About Strange Lands and People (Von fremden Ländern und Menschen)

Comments on the analysis

The piece is made using two contrasting phrases. The first phrase is based on two measures:

The upper voice (in red) presents the main motive to be developed. The triplets figure in the middle voice (in blue) will be present throughout the piece adding an interesting rhythmic effect. A secondary diminished seventh is used to prepare the dominant chord of the second measure.

The first two measures are repeated in measures 3 and 4:

The next four measures of the phrase are a variation of the first two measures followed by two more measures that complete the phrase ending with an imperfect cadence:

The second phrase has only six measures. A variation of the motive from the first phrase is presented by the lower voice (in red). A cycle of fifths takes us to E minor (E - A - D - G - C - F# - B) in measures 9 to 12. The E minor key is not established since the dominant chord resolves into a G major chord in measure 12: