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American Musicological Society

The Classical Cadence: Conceptions and MisconceptionsAuthor(s): William E. CaplinSource: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 51-117Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4147806

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The Classical Cadence: Conceptions

and MisconceptionsWILLIAM E. CAPLIN

Manymusic-theoreticalermsarereadily sed n the expectationhat

theirmeaningswill be clear andwell known to educated musicians.

Such is the case with cadence. n scholarlywritingson tonal music,theorists and historiansregularlyspeakof cadence with little or no specifica-tion of its semantic range. Yet for all its seeming familiarity,cadence is an

enormously complex concept, one that often conveys distinctlydifferent con-

notations and embraces a multitude of musical phenomena. Unfortunately,the notion of cadencehas also accrueda host of inconsistent formulationsand

misconceptions that have regularlyled to discrepant applicationsin actual

musical contexts: a cadencerecognized by

one writer often fails to meet the

requirements or cadence set by another. Since most theories of musical form

entail specificcadentialrequirements,analysesof both phrase structure and

large-scale form are compromised when the identification of cadences is

thrown into doubt.

One way of regainingcontrol over the concept of cadence is suggested byAnn Blombach,who attempts to formulate a broad comprehensivedefini-

tion containingthe vital elements that distinguishcadence fromeveryother

kind of musicalphenomenon ; such a definitionwould apply o anytype of

music,from the earliest o the most

recent. ' Thoughsuch an inclusive defi-

nition of cadence has its attractions,a contrary approach might ultimately

prove more useful-namely, to focus on a relativelynarrow,stylistically nified

repertory,one in which most historiansrecognize cadenceas a central eature.

The obvious choice is the instrumentalmusic of the three leading Viennese

Research for this study was generously supported by grants from the Social Sciences and

Humanities ResearchCouncil of Canada.I want to thank JanetSchmalfeldt or hercarefulread-

ing of the text and her many thoughtful suggestionsfor its improvement.1. Ann Blombach, Phraseand Cadence:A Study of Terminologyand Definition, Journal

ofMusicTheory edagogy1 (1987): 231. Her definitionreads: A cadence s anymusical elementor combination of musicalelements, includingsilence, that indicatesrelativerelaxationor relative

conclusionin music. ('Conclusion' is intendedin the sense of 'destinationof ideas,'asopposed to

merely stoppingwith no indication of finalityor direction.)

[JournaloftheAmericanMusicologicalociety004, vol. 57, no. 1]

? 2004 bythe AmericanMusicological ociety.Allrights eserved. 003-0139/04/5701-0002$2.00

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The Classical Cadence 53

The theoreticalunderpinning or this studyis laid out in my book ClassicalForm.4Though issues of cadence arise there repeatedly,they are scattered

among many other concerns that enter into the definition of formal cate-gories. The presentstudypulls together these individualpoints of theory into

a more unifiedperspectiveand exploresin greater depth issues that were onlyhinted at in the book; as well, I propose here some new ideas not discussed

in that earlierwork. To forestallany misunderstanding rom the start,I must

clarify hat my approach s entirelya modern one: this is not a historicistview

of the classicalcadence. I neither appealto writings of eighteenth- and early

nineteenth-century heoristson cadencenor makeanyclaimsfor what Haydn,Mozart, or Beethovenmayhave understoodby the concept.5RatherI believe,

along with many theorists and historians,that the consistency of composi-tionalpracticeexhibitedby these composerspermitsus to formulateprinciplesfor a modern understandingand interpretationof their works as they presentthemselvesto us today.

Throughout thisstudy,I compare my conceptions of cadenceand theiran-

alytical application with statements from some of the most distinguishedscholarsworkingon eighteenth-centurymusic.Though I frequently ake issue

with some of theirideas, my point is not to chide them for failingto employ

my own definition andunderstandingof cadence.Rather, t is by enteringinto

dialogue with these received views that I can test the extent to which my

proposed refinements clarifythe phenomenon of cadence and enrich our

perceptionsof its compositionaluse.

Traditional Notions of Cadence

Cadence (from Latin caderer, to fall ) has a long history as a theoretical

term.6 It gained initial currency in late fifteenth-century Italian theory in

referenceto closing gestures, that is, specificintervallic ormations used to

4. WilliamE. Caplin,ClassicalForm:A Theory fFormalFunctionsor theInstrumentalMusic

ofHaydn, Mozart,and BeethovenNew York:OxfordUniversityPress,1998); see esp. pp. 27-29,

42-45, 51-55, and 101-11.

5. As I statedin the introduction to ClassicalForm, Asfascinatingand suggestiveascontem-

porarywritings may be, their ideas on musical form are limited by a rudimentary heory of har-

mony (which understandslittle about harmonic progression at multiple levels) and a lack of

familiaritywith the huge classicalrepertorythat we have at our fingertipstoday (p. 5). In my

view,the sameremarkshold for earlier heorists'

conceptionsof cadence.

6. For a comprehensive account, see Handwiirterbuchder musikalischenTerminologie, d.

Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Wiesbaden:F. Steiner, 1972-), s.v. Kadenz. For considerable n-

formation on traditionalnotions of cadence, see also Janet Schmalfeldt, CadentialProcesses:

The Evaded Cadence and the 'One More Time' Technique, Journal ofMusicologicalResearch

12 (1992): 1-52. In addition to its more common meanings as formal conclusion and basic

harmonicprogression, cadencewas also used in reference o varioustypesof melodic ornamenta-

tion in baroquevocal music and to regularlyalternatingrhythmic-metricaccentuation n French

Enlightenment theory;these lattertwo sensesof the termwill not be treatedhere.

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54 Journal of the American Musicological Society

conclude passages n both monophonic and polyphonic textures.7Through-out the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies,the term normallyhad attached

to it a wide varietyof qualifyingexpressions(such as cadentia ordinaria,ca-dentia cantizans, cadentia simplex,cadentiaperfecta,cadentia diatonica) in

order to distinguishcloses basedon the scaledegree of the finalpitch, the par-ticularvoice being closed, the styleof counterpoint,the intervalof melodic or

contrapuntal progression, the modality,and many other compositionalfac-

tors.8(The practiceof qualifyingcadencescontinues, of course, to the present

daywith termssuch asperfectauthenticcadence,deceptive adence,and contra-

puntal cadence.)In the eighteenth century,models of natural anguagehad a profoundim-

pact on musictheoryin general,andthe idea of cadence asclosing gesturewas

strongly associated with grammaticalpunctuation of language, especially n

the writings of Mattheson, Riepel, Kirnberger,and Koch.9With the originsof harmonictheoryearly n thatcentury,cadentialclassifications ecamebased

primarily n harmonyrather han on melodic or contrapuntal nterval.More-

over, the sense of cadence enlargedconsiderablywhen Rameautook the fate-

ful decision of recognizing the harmoniccontent of the cadenceparfait as the

fundamentalparadigmof harmonic progressionin general. The concept of

cadencewas thus no longer confined to musical situations nvolvinggestures

of ending. From then on, any harmonicprogressioncould be considered acadence,whetheror not it occurredat the end of a musicalunit.

Well into the nineteenth century,a cadentialprogressionwas understood

to involve just two harmonies. Toward the end of that century, however,

Hugo Riemann expanded the progression to embrace the complete func-

tional sequence, tonic-subdominant-dominant-tonic, and he deemed such

a cadence the fundamentalmodel of tonality,a broaderconception of tonal

relations than harmony alone. Twentieth-century theory, overwhelminglyconcerned with musicalhierarchies,appliedthe notion of cadenceto multiple

levels within a work, even invokingthe idea of an enlargedcadence to ac-count for the tonalprogressionof anentirepiece.

The divers elements associatedwith our current conceptions of cadence

have been well analyzed by Blombach. By reviewingdefinitions of cadence

drawn from eighty-one pedagogical texts (whose median publicationdate is

1970), she has identified how often variouselementsappearwithin those defi-

nitions. Her resultsare summarized n Table 1, where the numbersrepresent

7. Cadence was originallyused alongside, but eventuallyreplaced,the earlier erm clausula

(fromLatin, to close ).8. The Handwdrterbuch rticlecitesovereighty cadential ypes (pp. 5-6).9. On the impact of language models for music theory, see Mark Evan Bonds, Wordless

Rhetoric:MusicalFormand theMetaphorof the Oration (Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress,

1991), chap.2.

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Table 1 Elements of Cadence Definitions (from Blombach, Phrase and Cadence, table 1,

p. 227)

Element Percentage Percentage Percentagebefore 1970 after 1970 all

Harmony,chord progression 77 63 70

List of cadences (PAC, etc.) 54 68 62

End of phrase 57 51 54

Conclusion 51 56 54

Melody 57 49 53

Rest, pause 43 49 46

Rhythm 46 37 41

Language,punctuation 29 49 39Formula 40 22 30

Relaxation 31 27 29Formalindicator 14 34 25

To fall 20 24 22

Recognizes other styles 23 15 18

Other elements 3 7 9

Confirmtonality 6 7 7

Completion of formal unit 9 2 5

percentagesof occurrence of a given element.10 It is no surprise hat end of

phrase and conclusion place high on the list. But it is telling that har-

mony, chord progression eads the group, thus revealinghow powerfulwasthe conceptual enlargementeffected by Rameauin the eighteenth century.The inclusion of language,punctuation in more than a third of the defini-tions also attests to the influence that eighteenth-centurymodels of natural

language have continued to exert on our notions of cadence. Noteworthy isthe prominentappearance f the element rest,pause : he idea thatachievingformalclosure entails a cessation of rhythmicactivity s stronglyentrenchedinthe concept of cadence. The mention of formula n many of the definitionsis also not surprising,given that the content of cadences is normallyconven-tional or repeatable rom work to work. Finally, must draw attentionto thelow rankingsfor formal ndicator and completion of formalunit ; as therest of the articlewill make abundantlyclear,these arepreciselythe elementsthat I find at the heartof the classical adence.

10. Blombach, Phraseand Cadence, 227. The firstcolumn containspercentages rom text-books published prior to 1970; the second column, textbooks published after 1970; the third

column, totals for all textbooks.

11. Caution must obviouslybe exercisedwhen tryingto interpretdata such as that shown in

Table 1. It is most likelythe case that,when takentogether, either one of the two elements endof phrase and conclusion would occur in a very largepercentageof the definitions, thus dis-

placing harmony, hordprogression rom the leadingposition.

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Having briefly ketched some traditional onceptionsof cadencein general,I want to begin clarifyingwhich elementsI believeareessential o the classical

cadence, which are adjunct,and which are irrelevantor misleading.The fol-lowing basicconcepts are fundamental o my approach:

Cadence effects formal closure at a limited number of levels of musical

structure.

The harmoniccontent of the cadence-the cadentialprogression-ishighlyconstrained.

Cadential function embraces the time-span from the beginning of the

cadentialprogression o its end-the cadentialarrival.

Passagesof cadentialcontentdo not always unctionassyntactical adences.Cadential function must be distinguished from postcadentialfunction,

which embraces he music that follows the cadentialarrivalandappears

priorto a new beginning).Cadentialarrival epresentsa formalend,not a rhythmicstop.The appropriateinguisticanalogyfor cadenceis syntactical losure,not the

external,writtensignsof punctuation.Cadential strengthcan be distinguished as syntacticalor rhetorical,the

formerbeing the one aspectessential or form-functional xpression.

Cadence as Closure

Centralto my concept of cadence is the fundamental dea that cadence effects

formal closure at middle-groundlevels in the structuralhierarchyof a work.

More simplyput, a cadence must end something. Now this idea-the most

pervasiveand historicallyrooted of all notions of cadence-might seem so

trivialas not to requirefurther elaboration.Yet manyof the problemsassoci-

ated with conceptualizingand analyzingcadence result from not specifying(or even not being able to specify)exactlywhat formal unit a given cadence s

actuallyending. Since the implicationsof this premisearefar-reaching, want

to addressa numberof major ssuesthat ensue from it.

Cadence createsmusicalclosure, but not all closurein music is cadential.

Closure in generalinvolvesbringingto completion some process implicatingone or more modes of musicalorganization at a given structural evel of a

work. I believethatcadence is only one type of closure andis operativeonly at

a limited number of levels. Determining which specificmusicalprocessesare

closed by cadences can be somewhat complicated and will sometimes varyfrom case to case. At alltimes, however,a definite harmonicprocessis closed,since the harmoniesassociatedwith the cadencealwaysbringto some degreeof completion a broaderharmonicprogressionbeginning priorto the onset

of the cadence. Often we can identify a distinctlymelodicprocess closed by

cadences, such as when, in the case of a perfect authenticcadence (PAC), a

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melodic line descendsto the tonic scaledegree.12Some writershave also spo-ken of cadenceachievinga sense of rhythmic r metricclose, though the actual

mechanisms of such closure are often left unclear.13More importantly,how-ever,the varioustypesof closure associatedwith individualmusicalparametersare, in themselves, insufficient to create cadence unless a sense of formalclosure is presentaswell.

When speakingof cadenceachievingformalclosure,I mean something like

what Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoffdescribe in connection with a ca-denced group, a unit of grouping structurethat atsome level of reduction

reduces to two elements, the second of which is a cadence. The firstof these

elementsis the structuralbeginningof the group, andthe cadenceis the struc-

tural ending. In other words, a cadence must be a cadence of something,a group that consistedonly of the articulationof its ending would be unsatis-

fying. '4The logic of formal closure thus requires hat a cadence be groupedwith at least one precedingevent at the same level of structureand that the ca-

dence usuallybe the last event in the group.15 f we cannot identifyan initiat-

ing formalunit thatprecedesa potential cadence, then we cannot legitimately

speak of a true cadence. Put somewhat differently,since the first idea of a

group normally expresses he sense of formalinitiation,this idea cannot itself

be a cadence, for an essential condition for formal closure would no longer

obtain: there would be no beginning for which such a cadencewould be the

ending.

12. An imperfectauthenticcadence (IAC) leavesthe melodic line unclosed on the third (or

rarely, ifth)scaledegree.13. Thus Leonard B. Meyer invokes rhythmicprocesseswhen noting that a semicadence

might be defined as one in which a mobile, goal-directed,harmonicprocessis temporarily tabi-

lized by decisiverhythmic closure, but he does not specifyany furtherjust how such closure

comes about (ExplainingMusic:Essays nd ExplorationsBerkeleyand Los Angeles: Universityof

CaliforniaPress, 1973], 85). In Riemann'stheory of meter,which posits a normative scheme of

eight alternatingweak and strongmeasures,metricalclosure is achieved n measure eight of the

scheme, the measure n which a cadencenormallyoccurs(Systemdermusikalischen hythmikund

Metrik[Leipzig:Breitkopfund Hirtel, 1903]). Whether such metricalclosure is responsiblefor

cadence is not clear n Riemann'sapproach,however. That genuine cadences can occur on metri-

callyweak measures(by any accounting of strong and weak measures)and even on weak beats

within a measureprohibitsus establishinga determinaterelation of cadenceand meter.

14. Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, A GenerativeTheoryof Tonal Music (Cambridge,Mass.:MIT Press,1983), 168. It alsoseemsreasonable o permita cadencedgroup to containan

element standing between the functions of structuralbeginning and ending that would expressthe sense of structuralmiddle, what I term a medial formal function (ClassicalForm,43). (The

pervasivelybinarynature of Lerdahland Jackendoffs systemdoes not readilypermitsuch tripar-tite basicstructures.)

15. This lastpoint needs furtherrefinement. On the one hand, it might be the case that the

formal unit does not conclude with a structural nd, in otherwords, that formal closuredoes not

takeplace.In thatcase,the lastevent in the formalunit maynot be a cadence. On the other hand,the cadentialevent might be followed by some postcadentialevent that still logically groups withthe formalunit aswhole.

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What, then, are the formal groups closed by cadences?In my view, a ca-

dence closes a themeand, in manycases,a component partof a theme. Unlike

most traditionalnotions of theme, which primarilyrefer to relativelyshortmelodic ideas, my notion derives from the usage of Arnold Schoenbergand

his followers (especiallyErwin Ratz) and refers to a complete formalunit,

minimally eight measures in length, consisting of the clear articulationof

a formalbeginning, middle, and end (the latterbeing the cadence).16Such a

formal unit can function in the broadercontext of a classicalmovement as

a main theme,a subordinatetheme,an interior theme,or a coda theme; he

transition and development ections are also constructed as themelike units,and these may close with a cadence.7 The basic theme types are the sentence,

period,small ternary,and small binary;various hybridsof the sentence and

periodcan also be identified.18All of these theme typesachieve formalclosure

by means of cadence. In addition, some of the component parts of these

types have cadentialendings. For example, the two partsof the period-theantecedent and consequent-each end with a cadence (the first one beingweaker than the second). The A andA' sections of the smallternary(alsothe

firstand second partsof the smallbinary)have cadentialrequirementsas well.

On the contrary,the sentence form has no cadentialarticulationpriorto its

closingcadence.

Traditionally,he formalunit consideredto be closed by a cadenceis the

phrase.Cadence and phraseare so intimatelyconnected that the two terms

arefrequentlydefinedin reference o eachother, as in: a cadenceis a melodic-

harmonic formulaending a phrase;a phrase s a formalunit ending with a ca-

dence.19 Indeed, manytheoristsposit cadentialending as a centralcomponentof their notions of phrase:

Thephrases a constantmotion oward goal-the cadence.20

Aphrase anberoughly haracterizedsthelowest evelof groupingwhichhas

astructuraleginning, middle,anda structuralnding a cadence).21

16. Arnold Schoenberg, Fundamentals of Musical Composition,ed. Gerald Strang and

LeonardStein (London: Faberand Faber,1967); andErwinRatz, Einfiihrung n die musikalische

Formenlehre:UberFormprinzipienn den Inventionenund FugenJ. S. Bachsund ihreBedeutung

fiir die Kompositionstechnikeethovens,d ed., enl. (Vienna:Universal,1973).17. All genuine themes close cadentially; themelike unit, though containingthe same ba-

sic formal functionsas a theme, sometimes closes in a noncadentialmanneror even remainsopenwithout any sense of formalclosure. Most of my ClassicalForm is devoted to a detaileddescrip-tion of the structureand functionof these various hematicunits.

18. These typesare treated n part2 of Caplin,ClassicalForm.

19. Blombach, Phraseand Cadence, 226.

20. Roger Sessions, TheMusicalExperience f Composer, erformer, nd Listener Princeton,

N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress, 1950), 12.

21. Fred Lerdahland RayJackendoff, Towarda FormalTheory of Tonal Music, Journal

ofMusicTheory21(1977): 123.

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The ClassicalCadence 59

The conceptof phrases mostproductivelynderstood, othhistoricallynd

theoretically,sadmitting nlytwo choices or itsend-point: halfcadenceor

anauthenticadence.22

This powerfulconnection of phraseand cadence,however, has led to a num-ber of theoreticaland analyticaldifficulties.On the one hand, a phraseendingis sometimes identified as a cadence despite the failure of its concluding har-monic progression to satisfythe fundamental criteria for cadence (such aswhen the dominant is not in root position, an issue I will discussshortlybe-

low) or despite the failureof the lastpart of the phraseto representa formalend for any one of a number of reasons. On the other hand, the concept of

phrases sometimesdefined so

broadlyas to embracenot

only relativelyhort

groups (four to eight measures)but also largethematicregions consisting of

multiple subgroups.23 would argue that many of the problems associatedwith cadence (and indeed with phrase) can be dispelledwhen the two con-

cepts areentirely disengaged. Cadencecan then be viewed as a manifestationof formalfunctionality,whereasphrasecan be used as a functionallyneutralterm for grouping structure (embracing approximately four measures of

music).24

By separatingcadence from phrase it is possible to describe more clearlywhich

phraseshave cadentialclosure and which do not. As mentioned

before,the antecedentandconsequent phrasesof the period close with a cadence.So,too, does the secondphrase,the continuation,of the sentence.25But the initialfour-measurephraseof the sentence,what I have termed apresentation,nevercloses with a cadence, even if its final harmonic progression (V-I) suggestsone.26A presentationconsists of a two-measure basic dea that is immediatelyrepeatedin measures hree and four of the phrase.Inasmuch as the basicideaitself functionsto begin the theme, its repetitionmust also be seen to expressformal initiation; indeed, the repetition could even be said to intensifythatsense of initiation.As a

result,the

repeatedbasic idea should not be

compre-hended as concluding a formal process, and so we should not speak of a

22. Warren Darcy and James Hepokoski, The Medial Caesura and Its Role in the

Eighteenth-CenturySonataExposition, MusicTheory pectrum 9 (1997): 123.

23. For example,William Rothstein identifies a single phrase lasting thirty-sevenmeasures

startingfrom the beginning of Chopin's Mazurka n G#Minor, Op. 33, no. 1 (PhraseRhythm nTonalMusic[New York:SchirmerBooks, 1989], 232).

24. See alsoJanetSchmalfeldt, Coming to Terms:Speakingof Phrase,Cadence,and Form,In TheoryOnly13, nos. 1-4 (1997): 95-115.

25. As discussedin Caplin, ClassicalForm(pp. 40-41), the continuation phraseof the sen-tence form fuses together two discreteformal functions-continuation and cadential. In manylooser ormal situations,such as in a subordinate theme or transition, these two functions can

occupy their own unique phrases; n that case, the continuationphrasewould not have cadentialclosure.

26. See Beethoven, Piano Sonata in C, Op. 2, no. 3, mm. 3-4, as discussed in ibid., 45

(ex. 3.13).

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cadence losing hepresentationhrase.To be sure, herearemusicalorcesthateffectclosure f somekind orthephrase, r elsewe wouldnotperceivet

to be a unifiedgroup;but the nature of that closure-be it harmonic,melodic, hythmic,rtextural-is not cadential.27

Sincecadentialormationsormally ccupyat least womeasures f musicand sincea cadencemust be precededby an initiating vent,which tself s

minimallywo measuresong,then the formalunit closedbya cadences usu-

allyno shorterhanfourmeasures.28 esee,therefore,hatcadentiallosuredoes not tend to operate t levelsof musical rganizationower han he four-measurephrase;nstead,other modesof musicalclosureare usedto bringmotivesandothershort deas o a conclusion.29

If cadencedoesnotprovide losure t the lowerendsof the structuralier-archy f a work,we mightaskwhether hereareanyconstraintsn cadences

functioning thigher evels,namely,hose above helevelof the theme.Theideathatlarge-scaleormalunits,includingan entiremovement,areclosed

by cadences indsrepeated xpressionn the musicologicaliteraturef this

century.ThusSchoenberg,n several ccasions,akes he extremeposition f

seeingan entirepieceas anenlargedadence.30dwardT. Coneremarkshatif theres a sense n whichaphrase an be heardas anupbeat o itsownca-

dence,largerandlarger ectionscan also be so apprehended. completely

unifiedcomposition ould then constitutea singlehuge rhythmicmpulse,completedat the finalcadence. 31ikewise,Lerdahl ndJackendoffxtendtheirnotionof cadenced roup o thelargestevelof apiece.32 harlesRoseneven considers hat the last finaleof everyMozartcomicopera serves s

27. An exception arises n the case of a basic idea that itself seems to close with a cadence,as considered later n connection with the idea of limited cadentialscope (see the discussionof

Ex. 9 below).

28. Rarelydoes a cadence close a three-measureunit; for such a case,see the opening of theslow movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in G, Op. 18, no. 2, analyzed as ex. 4.12 in

Caplin,ClassicalForm,57.

29. Lerdahland Jackendoff imilarly ircumscribe adencehierarchically y distinguishing a-

denced groups from other, lower-levelgroupings whose boundaries are closed noncadentially.The smallest levels of cadenced groups correspond ratherclosely to the traditionalnotion of

musicalphrase GenerativeTheory, 68).30. In a generalway everypiece of music resemblesa cadence,of which eachphrasewill be a

more or less elaboratepart (Schoenberg,MusicalComposition, 6). Toexaggeratealittle . . .we

can consider the chorale, as well as every larger composition, a more or less big and elaborate

cadence (Arnold Schoenberg, Theory fHarmony,trans.Roy Carter[Berkeleyand LosAngeles:

Universityof CaliforniaPress,1978], 290). These references to cadence, along with others,are

gathered together in the Concordanceof Terms from Arnold Schoenberg, TheMusicalIdea

and theLogic,Technique, nd Art ofIts Presentation, d. and trans.PatriciaCarpenterand Severine

Neff (New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1995), 358-59.

31. EdwardT. Cone, MusicalForm and MusicalPerformance New York:W. W. Norton,

1968), 26.

32. LerdahlandJackendoff,GenerativeTheory, 33.

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cadence o the entireopera. 33t somewhat owerstructuralevels,we findLeonardB. Meyerreferringo the entireslowintroduction f Beethoven's

LesAdieux Sonataas a high-leveladence. 34 illiamRothstein peaks fa sonataexposition losingwith a cadence,andlocalizest specificallyt the

pointwhere the firstperfectcadence n the keyof the secondgroup oc-curs.35WarrenDarcyandJamesHepokoski ollow Rothsteinn referringothe samecadential rticulations the essentialxpositionallosure nd the

correspondinglace ntherecapitulations the essentialonata losure. 36It is difficult o evaluate ndsubstantiatemanyof these claims.Butgiven

thepervasiveeferenceo suchhigh-level adencesnthe theoreticaliterature,it isworthpursuinghe matternsomedetail.Asfaras an entirepiecebeinga

singlecadence,he ideacanquickly e dismissed sillogical,or suchan over-archingcadencecould not be construed o end anythingotherthanitself.To say,however,hata givencadenceappearingate(oreven at the end)in aworkrepresentsadential losure or the workas a wholeis somewhatmore

viable,but stillproblematical.ake he case of a movement n sonata orm,wherea decisive adence ndsthe second-theme roup n therecapitulation.Whatexactlywould t mean o say hat thiscadence,perse, is responsibleor

creatingclosurefor the entiremovement, n the sense,say,of Darcyand

Hepokoski'sssentialonata losure?

There are two hierarchicalerspectivesrom which thisquestioncan beconsidered,orrespondingssentiallyo Lerdahl ndJackendoff'sistinctionbetween time-spaneduction nd prolongationaleduction. Their wo

representationsf fundamentaltructuresor sonata ormarereproducedn

Figuresa and b. In bothreductions,he localV-I cadence f therecapitula-tion's second-theme roupbringsclosure o the form.From theperspectiveof the time-span eduction Fig. la), the secondhighest evel(labeled b )wouldbe, presumably,cadenced roupconsisting f a structuraleginninganda structuralnd.37The momentof structuraleginningwould betheini-

tialI harmony, ut thismomenthasattachedo it alarge ime-spanmbracingthe entireexposition;hus the expositionwouldrepresenthe subgroup x-

pressinghe structuraleginningof the form(a notion that seemsplausibleenough).Likewise,he momentof structural nd is articulatedy the local

V-I progression,but the entiresubgrouprepresentinghis end comprises

33. CharlesRosen,TheClassicaltyle: aydn,Mozart,BeethovenNewYork:W.W.Norton,1972),305.

34. Meyer,ExplainingMusic,266.

35. Rothstein,PhraseRhythm,116.

36. Darcyand Hepokoski, MedialCaesura, 119. See also JamesHepokoski, Beyond the

SonataPrinciple, hisJournal 55 (2002): 134-36.

37. Lerdahl and Jackendoffdo not speak explicitlyof cadenced groups in connection with

these reductions,so what follows is an interpretation hat tries to hold to the spiritof theirideas.

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(a) a

b

b'

c' d

(e)I V/VV V/ V IIV V I V I V I1sttheme 2nd theme development 1sttheme 2nd theme

group group group group

exposition recapitulation

(d)I V/v VVll VI V I(c)I V/V V IIV V I

(b)I V I

(a) I

(b)

I V/VV V/VV V V I V I V I

1sttheme 2nd theme development 1sttheme 2ndthemegroup group group group

exposition recapitulation

Figure 1 (a) Time-spanreduction of sonataform;(b) prolongationalreductionof sonataform(from Lerdahland Jackendoff,GenerativeTheory,xx. 9.29 and9.35)

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large-scale ormal closure of the movement is achieved(according o the time-

spanreduction)by the developmentand recapitulation ogether in relationto

the exposition(or in my alternative eading, by the recapitulation sending inrelation to the expositionas beginning and development as middle).And nei-

ther of these two higher-levelclosures--of formaltime-spanand of harmonic

prolongation-need be consideredcadential,an ending function that more

appropriately peratesat middle-ground evels of formalorganization.Lerdahland Jackendoff'sprolongationalreduction (Fig. ib) resembles n

certainrespectsthe hierarchy f a Schenkerianmodel of large-scalepitchorga-nization. From a Schenkerianperspective,to say that an entire movement is

closed by a cadence is tantamountto sayingthat the Ursatz tself closeswith a

cadence.41 n this respect,Schenker'sown writingson the matterare interest-

ing, but somewhat inconclusive.At one time, he refers to the final2-1 (sup-

ported by V-I) component of the Ursatz as a cadential formula, thus

suggesting that the preceding3 (9 or 8) representsmaterialof an initiating(aswell aspossiblymedial)formalfunction.42The resultinghierarchicalituation,

then, could be analogous to Lerdahl and Jackendoff'sprolongationalreduc-

tion in that, as is often the case, the initial I of the Ursatz takesup a largeper-

centage of the temporaldurationof the movement, with the cadenceof the

Ursatznormallyoccurring n connection with a relatively oregroundcadence

closing some thematicunit. Thus the concerns I raised above in consideringsuch a closure to be formaland cadential n the context of aprolongational e-

duction would be applicableto an Ursatz closure as well. At other times,Schenkerdiscussesat some length that the forms of the fundamentalstruc-

ture [ Ursatz]must not be confusedwith the cadences of the conventional he-

ory of harmony and points out that the similaritybetween a 3-2-1 (I-V-I)fundamental structureand a conventional cadence with this same melodic-

harmonic progression is merely external ;he thus strongly suggests that

Ursatzandcadenceareconceptuallydistinctentities.43

Though I have tried to cast doubt on the validityof consideringcadentialclosure to be operativeat relativelyhigh levels of formal organization,it is

worth considering at least two reasons why the notion has become so in-

grainedin much contemporary heory.First,a cadence typicallypresumedto

close an entire movement is often accorded a high degree of foregroundrhetoricalemphasisthroughsuch means as harmonicexpansions,highlyactive

surface rhythmic articulations (often culminating in the furiouslyshakingcadentialtrill), a loud dynamic,full textures,and the placement of the final

41. The Ursatz as a whole cannot logicallybe conceived as a formalcadence,since it would

not function to end anything.42. Heinrich Schenker,FreeComposition,d. and trans. Ernst Oster (New York:Longman,

1979), 16.

43. Ibid., 17. Note that Schenkerspeaks of the conventional theory of harmony,not the

theory of form, thus revealinghow powerfullycadencewas conceived in his day as a harmonicconstruct.

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formal closureis achievedby other musicalforces.Unfortunately,we haveno

simple,conventionalterm to labelsuchclosure.In that absence,theoristshave

all too quicklyextended the term cadence o cover those situations.Suchappli-cation of cadence is best understoodasfigurative and should not be taken in

its literalsense.46 return to considerthis issue furtherafterI have clarifiedhe

distinctionbetween cadential unction and cadentialarrivalater n the article.

Cadence as Harmony; Harmony as Cadence

The important role that harmony plays in the articulationof cadence as a

mechanism of formal closureis well known to musiciansand centralto mostconceptionsof the classical adence. Somewhatlessfamiliar,but justaspromi-

nent, is the role that cadence has playedin the theory of harmony.As men-

tioned earlier, he idea that harmony s conceived as a cadentialphenomenon

originateswith Rameau.The traditionalnotion of cadence as ending formula

providedRameauwith a musicalconstructwhose patternsof dissonancereso-

lution and fundamental-bassmotion could form the basis of an explanatorymodel for why individualharmonic entities are motivated to progressfrom

one to another. Rameauthen extended the explanationof the perfectcadence

(V-I) and the irregularcadence I-V, IV-I; also termed imperfect adence) oall harmonic progressions, irrespectiveof their position within a phrase.In

these progressions he recognized various imitations of the cadence that

arose through evading the cadence (inverting one or both harmonies or

addingdissonance to the finalharmony)or breaking he cadence(allowingthe fundamentalbass to ascend a step, thus creatinga deceptivecadence[ca-dencerompue;it. brokencadence ]).Some progressionsdo not fitwell into

Rameau'scadential model (especiallyvarioussequences), but, as Joel Lester

has observed, it seems never to have occurred to him that harmoniescould

relateto one anotherin meaningfulwaysother thanin terms of cadentialpro-gressionsor their imitation. 47

Though there were some exceptions, subsequent harmonic theories con-

tinued to be based upon a cadentialmodel, such that harmonicprogressionand cadence became virtually synonymous.48Indeed, the two major (and

competing) systems of harmony developed in the course of the nineteenth

46. My colleague Steven Huebner has suggested the termfigurative cadence o cover the

extension of cadence to high structural evels; see StructuralCoherence, in TheCambridge

Companion o Verdi, d. Scott Balthazar Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,forthcoming).47. JoelLester,CompositionalTheoryn theEighteenthCentury Cambridge:HarvardUniver-

sityPress,1992), 119.

48. One theorist who does not appeal to cadence in his theory of harmony is Heinrich

ChristophKoch,who restricts he concept of cadence to formalending ;as a result,Kochlimits

cadentialharmonies to those in root position exclusively (see Lester, CompositionalTheory,

279).

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TheClassicalCadence 67

century--Simon Sechter's Stufentheorieand Riemann's Funktionstheorie-were based, in manifestlydifferentways, on the cadence as model for har-

monic progression.Especially n Riemann's theories, the cadence stood as amodel not only for harmonicrelationships,but, more broadly, or tonal ones

as well. The cadentialprogression--now expandedto include an initialtonic, a

subdominant,a dominant, and a finaltonic--was seen as the principalagentfor establishingandconfirminga tonal center,the sense of key.

Though cadence served as the preeminent explanation or harmonicanaly-sis, theoristsrecognized that some kindsof progressionwere not well covered

by the model. In particular,most harmonicsequencesas well as some progres-sions involving passing harmonies could not be regardedas fundamentally

cadential.49 ndeed, the increasedrecognition that passing harmonies werestructurallyubordinate o theirsurroundingharmonies ed to Schenker'sno-

tion that an individualStufecould be prolonged hroughvariouscontrapuntal-harmonic techniques. Eventuallythe idea that harmonicprogressionsat one

structural evel principallyacquiretheir meaning and raisond'etre by servingto prolong variousharmoniesathigher levels of structureallowedthisprolon-gational model of harmony to surpassthe cadential model in a number of

influential exts used today.50soYet the cadentialmodel of harmony still finds its advocates,among them

LeonardG. Ratner,whose theories,along with those of a number of his stu-dents, have exercised considerable nfluence on the formal analysisof musicfrom the classicalperiod. At the heart of Ratner'sconception of harmony is

the cadential ormula, a voice-leading configuration involving the succession

of scalesteps 1, 4, 7, and 1 (typicallydistributedwithin two voices).5sRatner

argues that typicallywithin a periodic structure such cadential formulas are

employedto indicate, establish, nd eventually confirm a key.Example1illustrates Ratner'sanalysisof the opening of Haydn's Piano Sonata in E6,Hob. XVI:28. The entire theme up to measure 8 consists of a series of caden-

tial formulasof increasing rhetorical mphasis. 52t is especiallynoteworthythat Ratnerdeems harmonicprogressionsto be cadential ndependent of the

49. Thus Riemann regardedsequences as essentiallymelodic in nature and not analyzable

using functionalharmonic abels.

50. See EdwardAldwelland CarlSchachter,Harmonyand VoiceLeading,3d ed. (New York:

Harcourt BraceJovanovich,2003); Robert Gauldin, Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music (NewYork:W. W. Norton, 1997); and PeterWestergaard,An Introduction o TonalTheoryNew York:

W. W. Norton, 1975).51. The essence of the cadence-creatingprocessis the interactionof the tonic note with the

tritoneformed by 4 and 7 of the majorscale. The sounding of 4 and 7 together or consecutivelycreates an intervalof tension; such a tension is resolved when 7 proceeds to 1 (Leonard G.

Ratner, ClassicMusic:Expression, orm,and Style[New York:SchirmerBooks, 1980], 51); see

alsoLeonard G. Ratner,Harmony:Structure nd Style New York:McGraw-Hill,1962).52. Ratner,ClassicMusic,53. The analytical verlay s by Ratner; ikely missingis the indica-

tion, on the thirdbeat of measure1, of a 4 and a 7 (placed vertically)as shown at the analo-

gous placein measure3.

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Example 1 Cadentialformulas,Haydn, Piano Sonata in Eb, Hob. XVI:28, firstmovement,mm. 1-8 (fromRatner,ClassicMusic,ex. 4-5)

Allegro moderato

,i nAE

4 in7in+

l 4 7

actual positions of the harmonies as defined by their bass voice. Thus the

opening progressionfrom measure1 to measure2, I-V4-I6, is just as caden-

tialharmonicallyas the finalprogressionIV-V7-I. To be sure, Ratnercharac-

terizes formal cadences on the basis of the position of their constituent

harmonies,so that a true authenticcadence requires he final dominant and

tonic to be in root position. But he alsorecognizes an inconclusive adence

where the tonic or dominantis inverted,a cadencethat is a signalfor further

action. 53

Despite the prominentuse of the cadentialmodel within the historyof har-monic theory and its obvious explanatoryutility,the linking of cadenceand

harmonyhas been detrimental n at least two waysto the concept of cadence

in its primary ense of formalconclusion. In the firstplace,the term cadence

can be invoked in situationsthat entirelyviolate the hierarchical equirementsfor formalclosure. Thus when we read,as we often do, that Beethoven's First

Symphonyopens with a cadence in F major,the term can logicallyreferto a

harmonic situation exclusively,not a formal one.54Likewise,when Schoen-

berg speaksof an entiremovement as an enlargedcadence,his ideahas mean-

ing only if takenin the sense of a large-scaleharmonic-tonalprogression.Even

Schenker,who minimizes references o cadencein hiswritings, ntroduces he

53. Ibid., 34.

54. W. S. Rockstroet al., Cadence, n TheNew GroveDictionaryofMusicand Musicians,2d ed. (2001), 4:781.

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auxiliaryadence as a harmonicprogression ackingan initiatingroot-

position onic. Thathisconcept s only tangentiallyelatedo cadenceas for-

malconclusionsclearwhenhe citesexamples f theauxiliaryadence ervingas he basis or the so-called econd heme of a sonatamovement r sup-

portingeven an entirepiece. 55 secondconsequence f linking adence o

stronglyo harmonys thatmanyprogressionshat are considered adentialfrom an exclusively armonic ointof view are not actually ssociatedwith

genuine ormal adencesnthe classicaltyle.Thuswhen aprogressionuchas

I-IIJ-V6-I is described s cadential asMeyerdoes whenreferringo the

openingof the firstprelude f Bach'sWell-Temperedlavier),heimpressionis giventhat thisprogressionanbe usedas the basisof a formal adence.56

But even aninformal xamination f eighteenth-centurynstrumentaleper-toriesreveals hat suchprogressionsrerarely,f ever,usedto close formalunitsat the hierarchicalevelof a theme.

If the wholesale quating f harmonic rogressionnd cadencehas led tothe kindsofproblemsustmentioned,t is stillpossibleo identifypecific ro-gressions s cadentialnways hatarecompatiblewith theconceptof cadenceas formalconclusion. n critiquinghe traditionalheoryof harmony,CarlDahlhaus ointsto a possiblewayout of the dilemmabytaking ormal on-text nto account: Thewidespreadheory hat n Classicalmusicallharmonic

relationshipsanbe seenasexpansionsr modificationsf thecadences thor-oughlymistaken.t isnecessaryo distinguishetween losing ections,whose

harmony onstitutes cadence,andopeningandmiddlesections. 57hus,followingDahlhaus'sue,I propose hat most harmonic rogressionsan beclassified s one of threebasictypes:prolongational,equential,nd caden-

tial.58Within hemes,prolongational rogressionsre associatedwith most

initiating ontextsand some medialcontexts;59equentialprogressions re

normallyied to medial ontexts; ndcadential rogressionsorm he basisof

closingcontexts.Froma morespecificallyarmonic erspective, prolonga-tionalprogressionunctionso sustainn time an individualarmony withinan implied onality),usingsuchembellishingechniques spedalpointand

55. Schenker,FreeComposition,9.

56. Meyer,ExplainingMusic,227.

57. CarlDahlhaus, Harmony, sec. 3/ii, in TheNew GroveDictionary ofMusic and Mu-

sicians,2d ed. (2001), 10:864.

58. The following discussionsummarizesa more extensivetreatment of harmonicprogres-sions in Caplin, ClassicalForm,24-31. Many theories of harmony differentiatesequential pro-

gressionsfrom other types. And some modern theories informallyappeal to a prolongationalmodel at some points and to a cadentialmodel at other points. I am not aware, however, of a

prior theory that so categoricallydistinguishes prolongational progressionsfrom cadential ones

or that systematicallydevelops the consequences of this distinction as the basisfor defining the

relationshipof harmonyto form.

59. Prolongational progressions are also used in what I term framing formal contexts,

namely,a before-the-beginningsuch as a thematic introduction) or an after-the-end such as a

postcadential odetta);see ibid., 15-16.

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70 Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety

neighboring, passing, and substitute chords. Most often it is the tonic har-

mony of some key that is prolonged in this manner,but other scaledegrees,

especially the dominant, can also be subjected to harmonic prolongation.

Example2 illustrates electedprolongationalprogressions; he curved line em-

bracingthe roman numerals ndicates the boundaries of the prolongation.A

sequentialprogressionprojectsa consistentmelodic-contrapuntal atternwith

the fundamentalpurposeof moving the musicawayfrom, or returning t to, a

particularharmonic function or tonal center, often with the result of tem-

porarilydestabilizing he prevailingharmoniccontext. Sequentialprogressionscan themselves be classified n terms of the intervalgenerated by the roots of

their component harmonies (e.g., descending fifth, ascending step); such

progressionsaresufficiently amiliarnot to requirefurtherexemplification.Whereas a prolongationalprogression emphasizesthe identityof an indi-

vidualharmony,thus implying a tonality in which that harmonyreceives ts

meaning (as tonic, say),the tonalityitself is not made certainuntil its principalharmonic functions are articulatedn a sufficientlypowerfulmanner.It is thus

the role of a cadentialprogressionto confirm a tonal center as such.60And it

does so by introducing dominant harmonyin its most stable form--in root

position-thus strongly mplyinga resolutionto a stable,root-positiononic. In

the case of the authenticcadentialprogression, he dominant(which maycon-

tain a dissonant seventh to aid in the implicationof resolution) actuallypro-

gressesto tonic.61With the half-cadentialprogression,the dominantbecomes

the goal harmony (and thus must remain a stable, fully consonant triad);a

subsequentresolution to tonic does not belong to the progressionproperbut

occurs at the beginningof the next harmonicprogression(though sometimes

this resolution is omitted and a differentharmonyinitiates the next progres-

sion). A centraltenet of my concept of cadence is the requirement hat domi-

nant harmony occur exclusively in root position prior to the moment of

cadentialarrival or, in the case of a half cadence, just at the moment of ar-

rival).62So essentialis this harmonic condition that if the dominant firstap-

pears inverted (say as V6) or becomes inverted after initially being in root

position, then eitherno sense of cadence will be projectedor else a potentiallycadential ituationfailsto be fullyrealizedas such.

The dominant of a cadentialprogression s often introducedby one or two

preceding harmonies-an initialtonic, usuallyplaced in firstinversion,and a

pre-dominantharmony,usuallybuiltoverthe fourthscaledegreein the bass.63

60.Though

here sample recedent

orthe idea hatcadenceskeyconfirming,

t issurpris-ingthatonly7 percent f the definitionsurveyed yBlombachnclude hatelement;eeTable1

above.61. Ifthefinal onic s invertedrreplacedyasubstitutearmonyusually I),thenwe can

speak f a deceptiveadentialrogression.62. Followinghe momentof cadential rrivaln ahalfcadence,he dominantmay henbe-

come nvertedwithoutweakeninghesenseof cadence.63. Pre-dominantarmoniessometimeseferredo as dominantreparation armonies

or even moregenericallys subdominant armonies)ncludea widevariety f harmonicor-

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Example 2 Prolongationalprogressions

... i I J ,g-u-,

-1 , -

I V6 I I V4 16 I V4 16

Example3 illustrates ome standardcadentialprogressions; he squarebrack-ets embracingthe roman numerals ndicate the boundariesof each progres-sion. That the progressiontypically ncludes a pre-dominantharmonyis well

known. The presenceof an initialtonic is less often discussedby theorists,yetwhen mentioned, such a tonic is normallyunderstood to be in root position

(as in the textbook progressionI-IV-V-I, which, as it turnsout, is not typicalof the classical tyle).More frequently, he initial cadential onic appearsn first

inversion and is often accordedemphasisas a sign that a cadentialprogressionis indeed under way.A root-position tonic, on the contrary, s normallypro-

longed from the very beginning of a thematic unit and thus can rarelysignalthe start of something cadential.Indeed, following a prolonged root-position

tonic, the appearance f I6to initiatethe cadentialprogression ater n a theme

helps to lighten the harmonic texture, to provide greaterdynamicmomen-

tum, and to motivate a return to the stability of the final cadential tonic.

Combined with a pre-dominantbuilt over the fourth scaledegree in the bass,the cadential16 nitiatesa powerfulascendingmelodic motion toward the fifth

scale degree, which supportsthe root-position dominant, the linchpinof the

cadentialprogression.Inasmuchas the raisond'&tre f the cadentialprogressionis to confirm a

tonality,the so-calledplagalprogressionI-IV-I is entirelyinadequateto the

task.The subdominantharmonydoes not contain the essentialelements, es-

peciallythe leading tone, to set up powerful expectationsfor a resolution to

a stable tonic. Instead, the progressionis entirely suited to a prolongational

role, especially eeing as the common tone between the harmonies s the root

of the tonic. If the plagalprogressiondoes not fulfill the requirementsof a

true cadentialprogression,then the formalconstruct of plagalcadence, de-

scribedin virtuallyevery music theory textbook on rudimentsand harmony,must be seen as afiction,at least for the classical epertory(aswell asfor earlier

mations whose principal function is to progress to dominant harmony. The main cadential

pre-dominant in music of the classical tyle is II6, though IV is often used as well. Other pre-dominants include a group of applieddominants to the dominant built over the raised fourth

degree (typicallyVII7/V), the variousaugmented sixth chords, and the Neapolitan harmonyin

first nversion.

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Example 3 Cadentialprogressions

authenticadential halfcadentialdeceptive

adential

16 116 V 7 I 16 IV V(6 7) I I V IV6 V 116V(6)VII VII

I I I I I I I

I 3il I

eighteenth-centurystyles).64The situationthat theoristsnormallyidentifyasa plagal cadence is either a postcadentialcodetta (a topic to be discussedat

greater ength below) or simplya noncadentialarticulationwithin a thematic

unit.

My assertion hat a cadentialprogression-and thus actualcadentialclosure

--depends categoricallyon the presenceof a root-position dominant can be

tested through comparisonwith some analysesoffered by Fred Lerdahland

RayJackendoffndbyWilliamRothstein.65n the courseof extensive nalyti-cal work on Bach'ssetting of the chorale Befiehldu deine Wege from the

St. MatthewPassion(see Ex. 4), Lerdahland Jackendoff ind the phrasefol-

lowing the double bar (upbeat to m. 5) to end with a cadence in D major,whose dominant takesthe form of VII6.66 would maintain,on the contrary,thatreplacingapotentiallycadentialdominantwith a triadbuilton the leadingtone results n the denialof cadentialmeaningto that dominant.If so, thenwe

should not speak of a genuine cadentialprogression here, but instead ac-

knowledge that the phraseends without a cadence.67Undoubtedly,a palpable

64. It is perhapspossible to speakof plagalcadencesin some nineteenth-centuryworks,buteven there, it is probably better to understandsuch situations as deviations from the classical

cadence, whereby the rhetoric of the cadence may be present,despite the absence of a genuinecadentialprogression.

65. Though the following two examplesfalloutside the strictconfines of the classical tyle,

they nonethelessillustrate ituations hat ariserepeatedlywithin thatstyle.66. Lerdahland Jackendoff, GenerativeTheory,158. Lerdahland Jackendoffidentifythis

choraleas O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (presumably ollowing the title found in the well-

known Riemenschneideredition of the chorales).The analyticaloverlayin Example4 is mine,

not that of Lerdahland Jackendoff.Except where otherwise noted, the analysesadded to the

remainingexamplesare mine aswell.

67. It may be noted, furthermore,that the melodic line 6-7-8 concluding the phrase s not

entirelysuited to a cadentialsituation.As well, the motion from 6 to 7 can easilycreateparallelfifths n the voice leadingwhen a pre-dominantbuilt over the fourthdegree in the bass eadsto a

root-positiondominant.An informalexaminationof manyof Bach'schoralesettingssuggeststhat

this melodic patternrarelygeneratesgenuine cadences.Among the nine differentsettingsof this

samechoraletune that I haveconsulted,none usesan authenticcadence(or anyother genuineca-

dence for thatmatter)at thispoint in the melody.

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Example 4 Bach, chorale, Befiehldu deine Wege, St.MatthewPassion

2 4

ru•, ,r

'..

D: I... I b: I(VI)

5 6

.•'E. r r

-- - ; - -

SF

D: I6 IV VIi6 I(I)

(no cad.)

8 10 12

e: V A: I D: I(II) (V) (I)

HCIAC IAC

sense of ending is associatedwith the phrase,but the mechanism for creat-

ing that closureneed not be conceived--or musicallyperceived-as cadential.If it were, then such aphraseshould, in principle,be regularlyusable in formal

locations that would bring thematic units to a close. But throughout the

eighteenth century,it is rare to find cases of formalunits closed by harmonic

progressionswhose dominant is inverted(in this case,VII6substitutes orVt).To be sure, if we assume that all phrasesmust end with cadences-and the

powerfulimmersionof most theorists n the Bach choralesmayreinforcethat

assumption-then we would be unwillingto recognize thatphraseclosure can

be noncadential n nature. But a number of passages n the choralerepertoryreveal hat Bachcan, in fact,end aphrasewithout a cadence. Sometimes the fi-

nal note in the melody does not fall on a scale degree suitable for a cadence

(such as the fourth or sixthdegrees);at other times, a cadence would be possi-ble, but Bach avoids writing a real cadential harmonic progression, thus

thwartingthe potential for such closure. Such is the casehere. Moreover,we

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can observe the detrimentaleffect that would have arisen f Bachhad actuallycreated a perfectauthentic cadence in D at measure 6. For such a cadence

would have poorly anticipatedand even potentiallyobscured the structuralsignificanceof the imperfect uthentic cadence that closes the chorale.As Bach

writes it, the second half of the chorale contains a series of carefullygradated

phraseendings, beginningwith noncadentialclosureat measure6, continuingwith a halfcadence in E minor at measure8, an imperfectauthenticcadence

in A major(the dominant of the home key) at measure10, and an imperfectauthenticcadencein the home keyto end the chorale.68

A second examplerevealshow an inverted dominantharmonyundercutsa

potentialcadence. In his reductivesketch of the famous BlueDanube Waltz

theme (see Ex. 5a), Rothstein brackets two harmonic progressions (mm.18-28 and 29-32), which indicate 'a constant movement toward a goal-the cadence,' with 'cadence' defined in its traditionalharmonic sense. 69He

notes, however,that thecadences indicatedby our bracketsare not felt to be

of equal weight or finality; he second cadence is clearlymuch strongerthan

the first. To justifythisdifference n cadential trength,Rothsteinappeals o a

varietyof notions, the most compelling being the melodic tension associatedwith the end of the first cadence as opposed to the melodic resolutionof the

second cadence.

We might ask, however,whether the first basspattern s fullyrealizedas ca-dential. For Strauss--quite deliberatelyone must assume-follows the pre-dominant II with an inverteddominant in measure 26. Rothstein identifies

the inversion but subordinates t in his reductiveanalysis o the subsequent

root-position dominant. Insofar as it is axiomaticwithin the view of cadence

presentedin this studythat a cadentialdominant must firstappear n root po-sition and remainso throughout its duration,I interpretthe cadentialsitua-

tion differently.Followingthe tonic prolongationof measures1-17 (note how

the dominant is first inverted, then afterwardsplaced in root position, just

what happenslater at measures26-27), the appearanceof 16 at measure18can be understood, as Rothstein rightly observes, as a conventional signalfor the onset of a cadentialprogression (see Ex. 5b). And the move to II1

68. As an aside,it is interesting o note that the punctuationof the choraletext might seem to

support my analysis f noncadentialclosure at measure6, in that this is the only phraseendingnot

accompaniedby a punctuationmark.Indeed, with one exception, none of the other ninesettingsof the same melody I have examinedcontain a punctuationmarkat this point in the chorale(thesecond verse of O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden has a comma). A quick survey of the Bach

choralerepertorysuggeststhat thereis no simplerelationof musicalcadence to text punctuation;while most cadences areassociatedwith some kind of punctuationmark n the text, manyother,

fully legitimatecadences haveno such mark. Thus the absence of punctuationper se should not

necessarily uggest the absenceof cadence. I discussthe more general ssue of relatingcadenceto

punctuation n a latersection of this article.

69. Rothstein,PhraseRhythm,7; the quotationwithin thisstatement s RogerSessions'schar-

acterizationof phrase(see n. 20 above). The analytical verlay n Example5a is by Rothstein.

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Example 5a Johann Strauss,Jr., BlueDanube Waltz,No. 1, foreground reduction of main

theme (from Rothstein,PhraseRhythm,6)

1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1

I V V

12 17 18

34,

1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1

II II

23 (A 26 27 28 29 32

2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 3 (4)

V I I II V I

supportsthe expressionof impending cadence. But when the bass failsto rise

to the dominant degree, pulling downwards instead to the second degree(m. 26), the ongoing cadentialprogressionis abandoned,and the returntotonic at measure28 (viaan embellishingroot-position dominant) completesa

tonic prolongation.70The regainingof 16 at measure29 holds open the possi-

bility of another attempt at cadence, this one being successfulwhen the IIyields to a root-positionV7, a genuinelycadentialdominant that resolves to I

at measure 32. An interesting detail of musical texture furthersupports the

idea that a potential cadence is abandonedat measure 26. The sudden elimi-nation of accompanimentalpatterns and the reduction to a single voice at

measure 25 creates a marked break in the ongoing texture. Indeed, the

change of the lastquarter-noteupbeat to an eighth note and eighth rest con-tributes to the effect. As a result,when the full texture returns ortissimoat

the downbeatof measure26, the moment givesthe impressionof being a new

70. For a definition and discussion of abandonedcadence, as distinct from deceptiveand

evadedcadences,see Caplin, ClassicalForm,106-7.

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Example 5b Strauss, BlueDanube, mm. 18-32 (fromRothstein,PhraseRhythm,5)

D: 6 II65

26

23_.• 25.

(abandoned adence)

I 2928

2 ? 32

16 116 V7 I

N l . O O I

beginning (afterthe cadentialabandonment),not a continuing and immedi-ate drive to an ending. Indeed, it might be arguedthat the strongsense of ini-tiation associatedwith measure 26 would render the situationnoncadentialeven if the dominant had appearedin root position. That Straussavoids a

potentialconflict of harmonyand form by using an inverteddominant revealshis sensitivity o the cadentialprocessesatplay.It is only when the bassreaches

down againto the thirddegree at measure29 that the music directs tselfto-ward imminent closure,which is then effected at measure 32 by the one and

only cadencein the theme. Cadentialabandonmentand eventualrealization s

experientiallymore complex than the relatively traightforwardase of aweakcadence followed by a strongerone. Strauss's areful reatmentof the bass inewithin this theme points us toward this more interesting nterpretation.

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Cadential Arrival versus Cadential Function

Even in the sense of formalconclusion, the term cadence s often used in

two differentways. On the one hand, cadencesignifiesthe actual moment of

formalclosure,thatpoint, say n the case of aperfectauthenticcadence,where

the cadentialdominant resolvesto the final tonic. This is the placein the musi-

cal score where the analystwould placesome symbol for cadence (e.g., PAC)and the listener would say here is where the cadence reallyhappens. More

precisely,we can term this time-point the cadential arrival and define it as

occurringwhere the finalharmonyof the cadentialprogressionfirstappears.

Often enough, the final note of the melody in the sopranovoice also corre-sponds with the cadentialarrival,but frequentlythe sense of melodic closurefor the thematic unit occurs somewhat after the final cadential harmonyarrives,usuallyas a result of suspensionresolutions or some furtherarpeggia-tion of the tones of the final harmony (what Koch describesas overhang

[Uberhang.]).71But the phenomenon of cadence as closure consists of more than just the

moment of cadentialarrival,or there must be some musical material mmedi-

ately precedingthat arrivalwhose formalpurposeis to announce acadenceis

forthcoming. This time-span,which also includes the arrivalof the cadenceitself, expresses cadentialfunction because it sets up, and then usuallyfulfills,the requisite conditions for thematic closure through specific harmonic,melodic, rhythmic,and texturaldevices. Even if the implied cadentialarrivalfails to materialize-owing to deception, evasion, or abandonment-we canstillidentifya passageof music whose formalfunction is cadential.Sometimesthe cadentialfunction is relativelycompressed,as is the case especiallywith a

simplehalf cadenceending a four-measureantecedentphrase.At other times,the cadential unction is considerably xpansive,such as in subordinate-theme

areaswhere the confirmationof the new key requirespowerfulexpression.Butno matter what the length of the cadential unction, its boundariesare essen-

tiallydefinedby the underlyingcadentialprogression.To be sure,there are sit-uationswhere it is not so obvious that the cadentialprogressionhas actuallystarted,and thus the onset of the cadential unction is understood retrospec-tively.Frequentlyenough, however,the composer decisivelyarticulates he be-

ginning of the progression by variousmeans, such as a clearshift from stable

root-position tonic to the more mobile first-inversion orm or a prominentchangein the registerof the bassvoice.

The idea that cadenceinvolves a time-span eadingup to andincludingthetime-point of arrivalhas been implicitlyrecognized by a number of theorists

71. Heinrich Christoph Koch, IntroductoryEssayon Composition:The Mechanical Rules of

Melody,Sections and 4, trans.Nancy KovaleffBaker(New Haven, Conn.: YaleUniversityPress,

1983), 4.

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and historians. Thus Rosen identifies the final phrase of a Mozart pianosonata's subordinate theme (shown in Ex. 6) as four bars of cadence. 72

Rothstein indicatesthat a similar ormal context (towardthe end of the BlueDanube Waltzpassagediscussedearlier) nvolves a pre-cadential ituation

and notes that the acceleratedharmonicrhythmtoward the end of the phrase

helpsto signal the coming cadence. 73And Ratnerrecognizes a grandca-

dence of firstreprise oward the end of the exposition in the first movement

of Mozart's String Quintet in Eb, K. 614.74Lerdahland Jackendoffprovideone of the more explicitformulationsof the idea: afterfirstdefininga caden-

tialpreparation hat consistsof events eading up to the cadence, theythen

speakof a cadentialnucleus that includesboth the cadentialpreparation nd

the cadenceproper.75The more specificnotion of cadential unction also crops up now and

then in the theoretical iterature, hough usually n waysthat are rathervagueand that differconsiderably rom the conception developed here. So, for ex-

ample, Rosen discusseshow the expositionof a sonata is based on only one

action, the establishmentof one polarity... ; once it has arrived,everything

remaining n the firsthalf[the whole exposition]tends to haveapurelycaden-

tial function. In a concerto, the withholdingof this cadenceis the simplestand

most justifiableprocedure, the occasion for virtuoso passageworkfrom the

soloist. 76Though it is not clearjust how we are to understand cadentialfunction in this context, the term seems to applyto a fairly argestretchof

music, one that both precedesand follows a cadence. Following the lead of

Rosen, Darcy and Hepokoski also recognize cadential function within the

latter part of a sonata exposition: The tonal function of S [the secondary-theme zone] is cadential: tspurposeis to cadencedecisively n the new key. 77

Again, it is uncertainwhatthey mean by cadential unction,exceptthat, in the

most general sense, a cadence has to occur. To be sure, the secondary-theme area of a sonataexposition must close with a cadence, but theirstate-

ment suggests that the entire zone has a cadential function, an idea clearly

divergentfrom the concept of cadence thatI have been presenting.Even when not speaking explicitlyof cadential function, some writers

characterize pecificgroupingstructuresascadential, mplying,asa result,that

72. Rosen, ClassicalStyle,72.

73. Rothstein,PhraseRhythm, 2-23.

74. Ratner,ClassicMusic,241.

75. Lerdahland Jackendoff,GenerativeTheory, 91-94. Their cadentialpreparationncludes

anypre-dominantharmoniesaswell as the cadential ix-four,whereas the cadenceproperconsists

of the V-I progressionexclusively.That they conceptually eparate he cadential ix-four rom the

dominant is odd, since most theoristsrecognize that six-fourchord as expressingdominantfunc-

tion.) Lerdahland Jackendoffdo not specificallyacknowledgethe presenceof an initial tonic as

partof the cadentialpreparation,but theirtheory does not exclude thatpossibility.76. Rosen, ClassicalStyle, 69-70.

77 Darcyand Hepokoski, MedialCaesura, 121.

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Example 6 Mozart, Piano Sonata n B6,K. 333, firstmovement, mm. 56-59

cadential

F: 16 116 V(4

I

t r

r - - - - - - - - - - - ? . - - - . - ?

7) I

they fulfillthat formalfunction.Thus JamesWebster dentifiesmeasures7-10of the main theme in the finale of Haydn's Farewell Symphony (see Ex. 7)as a cadentialphrase, though the actualhalf-cadentialprogression begins

only in the lasteighth-note beat of measure9.78Rothstein introducesthe no-tion of cadential heme, which he defines as a new or strikingmelodic ideathat appearsshortly before, and that leads to, the closing cadence [of the

second-theme group]. 79And along similar ines, Darcy and Hepokoski refer

to a thematically rofiledcadentialmodule, typicallyused by Haydn at theend of an expansionsection (a position correspondingto the close of whatI would callthe subordinate-themearea).80But by farthe most influentialref-

erences to cadencephrase or cadence theme ariserepeatedly n the writ-

ings of Donald Francis Tovey, who uses these expressions in reference to

78. Webster,Haydn's Farewell ymphony,8. The analytical nnotations n the examplere-

flect my harmonic-formalnterpretations,not Webster's.In my view, measures 7-10 function as

a continuationphrase (ClassicalForm,40-42) primarilybecause it initiatesprominent phrase-structuralragmentation i.e., areduction n the size of the grouping structure romtwo measures

to one measure);I see the cadential unction occurring only at the very end of the phrase,assup-

ported by the condensedhalf-cadential rogression.The phrase hat beginsin measure5 startsoff

as a consequent, but that function failsto be filly realizedwhen it closes at measure 10 with a

weaker cadence(HC) than the one closingthe antecedent(IAC).79. Rothstein,PhraseRhythm,118.

80. Darcyand Hepokoski, MedialCaesura, 135.

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Example 7 Haydn, SymphonyNo. 45 in F#Minor ( Farewell ), ifthmovement, mm. 1-10

Antecedent

r-- basic dea b.i.) r - contrastingdea c.i.),3

o-

p4 00

91

A: I V I V4 16 V

Consequentmm.5-10;failed) continuationSb.i. r-- fragmentation--7

I V I IV I

V I V

FHC

passageshat(usuallybut not always)ollowa cadential rrival.81uchusagehas been the sourceof greatconfusionor theconceptof cadence, or t fun-

damentallymistakesadentialunctionwithpostcadentialunction,a crucialdistinctionhatI willaddresshortlybelow.

Havingnow distinguishedetweencadentialunctionandarrival, wantto returnbrieflyo the questionof whetheror not high-levelormal losureshouldbeconceptualizedndexperiencedsspecificallyadential. osupport

mycontention hatbroad tretches f music,ones thatembracemultiplehe-maticunits,achieve losuren ways hatarenoncadential,et me proposehe

81. See DonaldFrancisTovey,A CompanionoBeethoven'sianoforte onatasLondon:AssociatedBoard,1935); references o cadencephrase and cadence heme arefound

throughout the analyses.

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following analogy.As we havejust discussed,the process for creatingclosure

at the level of an individual theme takes place within the time-spanof the

cadential unction;what ultimatelycompletes the process of thematic closureoccurs at the time-pointof cadentialarrival. I claimthat a similardistinction

obtains at higher levels of organization, say,of an entire exposition. To sim-

plify the argument, et us considera relatively hort exposition that contains a

single subordinate heme. I would suggest that the processof creatingexposi-tionalclosure occurswithin the time-spanof the entire subordinate heme, for

even when that theme begins,we can hear ahead( protend, asphenomenol-

ogists would say)to the eventual end of the expositionand alreadyexperiencethat the exposition is in the process of closing. And, to be sure, the ultimate

realizationof thatexpositionalclosure occurs at the time-point of cadentialar-rivalthatdecisivelyends the subordinate heme. Although the time-pointsfor

the fullyrealizedclosureof both subordinate heme andexpositionarelocatedat the sametemporal ocation, the time-spansof closingfunction arevastlydif-

ferent in size and internalorganization.Hence it seems reasonable o differen-

tiate these formalfunctionsthrough our technicalvocabulary.At the thematic

level, the function can be termed cadential (with its conventionalharmonic-

melodic content); at the expositional evel,we have no standard abel.I would

suggest, then, that the notion of subordinate-themeunction as a constituent

formal function of an exposition should incorporatethe concept of closure,

just as cadentialfunction incorporatesclosure for an individual theme.82 It

might at first seem farfetched to ask us to hear broad-range processes of

formal closure at a multiplicityof levels, but such experientialdemands have

been part and parcel of Schenkerianapproachesto harmonic-contrapuntal

processesfor manydecadesnow, and to invoke the idea for formal functional-

ity hardlyseems a radicalproposal.

Cadential Function versus Cadential Content

In addition to its harmoniccontent, cadential unction in classicalworks often

projectsmelodic-motivic gestures that can generallybe described as conven-

tional, asopposed to the characteristicdeastypicallyused at the beginning of

a thematic unit. In earlier style periods, the content of the cadence is so

conventionalized hatwe canappropriately peakof a melodic formula,almost

alwaysof fallingcontour (hence the etymology of the term), that unequivo-

cally signalscadentialclosure. Some of these formulaicgestures continued to

be employed in the high classicalperiod-especially the cadential trill inMozart's concerto style-but it became less and less the case,particularlywith

82. Likewise,the formal function of recapitulationwould incorporateclosure of the entiresonata form.

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tion of cadence in the context of formal initiation, while the second two-measureunit actuallyachievescadentialclosure for the four-measurephrase.

When speakingof a formalunit that seems to open with a cadence, it is dif-ficultnot to think of the third movement of Mozart'sSymphonyNo. 41 in C,K. 551 ( Jupiter )(Ex. 8). The beginning of the trio has frequentlybeencited as an exampleof awitty effect that arises rom displacinga cadence fromits normativeformalposition. LeonardRatner'sdescription s typical:

The cadence s placedat the beginning f the period[mm. 60-61], not the

end,as f it werea final adence or the minuet.The halfcadencenm.4 of thetrio[m. 63] loses much of itsclarity nd almostall of itsemphasis ecauseofthe

steadyeighth-notemotion in the

melody.Throughouthis trio, in fact,

thecadencenever eems o find tsproperplace;t is usedforeverything uta

pointof arrival,ndthis seems o be thepointof the trio-to putthe cadenceout of countenance.87

In light of the distinctionthat I am proposing between cadentialcontent andcadentialfunction, we need to inquire into the status of the cadence thatRatner dentifies at the beginning of the trio. For although the content of thisunit resembles a cadence, it is incapable of functioning as one for reasons

alreadydiscussed-it cannot be construed to end a formal unit. Rather,this

two-bargesture is used throughout the trio as a basic dea to initiate both theantecedent and the consequent phrasesof the A and A' sections. That thisbasicidea contains cadential materialseems reasonableenough: an authenticcadence must conclude with V-I, which often supports7-8 in the melody.Butas I have discussed,the classicalcadence more typicallybrings three to four

harmonies;as a result,the absence of aninitiatingtonic (16) andpre-dominant

(II6) permits the simpleV7-I progressionhere to be interpretednot only ascadentialbut also as prolongationalor even sequential.Indeed, when it ap-pears immediatelyafter the cadentialphrasethat closes the minuet, the basic

idea of the trio canverywell give a first mpressionof ending the minuet-notas a cadence(pace Ratner), but as a postcadentialcodetta,which follows di-

rectlyupon the perfectauthentic cadencein measure59.88In otherwords, thecontent of measures 60-61 projectsthe idealizationof codetta as much as ofcadence.When the same gesture returns to initiate the A' section (m. 80), itcreatesa completelydifferenteffect (see Ex. 8b). Following a long-held domi-nant of VI (mm. 68-75, last five measuresnot shown), aretransitional assagein measures76-79 bringsa descending-fifthssequence whose last link is the

V7-I progressionof measures80-81; that this sequentiallink actuallyfunc-

tions as a basic idea is signaled foremost by the change in instrumentation.Seeing as classical composers are usually careful to distinguish sequential


88. I develop in greater detail below the distinction between cadential and postcadentialfunctions.

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Example 8 continued

(b) Mm. 76-87

retransition II76

r--model

-- sequence80rseq. b.i. ob., str.

Sstr. J-W.

V7/III V/VI V7/II V/V V7 I...

seq.

82W.. ob.,tr.82 V

V... V7 I

HC PAC

both the antecedent and the consequent phrasesof the A andA' sections are

completely in order. Nothing whatsoever is problematic with the half ca-dences.91The perfectauthenticcadencesthatclose the periodsarealso normal

except in one fascinatingrespect.Given the bassquarternotes in measure 62

(see Ex. 8a), we might believe that the implied harmonic support for the

melody of the authentic cadencein measure66 is

I6-II6-V7(as the quotation

marks around the tonic and pre-dominant in the example indicate). But inthe A' section (Ex. 8b), Mozart shows us that the finalcadence is reallyto beunderstood as supported exclusively by V7-I (thus suggesting, somewhat

ironically n light of my previousdiscussion,that we might indeed regardthe

opening basic idea as having a fully legitimate cadential content after all).92The only cadentialanomaly n this trio is the lack of closure for the B section

(normally,a half cadence),which, as alreadydiscussed, s motivated by the fi-nal sequential ink becoming the basic idea of the A' section. Ratner is right,of course, to stress the compositionalplay expressed n this trio, but the wittyeffects here arise from a rathermore complicatedset of references-both ca-dential and noncadential-than his comments might otherwisesuggest.

91. In the section Cadenceas Punctuation below, I consider Ratner'ssuggestion thatcon-

tinuityof musicalmotion weakens a cadentialeffect.

92. Note how Mozart subtly prepares he slurreddotted halfnote G in measure 86 by chang-

ing the bass ine of measure82 (cf. m. 62).

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Limited Cadential Scope

Distinguishing between cadential content and function is, in some cases, a

matter of hierarchical erspective.For it is sometimesvalidto speakof caden-

tialcontent havingan actualcadential unction at one level of structurewhile

also recognizing that this same content loses its function at a higher level of

structure.In these cases,it might be usefulto invoke the notion of limited ca-

dentialscopeo account for the effect of such cadences.Take,for example, he

opening of Mozart's Piano Sonata in C, K. 279 (Ex. 9). If we identifyca-

dences at the downbeats of measures 3 and 5, as do Lerdahland Jackendoff,

then we must ask exactly what formal units these cadences are closing.93Clearly, t is too earlyto speakof closing the main theme itself, for when we

consider the broadercontext, we can identify a sentence structurefor that

theme as awhole, one whose promisedcadentialclose is initiallydeniedby the

deceptive cadence in measure 10, but then realizedby the perfect authentic

cadencein measure 12. To the extent thatwe want to identifycadences at the

downbeats of measures 3 and 5, it is best to see them functioning to provideclosure to the basic idea itself,but havingno furthereffect on the theme. For

at the level of the theme, a basicidea is exclusivelyan opening idea;that idea

itself cannot bringa formalcadence.94The notion of limitedcadentialscope alsohelpsto clarify problematic or-

mal situationidentified by Webster at the beginning of Haydn's SymphonyNo. 92 in G ( Oxford ) (see Ex. 10): The slow introduction opens with

what sounds like the antecedent of a normal period. ....But the following

phrasecadences even more stronglyon the dominant (m. 8)-is this then an

anti-period?-; andworseyet, so does the third(m. 12). 9sAfterhighlightingthe emphasis on dominant harmony throughout these measures,Webster

proceeds to arguethat in the context of the rest of the slow introduction and

the beginning of the main theme of the exposition, this dominant is actuallyundermined and cannot be seen as structuralafter all. But leaving asidethe

broaderrole of dominantharmonyin these measures,his analysisof cadences

raisesquestions.Findinga halfcadenceat measure4 seems,at firstglance,rea-

sonableenough: a clearhalf-cadential armonicprogression eads to asense of

closure for a phrasethat has all of the featuresof a four-measureantecedent,one that could begin a normalperiod, as Websternotes. But the idea of a half

cadence at measure 8 is problematicdue to the lack of harmonicprogression

93. LerdahlandJackendoff,GenerativeTheory,2.

94. In Example9, andin some analyses o follow,I indicate cadencesof limitedscope byplac-

ing the cadential abelin parenthesesrather hanin a box.

95. Webster,Haydn's Farewell ymphony,67. Webster defines an anti-periodas aperiodwhose consequentcadencesoff the tonic and hence is more 'open' than the antecedent (p. 44).

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Example 9 Mozart,PianoSonata n C, K. 279, firstmovement,mm. 1-12

presentationAlgrobasic idea 3

Allegro 3

continuation

5 tfrag. t

vv16v

PAV6 I IIV6

'-

9 - frag. t,

C6 IV V(6 7) VII 6I16

IV

J-I(dec.T

-cadI

I6 V V67

VI7,._•I It...IV(dec. ad.)

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Example 10 Haydn, SymphonyNo. 92 in G ( Oxford ), irstmovement,mm. 1-12

Presentationantecedent =? compoundbasic idea c.

basic idea - ,,-

contrasting deaAdagio 4

G: I II6 V

(HC)

Continuation

r-----frag.

7 984 9 10

1

SIV6 () 5 16V7(no cadence)

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TheClassical adence 91

cadentialpassageusuallyconsists of prolongationalprogressions,but cadential

progressionsare frequentlyused as well. Indeed, the individualcodettas of a

closing section often have cadentialcontent, though their formalfunction is

postcadential.And it is surelythe appearanceof such content that has rein-

forced the conceptual confusion between cadential and postcadentialfunc-

tions that so pervades heoreticaldiscourse.

One possible historicalsource for this confusion is that the Germanword

Schluflhas he generalmeaningof close as well as the more technicalmean-

ing of cadence. Thus, when speakingof the finalphraseof a sonata expo-sition by Haydn (see Ex. 11, mm. 37-40), Tovey translates he widespreadGerman term Schluflgruppes cadence-phrase, hough he could have cho-

sen the less specificterm closing phrase as well.103But from the theoretical

perspectivedevelopedhere, the actualcadential unction,which bringsclosure

to the subordinatetheme of the exposition, begins with the upbeat to mea-

sure 34 and ends with the cadential arrivalon the downbeat of measure 36.

The following phrase-Tovey's cadence-phrase -is a closing section con-

sisting of codettas whose content may be cadential but whose function is

entirelypostcadential.Tovey'stendency to labelpostcadentialpassagesas varioustypes of caden-

tial units (phrases,groups, themes) exerted enormous influence on North

American theory, especially n the writings of Charles Rosen. For example,when presentinga textbook definition of sonataform, Rosen states, At theend of the second group, there is a closing heme .. with a cadential unction.

The final cadence of the exposition, on the dominant, may be followed byan immediaterepetitionof the exposition. '4 Although it is difficultto know

exactlywhat constitutes this closing theme (it may be the closing section

proper,but it may also include the cadentialcomponent of the subordinate-

theme group), the finalcadence undoubtedlyrefers o the finalcodetta, ince

rarelydoes an expositionend with the actual cadenceclosing the subordinate-

theme group. Rosen also speaksof a cadence and its repetitions. 105hese

repeated cadences, however, are actuallycodettas within a closing section

that follows the true cadence. (Tovey's cadence-phrase n measures37-40

of Example 11 contains codettas that might be taken as repetitions of the

cadence.) Further confusion ariseswhen Rosen refers to the entire closingsection of a concerto ritornello as an elaboratecadence and speaksof the

nection with a prolongation of dominant harmony has no basis in traditionaltheory, I have

elected to follow Ratz in using different expressions based on the underlying harmony, even

though the formal situationsareessentially he same.

103. Donald FrancisTovey,TheFormsofMusic(New York:MeridianBooks, 1956), 210. He

alsoregularlyuses the expressions cadencegroup and cadence theme.

104. CharlesRosen, SonataForms, ev.ed. (New York:W.W. Norton, 1988), 2. Other refer-

ences to finalcadences hat areactuallycodettas appearon pp. 75 and 241-42.

105. Ibid., 105.

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Example 11 Haydn, StringQuartetin D Minor,Op. 42, fourthmovement, mm. 32-40

cadential3 4

F: I V7 II6 5 V(65

closing ection

codetta--

S 7 I V7 IAetc.

coda to the finale of Beethoven's Eighth Symphonyas fiftybarsof cadence

in strettostyle. '16Manyother writers nvoke cadence in the same vein. Thus

Cone, after correctly identifying the cadence closing a subordinatetheme,labelsthe following materiala cadentialphrase, confirmingthe key of that

theme.107Like Rosen, Webster refers to final cadences that are actuallycodettasand speaksof a true cadentialarrival hat is clinched withfouraddi-

tional root-position V-I cadences ; again these are better understood ascodettas than as cadences.08sSimilarly,Lerdahl and Jackendoff dentifya ca-

dence that is immediatelyfollowed by additionalcadences, though these

are preferablyseen as codettas that are structurallysubordinate to the real

cadence, as their tree graph reveals.109And Ratner uses the label cadential

phrase to refer to a passage that actually functions as a standing on the

dominant.10In almost all of these cases, the theoreticalconfusion arisesbecausecaden-

tial function is not sufficiently distinguished from postcadential function,

106. Ibid., 74, 351.

107. Cone, MusicalForm,50.

108. Webster,Haydn's Farewell ymphony,46, 78.

109. LerdahlandJackendoff,GenerativeTheory,35.


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alongwith a further onflation f cadential ontent and cadentialunction.

Especiallyn codettaswhosecontent s the sameas,orverysimilaro, the ac-

tualcadence losing hetheme, t iseasyenoughto assume hat he cadencesmerelybeingrepeated followingRosenandWebster).nsuchcases,t seemsthattheorists ndhistoriansuccumb o akindof terminologicalnertia, uchthat f somethingooks ikeacadence,hen t might ustaswell be calleda ca-

dence,whetheror not it actuallyunctionsas one. Thetheoretical roblem,however,s that codettaswithcadential ontentcannotusuallybe construedto end a prior nitiating nit,andthusthe basichierarchicalonditionsofformal losuredo not obtain.Beyond his ogicalconsideration,he failureodifferentiateadential rompostcadentialas the potentialof obscuring ur

experienceof musicaltemporality, amelyour sense that such-and-suchstretchof timecreates nding,whilea subsequenttretchaffirms coming-after-the-end. hesearefundamentallyifferentaesthetic ensibilities, ndthesedifferenceseserve o berespected nalyticallyhenever ossible.To be

sure, herearegenuine asesof formal mbiguityn which t canbe difficulto

specify xactlywherethe momentof cadential rrivaleparateshe cadentialfunctionromthepostcadentialne.11'Butsuchcadential lay slargelyffec-tivebecause,n principle, e areaware hat there s a distinctiono be made.We do a disservice o our listening xperienceby lumping ogetheras ca-

dence hevariety f gestureshatexpress othendingandafter-the-ending.To complicatehe matter urther,here are indeed caseswherea closing

section eems o containrealcadences, nes that function o concludea dis-tinctfour-measurehrase.Here, however, he notion of limitedcadential

scopehelps o clarifyhesituation.ConsiderExample 2, from he end of themain hemeof Mozart'sViolinSonatan E Minor,K. 304. The theme(builtas a smallternary)concludes ormallywith a perfectauthenticcadence nmeasure 0. Whatfollows s a closingsectionconsistingof a repeatedour-measure odetta.The codetta,however,s itselfclosedwith a clearcadential

progression.Within he limited copeof the codettas, hese cadentialigureshave a genuinecadential unction.From the perspectivef the themeas a

whole,however,hey participate ithina broader ostcadentialunctionandthuscannotbeconsideredruecadences.

Despitethe commonconfusionof cadential ndpostcadentialunctions,somescholarsreclearlyware f the distinction. lombach,orone,explicitlydifferentiatestheactual adence rom therepeated ominant-to-tonicat-tern thatfrequently ccursat the endsof tonalcompositions r major ec-

tions. '12Likewise,DarcyandHepokoskihold thatthe closing one of a

sonataexpositionembracesall of the material hat followstheir essential

111. I discussjust such a case in connection with the scherzo of Beethoven's Piano Sonatain

E , Op. 7, in ClassicalForm,221 (ex. 15.1).112. Blombach, Phraseand Cadence, 233.

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Example 12 Mozart,Violin Sonata n E Minor,K. 304, firstmovement,mm. 18-28

closing ection20 codetta

r--.-,-ad. 24J J J

,

ILII

e:I (PAC6 I

(PAC)

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TheClassical adence 95

expositionalclosure (usually he firstsubstantialauthenticcadence in the new

key), and they assign that zone a post-cadential tonal function, whose

purpose s to solidifyfurther he new key. '3Darcy and Hepokoski's descriptionof postcadentialfunction as a further

solidification of a tonal region articulated by a cadence relates to another

widely held view, namely, that the material following a cadential arrival-

which, as we have seen, is termed cadential by other scholars-serves pri-

marily o confirm, reinforce,or emphasizethe cadence itself. Indeed, they are

even more expliciton thispoint when they discuss how theirclosingzone typ-

icallyincludes achainof cadentialmodules that confirm the PAC with vary-

ing degrees of strength. 4A similar dea is expressed by Ratner: The most

powerful effect of arrival s created when the cadential action itself is rein-

forcedand extended, orming an area of arrival.This generallytakesplace to-

ward the end of a largesectionof a movement. He then refers o the end of a

duet in Mozart's Don Giovanni, n which the dramaticaction isunderscored

by a seriesof strong cadences n D minor, culminating n an extendedplayon

the D minor chord, in otherwords, by what I would call a broadpostcaden-tial passage.15 Kofi Agawu, a student of Ratner, elaborates these ideas by

distinguishingbetween syntactic and rhetorical components of closure:

The syntacticcomponent is the melodic-harmonicevent that closes the over-

all structure. .. The rhetoricalcomponent ... is the set of devices that em-

phasize the close-notably, repetition in various dimensions and on various

temporal levels. 16Agawu's syntacticcomponent is normally an actual ca-

dence with its point of arrival.The rhetoricalcomponent occurs in a passagefollowing this arrival,as exemplifiedby a codetta that appearsafterthe end of

the first-movementmain theme of Mozart's String Quintet in C, K. 515.

Agawu notes that the actualcadenceclosing this theme (mm. 56-57),

while fulfillinga syntactical bligation,does not carrysufficientrhetorical

weightto provide n effective alance or theperiodas a whole. The eventne-cessitates complementaryonfirmation-hencemeasures 7-60, whichcon-stituteaprolonged adence... It isnot enough simplyo supply cadencenorder o secure he tonalmeaningof a period; t is alsonecessaryo confirmit.117

113. Darcy and Hepokoski, MedialCaesura, 121. Their views in this respectare perhapsinfluenced by Rothstein,who also characterizes he material ollowing the firstmajorcadence in

the exposition'snew key as post-cadential PhraseRhythm,116).114. DarcyandHepokoski, MedialCaesura, 121.


116. V. KofiAgawu, PlayingwithSigns:A Semiotic nterpretationofClassicMusic(Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress,1991), 67.

117. Ibid., 81-82. Agawu illustrates ther cases of rhetoricalendings with severalexamples n

which the actual cadence (the syntacticcomponent) is repeated multiple times (thus recallingRosen and Webster);see, on pp. 69-71, his analysesof the second movement of Mozart's Piano

Sonata in C minor, K. 457, and the first movements of Haydn's piano sonatas in C#minor

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The idea that postcadentialmaterialconfirms, emphasizes,or strengthensthe cadential arrivalor the tonal region associatedwith that arrival eems at

firstglance plausibleenough. But furtherreflectionpromptsanumberof con-cerns.For instance, f a cadence is not followed by a closing section, does thatmean that the cadence remainsunconfirmed? nasmuch as the word confirm

impliesthe making unquestionableof something in question by means ofauthoritative tatementor indisputable act, does the lack of a closingsectionunderminethe existenceof a cadence?1'8Moreover,if, as arguedearlier,a ca-dentialprogressionis the principalmeans of confirminga tonality,then how

could a subsequent postcadentialpassage(which is often made up exclusivelyof prolongational progressions)also be seen as confirmatoryof a key?In re-

sponse to these questions, I would hold that a real cadence need no furtherconfirmation n order to have full legitimacyas an agent of formal closure(atthe thematic level); as well, the need for subsequent postcadentialfunctionentails other matters(dynamics,rhythm,texture,grouping structure) hat are

not specifically adential n nature.

Another concern involves the notion of cadentialstrength (a topic to betreated in greaterdetailbelow). That a prominent postcadentialareacanrein-

force and strengthen the sense of cadential arrival eems reasonableenough

(especiallywhen the constituent codettas seem to repeat the cadence). But

there is another kind of cadentialemphasisthat should be considered aswell.

Many cadences, especiallythose closing subordinate themes and codas,wit-ness enormousexpansionsof the harmonies hatprecedehe finalone, thus de-

laying the cadentialarrivaland causing the listener to desire it all the more.

Surelythis expansionof cadential function preceding the moment of arrival

also has an effect of making the cadence appearpowerful. But the natureofthis emphasisand strengtheningof the actual cadential unction is of a differ-

ent kind than thatcreatedby a postcadential unction.Justas it is important o

differentiatecadentialand postcadentialas discrete formalfunctions,so too is

it importantto differentiate he aesthetic effects of emphasisthat resultfrom

expansionsassociatedwith these differing unctions.119

(Hob.XVI:36) ndD (Hob.XVI:37). hesediscussionsive heimpressionhatAgawu'srhetoricalomponentscongruento mypostcadentialunction.ut n hisanalysisfthe irstmovementfMozart'stringQuintetnE6,K.406(pp.67-68),he ncludes ithinherhetori-cal omponentassageshatbothprecedend ollow cadentialrrival.

118. Webster'shirdInternationalNewDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage Unabridged, 76.119. KarolBergeralso notes that lengthening the duration of the harmoniesprecedingthe

cadencewillntensifyheexpectationfthearrival,ethemaintainshatengtheninghe inaltonic hroughn appendixlsoyieldsadentialtrengthening.notherwords, eseems otto distinguishonceptuallycadentialtrengtheningroma postcadentialne ( The irst-MovementunctuationormnMozart'sianoConcertos,n Mozart'sianoConcertos:ext,Context,nterpretation,d.NealZaslawAnnArbor:niversityfMichiganress,996], 44).

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End versus Stop

Relativelyhigh on Blombach's ist of elements traditionally ssociatedwith ca-

dence is rest,pause (see againTable 1). The idea that a cadenceis normallyassociatedwith a cessation n musicalactivityhas become highlyentrenchedin

everydaynotions of cadence, especiallyin pedagogical writings. Thus Joel

Lester, n his textbook on harmony,considersa break n the rhythmicconti-

nuity as a fundamentalelement of cadence, such that its absence converts

a potential cadence into a caesura, a different kind of phrase ending.120Indeed musicstudents,in particular, ften appealto a criterionof rest or pause

in their analysesof cadence. In my own teaching experience,I regularlyen-counter the following kinds of statements: This moment must be a cadence

becauseeverything stops, or, conversely, this moment cannot be a cadence

because the music keeps on going. Most theorists and historians,however,

understand,at least implicitly,that a cessation of motion is not essentialto

cadence:even a cursoryexaminationof the musical literaturerevealsthat al-

though manycadencesare followed by a break n activity,manyothers clearlyoccurin contexts where rhythmiccontinuityis sustainedbeyond the moment

of cadentialarrival.In fact, some scholarsare explicit on this point. Blom-

bach's broaddefinitionof cadence, for example, appeals undamentally o thenotion of cadence as conclusion,noting that 'conclusion'is intended in the

sense of 'destinationof ideas,' as opposed to merelystoppingwith no indica-

tion of finalityor direction. '21 n other words, formal end and rhythmic/textural stop may very well be associated n many cadentialsituations,but

they are fundamentallydifferentphenomena, both conceptuallyand experi-

entially.Formal closure may take place in the context of rhythmic/textural

continuity,and a break n rhythmand texturemay occur at moments that are

formallyopen.122

If most scholarsdo not considera rhythmicstop to be a necessarycondi-tion for cadence, some stillbetraya lingeringsense that they are significantlyentwined. Ratner,for example,discusseshow melodicaction [i.e., continuity

through the cadentialarrival]can reduce the effect of arrival ven when the

harmony clearlymakesan authenticcadence. '23 n a similarvein, DouglassGreen holds that continuity often tends to obviate the conclusive qualityof an otherwise strong cadence. '24KarolBerger notes that in the standard

120. Joel Lester,Harmony in TonalMusic,vol. 1, Diatonic Practices New York:AlfredA.

Knopf, 1982), 50, 53.

121. Blombach, Phraseand Cadence, 231.

122. Both of these situationsare illustrated n Caplin, ClassicalForm;see the discussionof

exx. 4.7 and 4.3 on p. 51.

123. Ratner,ClassicMusic,45. See also his remarks,cited earlier,on the half cadence of the

Jupiter ymphonytrio (my Ex. 8a, m. 63).

124. Douglass M. Green, Form in TonalMusic:An Introductionto Analysis,2d ed. (NewYork:Holt, RinehartandWinston, 1979), 15.

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98 Journalof the AmericanMusicological Society

cadence, there s at leastone beatandat mostthreebeatsof general est nboth the melodyand the accompaniment, nd that an elimination f these

rests(by meansof elision, nteralia) results n cadentialweakening.125hesuggestionbythesewriters hatformal losure s somehowweakened ytheabsence f rhythmic reak howshowpersistents the notionthatendingand

stopping re rundamentallyinked.The issueof endingversus toppings often mplicated iththatof caden-

tial versuspostcadential.f a cadence s followedby a closingsectionor a

standing n the dominant,here s rarely breakn rhythm ndtexture. t is

onlyafter he postcadentialectionplays tselfout that a genuine topin the

ongoingrhythmic ctivityakesplace,oftento helpsetinrelief hebeginningof the next thematicunit.In suchcases, he momentsof cadential rrivalndrhythmictopareentirely onconcurrent. xample 3, fromthe firstmove-mentof Beethoven's tringQuartetn C Minor,Op. 18, no.4, illustrateshissituation.Thefirstpartof a two-partransitionwhichbeginsearlier t mea-sure13, not shown) eads o apowerfulhome-key alfcadenceatthedown-beatof measure 0.126At thatmoment,the accompanimenthangesanda

postcadentialtanding n thedominantbeginswith a newtwo-measuredea,whichis repeatedandfragmentedwithina prolongation f dominanthar-

mony.The finaliquidationfpostcadentialmaterialsrings textural reakn

thesecondhalfof measure 5. The secondpartof the transitionhenbeginsinthefollowingmeasurewithacompletely ew dea nthe submediantegion.

Under he influence f thetraditionalssociationf cadencewithrhythmicstopping,ometheoristsndhistoriansre edto identifyhe kindofrhythmic/textural reak t measure 5 asthe actual ocationorcadence. uch sthecasewithDarcyandHepokoski's otion of the medial aesura s a majorand-mark n a sonata-formxposition.LikeLester's aesura,hatof Darcyand

Hepokoski xplicitlynvolves decisive ap nrhythmic ctivityndprevailingtextureat thatpointin theexpositionwhere asa general ule)the transition

ends and the subordinate-themeroupbegins: thetwo-partexpositionscharacterizedy a strong mid-expositional unctuationbreak, he medialcaesura-most oftenarticulatinghalfcadence. '27ere,theystrongly on-necttherhythmic isruptionf a medial aesurao cadence, relationshipur-thersupported ytheir abeling ystem,whichspecificallyssociates medialcaesuraMC)to one of threecadence ypes-a halfcadencen the newkey(V:HC),one in the oldkey(I:HC),or an authentic adencen the newkey(V:PAC).Andalthoughn theirarticlehey endnot to indicate xactlywherea givencadenceoccurs, heirdiscussion f thepassagen Example 3 makes

125. Berger, Punctuationorm, 46-47.126. For a discussion f the two-partransition, hose irstpartendswitha home-key alf

cadence, ndwhosesecondpart ypically eginsoff-tonic oftenon submediantarmony),ee

Caplin,Classicalorm, 35-38.127. Darcy ndHepokoski, MedialCaesura, 17.

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Example 13 Beethoven,StringQuartet n C Minor,Op. 18, no. 4, firstmovement,mm. 19-27

[Transition part1)]

1920

standingon thedo

A6 V ped.(I6)

FHC?

24 25 Transition23 caene 2...

/ ff

(I6) V (I) V (I) V V(nocadence)

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explicit the linkage of half cadence and textural break: At m. 25 the music

reaches what at first sounds like an unambiguous i:HC ... MC, completewithfortissimodouble hammerstrokeand GP. '28A difficultywith identifyinga half cadence at measure25, however, is the lack of genuine harmonicpro-

gression into that measure (the tonic harmonies of measure 24 have been

functioning exclusively, ince the beginning of the standingon the dominant,asneighboringchords). I would arguethat by recognizingthe cadentialarrivalto occur earlier at measure 20 (approached by an unabashed half-cadential

progression),we are able to identifytwo different senses of closure here:the

moment ofcadenrial

closure at measure20, which marksthe end of the on-

going thematic processes of the transition's first part, and the moment of

rhythmic/textural closure at measure 25, which marks a potential medialcaesura.Moreover, the presence of a distinct postcadentialstandingon the

dominant (with its own internal formal organization) emerges clearlyfrom

this analysis,whereas that distinction becomes obscured if the moments of

cadential rrivalndmedial aesura reconflated.129

Example14a,which shows the first-movementmain theme of Haydn'sSymphonyNo. 100 in G ( Military ),lso illustrates ow locating adenceson the basisof acriterionf rhythmictopping anobscurehedistinctione-tweencadential ndpostcadentialunctions.Atmeasure 1, so clear breakn

rhythm ndtextureoccurs hatwe mightbe led,as is JoelLesternhisintro-ductoryharmonyext,to recognizehereahalfcadence, ne thatwouldmarkthe endof the theme's irstpart.s30 ut similar o the caseof the Beethoven

quartetustdiscussed,uchan identification ouldbeproblematicue to thelackof harmonic rogressionrommeasure 0 into thedownbeat f measure31. Asmy analysisf Example 4ashows,dominantharmony ppearsirstatmeasure 9 and is prolonged or threemeasures.f a halfcadence s to beidentified nywhere,t is better eento comeon the downbeat f measure9,withthefollowingmeasures nderstood spostcadentialn function.Buteven

128. Ibid.,141;GP= general ause.Darcy ndHepokoski o onto explainhatwhereashis

home-keymedial aesuras initially proposed, t is eventuallydeclined, uch hat he follow-

ingmusiccontinueshe transitionalone, arrivinginally t aIII:HC first-levelefault)MCatm. 33.

129. It shouldbe noted thatDarcyandHepokoski uggestat timesthatcadentialrrivalandmedial aesura renotnecessarilyonnected. orexample,heydiscuss owamedial aesuracan follow he attainment f a structuralominant. Once he structuralominant asbeen

sounded, t maybe rhetoricallymphasizedhroughenergetic eiterationsf the halfcadence.Themusicgoes throughhe cadence everalimes .. in thiswayhelping o producehe charac-

teristic hetorical rive oward he MC [medial aesura] roper ibid., 124). Here,then,theystrongly mply hat the actualhalfcadence ccurswith the initialappearancef the structuraldominant ndthatthe subsequent epetitionsf the cadencebelongto a postcadentialassageculminatingn the medial aesura, here herhythmicctivitytops.

130. Lester,Harmony :52.The motivationor Lester'snalysisf acadence tmeasure1

clearly wesmuch o hisdefinition f a truecadence,which,as discussedbove, mphasizesheneed or abreaknrhythmicontinuity tthe end of aphraseseen. 120above).

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more thanwith the Beethovenquartet,he issueof whereto identifyhe ca-dence n theHaydn heme scentralo an assessment f its overallormal r-

ganization. or anothermotivatingactorn findinga cadenceatmeasure 1is the tradition f identifyingadencen thefinalmeasure f aneight-measurethematicunit.And consideringhatthe subsequent nit (mm. 32-39) alsolastseightmeasures ndcloses n its finalmeasurewith aperfectauthentic a-

dence,we could easilybe inclinedto recognizea large periodform (an-tecedent+consequent),whichprojects normative + 8 grouping tructure.

The formaland cadential rganizationf this themeis not, however, o

neatlysymmetrical.ndeed,attemptingo analyze he form of the openingeightmeasures eveals number f complexities:heinitialwo-measure asic

idea (mm. 24-25) is followed immediatelyby fragmentationnto one-measure nits, n the senseof a continuation,ndfurtherragmentationntohalf-measurenitsappearsn measure 8. It would bepossible,n fact,to re-constructa more conventional ight-measureentence(see Ex. 14b), suchthatmeasure 6 of the originalbeginsa repetition f the basic dea,whichthen leads nto a regular ontinuation singthe remainingmaterials f thetheme (thoughsomewhatalteredharmonically).131he antecedentof theactual hemecould husbe seenas acompressedentence,whosesixmeasuresare then extendedpostcadentiallyo fill out a more normative ight mea-

sures.132he largeconsequent epeats he antecedentuntil measure36, atwhichpointtheone-measureragmentsre urther xtendeduntilthe caden-tial ideaof measures 8-39. Both unitsthusbeginwith a compressionndclose with an extension.But in the former, he extension s postcadential;in thelatter,t ispre-cadentialaspartof the continuationunction).'33o be

sure, t would be easyenoughto recognize he situationhere asmerelyan-otherexample f Haydn'squirkiness,uchasymmetriesevenwithinbroader

symmetries)eingstandardareof his compositionalractice.But a furtherexaminationevealshatthesevariousormalmanipulations arkmeasure 8

forspecial ttention,irstby allowingt to occur tooearly n the antecedent

131. This reconstructedersionalsohelpsclarifywhatmayseemto be an anomalyn myanalysisfHaydn's ctual heme Ex.14a).Althoughhe basicdea and fragment ach iter-

allyembracehreehalf-note eats,one can beperceivedslonger hanthe other roma formal

perspective,ecausehebasic deacontains wo metrical ownbeats,whereas hefragmenton-tainsustonedownbeat.t isasthough he initial asic dea acks heupbeatigurehat sgiven othefragment.n the reconstructedersion,herepeated asicdea ncludesheupbeat igurebutalsocontains secondmetricalownbeat.

132. See Caplin,Classical orm,199, for a discussion f similarnonconventionalmain

themesn sonata xpositions.133. An alternativenalysis ouldtake helarge-scaleonsequent s the modeland dentify

therearegularight-measureybrid ype: ompound asicdea(mm.32-35) pluscontinuation

(mm. 36-39) (seeibid.,61). Theantecedent ouldthen be seen to beginwith thesamecom-

poundbasicdea,buthaveadrasticallyeduced ontinuationmm.28-29). I find hissomewhat

simplernterpretationesssatisfactory,ince n a real-timeistening xperience, e hear he an-tecedent rioro theconsequent.thuspreferhe more ntricateeading iven n thetext.

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Example14 continued

(b) Reconstructionfmm.24-31

presentation continuationbasic dea b.i. (rep) frag.------ b•i (r p) •---- frag. ----,

G: I V 16

v v I V

V4 V6 iv

of the maintheme, and then by eliminating t in the consequent (in thatmea-sure 36 continues the one-measurefragmentationnstead of bringingthe newhalf-measure ragments).Being thus marked,measure 28 (both alone and inits relationto measure36) becomes the source of powerfulmotivic andformal

developmentsthat occurthroughout the movement.134

Cadence as Punctuation

Related to the association of cadence with rhythmicbreak is the notion thatcadencerepresentsa kind of musical punctuation. As mentioned earlier, he

eighteenth-centuryemphasison linguisticanalogies n describingand explain-ing strictlymusicalphenomena led theorists from that time to view variousmusicalphrasesor themes as ending with differing degrees of punctuation,usuallycalled restingpoints, just like the phrasesand sentences of written

language.'35The persistenceof this idea is revealed n Blombach'stabulations,with language, punctuation rankedonly slightly lower than rest,pause(Table 1). Recent manifestationsoccur frequentlyin the writings of Ratnerand his school, in Darcy and Hepokoski's characterization of the medialcaesuraas a punctuationbreak, and even morepervasivelyn Berger's heoryof punctuation orm. 136

The analogyof cadence andpunctuation,however, is debatable on a num-ber of grounds. In written language,punctuationmarks areused as an aid to

readingand asa kind of analysisof the grammatical tructureof the individual

134. Limitationsof space prohibita detailedexamination,but see measures79 and 86, as wellasmeasures95 and 103.

135. Johann Philipp Kirnberger,The Art of Strict Musical Composition,ed. David Beach,trans.David Beachand Jurgen Thym (New Haven, Conn.: YaleUniversityPress,1982), 403-6;and Koch, IntroductoryEssay,1-3.

136. Berger, PunctuationForm, 239-59.

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sentence.As a guide to readingaloud (or in the imagination),punctuationcan

help renderthe syntaxmore obvious by functioning as indications or restsor

pausesof various engths.And in cases of grammaticalambiguity,punctuationmarkscan help indicatethe intended syntaxof the author.But punctuation s

not a necessaryrequirementof writtenlanguage,as witnessedby ancienttexts,which contained no such signs. And, of course, punctuationper se does not

existin spokenlanguage,though a sentencemay be utteredin away thatsug-

gests aparticular unctuation n written form. 37n short,punctuationmaybe

a visualsign of syntaxbut is not a realsource of syntax.A phraseor sentence

achievesa degree of syntactical losurenot by ending with any given punctua-tion mark,but by word meanings, inflections,and ordering.Cadence, too, is

an element of syntax,more specifically, n element that generatesformalclo-sure at specific evels of musicalorganization.Characterizing adenceas a typeof musicalpunctuationis thus clearlyproblematic.Moreover,the relationshipof cadence to punctuationhas the potentialof confusingcausewith effect:cre-

ating a musicalpause does not in itself give rise to cadence, but a given ca-

dence may manifest tself in such a way that it createsa punctuatingeffect.In

other cases, a genuine cadence may createno sense of punctuation,but that

fact,in itself,does not diminishthe syntacticalunctionof the cadence.

To illustratesome consequences of the cadence-punctuationrelationship,

let us considerExample15, which opens the slow movement of Beethoven'sPiano Sonatain E6,Op. 7. In discussinga rearrangement f the normal func-

tions of rhetorical discourse (opening, continuation, and completion),Leonard Ratneroffers the following account:

Each pause in mm. 1-3 . . . is a clearand emphatic articulation.Ordinarily,halfcadencewouldappear t m. 4 but thepreceding auseswouldreduce ts

punctuatingffect.Hence,whilem. 4 isactually halfcadence,hedissonancein the melody, he weakpositionof the bass,and the sustainedonesin allvoicesdisguise he effectof punctuation.Measure , presumablyhe end of

phrase, introduceshelegatostyleof the latterhalfof theperiod,buildingo abroadauthentic adencen m. 8. Thefragmentaryeginning,hreemeasures

long,built rom ersecadentialestures,s answered ya broadlycaledine-fivemeasuresong.Punctuations overstatedn the beginning ndunderstatedat the halfcadence-a rearrangementf normal adentialunctions.138

These remarks aisea number of questions.Does the punctuatingeffectof the

pausesin measures1-3 have form-functionalconsequences?Are the gesturesin those measuresrulycadential? re thecriteriaorhalfcadence atisfiednmeasure ? On thislast

question,he

possibilityor a realhalf-cadential

ro-

137. The absurd esultof literallypeaking unctuationmarkss masterfullyealizedn afa-

mouscomedy ketchbyVictorBorge,who invents ctual ounds orthevariousmarksnd nter-

polates hem ntospoken exts Phonetic unctuation, aughtn theAct,ColumbiaRecordsCL646).

138. Ratner,ClassicMusic, 9.

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Example 15 Beethoven, Piano Sonata n E6,Op. 7, second movement, mm. 1-8

presentationI basic idea b.i. (rep.)

Largo, con gran espressione 3 4

P s2

continuation

-- frag.--

Sf

16v4

I 116 V I

gressionat measure4 is suggested by the pre-dominantV6/V[4], but the sub-

sequent additionof a seventhand inversion of the harmonysubverts a neces-

sarycondition for a true halfcadence,namely,that a cadentialdominant must

appearexclusively n root position. But even if a root-position dominant triad

had appearedon the second beat of measure4, there would be contextualrea-sons for doubting a genuine half cadence at this point. Inasmuch as measures1-2 contain the basic idea of the theme, measures 3-4 repeat that idea

(though with a somewhat invertedcontour). The resultingphrase s a presen-tation, a formal function that createsan intensified sense of initiation.As dis-

cussed earlier,presentationphrases,in principle,do not engender cadentialclosure. Thus I would argue that for both harmonicand contextual reasons,measure 4 brings no cadential articulation. Moreover, it is questionablewhether the opening three measures feature cadentialgestures, since their

underlyingharmonicsupport (especiallygiven the inverteddominant) has nocadentialimplication.To be sure, the pausescreate a punctuating effect, butthe stoppingof musicalmotion in these measures s not associatedwith formal

ending: indeed, the sense of hesitancyprojected by the pauses intensifies a

feeling of opening, which, along with the repeatedbasicidea of the presenta-tion, createsa strong sense for functional continuation and eventualclosure

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(mm. 5-8).139We see herehow a commitmentto notions of musicalpunctua-tion as an essentialcomponent of cadencecan lead to problematicconclusions

about a presumedreorderingof formalfunctions.140

Cadential Strength; Syntax versus Rhetoric

Pervasiven the theoretical iterature s the idea that cadencescanprojectvary-

ing degreesof strength.We havealready ncounteredsuggestionsof this kind

when Ratner,Green,and Bergersee rhythmiccontinuityas an agent of caden-

tialweakening,141r when Darcyand Hepokoski, Ratner,Agawu, andBerger

understanda postcadentialclosing section as strengtheninga prior cadentialarrival.142 e have also seen that cadencesare sometimes consideredmore or

lessweighty if the harmoniesprecedingthe finaltonic arelengthened or con-

tracted.143Other criteria nvoked by theoristsinclude the metricalplacementof the final tonic (the infamous masculine versus feminine cadence),144

differingdegreesof texturalcompleteness,145hythmic noncongruence be-tween melody and bass),146 ynamicintensity,147nd the presenceor absence

of a dissonantseventh in the penultimatedominant.148At times, what is de-

scribedas cadentialweakening is better understood as noncadential,such as

when Bergersees cadentialweakeningoccurringif the third of the finaltonicis placedin the bass,though he acknowledgesthat situationsof this kind are

invariably n the borderlinebetween the cadenceandnoncadence. '49How are we to evaluatethe wide rangeof claims made for varyingmodes

of cadentialstrengthand weakness?To sort through this issue, it is helpfulto

139. The idea that rhythmic discontinuity is associated with formal initiation may seem

counterintuitive, or we might, at first,assumesuch gesturesof hesitancy o be more appropriately

introductory n nature. Yet the main themes of manyclassicalmovements featurefrequentstarts

and stops, and it is often the role of the transitionsection (a middle-groundmedial function)to

get the movement trulyunderway (see Caplin,ClassicalForm,197).140. See ibid., ex. 6.4 (p. 76) for an analysis f this theme as a regular entence type.141. See nn. 123, 124, and 125 above. See also Ratner'sdiscussion of how acadence n C

appearsbut only in the middleof a phrase,so that the punctuatingeffect of this cadence is re-

duced to that of a comma instead of a period;melodic and harmonicpunctuation here do not

coincide, and the effect is to maintain he senseof flow (ClassicMusic,428).142. See nn. 114, 115, 116, and 119 above.Meyer,on the contrary, ees the immediaterep-

etition of a halfcadence (in the sense of an echo) asweakeningthe point of relativestabilityand

arrivalExplainingMusic,257).143. See n. 119 above. See also Green, Form,9; and Lerdahland Jackendoff, Generative

Theory, 92.

144. Cone, MusicalForm,43-45; Green,Form,9; and Berger, PunctuationForm, 244.

145. Webster,Haydn's Farewell ymphony,7.

146. Ibid., 60; a criterionof rhythmicnoncongruenceis alsocited in Green, Form,9.

147. Webster,Haydn's Farewell ymphony,47.

148. Green, Form,8.

149. Berger, PunctuationForm, 246-47.

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consist of multiple themes, each ending with a perfect authenticcadence.153

Syntactically, ll of these cadences areof equal strength--they fullysatisfy he

requirementsfor thematic closure-yet they often have decidedly differentrhetoricalexpressions.

In light of the distinctionsjust drawn,we can now see that many,if not

most, of the criteria or cadentialstrength regularlycited in the theoretical it-

eraturerelate more to the rhetoricalaspect than to the syntacticalone. Forthat reason,we should strive n analyticalpracticenot to confuse those factors

responsiblefor one or the other aspect. If we identifyvarying degrees of ca-

dential strength and weaknessthat are rhetorical n nature, then we should

be carefulnot to allowthese distinctions o distortour formalreadings,which

should be based essentiallyon syntactical trength. Beyond these considera-tions, we should take carenot to assume that if a musicalevent is rendered

rhetorically trong, it should be taken as cadentialprimarily n that account.

To illustrate hese points, let us considera passagethatarises n the openingmovement of Beethoven'sStringTrioin G, Op. 1, no. 2 (see Ex. 16). At mea-

sure 86, the exposition's transitionarrives,conventionallyenough, at a half

cadence in the new key of D major.There follows an extensivestandingon

the dominant, which leads to a powerful resolution of the prevailingV7 to a

root-position tonic at measure 99. Immediately thereafter,the first of two

subordinatethemes begins. Consideringthe rhetoricalstrengthaccorded theharmonic resolution to tonic along with its location at the final moment of

the transition, t might be tempting to recognize the presenceof an authentic

cadence. Indeed, sucha view is offeredby DarcyandHepokoski,who wantto

identifytherea deformation of a standardmedialcaesura:

A clearapproachs made o whatwe expect o be a normativeriplehammer-blow V:HC MC [read:dominant-key alfcadence,medialcaesura] t mm.97-98. At thisjunctureheviolinand cellodropout for theremainder f the

measure,while he

righthandof the

pianopartraces uta melodic ill romg2

downto d'. Moreimportant,he usualcaesura-fillnergy-losss absenthere.On thecontrary,hefill,continuingnaggressiveriplet-sixteenth-notes,nsistson retaining he flil measure f gainedenergyandplungesprecipitouslyothe new D-major onic,now reinforced y the strings m. 99), beforeS [the

secondary-themeone ] tselfemerges,piano,at the upbeat o m. 100. The

composerhaswrenched normalMC,V:HC(first-levelefault),ntoastrongV:PACthird-levelefault) ybrute orce.'54

As indicated by the set of images that they use in describingthis musical

passage- aggressive triplet-sixteenth-notes, gained energy, plunges,

wrenched, and bruteforce -Darcy and Hepokoskiareclearlyrespondingto the manyrhetoricaldevicesthat effect apowerfulresolutionof dominantto

tonic at measure99. And they aresurelycorrect n pointingout that the music

153. Ibid., 121.

154. Darcyand Hepokoski, MedialCaesura, 129.

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Example 16 Beethoven,Piano Trio in G, Op. 1, no. 2, firstmovement, mm. 85-101

[Transition]86 standingon the dominant(mm. 86-98)

D: IV (116) V

FHCJ

89

1T

sf

t 3

f

Sf

sf

-h1 l 14 f I &FIJw Ii I

v-

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Example 16 continued

95 97

sf f

SubordinateTheme 1

f f

fsf

f

expresses he senseof authenticcadenceat thispoint. But we might furtherre-

flect on the possibility hat this is more a case of cadentialcontent han actual

cadential unction. For in order to hear a syntacticalperfectauthenticcadence

at measure99, the preceding dominant must be understood as the penulti-mate harmonyof an authenticcadentialprogression.But earlier,at measure

87, the dominant unambiguously appearsas the ultimateharmonyof a half-

cadentialprogression,and throughout the subsequentstandingon the domi-

nant, there is no reason to believe that the formal context is anythingbut

postcadential.So when the dominantresolvesto tonic at measure99, it would

require a massiveretrospectivereinterpretation o hear the entire dominant

prolongationas cadential n function.To be sure,the resolutionto this tonic is

rhetoricallypowerful, but the bruteforce appliedto this moment does not

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therebydestroyhesyntacticalxpressionf an earlier alfcadence ndreplacethat with anauthentic adence.There s no doubtsomethingunusualabout

the downbeatof measure99. Normally,a standingon the dominantpro-gresseso a tonicthat nitiates new formal rocess.But nstead,hefirst om-

pletemeasure f thenextunit,the subordinateheme,occursat measure 00,as accuratelyoted by DarcyandHepokoski.As a result, he tonic of thedownbeatof measure 9 is groupedwith the transitionsits finalevent.Yet

justbecause his tonic s the lastmemberof thetransition oes not meanthatit representsadentiallosure; ather,or the reasonsustdiscussed,his tonicis bestunderstoodo belongto the postcadentialunction hat has been inforcesince he halfcadence tmeasure 7.155

Inasmuch s theprecipitous lungeof aggressiveixteenth-noteripletsnmeasure 8 suggestsa cadence tmeasure 9, butactuallyails o createone,it isinterestingo observewhathappenshe nexttimeBeethovenbringsbacka similar lunge.Laternthefirst ubordinateheme,aflowing ixteenth-note

piano inegivesway o a sixteenth-noteriplet escent,whichclearlyeferencesthe earlier escentat measure 8, thoughnow supported ya prominent 6.

Suchaharmonic rrivalonventionallyignalshe onsetof thecadentialunc-tion thatwe expect o endthe subordinateheme.But,astypicallyccurs nsuch hemes, hefunction ails o befullyrealizedwhenthesubsequentaden-

tialsix-four ields o V4, forcinga resolution ack o another 6.At thispoint(seeEx.17, m. 136),thepianorepeatsheprecipitouslunge o initiate gainthecadentialunction, ne that ully atisfies llrequirementsorcadential lo-surefourmeasuresater. t is asthoughBeethoven,havingprojected hetori-

cally he idealization f authentic adence arlier t measure 9, now usesasimilarthougheven moreintensified) esture o actualize syntacticalu-thenticcadenceat measure 40. Here, both rhetorical ndsyntacticalorces

align hemselvesta momentofunquestionableadentiallosure.

Finally,t shouldbe noted thatthe cadenceatmeasure 40 is not the final

perfectauthenticadence f theexposition.Following hatcadence, secondsubordinatehemebegins,which closesquicklywith a rhetorically eakca-denceat measure 47. The theme s immediatelyepeated ndthenconsider-

ably extended, leading eventuallyto another cadence (with expandedpre-dominantarmony) tmeasure167. Thisfinalcadence f the expositionis rhetoricallytrongerhanthepreceding ne atmeasure 47, yet it remainsweaker han the one endingthe first subordinate hemeat measure140.Whereasall threeauthenticcadencesof the subordinate-themeroupare

rhetoricallydifferentiated s to strengthof expression, hey are equally

155. Thoughunusual,he resolution f a standing n thedominanto tonicharmony riorto the onsetof a subsequentormal unction s byno meansunprecedented:similarituationarisesn the slowmovement f Mozart's ymphonyNo. 39 in E6,K. 543,wherea standing nthedominanthatbegins hesubordinatehemeresolveso 16 inthesenseof anextension) riorto the beginning of the subsequent continuation phrase (see Caplin, ClassicalForm, 115, ex.

8.14, mm. 44-46).

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Example 17 Beethoven, PianoTrio in G, Op. 1, no. 2, firstmovement, mm. 136-40

[SubordinateTheme 1]cadential

136

sf

a ,' j I_JI

ff sf sf

ffsf sf

D:i6

16 (VI17) V) 6

t7r

D:i11(V

- V(4

7) I

PAC

weightedsyntactically:achprovides he necessary nd sufficientmeansof

bringingheir ndividualubordinatehemes o aformal lose.

A Plea for Terminological Precision

Within hehistoryof music heory, t is easy o identify kindof conceptualinertiahatallowsa theoreticaldea,once introduced ndgenerallyccepted,to holdsway ormanydecades, ven centuries.ndeed,mostof thecommon

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terms that we use today were introduced by theoristsin the eighteenth cen-

tury (or even earlier).Yet despite the tenacitywith which musicianscling to

certainideas, we can recognize significantshifts in usage and meaning, and

eventually hese changes in concept penetrateour pedagogicalhabits as well.

Throughout the nineteenth centuryand well into the twentieth, for example,it was entirely commonplace to speak of every change of tonal focus, no

matterhow local, as a changeof key or modulation. But once Schenker's

notion of tonicization(Tonikalisierung)became acceptedas a norm, the term

modulation practicallyvanished from some theorists' vocabulary, and, for

many others,was used only with caution (and perhapssome unease). Some-

thing similarcan be seen in the case of the cadential six-fourchord, which,

in most North Americanpractice,was consistentlyidentified as an invertedtonic sonority,but which is now, for the most part,understood as a dominant-

functioningharmony(again,largelyunder the influenceof Schenkerianprac-tice, though thatideaalsooriginates n the eighteenthcentury).

If we turn from issues of pitch organizationto concepts and terminologyassociatedwith musicalform, particularlyphrasestructure,fewer conceptualshifts areeasilyrecognized.Most musiciansstillspeakof thematicorganizationin terms of period structure and continue to label highly diverse types of

phrasesas antecedent and consequent, though the influence of Schoen-

berg's sentence type has gained momentum in the last decade or so. As for

cadence, he situation s particularly rim. In the presentstudy,I have iden-

tified what I take to be problems and inconsistenciesabout cadence in the

writings of eminent scholarsof our time. The situation in the pedagogicaltrenches is considerablyworse. I continue to encounter students who have

been taught from an earlyage that every progressionfrom V to I, no matter

the inversionof the chords, is a cadence of some sort. (Sometimes a progres-sion of any one harmonyto any other is considered a cadence, a pedagogical

practice hat betrays he lingering nfluence of Rameau.)I conclude thisstudyby urgingtheorists andhistorians o reflectupon their

theoreticaldiscourseabout cadence and to considerchanginglinguistichabits,

based,of course, on a greatersensitivity o the conceptualissuesat stake. It is

time, for example,to stop calling everyresolution ofV7 to VI a deceptiveca-

dence ;no longer should the V-I codetta that ends a piece be spoken of as its

finalcadence ;and we should once and for all banish the plagalcadence

from most theoreticalwritingson music of the eighteenth century.Allowingour usage to reflect a clearerunderstanding of cadence will have an enor-

mouslysalutaryeffect not only in our written researchand scholarlypresenta-

tions, but in our everyday eaching,where it perhapsmattersmost.To be sure,we might askwhy it is necessaryto circumscribe he notion of

cadence in the ways I have proposed. Why not let it remain a looser, more

flexibleconcept, so as betterto embracea multiplicityof phenomena?I would

counter that whereasopen-ended definitions may give the impressionof in-

clusiveness,they can actuallyresult in blurringdistinctionsthat truly matter.

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By limiting the concept of cadence, the intent is not to shut out our percep-tions of varying phenomena, but rather to encourageus to be more precise

about how phenomena that seem similar n some respectscan actuallybe ex-

periencedasaestheticallydifferent.

In particular, am askingthat we take seriously he idea of perceivingclo-

surein a wide varietyof ways and that we let our theoreticalterminologyre-

flect this diversity.For to assume that all closure in music is cadentialrisks

losing the ability o make distinctions hat havegenuine formalconsequences.For example, the classificationof conventional theme types that I havepro-

posed in ClassicalFormdepends in large measureon recognizing that some

phrases rulyclose with a cadence (with its specificharmonicand melodicre-

quirements) whereas other phrasesclose noncadentially(usuallybecauseof

supporting harmonies that are prolongationalrather than cadential).As for

higher levels of formal organization (say,an entire sonata-formexposition),the experiential ituationis especiallycomplex, for the powerful effect that a

rhetorically mphasizedcadentialarrival an make as it fullyconfirmsthe clo-

sure of a single thematicunit (a subordinatetheme) may give the impressionthat the arrival tselfis essentially esponsiblefor closingthe largersection(theentireexposition). But as I arguedearlier, t is experientially icherto view the

mechanismsof closurefor a large-scale ection takingplacewithin a time-span

that is broader(and more heterogeneous in its internalorganization) han thecadential unctionwithin a theme. To pin the causeof closureat all levels n a

work's formalhierarchyon a singlecadencediminishes he experienceof mul-

tiplyembedded processesof closureas they establish hemselves n the course

of a movement.

Beyond the issueof formalclosurein general,I maintain hat the otherdis-

tinctions I have developed in connection with the concept of cadence have

significantconsequences for our experienceof musicalform. Discriminatingbetween cadentialcontent and cadentialfunction permitsus to deal in a so-

phisticatedmanner with how the idealization of cadence can be projected

independentlyof the syntacticalrequirementsfor cadence. I have discussed

caseswhere cadentialcontent can appear n initiatingformalcontexts (Ex. 8)as well as in postcadentialones (Ex. 16), and I have consideredthe composi-tional ramifications f this playof content and function.Additionally, he dis-

tinction between cadential and postcadential functions is, I argue, a

fundamentalreality n our experienceof musicaltemporality.At the heart of

any formalanalysis s the need to be precise about where themes genuinelyend and to contrastthe processof closurewith those forces that work them-

selvesout afterclosure has takenplace.To confusecadencewith codetta,evenwhere the latter may resemble the former in content, risks losing sight of

where the majorformalgoals of a movement occur.156 inally, he distinction

156. Preciseknowledge of that kind can be especiallyrelevant to performerswho want to

make analyticallynformed decisionsabout where to projectthematicgoals and how to sustain,

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between the syntacticaland rhetoricalaspectsof cadentialstrengthpermitsusto identify a multitude of nuanced manifestations of cadence as expressivedevices without thereby distorting the more conventionalized processes offormalstructuring,which depend upon a limited number of cadencetypes.

As I stated at the outset, I believe that the conceptual refinements ofcadence that I havepromoted throughout this studyaremore thanmerelyse-mantic.Though I am obviouslyconcerned with the termswe use to describemusicalphenomena, I am even more concerned with the experientialdistinc-tions we make while using our chosen terminology.And I emphasize againthat the clarifications propose for cadence gain much of theirsignificancebybeing entirely ntegratedwithin a broadertheory of musicalform. In most of

the examplesthat I discussabove, my views on cadential dentificationyield anew formalperspective or the passageat hand. Given thisintimaterelation ofcadence to form, I am hopeful that as scholarscontinue to pursueresearch nmusicalform, the reorientation n conception and usage I have been advocat-

ing in this study may eventuallycome about. At least a greaterinvolvementin the complexitiesof formaltheory should stimulatefurtherdebate amongtheorists and historiansabout the nature of cadence,not only the classicalca-dence of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but cadence as manifestin earlierandlaterrepertoriesas well.

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Abstract

The articleexaminesnotions traditionallyattached to the concept of cadencein

general,retainsthose features

finding genuine expressionin the classical

style (as defined by the instrumentalworks of Haydn, Mozart, and Beetho-

ven), and investigatesproblematic deas that have the potential of producingtheoreticaland analyticalconfusion. It is argued that cadence effects formalclosureonly at middle-ground levels of structure; a cadentialprogressions

highly constrained in its harmonic content; cadential function precedes the

moment of cadentialarrival,whereas the music following this arrivalmay be

postcadentialn function;cadentialcontentmust be distinguished rom caden-tial function;cadencerepresentsa formalend,not a rhythmicor texturalstop;

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