Question 3: Schubert, “Der Doppelgänger” (Burkhart, 294-296; XCD 656)
i. Like “Eleanor Rigby”, this is also a depressing song, but far more powerful in its emotional portrayals. Can you identify two or three of the musical elements used in Schubert’s setting to achieve this? Consider the vocal line as well as the accompaniment.
In my very first listening of this piece, bearing in mind that this is going to be a depressing song, I immediately felt the starting chord very bare. This is because the first chord and also many of the subsequent chords have a missing third. But more importantly, on top of the missing thirds, the musical element used in portraying the ‘depressing’ mood is the open octaves used in the left hand of the accompaniment throughout the song (except for a few bars). Inside these octaves and also in the right-hand of the accompaniment is an F# inner pedal, forming an F# octave also almost throughout the whole song from b.1-46. [As a side note, this reminds me very much of Debussy’s ‘The Sunken Cathedral’ we did in class because of the bare octaves used with the E inner pedal found in b.7-13.]
Another feature is the modulation from B minor to D# minor through a series of chords which are rising chromatically below a stagnant melody. This is in b.43-47 where the “doppelganger” or “the double” is addressed directly for the first time (reading from the English translation). This feature of modulation creates a stronger atmosphere for this third stanza.
The last and most obvious element which contributes to the powerful portrayal of emotions is the wide range of dynamics used from ppp to fff. fff is used three times in this song. At b.31, the fff used coincides with F# which is the highest note so far. However, the real peak has yet to come. The actual climax of this song is at the second fff at b.41 with G which is one semitone above the previous. For the final fff, it attempts to peak again but not as much as the previous one. It then fades into a ppp as the song ends. This use of dynamics highlight the anguish and fear the writer must be feeling as described in the poem.
ii. Analyze the harmony for bars 1-11 and bs. 43-end.
Comments for analysis of b.43-46:As mentioned earlier, this is a series of chromatically ascending chords in the key of B minor eventually leading to D# minor. Initially I thought the chord in b.44 was simply vdim6/4. Later on, it was suggested that b.45 be analysed as a passing 6/4. This made me think further and analysed b.44 as the passing 6/4 instead, and b.45 to be not passing in function as it reminds me of the opening bars of I-V-III.
1 comment:
Good observations re the portrayal of the mood, but I think you overlooked the most obvious element--the use of the minor key. Secondly, he vocal tessitura is remarkably low. Consider also the ground bass element, articulated in the piano middle/low register.
Your harmonic analysis is basically good. Just one glaring mistake: play the opening four chords in full, doesn't III sound out of place? What is the more likely chord?
Secondly, the chord at b. 51 is CT-related to the preceding chord but it is then turned into a Gr 6/5 to lead back to B minor.
Finally, it is true that the C maj chord at b. 59 is VI/Em, but note also its Neapolitan relation to B min. The closing B7-Em-B plays with plagal ambiguities: we are uncertain whether it is V7-i-V in E min or V7/iv-iv-i# in B min. In this regard, recall the closing A maj chord in "Lucy in the Sky", do you hear its ambiguous nature?
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