Note: I began working on this post in mid-May, returned home from college for the summer, and forgot about it for several weeks. Having finally decided to revisit it in mid-July, I'm excited to share this new content!
I first heard this piece during my freshman year of college, and I can remember my yearning for home so vividly even when I listen to it today. But, somewhere in that desolation, there is also a feeling of resolve, daring, and determination that is really empowering. I hope you enjoy this spectacular work by Felix Blumenfeld, Two Etudes-Fantaisies, Op.25, No.1 in G minor.
I interpret this piece in binary form with two A sections sandwiching a middle B section, though this analysis will quickly reveal how general such a description is.
I. A Section
The piece opens with a rapid triplet figuration; triplets (in this pattern and others) rhythmically underline nearly the entirety of both A sections.
The first motivic idea is introduced shortly thereafter, a tempestuous (as suggested by the tempo marking at Allegro tempestuoso) and agitated melody emerging from the middle voice of the piano:
After ultimately resolving back to the root (g) and repeating the melody, a rapid transition into G♭ major/e♭ minor lasts for just a few bars before smoothly modulating into f# minor by way of a scalar melody and slowly shifting chromatic tones surrounded by otherwise common chord tones...
...repeating the phrase almost identically in g minor (using A as a common chord tone)...
...just before bursting into the first climax, followed by a slow dynamic descent to close out the A section.
II. B Section
The stormy A section comes to a rest, morphing into a dark, yet delicate, passage in e♭ minor.
Harmony becomes much more intricate in the B section. Breaking it down bar by bar:
Bar 1: A quick interruption of e♭ with an a°7 chord, with an E♭ pedal tone, anticipates the arrival of...
Bar 2: ...a dominant chord (B♭).
Bar 3: Resolution (e♭) and development of a temporary tonic G♭ (III in e♭ minor).
Bar 4: A♭m7 is a secondary dominant to G♭. The pedal tone anticipates the resolution of A♭m7 to D♭7. The function of the first chord is just a secondary dominant, so the harmonic analysis reflects this. Noteheads of interest are labeled in the score.
Bar 5: D♭7 resolves to G♭. Blumenfeld uses a secondary dominant (the true dominant, b♭ or v) to pull C♮ into the melody. Here, we get to one of the most interesting harmonic features of this piece — the French sixth. The upward chromatic motion of E♭—E♮—F is the main driving force.
Bar 6: c⌀7 resolves to b♭ via the French sixth. A secondary dominant (F7 / b♭ / e♭) leads to...
Bar 7: ...a B♭ chord with chromatic motion to b♭. Another French sixth, functioning as a tertiary dominant (C / F / b♭ / e♭), partially resolves to F7♭9, leading to...
Bar 8: ...a warmly meandering (4—2—3) resolution to B♭.
Detour 1: "Augmented Sixth" Chords
The dominant seventh chord is the standard seventh chord, though several other variations of the seventh chord exist. Some minor sevenths (e.g.: C—B♭, G♭—F♭) must be written as augmented sixths (e.g.: C—A#, G♭—E♮) in order to accommodate altered chord tones. There exist three main varieties of augmented sixth chords, arbitrarily given the names of different nationalities to quickly distinguish them.
From a music theory website by Robert Hutchinson of the University of Puget Sound:
(The enharmonic German sixth is also known as a Swiss sixth, as it "because it sounds German but is spelled like the French" [source].)
The importance of the French sixth here is its role in creating and resolving harmonic tension. While the A sections are interesting because they are strongly rhythmically driven, the B section must at once provide some respite from the tumultuous motion bookending it, but be more harmonically diverse as well.
The French sixth is the perfect tool for this job. Because it has two tritones separated by a major third (C—G♭ and E—B♭), the chord has two voicings with identical intervals: G♭—B♭—C(D𝄫)—E and C—E—G♭—B♭(A#). Blumenfeld uses the first voicing in bar 5 of the B section to resolve to B♭ directly. He then uses the second voicing in bar 7, taking advantage of C7 as the tertiary dominant of e♭ to resolve (with a G♭ common tone) to F7♭9 on its way to B♭.
Detour 2: Descending Chromatic Motion (first phrase)
The dropping chromatic lines indicated with pink arrows are responsible for much of the complications arising with parsing the harmonic direction of the B section. While in some cases it makes Roman numeral analysis somewhat unhelpful, it can shed very important insights on the function of such motion. For example, in the first set of eight bars at Meno mosso, the descending chromatic motion in the bass progresses as:
F7—B♭—b♭—C7♭5—F7♭9—B♭
V42/v—V—v—Fr+6—V7♭9/V—V
(II7♭5/V)
The Roman numeral analysis clearly shows that the chromatic descent allows for linear motion of the bass into a "ii—V—I" progression in the dominant of B♭, resolving to e♭ in the second set of eight bars.
III. B Section (continued)
The second set of eight bars brings further harmonic complexity. Again, bar by bar:
Bar 1: Same start as the first set of eight bars — leading to an unorthodox...
Bar 2: ...III (G♭). e♭m7 (i43) precedes chromatic motion on all notes except D♭ to a B𝄫7 chord. At this point, the analysis is shifted to make D♭ the destination with the harmonic analysis (which it is, at the start of bar 5), B𝄫7 is itself a transition chord to...
Bar 3: ...D♭, the dominant to g♭. The subdominant function of g♭ is reinforced by its conversion to...
Bar 4: ...e♭⌀7 at the start of this bar. This initiates another "ii—V—I" progression (e♭⌀7—A♭7♭9—8—D♭) in the temporary tonic of D♭, arriving at the tonic...
Bar 5: ...here. We'll examine the descending chromatic bass motion just after this, as it spans multiple bars. What we see it doing at a high level is convoluting the listener's sense of direction by changing the functional tonic over and over.
Bar 6: The chromatic descent continues, in this bar parallel in both the bass and treble voices (parallel pink arrows). We temporarily toggle back into analyzing in the temporary tonic of D♭ here.
Bar 7: The temporary tonic is reset by another French sixth chord resolving to b♭ (just like in bar 5 of the first phrase at Meno mosso). The b♭ that the Fr+6 resolves to is cadential (second inversion), and its instability shifts to F7♭9, finally resolving to...
Bar 8: ...B♭, with the same motion as in bar 8 of the first phrase.
Detour 3: Descending Chromatic Motion (second phrase)
Here, the Roman numeral analysis had to be reformulated yet again with a temporary tonic — here, we find more evidence for Blumenfeld's fondness of parallel motion. Just like the chromatic motion of f# to g in the A section before the climax on E♭M7 and a⌀7, the parallel motion here is more obvious when the temporary tonic is used.
Starting at beat 3 of bar 5, the descent begins. e♭m7—F7 (i42—V43/v) is not too strange, though a i42 (e♭m7) is unusual. The expectation is for F7 (V43/v) to resolve to b♭ (v), but instead Blumenfeld continues the chromatic descent. As C♮ moves to C♭, we are set up for a ii65—V7 (f⌀7—B♭7). Instead of resolving this V7 to i (e♭), Blumenfeld keeps chugging along and just transplants ii65—V7 down a whole step into the temporary tonic of D♭ (e♭⌀7—A♭7).
The chromatic motion takes three last steps: first to G♮, creating an unstable #iv⌀7 (there might be a better way to analyze this than an augmented fourth as the root...); second to G♭, continuing the tension through a Fr+6. Fr+6 passes the tension to a cadential b♭ with the last chromatic step from G♭ to F. The cadential b♭ anticipates F7♭9, finally resolving to B♭.
Here, the Roman numeral analysis had to be reformulated yet again with a temporary tonic — here, we find more evidence for Blumenfeld's fondness of parallel motion. Just like the chromatic motion of f# to g in the A section before the climax on E♭M7 and a⌀7, the parallel motion here is more obvious when the temporary tonic is used.
Starting at beat 3 of bar 5, the descent begins. e♭m7—F7 (i42—V43/v) is not too strange, though a i42 (e♭m7) is unusual. The expectation is for F7 (V43/v) to resolve to b♭ (v), but instead Blumenfeld continues the chromatic descent. As C♮ moves to C♭, we are set up for a ii65—V7 (f⌀7—B♭7). Instead of resolving this V7 to i (e♭), Blumenfeld keeps chugging along and just transplants ii65—V7 down a whole step into the temporary tonic of D♭ (e♭⌀7—A♭7).
The chromatic motion takes three last steps: first to G♮, creating an unstable #iv⌀7 (there might be a better way to analyze this than an augmented fourth as the root...); second to G♭, continuing the tension through a Fr+6. Fr+6 passes the tension to a cadential b♭ with the last chromatic step from G♭ to F. The cadential b♭ anticipates F7♭9, finally resolving to B♭.
IV. B Section (continued)
The music wanders around B♭ for eight bars, using e♭ and c⌀7 for subdominant character, and in second and third inversion, respectively, to keep the B♭ pedal tone.
Finally, the quiet dominant prolongation is broken by a loud e♭ (i in e♭). The analysis starts in G♭ to show the 'destination' of D♭ (as V of G♭).
The "vi—ii—V" (vi—ii⌀43—V4—3), interrupted by an augmented flat mediant (really unusual notation — it could also be described as V+ of the Neapolitan sixth or V+/N) happens twice in sequence, in G♭ and down a whole step to E. Since the bass moves chromatically by one step in each iteration, the two motions are joined by the enharmonic equivalent D♭—C# in between.
Two heavily embellished two-bar sequences occur immediately afterwards (and there are more after this!). Akin to the D♭—g♭—g♭m7 in the second phrase of Meno mosso, Blumenfeld does the same in g# with D#—g#—g#m7 (i64—iv).
This leads to a series of misleading progressions, not arriving at the tonic (or a key center at all) for four tumultuous bars. Each bar has a subdominant chord preceding a dominant one, but parallel motion in the treble voice prevents the music from reaching the tonic.
The g#m7 changes to e#⌀7 by changing only one chord tone (F#—E#). e#⌀7 moves to A#7 (ii⌀7—V7). The bass note moves from a suspended sixth to a perfect fifth from A# (F#—E#), revealing a dominant seventh in second inversion. These suspensions are marked as 2—1 in the Roman numeral analysis (bass note goes from suspended tone to chord tone; second inversion dominant seventh is marked as V43).
The listener expects e#⌀7—A#7 to resolve at d# (ii⌀7—V7—i) — the bass does, in fact, move to D#, but the treble voices stay in parallel motion. Because B/D#/G#/B also drops a whole step to A/C#/F#/A, this is just another half-diminished seventh chord, restarting the ii⌀7—V7 progression with d#⌀7—G#7. The Roman numeral analysis is the same for both occurrences — ii⌀7—V432—1 — by changing the temporary tonic with the bass (d# to c#).
This happens once more with treble notes A/C#/F#/A moving to G/B/E/G over C# in the bass (c#⌀7). Roman numeral analysis is a little nonsensical here — iv⌀7 and vi64 don't make any sense. However, the chord that follows (V642—1) is clearly a dominant seventh — it is heading straight for a g#/a♭ tonic:
This is the major climax of the B section. This brief, but violent, three-bar passage has fantastic harmonic depth. We arrive at the long-awaited tonic in first inversion, passing through a subdominant ii⌀7 to get to root position i(5). The interesting voicing with octaves only (third embedded in the grace note) allows E♭ to be suspended in d♭ minor in the next beat. d♭ resolves to a♭ in second inversion, though landing on a second inversion chord is not a satisfying resolution.
That second inversion a♭ chord leads to the most dissonant chord in the entire piece, a suspended French augmented sixth in first inversion. The chord itself is B♭7♭5 (B♭—D—F♭—A♭(G#), 1—3—♭5—7(+6)), though it could also be interpreted as its enharmonic equivalent F♭7♭5 (F♭—A♭—C𝄫(B♭)—D, 1—3—♭5—+6). The fact that it lands on a suspended French sixth puts three tones (G♭/A♭/B♭) right next to each other, and even the G♭ suspension resolving to F♭ creates the Fr+6's second tritone (F♭/B♭) on top of the existing one (D/A♭).
This Fr+6 resolves to a♭ via an E♭+ augmented chord, taken either as II7♭5(B♭7♭5)—V+—i or VI7♭5(F♭7♭5)—V+—i. That a♭ is also in suspension (i4—2—3) for another two beats, each stretched by the marked ritardando. The fact that the bass a♭ is interrupted by an E♭ delays the true feeling of the tonic until the a♭ arpeggio marked largamente. The combination of the slowing tempo and harmonic release of tension signals the conclusion of this phrase.
Much like after the first two phrases of Meno mosso, where the piece hovered around a B♭ dominant with e♭ and c⌀7 for subdominant character, Blumenfeld does this again. The first four bars hover around a♭, and then B♭ returns in the next four with the same harmony as before (shown in relief). (The Roman numeral analysis doesn't serve a clear purpose here, but it shows how the function of those chords doesn't match the analysis itself, a characteristic of the more harmonically opaque parts of Blumenfeld's writing.)
The first phrase of Meno mosso makes a partial return (also shown in relief). The important suspensions and resolutions are highlighted musically by largamente markings, indicating that the arpeggios should be played more slowly. Pianist David Blumenthal really emphasizes those markings in his playing. The nonfunctional chords just embellish the prolonged III, keeping it interesting until we reach the Fsus4—3 closure of the phrase.
Rather than resolving F to b♭, Blumenfeld just chromatically lowers the major third to a minor third (A—A♭), which starts a long descending transition. The transition starts with chromatic motion (for seven bars) and then switches to scalar motion. Blumenfeld stretches the chromatic descent for it to feel contiguous, first lowering augmented fifths to perfect fifths and then major thirds to minor thirds. Three times is enough to get the listener to a D dominant, which is on the right path to resolve to g minor to eventually reach the second A section.
Now, the transition becomes scalar. The augmented chords from the chromatic part of the transition is implied here, although the missing F# or G creates some ambiguity. However, the resolution to D7 in the first bar implies the same root of the chord within the bar (as in the succeeding bars).
The various sequential motions are marked with differently colored lines to show their movements, but the Roman numeral analysis reveals what is happening musically. Starting at the third bar in the new tempo (♩ = 92-96), sequential 7—6 motions proceed by ascending fourths (d—gm7—c—F7—B♭—E♭M7). The 7—6 motion resets every two beats because the bass (red boxed) notes also descends. Only the boxed bass notes were used for these analyses; the remaining notes are motivic — rather than harmonic — embellishment.
Once we reach E♭M7 (VI7), there are two ways to read what is happening. The top row of the Roman numeral analysis indicates suspension-resolution relationships between the first and second beat of each 'chord.' These are indicated with pairs of maroon/burgundy lines (connecting pairs of chords in sequential motion). The second way to read this is purely by what chords are present, rather than attempting to interpret the subjective musical direction. The bottom row shows the chords as they change just by looking at the sheet music, and these are indicated with pairs of blue lines (same notes in different octaves).
Either way you read it, the fact that the tonal center stays on E♭ means that the suspension-resolution pairs happen with descending scale degrees. While the four bars preceding have 7—6 motions, the two bars of sequentially descending thirds show pairs of descending motions (7—65—4, 6—54—3, 5—43—2, and 4—32—1 [rewritten as 9—84—3]). Once the treble note in the sequence reaches E♭, the bass figuration changes to the original form, in double-time (sixteenth note triplets in 4/4 to the eighth note triplets in 2/2 originally). Two bar long suspension-resolutions on the ii⌀65—V progression resolve to i (g), making another seamless transition into the second A section.
V. A Section (reprise)
The A section restarts sixteen bars in, drastically reducing the amount of repeated material in the reprise. The reprise and original A section are shown side-by-side below. The reprise, at left, begins at the same green arrow to start as in the original A section, at right. The next sixteen bars are an exact recapitulation. However, the recapitulated A section departs from the original at the orange arrow, at which the highlighted orange section is the new material, an extended D7♭9 arpeggio going up and racing downhill.
This is my personal favorite part of the piece. The opening melody is stated once more as it is in the beginning — and then two quarter note triplets over a G—F—E♭ descending bass explode into a sweeping E♭M7 arpeggio. It is repeated with the melody climbing even higher, and that phrase is sequentially repeated with dm7 arpeggios.
Two pairs of sequentially repeated two-bar phrases (feels like four sequential iterations) follow to come down from the climactic passage above. The last iteration is extended by two bars, departing from the climax with a vii°7/V—V—i progression.
The final statement of the original melody happens over a chromatically rising figure buried within the triplet figuration, subtly but critically changing the harmonic texture with the transition into and out of the raised #6 (E♮). The harmonic peak within this phrase is dynamically outlined as well.
VI. Coda
Since both climaxes have passed, there aren't many places to go dynamically. Blumenfeld brings back material from the B section and interleaves them with the characteristic triplets (the originals are shown in relief). The melodic notes are the same (and, for the second short phrase ending on G♭ as III6, all the chords are the same).
Blumenfeld then plays with common tones one last time to shift G♭ major into b minor via G♭5/F#5, using the augmented F#+7 (V+7) to establish this transitory tonic. D major fifths are used from b minor to establish the V of g minor and via D+7 (again V+7), return to the home key for the last time.
The piece closes out with a series of parallel fifths shifting octaves over triplets. The final g minor chord places the minor third, B♭, inside a hollow voicing of fifths, fading into pianissimo darkness.
If you enjoyed this in-depth analysis, please comment and share it with others who might find this interesting!
All score excerpts taken from the M. P. Belaieff edition (Leipzig) via IMSLP.org.
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