Part 4

IV. _The Minor Mode._--When the predecessors of Bach and Handel had succeeded in establishing a key-system able to bear the weight of free discord, that key-system took two forms, in both of which the three chords of tonic, dominant and subdominant occupied cardinal points. In the one form the tonic chord was natural, that is to say, major. In the other form the tonic chord was artificial, that is to say, minor. In the minor mode so firm is the position of the tonic and dominant (the dominant chord always being major) that it is no longer necessary, as in the 16th century, to conclude with a major chord, although it long remained a frequent practice, rather because of the inherent beauty and surprise of the effect than because of any mere survival of ancient customs, at least where great masters are concerned. (This final major chord is known as the _Tierce de Picardie_.) The effect of the minor mode is thus normally plaintive because it centres round the artificial concord instead of the natural; and, though the keynote bears this minor artificial triad, the ear nevertheless has an expectation (which may be intensified into a powerful emotional effect) that the final conclusion of the harmonic scheme may brighten out into the more sonorous harmonic system of major chords. Let us once more recall those ecclesiastical modes of which the 3rd degree is normally minor. We have seen how they may be regarded as the more oblique of the various cross-sections of the 16th-century harmonic scheme. Now, the modern minor mode is too firmly rooted in its minor tonic chord for the 16th-century feeling of an oblique harmonic scheme to be of more than secondary importance, though that feeling survives, as the discussion of key-relationships will show us. But it is constantly thrust into the background by the new possibility that the minor tonic chord with its attendant minor harmonies may give place to the major system round the same tonic, and by the certainty that if any change is made at the conclusion of the work it will be upon the same tonic and not have reference to some other harmonic centre. In other words, a major and minor key on the same tonic are felt as identical in everything but expression (a point in which the Tonic Sol Fa system, as hitherto practised, with its identification of the minor key with its "relative" instead of its tonic major, shows a most unfortunate confusion of thought). The characteristics of the major and minor modes may of course be modified by many artistic considerations, and it would be as absurd to develop this account into a scheme of pigeon-holed passions as to do the same for the equally obvious and closely parallel fact that in drama a constant source of pathos is the placing of our sympathies in an oblique relation to the natural sequence of events or to the more universal issues of the subject.

V. _Key-Relationships._--On the modern sense of the identity of the tonic in major and minor rests the whole distinctive character of modern harmony, and the whole key-system of the classical composers. The masters of the 16th century naturally found it necessary to make full closes much more frequently than would be desirable if the only possible close was that on the final of the mode. They therefore formed closes on other notes, but they formed them on these exactly as on a final. Thus, a close on the second degree of the Ionian mode was identical with a Dorian final close. The notes, other than the final, on which closes could be made were called _modulations_. And what between the three "regular modulations" (known as the dominant, mediant, and participant) and the "conceded modulations," of which two were generally admitted in each mode simply in the interests of variety, a composer was at liberty to form a full close on any note which did not involve too many extraneous sharps or flats for its correct accomplishment. But there was a great difference between modal and modern conceptions of modulation. We have said that the close on the second degree of the Ionian mode was Dorian, but such a modulation was not regarded as a visit paid to the Dorian mode, but merely as the formation of a momentary point of repose on the second degree of the Ionian mode. When therefore it is said that the modulations of 16th-century music are "purposeless and shifting," the criticism implies a purpose in change of key which is wholly irrelevant. The modal composers' purpose lay in purely local relationships of harmony, in various degrees of refinement which are often crowded out of the larger and more coarse-grained scheme of modern harmony, but which modern harmony is perfectly capable of employing in precisely the same sense whenever it has leisure.

Modulation, in the modern sense of the term, is a different thing. The modern sense of tonality is so firm, and modern designs so large, that it is desirable that different portions of a composition should be arranged round different harmonic centres or keys, and moreover that the relation between these keys and the primary key should be felt, and the whole design should at last return to the primary key, to remain there with such emphasis and proportion as shall leave upon the mind the impression that the whole is in the primary key and that the foreign keys have been as artistically grouped around it as its own local harmonies. The true principles on which keys are related proved so elastic in the hands of Beethoven that their results utterly outstripped the earlier theory which adhered desperately to the limitations of the 16th century; and so vast is the range of key which Beethoven is able to organize in a convincing scheme of relationship, that even modern theory, dazzled by the true harmonic possibilities, is apt to come to the conclusion, more lame and impotent than any ancient pedantry, that all keys are equally related. A vague conception, dubbed "the unity of the chromatic scale," is thus made to explain away the whole beauty and power of Wagner's no less than Beethoven's harmonic system. We have not space to dispute the matter here, and it must suffice to state dogmatically and statistically the classical facts of key-relationship, including those which Beethoven established as normal possibilities on the suggestion of Haydn, in whose works they appear as special effects.

a. _Direct Relationships._--The first principle on which two keys are considered to be related is a strengthening of that which determined the so-called modulations of the 16th-century modes. Two keys are directly related when the tonic chord of the one is among the common chords of the other. Thus, D minor is related to C major because the tonic chord of D minor is the common chord on the supertonic of C (see Ex. 6). In the same way the four other related keys to C major are E minor the mediant, F major the subdominant, G major the dominant and A minor the submediant.

[Illustration: Ex. 10.]

This last key-relationship is sometimes called the "relative" minor,

## partly because it is usually expressed by the same key-signature as the

tonic, but probably more justifiably because it is the point of view from which to reckon the key-relationships of the minor tonic. If we take the minor scale in its "harmonic" form (i.e. the form deducible from its chords of minor tonic, minor subdominant and major dominant, without regard to the exigencies of melody in concession to which the "melodic" minor scale raises the 6th in ascent and flattens the 7th in descent), we shall find it impossible to build a common chord upon its mediant (Ex. 10). But we have seen that A minor is related to C major; therefore it is absurd to suppose that C major is not related to A minor. Clearly then we must deduce some of the relationships of a minor tonic as the converse of those of a major tonic. Thus we may read Ex. 6 backwards and reason as follows: A minor is the submediant of C major; therefore C major is the mediant or relative major of A minor. D minor is the supertonic of C major; therefore C major is related to D minor and may be called its flat 7th. Taking A minor as our standard key, G major is then the flat 7th to A minor. The remaining major keys (C major to E minor = F major to A minor) may be traced directly as well as conversely; and the subdominant, being minor, does not involve an appeal to the major scale at all. But with the dominant we find the curious fact that while the dominant _chord_ of a minor key is major it is impossible to regard the major dominant _key_ as directly related to the minor tonic, since it does not contain the minor tonic chord at all; e.g. the only chord of A in E major is A major. But the dominant minor key contains the tonic chord of the primary minor key clearly enough as subdominant, and therefore when we modulate from a minor tonic to a minor dominant we feel that we have a direct key-relationship and have not lost touch with our tonic. Thus in the minor mode modulation to the dominant key is, though frequent and necessary, a much more uphill process than in the major mode, because the naturally major dominant chord has first to be contradicted. On the other hand, a contrast between minor tonic and major dominant key is very difficult to work on a large scale (as, for example, in the complementary key for second subjects of sonata movements) because, while the major dominant key behaves as if not directly related to the minor tonic, it also gives a curious sensation of being merely _on_ the dominant instead of _in_ it; and thus we find that in the few classical examples of a dominant major second subject in a minor sonata-movement the second subject either relapses into the dominant minor, as in Beethoven's _Kreutzer Sonata_ and the finale of Brahms's _Third Symphony_, or begins in it, as in the first movement of Brahms's _Fourth Symphony_.

The effect of a modulation to a related key obviously depends upon the change of meaning in the chords common to both keys, and also in the new chords introduced. Thus, in modulating to the dominant we invest the brightest chord of our first key with the finality and importance of a tonic; our original tonic chord becomes comparatively soft in its new position as subdominant; and a new dominant chord arises, surpassing in brilliance the old dominant (now tonic) as that surpassed the primary tonic. Again, in modulating to the subdominant the softest chord of the primary key becomes tonic, the old tonic is comparatively bright, and a new and softer subdominant chord appears. We have seen the peculiarities of modulation to the dominant from a minor tonic, and it follows from them that modulation from a minor tonic to the subdominant involves the beautiful effect of a momentary conversion of the primary tonic chord to major, the poetic and often dramatically ironical power of which is manifested at the conclusion of more than half the finest classical slow movements in minor keys, from Bach's E[flat] minor Prelude in the first book of the _Forty-eight_ to the slow movement of Brahms's _G major String Quintet_, Op. 111.

The effect of the remaining key-relationships involves contrasts between major and minor mode; but it is otherwise far less defined, since the primary tonic chord does not occupy a cardinal position in the second key. These key-relationships are most important from a minor tonic, as the change from minor to major is more vivid than the reverse change. The smoothest changes are those to "relative" minor, "relative" major (C to A minor; C minor to E[flat]); and mediant minor and submediant major (C to E minor; C minor to A[flat]). The change from major tonic to supertonic minor is extremely natural on a small scale, i.e. within the compass of a single melody, as may be seen in countless openings of classical sonatas. But on a large scale the identity of primary dominant with secondary subdominant confuses the harmonic perspective, and accordingly in classical music the supertonic minor appears neither in the second subjects of first movements nor as the key for middle movements.[6] But since the key-relationships of a minor tonic are at once more obscure harmonically and more vivid in contrast, we find that the converse key-relationship of the flat 7th, though somewhat bold and archaic in effect on a small scale, has once or twice been given organic function on a large scale in classical movements of exceptionally fantastic character, of which the three great examples are the ghostly slow movement of Beethoven's _D major Trio, Op. 70_, No. 1, the scherzo of his _Ninth Symphony_, and the finale of Brahms's _D minor Violin Sonata_ (where, however, the C major theme soon passes permanently into the more orthodox dominant minor).

Thus far we have the set of key-relationships universally recognized since the major and minor modes were established, a relationship based entirely on the place of the primary tonic chord in the second key. It only remains for us to protest against the orthodox description of the five related keys as being the "relative" minor or major and the dominant and subdominant with their "relative" minors or majors; a conception which expresses the fallacious assumption that keys which are related to the same key are related to one another, and which thereby implies that all keys are equally related and that classical composers were fools. It cannot be too strongly insisted that there is no foundation for key-relationship except through a tonic, and that it is through the tonic that the most distant keys have always been connected by every composer with a wide range of modulation, from Haydn to Brahms and (with due allowance for the conditions of his musical drama) Wagner.

b. _Indirect Relationships._--So strong is the identity of the tonic in major and minor mode that Haydn and Mozart had no scruple in annexing, with certain reservations, the key-relationships of either as an addition to those of the other. The smoothness of Mozart's style makes him prefer to annex the key-relationships of the tonic minor (e.g. C major to A[flat], the submediant of C minor), because the primary tonic note is in the second key, although its chord is transformed. His range of thought does not allow him to use these keys otherwise than episodically; but he certainly does not treat them as chaotically remote by confining them to rapid modulations in the development-portions of his movements. They occur characteristically as beautiful purple patches before or during his second subjects. Haydn, with his mastery of rational paradox, takes every opportunity, in his later works, of using all possible indirect key-relationships in the choice of key for slow movements and for the trios of minuets. By using them thus sectionally (i.e. so as not to involve the organic connecting links necessary for the complementary keys of second subjects) he gives himself a free hand; and he rather prefers those keys which are obtained by transforming the minor relationships of a major primary key (e.g. C to A major instead of A minor). These relationships are of great brilliance and also of some remoteness of effect, since the primary tonic note, as well as its chord, disappears entirely. Haydn also obtains extreme contrasts by changing both modes (e.g. C minor to A major, as in the _G minor Quartet, Op. 72_, No 6, where the slow movement is in E major), and indeed there is not one key-contrast known to Beethoven and Brahms which Haydn does not use with complete sense of its meaning, though his art admits it only as a surprise.

Beethoven rationalized every step in the whole possible range of key-relationship by such harmonic means as are described in the article BEETHOVEN. Haydn's favourite key-relationships he used for the complementary key in first movements; and he at once discovered that the use of the major mediant as complementary key to a major tonic implied at all events just as much suggestion of the submediant major in the recapitulation as would not keep the latter half of the movement for too long out of the tonic. The converse is not the case, and where Beethoven uses the submediant major as complementary key in a major first movement he does not subsequently introduce the still more remote and brilliant mediant in the recapitulation. The function of the complementary key is that of contrast and vividness, so that if the key is to be remote it is as well that it should be brilliant rather than sombre; and accordingly the easier key-relationships obtainable through transforming the tonic into minor do not appear as complementary keys until Beethoven's latest and most subtle works, as the _Quartet in B[flat], Op. 130_ (where we again note that the flat submediant of the exposition is temporarily answered by the flat mediant of the recapitulation).

c. _Artificial Key-relationships._--Early in the history of the minor mode it was discovered that the lower tetrachord could be very effectively and naturally altered so as to resemble the upper (thus producing the scale C D[flat] E[natural] F, G A[flat] B[natural] C). This produces a flat supertonic (the chord of which is generally presented in its first inversion, and is known as the Neapolitan 6th, from its characteristic use in the works of the Neapolitan school which did so much to establish modern tonality) and its origin, as just described, often impels it to resolve on a major tonic chord. Consequently it exists in the minor mode as a phenomenon not much more artificial than the mode itself; and although the keys it thus connects are extremely remote, and the effect of their connexion very surprising, the connexion is none the less real, whether from a major or a minor tonic, and is a crucial test of a composer's sense of key-perspective. Thus Philipp Emanuel Bach in a spirit of mere caprice puts the charming little slow movement of his _D major Symphony_ into E[flat] and obliterates all real relationship by chaotic operatic connecting links. Haydn's greatest pianoforte sonata (which, being probably his last, is of course No. 1 in most editions) is in E[flat], and its slow movement is in F[natural] major (= F[flat]). That key had already appeared, with surprising effect, in the wanderings of the development of the first movement. No attempt is made to indicate its connexion with E[flat]; and the finale begins in E[flat], but its first bar is unharmonized and starts on the one note which most contradicts E[natural] and least prepares the mind for E[flat]. The immediate repetition of the opening phrase a step higher on the normal supertonic strikes the note which the opening had contradicted, and thus shows its function in the main key without in the least degree explaining away the paradoxical effect of the key of the slow movement. Brahms's _Violoncello Sonata Op. 99_, is in F; a prominent episode in the development of the first movement is in E[sharp] minor (= G[flat]), thus preparing the mind for the slow movement, which is in F[sharp] major (= G[flat]), with a central episode in F minor. The scherzo is in F minor, and begins on the dominant. Thus if we play its first chord immediately after the last chord of the slow movement we have exactly that extreme position of flat supertonic followed by dominant which is a favourite form of cadence in Wagner, who can even convey its meaning by its mere bass without any harmonies (_Walkure_, Act 3, Scene 2: "Was jetzt du bist, das sage dir selbst").

Converse harmonic relationships are, as we have seen, always weaker than their direct forms. And thus the relation of C major to B major or minor (as shown in the central episode of the slow movement just mentioned) is rare. Still more rare is the obtaining of indirect artificial relationships, of which the episode in the first movement just mentioned is an illustration in so far as it enhances the effect of the slow movement, but is inconclusive in so far as it is episodic. For with remote key-relationships everything depends upon whether they are used with what may be called cardinal function (like complementary keys) or not. Even a near key may occur in the course of wandering modulations without producing any effect of relationship at all, and this should always be borne in mind whenever we accumulate statistics from classical music.