Between Half and Perfect Cadences: The Modulating Antecedent in Dvořák’s Parallel Periods

Abstract

This article explores Dvořák’s various uses of the period with modulating antecedent. Whereas current-day form theory considers antecedent-consequent periods to consist of two cadences whose cadential strengths are distinguished according to cadence types like half cadence (HC) or perfect authentic cadence (PAC), some periods by Dvořák utilize antecedents that modulate to some foreign key where they close with a PAC. This relationship of foreign-key PAC in the antecedent to home-key PAC in the consequent relies on key relationships rather than cadential hierarchies to establish a similar layout of weak to strong cadences. Using compositions that deploy this theme variant, the article draws from form-functional analysis, voice leading analysis, and perspectives from Reicha’s Treatise on Melody (1814) to dissect questions of tonal trajectories and cadential hierarchies that arise when modulating antecedents are introduced. This phrase type thus reveals new ways of understanding antecedent-consequent periods in the nineteenth century, while also opening the door to exciting ways of thinking about modulation in music by Dvořák and other composers from the same time period.