Post-tonal lead-ins?

Tim Cutler

Does anyone know a good example of an Eingang (lead-in) from a composition written in a post-tonal or atonal idiom? Thank you!

Matthew Arndt

Some good examples are Schoenberg, op. 14, no. 1, mm. 1–3; op. 15, no. 14, m. 1; and op. 21, no. 17, m. 1 with the pickup (the canonic entries in the viola and clarinet prepare the vocal entry). Another is op. 21, no. 8, mm. 1–2, although some might consider it a kind of motto. Other examples that are more accompanimental (which some might understood as its own category) are op. 11, no. 2, m. 1; op. 19, no. 2, mm. 1–2; and op. 19, no. 6, mm. 1–2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Cutler

Thank you Matthew. Those are very helpful. Are there any examples of lead-ins that connect the end of one section to the start of another in the manner of a Mozart Concerto Rondo, for example?

Much appreciated!

Tim

Matthew Arndt

Sorry for the delay, Tim. If I understand you correctly, you are thinking of lead-ins as including bridges (short connective passages). I want to suggest that lead-ins and bridges are totally different. I raise this issue in “Form – Function – Content,” Music Theory Spectrum 40/2 (2018): 218–26. Lead-ins are primarily preparatory (not connective), and lead-ins can and often do come directly after bridges. A tonal example of this situation is Beethoven, op. 92, I, mm. 61–62 with pickup (bridge) and mm. 63–67 with pickup (lead-in). A non-tonal example is Schoenberg, op. 11, no. 1, mm. 46–47 with pickup (bridge) and mm. 48–50 with pickup (lead-in), discussed in the article mentioned above. There is another such example as well as other bridges and lead-ins in op. 11, no. 2, as follows:

Exposition

• Primary theme (with lead-in): mm. 1–13


• Counterstatement becomes bridge (or short transition): mm. 13–15


• Secondary theme: mm. 16–19 with pickup


• Closing theme: mm. 20–26


• False recapitulation becomes bridge: mm. 26–28

Contrasting middle

• Interior theme: mm. 29–37


• Counterstatement becomes bridge (or short retransition): mm. 38–39

Recapitulation

• Secondary/primary theme: mm. 40–49 with pickup


• "Interior theme" as bridge (or short transition): mm. 50–55


• Primary/secondary theme (with lead-in): mm. 55–62 with pickup


• "Interior theme" as closing theme: mm. 63–66