| Bar |
What Happens |
Comment |
| 1-4 |
Subject based on
tonic chord only. |
The subject is built
entirely on the notes of an A major chord. There is no attempt to introduce any
other harmony – Shostakovich is deliberately frustrating the ‘expectant’
ear |
| 5-8 |
RH countersubject. LH
real answer in dominant. The countersubject and subject interlock rhythmically
so there is a note on every quaver of the bar, forming perpetuum mobile
figuration. |
Like the subject, the
countersubject is built entirely on the notes of the dominant chord (E
major). |
| 9-10 |
Episode, which takes
the music from E major (IV), through a D major (V)/A major (I) cycle.
|
Again, Shostakovich
is frustrating the ear by using an A major chord to precede the subject’s tonic
entry at bar 11, rather than by setting up a dominant. |
| 11-14 |
RH (treble)
counterpoint, hovering around C-sharp and A. Middle part (alto) countersubject
in LH (bass) subject in tonic. |
|
| 15-20 |
Episodic material,
remaining diatonic, and moving through repetitions of E major and b minor
until |
This music is
thematically related to the subject but does not form part of its tonal
argument. |
| 19 |
A major and b
minor |
|
| 20 |
A major/E major
progression (twice) preparing for an entry of the subject in the |
Chordally, this is
the same as an imperfect cadence (I-V-VI), and, despite that one might have
expected a new entry in the tonic, he goes to |
| 21 |
relative minor
(f-sharp). |
the submediant
minor. |
| 25-28 |
C-sharp minor:
Modified subject in treble, similarly modified countersubject (CS) in
bass. |
Note how the rhythmic
figuration of the countersubject in the alto is compacted from the original
subject; similarly, the bass line is a compaction of the original
countersubject. |
| 29-32 |
Bicinium
(until bar 51). RH ‘link phrase’; its rhythm and shape come from the original
subject. LH single-line accompaniment, based on original
countersubject. |
|
| 33-36 |
Repeat of bars 11-14
without soprano, in the tonic key. |
Again, Shostakovich
prepares the A major entry with a tonic chord in the preceding beat rather than
using a dominant |
| 37-40 |
RH tonal answer in
dominant. LH countersubject. |
|
| 41-42 |
As bars 29-30, but a
sixth lower. |
|
| 43-44 |
Derived from bars
31-32, but chromatically altered to modulate into F major. |
|
| 45-46 |
Episodic material
establishing F major. |
|
| 47-50 |
Subject in F major,
beginning in LH on beat 1, but continued in RH at beat 3. |
|
| 51-54 |
Treble: Counterpoint;
Alto: Countersubject in B-flat major (IV of F major); Bass (new entry): Real
answer in B-flat major. |
|
| 55-57 |
Episode in E-flat
major. |
Rising figuration
increases sense of excitement, taking the harmony through |
| 58 |
C minor/major
|
a juxtaposition of
major and minor modes that play on chordal relationships. |
| 59-60 |
Chromatic
reinforcement of E-flat major. |
|
| 61 |
Enharmonic change:
D-flat major is the flattened leading note of E-flat major. C# major is the
dominant of f-sharp minor, which is the relative minor of A major. |
|
| 62-69 |
Subject and episode
over dominant pedal point. |
|
| 67 |
More chromatic
oscillation between chords (see also 58): E major, e minor, C
major… |
|
| 70 |
…A major. Imitative
(quasi-canonic) subject entries at the octave |
|
| 72 |
RH modified subject,
moved up the triad by an inversion |
|
| 76 |
Bass: Subject in D,
truncated. |
Almost a
stretto |
| 79 |
Treble: Subject in A
major |
|
| 83 -88 |
Episodic writing. C
major 1st inversion…A major…C-sharp major…F-sharp major/minor |
|
| 89-90 |
Note unprecedented
alto crotchet movement |
|
| 90-91 |
Implied cadence into
E major |
|
| 91-92 |
…and back to A
major |
|
| 93 |
Crotchets return (as
in 89-90), over brief dominant pedal |
|
| 94-95 |
Repetition to flag
ending: repeat of 92-93 |
|
| 96-99 |
Diatonic, triadic A
major ending. |
|
