Help, keepers of the canon!

Stephen Guerra

Hi all,

To what extent are the following two examples conventional/schematic in classical/romantic repertories/pedagogies?

1. Bass line do-te-LA-sol-do at a cadence supporting Cm - Cm/Bb - D7/A - G7 - Cm

2. Connection of I6/3 to ii7 via a dim7 chord such that the highest voice descends 5-b5-4 and the lowest voice descends 3-b3-2

Thanks for the help!

Stephen

George Ferencz

1. Can't cite one off the top of my head. My guess is it won't so easily be found in Three-B's German/Viennese (and the other European canonic composers) as it might elsewhere--Spain/Mediterranean, etc.? Also, there's the possibility that it wouldn't appear as baldly as it would in a pop tune, but rather "passed through" via other motion, NCTs, and so on. I'll think about this!

2. Likewise, I can think of tons of pop & ragtime that does this a century & more ago, but can't pin it down in "classical." Sure ought to be in the post-Civil-War American composers--MacDowell, etc.? Maybe also in the pedagogical side of piano literature---Heller, Czerny, etc.---more stereotypically than the concert works.

Good luck!

 

Jonathan Elkus

1. The canonic improbability here is its Cm resolution, as the A-natural sets up our expectation for the parallel major (C). One might find such a cadential formula, however, in a dramatic moment in (say) Massenet, where (say) a villainous character unexpectedly delivers the fatal thrust in a duel.

2. I'd go to Liszt's lieder for this, quite a possibile half-cadence to reflect a wistful mood.

Hoping this may help,

Jonathan Elkus