Webern Presentation

Who is the man behind the mask?

A PowerPoint presentation by: Jason Messinger

By Jason Messinger

“Doomed to a total failure in a deaf world of ignorance and indifference he inexorably kept on cutting out his diamonds, his dazzling diamonds, the mines of which he had such a perfect knowledge.” – Igor Stravinsky

Let’s start with what works he has that makes him a composer?

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Passacaglia Op. 1 Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen Op. 2 Fünf Lieder Op. 3 Fünf Lieder Op. 4 Fünf Sätze Op. 5 Sechs Stücke Op. 6 Vier Stücke Op. 7 Zwei Lieder Op. 8 Sechs Bagatellen Op. 9 Fünf Stücke Op. 10 Drei kleine Stücke Op. 11 Vier Lieder Op. 12

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Vier Lieder Op. 13 Sechs Lieder Op. 14 Fünf geistliche Lieder Op. 15 Fünf Kanons Op. 16 Drei Volkstexte Op. 17 Drei Lieder Op. 18 Zwei Lieder Op. 19 Streichtrio Op. 20 Symphonie Op. 21 Quartett Op. 22 Drei Gesänge Op. 23 Konzert Op. 24 Drei Lieder Op. 25

 Das Augenlicht Op. 26  Variationen Op. 27  Streichquartett Op. 28

 Kantate Nr. 1 Op. 29  Variationen Op. 30  Kantate Nr. 2 Op. 31

Let’s review and see just how long these songs would last all together!!!

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Passacaglia Op. 1 Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen Op. 2 Fünf Lieder Op. 3 Fünf Lieder Op. 4 Fünf Sätze Op. 5 Sechs Stücke Op. 6 Vier Stücke Op. 7 Zwei Lieder Op. 8 Sechs Bagatellen Op. 9 Fünf Stücke Op. 10 Drei kleine Stücke Op. 11 Vier Lieder Op. 12

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Vier Lieder Op. 13 Sechs Lieder Op. 14 Fünf geistliche Lieder Op. 15 Fünf Kanons Op. 16 Drei Volkstexte Op. 17 Drei Lieder Op. 18 Zwei Lieder Op. 19 Streichtrio Op. 20 Symphonie Op. 21 Quartett Op. 22 Drei Gesänge Op. 23 Konzert Op. 24 Drei Lieder Op. 25

 Das Augenlicht Op. 26  Variationen Op. 27  Streichquartett Op. 28

 Kantate Nr. 1 Op. 29  Variationen Op. 30  Kantate Nr. 2 Op. 31

Let’s take a look into Webern’s techniques!

 Music involves the presentation of ideas that can be   

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expressed in no other way. Music operates according to rules of order based on natural law rather than taste. Great art does what is necessary, not arbitrary. Evolution in art is necessary. History – and thus musical idioms and practices – can move only forward, not backward!

 Webern argued in a series of lectures published

posthumously as The Path to the New Music.  Webern argued that twelve-tone music was the

inevitable result of music’s evolution because it combined the most advanced approaches to pitch (using all twelve chromatic notes), musical space (integrating the melodic and harmonic dimensions), and the presentation of musical ideas (combining Classical forms with polyphonic procedures and unity with variety, deriving every element from the thematic material).

 Webern regarded each step along the way from

tonality to atonality to twelve-tone music as an act of discovery, not invention.  This gave him, and Schoenberg, total confidence in their

own work, despite the incomprehension and opposition they encountered from performers and listeners.

 His 4th of his 5 Pieces for Orchestra Op. 10, scored for

clarinet, trumpet, trombone, mandolin, celesta, harp, drum, violin, and viola, takes only 19 seconds to play.  His music achieves the utmost subtilization of expressive means.  He extended the principle of nonrepetition of notes to tone colors with the twelve-tone method.  Typically, each 12 tone row is divided into symmetric sections of 2, 4, or 6 members, which enter mutually into intricate but invariably logical canonic imitations.

 Inversions and augmentations are inherent features  Melodically and harmonically, the intervals of the major  

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seventh and minor ninth are stressed. Single motifs are brief, and stand out as individual particles or lyric ejaculations. He first used the serial technique in his Drei gesitliche Volkslieder (3 spiritual folksongs) 1924. The impact of Webern’s works on the general public and on the critics was disconcerting, and upon occasion led to violent demonstrations. The extraordinary skill and novelty of technique made Webern’s music endure beyond the fashions of the times.

Let’s check out how he came about learning everything by reviewing his life story!

 Born in Vienna, Austria on December 3, 1883, as Anton

Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern.  Died on September 15, 1945 when an American soldier accidentally shot and killed him.

 First musical instruction was received by his mother who

was an amateur pianist.  He played the cello in the orchestra while studying piano, cello, and theory with Edwin Komauer in Klagenfurt.  In 1902 he entered the University of Vienna, where he studied harmony with Graedener and counterpoint with Navratil.  During this time, he also attended classes in musicology with

Guido Adler!  He received his Ph.D. in 1906 with a dissertation on

Heinrich Isaac’s Choralis Constantinus II.

 In 1904, he began private

studies in composition with Arnold Schoenberg, whose ardent disciple he became!  Alban Berg also studied with Schoenberg and all together, they laid the foundations of the 2nd Viennese School of composition!

 Their music was initially characterized by post-Romantic

expanded tonality and later, following Schoenberg’s own evolution, a totally-chromatic expressionism without firm tonal centre (often referred to as atonality) and later still Schoenberg’s serial twelve-tone technique.  Malevolent opponents referred S.,B., and W. as a Vienna Trinity.  Schoenberg – God the Father  Berg – God the Son  Webern – Holy Ghost  The last appelation was supposed to describe the phantomlike substance of some of Webern’s works.

 From 1908 – 1914 he was active as a conductor in

Vienna and in Germany.  In 1917 – 1918, he was the conductor at the Deutsches Theater in Prague.  In 1918, he settled in Mödling, near Vienna, where he taught composition privately.  He supervised the programs of the Verein für Musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performances) from 1918 – 1922.  These performances were organized in Vienna by

Schoenberg with the intention of promoting modern music without being exposed to reactionary opposition.

 He was conductor of the Schubertbund from 1921-1922

and the Mödling Male Chorus from 1921 – 1926.  He led the Vienna Workers’ Symphony concerts and the Vienna Worker’s Chorus from 1922 – 1934.  From 1927 – 1938 he was a conductor on the Austrian Radio.  He conducted guest engagements in Germany,

Switzerland, and Spain.  From 1929, he made several visits to England, where he

was a guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

 For the most part, Webern devoted himself to

composition, private teaching, and lecturing.  After Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Webern’s music was banned as a manifestation of “cultural Bolshevism” and “degenerate art.”  After Anschluss in 1938, his works could no longer be published.  He then simply taught a few private pupils and made piano arrangements of musical scores by others for Universal Edition.  He was an editor and proofreader for Universal Editon.

 After his son was killed in an air bombardment of a train in

Feb. 1945, he and his wife fled from Vienna to Mittersill, near Salzburg, to stay with his married daughters and grandchildren, where he believed he would be safer.  On September 15, 1945, during the Allied occupation of Austria, he was shot dead by an American Army soldier following the arrest of his son-in-law for black market activities. Despite the curfew in effect, Webern stepped outside the house to enjoy a cigar without disturbing his sleeping grandchildren. He was then shot by army cook Pfc. Raymond Norwood Bell.

 Pfc. Bell was overcome by remorse and died of alcoholism in

1955.  Ironically, the war had officially ended by the time of Webern’s assassination. (WWII)

 Let’s put our new

knowledge and research together and analyze his piece, Wie bin ich Froh! No. 1 of Drei Lieder, Op. 25  Follow this link to the

glogster about this piece  Or, listen to the music by clicking on this speaker:  Or just go back to the wikispace

By Jason L. Messinger