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)] 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.

Sources
  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. 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.

Further reading
  • Gauldin, Robert (1977). "Pitch Structure in the Second Movement of Webern's Concerto Op. 24.", In Theory Only 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 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. ISBN 0-582-28117-2.
  • Stockhausen, Karlheinz (1963 [1953]). "Weberns Konzert für neun Instrumente op. 24". In his Texte zur Musik 1, edited by Dieter Schnebel, 24–31. DuMont Dokumente. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg. [First 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.
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