Schubert - Doppelgänger

Question 1

How does Schubert set the mood of the song in these opening bars?

(can you think of 7 things to say?)

Answer 1

(still is the night)

• slow
• long notes (dotted minims)
• quiet

(empty are the streets)

• low tessitura
• bare dyads

(general anxiety/obsession)

• inner pedal f#
• harmonic ostinato

Question 2

How does the vocal melody suggest the opening mood of the song?

(can you think of 3 things?)

Answer 2

repeated f# (obsession, anxiety)

low range (‘still’)

short rest before each phrase begins (hesitation, nervousness)

Question 3

Here (the first four bars of this extract) the harmonic osinato is a variation on the opening 8 bars. How has it changed ?

(5 things?)

Answer 3

A-natural instead of A# in second dyad

extra f# on beat 3 of second bar

third chord is a complete D-major triad

fourth chord is a complete f#7 (second inversion)

fourth chord is held for and extra two bars

Question 4

This is the beginning of the second verse. The mood in this verse begins to change. We can already see it changing in these four bars. What is different?

Answer 4

gradual crescendo

vocal begins to rise (‘looks to the sky”)

Question 5

This is the climax of the first half of the second verse. The main word is Schmerzensgewalt (painful torment). How does Schubert respond musically to that word?

(6 things?)

Answer 5

highest note in the song so far (f#)

loudest dynamic so far (fff)

French Sixth chord

dramatic octave descent in vocal line

last chord paused for an extra bar

Question 6

The climax of the second half of the second verse comes when the poet recognizes his own face (meine eig’ne Gestalt).

How does Schubert vary this phrase from the very similar one in the first half of verse 2?

Answer 6

goes to g - one note higher - instead of the octave drop

French Sixth become German Sixth (which then ‘resolves’ to a French Sixth — g resolves to f# in the piano)

expressive échappée on ‘zeigt’

Question 7

Thining about the story of the song, what is happening here?

How does Schubert’s setting reflect the mood here?

Answer 7

The poet has just seen that the man standing outside his former lover’s old house has his own face. Here he begins to speak to the doppelgänger.

The poet is scared by the sight of his own face - fear and anxiety are shown by:

rising chromatic bass

pedal f#

crescendo

accelerando

Question 8

This is the climax of verse 3

the lyrics are ‘so many times, so long ago’

There are some old-fashioned (long ago) things about the music here - what are they?

Answer 8

the ‘dramatic/operatic’ Ic chord

the long melisma on ‘alter’

ii7b - V7 - i perfect cadence

long dominant preparation (pedal)

Question 9

outline the tonality of Der Doppelgänger

Answer 9

B minor

• imperfect cadences in v1 and v2
• only perfect cadence at end of v3
• plagal cadence to close song

tertiary modulation to D#-minor in v3

Question 10

aside from the ‘normal’ diatonic chords, Schubert uses a few chromatic chords in prominent places

such as?

Answer 10

French Sixth

Geman Sixth

‘Neapolitan’ chord (c-major in root position) - n.b. not Neapolitan sixth

Question 11

How would you best describe the structure of Der Doppelgänger?

Answer 11

you need to say two things

• AA’B (v1 and v2 are very similar)
• modified strophic (the four strophes in v1 and v2 - each verse divides into 2 - are very similar but not identical)