Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/361

This page needs to be proofread.

3io

��AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

��[n. s., i, 1899

��the melody is such as to force on one the sense of a change of key. A study of this song shows its harmonic structure. The original key is kept until the fifth measure, in which the first clause ends with the relative minor chord. The next phrase of three measures is in the key of E flat (the subdominant), the third measure effecting a transition to the key of F by means of the chord of G (the over-third of E flat), followed naturally by the chord of C (the dominant in F). The last clause begins in F, modulates to C in second measure, and closes the period in that Tcey. This key, the major over-second of B flat, the original key- note, would seem to be so remote as to make it impossible to preserve unity within the limits of a short twelve-measure period. But the melodic flow is so smooth and the harmonic connections so natural that one does not get from it the impression of any- thing forced, harsh, or unpleasant, nor feel the need of a return to the original tonic. The whole choral impresses one with its beauty, nobility, and dignity. 1

1 This analysis will more readily be followed by referring to the harmonized ver- sion here given. In regard to this version it is important to state that it was made under the criticism and accepted as satisfactory by the men who were the leading singers of the tribe :

No. 14. OMAHA CHORAL.

��� �