MHL 204 - SCHOENBERG AND HIS FRIENDS

(F-11)

1. Basics

Also called "2nd Vienna School" or "New Vienna School" -- What was 1st Vienna school? (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven) -- This is a pretty self-serving title -

3 major figures (Know how to spell names and approximate dates):

Arnold Schoenberg (Schönberg) (1874-1951) - Older than his colleagues, but outlived both of them - clearly acknowledged founder and leader, but very collegial relations -- emigrated to USA in 1934

Anton Webern (von Webern) (1883-1945) – unfortunate death: shot by an American GI in occupied Austrian village

Alben Berg (1885-1935) – Sudden death at age 50, probably of blood poisoning – 2^nd opera (Lulu) remained unfinished

Webern and Berg both became Schoenberg students in 1904 (Berg via newspaper ad by Schoenberg for students) - They followed Schoenberg's experiments first in atonal music, then in 12-tone techniques

Tonal vs. Atonal vs. 12-tone music

Tonal =

Tonal center: piece begins and ends on same pitch or chord tone of that pitch (exceptions to beginning, e.g. Beethoven 2^nd)

Other pitches hierarchically referred to that pitch – i.e. functional harmony – NB dominant is crucial here: without a dominant it’s hard to hear the tonic

Possibility of modulation – i.e. pitches referred to a different pitch

Can music be tonal without harmonic function? – What are other ways of establishing pitch center besides harmonic function? (cadences on few pitches, drones)

Atonal = 1) no tonal center, music is not "in a key"

2) no functional harmonies, chords don't create expectations

What are pitch principles? - No general rule - Up to taste of composer or momentary principle (e.g. melodic cell, motto chord, imitation)

NB "atonal" was not Schoenberg's word but a pejorative term of the critics - Schoenberg preferred to speak of the "emancipation of dissonance"

12-tone = Also atonal but with pitch principle - Each of 12 notes heard before any is repeated (more detailed discussion to follow) - Also called "Serial" and "Dodecaphonic"

Thus 12-tone music is one particular kind of atonal music - a subset of possible atonal musics

Should any of the music we’ve studied so far be considered “atonal”? –Debussy, Syrinx? “Nuages”? – They don’t have very functional harmonies, but Nuages has pitch centers established and maintained by means other than functional harmonies – What about Syrinx?

2. Schoenberg claimed his goal was “emancipation of dissonance,” i.e. dissonance could be experienced in and of itself – it didn't imply or "tend toward" consonance – showed it was possible to compose music in which all intervals (horizontal and vertical) were equivalent – This idea influenced a lot of 20^th-century composers – Composers took Schoenberg’s works as an inspiration and a challenge to emancipate dissonance in their own music

What were Schoenberg’s motivations? – He didn’t state them clearly –

1) Modernism - Compose music that was “new,” that didn’t rely on old habits or recall previous music – Schoenberg prided himself on being the first to compose atonal music and the "discoverer" of the 12-tone system

2) Expression – Compose music that conveyed strong emotions – often hidden or socially unacceptable emotions (conveyed via dissonance)

3) Tradition – Update and perpetuate Western art music traditions – specifically German traditions (Bach, Brahms, Wagner) – Rationalization but also sincere - Notorious statement to Joseph Rufer in 1922: "I have made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years" (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 277) – Ironically he had to flee Germany in 1933 and became a refugee in the US (lived in LA)

4 periods in Schoenberg's works:

1. Ultra chromaticism (1898-1904)

2. Atonal (1905-1912)

3. Search for a system (1913-1923)

4. 12-tone (1923-1951 )

Berg and Webern followed this development, with a lag-time of 2-3 years

3. Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 (Supplementary) (1908)

The first three movements are tonal (more or less), the last movement is atonal –The quartet uses a soprano in the last 2 movements, singing poems by Stefan George, a modernist poet

In the first 2 movements the tonality is clear –Mvt 1 is in f#-minor, though it keeps leaving that key in unexpected ways via chromatic progressions –

Typically a phrase starts out diatonic, then is altered chromatically and never comes back to original key – This makes for very rapid key change - E.g. on first page from F# minor (1) to A minor (8) to F minor (11) – Many phrases end with dissonance, but it doesn’t usually sound like resolution; it sounds like harmony is dissolving

HANDOUT - PLAY

Mvt 2, a scherzo, is in Eb minor (not on suppl listening)

4th movement (HANDOUT) - This movement is atonal - READ text - Departure from tonality probably expresses the "outer-space" idea of the text, perhaps also the idea of “rapture”

PLAY beginning, note how the instrumental timbres parallel the harmonies in conveying remoteness –

PLAY vocal entrance (2:45) - Melody is simple and lyrical; vertical sonorities are not dissonant; but we can't seem to hear it in any key – even though the first line ends on an F# major triad (m.25)

(if time) – play ending (10:30)– Finally Schoenberg arrives at F# major

Schoenberg was acutely conscious that he was doing something revolutionary in this quartet, and he prided himself on this: “ That I was the first to venture the decisive step [of music without a key] will not be considered universally a merit -- a fact that I regret but have to ignore" – At the premier in 1908 the audience began laughing in the 2^nd mvt and continued sporadically to the end

4. Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912) – NAWM 160 [No time in class – study Pierrot on your own, using these notes and NAWM commentary – You're responsible for it on the quiz and exam]

Example of Schoenberg’s atonal style – i.e. not in any key and no functional harmonies – Unlike the 2^nd quartet S doesn’t set out from conventional, chromatic harmonies – he is atonal from the beginning

This was Schoenberg’s first really successful piece – It was widely performed and got a lot of attention

Setting of 21 poems by Albert Giraud (Belgian poet) – Can be translated “Moonstruck Pierrot” - Pierrot was a stock character from French and Italian theater – Hopelessly in love with Columbine (similar to Petrushka) – Giraud’s Pierrot is a macabre variant on the stock character – a hallucinatory masochist who thinks the moon is out to get him

Schoenberg sets for soprano and chamber ensemble – Calls it a “melodrama” – Soprano never (rarely) sings but instead uses Sprechstimme (speech-voice) – pitched recitation, neither speech nor song – S indicates with Xs through stems – Schoenberg never gave instructions for realization

Enthauptung [Beheading] (#13)– READ text in English

PLAY beginning – listen for Sprechstimme – What is its purpose? What is its effect? – highlights macabre, extreme affect, word rhythm

Nacht [Night] (#8) – example of organization of atonal music

READ text

Problem of organization – S can’t organize with cadences, modulation, melodic expectations, etc. etc. – Also listener isn’t likely to remember an atonal tune

S organizes with motif and counterpoint –

Motif has 2 parts, m-M thirds, chromatic descent – This is repeated over and over – used for both melody and accompaniment

Transformations of motif – diminution (m.11), transposition (m.11), inversion (m.12), octave displacement (m.17)

Counterpoint – canon (m.4), canon in inversion (m.19), inversion and augmentation (21)

Mainly in instruments – voice participates only in m.10

PLAY

Should we hear Pierrot as a joke? satirical? ironic? (Taruskin does) - Poems are over the top, music is hysterical (but deadpan)

5. 12-tone principles and methods

Schoenberg worked out 12-tone methods during the First World War and its aftermath – He was trying to compose a large oratorio (Jacob’s Ladder) in an atonal idiom and he was giving a composition seminar – He felt need to work out principles which could serve as a basis for atonal composition

First pieces composed with new 12-tone system were: 5 Piano pieces op. 23 (partially 12-tone), Serenade op. 24 , Suite for Piano op. 25 (NAWM example), Wind Quintet op. 26 – All composed 1920-1923

Schoenberg discussed his methods with his pupils and friends, but he never formulated them in writing – He wrote a Harmony text (1911) but never a 12-tone text – What we know about his methods comes from occasional remarks, analysis of his works and testimony of his students

Concise and useful formulation by Josef Rufer in an essay called "Composition with 12 notes related only to one another" (1952) - Rufer was the student to whom S. first disclosed technique in 1920, thus probably very accurate rendition of S's view –

Rufer's 5 principles: (HANDOUT From Jarman, 1979, p.80)

1. "The series" = All 12 notes of chromatic scale arranged in specific order - Also called “row,” or “set” – A pitch may be given in any octave (principle of “octave equivalence”)

2. No repetition - No note of the series may be repeated until whole series has been heard (NB immediate repetition is allowed)

3. 4 forms of the row – Prime (the order of pitches as first heard), Inversion (upside down), Retrograde (backward), Retrograde Inversion (upside down and backward)

4. Transposition - Each of the 4 forms may be transposed to begin on any note of the chromatic scale

5. Horizontal = Vertical - The series, or portions of the series, can be stated horizontally or vertically (NB This is crucial because it allows series to fill both "melodic-contrapuntal" and "harmonic-accompanying" functions)

What is purpose of these rules?

1) to guarantee atonality - i.e. if you follow these rules you'll write music that can't be heard "in a key," and it's almost impossible to create functional harmonies

2) to provide a procedure for "emancipating dissonance"

3) to provide a non-tonal scaffolding for larger forms and longer pieces – Successive segments of a piece can be based on different transformations and combinations of one row – Possibility of formal moves like antecedent-consequent,” “development,” “variation,” “recap,” etc.

The analogies with 18^th and 19^th century musical forms were very important to Schoenberg – He proposed to: "replace those structural differentiations provided formerly by tonal harmonies"

You can review 12-tone basics in Grout p. 818-823 – You can get some more perspective from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-tone_technique

6. Suite Op. 25 (1923)

This was one of Schoenberg’s earliest 12-tone compositions

Conceived as an imitation of a J.S. Bach keyboard suite – Movements are: Prelude, Gavotte (and musette), Intermezzo, Minuet (and trio), Gigue – What’s missing? [allemande, courante]

All movements are based on the same row – HANDOUT – NAWM discusses some characteristics of row – not much as melody, but useful structural properties like division into tetrachords, tritones in prominent places, BACH anagram at the end of inversion (i.e. beginning if RI)

Nomenclature of transformations (HANDOUT)

P = “prime” – the first form of the row you hear

0 = first pitch level you hear

6 = transposition up by 6 half-steps (i.e. a tritone)

3 = transposition up by 3 half steps (i.e. minor third)

I = inversion

R = retrograde

RI = retrograde inversion

In this piece Schoenberg uses extremely limited repertory of transformations – Only 8 row forms – emphasis on P₀ and I₆ is typical for Schoenberg Beginning of trio is straightforward horizontal deployment of the row – Name row forms in RH – in LH – Canon in inversion – Note phrase rhythms in groups of 6 –

PLAY trio – Do you hear the row and transformations? [maybe] – Do you hear the canon? [for sure]

Prelude beginning –slightly more complicated – Right hand is P₀; LH is I₆ - Then both hands play I_6; then both hands play R₆

New features: 1) tetrachords superimposed; 2) pitches can be repeated (Bb); 3) Rows overlap both vertically and horizontally (Repeated Bb is end of P₀ and also beginning of I₆ – These give Schoenberg more freedom in textures, melodies and phrasing

PLAY Prelude

Minuet - Analogies with earlier forms – We hear minuet rhythm, motifs, phrase structure, melody and accompaniment, repeat – What don’t we hear? – key, tension/relaxation, the row

PLAY if time

This isn’t my favorite Schoenberg – I find it a bit stiff and dutiful – but it’s not mechanical or arbitrary – Schoenberg is engaging in all sorts of compositional choices – Also note how S exploits many familiar elements to reach his audience: melody + accompaniment, antecedent + consequent phrases, dance meters, canon

Magic square – HANDOUT – Please understand how to read this and how in principle you could create one for yourself – I’ll give you a prep later that asks you to use a magic square to find the rows in a piece of music

Don’t be misled by magic square. Remember:

1. It was invented after WWII by Milton Babbitt as an aid to analysis – Composers seldom use it (though they can)

2. Schoenberg and his friends never dreamed of using such a thing – They kept track of rows by ear and in music notation – For Schoenberg rows were like tunes and harmonies

7. Alban Berg - Violin Concerto (1935) (The last piece Berg finished)

Everyone’s favorite 12-tone piece!

Berg began using 12-tone techniques after Wozzeck (1925) - The Violin Concerto is a 12-tone piece, but it retains some of the characteristics of Wozzeck, especially tonal reminiscences and folk elements - It also quotes directly from tonal music (a Bach chorale)

HANDOUT - Row presented by violin at m.15 - (The very first presentation is by basses and violas from m.11)

PLAY beginning - What is unusual about row and its presentation?

Row isn't heard at the beginning of piece

Row is made up of thirds, then whole-tone scale

Presentation by basses and violas is overwhelmingly triadic

In violin presentation the pitch-level is important - i.e. octaves aren't equivalent – we hear it over and over again as consecutive thirds, sometimes ascending, sometimes descending (inversion)

Accompaniment isn't derived from row (at least not as directly as in Schoenberg)

What is the relation of the opening to the row? - Every other note (making open 5ths), but it's also the open strings on the violin

Why the whole-tone scales at the end of the row? - You don't know yet, but it's because these are the first 4 notes of a well-known Bach chorale, "Es ist Genug" (see handout) – Berg uses 4 whole tones repeatedly to end phrases, often with last note displaced by an octave

Thus the row is meaningful in a way that it seldom is for Schoenberg and never is for Webern - This is typical of Berg - This concerto is dedicated to Manon Gropius (daughter of Alma Mahler), whom Berg and his wife often looked after but who died at age 18 - The Bach chorale comes from a cantata which is a meditation on death - Near the end of the first movement we hear a folk tune ("Plum Tree" HANDOUT) which also had a personal meaning for Berg

Besides features of the row and quotations from tonal pieces, other aspects of this movement are strongly reminiscent of familiar music – orchestration, violin playing styles, dance rhythms

PLAY first movement excerpts- Listen for dance rhythms: Waltz at 8:45, Ländler at 9:15, Plumtree song at 10:10 - You will also hear passages that sound a great deal like Mahler, whom Berg admired very much

Much more than Schoenberg op. 25 this refutes any notions of 12-tone music being mechanical or unmusical – The Berg concerto is beautiful and expressive in ways analogous to Bach, Beethoven and Mahler –12-tone techniques give Berg more room for expression, not less – This is because: 1) expression is his goal; 2) he uses the techniques very freely; 3) he makes many connections with familiar sonorities, pieces and musical styles

8. Anton Webern – First Cantata ( 1939) (Supplementary listening) [No time this year in class. You will not be responsible for this piece]