Analysis by Key: Another Look at Modulation

13i3SS
ANALYSIS BY KEY
Example 13 shows how the prolonged F chord of Ex. 12 is continued. If we
think of the large bass motion F - (AW ) - C as an unfolded fifth, the D that
follows the C would represent a sixth. That D, in turn, leads to the G minor by
the motion of a descending fifth. To sum up, the bass line that spans the f1rst
two of this section's three inner groupings constitutes the unfolding or
horizontalization of the contrapuntal progression 5-6-5 (F-C, F-D, G-D).
Ex. 13 Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro, Act II, 'Voi che sapete', bs 35-52
(g)(R @ ? '
b > S_f S 5-h S
Ap 4Hl ' ,-?
r s 1l - 1 ; j ; ccomC > X j ; becOmes n
l-'9P:rEf's6b:-')> r C rtv f>>t
[llltOl(lillZ P ( [) (,
After the G minor cadence, the vocal line moves to its clax on eS2,
intensified by a doubling at the higher octave in the flute (bs 58-9). There is an
apparent discrepancy between the melody and the harmony here. The melody
note has a higher syntactic value than the brief C minor chord that supports it;
eS 2 prepares the seventh over the prolonged V shown in Ex. 11, whereas the C
minor has no such large-scale function. This syntactic value is reflected in the
sonic emphasis Mozart accords the eW 2 as the event that caps an extended phase
of increasinf intensity. Functioning within a larger context (from b.52), the
climactic eS relates obliquely to the last high-level bass note, the G of b. 52; the
reappearance of G in b.58 helps to clarify this connection. Since the vocal line in
these bars unfolds a fourth bS l eS 2, the passage as a whole projects an ES sixth
chord (G in bass, Bb and ES in soprano). Understood this way, bs 52-8 continue
the earlier 5-6-5 alternation with another sixth, G-EW, an interval of the
middleground not literally present on the surface but clearly plied by context
(Ex. 14). In b.60, the G transfers from the bass into an upper part (oboe doubled
by the violins), where it continues up to A and then on to BS in the reprise. The
linear structure that governs the plan of modulation is thus a rising fourthprogression
related to those found in the Bach Allemande and Beethoven Sonata
discussed earlier (Exs 9 and 10). In addition to the obvious differences in key
succession, the Mozart also differs in that the bass adds the root of V below the
rising linear progression to allow a strong harmonic resolution into the reprise.
Example 15 presents three middleground views of the B section. From it we
can see how a repeated detail - the use of the enharmonic note-pair C,tt /DS
MUSIC ANALYSIS 6: 3, 1987 311