Glossary of Schenkerian analysis

This is a glossary of Schenkerian analysis, a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935). The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work and to help reading the score according to that structure. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music. A Schenkerian analysis of a passage of music shows hierarchical relationships among its pitches, and draws conclusions about the structure of the passage from this hierarchy. The analysis makes use of a specialized symbolic form of musical notation that Schenker devised to demonstrate various techniques of elaboration.

The most fundamental concept of Schenker's theory of tonality may be that of tonal space.[1] The intervals between the notes of the tonic triad form a tonal space that is filled with passing and neighbour notes, producing new triads and new tonal spaces, open for further elaborations until the surface of the work (the score) is reached.

Although Schenker himself usually presents his analyses in the generative direction, starting from the fundamental structure (Ursatz) to reach the score, the practice of Schenkerian analysis more often is reductive, starting from the score and showing how it can be reduced to its fundamental structure. The graph of the Ursatz is arrhythmic, as is a strict-counterpoint cantus firmus exercise.[2] Even at intermediate levels of the reduction, rhythmic notation (open and closed noteheads, beams and flags) is used to show hierarchical relationships between the pitch–events being analyzed.

Contents 

A

Anstieg: see Initial ascent.

Ausfaltung: see Unfolding.
Auskomponierung: see Prolongation.
Auẞensatz: see Fundamental structure.

B

Baẞbrechung: see Bass arpeggiation.
Brechung: see Arpeggiation.

C

D

Deckton: see Cover tone.

E

F

Fernhören: see Structural hearing.

G

H

Hintergrund: see Background.
Höherlegung: see Register transfer

I

J

K

Kopfton: see Primary note.
Koppelung: see Coupling.

L

M

Mischung: see Mixture

Mittelgrund: see Middelground

N

O

Obligate Lage: see Obligatory register.

P

Q

R

S

Schicht: see Structural level.
Stimmtausch: see Voice exchange

Stufe: see Scale step.

T

Teiler: see Divider.
Tieferlegung: see Register transfer.

U

Übergreifen: see Reaching over.

Urlinie: see Fundamental line.

Ursatz:see Fundamental structure.

V

Vordergrund: see Foreground.

W

Z

Zug: see Linear progression.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schenker described the concept in a paper titled Erläuterungen (“Elucidations”), which he published four times between 1924 and 1926: Der Tonwille vol. 8–9, pp. 49–51, vol. 10, pp. 40–2; Das Meisterwerk in der Musik, vol. 1, pp. 201–5; 2, p. 193-7. English translation, Der Tonwille, vol. 2, p. 117-8 (the translation, although made from vols. 8–9 of the German original, gives as original pagination that of Das Meisterwerk 1; the text is the same). The concept of tonal space is still present in Free Composition, especially § 13, but less clearly than in the earlier presentation.
  2. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979). Free Composition, transl. Ernst Oster, § 21.
  3. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979), § 152.
  4. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979), § 267.
  5. ↑ Forte and Gilbert (1982). An Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis, p. 223. ISBN 9780393951929.
  6. ↑ Forte and Gilbert (1982), p.7.
  7. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1923). "Bach’s Little Prelude No. 3 in C Minor, BWV 999", Der Tonwille 5, transl. J. Dubiel, Oxford University Press, 2004, note 7: "The upper or lower fifth of a chord, presenting itself by leap in the service of a passing motion or neighbor note, I call an upper- or lower-fifth [divider]" (the last word is missing in Dubiel's translation).
  8. ↑ Forte & Gilbert (1982), p. 153.
  9. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979).
  10. ↑ In one of his earliest descriptions, Schenker writes: "When looking at Urlinien, however, do not be disenchanted by the fact that they all resemble one another in their constant stepwise progressions, in their repetitions, or even in an up and down movement as regular as inhaling and exhaling". (Heinrich Schenker (1921), "The Urlinie: A preliminary remark", Der Tonwille 1, transl. Robert Snarrenberg, 2004, p. 22-23.) The first statement that the fundamental line must descend is in Heinrich Schenker (1930): "I designate the primal condition of the horizontal thus: the "Urlinie" as the first composing-out of the fundamental chord in one of the three possible tonal spaces of that chord, namely third, fifth or octave, falling conjunctly in accordance with the law of the passing note until it reaches the tonic note". ("Rameau or Beethoven?", Das Meisterwerk in der Musik III, transl. Ian Bent, 1997, p. 7-8.)
  11. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979), p. 4.
  12. ↑ Pankhurst, Tom (2008). Schenker Guide: A Brief Handbook and Website for Schenkerian Analysis, p.243 and 27. ISBN 0-415-97398-8.
  13. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979), § 268.
  14. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1954) Harmony, Oswald Jonas ed., Elisabeth Mann Borgese transl., p. 139.
  15. ↑ Jonas, Oswald (1982). Introduction to the Theory of Heinrich Schenker, p.138. (1934: Das Wesen des musikalischen Kunstwerks: Eine Einführung in Die Lehre Heinrich Schenkers). Transl. John Rothgeb, p. 138. ISBN 0582282276.
  16. ↑ Felix Salzer (1952). Structural Hearing. Tonal Coherence in Music. New York, Boni, 2 vols.
  17. ↑ English translation, 2004, p. 22, 77, 82.
  18. ↑ Wilhelm Furtwängler (1954). Ton und Wort: Aufsätze und Vorträge 1918 bis 1954, Wiesbaden: Brockhaus, p. 198-204.
  19. ↑ Allen Forte (1959). "Schenker's Conception of Musical Structure", Journal of Music Theory 3, p. 4.
  20. ↑ Heinrich Schenker (1979), § 140.
  21. ↑ Forte & Gilbert (1982), p. 110.
  22. ↑ Forte & Gilbert (1982), p. 41.

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