The Music of Alban BergBerg has generally been regarded as the most conservative member of the second Viennese school; and whereas the music of Schoenberg and Webern has been the subject of numerous critical studies, the music of Berg has, until recently, received little analytical attention. Yet Berg's techniques of composition are more forward-looking, and his attitude to tradition was more ambivalent, than is generally realized. This book shows the subtlety and originality of Berg's thought, and traces the development of certain preoccupations of form and organization which are a peculiar and consistent feature of his music, resulting as they do in formal and technical procedures of the utmost rigour. That these apparently 'abstract' procedures should give rise to works of an overwhelming spontaneity is a paradox that lies at the heart of Berg's music. The final chapter of the book assesses the deeply personal extra-musical significance which these techniques seem to have had for the composer. |
Contents
Pitch organization in the early and free atonal works | 15 |
Twelvenote techniques | 80 |
Rhythmic techniques | 147 |
Appendices | 242 |
| 257 | |
| 263 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accompanied Adagio Alban Berg Allegro Altenberg Lieder Alwa Alwa's series appears at bar associated basic cell basic series basic set bass Berg's music cadential chord Canon Chamber Concerto characteristic chorale chromatic clarinet coda composition Countess Geschwitz cyclically permuted derived discussed dramatic dyads employed example final flat formal four-note fourth George Perle Hauptrhythmus hexachord important leading motive London Lulu Lulu's Lyric Suite Marie's Marsch material melodic figurations metronome marking minor thirds Monoritmica Music Review notes opening bars opera orchestral interlude Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Ostinato Painter palindromic Passacaglia permuted Piano pitch level procedures reappears Redlich Reich relationship reprise rhythm rhythmic pattern role Rondo Schigolch Schoenberg Schön Schön's series second movement Second Viennese School sequence serial trope shown in Ex significance similar sonata form Sonata movement song statement structure subsidiary sets thematic third movement three-note tonal tritone twelve-note set variant Vienna Violin Concerto Webern Wein whole-tone Wozzeck