A Mozart sonata has an extended development section that moves through many distant keys and harmonies. According to Schenker's Ursatz concept, what is the structural function of this development section?
AIt constitutes a separate, independent Ursatz from the exposition and recapitulation
BIt prolongs the structural dominant (V) in the Bassbrechung before the tonic return in the recapitulation
CIt represents a breakdown of the fundamental structure, making the sonata formally incomplete
DIt contributes nothing to the Ursatz since it lacks a clearly audible stepwise melodic descent
In Schenkerian analysis, the development section is understood as a middleground elaboration that prolongs the structural dominant — the V in the I–V–I Bassbrechung — before it resolves back to tonic in the recapitulation. The Ursatz operates as a background spanning the entire piece; all the harmonic complexity of the development is subordinate to this background trajectory. The Ursatz is not suspended or broken by the development; it is being elaborated through it.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
The Urlinie in Schenkerian analysis is best described as:
AThe bass line that moves from tonic to dominant and back, outlining the I–V–I harmonic skeleton
BThe main audible melody as it appears on the surface of the music
CA stepwise descending line in the background from the structural head tone to scale-degree 1
DA series of ascending arpeggios that generate the harmonic content of the piece
Option 0 describes the Bassbrechung (bass arpeggiation), not the Urlinie. Option 1 confuses the foreground melody with the Urlinie, which is a background-level abstraction — it may not correspond to any single audible melody. The Urlinie is specifically the stepwise descent from the structural head tone (scale-degree 3̂, 5̂, or 8̂) down to scale-degree 1, visible only after stripping away foreground embellishments. It is the upper-voice component of the Ursatz background.
Question 3 True / False
The Urlinie can begin on any scale degree as long as it descends by step to scale-degree 1.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
Schenker held that the Urlinie's head tone must be a member of the tonic triad — scale-degree 3̂, 5̂, or 8̂. A descent beginning on 2̂ or 6̂ would not constitute a valid Urlinie because it does not begin on a consonance with the tonic. The most common form is 3-2-1; 5-4-3-2-1 and 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 are also legitimate. This constraint reflects Schenker's view that tonal music is grounded in the tonic triad at every structural level.
Question 4 True / False
The Ursatz is a summary of the most memorable and thematic melodies in a tonal piece, distilled to their essential form.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
This is a common misconception. The Ursatz is not a distillation of the foreground themes — it is the deepest background structure from which the entire foreground is generated through prolongation. It may have no direct correspondence to any audible melody. Schenker's claim is generative, not descriptive: the Ursatz is what is being elaborated, not what is being simplified. The foreground themes are elaborations of the background; the background does not 'summarize' them.
Question 5 Short Answer
What is the relationship between the Ursatz and the foreground of a tonal piece? Why does Schenker call the Ursatz the 'fundamental structure' rather than just a simplified version of the music?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: The Ursatz is the generative background from which the foreground is derived through layers of prolongation and elaboration. Every surface event — passing tones, neighbor figures, harmonic digressions, entire development sections — is an elaboration of a background structural note or harmony. The direction of derivation is from background to foreground, not the reverse. Schenker calls it the fundamental structure because it is not a simplification of what you hear; it is what the music is structurally expressing through its surface. You cannot reduce the foreground to get the Ursatz — you can only recognize the Ursatz by understanding how the foreground elaborates it.
This distinction prevents the error of treating Schenkerian analysis as just 'finding the important notes.' If the Ursatz were merely a simplification, any stripped-down melody might qualify. Instead, the Ursatz is constrained to the I–V–I Bassbrechung plus the stepwise Urlinie descent — a specific generative grammar that produces all tonal music's elaborations. Understanding this explains why the same Ursatz pattern underlies pieces of wildly different surface character.