Scale Degree ^6 in the 19th Century: Ländler and Waltzes from Schubert to Herbert

Jeremy Day-O’Connell identifies three treatments of scale degree 6 in the major key through the nineteenth century: (1) classical ^6; (2) pastoral ^6; and (3) non-classical ^6. This essay makes further distinctions within these categories and documents them in the Ländler repertoire (roughly 1800-1850; especially Schubert) and in the waltz repertoire after 1850 (primarily the Strauss family). The final case study uses this information to explain some unusual dissonances in an operetta overture by Victor Herbert.