Anton Webern
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Anton Webern
1883 - 1945
Anton Webern
1883 – 1945
Anton Webern is an Austrian
composer and conductor.
He was a member of a group
of composers that became known as the Second Viennese
School.
This group developed a brand new style of composition and
created music that was completely different from anything
that had been heard previously.
Rather than use formal scales and harmonies, Webern and
his contemporaries wrote music that was atonal.
Atonal
- music that is not in any
particular key.
Webern was an incredibly strict composer, organising
every element of his music with absolute precision. He
often used sparse textures so that every note can be
clearly heard.
Most of Webern’s compositions are incredibly short;
however, they were written with the most obsessive
attention to detail.
If you played a piece of Mozart without any dynamics or
articulations it wouldn’t sound great – but it’d still be
music. If you did the same to a piece of Webern it would
sound like you were playing a random selection of notes –
all the musical meaning would be lost.
Variations
for Piano
Webern’s Variations for Piano were written in 1936
(round about the same time as Rachmaninov’s
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini).
Listen to a few seconds of each composer. You will
instantly hear how radical Webern’s approach was.
Sergei Rachmaninov
You can hear music by
Rachmaninov on Track 5
of the MUSICWORKS CD.
1873 - 1943
Anton Webern
You can hear music by
Webern on Track 6 of
the MUSICWORKS CD.
1883 - 1945
Variations
for Piano
This presentation will explore the 2nd movement.
It is entitled Sehr schnell – which is German for
very fast.
The music lasts less than 40 seconds!
This is the main ‘theme’.
You can hear this excerpt in the first 5 seconds of
Track 6 of the MUSICWORKS CD.
Notice the notes are grouped in pairs,
each with its own dynamic.
Dynamics
- instructions for
how loud or soft to play.
An indication of volume.
Webern’s style of composition is called
Serialism – which is a very specific way of
ordering musical elements.
For instance, in this piece Webern strictly
organises the pitches of the music.
He does this by taking the 12 different notes
within an octave (all the white and black
notes) and intricately arranging them into a
special order.
Here are the 12 different
tones (within an octave) marked
on a keyboard.
2
1
4
3
7
5
6
9
8
11
10
12
Webern reordered the pitches.
This new order is called a
Tone row.
3
6
5
12
9
7
8
10
11
1
2
4
Tone row
- a system of organising
all 12 pitches within an octave.
Tone row used in the 2nd movement
of Variations for Piano
Look at the main Theme again.
Theme
Tone row
The Theme was created by using
the notes of the Tone row.
Theme
Tone row
Notice how the notes in the theme
relate to the order set by the row.
On the next slide you will see how Webern
also used symmetry to construct this piece.
If you placed a mirror along the pitch of A on
the score, you will see how the note from the
tone row (marked red) has a symmetrical
opposite (marked in blue).
Click to see this in action.
Row note
Line of
Symmetry
Reflection
Anton Webern
1883 – 1945
Because of the incredible speed and complexity
of this music, it can be challenging to get into
Webern’s soundworld. However, the closer you
examine the music, the more amazing it
becomes.
Igor Stravinsky described Webern’s music as
being built of ‘dazzling diamonds’.
Anton
Webern