Prolongation
Encyclopedia
In music theory
, prolongation refers to the process in tonal music through which a pitch
, interval
, or consonant triad
is able to govern spans of music when not physically sounding. It is a central principle in the music-analytic methodology of Schenkerian analysis
, and it is a concept conceived by Austria
n theorist Heinrich Schenker
.
Prolongation can be thought of as a way of generating musical content through the linear elaboration of simple and basic tonal structures with progressively increasing detail and sophistication. Important to the operation of prolongation is the hierarchical
differentiation of pitches within a passage of tonal music. Typically, the note or harmony of highest hierarchical significance is the tonic
, and this is said to be "prolonged" across durations of music that may feature many other different harmonies. (However, in principle any other type of consonant chord, pitch, or harmonic function can be prolonged within tonal music.) Conversely, in a chord progression
, harmonies are said to prolong a triad when they are subordinated to that governing chord in a systematic manner; the job of such prolonging harmonies is to express and extend the influence of that hierarchically super-ordinate pitch or triad. Because it enables a pitch or pitches to remain in effect over the course of a piece, even as many other harmonic events intervene, prolongation is central to the concept of tonality
in music.
Heinrich Schenker
(1868–1935) was responsible for developing both the conceptual framework for prolongation and a means of analyzing music in terms of prolonged musical structures (called Schenkerian analysis
).
Schenker’s own usage of the term differs from the modern one. The word Prolongation is not common in German and Schenker first used it in a very specific meaning (maybe originating in legal, possibly Viennese vocabulary), referring to the extension of the laws of strict composition in free composition. The meaning of the term later shifts to denote the phenomena resulting from these laws. It may be claimed, therefore, that for Schenker a prolongation is either the extended application of a fundamental law (Urgesetz) or of a fundamental concept (Urbegriff), or the phenomena resulting from such an extended application.
In his analysis of J. S. Bach's Little Prelude in d minor, BWV 926, in Der Tonwille 5, Schenker proposes what may be his earliest figure showing the steps through which the Ursatz develops into the foreground. He explains that this figure "shows the gradual growth of the voice-leading prolongations, all predetermined in the womb of the Urlinie". The "gradual growth" illustrated is a global phenomenon, always concerning the piece as a whole. The figure is further commented upon on p. 45 of the same volume (probably because it was the first of its kind). Schenker stresses that it starts with the two-voice setting of the Ursatz – an expression, therefore, of the fundamental laws of strict counterpoint. Each of the following steps is described as a prolongation, a specific freedom taken with respect to the laws expressed in the previous step. In the many similar figures of later analyses, Schenker always describes the passing from one level to the next as a prolongation. And in Freie Satz, he confirms that the word still refers to the passing from one voice-leading level to another: "For the sake of continuity with my earlier theoretical and analytical works, I am retaining in this volume the words of Latin derivation prolongation and diminution as designations for the voice-leading levels in the middelground".
The concept of prolongation is important for Schenker because he believes that showing how a masterpiece of free composition remains rooted in the laws of strict counterpoint explains its utter unity, its "synthesis". The means and techniques of passing from one level to the next are subsumed in Schenker's notion of "composing out" or "compositional elaboration" (Auskomponierung, a German neologism), which for him is a mechanism of elaborating pitch materials in musical time. The means of elaboration are described below as "Prolongational techniques", in conformity with the modern Schenkerian English usage, but should better be termed "elaborations".
In Schenkerian analysis
, the analyst discerns ways in which prolongation creates the details of a musical composition by elaborating the background structure. Most of these methods involve contrapuntal processes, to the such a degree that Schenkerianism is a theory that almost completely synthesizes harmony and linear counterpoint in the service of the more global phenomenon of tonal prolongation. Some prolongational techniques include diminution
s. A coda
is a passage which brings a musical movement or work to a conclusion through prolongation. Methods of prolongation include horizontalization, the horizontal unfolding in time over a background governed by the vertical intervals
found in the chord.
{Refer to page on Schenkerian Analysis
.}
, and there to a select class of mostly Austro-German composers in a line from J.S. Bach to Johannes Brahms
. Developments in more recent music theory have sought to clarify the conditions under which prolongation may obtain, so that other repertoires may either be opened up or more justifiably be precluded. Schenker pupil Felix Salzar, for example, detects the rudiments of prolongational horizontalization in music as early as 12th Century plainchant, and argues that it is a musical principle that persists through post-tonal music as well, such as Paul Hindemith
and Igor Stravinsky
. Music theorist Robert Morgan has argued that a central tenet of Schenkerian thought—that only consonant triads are capable of prolongation—needlessly excludes a class of dissonant
sororities, such as diminished sevenths or a more arbitrarily defined set of pitches; Morgan claims that starting in the 19th Century, composers such as Liszt, Wagner, and Scriabin, began "composing out" these dissonant configurations as rigorous a manner as is usually ascribed to the triadic prolongation of tonal composers.
Atonal music poses a stark challenge to prolongational hearing and analysis, as its harmonic makeup by definition eschews the long-range controlling force of monotonality
, and in most cases purposely abstains from consonant triads, or indeed referential or centric sonorities at all. Music theorist Joseph Straus has attempted to define more rigorously what it is about atonality that precludes prolongational hearing. His own definition of prolongation is "the sense of continuation of a musical object, particularly when not literally present ... prolongation is a cognitive act of the listener". He formulated four conditions for the possibility of Schenkerian prolongation in any musical style (1987) These are:
Straus concludes that such conditions do not exist in atonal music and therefore that "atonal prolongation" is impossible. However, theorist Lerdahl
argues that Straus' argument is based on circular criteria. Lerdahl's own formulation of prolongation is more amenable to atonal structures. For example, in atonal music
, strong prolongation may be distinguished from progression, repetition
of an event versus movement to a different event, while weak prolongation, repetition of an event in altered form, may not easily be distinguished due to the lack of a referential triad (klang
).
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
, prolongation refers to the process in tonal music through which a pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
, interval
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
, or consonant triad
Triad (music)
In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:* the Root...
is able to govern spans of music when not physically sounding. It is a central principle in the music-analytic methodology of Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker. The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music...
, and it is a concept conceived by Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n theorist Heinrich Schenker
Heinrich Schenker
Heinrich Schenker was a music theorist, best known for his approach to musical analysis, now usually called Schenkerian analysis....
.
Prolongation can be thought of as a way of generating musical content through the linear elaboration of simple and basic tonal structures with progressively increasing detail and sophistication. Important to the operation of prolongation is the hierarchical
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
differentiation of pitches within a passage of tonal music. Typically, the note or harmony of highest hierarchical significance is the tonic
Tonic (music)
In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...
, and this is said to be "prolonged" across durations of music that may feature many other different harmonies. (However, in principle any other type of consonant chord, pitch, or harmonic function can be prolonged within tonal music.) Conversely, in a chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
, harmonies are said to prolong a triad when they are subordinated to that governing chord in a systematic manner; the job of such prolonging harmonies is to express and extend the influence of that hierarchically super-ordinate pitch or triad. Because it enables a pitch or pitches to remain in effect over the course of a piece, even as many other harmonic events intervene, prolongation is central to the concept of tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
in music.
Prolongation in Heinrich Schenker
The early 20th-century music theoristMusic theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
Heinrich Schenker
Heinrich Schenker
Heinrich Schenker was a music theorist, best known for his approach to musical analysis, now usually called Schenkerian analysis....
(1868–1935) was responsible for developing both the conceptual framework for prolongation and a means of analyzing music in terms of prolonged musical structures (called Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker. The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music...
).
Schenker’s own usage of the term differs from the modern one. The word Prolongation is not common in German and Schenker first used it in a very specific meaning (maybe originating in legal, possibly Viennese vocabulary), referring to the extension of the laws of strict composition in free composition. The meaning of the term later shifts to denote the phenomena resulting from these laws. It may be claimed, therefore, that for Schenker a prolongation is either the extended application of a fundamental law (Urgesetz) or of a fundamental concept (Urbegriff), or the phenomena resulting from such an extended application.
In his analysis of J. S. Bach's Little Prelude in d minor, BWV 926, in Der Tonwille 5, Schenker proposes what may be his earliest figure showing the steps through which the Ursatz develops into the foreground. He explains that this figure "shows the gradual growth of the voice-leading prolongations, all predetermined in the womb of the Urlinie". The "gradual growth" illustrated is a global phenomenon, always concerning the piece as a whole. The figure is further commented upon on p. 45 of the same volume (probably because it was the first of its kind). Schenker stresses that it starts with the two-voice setting of the Ursatz – an expression, therefore, of the fundamental laws of strict counterpoint. Each of the following steps is described as a prolongation, a specific freedom taken with respect to the laws expressed in the previous step. In the many similar figures of later analyses, Schenker always describes the passing from one level to the next as a prolongation. And in Freie Satz, he confirms that the word still refers to the passing from one voice-leading level to another: "For the sake of continuity with my earlier theoretical and analytical works, I am retaining in this volume the words of Latin derivation prolongation and diminution as designations for the voice-leading levels in the middelground".
The concept of prolongation is important for Schenker because he believes that showing how a masterpiece of free composition remains rooted in the laws of strict counterpoint explains its utter unity, its "synthesis". The means and techniques of passing from one level to the next are subsumed in Schenker's notion of "composing out" or "compositional elaboration" (Auskomponierung, a German neologism), which for him is a mechanism of elaborating pitch materials in musical time. The means of elaboration are described below as "Prolongational techniques", in conformity with the modern Schenkerian English usage, but should better be termed "elaborations".
Prolongational techniques
Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker. The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music...
, the analyst discerns ways in which prolongation creates the details of a musical composition by elaborating the background structure. Most of these methods involve contrapuntal processes, to the such a degree that Schenkerianism is a theory that almost completely synthesizes harmony and linear counterpoint in the service of the more global phenomenon of tonal prolongation. Some prolongational techniques include diminution
Diminution
In Western music and music theory, diminution has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values...
s. A coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
is a passage which brings a musical movement or work to a conclusion through prolongation. Methods of prolongation include horizontalization, the horizontal unfolding in time over a background governed by the vertical intervals
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
found in the chord.
{Refer to page on Schenkerian Analysis
Schenkerian analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of musical analysis of tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker. The goal of a Schenkerian analysis is to interpret the underlying structure of a tonal work. The theory's basic tenets can be viewed as a way of defining tonality in music...
.}
Conditions for Prolongation
Schenker intended his theory to apply only to music of the common practice periodCommon practice period
The common practice period, in the history of Western art music , spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.-General characteristics:...
, and there to a select class of mostly Austro-German composers in a line from J.S. Bach to Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
. Developments in more recent music theory have sought to clarify the conditions under which prolongation may obtain, so that other repertoires may either be opened up or more justifiably be precluded. Schenker pupil Felix Salzar, for example, detects the rudiments of prolongational horizontalization in music as early as 12th Century plainchant, and argues that it is a musical principle that persists through post-tonal music as well, such as Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
and Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
. Music theorist Robert Morgan has argued that a central tenet of Schenkerian thought—that only consonant triads are capable of prolongation—needlessly excludes a class of dissonant
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
sororities, such as diminished sevenths or a more arbitrarily defined set of pitches; Morgan claims that starting in the 19th Century, composers such as Liszt, Wagner, and Scriabin, began "composing out" these dissonant configurations as rigorous a manner as is usually ascribed to the triadic prolongation of tonal composers.
Atonal music poses a stark challenge to prolongational hearing and analysis, as its harmonic makeup by definition eschews the long-range controlling force of monotonality
Monotonality
Monotonality is a theoretical concept, principally deriving from the theoretical writings of Arnold Schoenberg and Heinrich Schenker, that in any piece of tonal music only one tonic is ever present, modulations being only regions or prolongations within, or extensions of the basic...
, and in most cases purposely abstains from consonant triads, or indeed referential or centric sonorities at all. Music theorist Joseph Straus has attempted to define more rigorously what it is about atonality that precludes prolongational hearing. His own definition of prolongation is "the sense of continuation of a musical object, particularly when not literally present ... prolongation is a cognitive act of the listener". He formulated four conditions for the possibility of Schenkerian prolongation in any musical style (1987) These are:
- Consistent distinction between consonance and dissonanceConsonance and dissonanceIn music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
. - A scale of stability among consonant harmonies [see diatonic functionDiatonic functionIn tonal music theory, a diatonic function is the specific, recognized role of each of the 7 notes and their chords in relation to the diatonic key...
]. - Ways in which less structural pitches embellish more structural pitches.
- A clear relationship between harmony and voice-leading.
Straus concludes that such conditions do not exist in atonal music and therefore that "atonal prolongation" is impossible. However, theorist Lerdahl
Fred Lerdahl
Alfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
argues that Straus' argument is based on circular criteria. Lerdahl's own formulation of prolongation is more amenable to atonal structures. For example, in atonal music
Atonality
Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale...
, strong prolongation may be distinguished from progression, repetition
Repetition (music)
Repetition is important in music, where sounds or sequences are often repeated. One often stated idea is that repetition should be in balance with the initial statements and variations in a piece. It may be called restatement, such as the restatement of a theme...
of an event versus movement to a different event, while weak prolongation, repetition of an event in altered form, may not easily be distinguished due to the lack of a referential triad (klang
Klang (music)
In music, Klang is the, "chord of nature", so called because it is built from the first five partials of the overtone series...
).