Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...

's Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24 (German: Konzert für neun Instrumente), written in 1934, is a

twelve-tone The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

concerto 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 lab ...

: flute,

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

, clarinet,

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

, and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

. It consists of three

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: The concerto is based on a

derived row In music using the twelve-tone technique, derivation is the construction of a row through segments. A derived row is a tone row whose entirety of twelve tones is constructed from a segment or portion of the whole, the generator. Anton Webern often ...

, "often cited uch_as_by_

uch_as_by_Milton_Babbitt_(1972)">Milton_Babbitt.html"_;"title="uch_as_by_Milton_Babbitt">uch_as_by_Milton_Babbitt_(1972)as_a_paragon_of_symmetry.html" "title="Milton_Babbitt_(1972).html" ;"title="Milton_Babbitt.html" ;"title="uch as by Milton Babbitt">uch as by Milton Babbitt (1972)">Milton_Babbitt.html" ;"title="uch as by Milton Babbitt">uch as by Milton Babbitt (1972)as a paragon of symmetry">symmetrical Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definiti ...

construction".Bailey (1996), p.246. The tone row is shown below. 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 Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical serialism, twelve-tone compositions. Biography Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current ...

, 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 The ''Journal of Music Theory'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established by David Kraehenbuehl (Yale University) in 1957. According to its website, " e ''Journal of Music Theory'' fosters ...

'', vol. 40, no. 2 (Autumn), pp. 245–310. The second movement "limits quite severely the values of many domains," for example featuring "only two

duration Duration may refer to: * The amount of time elapsed between two events * Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music * Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...

al values (

quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25. Quarter or quarters may refer to: Places * Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town Placenames * Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland * Le Quartier, a settlement ...

and

half note ''Half Note'' is a live album by saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1974 and first released on the SteepleChase label in 1985.

," and, partly as a result, "features great uniformity in

texture Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Surface texture, the texture means smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface characteristics with waves shorter than road roughness * Texture ...

and gesture".Hasty, Christopher (1981). "Segmentation and Process in Post-Tonal Music", pp. 63–64, ''

Music Theory Spectrum ''Music Theory Spectrum'' () is a peer-reviewed, academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It is the official journal of the Society for Music Theory, and is published by Oxford University Press. The journal was first published ...

'', vol. 3, (Spring), pp. 54–73. The tone row may be interpreted as: 019, 2te, 367, 458. : The opening displays " he Concerto'sdistinctive

trichord In music theory, a trichord () is a group of three different pitch classes found within a larger group. A trichord is a contiguous three-note set from a musical scale or a twelve-tone row. In musical set theory there are twelve trichords give ...

al structuring," four of which "comprise an aggregate," or

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

.Alegant (2001), pp. 2–3. "The six

combinations In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are th ...

of he partition'strichords generate three pairs of complementary hexachords".Alegant (2001), p. 4. "Webern takes full advantage of this property

degree of symmetry In music using the twelve-tone technique, derivation is the construction of a row through segments. A derived row is a tone row whose entirety of twelve tones is constructed from a segment or portion of the whole, the generator. Anton Webern often ...

] in the Concerto," that under four appropriate transformations (T₀T₆I₅I_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 In combinatorics and in experimental design, a Latin square is an ''n'' × ''n'' array filled with ''n'' different symbols, each occurring exactly once in each row and exactly once in each column. An example of a 3×3 Latin sq ...

... 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", ''

'' 23, no. 1 (Spring 2001), pp. 1–40, citation on p. 5. : For example, I₅ = 548, 376, 2et, 109.

Sources

External links

* {{Authority control Compositions by Anton Webern

Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...

Twelve-tone compositions 1934 compositions

Sources

Further reading

External links