摘要：The revealing and original sound of Chopin’s music results from
his original approach to the harmony (Tomaszewski 1999). In Chopin’s time
the term ‘tonal unity’, was understood to be an absolute domination of the
main key in a piece. A piece characterised by tonal unity had to be
distinguished by an identical key in its opening and conclusion. In the second
half of 1830s and early 1840s, some trends for ‘off-key’ treatment of the form
appear in Chopin’s output, which was caused by a discrepancy between the
initial and the ending key (Golab). Certain deficiencies in application of
Riemann harmonic analysis method in studies on the Chopin harmonics have
been noticed by Ludwik Bronarski (1935), author of “The Chopin Harmonic”,
since side triads, often characterised by significant independence, get
crammed into functional inter-dependencies. This article is concerned with
the application of an original analytical method (Majchrzak 2005, 2007,
2008) for the purpose of study of the tonal structure of Chopin’s Études. It
also includes the description of selected pieces of early Romanticism
(miniatures of Schumann and Mendelssohn) and as a result we can compare
the tonal structure of Chopin’s Études with other pieces composed in the same
period.
With the use of an original analytical system, the quantitative prevalence of
chords classified by ranges of a given key in a musical piece can be
determined. The method of analysis enables arranging a given set of keys in a
hierarchical order, under which chords have been classified versus the main
key in which the piece is maintained. (In key range 2 – D major and B minor
harmonic – the following chords are classified, for example: DF#A, AC#EG,
BDF#, AC#EGB, DF#AB, C#EG or DEF#GABC#).
Results
Early-Romanticism miniatures (several miniatures of Schumann and
Mendelssohn) being analysed appear to be of a similar tonal structure: onemodal
type of diagram, a low number of key ranges, frequent symmetry in the
distribution series construction. The tonic key range (In F Major and D Minor
– KR -1; in A Major and F sharp Minor – KR 3) dominance is characteristic to
all the pieces. Noticeable in the Chopin Études is that the main key range
sometimes tends to be marginalised. This paper distinguishes various types of
diagrams of tonal structure of Chopin’s Études. The tonal structure of selected
Études is much remindful of the tonal structure of miniatures by composers of
the former half of 19th century. However, different situation is to be met with
others pieces. The analysis explains great originality of the tonal structure of
Chopin’s Études as compared to the pieces composed in the same historical
period. My paper suggests a new approach to music analytical comparisons
between Chopin’s Études and the miniatures of early Romanticism. The
analytical method will enable us to observe transformations in the structure of
tonal harmony.
