Hearing (not seeing) is Believing: Schumann’s Lied ‘auf einer Burg’

Abstract

Is it because they see a blank key signature in the score that various analysts and critics are led to make the (unreasonable) assumption of a general A-minor key? As I hear it, this enigmatic and misunderstood lie comes to an end (or to a halt?) in the subdominant region, not in the original tonic of E minor. I will make the case for this open-ended song’s being a well-balanced, independent whole, despite the inconclusive character of its tonal plan. My analytical reading relies upon a cognitive theory of harmonic modulation — the reinterpretation (or shift in meaning) of any tonal content – I recently formalized. As a seminal concept, ‘modulation’ denotes a plastic process whereby our musical mind shapes the harmonic tonal space.