The Drama of the Bridge: Modulation as Process

Frank Samarotto, Indiana University

There is nothing more basic to the study of functional harmony than the identification of key; indeed, the labeling of harmonies cannot even begin until a key is declared. Almost as basic is the process of modulation. It can be a large-scale formal move or a temporary tonicization; the modulation itself can be a lengthy argument, or so abrupt as to hardly merit that name. In all these cases the areas belonging to each key must be exactly demarcated; at most a single pivot can be said to belong to two keys (and, arguably, that apperception changes in prospect and retrospect.)

However, modulation does not always present itself to us as such an immediate shift. Indeed, much of the drama of sonata form issues from taking a modulation that is as simple as it could be (say, from I to V) and rendering it as an apparent struggle, so that the achievement of the new key is felt as a goal genuinely difficult to attain. The ubiquitous emphasis on V of the new key embodies this sort of tension: we are in the new key but not yet on the new tonic harmony. Even the tonic chord itself can make appearances that are not yet given stability, suggesting a kind of anticipation of the new key, and creating a desire for its fuller realization.

The idea of modulation as a gradual process will be my topic, using the techniques of Schenkerian analysis as an interpretive tool. The main processive elements to consider are: 1) the anticipation of the oncoming key through nonstructural accidentals (a favorite device of J.S. Bach) and nonstructural harmonies; 2) the retention of the tonic prolongation albeit in altered form (e.g., chromaticized through voice exchange) even after the modulation would seem to be complete; and 3) the introduction of themes in the new key whose stability is subsequently revoked by the reappearance of elements belonging to the tonic/first theme area. (Examples will include sonata expositions ranging from Haydn to Brahms.) Although these sort of analyses might seem overly elaborate, I will argue that the hearings they represent are actually more accessible than the traditional approach to modulation, and ultimately capture the musical experience more directly.