Dissonant Prolongations Again: Nontonic Extensions in Nineteenth-Century Music

Taking my own Schenker-derived view of dissonant prolongations as a point of departure, this article attempts to clarify this phenomenon by considering it in relation to tonal prolongation. This is accomplished in three ways: by reconsidering Schenker's mature attitude toward tonality and dissonance in more detail, with particular emphasis on his idea that dissonant prolongations are based on tonicizable but nontonic triads; by examining a number of extended, if partial, precedents for such prolongations in his final publication, Der freie Satz; and by supporting the article's main claim, that three songs by Hugo Wolf ending on nontonic chords suggest that they contain Schenkerain prolongations, being at once dissonant and tonal. The article ends by considering three tonal works by Brahms, Debussy, and Schoenberg that, though tonal and not completely dissonant, contain extended dissonant prolongations.