On each leftfacing left page is the facsimile with pencil annotations made by webern while he instructed the pianist peter stadlen. Webern was part of the second viennese school with schoenberg and berg, the latter whom he met while still studying with schoenberg. The kolisch string quartet premiered it in pittsfield, massachusetts on september 22, 1938. My analysis will provide evidence that webern consistently organized musical time in each of the three movements of op. The intent of this study is to investigate significant influences that led to weberns adoption and application of klangrfarben. Wason although for webern, as distinct from schoenberg, the dodecaphonic scheme made a vital contribution to the beauty of a work, he never once referred to that aspect during our meetings which continued for several weeks. Weberns variations come from late in his career op. The first simultaneous pairing of row forms is p1 and r8, and as with the principal forms, each hexachord fills in a chromatic fourth, with b as the pivot end of p1 and beginning of ir8, and thus linked by the prominent tritone in the center of the row play help info. It consists of the exposition of the row three times, in the forms p 0, i 0. Meter and tempo remain constant throughout the movement. However, listeners may also benefit from attuning to the frozen. As modern as it is in other respects, weberns variations for piano, op. How closely these aspects are interrelated can be seen from the example of the variations for piano, op. Variations for piano 1936 to people at the time, europe in 1936 was probably not so weighted with fear and foreboding as it.
Cecilia, roma convegno astrazioneastrazioni scuola galileiana padova, 28 settembre 2015 2. From weberns own writings, we know that the piece was originally conceived to have been a two movement work. I did all of the above and decided to base my thesis on his composition variations, op. Weberns piano variations on record info funded by a ahrc fellowship, shadows of meaning aimed to develop a new approach to the analysis of multiple recorded performances of a given work what i called augmented listening, and to explore this approach in relation to weberns piano variations op 27. Performing forces and their handling webern was interested in achieving the widest range of timbre from a small number of players, so in this quartet there is a. The music in the anthology is the first movement of a two movement work, completed in 1930.
Weberns compositional approach to the second movement of symphony, op. From our perspective today, however, the reliance on older models of form and movement structure, though of course never intended by webern as a form of restoration, seems equally important. The second movement is made up of a theme with seven variations, and my god, if you look at the score, you see that each of these elevenbar variations is not only based on the opening theme and uses serial structures, but is a palindrome of itself, revolving around the sixth bar as a mirror. I did all of the above and decided to base my thesis on. The string quartet, op 28, is one of the most uncluttered, precise, and evocative works of the twentieth century. Oct 22, 2011 an illustration of the twelvetone music composition technique utilised by the followers of the second viennese school. The example piece is anton weberns variations for piano, opus 27. A brief consultation with kathryn baileys work suggests that this is the basic row for the piece. Pitches are arranged so that a fifth relationship exists between the adjacent color as shown to the right. Temporal proportions as a unifying process in anton weberns. According to their narrative, webern wrote to his publisher, i have turned again to a new. Neglected, forced to work as a proof reader against his will, split up from his master schoenberg.
Along with his mentor arnold schoenberg and his colleague alban berg, webern was in the core of those in the circle of the second viennese school, including ernst krenek and theodor w. Temporal proportions as a unifying process in anton webern. Lewin is interested in seeing how particular sets of pitchclasses change into other pitchclass sets through the course of this piece, calling that process transformation. You can probably fit all his original output on two cds. He wrote the variations in 1936, and he died in 1945. Weberns expression of klangfarbenmelodien was his method of dispersing melodic lines and the manipulation of a wide gamut of varying tone colors. In this analysis i hope to show that webern uses and manipulates the idea of symmetry on the levels of formal structure, serial pitch organization, and surfacelevel gestures.
Based on the set 5 8 7 6 10 9 3 4 0 1 2 11 webern opus 21, ii 5 8 7 6 10 9 3 4 0 1 2 11. Schoenbergs piano concerto, and webern s outstanding variations for solo piano. Stanford libraries official online search tool for books, media, journals, databases, government documents and more. Following alban berg, anton webern is the second composer of the second viennese school to be included in the henle catalog. The following analysis will illustrate how webern organizes these dyads in the second movement as a series of intervals with sizes determined by the fibonacci series. It was written in 1938 and dedicated to the american elisabeth sprague coolidge, who commissioned the work. Poor old webern who died just after the second world war, mistakenly shot by an american solider when he was taking a smoke on his porch at his home.
Jun 02, 2010 this post marks my study of serialism12tone composition, and will include a number of pieces not on the listening list. Musical structure and the performance score by robert w. This study includes a temporal analysis of webern s variations for piano op. Weberns music is known for its extreme brevity and strict organization.
Observations and thoughts on the opening phrase of webern s symphony op. Its austere manipulations of twelvetone mirror forms and canons invoke a meditative intensity that has been influential on both sides of the atlantic. He recommended that i look specifically at anton webern because he utilized it the most consistently in his works, which would probably be easiest to analyze. Dg has a disc of the solo piano music by itself, but there is no reason to get that when this edition exists. Webern first presents his bass linemoving from d and back in eight notes and follows it with twentythree variations, grouped in three paragraphs.
Observations and thoughts on the opening phrase of weberns symphony op. Some uses of analysis towards a performance of weberns op. Here is my renotation of the first movement of weberns variations for piano, op. According to anthology of twentieth century music morgan this second tetrachord is a major third transposition of the first, and the third is a retrograde of the first based on these two out of three movements of streichquarett we can see that webern.
The following images use color to indicate pitchchord rootskeys. Weberns piano variations in early recordings weberns piano variations op. It was the only work by webern to be premiered in the united states. A chronicle of his life and work, by hans and rosaleen moldenhauer. The colors show the dynamics loudness of the notes, as indicated in the score. First movementsehr massig the opening movement of op. The ensuing analytical discussion will be based on the premise that traditional forms provided. Principal forms of weberns tone row from variations for piano, op. Weberns music as in beethovens music control of the interaction between characteristics of sound rather than pattern making within nonpitch characteristics is the principal consideration. This is similar in construction to the first tonerow, with similar motives and similar, but not as wide, motion. An illustration of the twelvetone music composition technique utilised by the followers of the second viennese school. Dec 17, 20 anton webern s symphony, op 21 for strings without doublebasses, harp, clarinet, bass clarinet, and two horns is a piece that takes the idea of symphonic selfreferentiality to an intensely. Analytical issues in the second movement of anton weberns quartet for violin, clarinet, tenorsaxophone and piano, op.
I do not make a profit on any contents in my channel ang blog, even my activity. The intent of this study is to investigate significant influences that led to weberns adoption and application of klangrfarben techniques in the symphony, op. Title variationen fur klavier composer webern, anton. Klangfarbenmelodien is a term first mentioned by schoenberg in his harmonielehre 1911 in a discussion suggesting the idea of tone colors as a structural element equal to other musical components such as harmony, rhythm, pitch, and dynamics.