Shreffler, Mein Weg Geht Jetzt Vorüber - The Vocal Origins of Webern's Twelve-Tone Composition (JAMS 47-2, 1994)

"Mein Weg geht jetzt vorber": The Vocal Origins of Webern's Twelve-Tone Composition Author(s): Anne C.
Shreffler Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 275-339 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128880 . Accessed: 21/06/2013 02:50
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The Vocal Origins of Webern's Twelve-Tone Composition*

BYANNE C. SHREFFLER
"MeinWeg geht jetzt vortiber":
To thememory Brown of Howard Mayer

LTHOUGH remain his best known, TWELVE-TONE WEBERN'S WORKS how he found his own twelve-tone voice has been almost completely unexamined.' While the uniqueness of that voice, with its economy of means, symmetries, and severe clarity, has been justly celebrated, its origins are usually described as a gradual acquisition and assimilation of Schoenberg's techniques. But if measuring We* An early version of this essay was presented at the Fifty-sixth Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Oakland, November I990. I am grateful to the Paul Sacher Stiftung and the American Philosophical Society for research support during the summer of i99o. I would also like to thank Richard Cohn and Felix Meyer for their helpful comments on drafts of this essay. ' There have been no single studies devoted to Webern's acquisition of twelvetone technique. General books on Webern by Rene Leibowitz, Wallace McKenzie, Walter Kolneder, Luigi Rognoni, and Friedrich Wildgans assess Webern's evolution (by necessity) only in terms of his published works; moreover all of these authors take Webern's later twelve-tone technique as a model, viewing earlier works as experimental and incomplete: Leibowitz, Introduction a la musiquede douze sons (Paris: L'Arche, 1949); McKenzie, "The Music of Anton Webern" (Ph.D. diss., North Texas State College, i96o); Kolneder, Anton Webern: An Introduction to His Works, trans. Humphrey Searle (London: Faber and Faber, 1968); Rognoni, The Second ViennaSchool:Expressionism and Dodecaphony, trans. Robert W. Mann (London: John trans. Edith Temple Roberts and Humphrey Calder, i977); Wildgans, Anton Webern, Searle (London: Calder and Boyars, 1966). Hans Moldenhauer and Rosaleen Moldenhauer's ground-breaking (and still essential) biography is based on source material not available to earlier authors, but does not attempt to alter the prevailing view of A Chronicle Webern's twelve-tone development: Anton von Webern: of Hir Lifeand Work (New York: Knopf, i979). Recent works by Kathryn Bailey and Donna Levern Lynn discuss Webern's twelve-tone technique from 1924 and after. Bailey's book, The Twelve-Note Music of Anton Webern: Old Forms in a New Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, I991), focuses primarily on works after op. 19. Lynn's dissertation, based on a new assessment of the sources, emphasizes published works: "Genesis, Process, and Reception of Anton Webern's Twelve-Tone Music: A Study of the Sketches for Opp. I7-19, 21, and 22/2 (1924-1930)" (Ph.D. diss., Duke University, 1992).
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in Schoenbergian termspresentsa distortedpicture, bern's"progress" who naturally the postwarreceptionof Webern as "super-serialist" and fluently absorbedtwelve-tonetechniqueis equallymisleading. In this essay, I shall focus on the very earlieststagesof Webern's twelve-tonedevelopment,beforehe began to makerow chartsor to characteristic of his later workout the kindsof systematic organization music. I attempt to show, first, that Webern's adoption of the twelve-tone system is better seen not as a gradualdevelopmentor (as he himselfwould laterdescribeit), but insteadas a period "path" of broad experimentation, during which he alternatelyrejectedand the new method.This can be seen in sketchesanddraftsfor embraced transitional works, someof which becameavailable only recentlyand in before.2 have not been discussed Second, adoptingthe method, Weberndrew from it radicallydifferentconsequencesthan Schoenberg had drawn. While Schoenbergvalued above all the unifying andearlytwelve-tone transitional forceof serialoperations,Webern's works, almostall for voice, seem deliberately designedto preventthe perceptionof unity. With these pieces, which are among his most nonsystematic,Weberncreatedthe most complex, even disordered, musicalsurfaceof any of his worksup to that time. Though his later serialworks show a more orderedface, some of the consequencesof this early strugglewith twelve-tonetechniqueremain.Third, I shall suggestthat an accountof how Weberncame to termswith Schoenberg's method should not be primarilyabout technicalacquisition. Rather,Webern'sversionof twelve-tonecompositiongrew out of a out of with vocalmusic, and morespecifically decade'spreoccupation the religious and mystical aestheticembodied in the song texts he chose during these years. These texts have createdproblems---one scholars.Ofmight say embarrassment-forpost-Darmstadt-minded ten dismissed because they do not belong to the "high" poetic tradition,the texts, drawnfromeverydaybookslike the prayer-book and hymnal, providedWebernwith a richly symboliclanguagethat to his ideas abouttwelve-tonetechnique. closely corresponded
2 Most of the earliest twelve-tone sketches (for opp. 15, 16, and 17, no. I) are in the Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel (hereafterPSS; manuscript pages will be identified by microfilm number). The Library of Congress holds significant manuscripts of Webern's opp. 15, 16, and 18. The main source for Webern's sketches for op. 17, nos. New 2 and 3, and opp. i8 and 19 is "Sketchbook I" in the Pierpont Morgan Library, York, whose contents have been described briefly by Bailey (Tbe Twelve-NoteMusic) and more extensively by Lynn ("Genesis, Process, and Reception").
WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION
277
25, but also in the increasing control exerted by serial techniques throughout the composition of Five Piano Pieces, op. 23, Serenade, op. 24, and Piano Suite, op. 25 between i920 and 1923, works which have come to be seen as neoclassical in spirit and design. When Webern first began using rows, by contrast, he produced some of his most irrational and disorganized works. The first pieces with opus numbers that rely on row technique to any extent are the
Evenfromthe purelytechnical pointof viewof rowconceptualwas not ization,Webern's story Schoenberg's story.3Schoenberg's formulation of histwelve-tone method wasa conscious actin response andpersonal for this Carl Dahlhaus hascalledhim to a musical crisis; a "musical firsttwelve-tone decisionist."4 Accordingly, Schoenberg's effortsrepresent a consciousrationalization of musicaltechnique described so aptlyas a "renewed stateof legality" (whichDahlhaus afterthe "state of emergency").s Thisis demonstrated notonlyin the danceforms thatorganize the individual movements of the Suite,op.
3 Schoenberg's twelve-tone development (unlike Webern's) has been the subject of prolonged study. Josef Rufer, in Die Kompositionmit zwdilf Tnen (Berlin and Wunsiedel: Max Hesses Verlag, 1952), attempted a comprehensive description of the technique as Schoenberg understood it. In Das Werk Arnold Schinbergs(Kassel: Barenreiter, 1959), Rufer undertook the monumental task of cataloging, ordering, and evaluating Schoenberg's manuscripts, now collected in the Schoenberg Institute in Los Angeles. Jan Maegaardcontinued the project, refining the chronology and giving more precise descriptions of the manuscripts; he also developed an analytical methodology to chart the evolution of Schoenberg's twelve-tone method stage by stage: "A Study in the Chronology of Op. 23-26 by Arnold Schoenberg," Dansk 2 (1962): 93-115; and Studienzur Entwicklung Arbog for Musikforskning desdodekaphonen Satzesbei ArnoldSchonberg, 3 vols. (Copenhagen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1972). In a series of analyses of Schoenberg's opp. 23, 24, and 25, George Perle described their transitional serial and twelve-tone techniques: Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introductionto the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962). The sketches for opp. 23 and 25 were published in the with a detailed commentary by Reinhold Brinkmann: Schoenberg Gesamtausgabe, Kritischer Bericht,Werke Sdmtliche Werke, fir Klavierzu zwei Handen.ArnoldSchoenberg, Reihe B, Band 4 (Mainz: Schott; and Vienna: Universal Edition, i975). The Schoenberg Institute during the I980s fostered significant discoveries of fact and chronology: see Ethan Haimo, "Redating Schoenberg's Passacaglia for Orchestra," this JOURNAL 40 (1987): 471-94; idem, "Schoenberg's Unknown Twelve-Tone Institute 11 (1988): 52-69; Martha Hyde, Fragments,"Journal of theArnoldSchoenberg Twelve-Tone Schoenberg's Harmony:TheSuite Op. 29 and the Compositional Sketches (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982); Harald Krebs, "Schoenberg's 'Liebeslied': An Institute 11 (1988): Early Example of Serial Writing,"Journal of the ArnoldSchoenberg SerialOdyssey: TheEvolutionof His Twelve-Tone 23-37; and Haimo, Schoenberg's Method, 1914-1928 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, i99o). and theNew Music, trans. Derrick Puffett and Alfred 4 Carl Dahlhaus, Schoenberg Clayton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 90. s Ibid.
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MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN
Three Traditional Rhymes, op. 17 (1924-25), and Three Songs, op. i8 (1925); both have resisted analysis and performance. They are fiercely difficult to play, even by the virtuosic standard set by other works of Webern, Schoenberg, and Berg. As short as Webern's prewar instrumental miniatures but much denser in texture, these pieces are hard to follow; surely Webern's early twelve-tone and transitional songs are his least accessible works. Moreover, his decision to adopt the twelve-tone technique did not spring from an artistic crisis, as Schoenberg's did. Webern's crisis had come earlier, before the First World War, when his works had miniaturized practically to the vanishing point. Webern then turned to composing songs in order to be able to write longer pieces. He achieved this goal by producing the song sets opp. 12, I 3, and 14 (composed between 1915 and 1921), in which he cultivated an atonal technique based on longer lines and contrapuntal textures, and drew upon an ever-increasing mastery of motivic connections.6 Schoenberg's twelve-tone discoveries interrupted Webern's compositional fluency. Absorbing the new ideas, which Webern learned about in the summer of 1922 or earlier, required a major rethinking of his compositional habits and seriously disrupted what had been a reasonably steady flow of work. Webern's first row sketches in the summer of i922, a setting of the text "Mein Weg geht jetzt voriiber" (later op. 15, no. 4), were not successful; he ultimately finished the piece in a free atonal style. After this attempt his compositional output ground practically to a halt. Over the next two years he produced only the minute, non-dodecaphonic Five Canons, op. i6. In the fall of 1924, he finally resumed sketching with twelve-tone rows, completing the Kinderstiick (posthumous) and the song op. 17, no. i, each of which is based on a single twelve-tone row. Only after completing the second of the Three Songs, op. i8, in October 1925, did Webern admit feeling comfortable with the technique: "Twelve-tone composition is now completely clear to me," he wrote, yet the results were quite unlike Schoenberg's.7
For an account of Webern's Trakl settings (op. 14 and others), see my on Poemsof Georg and theLyricImpulse: Songsand Fragments forthcoming book, Webern Trakl (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, i994). 7 "Die Zw61lftonkompositionist mir jetzt eine bereits vollkommen klare Sache" (letter to Berg, in OpusAnton Webern,ed. Dieter Rexroth [Berlin: Quadriga, 1983], 91). Evidence about the transition to the twelve-tone method is to be gleaned from sketches and early drafts. A line between what might be called precompositional working and the finished piece is sometimes difficult to draw during this period, since Webern often considered pieces to be essentially finished well before the fair copy
6
TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION WEBERN'S
279
Webern has been viewed as having had a particular affinity for twelve-tone composition; some have even granted him a fluency and understanding of the method greater than Schoenberg's. In an early essay, Gyorgy Ligeti sounded a theme that has not been substantially altered since 1961: "Webern's works composed before op. 17 already exhibit a construction that is closely related to row composition, so that the later use of twelve-tone rows appears not as a change of style, but rather as a completely logical and organic evolution of earlier compositional thinking."8 Ligeti and others assumed unquestioningly that the twelve-tone method represented the goal and ultimate attainment of the Second Viennese School, which served in turn as a stepping-stone to postwar serialism (this point of view couched in the correspondingly organicist language).9Even a quite recent book refers similarly to the linear nature of Webern's progress in his opp. 17, 18, and 19: Kathryn Bailey writes, "We see each step [of the twelve-tone method] ... addressed individually and then assimilated in the course of these eight pieces."'1 The model I propose would significantly modify the prevailing view that Webern absorbed twelve-tone technique gradually, seamlessly, and effortlessly. Rather than being a process of gentle assimilation, Webern's discovery of his own idiolect of twelve-tone writing took a relatively long time and proceeded in fits and starts. The desire to turn the evidence into a goal-directed sequence of events has obscured the zigzag quality of the actual journey. A central paradox of Webern as twelve-tone composer is that the Schoenberg disciple long
stage. For a summary of the problem, see Felix Meyer and Anne Shreffler, "Webern's Revisions: Some Analytical Implications," MusicAnalysis 12 (1993): 355-80. 8 "Bereits die Werke Weberns, die vor den genannten Liedern op. 17 enstanden, weisen eine Konstruktion auf, die der Reihenkomposition sehr verwandt ist, so daB die spitere Benutzung von Zw6lftonreihen dann nicht als Stilwandel erscheint, vielmehr als eine ganz logische und organische Weiterentwicklung der friiheren kompositorischen Denkweise" (Gy6rgi Ligeti, "Die Komposition mit Reihen und ihre Konsequenzen bei Anton Webern, Osterreihische Musikzeitschrift 16 [196I]: 297-302, here 297. Wildgans, Webern's first biographer, echoed this: "The observer may rightly assume that Webern'sdevelopmentas a composerwas along an organic, logical, and clear path. Intuitively, he seemed to have sensed the development, possibilities and laws of composition with twelve notes. Thus no new components appeared[as a result of the twelve-tone method]" (Anton Webern,91). See also William W. Austin, Music in the Twentieth (New York: Norton, 1966), 351. Century 9 See Ligeti, "Die Komposition mit Reihen," 299: "Die serielle Musik ist eine Konsequenz der Webernschen Kompositionsweise, wie die Zw6lftonmusik eine solche der freien Atonalitat." So Bailey, The Twelve-Note Music, 33.
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SOCIETY MUSICOLOGICAL JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN
considered to be the most "advanced"practitioner of the method was the one who initially resisted it the most. Art historian James Ackerman points out the dangers of tracing a path: What is called evolution in the arts should not be described as a succession of steps toward a solution to a given problem, but as a successionof steps away from one or more originalstatementsof a problem.Eachstep, for the artistwho takesit, is a probethat reachesto to he cannotconsciouslymakea transition the limits of his imagination; as preferable a succeedingstep, for if he visualizessomethinghe regards will proceedto do it, unless he is to what he is doing, he presumably in some way. So we cannotspeakproperlyof a sequenceof constrained solutionsto a given problem,since with each solutionthe natureof the problemchanges." In this spirit, rather than examining Webern's confrontation with the twelve-tone method as "a succession of steps" toward a mature technique, I shall view his work from the perspective of his earlier practice: the vocal expression of poetic texts. His earliest rows grew out of concrete melodic gestures, a conception that remained potent for a long time. Later he approached the notion of an abstract row as he sought to realize the essence of the religious and folk poems that attracted him. I shall suggest that instead of assimilating Schoenberg's method bit by bit, Webern began with an idea that was quite radical: that the mere presence of a twelve-tone row could provide a subconscious unity for the whole piece. Musical gestures could then be freed from their previous role of ensuring surface comprehensibility. In the songs of opp. 17 and 8 and the choruses op. 19, Webern attained extremes the complexity that he would never again reach, yet paradoxically twelve-tone technique in these works is quite "rudimentary"in terms of the number of row forms and transpositions used. After the String Trio, op. 20, he began to retreat from this extremist position by finding ways to organize the surface again; to this end, he employed canon and traditional forms such as sonata and theme and variations. Seen in this light, Webern's earliest twelve-tone works and sketches do not seem to be inadequate foreshadowings of a later sophistication; instead they are the radical culmination of a previous complex atonal practice.
" James Ackerman, Distance Points: Essays in Theory and Renaissance Art and Architecture (Cambridge, Mass., and London: MIT Press, 1991), Io.
28 I
I Ich habein meinemSkizzenbuch die chromatische Skalaaufgeschrieben und in ihr einzelneT6ne abgestrichen. -Webern Webern's assimilation of the twelve-tone technique was complicated by the conflict between two desires: to win Schoenberg's approval and yet to remain independent. That Schoenberg was the most important person in Webern's life for over twenty-five years there can be no doubt. Because of the strong emotional ties, at issue for Webern was not whether, but how, to adopt the method. It is therefore crucial to establish how much Schoenberg told Webern about his ongoing discoveries, and what effect these revelations had on Webern's compositions. The answers to these questions are by no means always clear, in part because of Schoenberg's later sensitivity to the issue of priority. When Schoenberg was living in California, he collected his personal notes into "a series of 'memorials' " about some of his contemporaries." Many of Schoenberg's comments defend his status as inventor of the twelve-tone method against Josef Matthias Hauer, Fritz Klein, and Webern. Webern, due to his intimacy with Schoenberg, was seen to be especially threatening: [Webern] alwaystries to surpasseverything(exaggerates). 1914(5) [sic]I start a symphony, wrote aboutit to Webern-mention: singingwithout words(Jacob's Ladder)-mention:Scherzo theme including all twelve tones. After 1915:Webernseems to have used twelve tones in some of his compositions-withouttellingme ... Weberncommittedat this period(I9o8-1918)many acts of infidelity with the intentionof makinghimselfthe innovator.13 Schoenberg may have been annoyed by Webern's claims, in a lecture of I932 (later published as The Path to the New Music), that he had employed a nascent twelve-tone procedure as early as 1911, during for string quartet, op. 9: composition of his Bagatelles
" His Life, Worldand Work,trans. Humphrey H. H. Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg: Searle (New York: Schirmer, 1978), 442. '3 Cited in Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg, 442-43. Although not precisely dated, the notes (written in English) must have been jotted down between 1933, when Schoenberg emigrated to the United States, and i94o, the date of a postscript.
2 82
Here I had the feeling, "Whenall twelve notes have gone by, the piece that all this was a partof the necessary is over."Much laterI discovered I wrote out the chromaticscale and development.In my sketch-book crossedoff the individualnotes.'4 Whereas this statement has been interpreted as suggesting that Webern anticipated Schoenberg's discovery, it reads much more like rationalization after the fact.'s In describing the chromatic circulation that one finds in all of his atonal music, Webern emphasized the notion of twelve that was now so important. He even admits that he only later came to realize the significance of these passages. Furthermore, although this comment has been often quoted, no one has been able to produce the relevant sketch from the Bagatelleks (for which few sketches survive). admittedly Given the prominence of chromatic fields in Webern's atonal music, it is odd that sketches with notes crossed off as he described are almost nonexistent. Yet there may be some basis for Webern's recollection. I am aware of only one such sketch, not for the Bagatelles, but for a fragmentary setting of "Kunfttag III" (Stefan George) made in April 1914.' The last sketch page shows a list of twelve notes in the margin; nine are crossed off and three remain. The list, arranged chromatically from A to GO, seems to have assisted Webern in constructing the twelve-note sonority that closes the piece. The instruments play a nine-pitch chord, while the voice fills in the remaining three-B (B6), Cis (C#), and D--which correspond to the three pitches not crossed off (see Fig. i and Ex. i). Webern'sself-consciouseffortto include all twelve tones in "Kunfttag III" could well have been inspired by conversationswith Schoenberg, who, as Ethan Haimo has shown, did experiment with controlling the total chromaticbetween 1914 and 1918, and he laterclaimedto have told
'4 "Ich habe dabei das Gefiihl gehabt: Wenn die zw6lf T6ne abgelaufen sind, ist bin ich daraufgekommen, daB das alles im Zuge der das Stiick zu Ende. Viel spAiter notwendigen Entwicklung war. Ich habe in meinem Skizzenbuch die chromatische Skala aufgeschrieben und in ihr einzelne T6ne abgestrichen"(Webern, ThePath to the New Music,ed. Willi Reich, trans. Leo Black [London and Vienna: Universal Edition, 1975], 51; German original: Der Weg zur neuen Musik, ed. Willi Reich [Vienna: Universal Edition, i96o], 55). Hereafter, page references to the German version will be designated "Ger." '5sThe Moldenhauers write, "[Schoenberg's] music had foreshadowed the principles of that system from 1914 on, but Webern's string quartet pieces were probing in the same direction even earlier" (Antonvon Webern,I94). '6 The draft is dated 2 April 1914 (PSS, film ro3:oo49-005oo ). This song, on a poem by Stefan George, was reconstructed by Peter Westergaard and published by Carl Fischer in 1968.
2 83
If
:wo"Nop"
'RWiA M 4
III" (StefanGeorge),third sketchpage. Paul Sacher Figure i. Webern,"Kunfttag Foundation,Basel. Example1

"Kunfttag III," mm. 23-24. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
hei lig Herz
Webern about it.'7 Twelve-note chords in particularwere something of an obsession of Schoenberg and Berg during the early atonal period. of 1911. Schoenberghad discussed one such sonorityin his Harmonielebre
Serial draftfor a scherzousingall 7 Haimo,Schoenberg's 42. Schoenberg's Odyssey, twelvetones, dated27 May 1914, postdates Webern's draftby abouta month."Ihad
284
Lieder, Berg respondedwith the third of his Altenberg "Uber die Grenzen des All," whose pitch organizationis ruled by a single twelve-note chord. Rather than an adumbrationof twelve-tone technique, Webern's crossing off the notes to construct a twelve-note sonority in "KunfttagIII" represents yet another example of early experimentationwith the total chromatic. It is even possible that the entire sourceof Webern'sanecdote about the Bagatelleslies here, shifted in his memory from a neverpublished vocal fragment onto one of his most successful and widely known compositions. Years later, Schoenberg reached a critical point in his development of the method with the procedure he called "composing with tones." (The chronology discussed below is summarized in Table i.) The Priludium (op. 25, no. i), completed in July 1921, is usually acknowledged as his first twelve-tone serial piece, although he only later characterized the material of the piece as a "row."'8 Almost two years later, in February 1923, he went public, holding a meeting at which he explained his new method.'9 Though a few of Schoenberg's remarks on this occasion have been recorded, later accounts dwell mostly on emotional impressions of being present at what was clearly perceived as an event of great historic importance. Although Schoenberg later claimed to have been "silent for nearly two years" (between the composition of the Praludium in 192 I and the 1923 meeting), he did apparently confide to one or more friends during this time.20 Both Erwin Stein and Josef Rufer recalled being
sketched many themes, among them one for a scherzo which consisted of all the twelve tones," Schoenberg recalled. "An historian will probably some day find in the exchange of letters between Webern and me how enthusiastic we were about this" Writingsof Arnold ("Composition with Twelve Tones [2]," in Style and Idea: Selected Los and Black Leo trans. Leonard ed. Stein, Angeles: Univer[Berkeley Schoenberg, sity of California Press, 1984], 247)'8 The set is more accurately described as a composite of three tetrachords than as a row; in fact it is never presented linearly. See Brinkmann, Kritiscber Bericht,71, 86. Serial Odyssey, 76-77; and Haimo, Schoenberg's Portrait(New andHis Circle:A Viennese '9 See Joan Smith's oral history Schoenberg York: Schirmer; and London: Collier Macmillan, 1986), 197. The basic technical information presented at the meeting was evidently the source for Erwin Stein's article "Neue Formprinzipien," which appeared in the Schoenberg fiftieth birthday issue of Musikbliitter desAnbruch(September 1924)20 "At the very beginning, when I used for the first time rows of twelve tones in the fall of 1921, I foresaw the confusion which would arise in case I were to make And publicly known this method. Consequently I was silent for nearly two years. when I gathered about twenty of my pupils together to explain to them the new method in 1923, I did it because I was afraidto be taken as an imitator of Hauer, who, at this time, published his VomMelos zur Pauke"(Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 213). desMusikalischen (published in Schoenberg must have meant either Hauer's VomWesen
WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION TABLE I
285
Chronology
Webern
July 1920 Aug. 1920 July 1921 Aug. 1921 Sept. 1921 Oct. 192i spring] i922 Apr.-June 1922 July 1922 Oct. 1922 Feb. I923 Mar.
1923
Schoenberg
Five Pieces, op. 23, nos. I, 2; no. 4 begun Serenade, op. 24, nos. i, 3, 5 begun Suite, op. 25, (no. i); (no. 4) begun Serenade, op. 24, no. I completed Serenade, op. 24, no. 2 begun (Berg: Wozzeck completed) Bach orchestrations Serenade , op. 24, (no. 4) begun Five Pieces, op. 23, nos. 3, (5); no. 4 completed Suite, op. 25, (no. 2); (no. 4) completed Serenade, op. 24, no. 6; nos. 2, 3, (4) completed Suite, op. 25, (nos. 3, 5, 6) Serenade, op. 24, no. 7; no. 5 completed (Wind Quintet, op. 26, no. )qbegun (Wind Quintet, op. 26, no. i) completed (Wind Quintet, op. 26, no. 2)
Six Songs, op. 14, no. I Five Sacred Songs, op. 15, no. I Five Sacred Songs, op. 15, no. 3
Five Sacred Songs, op. 15, nos. 2, 4*
Apr. 1923
May 1923
UUly] 1923 Aug. 1923 [spring] 1924
July 1924 Aug. i924 29 Oct. 1924 I2 Nov. 1924 [autumn] 1924 Autumn 1924 io Dec. 1924 (1923-25) [spring] 1925 June 1925 July 1925 [summer] 1925 Aug. 1925
Canons, op. i6, no. 2 Canons, op. 16, nos. 3, 4 "Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit" sketches Canons, op. i6, no. 5* begun Canons, op. 16, no. 5* completed Canons, op. i6, no. I M. 266* [Kinderstiick] M. 267) (Kinderstiick, Trad. (Three Rhymes, op. 17, no. i); "Mutig trigst du die Last" sketches String Trio movt., M. 273,* with orchestral sketch* Three Songs, op. i8, no. 2, first draft* (Three Trad. Rhymes, op. 17, nos. 3, 2) M. 277*; "Dein Klavierstiick, Leib geht jetzt der Erde zu," sketches* (String Trio movt., M. 278); String Quartet movt., M. 279, M. 280 sketches*; Klavierstiick, sketches (Three Songs, op. I8, nos. I, 2) (Three Songs, op. i8, no. 3)
(Wind Quintet, op. 26, no. 4) (Wind Quintet, op. 26, no. 3) (Suite, op. 29) begun
(Berg: Chamber Concerto) (Suite, op. 29, nos. I, 2)
(Suite, op. 29, nos. 3, 4)
Sept. 1925 Oct. 1925 Nov. 1925 Dec. 1925
(op. 19, no. i) begun
(Four Pieces, op. 27, no. i) (Four Pieces, op. 27, nos. 3, 2); (Berg: mir die Augen beide)) (Schliesse (Four Pieces, op. 27, no. 4); (Three Satires, op. 28, no. I) (Three Satires, op. 28, nos. 3, 2)
Note: Asterisks denote that although row sketches were made, either they were not used in the piece or the work remained a fragment. Works within canted brackets are based on a twelve-tone row throughout.
286
entrusted with "secret" confidences between 1921 and 1923; testimony is mixed on this point." One of these recollections is famous, in which Schoenberg is reported to have said, "I have made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years."" Whether Schoenberg said this first in private or not, he evidently did say something to this effect at the meeting of February 1923. Here again accounts differ; while Max Deutsch remembered the time period of "leadership" as fifty years, Kolisch recalled mention of a "hegemony of German music for centuries."23 Whether it was Stein or Rufer (or both) to whom Schoenberg confided before the meeting, the one person he did not tell, Schoenberg later emphasized, was Webern. In 1951 (the last year of Schoenberg's life), he claimed, "I . . . immediately and exhaustively explained to him [Webern] each of my new ideas (with the exception of the method of composition with twelve tones-that I long kept secret, because, as I said to Erwin Stein, Webern immediately uses everything I do, plan or say, so that ... 'By now I haven't the slightest idea who I am.')"'4 The evidence is overwhelming that Schoenberg did indeed share his discoveries with several friends and students, including Webern, before his formal announcement in February of 1923. In a letter written to Hauer in August 1922, Schoenberg related quite a different version of events: "Where my inquiry has led me and where it stands at the present I communicated to my students in a few lectures given several months ago."25 Even though these "lectures" are not con1920)
21
or DeutungdesMelos(1923), not Vom Melos zur Pauke(1925).
See Stein, "Neue Formprinzipien," 296: "Es war an der Hand diese Stiickes
daB dem Verfasser von Sch6nberg die
ersten Mitteilungen uber die neuen Formprinzipien gemacht wurden." In some notes from around 1940, Schoenberg claimed to have told Stein about the new method in Stuckenschmidt reports that Rufer was the 1921 (Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg, 442). one in whom Schoenberg confided (Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg, 277)22 Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg, 277.
23
[op. 23, no. 3, composed in February 1923]...
Smith,
echoes further at the end of Berg's essay "Warum ist Sch6nbergs Musik so schwer verstandlich?" from 1924: "So daB man schon heute, an Sch6nbergs fiinfzigstem Geburtstage, ohne ein Prophet zu sein, sagen kann, daB durch das Werk, das er der Welt bisher geschenkt hat, die Vorherrschaft nicht nur seiner pers6nlichen Kunst gesichert erscheint, sondern, was noch mehr ist: die der deutschen Musik fir die undWerk[Zurich: nichsten fiinfzig Jahre"(reprinted in Willi Reich, AlbanBerg:Leben
Atlantis Verlag, 1963], 193)24 Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 484.
25 "Woher mein Weg war und wo ich gegenwirtig halte, habe ich vor mehreren Monaten in einigen Vortragen meinen Schiilern mitgeteilt" (letter to Josef Hauer, 25 August 1922 [not sent], Archives of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, transcribed by
Schoenberg and His Circle, 202, 205. Schoenberg's
famous statement
287
firmed in the published reminiscences, some communication almost certainly did take place (even if Schoenberg perhaps exaggerated in calling informal conversations "lectures").The talks might have taken place as early as 1921, when Webern visited Schoenberg at Traunkirchen for several days in August.26 Webern and Schoenberg also spent the summer there together in 1922. Why Schoenberg later denied telling Webern about the new method makes sense in light of the reception of the twelve-tone technique and Schoenberg's subsequent attempts at myth building. From the moment the method was announced-which happened earlier than planned, Schoenberg acknowledged, because Josef Hauer's own version of twelve-tone composition was beginning to become known-Schoenberg was to fight two battles for the rest of his life: first, the issue of priority, and second, his reputation as a "constructor." Schoenberg's battle for acknowledgment of his priority in discovering the twelve-tone method was fought first with the living Hauer and later with the dead Webern. Schoenberg fought against his reputation as a "cerebral"composer by continually urging his friends and disciples not to emphasize the technical aspects of twelve-tone composition when discussing his work." His lecture "Composition with Twelve Tones," first written in 1933, was designed primarily to combat the impression that he was a constructivist composer, by explaining the method's origin as a result of bothinevitable historical forces and artistic inspiration. When twelve-tone composition is viewed this way, the body of atonal music composed prior to the discovery of the technique would seem as though in anticipation of it. As Webern put it, "At that time we were not conscious of the law, but had been sensing it for a long time."8 Schoenberg's concern with establishing the twelve-tone method as his exclusive intellectual property-which also led him to require Thomas Mann to add a statement to that effect in his book Doktor Faustus--caused him to mistrust the motives of his most loyal student
Anita M. Luginbihl). Cited by Bryan R. Simms, "Who First Composed TwelveTone Music, Schoenberg or Hauer?"Journal Institute (1987): of theArnoldSchoenberg i0o
122.
26 Webern later thanked Schoenberg for his hospitality and ventured, "und liebster Freund, bitte, teile mir etwas mit iber deine Arbeit!" (unpublished letter in the Library of Congress, Moldenhauer collection, dated 31 August 1921). See, for example, his letter to Rudolf Kolisch, in Arnold Schoenberg 27 Letters, selected and edited by Erwin Stein, translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser (London: Faber and Faber, 1964), 164-65. 28 "Das Gesetz war uns damals noch nicht bewusst, aber es war lingst gefiihlt" (Webern, Path, 51 [Ger. 551).
288
(for Webern always, at least in public, effusively acknowledged Schoenberg's priority).29 This sensitivity about priority led Schoenberg to rewrite history, portraying the origins of the method--even to himself, for I am not suggesting that he consciously misrepresented the truth-as the work of a solitary genius. EarliestTwelve-Tone Webern's Sketch,Op. 15, No. 4 (1922) Webern first attempted to compose with a row in the summer of 1922. But the twelve-tone sketches he made on the chorale text "Mein Weg geht jetzt voriiber" were soon abandoned. He completed the piece as op. 15, no. 4, retaining elements from the original row, but reverting to the familiar atonal style of earlier works. The sketches manipulate a row in transposition, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion. The permutations are nonetheless remarkableat this early date, for Webern's twelve-tone efforts two and even three years later commonly employ only one form of the row. These sketches show moreover how Webern first tried the new method by simply extending his previous practice of vocal writing. The attempt foundered on his inability to reconcile an inflexibly ordered series with the freely developing vocal line that normally served as Hauptstimme. By 1922, when Webern began to sketch the song, he had already selected three songs from what later became op. 15 (nos. i, 3, and 5) to form a complete set, which he called "Drei geistliche Lieder op. 16" [sic]."Mein Weg" (and its companion drafted four days earlier: "Steht auf, ihr lieben Kinderlein," later op. 15, no. 2) did not at first belong to the set of "geistliche Lieder," but rather to a projected sacred cantata (this aspect will be discussed more thoroughly later).3o The first of four sketch pages for "Mein Weg" preserves Webern's initial attempts to sketch the vocal line, together with his formulation of the twelve-tone row and its transformations.3' Then follow two pages on which Webern attempted to develop the twelve-tone idea further; both break off after a short instrumental introduction and the
See Webern, Path, 32 (Ger. 34)- Schoenberg's reaction should also be interconpreted in light of the fact that he was in America at the time and had no direct tact with Webern. Schoenberg was also highly suspicious of Webern's political sympathies. TheStringQuartets,a 30 Letter from Webern to Berg, in Schoenberg, Berg, Webern: Hartzell (Hamburg: trans. v. Ursula ed. Eugene Rauchhaupt, Study, Documentary Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, 197i), 12 I. 3' PSS, film ioi:o647, 0649, o658, 0659. The manuscript sources for all the works under discussion are listed below in the Appendix.
29
289
first line of text. Shortly after these experiments, Webern gave up composing with the row and sketched a continuity draft of the whole piece dated 26 July 1922, only four days or so after sketching had begun.3' The ending is incompletely notated and reached its final form only in the second fair copy. A facsimile of the first sketch page was first published by the Moldenhauers, who note that it is "highly enigmatic" that the sketch anticipates Schoenberg's formal announcement of the twelve-tone method by several months.33 This crucial sketch has not yet received the attention it deserves (see a transcription in Ex. 2). The top two systems of page I look very much like dozens of other song sketches Webern had made over the last decade. The passage consists of the vocal line alone, extending through the whole poem. Although different from the voice part of the published version, this first sketch anticipates the latest stage in both its pitches and its intervals. Both versions begin with the descending pair E9-C. The vocal high points of the sketch occur on the words "Himmel" and "Gottes," as in the final version, though the sketch's tessitura is higher, reaching even to b"and cl"'. Though certain intervals are used consistently in the sketch, there is no systematic ordering of pitches; the first phrase of thirteen notes repeats the pitch-class E, while the other phrases freely circulate the total chromatic with many repetitions. If Webern, having finished the vocal line, had gone on to fill in the instrumental parts, this sketch would be like many other sketches
32 I estimate four days because Webern sketched the piece on the verso of a draft of op. 15, no. 2, dated 22 July 1922. At the end of the op. I5, no. 2, draft, Webern made some changes dated 3 January 1924. I carefully considered, then rejected, the possibility that the rows for op. 15, no. 4, were sketched in 1924, after the piece was completed. The row sketches must have preceded the completion of the atonal version of the piece for the following reasons:(i) a complete row and allusions to other forms of the row are present in the final version of the piece, (2) all the handwriting on the sketch page containing the first melodic idea and the rows is similar (this and their musical connections strongly suggest that the rows immediately followed the first, nonserial idea), and (3) the first complete draft has more in common with the row sketches than do later drafts. 33 I have not reproduced this page because it is now available in facsimile in two sources: in black and white, in Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern, 311 (with discussion on p. 3 o); and in color, in Hans Oesch, "Webern und das I: Gustav Mabler-Igor Strawinsky--Anton SATOR-Palindrom," in Quellenstudien Webern-FrankMartin, ed. Hans Oesch (Winterthur:Amadeus, 199i), 114-15. Oesch is primarily interested in how the early sketch anticipates the later, more controlled serialism of the Concerto, op. 24. Like many other writers, he emphasizes those aspects of Webern's twelve-tone music that he saw as leading to postwar total serialism.
Example 2 "Mein Weg geht jetzt voriiber," op. 15, no. 4, sketch p. 04
?-
(encircled numbers added). Paul Sacher

lieber
Michni
Gnaden
dahin
Mein Weg gehtjetzt vo -
- er
Welt was acht' ich dein
D.F.
Example 2 (continued)
Fl6te
HIM-
Klar
"
r|
ar
IA' l
b mdKre ri sr -.. I-
, ..
4F 1R,
-F WE,
'IF,.
292
from these years. But at this point he strayed from his usual procedure and began to write the vocal line again, this time as a sequence of twelve different pitches (see Ex. 2, at 0). Even given the certain influence of Schoenberg, this was a conceptual leap. Whereas at first Webern was still sketching a vocal line, in the later sketch he was composing a row. (He made sure he used all twelve pitches by crossing off notes in the right margin, a later instance of his reported experience with the Bagatelles.)Webern's earlier compositional practice-reacting to a poem's sounds and meters-had begun to shift toward the more abstract process of fashioning material that would serve for an entire work. This first row clearly betrays its origins in the preceding vocal sketch, for the first three pitches of the row match those of the sketch. The pattern of two descending minor thirds a half step apart appears also at "da muss ich fah[ren]"in the sketch; moreover the EJ-C from the beginning recurs at the last phrase of the sketch: "fahr' ich [mit Freud dahin]." Similarly, the row's pitch pair b-b' occurs also in the sketch's first phrase. The last four notes of the row (which have only three pitches because of the repetition of A) match the sketch at "lieber/da [muss ich]." In short, the two intervals most prominent in the sketch-minor third and major seventh--have been taken over into the row both at their original pitch levels and in transposition. After fashioning the row, Webern wrote out its retrograde (Krebs) and inversion (Umkehrung)forms (see Ex. 2 at ().34 These are constructed literally, following the exact registers of the original. The inversion is particularly awkward, resulting in a high register that requires many ledger lines. Why would Webern have avoided transposing registers? Octave equivalence is for us such a fundamental assumption of twelve-tone music that Webern's attempt to write a literal inversion seems naive. Here is evidence that the row in question was not yet an abstract formulation, but a specific musical gesture. As such its special contour was conceived simultaneously with its two pitches, and Webern apparently did not want to separate the properties. The second row (Ex. 2 at 0) is significant for both its new profile and its relationship with the transposed form. Though some segments have been preserved-the groups E9-C and F$#-A-G~ and the reordered pairs Bb-B and G-C0, for example--others have been changed so that the minor third is much more prominent. The text distribution
34 Webern inverts the row about its first pitch, a procedure that became the standard "inversion form" for him as well as for Schoenberg and Berg.
293
emphasizesthis intervaleven more, since three of the six accented syllables now fall at the end of a minor third pair. Because of the meter of the poetry, the row is divided not into hexachords,but instead into two groups of seven and five pitches each: "MeinWeg geht jetzt voriiber"(seven syllables, seven pitches)/ "0 Welt, was acht' ich dein" (six syllables, five pitches). The first group of seven pitches ends with a tritone, while the last group ends with the pair in the earlierversionof the row, This patternhadbeenreversed B,-B. that Webern was beginning to think of specific pitch suggesting groupsas movableunits. He still hadthe vocalline clearlyin mind, as we can see fromthe accompanying text and the repeatednote (G#)on the words "wasacht'" (this pitch is repeatedin all of the transformations as well, even the retrogrades!). Next Webernsketchedthe transposition at the tritone, which is labeled"D.F." for "DominantForm"(Ex. 2 at 0) (this terminology was commonpracticeat this time, as I shallexplainbelow).35 He then used this form in the instrumental sketch below (Ex. 2 at D). He scoredthese stavesfor flute, clarinet,and viola, with a blankline for the voice (the final version is for flute and clarinetonly). The viola of the row, the first six begins alone with the tritone transposition stated in their pitches originalregister; perhapsthe rangeof this row the choice of instrument. Then the sketch breaksoff, and suggested one can easily imagine why. When the register of each pitch is preserved,the contourof an answeringD.F.--or even an occurrence of the originalform--would be too similarto the openingidea. Webernthen wroteout all threetransformations of his row and its a as of new material. The order transposition, perhaps way generating is not systematic;first he sketchedthe retrogrades of both the D.F. and the original,then the inversionof the originaland its retrograde. Then he wrote out the remaining two possibilities,the inversionand inversionof the D.F. retrograde At some point, Webernsoughtto explorethe harmonic properties of the two row forms, arranging them to createverticalsonoritiesof trichords.At the top of the next page, he dividedup the overlapping the D.F. amongthe threeinstruments (see Ex. 3). He then transposed whole patterndown a half step. The chordaldispositionof the D.F. alonereducesthe similaritybetweenthis row formand the upcoming vocal line, which uses the originalform of the row; furthermore, by the D.F., Weberndivergedfrom the row formssketched transposing
35 The row is hexachord combinatorial at T6, a property that Webern does not exploit and of which he may not have even been aware.
294
this idea;instead, the on the previous page.Yet he did not continue trebleinstrument (eitherflute or clarinet) presents accompanying of theoriginal so as notto double trichords isolated row,outof order breaks offwhereall statement of thesamerow.The sketch thevoice's the veryfirstnon-dodecaphonic draftof the the othershave(except wholevocalline),at the endof the firstlineof text.
On the next page, we can see all of Webern's careful preparations coming to pieces (see Ex. 4). He simply could not make the row do what he wanted, either horizontallyor vertically. First he tried to continue the chordalapproachfrom the previouspage, using the notes of the row only in the upper voice (D.F.: A F# Ab). The chords underneath are not derived from the row, and there are many pitch repetitions. Then came the row. Both attemptsto write a new the ultimatecrisis:Webern changed vocal line are incomplete;surprisingly,these fragmentshark back to the very first version of the row (Ex. 2, fourth staff). Then Webern tried a more traditionalcontrapuntalapproach;the sketch indicates schematically that certain lines are to be heard in rhythmic diminution or augmentation ("Umk[ehrung] verkl[einert]," "Umk[ehrung] vergr[6ssert]").The "row"has only seven pitches here, and it is unclearwhether Webern intended to introduce the rest. That Webern could even attempt relatively sophisticatedrow techniques in the summer of 1922 is explicable only through contact with Schoenberg, which has now been established. In particular,the sketch for "MeinWeg" resembles-in its row structure,choice of transposition, and harmonic disposition-Schoenberg's sketches for the Prfiludium (later op. 25, no. i), which he had completed the previous summer. Schoenberg, like Webern, does not present a "row"as an abstract entity here, but instead forms his materialfrom the process of composing with motives. In one sketch page, Schoenberg lined up the three tetrachordson top of one another, exactly as Webern did on the first sketch page for "MeinWeg"(see Ex. 5). Webern'srow is also very similar to Schoenberg's.First, the last tetrachordof both consists of a chromatic group. In addition, the pitch pairs E-F and (more significantly)G-C# level: appearin both rows. Both composerschose a single transpositional at the tritone. This choice resultsin the pairG-CQas an invarianttritone, a property Schoenbergused to advantagein the Priiludium(see Ex. 6).36 Webern also follows Schoenberg's labeling for the most part, although not exactly. They both call the transposition at the tritone
36 In his lecture "Composition with Twelve Tones (i)," Schoenberg pointed out that the transposition at the tritone is desirable here because it avoids doubling the pitches of the original row (Styleand Idea, 233).
Example 3 "Mein Weg geht jetzt voriiber," op. 15, no. 4, sketches p. 2 (order numbers added). Paul Sacher
[U.F.] 1
A9-
5 6
Mein Fl6te ____________ 9 Klar.__ __I I 2 3 10 11 _ 4 -__
Weg geht jetzt
vor-
_____12
[U.F.] ..pp _ .p _ _-If_

_
, 6l
1 2 3
6 7 8
Br.__
5 6 7 8 >
.... i ?
296
OFTHEAMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL
Example 4 "Mein Weg geht jetzt voruber," op. 15, no. 4, sketches p. 3. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
Mein
I L" ' ' "A
Mein Weggehtjetzt
'
vortiber
, - --D"
[Br. I-
W I
Umk. verkl.
Ges
Umk. vergr.
Fl6te
Verkl. ges.
Klar.
40 F ,,
the D, or Dominante,form. This unusual designation was common practice among the Second Viennese School in the early years of twelve-tone composition. In sketches for the LyricSuite, Berg not only indicates the tritone transposition as the "Dominante Form," but also the transposition at the third as "Mediante unten, Mediante oben," and so forth.37 The terminology of tonal music is invoked during the
and Rudolf Stephan, eds., 37 See sketch page reproduced in Franz Grasberger Alban Berg Studien, vol. I, Katalogder Musikbandscbriften, Scbriften,und StudienAlban Quellen im Besitz der Bergs im Fond Alban Berg und der WeiterenHandscbriftlicben Osterreichischen Nationalbibliotbek (Vienna: Universal Edition, 1981), Abb. I8a, Kat. Nr. 208. I am very grateful to Felix Meyer for bringing this to my attention.
297
Example5 Kritischer Werke, Schoenberg,Priludium, op. 25, no. i, sketch. From Samtliche of BelmontMusicPublishers,PacificPalisades, Bericht,p. 77. Used by permission
CA 90272.
Ti
iL v-
r-T
-K
KU
_Dm k ADeKr
I/
Example6
Schoenberg, PrAludium, op. 25, no. I, mm. 1-3. Used by permission of Belmont Music Publishers, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. Rasch (. = 80)
P-0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P-6
2.
5 6
9 9f! 10
11 12
298
grappling with a new technique, which had as yet no rules and no vocabulary. Webern's labeling of rows differs somewhat from Schoenberg's. In place of Schoenberg's T (presumably "Tonika") for the original row form, Webern invented his own term, abbreviated as "U" (for "Ur-form"or "Urspriingliche Form"). (Webern then had to write "Umk" for the inversion forms.) The failure of Webern's attempted imitation also sheds light on his curious reaction to Schoenberg's explanations at the 1923 meeting, as reported by Felix Greissle: and I thinkwe came prettyclose to what he We all tried to understand meantexcepttherewas one personwho resisted-who resistedmoreby beingsilentandnot sayinganything,andthatwas AntonWebern.He was the one who resistedmost. At one point, when Schoenberg said, "There so Webern it intothe tritone," andtransposed I usedthe row transposition lookedat himandsaid,"Idon'tknow,"andthen said,"Why?" Schoenberg Webern burst out, "Ah, ah!," becauseWebernwas waiting for some intuitivesign in the whole matterand this was it, you see.38 While Greissle interprets Webern's exclamation as an expression of relief in discovering an "intuitive" aspect of the twelve-tone method, other explanations are more likely given Webern's earlier furtive experiments. Perhaps he felt guilty about sneaking a look at Schoenberg's sketches, or perhaps he was already convinced that the method could never work; in any case, Webern's discomfort clearly came across. At the same meeting, Webern reportedly "confessed that he had written also something in 12 tones . . . and he said: 'I never knew, what to do after the 12 tones.' "39(This statement, always interpreted without reference to the early sketch, has until now seemed obscure.) He was perhaps reluctant to tell Schoenberg anything more for fear of arousing the other's jealousy, as suggested in a letter Webern wrote to him in the summer of 1923: "My work is, I believe, now under way. At first I experimented a good deal, discarding what I had begun. For this reason I have not given you details."40 Schoenberg was indeed jealous, as his later recollections show. Evidently when Webern found out about the twelve-tone method, he did try to imitate Schoenberg, thus confirming the latter's worst fears. And Schoenberg's influence,
and His Circle, 198. Smith's interviews were conducted in Smith, Schoenberg xi). (see p. English 39 Ibid., 199. Antonvon Webern,272. and Moldenhauer, 4o Moldenhauer
38
299
whetherobtainedthrough"lectures," informal discussions,or surreptitious glancesat Schoenberg's on every page of sketches,is apparent the sketchesfor op. 15, no. 4.4' What went wrong with Webern'sattemptto "followthe path to the other side"?The problemwas not the potentialof the material. On the contrary, the ingredientsfor a successful compositionare row with combinatorial present.Weberncreatedan interesting propwhile for erties, exploringstrategies workingout both the horizontal and the vertical implicationsof the row. The resulting eight row forms (fourformsof To and T6) provideplenty of material; he used in this several later works. The just configuration problemlay instead in a conflictbetweenold andnew technique: moreprecisely,between compositionbasedon specificgesturesand motives, and composition based on a globallyfunctioningorderedseries. He preservedthe row only in the first four measuresof the vocal line, where it appearswith the same pitches and contouras it did in the secondpage of row sketches.The instrumental partsdo not seem to be derivedfromthe row or any of its relatedsketches.Some pitch groupingscan with difficultybe relatedto the D.F., but the ordering is not preserved. The instrumentalparts repeat pitches before all twelve have been stated, as do all subsequentphrasesin the voice. Instead of organizing the piece around a fixed succession of pitches, Webernadoptedfragments-often pitch pairs-from his row of pitchesthan a serial sketches,allowingmore flexiblemanipulation would He drew not on the row'sfinalform, but ordering permit. only also on the earlierversionof the row and even its non-dodecaphonic while the first predecessor.Successivedraftsreveala curiouspattern; draft refers to the row sketches, later layers of revisionsreturn in many cases to the earliest,pre-rowsketches.42 The resultis a freelychromatic contextnot boundby the demands of pitch order. Rather,certainpitch classesanchorcrucialpoints in the piece. The most prominentof these are the last two notes in the firstvocalphrase,B6 and B (thesearealso pairedin both the "U"and the "D" forms of the row, as well as in the earliest sketch). This
Given the discrepancies between these and Schoenberg's first twelve-tone 4' sketches, it is possible that he did not get a very close look. It is also possible that Webern got his information thirdhand, perhaps from Stein or Rufer. (By not mentioning Schoenberg at all, Oesch, in "Webern und das SATOR-Palindrom," implies that the sketches confirm Webern's precocity in composing with twelve-tone method. This case now seems strongly undermined.) 42 This is most apparent in the Library of Congress manuscript (source B in the Appendix).
300
pitch-class pair marks the beginning of the second half of the piece, at "Mich nicht zu sehr beladen" (m. 9). The same pitch classes, up an octave, produce the vocal climax, appropriately enough on the words "in Gottes [Fried]" (m. i i). The opening measure foreshadows this climax with a B-Bb leap in the exact register in which it later appears (flute, m. i). An inversion of the B-B6 pair, Bb and A, first pushes the voice up into its high register, on the word "Himmel" (m. 5); this is anticipated by the clarinet's leap on the same pitches in the previous measure (this is conspicuously one of only two leaps of this size in the clarinet part; the other, also from A, occurs in m. 2). The piece ends and A, around C# this time-which now, with the same note pair-B, a new low defines however, register, just as it had articulated the high point before. The pitch connection of the Bk-A pair in both measure 5 and measure 13 implies a text connection as well, between "Himmel" (heaven) and "Freud' dahin" (I go there [to heaven] joyfully). (The last vocal gesture also echoes the climax at measure i i, which features a descending leap from Bbover another pitch to the A a minor ninth lower.) The major seventh (or minor ninth) is of course one of the most commonly encountered intervals in Webern's music. But the motivic references in this tiny piece come from the recurrence of certain pitch classes,which results in an interconnected network of relationships spanning the work. In "Mein Weg," composition of a specific gesture--designed for a specific text-led to the formulation of a row that preserved both its shape and its textual associations. Because of these associations, Webern treated the row very cautiously; he often preserved notes in their original registers, used only one transposition, and was reluctant to combine row forms. The harmonic use of the row proved especially problematic. Clearly the four chords formed by the superimposition of three tetrachords was not going to provide enough harmonic material for a piece, and Webern was unable to come up with other solutions. His strategy in the final version of the piece depended on the free circulation of small intervallic cells and fixed-pitch motives, which was not possible within the twelve-tone method as Webern understood it at that time. The main obstacle was the ordering of the pitches, since an unordered twelve-tone set-the total chromaticcannot be perceived as a structural element in itself. A paradoxical result of the emphasis on pitch order in twelve-tone writing is that pitch itself is de-emphasized; intervals, rhythms, and textures become the primary means of differentiation. When on the other hand a set smaller than twelve is used, it can be identified by its pitch classes
301
alone. Schoenbergsolved a similarproblemby using orderedsets of fewer than twelve notes, as he did in his op. 23. Schoenbergalso experimentedfrom the very beginningwith variouskinds of partitioning of a twelve-toneset that permit notes to be chosen "out of order."43Webern overcame this obstacle of course; in his later twelve-toneworks,he founddifferent certainpitch ways to emphasize classes and registers. His original conviction that a row was a primarilymelodic entity apparently preventedhim from going further at this stage. Webern'ssketchesfor "MeinWeg"embody a clash between two differentmodesof musicalthought:the earlierone, in fundamentally which the piece grew out of a direct responseto the poem, and the is governedby a twelve-tonerow. His later, in which the composition failureto reconcilethem here is apparent and informative.
Delaying Tactics(1922-24): Five Canonson Latin Texts
had evidently soured him on twelve-tone technique, and perhaps slowed his compositionaloutput; between August 1922 and the autumnof 1924,Webernwas able to completeonly the Five Canons, op. i6. For a full year afterfinishing"MeinWeg,"Weberncomposed nothing.Whenhe resumedin the summerof 1923, he did not eventry to sketcha twelve-tonerow. He producedinsteadthreeatonalcanons in quicksuccession.4s these a Though at this time Webernconsidered over a later he wrote two more Latin canonsfor the completeset, year same ensembleand addedthem to the three alreadycompleted. All commentators writing aboutop. i6 beforethe publicationof the Moldenhauers' biographyof Webern (and there have been no substantialaccounts since then) have had to assume that Webern
of isomorphic in Schoenberg's 43 See Haimo'sdiscussion Serenade, partitioning SerialOdyssey, op. 24, in Schoenberg's 80-83. ist so gewaltig,daBmanes sich sehrfiberlegen 44 "DerZwang,die Bindung muss, bevorman sie endgiiltigffir langeZeit eingeht-fast, als ob man sich zum Heiraten entschliesst" (Webern,Path, 54 [Ger. 58]). 4s Shortlyafterfinishingthese in August, he wrote out at least two manuscript faircopiescontaining what laterbecameop. I6, nos. 2, 3, and4; these were entitled "Lateinische Lieder" and were presumably given away as presents.
as if taking the decision to marry."44The experience of "Mein Weg"
In ThePathto theNewMusic,Webernrecalledhow difficultit had been to decide to adopt the twelve-tonemethod:"This compulsion, adherence,is so powerful that one has to consider very carefully beforefinallycommittingoneselfto it for a prolongedperiod, almost
302
wrote the canons before havinghad any direct experiencewith the twelve-tonemethod, and so they have viewed the canonictechnique Whenwe as evidenceof a naturalpropensityfor serialcomposition.46 know that Webern had experimentedwith the method's specific as early as 1922, the picturelooksratherdifferent.Instead properties of viewing the canons as a prescient anticipationof twelve-tone technique,we can now see how they helpedWebernto workthrough some of its knowndemands.On the other hand, the existenceof five brief atonalcanons, the only fruits of a two-year dry spell, hardly suggests an all-out effort to come to terms with the new method. used in Althoughin op. i6 Webernadoptedseveralof the operations twelve-tonemusic, he avoidedthe heart of the matter:the use of a twelve-tone row itself. Op. i6-and its halting progress--could therefore document Webern's struggle to compromise, to adapt its full implicadiscoverywithoutembracing aspectsof Schoenberg's twelve-tone to was not tions. If Webern serialism,in yet ready adopt these canonshe exploredother ways of controllinghis materials. Schoenbergfirst solved the problemof how to impose order on with tones of a motive," free materialsby what he called"composing twelve. Webern'sop. than orderedsets smaller that is, manipulating 16 represents an alternativesolution. With canonic technique he and verticalcontrolof pitch as well as uniformity achievedhorizontal While adapting parts of Schoenberg's contour. and of rhythm with tones"to method,Webernshiftedits emphasisfrom"composing what could be characterizedas "composingwith inversion and transposition." Webern'sop. 16 exploresserialtechniquessuch as transposition, context. within a firmlynon-dodecaphonic inversion,and invariance The canons introduce two features that had not been a part of Webern'spracticefor many years and that play an importantrole in First, the equal serialcomposition: equalpartsand orderedpitches.47 a realchangein Webern's dispositionof voices in a canonrepresented procedures,which in this periodnormallyallottedthe compositional primaryrole to the singing voice. Then, by writing canonsWebern
McKenzienotes, for example,that in op. 16, no. T,the predominant 46 Wallace and vertically,creatinga unity "whichis basic intervalsare found both horizontally of Anton Webern,", Music serial to 354)("The composition" atonalcanon"Fahr' the had written Webern hin, o Seel',"op. 15, no. In 1917 47 leichten "Entflieht canon tonal the in and auf 5, Kihnen," op. 2. Webern's 19o8 interest in strict counterpointgoes back at least to his edition of Isaac'sChoralis Choralis Isaac: in 1904:Webern,ed., Heinrich dissertation for his doctoral Constantinus in Osterreich, derTonkunst vol. 32 (1909). Constantinus II, Denkmiler
303
had a perfect opportunity to practice composing within the constraints of fixed order. By adopting a procedurethat requires an unchangingorderingof pitches and rhythms in all parts, he could subject the freely developing motives of his earlier style to more rigorouscontrol. Webernhad founderedon preciselythis aspect of twelve-tonecompositionthe previoussummer;the demandsof pitch order had not permittedrepetitionsufficientto createmotives based on certainfixedpitches.Not surprisingly, these new steps takenwith op. i6 led to a changein composinghabits;he sketched,drafted,and revisedmuch more than he had before. to exploreinversional relationWebernalsoused canonictechnique between and the of ordered sets. In doingthis ships parts transposition he discoveredhow to control the invariancethat results from the of transposed combination or inverted formsof the sameset. Three of the five canonsof op. 16 use an invertedvoice. In eachcase, the voice is literallyinverted(by exact intervaland by register)and therefore formsthe mirrorimageof the dux;the two voiceswill balancearound a pitch axis of symmetry.In "DormiJesu"(op. i6, no. 2, draftedin in a canonat inversion at the August 1923),the two voicesarearranged tritone.Becausethe firstnote of the dux (clarinet) is Bband the comes aroundg'. Such a (voice)is E, the two lines unfold symmetrically for that a in one voice wouldbe answered means, example, C# property in the and G would likewisebe answeredby anotherG. other, by C# Other notes producethe relationships shown in Example7. there are no notations Although resembling Example7b in any of for sketches made sketchesvery much Webern's op. i6, Schoenberg like this in the summerof 1921 for the Prailudium (see Ex. 8). Here he invertedeach tetrachord around the axis of the lastnoteof separately, the first tetrachord.This is shown below (extracted from Ex. 5): T: E D, Eb Ab D A Bb F G U (aroundD6): B6 A G
G, C B
Ab Cb G, C E Eb D F
DI
This kind of inversion differs from what became the standard procedurefor the SecondViennese Schoolof invertingthe row from its first note. Of course simply writing a canon at inversion would produce symmetrical whetherWebernwas thinkingin termsof relationships, serialoperations or not (andno sketchesfor "Dormi Jesu"survivethat whether he The was). might explain relationshipbetween the two canoniclines in this pieceis, however,exactlythatwhichwouldobtain
304
Example7 (a) "DormiJesu,"op. i6, no. 2, mm. 1-2, finalversion

( = ca 72) Ruhig S
1
2P
L3
==-
Dor - mi
A
p
Je
su,
pp
symmetry
around
-------
G and C
(b) inversional symmetryaroundG and

(I 0)k
C_
L
UI
imL
Webern Fiinf Canons Copyright 1928 by Universal Edition
Copyrightrenewed All RightsReserved sole U.S. and AmericanMusic Distributors Used by permissionof European Corporation, Edition. for Universal Canadian agent
Example 8 Schoenberg, Priludium sketches. From SamtlicheWerke,Kritischer Bericht, p. 75. Used by permission of Belmont Music Publishers, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.
- iA I
IgJ
between a row containingthe tritone G-C, like the one he had sketched for "Mein Weg." The pitch classes G and C# would be invariant,with the other notes paired as shown above. Example 9 shows these relationships with two of the canonic voices of "DormiJesu" lined up. Writing canons enabled Webern to work intensively with inversional pitch manipulationof such relationshipswas of courseto become relationships; an integral part of his later twelve-tone technique. Between August and the end of October 1924, Webern completed the three-voice canon "Crucem tuam" (op. I6, no. 5). The canonic texture is more complex than before: one voice imitates at transposition and the other at inversion. At some point during the composition
WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION Example 9 "Dormi Jesu," op. i6, no.

2,
305
final version. Dux and comes from mm. 5-7, lined up.
-r--3-. , 3---.
comes6-7
,3 3-.
r------
3-----
-I-
dux5-6
renewed Copyright All RightsReserved Used by permission of European AmericanMusic Distributors sole U.S. and Corporation, Canadian Edition. agentfor Universal
Copyright 1928 by Universal Edition
WebernFiinf Canons
of the piece, Webern sketched a twelve-tone row, his first in over two years. A tentative effort, the row was quickly abandoned. Though it clearly originates among the sketches for "Crucemtuam," it was never integrated into any stage of the composition and does not appear in the finished piece. Moreover Webern did not attempt to transform the row through transposition, inversion, or retrograde. This seems peculiar, given his previous experimentation with the method and his familiarity with Schoenberg's twelve-tone music, which by now included the Serenade, op. 24, the Suite, op. 25, and the Wind Quintet, op. 26. His confidence in Schoenbergian twelve-tone technique had clearly not grown in the year since he expressed his initial reservations. The row sketches for "Crucem tuam" are found on the back of a sheet belonging to draft 3.48 The row is sketched four times (see Ex. i o and Fig. 2). Webern numbered the notes of the first row i through 12, something he had failed to do in his first twelve-tone sketches. In
48 PSS, film 101o:o7oo (the page with the row sketchesis not on film). The row sketchis undated,andtherefore its placement withinthe loosesketchpagescannotbe determined exactly.Webernprobablysketchedthe row eitherbetweendraftsI and of draft2. Since only drafts2 and 3 have any materialin 3 or duringcomposition commonwith the row, it is probablethat he made the twelve-tonesketcheseither afterhe was unableto completethe seconddraft,or afteressayingthe first barsof draft 2.
Example 0o "Crucem tuam," op. 16, no. 5, row sketches. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
tLr
0 o
I -.-M
'
.,
LJ
NOW
307
..
_
ri
E,
______
'' _~-~.-~.....
r
~-, --I--?.-
__..._.
.__I
-I_
-TI-?j--?-?----------.-^--.---?-I--I, ~
--?--?------~~------------ ~-~----;L~---.--
-=-~--------------------------
--
' -?---~-.--I-_-------i---t--?--------I
I---"I'.-.--..-. --~---
~---.~-.1.--^~------- ---
--
---?---s
___~_ ----
---
~-~----------
--'-----~---=
Figure 2. Webern, op. 16, no. 5, row sketches. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
the final draft of the row, the two hexachords are written out on two staves, with the second and third trichords overlapping.49 A striking feature of these sketches is how Webern constructed the rows with fixed registers. Each of the four row drafts is notated in a specific registral disposition and, in one case, specific rhythmic values (in the last three drafts, Webern even needed bass clef to notate the second hexachord). These rows are not abstract arrangementsof pitch classes, but rather melodic gestalts that span one and a half to two octaves. While the first row fits (with difficulty) into a vocal range (f-eb"), the second and third rows span two octaves and a fourth, between B6 and eb".Although this range does not match that of any instrument used in op. 16, no. 5, its total span exactly corresponds to the range of each part in the final version: voice, g#-c "; clarinet, tuam" largely depends upon the registral placement of pitches; the energy and momentum of the individual lines comes as much from the wide spaces they traverse as from their bristly dissonance. Through-
bass clarinet,G-c". bb--d"'; The effect of the final, non-dodecaphonic version of "Crucem
49 The "final" version of the row found among the "Crucem tuam" sketches conforms in certain respects to a familiar Webernian type. Each of its hexachords is a member of set class 6-5; this is Bailey's "type d" (see TheTwelve-Note Music, 335-36). This row is notated in such an idiosyncratic manner, however, that I hesitate to view it as closely related to other type d rows such as the String Trio (op. 20) or String Quartet (op. 28). Another unusual feature of the row is the overwhelming prominence of interval class 5. The two trichords formed by order pitches 6, 7, 8 and 1o, 11, 12 would be switched at the tritone transposition of both P and I forms. This kind of invariance later interested Webern greatly and culminated in the row for the Concerto, op. 24, in which under certain transpositions each trichord changes places with another and preserves its pitch classes.
308
out the piece, pitches are introduced in new registers whenever possible. For example, when Bb is heard for the second time in the vocal line (m. 2, beat i), it is sounded two octaves higherthan before (m. i, beat 2), resulting in a particularly extreme contrast for the voice. In measure 3, no new pitch classes are heard, but six pitches occur in registers different from those in which they first appeared. Webern continues to place new pitches in crucial places, such as vocal high points. Even the last two pitches of the piece occur in new registers; the voice sings g# to a", which creates its largest leap. The resulting two-and-a-half-octave space for each canonic voice functions as an alternative to twelve-tone space. By treating each pitch as an individual entity (instead of as a member of a pitch class), Webern created a "mega-row" of some thirty pitches in each voice. This gave him much more room to play out the canonic voices than a twelve-tone set would have allowed. This also explains Webern's peculiar notation of the twelve-tone row that he sketched while working on the canon. With this experiment, he created a twelve-tone collection that could operate within the wide registral space that he had so carefully worked out. Why did this second attempt to create a row also fail? Probably because Webern had still not made the conceptual leap between an idea generated as part of a musical process, on the one hand, and the set of properties and relationships extracted from that idea and applied to the rest of piece, on the other. His one experiment with a twelve-tone row during composition of op. 16 shows that he did not yet think of the row as an abstract entity that exists apart from a particular melodic gestalt. In designating a specific range, contour, and even (in one draft) rhythm, Webern designed the row as a possible canonic voice; like the row for "Mein Weg," which began as a vocal line, the "Crucem tuam" row serves a particular musical situation. In the sketch, Webern had perhaps hoped to overcome the limitations he had experienced with the earlier row by giving the new one an expansive registral profile. But even with its wide-ranging shape, the row's ordered sequence of twelve pitches would severely limit the kinds of melodic lines that could result. In fact Webern was soon to discover that the solution lay in a different direction. Instead of making the row more specific, it was necessary to make it more abstract. Only by de-emphasizing the row as an individual musical gesture was it possible for its properties to become more generally applicable to the whole piece.
309
II
based on the twelve-tone method. He continued to progress sporadically, however, alternating between what we would characterize as
During the next year, Webernfinally completedhis first works
sitions were a Kinderstiick for piano (M. 267) and a song, "Armer du" no. (op. 17, Siinder, i), both written in the fall and early winter of 1924. Upon completion of these two works, Webern ended his resistance to the method. From this point on he employed the technique for everything he wrote. The two pieces explore quite different solutions to the problem of twelve-tone composition. The dense, knotty surface of "Armer Suinder,du" contrasts markedly with the spare texture of the Kinderstiick. The piano piece projects the quiet minimalism for which Webern's music is known. With only seventysix attacks in seventeen measures, it seems typically--even stereotypically--Webernian, while the song, with its busy nervous rhythms and loud dynamics, seems to come from another hand entirely. These works also illustrate two approaches to handling a twelvetone row, a distinction that runs through the rest of Webern's output. In the Kinderstiick, the row is treated as a horizontal event; the few simultaneities that occur are heard as part of a linear flow. In "Armer Sunder, du," by contrast, the row is broken up and distributed among all the parts; completely a-thematic, it is heard as a succession of unordered aggregates. While the "horizontal"approach is characteristic of many of Webern's later works (for example, the canonic first movement of the Symphony, op. 2 i), the "vertical"technique (which Bailey calls "block topography")also occurs, for example in the String Trio, op. 20.5s These first successful twelve-tone efforts show that both modes of Webern's serial discourse were present at the very beginning. Moreover they achieve the opposite aims; whereas the row is projected transparently and audibly (perhaps too Kinderstiick much so), the song "Armer Suinder, du" obscures the row's very existence within a dense, disordered texture. Pieces Children's Sketching The Kinderstiick (1924), probably completed before "Armer Sunder, du," was composed in response to a request by Emil Hertzka of
and "simple" "complex" attempts.His firsttwelve-toneserialcompo-
5soBailey,
The Twelve-Note Music, 31.
310
UniversalEditionfor a cycle of children's pieces for piano, and Thetinywork was remained lifetime.s' Webern's unpublished during to havebeenpartof a larger groupof children's pianopieces;on a dance sketchpage, Webernlists sixteenpossibletypes, including and suchas Waltzer, formsand "Charakterstiicke" Polka,Menuett, formssuch as variations, as well as stricter Landler, fugue,passaevocative of are and These canon. Schoenbergian types clearly caglia, is a waltz), the Five Pieces,op. 23 (whosefifthmovement models: Variationen and entitled movements includes Serenade, op. 24(which are entitled and Suite, op. 25 (whosesix movements Tanzscene), andGigue).By Menuett, Intermezzo, Musette, Gavotte, Praludium, dancetypes and strictformsfor his projected cycle of proposing solution to the was Webern children's Schoenberg's emulating pieces, music. of formin twelve-tone problem those the for no sketches survive, completed Though Kinderstiick not did that children's for another Webern piece seriallyorganized the was what he finish(M. 266)showexactly specifically, up against: his set and exercising with an ordered conflictbetweencomposing motivic of techniques variation."5 previous tworows,onewith sketched FortheKinderstiick Webern fragment, "ohne a")andonewith by theremark onlyelevennotes(accompanied rowexclusively usestheeleven-note thefragment (seeEx. II). twelve; to it difficult found As earlyas the thirdmeasure Webern keepto the with Consistent informative. are mistakes His set. rulesof anordered heusedoftenin hisatonal variation thekindof motivic music,he tried I to B-A (as measure of invert the to in measure 3 B-Bbsimultaneity the note Butthiswouldhaveintroduced rowis restated). the original measure same In the row. A, whichis not partof his eleven-note the C#-D of familiar triesanother Webern reinterpreting procedure: measureI as D-C0 in measure3, with the registersinverted. the orderof pitchesis of coursenot allowedunderthe Changing he hasset for himself.Notingthese"mistakes," Webern restrictions for mark deletedthe wholemeasure it, his customary (by encircling in rhythmand arechanges solutions The only remaining deletion). in measure to repeat hadoriginally Webern Whereas planned register.
Anton von Webern, 312. As a result, its s' Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer, existence was unknown until i965, when the Moldenhauers discovered an ink fair Dark copy of the piece. See Raymond Ericson, "New Webern Haul Found in a Attic," New York Times, Sunday, io April 1966, section X, p. i i. The piece was published by Carl Fischer in 1966. 52 PSS, film o01:o684.
311
ii Example
Basel. Kinderstiick sketch,M. 266. Paul SacherFoundation, eleven-note row (a)
(b) mm. 1-3
3 33
i io
I L I 111
L",,M
3 both the opening rhythms and the contour, he arrived instead at solutions with different note values and octave positions. With this sketch we can see Webern finally coming to terms with the method. This cannot have been easy. Even after two years of constant exposure to it and several rather sophisticated attempts on his own, composing within these constraints required significant modifications of his normal techniques of motivic development. Realizing that two favored types of motivic transformation-inversion around an axis and reordering of pitches--were no longer available (in the unrestricted sense in which they had earlier been used), Webern focused on rhythm and register. Now confronting the immediate problem of how to continue after all twelve notes have sounded, the difficulty of extreme brevity still remained: after six row statements, the sketch ends with a double bar after only nine measures. In the completed Kinderstiick (M. 267), Webern began to solve the of not problem length, by adding any rows, but by using repeated notes, creating a "Morse-code"effect that resonates through many of his early twelve-tone works. Here he also used six statements of the row, but the piece at seventeen measures lasts almost twice as long as
312
(see Ex.
notes emphasize the first the previoussketch.Since the repeated evenperhaps overarticulated pitchesof the row, it is quiteaudible,
12).53
to the row'sboundaries, Webern attention puts the By drawing it as an extendedmelody.This row itself in high relief, treating fromSchoenberg's his rowsare practice; radically conception departs thenreoror which are into tetrachords oftenbroken trichords, up obscured. Even aspart of a series is aurally so thattheiridentity dered of as in the vocal line the row treated whenSchoenberg melodically, the fourteen-note the Sonnet(in the Serenade, op. 24), he rotated andend that its so of thirteen lines series beginning syllables, through marked. not were audibly points
12 Example
numbers to faircopy(order M. 267, mm. 4-8. Notatedaccording added). Kinderstiick, Basel. Paul SacherFoundation,
12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011
A
At
34
L
1
?I
"Armer Siinder,Du," Op. 17, No. I Instead of continuing his keyboard cycle, Webern returned to his familiar practice of song composition by setting the folk poem "Armer Suinder, du" (completed io December 1924). The date of completion, the exact identity of its row, and the existence of an early version were unknown until recently, when some sketches that were thought to be lost resurfaced.4"The final version of the piece became the first song which Webern grouped together as op. of the ThreeTraditional Rhymes, the songs were not published as a set in his lifetime.ss i7, although
with the last notes of the row, but with s3 Webern originally intended to end not a return to the first dyad. This would have brought the row full circle and Webern reemphasized the prominent repeated Eb-E4s heard throughout the piece. If had kept this reading, perhaps the editors' otherwise inexplicable "D.C. ad libitum" instruction would make sense. sketches (from the Wildgans estate). 54 PSS, op. 17, no. i, three ss Webern offered this set to Universal Edition for publication in at least letters to Hertzka in 1926 and 1927 (photocopies in the PSS). This contradicts Oesch, who implies that Webern did not want to publish op. 17 because of its rudimentary
313
In "ArmerSiinder,du," Webernagainfacedthe problemof how to distributethe row among severalparts. The complexitiesof the four-parttexture (voice, violin, clarinet, and bass clarinet)forced Webernaway fromthe simpledeploymentof the row in a singleline, as he had practicedin the Kinderstiick. Webern instead opted for a vertical distributionof the total chromaticand a correspondingly dense texture. Ratherthan emphasizing the row's presence,he now to it. The row has so obscure little identity that even its attempted orderis unclear.The versiongiven in Example13, which differsfrom the commonlyacceptedone, comes from the sketches.56 The twelve in are of notated the one octave lie within and the treble pitches space staff. The row is divided by bar lines into four trichords, which belongto only two trichordtypes:o, 1,6 (trichordsI and 3) and o, 1,2 (trichords 2 and 4). It is probably no coincidence that Webern the row'spresenceas a melodicgesturepreciselywhen de-emphasized he firstnotatedit in a single octave,indicating that he conceivedof it moreabstractly thanhe had before.The twelve-toneseries,no longer with specificproperties associated suchas register or rhythm,can now functionglobally,andthis in turnallowsmuchgreaterfreedomin the handlingof the musicalsurface. The best evidencefor this conceptual shift is the simple fact that the voice does not follow the row. When sketching"MeinWeg"two and a half years earlier,Webernwas able to conceiveof the twelvetone row only as it was manifested in the concretemusicalinstanceof a vocal line. In the Kinderstiick of the fall of 1924, Webernlikewise
Example 13 Row for op. 17, no. i. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
0i
ij,.
row technique: "Weberns Plan einer Gesamtausgabe," in Neue Musik und Tradition: FestschriftRudolf Stephan zum 65. Geburtstag,ed. Josef Kuckertz et al. (Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 99go), 508. "Liebste Jungfrau" (op. 17, no. 2) was published as "Geistlicher Volkstext" in New Music, 193o. 56 PSS, op. 17, no. I, sketches. This is the version most often given: B B6 F F# E E G G# A C C# D. See Rognoni, TheSecond ViennaSchool,356; and Jan Maegaard, in theDescription andAnalysisof Music, "Weberns Zwolftonreihen," in Analytica:Studies ed. Anders Linn and Erik Kjellberg (Uppsala: Borgstroms Tryckeri, 1985), 251. Lynn provides the correct row and makes the plausible conjecture that Webern derived it from the opening measures ("Genesis, Process, and Reception," 82).
314
OFTHEAMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL
treatedthe seriesas a kindof extended melody.Althoughhe had in "Armer withordered setsin his op. 16 canons, Sunder, composed as a source for the row different: du" he tried something using motives.For the vocalline he freelychosefromamongthe twelve between new associations nonadjacent pitches pitches,oftenforming 12at the numbers order of therow.Afterthevoicesounds 9 through of the piece, it neverstays that close to the row again. beginning i relationships, someof whichare on interval-class it focuses Instead, created others in the highlychromatic row, by juxtaposing present is thefrequent of the latter A of order. out example prominent pitches 6 and9 in the numbers vocal order A in the and of line, G# pairing
row (see Ex. 14).57
du"from Webernin effectfreedthe voice partof "ArmerSuinder, a controllingdodecaphonic shapingit much as he had organization, from rises The line lines. vocal earlier beginningto end; the shaped ascend in each incrementally,markedby imporphrase high points
In the andothers.s8 tantwordssuchas "Mark," "Himmel," "Blut," in thesketches wideleaps finalversion, present manyof theextremely the finished andthe firstfaircopywerecompressed, piecea lending the of last In the character. "Volkslied" moreplausibly piece quarter
14 Example line(mm. fromthevocal "Armer version, du,"op. 17,no. i, final excerpts Siinder, 2-3, 7-8, and 13-14;ordernumbersadded)
6 9 10 11 12 1 6 9 2 5 4 3 6 9 3 6 9
Ar-mer Siin-der, du
der
Him
mel ist dein Hut.
du hei- li-ge Drei - fal-tig-keit
WebernDrei Volkstexte Copyright1955by UniversalEdition Copyrightrenewed All RightsReserved sole U.S. and AmericanMusic Distributors Used by permissionof European Corporation, Edition. for Universal Canadian agent
the instrumental parts as s7 These chromatic pairs are prominent in (and between) well. Even in the sketches and early draft, Webern treated these two-note gestures as fixed units, replacing one with another or shifting their positions. in Musiks8 As Joachim Noller has noted in "Das dodekaphone Volkslied," Riehn and Rainer ed. Heinz-Klaus Webern Anton Sonderband II, Metzger Konzepte (Munich: Edition Text und Kritik, 1984), 143.
TWELVE-TONE WEBERN'S COMPOSITION
315
(mm. I3-16), motives heard at the beginningrecur;as in many of Webern's atonal songs, the recurring pitches are reordered and registrallydisplaced.59 Row TheIneffable All of Webern's twelve-toneeffortsin the fall of 1924 were carried out with the same family of closely related rows. In spite of the different compositionalstrategies behind them, the rows in the the "Crucemtuam" sketch, the completed Kinderstiick, Kinderstiick sketch, and "ArmerSfinder,du" are all quite similar(see Ex. i5). In developingthese rows, Weberndid not manipulateintervallicrelationships, as he would do later, but instead explored the different placementofpitchclasses. Groupsof notesaremoveden bloc fromrow to row; some even occur in all four rows. The rows, which grew out of concretemusicalgestures,aretreatedalmostas different versionsof a melodicgestureratherthan as neutralraw material. Webern's awarenessof a row's complex propertiesvery soon followed, even as he continuedto write pieces that did not explore these properties. In the spring of 1925, he sketched a string trio movementthatbearsa remarkable in bothrow structure resemblance, and finishedsurface,to the StringTrio, op. 20, completedtwo years
Example I5 Rows Webern used in autumn 1924
16, Op.
no.
_ .
5266 e
wp
no.1I
17, v Op.
59 In the sketches for the piece, this connection with the opening phrase is even clearer: the violin's last gesture uses order numbers 9, 10, I I, t2--a sequence heard before only in the voice in measures 2-3.
316
earliest "complex" row, and because it has not been described in the literature (see Ex. i6 and Fig. 3). The most striking feature of this row is the high degree of invariance it displays with many of its prime and inverted forms.6' The sophistication of the row seems inconsistent with its typically early notational features, however. Archaic aspects include the way Webern wrote each pitch of the row with stems, gave the row a distinct registral contour, and labeled the rows in tonal terms (with the prime as T[onika]and the tritone transposition as D[ominant]).In the bottom two staves, he experimented with writing the twelve tones in overlapping tetrachords, just as he had done in sketches for "Mein Weg." Yet the properties of tetrachordal invariance are also clearly displayed in the transpositions and transformations which he wrote out; notice, for example, the tetrachordalinvariance among P-o ("T"), P-6 ("D"), and I-i i (unlabeled, staff 6).6, It seems odd, from an evolutionary standpoint at least, that even after this "advanced"row sketch, Webern continued for the next ten months or so to compose pieces that use much simpler row technique. A fragmentary setting of "Erl6sung"(later op. I8, no. 2) attempted in June 1925 is based on a single row form; Webern was undecided only whether to use the row horizontally or to distribute it vertically throughout the texture. A complete setting of "Heiland, unsere Missetaten" (op. 17, no. 3) presents the row continuously in the vocal line, while the instruments echo with disjunct fragments of the series. In the next work, "Liebste Jungfrau"(op. 17, no. 2), Webern scatters one row among all the parts. He did not use even the simple transformations of a row-its retrograde, inversion, and retrograde inversion--until late September and early October of i925, in settings of "Erl6sung"(op. I8, no. 2) and "Ave Regina Coelorum" (op. 18, no. 3). Only in late 1925, in his Two Songs for chorus, op. i9, did he employ even a transposed form of a row (this almost a year after his forward-looking string trio sketches). On one level, this seemingly
String trio, M. 273. PSS, film o03:o834-o841. Even-numbered prime forms and odd-numbered inverted forms preserve the content of the three unordered tetrachordalpartitions, although not necessarily their order with respect to each other. The P-6, 1-5, R-io, and RI-3 forms are completely invariantwith the original at the tetrachordlevel. For any P form and its I form a half step higher, the last tetrachordof the formerwill match the first tetrachordof the latter. 62 He even uses both types of inversion on the same page: the later standard method of inverting around the first note (as he does with the TU), and the earlier one of inverting around a tritone axis (as he seems to do with the "DU," although this labeling of what is apparently the TU could simply have been a mistake).
6
61
later.6' The row is worth observing, since it represents Webern's
Example 16 String trio fragment, M. 273, sketches. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
Reihen zumStreich-Trio
b ![
~Krebs
TU.
d
DU
'
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Figure 3. Webern, string trio fragment, M. 273, sketches. Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel.
inconsistent progress simply indicates a gap between what Webern explored in his sketches and what he was able to realize in completed works. But the differences between the "sophisticated"string trio sketches and the "rudimentary"setting of "Armer Siinder, du" should not be measured solely on the basis of serial complexity. For even a work based on a single untransposed and untransformed row reveals much about how Webern viewed the row's function and purpose; such works confidently assume that the mere presence of a serieshowever imperceptible-can serve as an organizing force. This belief allowed Webern to liberate the musical surface. His apparently simple efforts in op. 17 and op. i8 were aimed not at "mastering" the twelve-tone apparatus (by which standards they fail), but rather at seeing how far he could separate the perceived music from its underlying structure. In this sense, these songs are not simple at all. Hardly a tentative first step into twelve-tone technique, "Armer Suinder, du" suggests rather a headlong plunge. With this piece Webern pushed the organizationalcapability of the row to the limits of perception. The frenetically rapid rhythms and the stratified repeated-note figures disrupt the row, which has been pushed into the background. The work's highly disordered surface is essentially a-thematic. This approach was very different from that of Schoen-
319
berg, who chose to exertcontrolover the techniqueby workingit out within strict formal types. Webern opted, it seems, to relinquish control. He could do this only becausehe placedgreatfaith in the power of the twelve-tonerow to providea subconscious order. He believed in this power all his life, as these remarksfrom ThePath to theNew Musicsuggest:"The twelve-noterow is, as a rule, not a 'theme.'But I can also workwithoutthematicism, that'sto say much morefreely, becauseof the unity that'snow beenachievedin anotherway; the row can now be seen as literalstatementsof interpretedmetaphorically, belief. The songs op. 17, nos. 2 and 3, and op. I8, based on more conventionalrow techniquesthan "ArmerSiinder, du," still show supremeconfidencein the row's organizingpower and-by taking away the safety net of the "well-marked" row-great nerve. From which Webern had tried to resist, he had Schoenberg'smodel, developeda new solution that was at the same time individualand quite radical.
III ensures unity. . . . Only now is it possible to compose in free fantasy, comments,usually adheringto nothingexcept the row.""6Webern's
The historyof twelve-tonecompositiondoes not entirelyconcern In freeingthe twelve-tonerow technique,as Dahlhaushas warned.64 from the musicalsurface,Weberngrantedit a metaphysical significancethatfarsurpassed role. He hadshiftedawayfrom any structural his original conception of the row as concrete gesture toward a formulation of the row as an abstract model(eventhoughit still often originatedas part of a melodicgesture).The religiousand folk texts thatWebernused in the transitional worksopp. I5- 8, farfrombeing irrelevant kitsch, reflect some of his central aesthetic concerns. Indeed, Webern'searly twelve-tonetechniquedeveloped,in part, in responseto the imagesand symbolsresidentin these texts.
Path, 55 (Ger. 59-60). "Thushistorians the prehistory of dodecaphony investigating shouldnot only searchfor substantial of preconditions-for twelve-notecomplexesor permutations intervalstructures-but should also reconstructthe problemsas the solution to of Schoenberg's which, withinthe systemof reference musicalpoetics,dodecaphony that would hardlyhave been accordedto it if it had been acquireda significance andtheNewMusic,80). (Dahlhaus,Schoenberg merelya technique"
63
64
320
Many Austrianintellectualsbecamemore overtly religiousafter destruction of the warand the FirstWorldWar.6sThe unprecedented overwhelmed the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian many Empire with a sense of their own powerlessness.For Schoenberg,the war, which "overturned everythingwe formerlybelievedin," also inspired the growing intensity of his own faith (which was at the time a mystical Protestantism).He describedthis to Kandinskyin 1922: "Youwould, I think, see what I mean best from my libretto'Jacob's Ladder' (an oratorio):what I mean is---even though without any fetters-religion. This was my one and only support organisational those years-here let this be said for the first time."66 during Another example of increasingreligiosity can be found in the which had introduced Webernto Georg Trakl's journalDerBrenner, garde artistic stance to a reactionary,mystical Catholicism(this outlook was later to attract HildegardJone to the Brenner circle). Webern'sreligiousbeliefs, a pantheisticpiety that blendedelements were and natureworshipwith his nativeCatholicism, of Lutheranism never closely associatedwith an institutionalchurch. For religious Weberndrewuponmusicalandliterarysourcesmorethan inspiration theologicalones; the folk poetry of Rosegger,the music of Mahler, and the ideasof Goethe figuredlargerin his conceptionof God's role in the world than the teachingsof any religion.Examining Webern's choiceof texts for opp. 15-I9--never takenseriouslyor in manycases even identified--canilluminatethis aestheticstance. In placeof the contemporary poetryby George,Rilke,Kraus,and him earlier,Webernnow drew upon "everyTraklthat had attracted and hymnal,alongwith equallyfamiliar day"texts from the breviary folk songs. (Laterhe was to find in the poems of HildegardJone a blend of modernist complexity,religiosity,and Volkstiimsympathetic Webern used between 1921 and 1925 texts The "anonymous" lichkeit.)
65 H. H. Stuckenschmidt notes: "These religious songs [op. I5] give Webern a place within the religious movement that overtook German expressionism in the years following 1918. The same tide of feeling gave rise to the religious, visionary works of painters and sculptors such as Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff, Rouault and Barlach" Music,trans. Richard Deveson [New York and Toronto: McGraw(TwentiethCentury Hill, 1970], '45)66 "Was ich meine, wiirde Ihnen am besten meine Dichtung 'Jakobsleiter'(ein Oratorium) sagen: ich meine--wenn auch ohne alle organisatorischen Fesseln--die zum Religion. Mir war sie in diesen Jahren meine einzige Stiitze--es sei das hier ed., Stein, [Erwin Schoenberg Arnold 71 erstenmal gesagt" (ArnoldSchoenberg Lettern, anti-Semitic Briefe(Mainz: B. Schott's S6hne, 1958), 70]). This letter evoked a cruelly their ended which from friendship. Kandinsky, response
poetry in the 191os. Its editorial orientation shifted from an avant-
WEBERN'STWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION
321
are shown in Table 2. They come from two main sources:church and folk song (as adaptedin the liturgy(both Catholicand Lutheran) collection DesKnaben Wunderborn andby the novelsandstoriesof Peter for Webern, he left most of these Rosegger).67 Uncharacteristically in textsunidentified his manuscripts.68 Perhapshe thoughtthey were
TABLE 2
Webern's "Anonymous" Texts Work

Op. 12,
First Line
Der Tag ist vergangen *Derdu bist drelin einigkeit Das Kreuz,das muBt' er tragen
Text Source
Peter Mayrand Waldheimat Rosegger, Chorale Mein Himmelreich Rosegger,
Op. 15, no. I (1921) Op. 15, no. 2 (1922) Op. 15, no. 3 (1921) . I5, no. 4 (1922) . 15, no. 5 (1917) Op. i6, no. 2 (1923) Op. 16, no. 3 (1923) Op. 16, no. 4 (1923)
no. I(1915) (1918) Fragment
*Steht auf, ihr lieben Kinderlein *In Gottes Namen aufstehn *Mein Weg geht jetzt voriber Fahr hin, o Seel'
Op. 16, no. I (1924)
Christus factusest
Dormi, Jesu Crux fidelis Asperges me
I Novew& Gradual, MaundyThursday

Des KnabenWunderborn Hymn, Good Friday Antiphon, Ordinary
Chorale and Des KnabenWunderborn Rosegger, Waldheimat Chorale Roseger, Erdsegenand Das Buch der
Op. 16, no. 5 (1924)
Fragment (1924) Fragment (1924) Op. 17, no. (1924) Op. i7, no. 2 (1925) Op. 17, no. 3 (1925) Op. i8, no. 2 (1925) Op. 18, no. 3 (1925)
(1925) Fragment Op. 18, no. I (1925)
*Dein Leibgeht jetztder Erdezu Schatzerl klein

Erl6sung Ave Regina Coelorum
Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit *Mudtgtrigst du die Last Armer Suinder, du *Liebste Jungfrau Heiland, unsre Missetaten
tuamadoramus Crucem
Chorale Karl Kraus Rosegger, Die Alper .. Rosegger, Das Bucb derNovellenI
Antiphon,GoodFriday
Des KtiabenWunderborn Marian antiphon
I derNovellen Rosegger, DasBucb II derNovellen DasBuch Rosegger,
Note:Asterisks in the Table indicate a new identification. a sourcein Webern's at the PaulSacherFoundation, Sources: [PSS]below indicates Basel. library L. A. v. Arnimand ClemensBrentano, DesKnaben Wunderhorn (Berlin,1846). AlbertFischer,ed., Kirchenlieder-Lexicon (Gotha,i878) (chorales). KarlKraus,Worte in Versen, vonKarlKraus, ed. Heinrich Fischer KoselVerlag,1959). vol.7 of Werke (Munich: in Gesammelte vom Verfasser neu bearbeitete und neu eingeteilte PeterRosegger, Werke, Ausgabe,vols. i-4o Ds Buch derNovellekn I (GW2). [PSS] DieAlper in ibren Waldaund Dorfrypen gcbildert(GW3). Peter Wirt an derMabr. EineGeschicbte ausdeutscbher Heldenzeit (GWi9). Mayr,der DasBuc der II i Novellen (GW24). [PSS] Vertrauliche e Erd~egen: (EinKulturroman) (GW25). [PSS] Sonntagsbr Bauernknecbts (GW34).[PSS] MeinHimmererich: Ein Glaubesbekenntnis othereditions: PeterRosegger, MeinHimnmelreich: undErfabrungen ausdemrelgieien Leben Bekenntnise, Gestiindnisse (Leipzig:Staackmann, Waldheimat and Leipzig: GustavHeckenast,1877). (Pressburg ausdkrfugendzt,Bd. 2, Staackmann, Waldheimat. Erinnerungen (Leipzig: 1902). Leh'ahre und JohannesZahn, ed., Psalter Harftfir dasdeutsche (Gditersloh, 1886) Haus.Ein evangelischer Liedenscbatz (chorales).
1910). [PSS]
(Leipzig: Staackmann, 1913-16):
67 The Moldenhauers identified only "Fahr'hin, o Seel' " as Rosegger's; in 1983 Peter Andraschke attributed more of the "anonymous" folk poems to Rosegger ("Webern und Rosegger," in OpusAnton Webern,ed. Rexroth, o8-12). Felix Meyer of the PSS identified Kraus as the author of "Mutig triigst du die Last." I located the rest (new attributions marked with asterisks) with the invaluable help of Dr. Meyer. With the exception of the two poems from Des KnabenWunderborn, 68 op. I6, no. 2, and op. I8, no. 2.
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so familiar that identification was unnecessary. Morelikely, he simply viewed liturgical,chorale,and folk poetryas commonproperty. This stancereflectsthe greaterinterestshown in the technicalaspects also in of Webern's musicthanin the aesthetic(whichis demonstrated in favorof his instrumental the generalbias in the Webernliterature But if the poems had come from a high art tradition,their music).70 reception-and perhapsthat of the pieces as well-would probably have been different. literaThere is clearlya wide gulf betweenanonymous,"public" assertionof ture and the high modernistaestheticof ever-increasing in his music. Two explanations, individualitythat Webernembraced texts neitheraltogetherconvincing,come to mind: that the "simple" and twelve-tone well to the technique; that "rudimentary" correspond the allow demands make fewer which texts composergreater literary With regardto the first, I have freedomto fashionmusicalstructures. argued that Webern's early twelve-tone efforts are hardly simple except by the baresttechnicalstandards.Besides, it has never been considerednecessaryfor poem and musicalsettingto matchin terms of difficultyor literarypretension(justthinkof Schubert's Klopstock it since more is The second supposes plausible, hypothesis settings). that Webern needed room to develop his twelve-tone technique freely, without the constraintsimposed by the dense, multivalent poetry of Trakl, for example. But if this were true, then the best solutionwould be to write music withouttexts at all. Webernwas in workshe instrumental fact unableto completeany of the larger-scale He still attemptedduringtheseyears(noteven the set of Kinderstiicke). needed a text both to begin compositionand to carry it out. It was
no. i), for example, Reinhard 69 In his analysis of "Schatzerl klein" (op. 18, Schulz claims that the only significant relationship between text and music consists of das Verbiltnisvon structural factors (metrical patterns, number of syllables, etc.) (1Jber Anton Weberns in denWerken Konstruktion [Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, undAusdruck 1982], oo- i o i). Ren6 Leibowitz does not mention the text of "LiebsteJungfrau"(op. no. 2) in his analysis; in fact he omits the words from the musical examples i7, (Introduction,86-87). Wildgans (Anton Webern)likewise focuses exclusively on the technical features of these works. Two notable exceptions to this tendency are H. H. Stuckenschmidt, who treats Webern's opp. i6 and I7 as sacred music in a chapter Music, i45-47), and Joachim entitled "The Music of Commitment" (TwentiethCentury Noller, who writes sensitively about the text of "Armer Siinder, du" (without, however, exploring its context, since its source was unknown to him) ("Das dodekaphone Volkslied," 142-43). 70 My forthcoming book, Webernand the Lyric Impulse,attempts to redress the balance somewhat.
In discussing Webern's songs opp. 15, 16, 17, and 18 (themselves have simply ignoredthe texts.'6 rarelystudied),most commentators
323
only with the String Trio, op. 20, completed in 1927, that Webern finished an instrumental work for the first time in over a decade. Webern, I suggest, saw no inconsistency between such "simple" poetry and twelve-tone technique. Nor was the naivete of the poems a foil for greater musical complexity; rather he viewed the two as compatible. What he valued most in the texts corresponded exactly to what he valued most in twelve-tone composition: unity, immediacy, and most of all, a kind of eternally present meaning that he found also in nature. Both the familiarity of the poems and their artless-even naive-mode of expression served the composer to advantage by allowing the texts to communicate with an ingenuous directness. Webern's treatment of the religious texts he chose, even the liturgical ones, closely reflects his humane beliefs. He selected Latin texts not to serve as distant icons or religious symbols, but rather to communicate directly. (In this he differed from Stravinsky, who chose Latin for Oedipus Rex precisely because of its objectifying, distancing effect.) In a letter to Schoenberg, Webern expressed enthusiasm for these poems: "I have borrowed the breviary from the priest. It contains everything: hymns, psalms, and so forth. The breviary is a He also assumed that the texts would be intelligible glorious work.""7' to his audience, describing to Berg how the three songs he first envisioned as a set, "Dormi Jesu," "Crux fidelis," and "Asperges me" (later part of op. 16), create a kind of narrativeprogression: "The first is, textually, a kind of lullaby of Mary; the second an antiphon: song (prayer)to the crucifix; the third an invocation (holy water). Musically the whole represents a unit in form and expression, I believe.""7 While the canonic technique of op. 16 itself alludes to the Netherlands Renaissance masters, Webern also believed the liturgical texts to be expressive in themselves.73 Even as a musicology student editing the of Heinrich Isaac, Webern did not distinguish ChoralisConstantinus between the ritual function of a text and the personal viewpoint of the composer: "One must not suppose that the reason for doing this [composing a polyphonic Gradual cycle] was entirely practical; rather one should also consider the profound piety of the master and his love for the beauty of these liturgical poems."74
7' Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern,272. 72 Ibid., 273. 73 Stuckenschmidt finds in the use of canon a symbol of "the Imitation of Christ" (TwentiethCenturyMusic, 146). 74 "Die Initiative zu dieser Tat wird man nicht ausschlieBlich in praktischen Bedfirfnissen suchen diirfen, sondern auch in der tiefen Religiositit des Meisters und
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and "MeinWeg," "sacredcantata."Here he refers to "Morgenlied" both based on chorale texts.75 Four years earlier he had sketched anotherchoralesetting, "Derdu bist drei in einigkeit."76 By 1924, he had even sketched an instrumental"Vorspiel," possibly to the plannedcantata,alongwith a draftof anotherchorale,"Morgenglanz cantata" der Ewigkeit."This "chorale anticipatesnot only Webern's later cantatason HildegardJone'stexts, but also reflectshis lifelong involvementwith the music of J. S. Bach, with whom the conceptof continued would have been indeliblyassociated.(Webern's "chorale" admirationfor Bach is shown by his reverent orchestration,in That Webern'splans to compose a sacredcantatadate precisely from the time of his first attempt at twelve-tone composition is probably no coincidence. After more than a decade of composing instrumentalminiaturesand songs, he would have been anxious to produce something in a largerform again, perhaps in response to The two Schoenberg'smassive oratorio project, Die Jakobsleiter. choraleswith whichWebernbegan,"Stehtauf, ihr liebenKinderlein" the startand end could represent and "MeinWeg geht jetztvoriiber," to first the of a personalreligiousjourney: belongs the categoryof while the latteris the secondverseof "Ichhab mich "Morgenlieder," The text of "MeinWeg"-"My Gott ergeben,"a funeralchorale.78 side Oh other the to now world, what do I careof you; / / goes path I must So Heaven is closer to me, / go there"-can also be read as a
in seiner Liebe zur Sch6nheit dieser kirchlichen Dichtungen" (Webern, ed., Heinrich Isaac: ChoralisConstantinus II, vii). (the Moldenhauers give this Wunderborn 75 Morgenlied is also found in Des Knaben source only). I am grateful to Daniel Melamed, who first suggested to me that "Mein Weg" might be a chorale text. 76 PSS, film io3:0798. 77 A colleague of Webern's during the i92os related how he spontaneously played a Bach chorale after a chorus rehearsal:"Webern, lighting a cigarette, sat down at the St. piano and began to play the chorale 'Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden' from Bach's MatthewPassion:'Now, that chorale was very well known to me. Yet I stood there and was deeply moved. Webern played it with so much expression and deep emoI could see one aspect of his personality I had not recognized before: that tion. .... was essentially a religious man' " (Moldenhauerand Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern Webern,289). Haus: 78 As they are classified in Johannes Zahn, PsalterundHarfefiir das deutsche Ein evangelischer Liederscbatz (Giitersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1886).
(later op. 15, no. 2), Webern wrote to Berg of his plans to compose a
We can now add that Webern was involved with the Lutheran liturgyduringthese yearsas well, by settingor draftingfour German choraletexts (see Table 2). In 1922, after completing"Morgenlied"
1934-35, of the Ricercar from the Musical Offering.)77
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literalstatementof intent to "go over"to new compositional realms, much as Schoenberg'sforay into atonality in his Second String Quartethad been heraldedby the George text "Ich fiihle Luft von anderemPlaneten." to twelve-tonecomposition not Webernmadehis actualtransition with liturgicaltexts, but with religious"folkpoetry."Frownedupon by mainstreamreligion-the editor of a major chorale collection expressedthe hope that the book "mightalso help to drive back the the mawkish,trivialso-calledsacredfolksongs, which areinundating and its that of taste"79-this populace corrupting poetry, especially the folk novelist Peter Rosegger,was immenselypopular. spent almosthis whole life in his nativeStyriaand devotedhimselfto describingits customs, people, and landscape.His direct, intentionally nonliterarystyle-which seems designedto be read aloud-was characteristic of other Volksschriftsteller of the time as well.8s Rosegger's stories are aimed at a distinctly modem, urban audience, an old-fashioned localcustom,for example, however;when reporting he often stops to explain it and even to ridicule it in a humorous fashion.His descriptions areoften heavy with irony. ReadingRosegurbandwellersto indulgein a ger allowedfirst-or second-generation little nostalgiafor the countrysidewithout damagingtheir sense of superiority. If Rosegger's work was relegated to anthologies of children'sliterature shortlyafterthe SecondWorldWar, in the early part of the century he enjoyed respect in literarycircles as well as popularacclaim.8' Webem had been readingRosegger for years:in 1912,he wroteto Berg that, in spite of moments of apparent banality (which, he of Mahler),Rosegger explained,were like the profound"banalities" "is the greatest German poet living today.""'8In Rosegger'sbooks Webern found a rich source of poetry that was direct and artless, fashionedas if it came straightout of the mouthof the Volk (whether
79 "Mochte es auch dazu beitragen die siiflichen, tindelnden, sogenannten geistlichen Volkslieder zuruickzudraingen,mit denen man gegenwartig das Volk fiberschwemmt und seinen Geschmack verdirbt" (Zahn, introduction to Psalter und n.p.). Harfe, o Peter Horwath discusses Rosegger in a chapter together with the Heimatdichter Ludwig Anzengruber (i839-89): Der Kampfgegen die religiose Tradition: Die Osterreichs, Kulturkampfliteratur 1780-1918 (Bern: Peter Lang, 1978), 2oi-i i. 81 See Dean Garrett Stroud, The Sacred Journey: The ReligiousFunctionof Nature Mot, in SelectedWorksby Peter Rosegger (Stuttgart: Akademischer Verlag, i986), i. "Er ist der gr68te deutsche Dichter, der heute lebt" (AntonWebern: 1883-1983, ed. Ernst Hilmar [Vienna: Universal Edition, 1983], 66).
Rosegger (i84 3-1918), a self-educated man from the peasant class,
326
it actually did or not).83 Rosegger's characterssing in many situations, ranging from the comic to the sublime: there are songs for waking up, songs for courting, songs for church, weddings, and funerals. Many poems are given in dialect. The contexts of Rosegger's poems can cast new light on Webern's settings.84 "Armer Siinder, du" (op. 17, no. i), for example, is a humorous, even irreverent poem from a story called "Der Winkeldoktor" ("The Quack"). The quack, an Augustinian monk, offers a dark potion called "Sympathiemittel" to his gullible customers, claiming it can cure the most severe illnesses. As he "blesses" them he sings the following rhyme: ArmerSiinder, du die Erde ist dein Schuh; Markund Blut, der Himmel ist dein Hut. Fleischund Bein sollen von dir gesegnetsein, du Heilige Dreifaltigkeit von nun an bis in Ewigkeit! You poor sinner the earthis your shoe; marrowand blood, heavenis your hat. Flesh and bone shouldbe blessedby you, you holy Trinity, fromnow until eternity!
The crudely simple imagery ("die Erde ist dein Schuh," "der Himmel ist dein Hut"), the irregular line lengths, and the fractured idioms ("Mark und Blut" instead of "Mark und Bein," "Fleisch und Bein" instead of "Fleisch und Blut")8ssuggest that the monk may have taken a drop too many of his own "Sympathiemittel." Even the narrator claims to have forgotten most of what went on during the ceremony because of his own consumption of the potion. Some of the perceived peculiarities in Webern's setting of the monk's song could even be attributed to his attempt to reflect in music not only the simple nature of the quack but also his drunken state. Both can be heard in the rhythm of the vocal line. It begins simply, folklike in regular eighth notes with two balanced phrases. Then, just when the quack starts to mix his idioms (mm. 5-6, "Markund Blut"), the voice strays off the beat in triplet subdivisions. After briefly regaining metrical regularity
made up these poems or merely recorded traditional songs 83 Whether Rosegger from the region is still open to question. The former is more probable. Andraschke notes that most of Rosegger's poems are not listed in the Volkslied-Archiv in Freiburg i.Br. ("Webern und Rosegger," io8). The vocabulary and idioms of the poems also imply an "artificial"origin (see below). 84Webern's only source for the poems would have been in Rosegger's writings; the poems were never published separately. He owned several volumes of Rosegger. 5 I am indebted to my late colleague Martin Hoyer for this observation.
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(mm. 7-9, "der Himmel ist dein Hut"), the singer "gets off" again at "Fleisch und Bein," as if trying unsuccessfully to "rhyme" with the The vocal range gets increasingly wideparallel "Markund Blut.""86 in the final culminating leap on the word "Ewigkeit"-as the note values halve to sixteenths, reflecting the singer's mounting agitation and progressive loss of control. Even the chaotic, mostly unordered treatment of the twelve-tone row may have been a conscious reflection of the character depicted in Rosegger's story. (And we have already seen how, since Webern had composed with an ordered row in the his failure to do it here was not due to inability.) Kinderstiick, Although Rosegger often poked fun at the clergy and the organized church, religion was a subject he took very seriously indeed. His religious liberalism-particularly his belief in the possibility of a close relationship between humankind and God-would have been very attractive to Webern, who owned a copy of Rosegger's testament of his own faith, Mein Himmelreich, and set a poem from it.87 Though remained a Rosegger nominally Catholic, he recognized no automatic authority of priest or pope. Because of Rosegger's belief that divine redemption comes from human charity, his writings were often attacked by the Catholic church.88 Another recurring motif in Rosegger's work-and the one that would have resonated most strongly with Webern's beliefs-is that of God represented in nature. In Mein Himmelreich, Rosegger explains: I would still havefound such a tightly knit, unifiedworldof belief upon the awakening of my reason.And if I hadnot encountered like something this, no church, no pulpit, no altar, no pious motherand no fatherto point me to God, I believe that I would still have believed from the depthsof my being. I imaginethatfor examplethe flower,the storm,the stars in the heavens, the mountains,the sea, the entire world-essence
86 Webern sketched "Fleisch und Bein" many times, each time placing it more off the beat, at the same time increasingly matching the contour to "Mark und Blut" (PSS, op. I7, no. i, sketches). 87 Peter Rosegger, Mein Himmelreich: Ein Glaubensbekenntnis (Leipzig: Staackmann, 1924). The poem Webern set is "Das Kreuz, das muBt' er tragen," op. 15, no. I
(1921).
88 Some of these attacks are documented in Henry Charles Sorg, S.D.S., Rosegger's Religion:A CriticalStudy of His Works(Washington: Catholic University of America, 1938), 9. This book, which comes to the conclusion that Rosegger's views were so unorthodox that he can scarcely be considered a Christian at all (see especially PP- 46-74), represents another such attack. Rosegger also opposed prevailing anti-Semitic views, although without avoiding conventional anti-Semitic stereotypes in making his arguments: see Karl Wagner, Die derProvinzlitOffentlicbkeit literarische eratur:Der Volkscbriftsteller Peter Rosegger (Tiibingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1991), 237-47.
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would have graduallybut urgently said to me: one God, one eternal life!89 God's presence in nature, according to Rosegger, is revealed most immediately and purely on the mountain peaks. As Dean Garrett Stroud has pointed out, "The metropolis and the mountain top form a polarity in Rosegger's philosophy in which the metropolis represents the physical side of life and the mountain symbolizes the spiritual side.""' This ancient conceit had special resonance for Rosegger, who refashioned the notion of pilgrimage into a vertical journey rather than a horizontal one. The mountain excursions that figure so prominently in his stories represent the voyage into the soul, in which "the mountain represents the goal of the journey, and . . . serves as the place where union with the Divine is most likely to take place."'' The familiar topos-the dichotomy between "irdische"and "himmlische" and its spiritual associations--plays out audibly in Mahler's works as well. Webern's religious feelings were similarly pantheistic. His lifelong habit of mountain excursions has been well documented; these expeditions were not merely recreational, but served as spiritual journeys. Webern's own early poems, "O sanftes Glihn der Berge" and "Schmerz immer blick nach oben," testify to his veneration of the mountains.9' His sketchbooks are filled with notations about mountain excursions. These, as Joachim Noller has pointed out, are not incidental remarks, but formed the direct impetus for many of his later works.93Webern was a passionate amateur botanist as well, with a special interest in mountain flora; many of the books he owned still contain specimens of pressed flowers.
einheitlicheWelt des Glaubenshatte ich noch 89 "Einesolche enggeschloffene, meinerVernunft.Und hitte ich nichtsdesgleichen bei dem Aufwachen vorgefunden keine Kirche, keine Kanzel,keinenAltar, keine frommeMutterund vorgefunden, keinenzu Gott weisendenVater, so meine ich doch, daBich meinerganzenNatur nach glaubenhitte muissen .... ich vermute,daBz.B. die Blume, der Sturm, der derWeltallmAhlich dasMeer,die ganzeWesenheit die Gebirgswelt, Sternenhimmel, zu mir gesprochen Gott, so eindringlich ein Ein Leben!"(Rosegger, ewiges hiitten: MeinHimmelreich, 9). o102. Journey, 90 Stroud, TheSacred like Webern,hatedto traveloutsidehis nativecountry. 9' Ibid., 18. Rosegger, 92 See Felix Meyer, " 'Stuckmit 'O sanftesGlihn der Berge':Ein verworfenes 20. in Anton von Webern," des JahrbunII: ZwdilfKomponisten Quellenstudien Gesang' Amadeus,1993), 12-17. ed. Felix Meyer(Winterthur: derts, Zu Anton Weberns'alpinen'Pro93JoachimNoller, "Bedeutungsstrukturen: Musik151, no. 9 (1990):12-I8. grammen," NeueZeitscbriftfiur
329
What does this have to do with compositional technique? A good deal, evidently, since Webern believed that music, as a part of nature, could reflect the divine order. Specifically, his view of nature as a manifestation of the divine is reflected in his metaphysical conception of the twelve-tone row. Let us look more closely at this connection in light of a revealing letter from Webern to Berg in 1925: The significance[Sinn]of this flora, unfathomable: that is the greatest idea magicto me. I perceivean unimaginable [unerbhrten] behindit. And I can say: to reproduce musicallywhat I perceivethere, for that I have can be struggledmy whole life. A greater partof my musicalproduction tracedbackto that. Namely:just as the scent and shape[Gestalt] of these plants--as a model given by God--come over me, that is what I want from my musical shapes [Gestalten] also. If it does not sound too presumptuous;then I immediatelyadd: vain struggle to grasp the But perhaps with this if, in connection ungraspable. you will understand I that told about I tell what has so to been, folksong you recently, you speak,formative: rosemary.94 In reacting with gratitude and enthusiasm to Berg's descriptions of a mountain-climbing trip, Webern moves easily from nature to music to God, as if they belong in a seamless continuum. He does not emphasize the technical details about the pieces he is writing. Rather he focuses on the divine order expressed in nature. This is not a simple correlation; the underlying Presence is mysterious, hidden, and difficult to grasp ("I feel an unimaginable idea behind [the sensory impression of the plants]").More crucially, Webern states his desire to capture in his music just this ineffable aspect of nature. To recreate his impression of the smell and shape of the plants (which are "a model given by God") had been a major part of his musical efforts for a long time, he tells Berg. In the face of this daunting task, he continues the "vain struggle to grasp the ungraspable."
9 "Der Sinn dieser Flora, unerforschlich: das ist der gr68iteZauber for mich. Ich spiire einen unerh6rten Gedanken dahinter. Und ich kann wohl sagen: musikalisch wiederzugeben, was ich da spire, danach ringe ich schon mein ganzes Leben. Ein Hauptteil meiner musikalischen Produktion liBt sich darauf zuriickfiihren. Nimlich: so wie der Duft und die Gestalt dieser Pflanzen--als ein von Gott gegebenes Vorbild-auf mich zukommen, so m6chte ich es auch von meinen musikalischen Gestalten. M6ge das nicht als Oberhebung klingen; denn ich setze gleich hinzu: vergebliches Bemuihen, das Unfaflbare zu fassen. Aber so wirst Du vielleicht verstehen, wenn ich im Zusammenhang mit diesem Volkslied, von dem ich Dir neulich erzahlt habe, sozusagen als richtunggebend gesagt habe: Rosmarin" (Opus Anton Webern,ed. Rexroth, 90-9i). All citations from the letter in the next few paragraphs come from this source, pp. 90-92.
3 30
Even without directly addressing musical technique, Webern's remarks do illuminate how he conceived of the twelve-tone method, which, he states in the same letter, is now "completely clear" to him. The key analogy can be found in his metaphysical attitude toward nature. In his early twelve-tone songs, as we have seen, the row's presence is inaudible; it serves an imperceptible underlying framework, as ineffable as the "unerh6rten Gedanken" behind the sense of the plants. Just as the plants were created by and are subordinate to a larger Being, the piece of music exists in the same relationship to its twelve-tone row. Later he refined and developed this idea, finding an analogy between the twelve-tone row and Goethe's Urpflanze, the (imagined) primeval plant, from which all other existing plants have evolved: "Goethe's primeval plant; the root is in fact no different from the stalk, the stalk no different from the leaf, and the leaf no different from the flower: variations of the same idea."9s The mere presence of the row ensures this unity; unlike a basic motive in tonal music, the row need not be perceptible: "This is how unity is ensured; something surely sticks in the ear, even if one's unaware of it."96 Webern's cycle Three Songs, op. 18 (composed in 1925), shows just how abstract this unity is: the set uses three different text sources (in two languages), three different rows, and three distinct kinds of twelve-tone technique. Op. 18 has commonly been viewed as an example of how Webern's twelve-tone technique "evolved" from simple to more complex. Rather than merely showing a gradual acquisition of technique, the different technical strategies in the three songs, I suggest, serve a symbolic purpose. The cycle pays homage to the Virgin Mary, each song forming part of an elaborate theological progression. As Webern described it, "The three songs, the first on a folk-like bridal song, the second on a Wunderhorn song 'Erl6sung,' the third on a Latin Marian hymn, form a complete whole, something in the sense of Dr. Marianus's invocation from the second part of 'Faust': 'Virgin,
Mother, Queen of Heaven.' "97 Here Webern makes a remarkable
9s Webern, Path, 53 (Ger. 56). For a detailed and fascinating discussion of how Webern 96 Ibid., 55 (Ger. 59). understood Goethean philosophy, see Barbara Zuber, "Reihe, Gesetz, Urpflanze, Nomos: Anton Weberns musikalisch-philosophisch-botanische Streifiige," H (1984): 304-36. Anton Webern Sonderband Musik-Konzepte das zweite 97 "Die drei Lieder, das erste nach einem volkstiimlichen Brautlied, nach einem Wunderhornlied 'Erl6sung,' das dritte nach einem lateinischen MarienDr. hymnus, bilden ein geschlossenes Ganzes, etwa im Sinne der Anrufung des Marianus aus dem II. Teile des 'Faust':'Jungfrau,Mutter, Himmelsk6nigin' "(Letter
33I
allusion to one of the most famous scenes in German literature: the
closing scene of the second part of Goethe's Faust, in which the Lutheran(andnot at all God-fearing) Faustis inexplicablyredeemed
and carried up to the heavens amid a panoply of medieval Catholic Mahler's setting of them in his Eighth Symphony, which Webern was
Webern's interestin theselineswas probablyawakened by imagery.98
understood this cryptic passage), the crucial point was the three-part
preparingto conduct aroundthis time.99For Webern (howeverhe invocationof the Virgin;this resonatedwith a lifelongvenerationof
tripartite symbol structure that exists in op. I8 on several levels.
tripartiteunity-itself a reflectionof the Holy Trinity-points to a First, each song text correspondsto one part of the trinity
Mary that can be seen in many other of the texts that he set.,oo This
"Jungfrau-Mutter-Himmelsk6nigin." "Schatzerlklein" (op. 18, no. I), sung by "Felix, der Begehrte," the young hero of Rosegger's story, to the Cinderella-like characterof Konstanze, represents the youthful, virginal part of the trinity.'0' The second song, "Erl6sung," a sacred dialogue that begins with Mary addressing Jesus, represents the "Mutter" stage. The third part, "Himmelsk6nigin," is depicted by a Marian antiphon: "Ave regina coelorum." The three disparate texts therefore represent different aspects of their common subject: the Virgin Mary.
to Hertzka,2 February1926, in AntonWebern: 1883-1983,ed. Hilmar, 76). 98 The Faust literature is of coursevast. My thoughtson the closingscene have been influenced Faust:TheGerman by the following: JaneK. Brown,Goethe's Tragedy andLondon: CornellUniversityPress, 1986); ErnstBusch,"DieTranzendenz (Ithaca der Gottheitund der naturmystische im Miitter-Symbol," in Aufsitze Gottesbegriff zu Goethes "Faust Wissenschaftliche II," ed. WernerKeller(Darmstadt: Buchgesellintroduction to Goethe's schaft, I991), 70-79; WalterKaufmann, Faust,bilingualed., trans. WalterKaufmann (GardenCity, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1963);and Helmut FaustII: Grundlagen undGedanken zumVerstandnis des Goethe, Johann Kobligk, Wolfgang Dramas Moritz (Frankfurt: Verlag Diesterweg,i99o). and 99 He conductedthe symphonyin April 1926 with the Arbeiter-Symphonie severalViennesechoralgroups(Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer, Antonvon Webern, '" These includethe Rosegger poems"DerTag ist vergangen" (op. 12, no. I), a er tragen" prayerto Mary;"DasKreuz,dasmuBt' (op. 15, no. I), whichin Rosegger's MeinHimmelreicb the disciplePeter'sreportto Maryaboutthe crucifixion; represents "Liebste Jungfrau" (op. 17, no. 2), a prayerto the Virgin;and "Dormi Jesu"(op. I6, no. 2), a lullabysungby Maryto the infant Jesus.The Moldenhauers proposethatthe to Webern's wife and represents the threerolesshe op. 18 cycle is silentlydedicated held in the family(Anton vonWebern, veneration of MeyerdescribesWebern's 317)his own motherafterher death, in " '0 sanftesGlihn der Berge,'" 12-17mentionedtwice in the poem was a symbol o"'The "Rosmarin" of virginity; to it was used to make for according Rosegger garlands younggirlson "Jungfrautag." See "DerHintersch6pp" in Bucb derNovellen I (Leipzig:Staackmann, 1913).
290-92).
332
At the centerof the threeworks,in the secondsong ("Erl6sung"), a further tripartitestructureunfolds. The dialogue text from Des KnabenWunderborn explains the mystery of redemption (see Ex. are There three speakers,Mother(Mary),Son (Christ),and i7a).2"' Father(God);the Father'sand Mother'slines are arranged symmetsetting ricallyaroundthe fourlinesof the Son (seeEx. I7b). Webern's The utterances. of the Son's the midpointof the emphasizes centrality is text's middle after the point) markedby the piece (at "Vater,"just the and voice in the note (d'") subsequentrapidsweep across highest the entire vocal range(down to g). The final clarinetgesture, which presents a near retrogradeof its opening figure, hints at a larger symmetry. This song, Webern'sfirst completedwork that uses the transformationsof a row-inversion, retrograde inversion,and retrograde-Example17
"Erl6sung," op. i8, no. 2 (a) text, from Des KnabenWunderborn
Erl6sung(KnabenWunderhorn) (Mother) Mein Kind, sieh an die BrUstemein, kein SunderlaBverlorensein. Mutter,sieh an die Wunden, die ich fur dein Siind tragalle Stunden. Vater, laBdir die Wundenmein
(Son)
(Son)
einOpfer fir die Sunde sein.

Sohn, lieber Sohn mein, alles was du begehrst,das soil sein.
(Father)
(b) poetic structure and row forms

(primeforms) Mary forms) Jesus (retrograde Jesus God
This text may have had a further Mahlerian association for Webern: the motto "'o2 for the sixth movement of the Third Symphony reads, "Vater, sieh an die Wunden mein! / Kein Wesen laBverloren sein!" Webern was of course intimately familiar with the symphony, having conducted it in 1922 (Moldenhauer and Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern,246). Whether he knew the motto or not--it does not appear in modern a published editions but was apparently inscribed in an autograph score--remains question.
333
remainsa landmark in his path to twelve-tonecomposition,although we know now that Webernhad workedwith these kindsof transformationsfor three years. The work'sorganization seems quite logical: of each the four coupletsin the dialoguetext is set to one of the four formsof the row. Yet the row, distributed verticallyamongthe voice and instruments and repeated severaltimesper section, neverappears linearly,andonly rarelyaresegmentsof it heardtogether(consecutive row pitches are found only in the Ebclarinet,in mm. o, 5, and I8). Nor does the row functionas a sourceof motives;sevenths, ninths, and tritonesfigureprominentlyin all parts, while majorand minor thirdsarepredominant in the row. Moreover, the row is so configured that thereis very little difference betweenits four forms:the inverted formspreserve of the same as the prime(see Ex. many pitchgroupings The between the four partsof the dialogueand the 18). relationship four row forms functions thereforeon an abstract,even hermetic, level. The first song, "Schatzerl klein," is also arranged around a centralpoint. In the letter quoted above, Weberntold Berg that the was "formative" for his single word "Rosmarin" ("richtunggebend") conceptionof the piece. He could have meant this metaphorically; he claims to have tried to capturethe "Duft und die Gestalt dieser Pflanzen" in all his music. But in the song, the word itself is emphasized in several ways. The second statement of the word "Rosmarin" falls at the exact midpoint of the piece: measure 7 is preceded and followed by six measures. Further, this measure is markedby three features:the only deviationfrom row order in the piece (the vocal high C is repeated),registralextremesin clarinet E, in both and guitar, and the first completionof the total chromatic voice and Eb clarinet parts. The third song, "Ave, Regina coelorum,"representsWebern's firstuse of simultaneous row formsin a completedcomposition.This
Example I8 Row of op. I8, no. 2, prime and inversion forms
P
0 _ , .0.J._ eyI '
~It
, - i _ -'--...L_ ..oL . ,
334
piece also makesa nod to the symmetryof the whole;it ends with the reversedforms of the rows with which it began: Ebclarinet: Guitar: Beginning P RI End R I
The invocation to the Virgin that occurs at the midpoint of the poem-"Gaude, Virgo gloriosa"--ismarkedin the vocal part by its relativelylong duration,its high pitch (c', the highest note in the voice up to that point), and the voice'sfirst use of the RI form. with which The symbol "Jungfrau-Mutter-Himmelsk6nigin" of the three Webern associated songs op. i8 goes beyond simple with a song, and beyondthe reflection of each image correspondence of the tripartiteshape of each song. This trinity is by its nature in the life of the Virgin Mary progressive,moving chronologically from youth to maturityto her assumption.The three stages of one to heaven(immortality), recapitbeing ascendfrom earth(mortality) as well. scene of Faust in the last ascent the inexorable depicted ulating The texts that Webern chose for op. 18 reflect this progressionin klein"is firmly rooted in human events on severalways: "Schatzerl earth, while "Ave regina coelorum"praises the Queen of Heaven. The second song, "Erl6sung,"mediates between the earthly and heavenly realmsas it describesthe redemptionof human penitents. The language used also progresses from the local vernacularof to "Schatzerl klein"to the more formalhigh Germanof "Erl6sung" the universalLatin of "Ave reginacoelorum." The differentkindsof twelve-tone techniquein these songs could modelthat Weof the progressive yet anothermanifestation represent bern adoptedfor the cycle. The first song, which represents youth, were forms three form row sketched).'o3 a (eventhough employs single uses four formsin succession, with "Mutter," The second, associated while the last, the hymn to the Queenof Heaven,deploystwo or more row forms simultaneously using all four transformations. throughout, exercise in the technical advance anactual reflects Evenif the progression also it can of serial represent metaphorically (theory), procedure (praxis) (see Ex. I9). the sequence"Jungfrau"--"Mutter"-*"Himmelsk6nigin" was now clear to When Webernwrote that twelve-tonecomposition whichhis op. 17 songs not to basiccompetence, he was referring him,'?4
0o3 PierpontMorganLibrarysketchbook, p.
104
18.
OpusAnton Webern,ed. Rexroth,91.
335
Example 19 Progressive relationships in op. I8

1. Schatzerlklein 2. Erl6sung peasants earth dialect 1 row form 4 forms in succession 4 forms, 2 or more simult. "Jungfrau" "Mutter"
human/divine earth,pointing High German towardheaven heaven Latin
3. Ave, Regina coelorum divine
"Himmelsk6nigin"
but insteadto his controlover different and row sketchesdemonstrate, whichhe couldnow deployaccording kindsof twelve-tone techniques, to the poeticsituation at hand. Webern evidently did not judge the third song of op. I8 to be row technique. to the othertwo becauseof its moreadvanced superior For the anthologypreparedin honor of Emil Hertzka'stwenty-fifth at UniversalEdition in 1925, Webernchose "Schatzerl anniversary of the three songs from op. 18. This klein,"the first and "simplest" occasionrepresentedthe public debut of both Webernand Berg in twelve-tone composition. Berg's contribution-two settings of "Schliesse mir die Augen beide," one tonal and one using the twelve-tone method-makes a ratherself-consciousassertionabout the progressof musicaltechnique. In choosing his "Rosmarinlied," of the text as Webernwas concernedonly aboutthe appropriateness a dedicationsong, but finally decided in its favor: "I'll just call it 'Schatzerl klein, muBtnicht traurigsein', as in my song,"he wrote to He about the technicallevel of his Berg. expressedno reservations contribution. 'I In adopting the twelve-tone method, Webern was convinced neitherof its historicalinevitability (atleastat first)nor of the need to "ensure the supremacy of Germanmusicfor the next hundredyears." Rather,he cameto the decisionfroma personaldesirethat was more modestand at the sametime moreambitious: to reflectNature'sorder in music. This could takea literalform, as in the textedvocalmelody that led to his first twelve-tonerow, or in the more abstractpresentationof the row in his laterworks. But whetherhe used one row or several, the technique was never an end in itself. For Webern, it served as a metaphorfor the ineffablein nature and heaven, and
105 "Ich uiberlegenur noch wegen des Textes; aber schlieglich der hat doch nichts zu bedeuten, d.h. wenn ich jemandem ein Lied oder Lieder widme . . . mug doch nicht der Text unbedingt eine Beziehung ausdrticken... Also meine ich kann es doch auch wie in meinem Lied ruhig heiBen: 'Schatzerl klein, muBt nicht traurig sein' " (ibid.).
336
provided a way for him to realize one of his longest-held goals in music: to grasp the ungraspable. He would later design elaborate structures in order to ensure what he and Schoenberg called Faflichkeit. In the earliest twelve-tone compositions, on the other hand, he found unprecedented freedom in relying on the row to function the way nature does, "als ein von Gott gegebenes Vorbild."'"6 This freedom, verging on the chaotic, was grounded in the row's origin in musical gesture and its echo in the artless power of the texts. The Universityof Chicago
APPENDIX
Sources
107
Sources (Op. i5, No. 4) for "MeinWeggebtjetzt voruber"
A. Pencilsketches,4 pp. Paul SacherFoundation. and permutations. i. First sketchesof vocal line; rows, transpositions, Flute, Sketchusing rows. Flute, clar., viola. N.d. indicated.Flute, clar., viola. N.d. operations 3. Sketchusingrows, contrapuntal 26 Dated clar. of entire Draft Flute, July 1922. piece. 4. of Congress. B. Ink scorewith pencil sketches,2 pp. Library One sheet, two sides, with no title or remarks. Flute, clar. Ink scoreto m. 8, then pencilsketches. 2 pp. Paul SacherFoundation. C. Ink scorewith corrections, "AntonWebernop. I6." Flute, clar. "Ruhig[halfnote] = ca." D. Ink fair copy (Stichvorlage). PierpontMorganLibrary,RobertOwen Lehman Collection. "Fiinf geistliche Lieder / fir / Gesang, Fl6te, Klarinette/ (Bass-Klar.), Trompete, / Harfe und Geige (Viola) / von / Anton Webern/ op. I5 /
2.
clar., viola. N.d. (verso of sketch of op. 15, no.
2,
dated
22
July
1922).
Paul SacherFoundation. E. Ink faircopy (piano/vocal reduction). "Finf geistliche Lieder / for / Gesang, Flite, Klarinette(auch Bass-Klar.), / von / AntonWebern / und Geige(auchBratsche) Trompete,(mit Diimpfer) and Feb. / op. / Klavierauszug" [between May 1924]. 15
and "Crucem Sources tuam," Op. i6, Nos. 2 and 5 for "DormiJesu"
Partitur" [between Feb. and May 1924].
A. Pencil sketchesfor no. 5, 8 pp. Paul SacherFoundation. Marked"5. Kanon,op. canon. No instr. designations. i. Sketches,three-voice
2.
?)or remarks. Draft i, two-voicecanon.No. instr. designations
16 (schon Somer 1923
'"6 Ibid.
these are are usually fair copies that Webernmade for presentation; manuscripts
especially numerous for op. 15, no. 5, and for op. i6.
to the presentstudy. Omitted relevant 107 This list includesonly the manuscripts
337
3. Continuation of draft I, two-voice canon. Marked "5. Kanon op. I6 (schon

Somer
1923?)."
B. Ink faircopy, nos. 2, 3, and4. PierpontMorganLibrary,RobertOwen Lehman

Collection. "Lateinische Lieder / fiir / Gesang, Klarinette u. Bass-Klarinette / von / Anton
4. Draft 2, three-voice canon. No instr. designations. Marked "5. Kanon, op. 16." 5. Continuation of draft 2. Marked "5. Canon, op. I6." 6. Continuation of draft 2. Marked "Canon V op. I7[X]6." 7. Row sketches. 8. Draft 3, three-voice canon. Clar. and bass clar. Marked "V. Canon op. 16," dated 29 October 1924 ("Angefangen August 1924").
Webern."
C. Inkfaircopy, nos. 2, 3, and4. Pierpont MorganLibrary,RobertOwen Lehman

Collection. "Anton Webern / Lateinische Lieder / fiir / Gesang, Klarinette u. Bass-
No. 2, I p.: "DormiJesu ... Canonin motu contrario" note]= 72)" "Ruhig ([quarter No. 5, I p. [no title] note]= ca 63-72)" "Bewegt ([quarter E. Ink fair copy (Stichvorlage). PierpontMorganLibrary,RobertOwen Lehman
Collection. "FuinfCanons / nach / lateinischen Texten / ftir / hohen Sopran [crossed out: Gesang], Klarinette u. Bass-Klarinette / von / Anton Webern / op. 16."
D. Ink scores with corrections. Paul Sacher Foundation. "Lateinische Liederop. 16 / Januar1923 / DormiJesu ('Wunderhorn') / Crux fidelis(Brevier) / Asperges me([Brevier]) / Crucemtuam ([Brevier]) (1924) / Christus factus est [Brevier] 1924."
/ M6dling,Neusiedlerstr.58"(provenance Klarinette MaryaFreund).
Sources M. 266 and 267 for Kinderstiicke, A. Pencil sketches for M. 266, I p. Paul Sacher Foundation. Also on same sheet: sketches for op. i6, no. I (completed 12 November Top of page: Mussette 2 Variationen I Waltzer Wintergriin Melodie Charakterstficke I Polka i Priludium
1924).
mitTiteln ohne
3 fuge I Passacaglia [sic] I Kanons
I Etude I Mazurka Chorvariationen
i Menuett Liindler i Reigen

I
Tempo: "Lieblich" B. Ink fair copy of M. 267. Paul Sacher Foundation.

"Kinderstiick (Herbst 1924)."
Sources for ThreeTraditional Rhymes,Op. 17 A. Pencil sketches for no. I, 3 pp. Paul Sacher Foundation. i. Draft of entire piece, dated Io December 1924. Bass clar., violin, horn (later clar.?). 2. Sketches of individual passages; also sketches for "Mutig tr~gst du die Last" (Karl Kraus): clar., violin, horn, cello. No. i." 3. Sketches of individual passages; row. Marked "3 Lieder, op. 17
338
B. Ink score with corrections, no. I, 2 pp. Paul Sacher Foundation. I. Mm. 1-132. Mm. 14-16; pencil sketches of individual passages. C. Pencil sketches for no. 3, 3 pp. Pierpont Morgan Library, Robert Owen Lehman Collection. Sketchbook I, pp. 3, 4, 5. Dated ii July 1925. D. Pencil sketches for no. 2, 3 pp. Pierpont Morgan Library, Robert Owen Lehman Collection. Sketchbook I, pp. 6, 7, Io. Dated 17 July I925E. Pencil sketches for no. 2, I p. Paul Sacher Foundation. Sketches of mm. 13-14F. Ink score with corrections of op. 17, 15 pp. (3 blank). Paul Sacher Foundation. "Drei Volkstexte / fiir / Gesang, Geige (auch Bratsche), Klarinette u. Bassklarinette / von / Anton Webern / op. 17." Order of songs as in published version, but Inhalt page designates that nos. 2 and 3 should be switched. G. Ink fair copy in another hand, 8 pp. Stadtbibliothek Winterthur Dep. RS 72/1. "Anton Webern / Drei Volkstexte / ffir Gesang, Violine (auch Bratsche), Klarinette und Bassklarinette / op. 17." Order of songs: I, III, II. Sources for String Trio, M. 273 A. Pencil sketches, 7 pp. Paul Sacher Foundation. i. "Ruhig," 3/8. Page numbered i, marked "Streich-Trio friihjahr 1925." 2. Page numbered 2.
3. Versoof 2.
4. 5. 6. 7.
Page numbered 3 (continued from p. 2). "Str.-Trio (friihjahr 1925)." New draft. Preliminary row sketches. Row sketches: "Reihen zum Streich-Trio, Friihjahr 1925."
Sources Op. 18 for Tbree Songs,

A. Pencil sketches for no. 2, 6 pp. Pierpont Morgan Library, Robert Owen Lehman Collection. i. Sketchbook i, pp. 1, 2, 3. Sketches for early version. Clar., bass clar., viola. "Begonnen Juni 1925." 2. Sketchbook i, pp. 19, 22, 23. Dated 27 September 1925B. Pencil sketches for no. i, 4 pp. Pierpont Morgan Library, Robert Owen Lehman Collection. Sketchbook 1, pp. i8, 19, 20, 21. Dated io September 1925C. Pencil sketches for no. 3, 4 pp. Pierpont Morgan Library, Robert Owen Lehman Collection. Sketchbook I, pp. 24, 25, 26, 27. Dated 28 October 1925. Row charts pasted into sketchbook. D. Pencil sketches for no. 3, 3 Pp. Paul Sacher Foundation. Canonic sketches, undated (possibly 1923-24, in connection with Five Canons). E. Ink fair copy of no. i, 2 pp. Library of Congress. Made for 25th anniversary of founding of Universal Edition: "Die innigsten Gluckwiinsche, sehr verehrter Herr Direktor, von Ihrem Ihnen treu und dankbar ergebenen Anton Webern." "September 1925, M6dling." F. Ink score with corrections of op. i8, io pp. Paul Sacher Foundation. "3 Lieder ffir Gesang, Es-Klarinette u. Gitarre op. 18 (1925)." G. Ink fair copy. Pierpont Morgan Library, Robert Owen Lehman Collection.
339
u. Gitarrevon AntonWebernop. i8." "DreiLiederfuir Gesang,Es-Klarinette Verso of title page: "Herrn Direktor Emil Hertzka in Verehrung u. Dankbarkeit / Anton WebernM6dling,Mai 1926." H. Ink fair copy (Stichvorlage). PierpontMorganLibrary,RobertOwen Lehman Collection. "DreiLiederftir Gesang,Es-Klarinette u. Gitarre von AntonWebernop. I8." ABSTRACT
The essay exploresAnton Webern's earliestencounters with the twelvetone methodin the contextof his previousdecade-long with preoccupation vocalmusic. Examination of Five SacredSongs,op. 15, FiveCanons,op. 16, Three TraditionalRhymes, op. 17, Three Songs, op. I8, and sketchesand drafts from 1922 to 1925 suggests that Webern did not accept Arnold methoduncritically,but alternately Schoenberg's rejectedand embracedit. The religious and folk texts that Webern set during these years, hardly anonymousciphers, were essential in helping him to articulatehis own twelve-tonetechnique.

Shreffler, Mein Weg Geht Jetzt Vorüber - The Vocal Origins of Webern's Twelve-Tone Composition (JAMS 47-2, 1994)

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"Mein Weg geht jetzt vorber": The Vocal Origins of Webern's Twelve-Tone Composition Author(s): Anne C.

The Vocal Origins of Webern's Twelve-Tone Composition*

"MeinWeg geht jetzt vortiber":

To thememory Brown of Howard Mayer

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION WEBERN'S

SOCIETY MUSICOLOGICAL JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

SOCIETY MUSICOLOGICAL JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

III" (StefanGeorge),third sketchpage. Paul Sacher Figure i. Webern,"Kunfttag Foundation,Basel. Example1

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION TABLE I

Five Sacred Songs, op. 15, nos. 2, 4*

(Berg: Chamber Concerto) (Suite, op. 29, nos. I, 2)

(Suite, op. 29, nos. 3, 4)

Sept. 1925 Oct. 1925 Nov. 1925 Dec. 1925

(op. 19, no. i) begun

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or DeutungdesMelos(1923), not Vom Melos zur Pauke(1925).

[op. 23, no. 3, composed in February 1923]...

Schoenberg and His Circle, 202, 205. Schoenberg's

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

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WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

(encircled numbers added). Paul Sacher

Mein Weg gehtjetzt vo -

Welt was acht' ich dein

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WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

Mein Fl6te ____________ 9 Klar.__ __I I 2 3 10 11 _ 4 -__

Weg geht jetzt

[U.F.] ..pp _ .p _ _-If_

OFTHEAMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL

I L" ' ' "A

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

as if taking the decision to marry."44The experience of "Mein Weg"

SOCIETY MUSICOLOGICAL JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

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Example7 (a) "DormiJesu,"op. i6, no. 2, mm. 1-2, finalversion

(b) inversional symmetryaroundG and

Webern Fiinf Canons Copyright 1928 by Universal Edition

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION Example 9 "Dormi Jesu," op. i6, no.

Copyright 1928 by Universal Edition

TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION WEBERN'S

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WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

During the next year, Webernfinally completedhis first works

and "simple" "complex" attempts.His firsttwelve-toneserialcompo-

The Twelve-Note Music, 31.

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

(b) mm. 1-3

MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNALOF THE AMERICAN

WEBERN'S TWELVE-TONE COMPOSITION

Mein Fl6te ________ 9 Klar. I I 2 3 10 11 _ 4 -__