Concerto for Nine Instruments (Webern)

Anton Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24 (German: Konzert für neun Instrumente), written in 1934, is a twelve-tone concerto for nine instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, and piano. It consists of three movements:

  1. Etwas lebhaft
  2. Sehr langsam
  3. Sehr rasch

The concerto is based on a derived row, "often cited [such as by Milton Babbitt (1972)[full citation needed]] as a paragon of symmetrical construction".[1] The tone row is shown below.[2]

{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \override Score.SpacingSpanner.strict-note-spacing = ##t \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 3/2) \relative c'' { \time 3/1 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 60 b1 bes d es, g fis aes e f c' cis a } }

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. [Prague, September 5, 1935]".[3]

The second movement "limits quite severely the values of many domains," for example featuring "only two durational values (quarter and half note[s])," and, partly as a result, "features great uniformity in texture and gesture".[4]

The tone row may be interpreted as: 019, 2te, 367, 458.[5]

{ \time 2/4 \new StaffGroup << \new Staff { %\set Staff.instrumentName= "flute" \set Staff.midiInstrument = "flute" \tempo "Etwas lebhaft" 4 = 80 \accidentalStyle dodecaphonic \relative c' { r4 es''8-.->[\f g-.-> | fis,-.->] r r4 | R2 } } \new Staff { %\set Staff.instrumentName= "oboe" \set Staff.midiInstrument = "oboe" \accidentalStyle dodecaphonic \relative c' { r8 b''16([\f bes, d)] r16 r8 | R2 | R2 } } \new Staff { %\set Staff.instrumentName= "clarinet" \set Staff.midiInstrument = "clarinet" \accidentalStyle dodecaphonic \relative c' { R2 | \tuplet 3/2 { r4 c'--\f\> cis'-- } | \tuplet 3/2 { a--\p\! r r } } } \new Staff { %\set Staff.instrumentName = "trumpet" \set Staff.midiInstrument = "trumpet" \accidentalStyle dodecaphonic \relative c' { R2 | \tuplet 3/2 { gis'8(\f e f') } r4 | R2 } } >> }

The opening displays "[the Concerto's] distinctive trichordal structuring," four of which "comprise an aggregate," or partition.[6] "The six combinations of [the partition's] trichords generate three pairs of complementary hexachords".[7] "Webern takes full advantage of this property [its fourfold degree of symmetry] in the Concerto," that under four appropriate transformations (T0T6I5IB), 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).[8]

According to Brian Alegant, "[t]he Latin square... clearly shows the built in redundancy of [the] partition," four, and, "needless to say, Webern takes full advantage of this property in the Concerto":[5]

j k l m
l m j k
m l k j
k j m l

For example, I5 = 548, 376, 2et, 109.

  1. ^ Bailey (1996), p.246.
  2. ^ Whittall, Arnold. 2008. The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism. Cambridge Introductions to Music, p. 97. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68200-8 (pbk).
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Hasty, Christopher (1981). "Segmentation and Process in Post-Tonal Music", pp. 63–64, Music Theory Spectrum, vol. 3, (Spring), pp. 54–73.
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ Alegant (2001), pp. 2–3.
  7. ^ Alegant (2001), p. 4.
  8. ^ Van den Toorn, Pieter C. (1996). Music, Politics, and the Academy, pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-520-20116-7.