Conference Booklet - Music - National University of Ireland, Maynooth

content of dozens of works in order to identify chronologically‐based characteristics. While
informative, these studies do not settle the issue of late style. Other recent studies of harmony in
late works of Schubert (too numerous to cite here), along with familiar fresh developments in
theory of form and harmony in 19th‐century music, will bolster this inquiry.
Analyzing distinctive works from several genres, this presentation will test the
hypothesis that a late harmonic style in Schubert might more preferentially be associated with
mastery and transcendence than with disease and decay. In this view, as a generalization, the
earlier style is characterized by exploration – reconciling salient chromatic elements locally
within diatonicism, positioning diatonic elements unconventionally within formal structures –
whereas the later style displays a more profound integration of chromaticism and diatonicism
within form, and a more fluid sense of key, operating within a robust, enlarged sphere of
normative relationships and expressive potential.
Cameron Gardner (Cardiff University and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama)
The ‘Reliquie’ in Context: Precedence, the ‘Great’ C major Symphony and Narrative
In her biography of the composer, Elizabeth Norman McKay has drawn attention to some of the
most memorable music of the unfinished Piano Sonata in C major (‗Reliquie‘, D. 840). Two
specific passages are mentioned, one from the development of the first movement and the other
from the central section of the minuet: ‗In each case, Schubert builds up the tension to a mighty
climax, following it with a passage of almost identical length, as the tension subsides into a
deathly calm.‘ For McKay these approaches and retreats from an expressive peak suggest a
‗narrative content‘, in particular an ‗epic character, of a kind not found in any of his music
before 1825‘. Later in the biography her descriptions of the two examples are reiterated to
highlight comparative moments in the ‗Great‘ C major symphony (D. 849/ 944). This paper will
initially take the opportunity raised by this brief commentary to contextualize the ‗Reliquie‘
with other instrumental works by Schubert and reveal any potential significance. Whilst
passages of intensification and dissipation from a peak will be identified in developmental parts
of earlier works, the extent to which they compare to the dimensions of the sonata‘s will either
lend credence or detract further from the unprecedented status given to it by McKay. Examples
from the later symphony will show a closer relationship in terms of proportion and structural
goal (to reach the recapitulation) to suggest some influence for the ‗Reliquie‘. Comparing the
harmony and tonality of the corresponding parts of the two works will, however, qualify the
degree to which they can be connected. Unusual examples of Schubert‘s harmonic practice that
David Damschroder has recently analysed in other compositions (rising thirds in an equal
division of the octave and a chromatic shift of diatonic 5-6) will further emphasize the distinct
tonal design of the sonata.
To conclude, salient details of each example from the first and third movements will be
summarised and placed in a more subjective context. For each stage of the expressive design,
Emil Staiger‘s correlations of a particular temporal orientation with a complementary genre of
poetry (past/ lyric, present/ epic, future/ drama) will be considered. Further significance will be
drawn from the ends of the passages, where dissipation of register, texture and dynamics
coincides with resolution to a non-tonic key at the recapitulation. This problematic outcome will
challenge the ‗epic character‘ given to the work by McKay and illustrate Byron Almén‘s
essential concern that a musical narrative embody a striking moment of conflict, where several
conforming and non-conforming musical elements interact simultaneously.