Music Theory 601 — Analytical Techniques I, Spring 2019

Name ________________________________

Analysis: Liszt, “O, quand je dors” (Due Tues. 12/3)

Do a Roman numeral analysis on the score and label cadences. You should find at least one
enharmonic pivot in your Roman numeral analysis. On a separate sheet write a 1–2 page
description of the poem and song that answers the following questions:

—Explain the form of the song and how it relates to the structure and rhythm features of the text.

—Describe how important keys used in the piece are related to one another: Are they close or distant?
Show this by mapping them out in a chart of regions or Tonnetz

—How do elements of texture, rhythm, register, and/or harmony relate to ideas and/or imagery from
the text?

Oh, quand je dors (Hugo)

Oh! quand je dors, viens auprès de ma couche,
comme à Pétrarque apparaissait Laura,
Et qu’en passant ton haleine me touche
Soudain ma bouche
S'entrouvrira!
Sur mon front morne où peut-être s’achève
Un songe noir qui trop longtemps dura,
Que ton regard comme un astre s’elève.
Soudain mon rêve
Rayonnera!
Puis sur ma lèvre où voltige une flamme,
Éclair d'amour que Dieu même épura,
Pose un baiser, et d'ange deviens femme.
Soudain mon âme
S'éveillera!
Oh, When I Sleep
Oh, when I sleep, approach my bed,
as Laura appeared to Petrach,
and as you pass, touch me with your breath.
At once my lips
will part!
On my glum face, where perhaps
a dark dream has rested for too long a time,
let your gaze lift it like a star.
At once my dream
will be radiant!
Then on my lips, where there flits a brilliance,
a flash of love that God has kept pure,
place a kiss, and transform from angel into woman.
at once my soul
will awaken!
Brennan Meier

Prof. Jason Yust

2 December 2019

An Analysis of Liszt’s “O, quand je dors”

When one thinks of Franz Lizst, they rarely think of him as a composer of song

despite his rather large output of works in six languages, many based on the poems of

Victor Hugo. However many of his songs have become standard in the vocal repertoire,

including “O, quand je dors” which was written in 1844 and later revised for a second

time by Lizst in 1859. Liszt set’s this text in ternary form with symmetric poetic structure

in the A and B sections, and also includes a brief coda with new melodic material based

on a rather unassuming line of poetry from the A section. He also uses a variation of

ternary form (resembling ABA and a shortened B’) within each A section when setting

the text to mimic the rhythmic lint of the poetry. During the first A section he outlines the

main melody during the first line at m. 9 then creates a contrasting phrase during the

second line, where he also expands further on the harmony. He then returns to the

original melodic motif before closing with the last line of new melodic material with a

shorter rhythmic structure than the previous three lines. The last line of the A section at

m. 25 mimics the melodic material of the second line but ends melodically in a place to

expand the harmony and modulate to the relative minor key. Lizst is also careful to

reflect the rhythmic stress of the poetry both by placing stressed words and syllables on

strong beats and at important places in the melodic line.

In this piece Lizst also uses a very unique blend of close and distantly related keys.

During the A section he ambiguously shifts between E major and it’s relative minor C#,
in some areas making it difficult to distinguish what the tonic harmony even is. However

in the B section Lizst moderates from C# minor to the distantly related key of F major

which in some ways serves to illustrate the literary content of the text, which is this

section as a whole is characterized by more melancholy images such as a ‘dark dream’

and the character’s ‘glum face’. The modulation to F major occurs when, in the text, the

characters dark dream in “lifted like a star” in m. 44. In addition, during the B section

Lizst also creates a more dense texture in the piano accompaniment most easily noticed in

ms. 36-42, by allowing the piano to hold out the harmony underneath the voice for the

full bar, rather than simply playing a duet like melodic figure. He also reincorporates our

original A section melodic motif in the piano, this time in the bass at m. 38; and follows

in with a slightly different variation on this melody while still retaining a similar melodic

contour and texture before thinning out the accompaniment again when we modulate to F

major.

The B section closes with an opera-like bit of drama, a cadenza for the singer

punctuated by thick 7th chords in the piano which resist the urge to resolve to our home

key of E major until we return to the A’ section at m. 56. Our closing A’ section uses

very slight variations on the A melody to artfully emphasize the important moments in

this poetry, such as a brighter V/vi harmony and new melodic figure highlighting “dieu

meme epura (m. 66)”, one of the first times the vocal line reflects the chromatic harmony

beneath it. He also just one line later changes the metric stress of the line at m. 69 (‘pose

un baiser’) to ensure that the singer can also “place a kiss” on the downbeat of the

dominant harmony at m. 70. We again close this section with a contrasting, rising melody

based on the second line of text from the first A section that places great emphasis on the

literary inspiration of the poem as a whole, the elusive and beautiful Laura.