Fließend: A Brief Insight Into Anton Webern’s Opus 9, No. 6
Anton Webern’s Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Opus 9, is a set of pieces for two violins, viola, and cello. Composed in 1913 in Vienna, each bagatelle is brief, spanning a single page, varying from seven to thirteen measures.
The composition reflects Webern’s yearning to mirror some of the ideas of his mentor, Arnold Schoenberg. One of the most prominent concepts throughout the six movements is the lack of any contrasts that call for resolution in the music. This portrays the new style of writing brought to light by Schoenberg in the development of atonal music. In addition, the movements are all through-composed. In other words, there are no clearly defined sections that mark a beginning or an end to a specific musical idea or motive.
No. 6 is titled Fließend, which translates from German to “flowing.” This last bagatelle is a vivid example of continuity in Webern’s music. The title, itself, reflects its structure. There are only two places in the nine measures that have a moment of complete silence, when none of the instruments are playing: the eighth note rest at the downbeat of measure 1 and the eighth note rest on the downbeat of measure 3. It may seem that each of the four instruments is sounding out random pitches, either separately or simultaneously, yet each of them also has an independent line which interweaves constantly with the other instruments. For example, in measure 7, even though the three lower parts have a rest on the downbeat, the first violin is still holding the tied F-sharp from the previous measure.
As many composers of his day, Webern very often constructed his compositions with the golden ratio in mind. “The golden ratio, also known...
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...le of His Life and Work (New York; knopf, 1978). Looking into Webern’s life between 1908 and 1913, he writes that “[Webern’s] compositions of that period reveal a growing tendency to compress the highest intensity of expression within the greatest formal brevity.”
This is true of all six of the bagatelles in Opus 9 and clearly expressed in No. 6. The score is packed with constantly interchanging indications (plucked, bowed, muffled, on the bridge, at the fingerboard) for the stringed instruments, thus creating different sound effects, as well as causing emphasis on specific pitches or phrase fragments. Almost every single note has multiple instructions accompanying it, and yet, the whole piece is only nine measures long. Such detail reflects the scrupulous attention that Webern gave to every note: he wanted to express the most in the minimal amount of music.
In the first part of this recital the vivaldi, contained a string Quartet. After the first intermission, I looked down at the podium and noticed that the precussions were added which included the timpani, bass drum, tylophone, and cymbals. In this recital Nancy Menk was the conductor, Judith Von Houser was the soprano which played a high note, and Mary Nessinger was the Mezzo-soprano which played a slight softer note. This part of the concert was divided into four pieces. First there was the Magnificant by M. Haydn (the orchestra accompaniment was edited from the composer's manuscript by Mark Nabholz). This piece consisted of strings without violas, two french horns, and an organ.
The year is 1788 as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to work on his last three symphonies during a time of strife for musicians as the Austro-Turkish War continues to war on in Austria. Tired from moving his family from central Vienna to the suburbs of Alsergrund all while in debt to his ears as he continued to borrow money from friends including a fellow mason, Michael Puchberg, Mozart finished his final symphony on August 10, 1788. This piece, nicknamed the “Jupiter Symphony,” coined by impresario Johann Peter Saloman, was Mozart’s longest symphony with a total of four movements, a typical symphonic form during the Classical era. The Jupiter Symphony totals to about forty five minutes of music ending with a quintuple fugato that brings back the five melodies introduced in the final movement making the closer one of the most complex examples of counterpoint that has ever been created. My goal shall be to give the reader a sense of Mozarts life at the time of this composition, a detailed analysis of all four of these movements, as well as a look at why this piece was seen as a work of innovation.
Messiaen had no choice on what instruments the piece was written for, ‘the group of instruments…to large to allow the piano to express itself freely, yet too small to obtain…variety of timbre,’ and his way around this was to obtain ‘maximum variety of which they are capable.’ By exploiting each instrument in so many different ways to create different timbres, the technical challenges faced by the performers are endless.
“You gotta play this piece like an English military band would,” said Jules during band one day while rehearsing the first movement of Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F. “1. March” begins with four notes played by the low brass which is then echoed by the upper woodwinds. The trumpets have a noble melody which broadens when the entire ensemble joins in. Next, the piece lightens up with an upper woodwind melody. Later on there is a euphonium solo, and following that is a grand theme with an extremely distinguished style. After, there is a change in style and time signature. One simple theme repeats with different dynamics and instrumentations every repetition. The Wind Ensemble played this piece at the Winter Band Concert on December 11, 2013. This work, though easy looking at first glance, was genuinely difficult to put together. It had few layers, so mistakes or intonation problems were extremely noticeable. Furthermore, the style of the piece was extremely intricate and hard to master. Therefore, “1. March” had positives and negatives regarding intonation, balance and blend, articulation, style, and dynamics throughout the entire ensemble and the low instrument section.
A sinfonia (Italian for symphony) broadly refers to a number of instrumental works from the Baroque period, including symphonies, sonatas, canzonas, concerti, and Italian opera overtures. Even J.S. Bach titles his “three-part” inventions for harpsichord “Sinfonia”. Torelli’s Sinfonia in D (G.8) is a four-movement “concerto” for trumpet, strings and harpsichord continuo. Unlike a concerto grosso, where a main theme is presented and then reappears in fragments, the main themes of Sinfonia in D are developed rather freely. The second movement (Adagio) is a very short, slow, interlude without trumpet that introduces the third movement (Allegro). Hence, the program shows these two movements as “adagio-allegro” joined together.
...ers and the audience. The dramatic nature of this piece alone is something to be reckoned with as it is extremely passionate. The symphony is presented in 4 movements as is common and begins with a Poco Sostenuto- Vivace, followed by a Allegretto movement, Presto movement, and finally ends on an Allegro con brio movement. the central theme of this piece is introduced in the first movement by a flute playing in tripple meter continuously ascending up the scales rising in dynamic contrast, continuing to grow into a louder and more stark contrast between it’s highs and lows. Consistently dance like, the piece is celebratory of its roots buried in historical Austrian music that has been present in the culture for years. The accomplishments of the soldiers for which the piece was composed for are easily told of simply by the energy and power present throughout the piece.
William Henry Hadow and Charles Rosen are two historians who talk primarily about musical context. Hadow sets his discussion in the framework of classical composers' movement away from Baroque forms. He says that when Beethoven and his contemporaries chose ternary form over Baroque binary, typified in the dance suite, they chose a structure that was then used successfully into the twentieth century. This was only poss...
The 3rd movement: Scene in the Fields. This section represents a tranquil interval. It is a summer evening in the country and he hears two shepherds piping. The tranquil moment of the quiet summer evening alone with the pastoral duet fills his heart with an unfamiliar calm. Suddenly she appears and her appearance causes an emotional response of sorrowful loneliness.
‘Sonata’ at this time referred to instrumental music while ‘pian’ means soft and ‘forte’ means loud. The title of the work indicates that it is an instrumental work that has soft and loud sections. Gabrieli's composition is special because it is the first to show dynamic markings in an ensemble setting. Some sources will say that it is the first piece to portray dynamics in general, but other sources provide evidence that dynamic markings appear in solo literature composed decades beforehand. “Deeper acquaintance with the music shows that they [the dynamics] also have an emotional function, for they occur so irregularly that the listener is never certain if he will be overwhelmed with sound, or when he must strain his ears for some more subdued phrase.” Gabrieli felt that dynamics can help portray or alter the audience’s perception of a pattern of music towards a particular mood.
First of all, the text is well organized in terms of its unity. The piece has seven movements. According to Fuller, "The first and last movements adopt the text of an established mid-seventeenth-century chorale by Johann Rist. The middle movements have new text by an unknown poet who occasionally quotes or paraphrases middle stanzas of the chorale." Moreover, this unknown pot himself repeates some words in the text.
In the following paper I will be exploring the beginning of Leonard Bernstein's career and his family background. I will also look into the influences he had in his life and look at two pieces that he composed, "Jeremiah Symphony No. 1", and "Candide". My reasons for choosing these two pieces is due to the fact that they are contrasting in genre, one being a symphony with orchestration and the other being an operetta, and that they were written at different stages in Bernstein's life. They both produced a number of responses and displayed his wide range of musical ability.
Great works were composed during the Romantic Era, but who would consider looking deeper into the depths of composers and find one of many great masterminds of music for the Paris Conservatory? Louis Ganne made influences on the Paris Conservatory, and this would not have happened if it was not for influences from family, geographical location, and his background with opera and orchestral conducting; but most importantly Paul Taffanel himself. All of those, as well as why I plan to perform this piece and how I understand some of the contextual elements, are all features in this paper.
The final and twelfth piece was made up of excerpts from a longer work called Five Short Pieces for Clarinet and Bassoon. To me, maybe because the concert was beginning to get long or maybe because I did not have many notes over it, the last piece seems fairly similar throughout its movements, or “Short Pieces.” The first was an up-beat piece with a distinct melody. The clarinet and bassoon alternated, with the clarinet playing the higher notes. The second movement had a have complete feel to it. The two instruments played at the same time, close to it. The third movement was an impressive sounding mix of ups and downs. It seemed that the performers were working very hard and it sounded very complex.
Historical. This brilliant composition is considered as one of the two most important violin concertos of the German Romantic period, with Mendelssohn’s vi...
...re was very interesting transitions between the variation, for example, string section plays the variation from low to high, when they reach the highest note, the brass family takes over and continue with the scale and make it more higher. Tremolo style was used in this piece, which is a quick ups and downs stroke mode. The music were very soothing and attracted the audience. Lastly, they end the piece with the same variations that was played at the beginning.