The Path from Tonic to Dominant in the Second Movement of Schubert's String Quintet and in Chopin's Fourth Ballade

Abstract

In Free Composition Schenker begins the discussion of the middleground level by describing different ways in which the tonic-dominant space of the Bassbrechung, the space between the first two background Stufen, can be filled in (Schenker 1979, 29-31 and Figure 14). This inner subdivision of the space between I and V greatly affects the tonal organization of music and Schenker suggests that it also influences the form. He demonstrates that this motion may encompass either all of the notes located between I and V or only one or two of them. Although Schenker speaks only about the first level of the middleground, similar space-filling patterns also occur at more local levels. This phenomenon, therefore, organizes the unfolding of both local and global musical spans. Example 1 shows three common patterns of such tonic-dominant motions. In each of the examples lal, bl1, and Icl there is only one note