Background

(Ger. Hintergrund).

In Schenkerian analysis (see Analysis, §II, 4) the first, i.e. fundamental, Layer that underlies a piece or movement. The background layer of a piece is represented by one of a limited number of basic contrapuntal designs, called the Ursatz of the piece.

Thus many pieces of tonal music have the same background structure. For this reason the word ‘background’ is sometimes used more loosely by analysts to mean structure itself, in opposition to ‘foreground’ which connotes the surface of the piece.

WILLIAM DRABKIN