From the German 19 th century let’s move to an American tunesmith of that century, Stephen Foster, who set himself up as the first professional songwriter in the country.
Not all beautiful tunes are sad, though a disproportionate number are, thanks to a universal human quirk: Sadness is more interesting than happiness, and thus more creatively productive. Notice the highly Schubertian turn to a minor key at the end: That’s where the tears start, and the tragic denouement of the story is foreshadowed. Schubert virtually created the style of German art song for the rest of the Romantic century, based on a sophisticated transmutation of folk music. “Tränenregen” (“Rain of Tears”) is part of his song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin, ( The Beautiful Miller’s Daughter). He wrote more than 600 songs, and any number of them testify to his singular gift. As we’ll see, though, in classical pieces there are notable exceptions to that rule.įranz Schubert was one of the most spectacular born melodists. Most of the time, symphonic themes are not particularly tuney, because they are made to unfold and develop over a long haul. Dylan’s sublime “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is a pitchless chant, as is a good deal of rap. What makes that song work is its sound, its atmosphere, its distinctive loping rhythm, its surreal words: “Here come old flattop, he come groovin’ up slowly, he got juju eyeball, he one holy roller …” Many classic songs are founded on a catchy rhythm (Gershwin’s “ I Got Rhythm“) or a striking chord progression (“ All the Things You Are“). I’m fond of the Beatles’ “Come Together,” for example, but its “tune” mostly jogs in place on three notes, with a little flight at the end of the phrase. On the whole, rock ’n’ roll is not a particularly tuneful genre. People tend to call everything a “song” these days, even a symphony, but there are all kinds of songs, and not all of them have melody. I’m going to focus here on Western melodies, ones of a particular kind.
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