Reconstructing Mozart

Reconstructing Mozart
Author(s): Ludwig Holtmeier and Richard Evans

Source: Music Analysis, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Oct., 2002), pp. 307-325
Published by: Wiley
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LUDWIG
HOLTMEIER
Reconstructing
(translated by Richard Evans)

Mozart
the exterior of Haydn's

and Beethoven's
works provide a secure point
for analytical action from which one can work towards their core,
Mozart's
seem to be enclosed in a seamless, glassy shell which
compositions
While
of contact
denies
stration
entry to their interior.* No

of Haydnesque-Beethovenian
explain what
coherence.
The
maxim
is most
puzzling
about
motivic-thematic
analysis, no demonlogic is sufficient to
developmental
them: how they succeed
in achieving
that where
Mozart invents,
Haydn and Beethoven
develop,
the concept
of
central. In contrast to development,
- freedom
kind of freedom
from the
a particular
of a process set in motion and, with it, from the demands of
consequences
and the effort of
musical
materials, from the agony of decision
particular
- a freedom from constraints. The serenity of Mozart's
labour
compositional
music arises from its air of informality and effortlessness: Mozartian
themes
captures
something
invention
aims at
and forms appear with a certain accidental

quality as if something different
could sound in their place, as if they were exchangeable.
of contrast
the principle
this is achieved
by
Technically
through
that is to say, the opposition
juxtaposition,
which are self-contained
and autonomous
and ordering of blocks of material

within the larger context. This
sectional construction
is driven by a metrical grouping into periods which
subjects both transitional and fixed elements to a 'periodic' repetition principle
and thus, to a far greater extent than in Haydn and Beethoven,
parallels its
large-scale rhythmic structure.
The Mozartian
compositional
technique is faced with two inherent dangers:

firstly, the threat that the periodic metrical grouping will tend towards a
monotony of forms, a lack of tension in the functional whole, which can result
in the kind of banality which marks so many works of the pre-classical
epoch,
and some of his own as weil; and secondly,
contemporaries
as
a
juxtaposition,
principle itself in opposition to the
compositional
metrical
tendencies
of
unifying
periodic
grouping, threatens to destroy the
coherence of the individual elements among themselves and to counteract the
of Mozart's
dramatic
* A version of this article was first

published in German as 'Zur Komplexitat Mozarts.
Analytischer Versuch iiber eine Sequenz', Musik & Asthetik, 16 (October 2000), pp. 523.
307
Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)
9600Garsington
OX4 2DQ, UK
? Blackwell
Ltd.2002.Published
Road,Oxford
byBlackwell
Publishing,
Publishing

308
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
central postulate of classical

of affective forms.1
music aesthetics:
the 'unity of feeling', the balance
of a self-sufficient
transitional
section, whose
following
analysis
in
is
viewed
terms, is only
periodic-metrical
organisation
strictly proportional
within
with
concerned
the first of these aspects.2
Harmonic
movement
The
in Mozart primarily within a framework of simple

Mozart
often works with almost
processes.3
Although
identical
models and sequence
types, his transition sections rarely
corset which constrains fixed
appear banal and in spite of the periodic-metrical
transition
diatonic
and
sections
occurs
sequential
harmonic
transitional
developmental
the harmonic
elements
energy
which
progression
to
the
they stir up a kind of

degree,
influence beyond the dynamics of
Mozart
knows how to set in motion
same
has a clear
alone.
extraordinarily complex processes within apparently simple sequential models.

It is thanks to this complexity - and not merely the 'pure' beauty ofthe melodic
and harmonic
invention in itself, or the 'operatic'
plot-line in which the
of juxtaposition
individual
elements are placed - that Mozart's
technique
avoids the danger of uniformity and banality.
The informality and effortlessness of his music is only illusory. Behind the
succession of ideas and inventions and the formal simplicity lie multi-layered
that constitute the background
of constraints against
technical procedures
which effortlessness
make
sense
character'
autonomous
quality can emerge.4 It is rarely possible to

forms on one hearing. The resultant 'riddle
of the
a reference
to Adorno's
phrase)
arises from the complexity of compositional
as an aesthetic
of Mozart's
simple
{'Ratselcharakter',
blocks of material
technique and it is made possible by Mozart's manner of ordering materials so

is also
to banality.
Mozartian
that they avoid succumbing
juxtaposition
successful quite simply because it places complex blocks of material side by
side. They are related to each other by the degree of their inner complexity and
achieve coherence through their specific progression of complexity. The fact
means by which the form is held
that they constitute the compositional
together at another
level will not be the subject
of discussion
here.
analysis, with its many musical examples,

might at first sight
could
the
of
detailed.
results
Indeed,
my investigations
excessively
more compactly. What concerns me here, however,
doubtless be summarised
of a
the detailed
is the portrayal of an analytical
procedure,
description
The
following
seem
path. In the process it will also be necessary to explore those

turn out in retrospect to lead no where. They can, in any case,
followed
because
by the specific musical
they are suggested
methodological
byways which
only
be
? BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002

Reconstructing
structure; only by establishing
destination.
The
initial
fact that the method

origins.
mode
particular
surrounds
It is derived
Mozart
309
that they are diversions

resists
written
from an
'oral'
formulation
can
one
reach
the
has to do with its
It is typical of the
practice.
with practical musicians.
One
of analytical access associated

a segment or passage
with alterations,
and rearrangecollages
or
the specific construction
by transformation
content. The priority may not be to set an authentically
analytical objective
concerned
with meaning and interpretation;
rather, it is very often a matter
ments
in order
to establish
of making sense of its particular structure, its inherent logic, in order to be

able to memorise it more easily.5 To this extent, almost all of the following
are to be understood
musical examples
as notations of sounding
music, as
to abstract structural
opposed
in Schenkerian
analysis.
representations
such as are often encountered
With this analytical method the focus is on the level at which a composition
into existence. In a musical language which, to a crucial extent, works
with pre-existent models and material, the musical work can be understood as
comes
the outcome of a process of decision-making

and combination,
in which the
are
most diverse compositional
and
forms
to
a selection
subjected
possibilities
The
method
trace
to
these
This
process.
attempts
processes.6
procedure is also
of
as
in
German
music
where the
conservatoires,
analysis
typical
practised
connection
with the
with performing is predominant;
analysis is associated
skills gained through pastiche compositional
will be
new
techniques.7
Nothing
articulated or presented in what follows; rather, this will simply attempt to
record a customary practice in written form.8
role of speech is in no sense superfluous to this method: rather, it is
to its inner nature. What the musical example lends permanence
to,
through schematic representation, is in real-time practice a fleeting moment of
which fades into silence. What language
has to
exploration
experimental
The
essential
laboriously in order to explain and interpret takes place

or seconds for the ear. Presenting thoughts in language
requires every single step taken along the analytical path to be analysed and the
and cognitive processes
that determine its direction to be
decision-making
traced. At the same time, apparent fundamentals, or self-evident compositional
dissect and paraphrase
in a matter of minutes
procedures, have to be made verbally explicit, when in real-time practice they

are in effect processed unconsciously.
It is only through linguistic formulation
that the method is forced to account for these decisions taken unconsciously,
to
investigate
and scrutinise
them, and to subject the whole process to analytical

the oral element from the method can it reveal its full
logic. Only by removing

strengths and achieve the status of a scientific technique.

310
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
Ex. 1
(Allegroassai)
Ex. 1 shows the transition passage from the exposition ofthe first movement of
Mozart's Piano Sonata in F, K. 280, in which harmonic space is opened up for
of the second subject.
the appearance
The initial four-bar period, which
divides into two sections, is followed by a sequence
of falling fifths, whose
structure is clarified by the regularity ofthe two two-bar groups (bars 18/19,
is an example
of one of those
20/21). This apparently
simple sequence
in Mozart's
oeuvre, of the kind which are a
complex passages
puzzlingly
recurrent source of uncertainty for the performing musician. If one wishes to
recall it after an interval of time, the attempt regularly fails because of its subtle
irregularity, and straightaway one reaches for the score again (Ex. 1).
A minor alteration
is sufficient to remove a little of this passage's

confusing
we
should note, to rob it of its particular charm). We need
(and also,
only take out the second group of triplets in bar 17, relocate the barline a
crotchet later from bar 18 onwards, and insert a new triplet group - like the one
removed from the F major context - in bar 22 (Ex. 2). In this version the
harmonic V-I progressions are to be found at their 'natural' metrical-cadential
character
positions.9
However,
even in this revised
>BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002
form the course
of the sequence
is

Mozart
Reconstructing
311
Ex. 2
16
Bfi^-*
f^JJ^
IS
UJWUJ
mmm
19
bp , # ^-^?
?g
=?==?
S
20
21
22
23
fc
W*
3
^m
^=?
n^p
still marked
by a noticeable irregularity,
some extent with another simple change:
one which
can be smoothed
over to
Ex. 3
17
J8
J*_
?*
^Ns
19
EifeHB
ffi^fefe
?-
^^s
MJeeee^J
20
,_.
Jfc-
"
21
>feÊ
22
p,
23
3EEE3E
^=^
Ex.
3 aligns the harmonic

motion of the sequence
with the right hand
In
Mozart's
version
the
of
the
harmonic
figuration.
unity
original
sequence's
motion is in opposition
figure:
to the direction
of movement
in the V-I
downwards-upwards
in the Bb progression
upwards-downwards
in the right hand's triplet

in C major (bar 18),
progression
(bar 19), and so on.
) BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002

312
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
work in opposition
to the 'natural' cadential
only does this sequence
hand's
motion
forms a succession of 2/4
but
in
the
addition
metre,
figural
right
bars which runs counter to the triple harmonic rhythm of the sequence. A renotation of the rhythm brings out the complexity of the passage:
Not
Ex. 4
ttfjgtEfef
$tt}iw*jfri
*mw
J^Ljî
^[friflf^Jg^Pî
s
^m
pmmm
The mystery of this transition passage is, however, not yet completely unravelled.
We have established that the right hand proceeds in duple time, counter to the
cadential metre; it remains to be discussed why Mozart does not retain the interval
structure ofthe initial sequential pattern (bar 18) within the sequence as a whole,
thereby increasing the restlessness and irregularity of the passage. The first two
triplet groups in bar 18 appear as if rotated around the axis of their middle note in
bar 19 - that is certainly the visual impression. However, the third triplet group in
bar 19 does not obey this principle. Mozart does not write:
Ex. 5
18
n
-P
? ^-*
m^m
>BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002

Reconstructing
Such
an alteration
would
destroy
a central
Mozart
313
structuring
element
original conception.
In this passage Mozart
texture.
Four voices
of Mozart's
is clearly aiming for a 'total' chromaticising

are in simultaneous
chromatic descent:
of the
Ex. 6
Two
of the voices have the same pitch-classes, which is to say that one voice is
(notated by small squares on Ex. 6). For all that, the
effectively doubled
chromatic motion unfolds within the constraints of four-part counterpoint devoid
of parallel motion. Here, we are not looking at the classical technique of harmonic
arpeggiation
[Auffacherung] in (typically pianistic)
figuration, which allows
in order to complete the texture, a technique
Mozart
parallel voice-leading
frequently in his early works, and not only there. Rather, the triplet
groups in the right hand are arpeggiations of a 'strict' four-part chordal texture.
Total
not possible
chromaticism
within strict four-part
is, however,
of four-part
Mozart
is concerned
here with the illusion
counterpoint.10
employs
motion within strict compositional

constraints. The function of the
The
hand's
metre
is
the
of total chromaticism.
to
illusion
right
duple
promote
F in the right hand in bar 17 (Ex. 6) resolves onto E in bar 18 without it
chromatic
becoming apparent that the contrapuntally correct resolution would be via the
D in the same bar (the dotted square on the example).
It is not perceptible
because the duple metre in the right hand denies the ear the recognition effect
and, therefore, retrospective
integration. As early as the second bar of the
in the right hand are to be found at different rhythmic
In this way, the linear forces and relationships are emancipated
from
The logic of the
their dependency
on their vertical harmonic
integration.
sequence
locations.
the voices

314
ludwig
holtmeier
in the triplet figures is blurred by the rhythmic

organisation.
Comparing this with a rhythmically entirely regular arpeggiation
makes this immediately obvious:
harmonic
voice-leading
Ex. 7
The concept of total chromaticism is also the reason why Mozart does not write
the regular sequential pattern shown in Ex. 5. In Mozart's
original form, the
lowest notes of each respective triplet group constitute a line related to the
soprano voice at each respective cadential step (notated by triangular boxes and
model in Ex. 5 this structure is
beams in Ex. 6). In the regular sequential
in
Here
a
note
the
is
destroyed.
(Ex. 5, circled notes and
soprano
'repeated'
It is noteworthy that the destruction of this soprano voice-leading
would
not occur if Mozart had matched the direction of movement of
pattern
the triplet figures to the harmonic sequence's
triple metre:
beams).
Ex. 8

Reconstructing
315
Mozart
just as easily have chosen the second bar of his sequence (bar 19) as
the prototype; in this case, he would have had a strictly regular structure and
the total chromaticism
envisaged would have been retained completely intact:
He could
Ex. 9
18
EHÂfer
WW
S^tfteiie
A single play-through of this example is enough to see that the character of the
music has been fundamentally transformed. A harmonic fracture separates the
version interlock organically from the
sections, which in Mozart's
sequential
cadences in which the
outset. In this example there is a succession of IV-V-I
are
the
mediant
sections
(bar
abrupt
progressions
pulled apart by
sequential
18: C major/Eb major; bar 20: A major/C major; bar 21: G major/Bb major): the
respective transitional chords do not belong to the preceding cadences. Mozart

avoids these abrupt transitions - plausible enough in the harmonic language of
effect.
the time - in order to achieve a quite specific rhythmic-harmonic
After cursory inspection of the sequence one becomes aware of a change of
harmony on the last crotchet of the bar, whose missing
in for clarity's sake as follows:11
bass voice can be filled

316
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
Ex. 10
17
19
j*-
ttttt
?k
SE?
E*E
20
~\p4?
fi
K
21
22
lf\
gjfe^fasfe
*=
$^^m
However, the rest in the left hand also appears to function as an agogic caesura.
It creates the illusion that the preceding octave, which continues to resonate
chord. Behind
this unusual
it, functions as part of a substitute
lies
a
familiar
model
which
sequence
sequence
(inevitably enough12) emerges
in the recapitulation,
where it is accompanied
by other surprises:13
through
Ex. 11
^[IjQjLu
uJ'
QuLur
gff4
20
m
^cULlt
ta^s
-Je=?=>!
It seems reasonable
to want to explain the deviation from regularity within the

by referring to the intrinsic problems of the tonal sequence,
sequence
which has to negotiate the diminished-fifth step between bar 19 and 20: Mozart
model
' BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002

Reconstructing
Mozart
317
cadence to a IVavoid the critical note Bb here,14 change from a II-V-I

in
the
D
minor
both
Bb
chord, present
cadence, using
major and A major/
But
it is precisely this
in
to
create
a
smooth
harmonic
transition.
order
minor,
could
V-I
alteration, intended to smooth the harmonic flow over this obstacle implicit in
the tonal sequential model, which leads to disruption in a different place. In
order to maintain the symmetry15 in the periodic metrical grouping of melody
and harmony Mozart writes a Bb chord on the last beat of bar 21, analogous to
bar 19; this chord is in a contrasting mediant relationship with the preceding G
major, although here nothing would have stood in the way of a continuation via
G within II7 of the following cadence. There are no serious objections to the
harmonic flow of Ex. 5. What matters is that it disrupts the pattern of total
chromaticism.
Here something essential to and typical of Mozart's compositional
technique
in Mozart
occurs when different technical
becomes
complexity
apparent:
of total
into conflict with each other. The
illusion
come
procedures
in Ex. 5; the notion of
the regularity of the sequence
metre, which originally promoted this chromatic illusion,
Exs. 7 and 9, all destroy the notion of a harmonic flow
of partitioning harmonic progressions,
is inseparably
which, by its avoidance
allied to that of total chromaticism.
chromaticism
forbids
an integrated duple
and the subsequent
But should
irregularities
own listening
we trust this analysis? Does not its demonstration

of technical procedures
combinations
and complex
of deviations,
contradict our
experience, which in this case perceives no more than a slight

element of confusion within a self-sufficient musical process? What is the point
and relationships
when such complexity
of highlighting complex processes
cannot occupy centre stage within the music? To put it more directly: how is it
that the complexity is not more forcefully evident in the musical foreground?
In fact, everything that has been demonstrated
analytically so far is, in a
certain sense, incorrect, despite everything being in its proper place. In order
to understand why, let us examine the sequence more closely.
I stated that the total chromaticism unfolds within a strict four-part texture.
But what does this four-part texture look like? The beginning of the sequence
- the first two crotchet beats in bar 18 of a
(Ex. 1)
implies the dominance
simple schema: the bass voice is to be found in the left hand, in the right the
remaining three, spread around the succession of triplets. Then a rest occurs in
the bass voice while the top three voices carry on in the right hand. That is the
illusion the sequence creates. The listener's ear and the player's eye are led to
accept this harmonic division into three voices. It is the perceptual dominance
of this ordering - and this alone - which creates the sense of confusion. For this
its
is based on a completely regular schematic structure. However,
sequence
four-voice
at the opening of
At the end of bar 18 the right hand suddenly turns
texture is unusual
the sequence
is deceptive.
and the distribution
of voices

318
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
then the E in bar

If one follows the logic ofthe voice-leading,
18 falls to Eb, while the G has a double function, effectively being tied over:
into four voices.
Ex. 12
The
underlying
harmonic
model
takes the following
form:
Ex. 13
^m
$m(
i*m
? \
Oe
m
fc
if
^
wf
ffpF^
ii:
this harmonic model to the rhythmic scheme of triplet

subordinates
groups, whereby the note which sounds across the transition from the tonic major
seventh chord [subdominantischen Septakkord] on the
chord to the 'subdominant'
Mozart
second degree is the pivotal point. The D minor in bar 19 and the Bb major in bar
21 are in this respect merely 'accidental' products ofthe triplet duple metre ofthe
right hand which dissipates the harmony's four-part structure. A rhythmicharmonic revision will clarify the regularity of the harmonic flow disguised
rhythmic organisation of the right hand:
by the
Ex. 14
' BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002

Mozart
Reconstructing
But
how
does
Mozart
It
voice-leading?
is
319
arrive
model and its idiosyncratic

at this sequential
of
borne
of voice-leading
product
necessity
the
requirements. Here Mozart combines two familiar harmonic sequential models

- and most
he
that cannot be combined
definitely not in the distribution
chooses.
On
diminished
the one
seventh
hand, there is the sequential

chord, which can be represented
model
pivoting on the
as follows:
generically
Ex. 15
SPg
? *
,i
,j
On the other hand, there is the model which links the sequence's
V-I steps via
a seventh chord on the second degree and with a further voice brought under
the chromatic influence of the descending
of
soprano line. As a consequence
the subdominant
and in
colouring of the 'tonic' position in the sequence,
contrast
appears
to the model
based
on successive
as a chain of independent
cadential
V-I
progressions,
the sequence
units:
Ex. 16
Pp
Technically,
pp
these two models
appropriately to Mozart's
in their closest form:
1 1C?Z
*#
can be combined
correctly only in one way (and

the upper three voices
purposes
here) by presenting
Ex. 17
j|fea
^m
pp^
>
^^
t*U
fH?
iii
s ^#^

LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
320
As far as I am aware this sequential model cannot be found in the literature in

this form, and to explain its compositional
neglect here we need only point to
the break in the chromatic motion in the top voice and the unsatisfactory effect
this has. Mozart
both these historical
combines
models
in order to achieve
his
Of the two possible inversions of the diminished

seventh chord which allow him to create the sequence,
he chooses the one
which sets the bass voice in descending chromatic motion. However, when the
ideal of total chromaticism.
diminished seventh is employed in this way, the rule is that when the ninth16 is
in the top voice, the progression of all the notes of the chord is fixed. If it is in
the top voice, then the third must be doubled in the following tonic chord in
order to avoid parallel fifths.17 But if the third is doubled,
voice chord cannot progress to a subdominant
four-voice
of the following
degree
cadence.
It is the third note
then the tonic threechord on the second

that has
to descend
and voicechromatically.
According
leading, however, no note that progresses chromatically can be doubled.18
model. He is
Mozart locates the ninth in the top voice in his sequential
to the most ancient
rules of dissonance
of flowing chromatic movement, beginning with

constituent in the top voice, in other words in its
and accentuated
form. When Mozart put the ninth in the top
with the element
concerned
the most dissonant

most radical
chordal
voice, it was obvious to him that he would become involved in a compositional

It
conflict, and that he would have to overcome a compositional
impossibility.
out
of
this
to
the
is typical of Mozart's compositional
develop
thought
sequence
The compositional
problem itself is its theme.19
impossibility.
the doubled
E in bar 18
the constraints
of voice-leading,
Following
necessarily causes parallel octaves between bass and alto (Ex. 18a); or else it
leads to an 'unacceptable'
leap in one voice and a change in texture (Ex. 18b):
compositional
Ex. 18
18
\>
<S?ft
^
the unacceptable
by placing a rest in the bass
voice-leading
motion
to
the
the
the
right hand. However,
shifting
four-part
are
to
exist.
It
is
true
that
octaves
continues
problem
parallel
compositional
Mozart
voice
avoids
and
avoided,
but the extra voice
in the right hand
cannot
be justified
technically

Reconstructing
321
Mozart
speaking (however one might interpret it). The point is both to avoid the break
and to avoid breaking the compositional
rules, and to make the impossible
He
has
conceived
the
in
such a way that the sudden fourpossible.
passage
in the right hand
form. The continuous
voice
texture
appears
to have
three voices
because
of its
rhythmic
triplet motion in the right hand blurs the
change from three voices to four and maintains the illusion of a strict three-part
texture.
The unusual construction of this sequential model is also responsible for the
fact that the shift in the metric-cadential
accent shown in Ex. 2 is not quite as
definite as it might appear. At the same time, everything is to be found where it
should be. The camouflaged
four-part texture implies a model that emerges
when we try to continue the bass line strictly through the rest (compare with
Ex. 18b), even though the voice-leading
'violation'
is more apparent than in
of
Mozart's
case because
the missing rest:
Ex. 19
19
i
LiaaSin
llJLLrilJ
<>L
0*
'): ^ !)
20
Ll!rdJ
Lly
22 _
f'r^^jT3
,?
^
The
seventh is prepared by the consonant third of the subdominant

on the second degree. We recognise the ancient contrapuntal
of the syncopated
which is prepared on a weak beat and
dissonance,
dissonant
seventh
device
sounds
chord
on an accented
beat, resolving again on a weak beat. The tied (i.e.

seventh
on
the
accented beat is to be found in a widespread
classical
prepared)
model of cadential closure, which above all is familiar from slow movements.
Here, though, the seventh is never to be found in the bass but, most often, in
one ofthe middle
However, the bass voice of this sequence does in fact

move with the upper voice ofthe octave in a middle-voice
location. This octave
doubling is more than just a strengthening of the bass, as it was in the previous
voices.

322
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
four bars, where both notes in the octave fulfilled the same function. Here the
upper note of the octave is the real voice. This can be checked by playing the
sequence without one or other ofthe octave notes. If the upper note is missing,
then an essential element of the music disappears;
if the lower note is left out,
then the structure and sense remain intact. The music simply loses its timbral
Here the lower note appears to serve the purpose of reinforcing the
illusion of bass character, while in fact the left hand is playing what is actually a
middle voice. In this way, however, a sequential model is suggested in which
fullness.
the location
2) and could
of the chords is contrary to the cadential

be presented generically as follows
metre (compare
with Ex.
Ex. 20
we
ihtiittx
s
22
(>Lfr'Qjrllrm
This
mm
model
cadential
too. In this way its

can be heard within Mozart's
sequence
metre can be both in the wrong and right places at the same time.
I have come to the end of a thorough inspection of a short sequence,

an end
which has turned out quite differently from what might have been presumed at
of
the start of the analysis.
But this is often the paradoxical
experience
analysing Mozart: the apparently simple turns out to be both complex, and in
turn simple again.
of Mozart's
The analysis has brought the dominant aesthetic experience
music - its ease, its effortlessness, its simplicity beyond banality - technically
within our grasp. Mozart's
'closed' forms are complex, both in themselves and
in their connections
with each other. Forces
are arraigned
against the unifying

Reconstructing
Mozart
323
tendency of the metrical-periodic

grouping. They do
'motivic-thematic'
but
rather at the limits
foreground,
called 'rhythmic' in the broadest sense of the word,
with a surefootedness
and
operates
originality
not take effect in the

of a level which can be
and
in which
which
none
Mozart
of
his
(and hardly any of his successors).

Rarely does
contemporaries
possessed
Mozart allow these rhythmic conflicts to flare up overtly. The elements do not
join battle in the musical foreground, as is already the case in the opening
first Piano Sonata, Op.2 No.l.
In fact, it could be said
theme of Beethoven's
that Beethoven pushes the Mozartian
inheritance of rhythmic complexity into
the musical foreground. In the process, the technical principle acquires both an
dynamism, but also a coarseness.
unexpected
The initial rhythmic conflicts and impulses of Beethoven's
themes remain
drive
the
and
it. The
unresolved.
musical
forward
dominate
They
process
music is forced to work at this conflict as a kind of problem to be solved, and it
determines
the initial thematic shape in terms of its function within a
developing whole.
accentuation
and
it could be said that the cadential metre, melodic

in Beethoven
a
seldom
stand in as complex
phrasing
correlation as in Mozart's
case. His rhythmic conflicts tend to occur on a
unified level and only in this way can they reveal themselves in the foreground.
Conflicts in Mozart
almost never occur as problems
within the
posed;
Generally
of the larger periodic unit they are, in a sense, already solved. The
the
unity,
autonomy of even complex periods thus emerges from within the
functional whole. The rhythmic complexity of Mozart's music is not based on
a naked opposition of divergent forces. Tensions arise between different levels:
context
between the barring and the harmonic cadential metre; between

metre and the accentuation
of the melody; between the harmonic
the cadential
logic and the

phrasing; and so on. These levels are not, however, in opposition
to each other. They overlap, and even viewed as operative factors are only
artificially separable from each other. The melody cannot be separated from
autonomous
the harmony and in the process the melodic articulation from the cadentialmetric emphases, nor can the cadential metre claim a particular and definitive
metrical form, and maintain a complete
from the barring.
independence
different
levels that cannot actually be separated from each other,
Working at
Mozart's
rhythmic conflicts always convey themselves

implicitly. They are
in check, in a classical balance.
this autonomy and isolation
Through
Mozart's
blocks of material preserve an openness and a formal ambivalence.
They are at the same time simple and complex. This is the Janus-like quality of
form.
Mozartian
held
NOTES
1.
A coherence which - as Charles Rosen has shown in The Classical Style - is only

324
LUDWIG HOLTMEIER
rarely achieved in the pre-classical
Mozart.
era and in the early works of Haydn and
2.
I attempt to pursue the other aspect in 'Versuch iiber Mozart. Juxtaposition und
analytische Collage: KV 332', in Wilfried Gruhn and Hartmut Moller (eds.),
Wahrnemung und Begriff (Kassel: Gustav Bosse Verlag, 2000), pp. 109-74.
3.
This statement idealises the situation: it requires qualification according to

Mozart's compositional development and the specific generic context. For the
piano and violin sonatas it is almost unreservedly valid - in spite of the
fundamental change in Mozart's harmonic processes from the 1780s - whereas
the case is different in the string quartets, symphonies and concertos.
4.
Compare Ulrich Konrad, Mozarts Schaffensweise. Studien zu den Werkautographen, Skizzen und Entwurfen (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1992).
5.
This analytical procedure is especially familiar to pianists, who have to retain an

extensive repertoire in their memories.
6.
Of course, this is not intended as a reconstruction of the composer's

making process (though see n. 19).
7.
Indeed, no other aspect of analytical methodology highlights so clearly the

difference between the practice of analysis in (German) universities and
conservatories.
8.
On the problem of oral practices in music theory, see Michiel C. Schuijer,

'Muziektheorie in onderzoek', Tijdschrift voor Muziektheorie, 2/iii (1997), p. 251
and Ludwig Holtmeier, 'Nicht Kunst? Nicht Wissenschaft? Zur Lage der
Musiktheorie', Musik & Asthetik, 1/ii (1997), pp. 119-36.
9.
On the topic of cadential metre, see Friedrich Neumann, Die Zeitgestalt: eine
Lehre vom musikalischen Rhythmus, Vol. 2 (Vienna: P. Kaltschmid, 1959).
10.
If one ignores chromatic motion in diminished seventh chords. In a literal sense

this avoids 'parallel' motion, but because of the strict simultaneity of the linear
movement, the principle of independent voices disappears.
11.
The
12.
Growing familiarity with Mozart's compositional technique (and this is equally

true of Bach's fugue subjects) does indeed make it possible to anticipate the
reworking of the exposition's 'troublespots' in the development or recapitulation.
I have not notated an arpeggiated C-major chord in this example (bar 18, beat 3)
as Mozart does in the recapitulation (bar 100) because the resultant doubling of
the third would have created a voice-leading error of the kind Mozart avoids by
altering his sequential model, from which, as one might expect, the duple metre
of the right hand also disappears.
13.
This became apparent to me as I worked on my piano interpretation. Again and

again I caught myself failing to acknowledge the notated rest, leaving the left
filling out of the rest creates voice-leading

clarification, see the comments following.
decision-
errors in the texture. For

Reconstructing
325
Mozart
hand sounding through it. What is surprising about this is that, in spite of the
semitone clashes in bars 18 and 20, there is no real feeling of dissonance.
14.
The fact that a Bb and not a Bt] is implied here, depends on the laws of tonal
sequences and how they are perceived differently from cadences. This is not the
place to discuss in detail these laws and their relationship to cadential harmony.
'Cadence' and 'sequence' are the central concepts required for a description ofthe
development of the harmonic aspect of tonality. Each concept can be associated
with particular kinds of composer. Mozart's harmonic discoveries are almost
always found within the context of his sequential processes. Here he becomes the
harmonic experimenter and frontiersman of his time in contrast to Haydn and
Beethoven, whose innovations are to be found above all in cadential harmonic
processes.
15.
This produces a regular sequence of IV-V-I/II-V-I
cadences.
16.
'Ninth' is intended in Rameau's
17.
To be more precise: in order to avoid the progression from a diminished fifthto a

perfect fifth, a progression that is only allowed in a single harmonic relationship
in pre-classical harmonic language - from the dominant sixth chord on the second
degree [|], the oldest dominant form of all, upwards to a 'tonic' sixth chord [3] and there only as a formula in a restricted context.
18.
This is only the case in those instances where the notion of strict four-part motion
is adhered to. The 'unacceptable' leap (Ex. 18b) is a common phenomenon in the
chordal writing of the classical (and pre-classical) style (see, for example, the
Menuetto I from the Piano Sonata in Eb, K. 282, upbeat to bar 13). This case is
not only about the illusion of strict four-part motion, but also about the notion of
total chromaticism, which would be destroyed by this leap (compare also Ex. 19,
which in classical compositional terms is certainly 'correct').
19.
At this point in the analysis it seems to me that the problem mentioned above how appropriate the relationship is between the effortrequired in formulating the
analysis in words and the musical phenomenon under investigation - is
particularly acute. This may be because, by implication, every analysis claims
to describe the technical procedure of the composer. No analysis can completely
free itself from this pretension - however much it might claim to do so.
Uneasiness with the analytical description often arises from the claim that the
time and effort required for it are identical or at least comparable with the time
and effort required for the conceiving of the compositional idea. Mozart could
have developed the idea for this particular sequence in a single instant. It owes its
existence to the fundamentals of compositional handicraft. The compositional
models employed here and the voice-leading problems they contain were familiar
to him from an early age and had become second nature. Musical analysis is not
only there to reconstruct how the object has been put together technically and its
context, but also to describe its effect, which is not exhausted by the poetic
sense here.
concept.


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Reconstructing Mozart

Author(s): Ludwig Holtmeier and Richard Evans

This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:40:36 PM

(translated by Richard Evans)

the exterior of Haydn's

entry to their interior.* No

analysis, no demonlogic is sufficient to

and forms appear with a certain accidental

and ordering of blocks of material

technique is faced with two inherent dangers:

* A version of this article was first

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central postulate of classical

the 'unity of feeling', the balance

in Mozart primarily within a framework of simple

they stir up a kind of

extraordinarily complex processes within apparently simple sequential models.

quality can emerge.4 It is rarely possible to

technique and it is made possible by Mozart's manner of ordering materials so

level will not be the subject

analysis, with its many musical examples,

path. In the process it will also be necessary to explore those

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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fact that the method

that they are diversions

has to do with its

of analytical access associated

of making sense of its particular structure, its inherent logic, in order to be

such as are often encountered

the outcome of a process of decision-making

laboriously in order to explain and interpret takes place

procedures, have to be made verbally explicit, when in real-time practice they

them, and to subject the whole process to analytical

logic. Only by removing

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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is sufficient to remove a little of this passage's

even in this revised

form the course

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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3 aligns the harmonic

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

in the right hand's triplet

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Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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is clearly aiming for a 'total' chromaticising

motion within strict compositional

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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in the triplet figures is blurred by the rhythmic

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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respective transitional chords do not belong to the preceding cadences. Mozart

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

bass voice can be filled

This content downloaded from 193.144.2.35 on Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:40:36 PM

to want to explain the deviation from regularity within the

' BlackwellPublishingLtd. 2002

Music Analysis, 21/iii (2002)

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cadence to a IVavoid the critical note Bb here,14 change from a II-V-I