Anton Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments,
Op. 24 (German: Konzert für neun Instrumente), written in 1934, is a
twelve-tone concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
for nine
instruments
Instrument may refer to:
Science and technology
* Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft
* Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific l ...
:
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
,
oboe,
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
,
horn,
trumpet,
trombone,
violin,
viola, and
piano. It consists of three
movements:
The concerto is based on a
derived row, "often cited
uch as by Milton Babbitt (1972)">Milton_Babbitt.html" ;"title="uch as by
uch as by symmetrical construction".
[Bailey (1996), p.246.] The tone row">Milton Babbitt">uch as by Milton Babbitt (1972)as a paragon of symmetry">symmetrical construction".
[Bailey (1996), p.246.] The tone row is shown below.
[Arnold Whittall">Whittall, Arnold. 2008. ''The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism. Cambridge Introductions to Music'', p. 97. New York: Cambridge University Press. (pbk).]
:
In the words of Luigi Dallapiccola, the concerto is "a work of incredible conciseness... and of unique concentration... . Although I did not understand the work completely, I had the feeling of finding an aesthetic and stylistic unity as great as I could wish for.
rague, September 5, 1935.
[Bailey, Kathryn (1996). "Symmetry as Nemesis: Webern and the First Movement of the Concerto, Opus 24", p. 245, '' Journal of Music Theory'', vol. 40, no. 2 (Autumn), pp. 245–310.]
The second movement "limits quite severely the values of many domains," for example featuring "only two
durational values (
quarter and
half note ," and, partly as a result, "features great uniformity in
texture and
gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or ot ...
".
[Hasty, Christopher (1981). "Segmentation and Process in Post-Tonal Music", pp. 63–64, '' Music Theory Spectrum'', vol. 3, (Spring), pp. 54–73.]
The tone row may be interpreted as: 019, 2te, 367, 458.
:
The opening displays "
he Concerto'sdistinctive
trichordal structuring," four of which "comprise an
aggregate
Aggregate or aggregates may refer to:
Computing and mathematics
* collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...
," or
partition.
[Alegant (2001), pp. 2–3.] "The six
combinations of
he partition's
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
trichords generate three pairs of
complementary
A complement is something that completes something else.
Complement may refer specifically to:
The arts
* Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave
** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
hexachord
In music, a hexachord (also hexachordon) is a six-note series, as exhibited in a scale (hexatonic or hexad) or tone row. The term was adopted in this sense during the Middle Ages and adapted in the 20th century in Milton Babbitt's serial theor ...
s".
[Alegant (2001), p. 4.] "Webern takes full advantage of this property
degree of symmetry">Derived row#Degree of symmetry">degree of symmetryin the Concerto," that under four appropriate transformations (T
0T
6I
5I
B), the
tone row maintains its unordered trichords (j=019,091,etc., k=2te, l=367, and m=458). The hexachord featured is sometimes called the
'Ode-to-Napoleon' hexachord (014589).
[Van den Toorn, Pieter C. (1996). ''Music, Politics, and the Academy'', pp. 128–129. .]
According to Brian Alegant, "
e
Latin square... clearly shows the built in redundancy of
hepartition," four, and, "needless to say, Webern takes full advantage of this property in the Concerto":
[Brian Alegant, "Cross-Partitions as Harmony and Voice Leading in Twelve-Tone Music", '' Music Theory Spectrum'' 23, no. 1 (Spring 2001), pp. 1–40, citation on p. 5.]
:
For example, I
5 = 548, 376, 2et, 109.
Sources
Further reading
*
Gauldin, Robert (1977). "Pitch Structure in the Second Movement of Webern's Concerto Op. 24.", ''
In Theory Only
''In Theory Only'' () was a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "mu ...
'' 2, no. 10: 8–22. Cited on p. 38 of Brian Alegant, "Cross-Partitions as Harmony and Voice Leading in Twelve-Tone Music", ''
Music Theory Spectrum'' 23, no. 1 (Spring 2001), pp. 1–40.
*Gauldin, Robert (1977). "The Magic Squares of the Third Movement of Webern's Concerto Op. 24." ''
In Theory Only
''In Theory Only'' () was a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory
Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "mu ...
'' 2, nos. 11–12:32–42. Cited on p, 38 of Alegant 2001.
*Hartwell, Robin (1979). "Rhythmic Organisation in the Serial Music of Anton Webern". PhD diss. Brighton: University of Sussex.
*
Rahn, John (1980). ''Basic Atonal Theory''. New York: Longman, Inc. .
*
Stockhausen, Karlheinz (1963
953. "Weberns Konzert für neun Instrumente op. 24". In his ''Texte zur Musik'' 1, edited by
Dieter Schnebel
Dieter Schnebel (14 March 1930 – 20 May 2018) was a German composer, theologian and musicologist. He composed orchestral music, chamber music, vocal music and stage works. From 1976 until his retirement in 1995, Schnebel served as professor of e ...
, 24–31. DuMont Dokumente. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.
irst published in ''Melos'', no. 20 (1953), 343–348.*Straus, Joseph N. (2011). "Contextual-Inversion Spaces". ''
Journal of Music Theory'' 55, no. 1 (Spring): 43–88.
*Wintle, Christopher (1982). "Analysis and Performance: Webern's Concerto Op. 24/ii.", ''
Music Analysis'' 1:73–100. Cited on p. 39 of Alegant 2001; on p. 19 of
Jonathan Dunsby, "Guest Editorial: Performance and Analysis of Music", ''Music Analysis'' 8, nos. 1–2 (March–July 1989): 5–20; on pp. 74–75 of Catherine Nolan, "Structural Levels and Twelve-Tone Music: A Revisionist Analysis of the Second Movement of Webern's 'Piano Variations' Op. 27", ''
Journal of Music Theory'' 39, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 47–76; on pp. 324, 328, and 339 of John Rink, "''Musical Structure and Performance'' by Wallace Berry" (review), ''Music Analysis'' 9, no. 3 (October 1990), 319–339; on pp. 57 and 88 of Straus 2011; and on pp. 337 and 353 of Whittall 1987.
*
Whittall, Arnold (1987). "Webern and Multiple Meaning". ''Music Analysis'' 6, no. 3 (October): 333–353.
External links
*
{{Authority control
Compositions by Anton Webern
Webern
Twelve-tone compositions
1934 compositions