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Schenkerian analysis operates across three hierarchical levels: the background (Ursatz), middleground (how prolongations shape form and phrase structure), and foreground (actual musical surface). Understanding the interaction between these levels reveals how local harmonic events participate in large-scale structure and narrative arc.
Analyze a single 16-bar phrase at all three levels. Create three separate graphs showing the same music at different levels of abstraction. Compare how different composers achieve similar middleground structures through different foreground techniques.
You already know the Ursatz — the background skeleton of tonal music: a stepwise melodic descent from scale degree 3̂, 5̂, or 8̂ to 1̂ (the Urlinie), supported by a I–V–I harmonic motion in the bass (the Bassbrechung). Schenkerian analysis at multiple levels is the practice of showing how a complete tonal piece is a prolongation of this Ursatz — and how intermediate structural layers connect the sparse background to the rich musical surface. The three levels are: (1) the background (Hintergrund), which is the Ursatz itself; (2) the middleground (Mittelgrund), which shows the primary prolongation techniques that elaborate and expand the background; and (3) the foreground (Vordergrund), which is closest to the actual score.
The middleground is where most analytical work happens. Here you identify the major prolongation techniques: arpeggiation (expanding a harmony by moving through its chord tones), voice exchange (two voices trading notes over a harmony), neighbor motion (a note moves away by step and returns), and the full elaboration of the bass into a recognizable harmonic progression. A dominant chord appearing in measure 16 might be a temporary embellishment of a broader tonic region, or it might be the structural dominant that drives the entire piece toward its final cadence. The middleground analysis is precisely the exercise of deciding which — and that decision determines how you hear everything before and after it.
The key analytical skill is identifying structural priority: which notes are prolonged (structural) and which notes elaborate structural notes (subordinate)? This is why different analysts produce different graphs for the same piece — the analysis is an interpretation, not a transcription. There is no single correct answer at the middleground level, but there are more and less defensible readings. A defensible reading must be internally consistent (if a dominant is structural at the background level, local events near it cannot contradict that reading) and must account for the composer's phrase structure, cadential patterns, and registral choices.
In practice, always work from the background toward the foreground rather than trying to read structure from the surface directly. First identify the final cadence and the soprano note that completes the Urlinie — this anchors both levels. Then locate where the structural dominant appears; everything between the opening tonic and the structural dominant is middleground elaboration of the tonic. Within each middleground region, identify the local structural progressions. The foreground then fills in with passing tones, neighbor notes, suspensions, and embellishing harmonies. Producing all three graphs side by side makes the hierarchical relationships visible and is the clearest way to check whether your reading is consistent across levels.
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