Schubert's craziest key change
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
- Schubert has a lot of crazy modulations, but I think this one is special. In this video I analyse how he makes it work.
0:00 Intro
0:54 Contenders
2:21 The key change
3:18 Harmonic analysis
4:28 Why it works so well
7:22 Are we in C double flat?
My left ear enjoyed this video.
The sound of the right was in my earphone.
Your enthusiasm is contagious. And enthusiasm is the only thing that really can be taught
I wholeheartedly disagree with your theoretical abstraction.
Please mix the microphone to center.
agreed! great video though Sam :)
I couldn't figure out why there was no sound until I saw your comment! I was keeping one earbud out so I could hear what was going on around me.
I hate when youtubers upload videos like this makes it unwatchable
@@ktylol2693 Yes, I watched it in full despite that! Rare for me.
pls mix ur utube comment 2 ur mom
Mostly all of the contemporary composers of his time used F (forté) and p (pianissimo) in their scores to indicate dynamic changes in their scores. In my opinion, I think that Schubert's compositional process was to substitute these "F"s and "p"s with harmonic modulations. Thus, the performer did not have to play loud or soft to bring out the emotions contained in the music; the modulations did the work for him, in an indirect way.
That is an interesting point, I've never thought about that
I saw the title and immediately knew this would be about the B flat sonata! I'm playing it at the moment and it truly is a masterpiece.
This is a fantastic sonata. I performed this at my master's degree recital and it is a monster of a piece. The sheer length of the whole piece is just mentally exhausting. It is not a technically difficult piece but to pull it of emotionally is a challenge. It is just too sad that he died soon after he completed this work but happy that he did before his untimely passing.
That last sentence is an interesting one.
@@i.ehrenfest349 hahah adequate
Sometimes it hits me Schubert only lived to be 31 and ruins my day..
Hmmm. Okay. Not sure if you’ll even see this but I have a LOT to say on this video. First of all we disagree strongly that this is his craziest modulation lol. At least between this and the others I've heard. Ill point out what I think it is further down. But this is due to a difference in the breadth of what I would call a "crazy modulation" and what you would include as one. I think after watching it I definitely get your perspective (In fact it was really fascinating watching you break down analytically in so many layers I would have never thought of how he manages to make it as smooth as he does.. although I think the harmonies alone help with that) but I was unfortunately misled into what I would be expecting by the title. If the title had been "Schubert's most subtle and crazy key change" I would have not formed this false expectation. THAT BEING SAID I probably wouldn't have clicked the video either with that title. So good job making a grabbing and engaging title to get viewership lol. But I may not have clicked with my alternate idea title because what I'm personally most into music like... ever.. is very UNsubtle, dramatic and sudden modulations. The emotional potency and drama they're able to inject into music when done well is just... unmatched. Things like taking a chord of the same quality and moving it up or down 1, 3, 4 or 6 semitones are perfect examples. And of course you showed a couple examples towards the beginning that fall into this category. 3 & 4 semitones are of course chromatic mediants which were for sure crazy for the time but by far are the most normal of the "sudden dramatic key changes" we can find in music today imo.
All this being said though… Schubert may have been, to my knowledge, the FIRST to use (Id love to be corrected on if he's the first though) one of the most important modulations EVER that I use in my own (and soundtrack composers) musical vocabulary. This later came to be known as the "slide transformation" and if you listen to Lucas and Arthur Jussen's performance of his Fantasie in F Minor at 5:30 - 5:34 he moves from FM to F#m. That third being a common tone, the quality flipping major to minor (or vice versa) and the parallel fifths. It just... its so epic and so pleasant to my ear. Schubert using this is wild to me for so many reasons. I thought parallel 5ths weren't allowed in the common practice period? AND YET its the only way to do that brilliant BRILLIANT progression which is so pervasive and so cool in film score now (One of the main themes from Inception which is in my top 2 movies when the first dream world starts collapsing you hear this progression). And again I don't think I've heard it in classical music before Schubert, meaning he might have been the first to employ it. Again pls show me an earlier example if Im wrong. I think Carlo Gesualdo was the first to use many of these modulations (Fuckin legend) except to this day I've never seen him use a slide transformation. Maybe because of this no parallel fifths rule? Anyway when you called the modulation bonkers at the beginning it set me up that itd be a non subtle one or that it might even be the slide transformation haha.
Speaking of restrictive rules like “no parallel fifths” I also have to say I grossly and utterly DETEST the notion that there was EVER a time where people unironically thought that "this is not how modulations work" or that composers had to worry about "getting away with something" and Im so eternally grateful for people like Schubert and Gesualdo and Faure and others for pushing the envelope as far as EPIC things that can be done with modulations. I AM NOT MISCONSTRUING don't worry I know that in your case you just mean "for the time period" and you're not telling people nowadays how they have to write their songs or pieces. While I think that the rules of Western Music Theory have resulted in a LOT of creativity and pleasant and great music to listen to from the Common Practice Period, I also think that something consonant, post tonal and CONSTANTLY modulatory like this (excuse me for providing an example that is my own but I couldn't think of something better. Also Im not some master player this is just to showcase the harmonic progression): ua-cam.com/video/UrEZvFzOGOE/v-deo.htmlsi=hUq79mh_DLRh0ECK would not have been possible if Schoenberg had not broken the tonal prison (Bless him for that and the fact that we have consonant post tonal music even though what he himself was doing isn't my cup of tea) and if the riff cycle hadn't become a thing I couldn’t write that either. Thats chord progressions on piano Im gonna retool for the climax of one of my 20+ minute prog metal songs. There's ALMOST no chord progressions where it's not modulating, but it stays within the bounds of standard triads and seventh chords. It modulates so much I almost don’t even think the concept of key is all that relevant anymore (even though it starts on an EM and ends on a C#m7). To have never found music that I heard do these kinds of “sudden dramatic modulations” even just a bit to inspire me to this point, because "There's only certain ways to do modulations."... that seems like a bleak fucking world given where Im at as a composer and music ENJOYER of these modulations man. Not a world I'd wanna be stuck in where thats enforced. AKA I am glad I don't actually LIVE in the common practice period.
And to go back to the Schubert modulation itself I think from a harmony perspective Im having a hard time thinking its weird that it works so well as someone who has delved a bit into the concept of maximally smooth voice leading. I mean its one voice moving by a mere semitone with TWO common tones. At least an adjacent reason why going from C Major to E minor sounds good in a lot of songs written today I suppose. THEY ARE close enough in a way. Just not in the traditional way we think about staying in a key center. I do agree with you that fully dim 7th chords are FANTASTIC chords for modulation and my favorite is probably the common tone diminished 7th (relationship from CM and Cdim7 for example). Also thank god you don't STILL HAVE to go through the dominant in order to modulate with it TODAY. Jesus I feel like you can practically go to NEAR ANY chord from a fully dim 7th its so versatile in my view.
In any case very fun (and engaging given to the degree Im engaging now) video man and best wishes to you :) You clearly have a very strong ear and mind for analysis! And you’ve got a knack for content creation too, just need to make sure the audio is mixed center as others have pointed out ;) Sorry had to. Cheers mate.
You bring up several good points, also very beginner friendly for people with no background or knowledge of schuberts works. Definitely one of the greatest composers for sure
Thanks for a very enjoyable treatise of this fantastic piece!
Really great video! I love your analysis, looking forward to more!
I seem to have spent my whole life playing Schubert's last piano sonata. Schubert's approach to colour in music is much underappreciated, and I think your video hits the nail on the head. Part of it - perhaps - is that the harmonic simplicity that often prefixes a Schubert modulation lulls us into a deviously false sense of secuirity. Once you accept a world of continually more complex and ambiguous chords/harmonies that followed in the latter part of the 19th century - there is a danger that one loses the ability to do a delightful modulation - the complexity shrouds the clarity that could otherwise be revealed - but this is a highly complex topic!
It's hard for me to find a satisfactory recording of this sonata. I got used to Sviatoslav Richter's performance, where he actually observes _molto moderato_ tempo, though it can be argued his _moderato_ is too *molto*. Other recordings, even by such masters as Kempff, Brendel and Schiff, now sound too hasty to me. I wonder if the right effect would be achieved by playing _ritenuto_ here and there, to hold back, but not being too slow overall.
@@Alexagrigorieff First of all -a favourite recording is such a personal matter & I strongly suspect we are all affected by the first version we hear. Secondly I too love the Richter recording and it's wonderful pacing. My personal favourite is a 1980s Decca recording by Vladimir Askenazy - and given I do not often favour him, it is impossible for me to assert any objectiveness here. The reocrding is rather difficult to find as it is not on any streaming platform that I am aware of. But I prefer it to easily 20+ other recordings I have heard over the years.
@@schubertuk >1980s Decca recording by Vladimir Askenazy
You can find it on a CD, google for "Schubert: Sonata in B, D960; Wanderer Fantasy D760 - Vladimir Ashkenazy"
Great sonata and lovely video! Great work!
Thanks so much! This is the first comment on my channel, so it really means a lot.
By use of Enharmonic modulation, which is what Schubert is doing, one can jump all the way across the Circle of 5ths with no problem!
More of this stuff please! I never really have been such a fan of Schubert, but you've opened my eyes :)
Listen to his songs, for which he is most famous. Also, his symphonies 5, 8. And 9. Also, the string quintets.
960 is such a good piece
Nice format and subject for analysis :)
I thought the second one your mentioned would have been the one you chose. It’s so intense, in a hyper intense movement.
Bonkers is kinda an apt description. With all three final sonatas I find my jaw mostly on the floor and words just don’t describe how bonkers it is. We’re not just listening to music. He describes a landscape which we are supposed to trust and then he messes with our perceived sense of stability.
I haven't listened to this sonata in a while, thank you for reminding me of it
Schubert was an absolute genius, in the realm of Bach and the greats. To me, he's still underappreciated for some reason, maybe because he died very young, which is a shame on it's own.
Great analysis & commentary, great personality, great mic for your voice :)
I know it's just the beginning but you should invest in some lighting, maybe a better camera, and go easy on transitions in editing (zoom-in/outs, swipe effects). Do that and that's the recipe for youtube success :)
Great job Sam!
Love the Cbb insight!
Thank you! I feel like there might be room for a video about this kind of phenomenon at some point
Such an incredible piece. Easy to say that its one of the greatest sonatas ever written.
Hello Sam. I appreciate what you are doing here. I've always loved Schubert's music, especially what several musicologists have called his "daring" modulations. I hope you'll keep going, and don't let the less than complimentary comments get you down. I also have a music related UA-cam channel, "At Home With Music", which is aimed at helping adults get back into playing piano and making music. (By the way, I subscribed, and I'm looking forward to seeing where you go next!) You're off to a great start.
love how much u love what ur talkin about
fascinating stuff thanks
When I saw the thumbnail, I just had to think of that Sonata! But of another passage, the climax in the development of the first movement. The modulation in movement 2 from the end of the middle section back to the main theme is also beautiful!
Great analysis. I really hear that "ghost" G# over the B-D-E seventh chord and diminished chord right the way through to the modulation back to B-flat... when I first heard the progression, the return actually felt like a Neapolitan 6 chord in D (minor?) as the "feeling" of the G# still lingered in the air. The progression #6 dim - neapolitan 6 - dominant/I 64 is so common that this is how I initially felt it.
great channel !
I think what fascinates you (my guess based on your other examples), is: that Schubert uses the 5b (6#) chord in an unusual way. What i would expect from the the passage is, that the alteration of b to b flat would to lead to A (or Bbb) Dominant (46 chord classical manner), but he makes the "alteration" suddenly sound like a real 16/15 halftone step and on top that suddenly is in the new/old tonic B/Cbb Major. You pointed this step out, but i think it is about the Ambivalenz: one simply cannot decide, if its a 15/16 halftone step or a 24/25 chromatic step and schubert amplifies that in an en passant manner.
Great vid!!
The second movement still takes the cake for me. The C major you mentioned and the C# major (or Db major?) at the end are both heavenly
Keep going. Interesting.
Will do, thank you very much!
Interesting to hear your own insights. For me this looks like modal interchange. He's borrowing from the parallel major or minor (depending on what key you interpret this passage as being in).
If you want to get blown away by modulations, check out The Carpenters, the Bee Gees, Elton John and Lyle Mays (Pat Metheny). Lyle in particular, does things with time that you probably haven't dreamed of yet...😊
I like the Tal quote ♟️
BRAVO!!! ...
👏👏👏👏👏
👍👍👍👍👍
🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹
Thank you Sam.(My father's real name was Sam). This was my first time on your channel. Your explanation of a miracle-moment in Schubert is wonderful. You're less technical than two other music channels I listen to and that's very welcome. I play that sonata, though only in private when there's no one within a five mile radius. I'm looking forward to playing, hearing and thinking about that (progression?) change? little bit of heaven? I'm not religious, but Schubert was so we (I) have to be able to experience it his way. I've joined. Thank you again for an excellent video.
If you think that's crazy, listen to the Sanctus of the D950 Mass.
Firth of fifth bt Genesis goes from like 5 sharps to 3 flats, 2 to 6 sharps, 6 sharps to 2 flats, pretty much throughout the whole piece. And yet it works
Bro its fuckin Tony he's like THE GOD of modulating music lmao Im gonna cry when he passes away man I swear he's the GOAT. Check Island in the Darkness if you've not listened some of the shit in that piece is sooooooo insane.
You should definetely check out the modulation that goes on in the first improptu op 90! it starts at measure 119 and goes on for 5 or 6 measures and its just crazyness.
I would argue that the "modulation" in the 4th movement that he refers to is not actually a modulation at all - at best, it's harmonically ambiguous. Since we never hear a root position chord on Ab, and all of the chords in the passage can be interpreted in Bb (VI6/4 - N6 of VI [V2 of N6 of VI] - #II7 [diminished 7th on the raised supertonic of Bb] - I6), it seems to me that calling it a "modulation" to Ab is a bit of a stretch.
People, I have a question. I would like to know about the true nature of the minor mode. How did it appear in history? Nowadays, I hear jazz players say that the minor mode is simply the 2nd degree of a major tonic, and should be harmonised as such. Did really J.S. Bach think of it as a 2nd degree? Knowing that the minor third is not a partial in the natural harmonics series, could it possibly be just a little tension put on a major chord? Thanks in advance to anyone who can suggest some information or books about this
C double flat major would have 14 flats in its key signature, if I'm not mistaken!
Beautiful and cogent explanation of a magnificent piece. Schubert was a god.
thx bro
Dry lighting seems, umm, somewhat 'noir'. Great audio and exposition though.
You want hollywood?
It almost feels like he doesn't modulate harmonically, but rather uses other dimensions of the music to just suddenly be in whatever key he wants and have it feel right
He was just close enough to a Bb chord to slide into it exactly in time for the theme to return in that key, retroactively justifying the potentially awkward slide (which might not be awkward anyway, but it could be)
Schuberts sonata in D major would be a great one to look at after this
Beethoven does this move in various spots, no? Checking now......
I think the most bonkers key change is in the Fantasy in f minor, going from f minor to c# minor.
12k views and only 610 followers?!
2:47
I wouldn’t call these shifts modulations.
You know, depending on how you count, there are only 11 or 23 key changes. It's really not possible for one to be crazy.
It's not just about where you go. But also how you do it
Very skilled modulations. You see these all the time in 19th century music. I've learned many of them from Dvorak. The modulation in this Dvorak waltz is the same as the second one in the Schubert piece that you showed us. ua-cam.com/video/Db0qdnea4yk/v-deo.html
Get out of my left ear!
These are all lovely, surprising, sublime, even shocking harmonic and contrapuntal shifts, but none of them are "modulations". A modulation is a structural change of key. In none of these instances is the "key" of the music changing. At most you might say that there is a temporary, apparent tonic. Your example doesn't "modulate" from A major to Bb major, which certainly would be an unusual structural event. It **moves** contrapuntally and chromatically through an ephemeral, local tonicization of "A major", and then slides just as stealthily up to the tonic by half step in opposing directions.
That's interesting, but what would be a real modulation then? A cadence with a dominant? And what if those "moves" don't end up with the first tonic?
@@aa-nr5li Yes, a modulation is a change of key that is structural and lasting. Often this involves cadential confirmation, but it's not always the case (see late Romantic music). There is an important distinction between dwelling momentarily in a key area--what is called by some "tonicization"--and full-bore modulation. This moment of "A major" in the Schubert is just that: a transitional **moment** that is wending its way to something else, namely a return to the tonic. It's no more a modulation to A major than the magical moment in bar 20 of the first movement of the same sonata is a modulation to G-flat major. In that case, we haven't modulated to G-flat major, but rather momentary shifted (slid might be a better word) into the key area of G-flat, and all so that Schubert can then sublimely transform the sonority into the Augmented 6th it was meant to be all along, to stunningly bring back a "tutti" statement of the opening tonic theme. Not every sonority is a chord, and not every key area is a modulation. It's the difference between the momentary and transitional, and the structural and lasting.
@@nicholasfox966 Thank you so much for this explanation. I would like to take advantage of your great knowledge and ask a question on a different topic. I would like to know about the true nature of the minor mode. How did it appear in history? Nowadays, I hear jazz players say that the minor mode is simply the 2nd degree of a major tonic, and should be harmonised as such. Did really J.S. Bach think of it as a 2nd degree? Knowing that the minor third is not a partial in the natural harmonics series, could it possibly be just a little tension put on a major chord? Thanks in advance to anyone who can suggest some information or books about this.
A bit disappointed in this. A lot of analysis you could have given (going into the details of chromatic mediant relationships, chordal transformations discussed in Neo-Riemannean theory, discussing the functional and structural relationships between key areas as they relate to the form of the movement) is avoided in favor of the sensationalist and analysis-avoiding "craziness" of the harmonic motion. Yes, Schubert's harmonic language and the use of harmony to create form is novel compared to Haydn and Mozart and Beethoven, but what is being served by leaving it relatively obscure and unanalyzable? Are we meant to remain in awe of Schubert's genius, consuming it in helpless wonder? Or can we use rational understanding and theory to get a glimpse into why it isn't merely "crazy" but, rather, concrete and repeatable?
Nerd alert
I teach theory, and the person above you is correct. Nothing nerdy about actually knowing the topic. I also found this video a tad sensationalist. Worse, there are simple errors :-(
I have played this piece on three different continents and know it quite well. While the narrator clearly loves it, he could have served the music better by being accurate and delving into the actual details instead of using vagaries like "[Schubert] just does it and it just works." ALL of the (very beautiful) modulations he cites can be explained with well known theoretical concepts. I, too, wish there could have been more precision.
@@irwinshung809 double nerd alert
Go make your own!
@@coyoteblue4027 I get the sense this is something you say whenever someone cares about something that you don't. That said, I won't deny it :-)
Calling a key change of any kind a modulation is kind of odd, I think. I mean... sure, you can. But just shifting up or down by X semitones isn't bonkers or brilliant. Using some harmonic movement to accomplish a key change is what I call a modulation. Like changing the root key to a dom 7 and then going up 5 semitones and establishing the 4th as the new 1. That's a modulation to a new key, rather than a simple changing to a new key that has basically no relation to the old key (as your first examples show). Just my 2 cents.
This is literally what is explained, how harmonic movement (i.e. the shifting of notes of the triad by semitone to finally land in a new home key) establishes a new tonic, thereby modulating to that key. The magic of Schubert is how he accomplishes these modulations in novel ways.
The author certainly never asserts that any "change of key" (whatever that actually means in the generic context of postclassical/Romantic piano sonatas) is a modulation either.
A modulation also need not have any relation whatsoever to the old key. Sometimes a modulation can be effected simply by holding a common tone (e.g. C major - Eb major)
@@drewsellis6627 " The magic of Schubert is how he accomplishes these modulations in novel ways"
Such as simply moving up or down a half step. But what you wrote here is absolutely ridiculous.
"A modulation also need not have any relation whatsoever to the old key. Sometimes a modulation can be effected simply by holding a common tone (e.g. C major - Eb major)"
! If it contains a common note, then IT HAS A RELATION TO THE PREVIOUS CHORD/KEY! omg.... let me stop commenting on YT.
"The magic of Schubert" is a rather useless and meaningless phrase if the goal is to understand something and not to worship it.
This "bonkers" modulation does include a relationship - the minor ninth and seventh up from the dominant in the old key are the mediant and dominant of the new key.
@@InfluxDecline People are allowed to have their own opinions. I don't find moving up a half step amazing or bonkers. Thanks.
Cringe
no.
Lern to audio
Audio is fucked up