In both contexts, the contrasting keys of C and
E signify two worlds: C major symbolises a triumphant world of heroes (recall
that the sword theme is in C major); E major, on the other hand, represents a
quiet world of repose (recall that Die Walkiire concludes in E major as
Briinnhilde is put to sleep by Wotan).
A further clue to the programme of the Siegfried Idyll lies in the dedicatory
poem, given below, which Wagner addressed to his wife Cosima and prefaced
to the score:
Es war dein opfermutighehrer Wille,
Der meinem Werk die Werdestitte fand,
Von Dir geweiht zu weltentriickterStille,
Wo nun es wuchs und kriiftiguns erstand,
Die Heldenwelt uns zaubernd zum Idylle,
Uraltes Fern zu trautem Heimatland.
Erscholl ein Ruf da froh in meine Weisen:
"Ein Sohn ist da!" - der musste Siegfried heissen.
Fir ihn und Dich durft' ich in Tonen danken, -
Wie giib' es Liebestaten hold'ren Lohn?
Sie hegten wir in uns'res Heimes Schranken,
Die stille Freude, die hier ward zum Ton.
Die sich uns treu erwiesen ohne Wanken,
So Siegfried hold, wie freundlichuns'rem Sohn,
Mit deiner Huld sei ihnen jetzt erschlossen,
Was sonst als t6nend Glick wir still genossen.5

The key idea occurs in lines 5-6, which refer to the magical transformation of
the hero's world into an idyll, of an age-old distance into a familiar homeland.
The homeland is established symbolically in the exposition of the Siegffied
Idyll by the key of E major and its back-relating dominant. After a brief return
to E at bar 116, the music leads the listener on a journey towards the heroic
world of C major, by way of the mediating key of A6. The reconciliation of the
heroic world with the homeland is made in two ways. At first, E major is
incorporated as a passing chord within the motion from the dominant of C to
the triumphant C itself. But in the end, C is brought into the realm of E at the
point where the augmented sixth chord on C resolves to the dominant of E at

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 CHORD AS MOTIVE: WAGNER'S SIEGFRIED IDYLL 65

bar 314. The journey thus comes full circle: the extroverted hero's world is
ultimately subdued by the contemplative idyllic world.
Related to the association of E major with sleep at the conclusion of Die
Walkare is the so-called slumber motive (first heard at the same point in that
opera) which also occurs several times in the Siegfried Idyll. Just prior to the
appearance of the slumber motive in Die Walkiire we hear the music shown in
Ex. 6. Although this music is not quoted in the Siegfried Idyll, the underlying
structure emphasises the same third-related keys of E, A6 and C. Note that in
Ex. 6, the keys, or, more precisely, the tonicised chords of A6, C and E, are
heard in almost immediate succession (over a continuous timpani roll on E),
whereas in the Siegfried Idyll the same keys are separated by large spans of
time and are differentiated thematically. The deep structural significance of
the three keys in the Siegfried Idyll is, if anything, confirmed by their overt
juxtaposition in the passage from Die Walkiire.6

Ex. 6 From Die Walkiire,Act III scene 3

Wotan

Gott heir von dir!

timp.

8 8 I
•
?i ri
•' 77 ,, b"
sit.o TI.

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III
Returning now to the motivic significance of the augmented triad as a
verticality in the Siegfried Idyll, recall that an augmented triad can be
interpretedin three ways through enharmonicism (leaving one note spelled the
same): (1) as two major thirds stacked (e.g. E-G#-B#); (2) as major third plus
diminished fourth (E-G#-C); and (3) as diminished fourth plus major third
(E-A?C). Since every augmented triad is potentially the same in function as
every other one, even if that potential remains untapped in a composition, all
augmented triads are motivically related as members of that class. What can be
(but need not be) reinterpreted is the location of the unstable note, that
melodic element which differentiates the augmented triad from a purely
harmonic chord (either a major or minor triad). The dissonant element, and
the semitone resolution it demands, can in turn find motivic resonances with
other chromatic chords that involve resolution by semitone.
It is the larger context for such motivic resonances, which are more
powerful in certain cases than in others, that is captured synoptically by the
'augmented-triad matrix' shown in Ex. 7a. The relation in the SiegfriedIdyll
between the surface augmented triads and the E-A?C triad embedded in the
middleground structure is part of a network of chromatic relations derivable
from the matrix. The latter consists of the pitch-classes of the three major
Stufen, C major, E major and A6 major, whose tonics project an augmented
triad (A6 major is respelled as G# major here for convenience). Ideally, the
matrix should be imagined in pitch-class space. The matrix contains six pitch-
classes, and divides into two distinct augmented triads or trichords. Ex. 7b
shows the first trichord, E-G#-C, each member of which may function as the
root of one major triad or as the third of another. Ex. 7c illustrates the second
trichord, G-B-D#, in three permutations as the altered dominants of C, E and
Al, respectively.
Ex. 7

a) the augmented-triadmatrix

b) the E-G C trichord _ _ _

__

c) the G-B-D# trichordi

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The matrix operates in the Siegfried Idyll not only at the level of
transposition shown in Ex. 7, but also, at least in part, at other levels. It should
also be noted that the SiegfriedIdyll does not realise all the double meanings in
the matrix that are implied by enharmonicism. Rather, the Siegf'ied Idyll
exhibits basically two kinds of chromatic usage that relate to the matrix. The
first kind is the juxtaposition of two major triads a major third apart, as in the
progression from I to V/VI. This progression occurs several times, always with
VI mediating between I and VIVI. Ex. 8 illustrates the first such progression:
in E major, the music proceeds I-VI-V/VI. As the first chromatic chord in the
piece, the G# major chord in bar 10 subtly foreshadows the later modulation to
Ab. Ex. 9 shows the second use of this progression, which occurs twice within
the prolongation of V of V, first in F# major, then in C# major. The broad
pacing of these chords highlights their motivic significance. The passage given
in Ex. 9 is transposed up a fourth in the recapitulation.

Ex. 8 SiegfriedIdyll, bars 8-10

8
AA
4....
, V...--I

The second kind of chromatic usage related to the matrix involves a

dissonant chord (as opposed to two chromatically related consonant triads):
either an augmented triad, whose two main usages have been discussed above,
or a German sixth, whose role in the work remains to be illustrated. As Ex. 3
shows, the German sixths on G at bar 54 and on C at bar 313 are crucial in
articulating the middleground dominants of B and E respectively. As it is
resolved in the SiegfriedIdyll, the German sixth engenders two semitonal
resolutions that relate to two alternativeresolutions of an augmented triad: the
falling semitone from 66to ? and the rising semitone from # to 1. The latter
melodic idea characterises theme c, of course, which is the most prominent
use of the augmented triad in the piece.
Exs. 10 and 11 illustrate the two places in the recapitulation where the
German sixth on C resolves to V6 of E. In bar 313 (Ex. 10), note the rising
Fx-GC#idea in the top voice, and the suspension of Fx over the bar line, which
creates a momentary augmented fifth against the bass. In Ex. 11, at bar 334,
the implicit association of Fx-GCwith theme c is finally made explicit: Wagner

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68 MARK ANSON-CARTWRIGHT

Ex. 9 SiegfriedIdyll, bars 59-71

60
(Etw s zuruckhaltend) dolce

a.tempo

~-------------

c : iOV
- V/Vl

Ex. 10 SiegfriedIdyll, bars 310-15

NB #2

3
3,

S3P3
1: ... . , '.Z
-==
-
o .

quotes theme c just at the point where the German sixth resolves for the last
time in the piece.
The augmented-triad matrix is manifested in the coda by way of a telling
tonicisation of C major in bars 366-70, where theme d and the woodbird
motive return, but at a broad tempo that reflects the 'domestication', if you

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 CHORD AS MOTIVE: WAGNER'S SIEGFRIED IDYLL 69

will, of C major, the formerly heroic key. And, in bars 384-6, the augmented
triads C-E-GC and B-D#Fx (the latter together with A) are heard in
alternation over E in the bass. Recurring statements of theme c in the closing
bars leave the plaintive sound of the augmented triad in the listeners' minds
until all but the last moment.

Ex. 11 SiegfriedIdyll, bars 329-36

329
e
J l--
?

NB !
334

crest'.

IV
This article has focused on the relationship between motive and tonal
structure. It thus engages with some theoretical issues raised by Richard Cohn,
who has suggested that the autonomy of motives is either granted or not by the
analyst, and that granting autonomy to motives violates the principle that the
Ursatz is the sole source of unity.' However, if we consider motives with
respect to form (or structure) on the one hand and content on the other, then
the question of autonomy admits of two answers rather than one. From the
point of view of structure, motives are not autonomous: the constituents of a
motive relate hierarchically to each other, and to the context in which they
appear. But in another sense motives are autonomous, insofar as their content,
though governed by higher levels of structure, cannot be inferred from the
higher levels alone. Putting the form-content dichotomy in other, quasi-
Aristotelian terms: what is incidental to the form of a motive - for example,
the unstable note in an augmented triad - is at the same time essential to the
content or identity of that motive. The unstable element of an augmented
triad is precisely what distinguishes it from a consonant triad, what makes it
conceptually autonomous.

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The relationship of the augmented triad to the middleground structure of

the Siegfried Idyll suggests that tonal analysts might broaden the concept of
motivic parallelism to include chords, and not just melodic entities. It must be
stressed, however, that chords, as vertical entities, do not occur beyond the
level of the foreground except as conceptual Stufen. Nor, I believe, is it
acceptable to think of a composing-out of a dissonant chord in the Siegfried
Idyll or in any tonal piece. Rather, as Ex. 4 clearly shows, the tonic-dominant
axis E-B provides the structure for the E-AV-C augmented triad as a
middleground motive in the Siegfried Idyll. The dissonant relation that the keys
of A6 and C bear to each other, and especially to the overall tonic of E, may be
viewed as analogous to the relation that the chromatic note of a given
augmented triad bears to the other two notes of that triad. The complications
are much greater, of course, when one tries to relate three keys rather than
simply three pitches to one another.
This musical conception, bold though it is, does not defy tonal practice, as
many parts of Tristan und Isolde seem to do. Rather, Wagner dramatises,
through tonal symbolism, the broadly unfolded motion towards the structural
dominant, which is reached within the recapitulation rather than before it. The
manifold significance of the augmented triad in the Siegfried Idyll should
remind us that, in Wagner, the most important motive is not necessarily a
Leitmotiv in the usual sense.

NOTES
1. Charles Burkhart, 'Schenker's "Motivic Parallelisms"', Journal of Music Theory,
22 (1978), pp. 145-75.
2. It is interesting that while tonal analysts have not been concerned with motivic
relations between chords and melodies (except insofar as these two dimensions
together identify a given motive), analysts of atonal music using set theory have
generally sought to find similarities between the horizontal and vertical
dimensions, taking inspiration from Schoenberg's idea of the 'unity of musical
space'. An attempt to bring set theory to bear upon the analysis of tonal music
(specifically, the TristanPrelude) is presented in Allen Forte, 'New Approaches to
the Linear Analysis of Music', Journal of the AmericanMusicologicalSociety, 41
(1988), pp. 315-48.
3. The middleground level at which Forte ('New Approaches') finds linear
statements of the 'Tristan' chord (set-class 4-27) is relatively close to the
foreground, especially compared to the middleground statement of the augmented
triad in the SiegfriedIdyll, which occurs at a very deep level of structure.
4. Carl Schachter, in a personal communication, has pointed out a non-structural
tonic in the first movement of Schubert's Sonata in A minor, D. 845, analogous to
that in the SiegfriedIdyll. In the Schubert, the recapitulatory process includes,
deceptively, a statement of the opening theme in A minor at bar 151. But this

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 CHORD AS MOTIVE: WAGNER'S SIEGFRIED IDYLL 71

'tonic' is actually embedded, in Schachter's reading, within a large composing out

of IV, the end-point of which is the climactic German sixth on F at bar 180
(representing an altered IV6). This German sixth (like the much briefer one in the
Wagner) then resolves to the structural V at bar 184 - thirty-three bars into the
recapitulation (as far as design is concerned). The substantial overlapping of the
development and recapitulation in both pieces has to do with the delayed arrival
on the structural V, and the subordination of the apparent I to that more
important goal.
5. It was your self-sacrificing, noble will
That found a place for my work to develop,
Consecrated by you as a refuge from the world,
Where my work grew and mightily arose,
A hero's world magically became an idyll for us,
An age-old distance became a familiar homeland.
Then a call happily rang forth into my melodies:
"A son is there!" - he had to be named Siegfried.
For him and you I had to express thanks in music -
What lovelier reward could there be for deeds of love?
We nurtured within the bounds of our home
The quiet joy, that here became sound.
To those who proved ever faithful to us,
Kind to Siegfried, and friendly to our son,
With your blessing may that which we formerly enjoyed
As sounding happiness now be offered.
6. Commenting on an earlier version of this article, David Lewin has pointed out
that three different keys are simultaneously implied at the beginning of Ex. 6: the
vocal part cadences in C; the harmony is in AL major; the timpani are 'in' E. But
the timpani's dissonant E, present throughout the excerpt, remains puzzling;
perhaps it is more colouristic than structural.
7. Richard Cohn, 'The Autonomy of Motives in Schenkerian Accounts of Tonal
Music', Music Theory Spectrum, 14 (1992), pp. 150-70.

Music Analysis, 15/i (1996) C Blackwell

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Ltd.1996