Webern's Wrong Key-Signature

Derrick Puffett
Tempo, New Ser., No. 199. (Jan., 1997), pp. 21-26.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-2982%28199701%292%3A0%3A199%3C21%3AWWK%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V
Tempo is currently published by Cambridge University Press.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained
prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in
the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/journals/cup.html.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic
journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers,
and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take
advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

http://www.jstor.org
Fri Nov 23 18:15:12 2007

Derrick Puffett

Webern's Wrong Key-Signature

The attribution of influence in music - usually,

the influence of one composer on another - is a
r~otoriouslyslippery business, one whose results
are apt to seem arbitrary and impressionistic.'
Recently musicologists, inspired by the example
of Harold Bloom in literature (The Anxiety of
Influence, 1973, and several subsequent works)2
have tried to make the study of influence more
rigorous.3 This has sometimes meant the setting
up of a formidable theoretical apparatus, the
complexity of which can make one lose sight of
the simplicity of the musical relationships
involved. The pursuit of theory easily becomes an
end in itself: as one commentator has observed,
references to Bloom, in such discussions, have
now become more or less de rigueur, with authors
rushing to demonstrate their fadiarity with
misprision, revisionary ratios and other Bloomian
categories4 As will be apparent, I am not
primarily interested in influence as a matter of
.?nxiety: influence when it shows itself is usually
obvious enough (by which I mean obvious to the
ear).
,' and the obviousness of the connexion tends
to make it uninteresting and further discussion
redundant.
Chronically anxious about most things, Anton
Webern is urhkely to have avoided worrying
about his debt to other composers; even when he

A case in point is an article by Kevin Korsyn, already much

clted in the literature: 'Towards a New Poetics of Musical
Influence', Music Ana!ysis, Vol.10, Nos 1-2 (March-July 1991).

proclaimed indebtedness, as with Schoenberg, he

is apt to sound defensive. And the music he took
care not to publish may tell us more than he
wanted us to know about his musical antecedents.
In most cases the musical 'reference' - to Brahms
in the chamber music, for instance - is of a
general nature and not particularly informative.
But just occasionally one finds a reference that is
so specific that it serves to pinpoint other
relationshios and thus duminate a ooint that is
usually made only in general terms.
Ex.1 gives the first four bars of his early song
'Aufblick' (1903),5to a poem by Richard Dehmel.
One recognizes immediately the influence of
Hugo Wolf, especially of those songs with a fourpart, 'string-quartet-hke' texture that are so
characteristic a part of his style; there are many
examples in the Italientides Liederbuch. 'Ihe drooping
phrases, together with the general chromaticism
(though not the vocal writing, which is less
fragmentary than Wolf tends to be), may even
suggest more specific antecedents, such as the
song 'Lebe wohl' from the Monke collection.
The first bar in particular commands attention
because it occurs at the very beginning of the
song. But it would so so wherever it occurred
because of the idiosvncratic notation: the succession Bb-Bbb-~b' is most unusual, not to
say unheard-of, in a G minor-major context.
Although the notation might possibly be justified
on voice-leading grounds, it seems unnecessarily
complicated, even perverse, to write Bbb when
At( would do. A partial explanation comes when
we look at the opening of 'Lebe wohl' (Ex.2).
Wolfs song is in G flat, and the first three notes
of the vocal line. harmonized with the characteristic string-quartet-hke accompaniment, are BbBbb-~b. Thls is of course the logical way to
write these notes in a G flat context. Such a
consideration does not in itself explain why
Webern should write these notes in the same way.
But it does higfight the fact that what we have
here is a pitch-specijic reference to the Wolf, a
reference which is all the more remarkable for

Nicholas Marston, review of neory, Analysis and Meaning in

Music, ed. Anthony Pople (Cambridge:C W , 1994), inJournal
ofthe &a1 Musical Associatlofi, Vo1.120, Part 2 (1995), p.291.

No.2 of the Eight Early Songs published posthumously by

Hans Moldenhauer (New York: Fischer, n.d. [copyright
19611).

'

A model example of a tradtional luM1 is Robin Holloway's

book Debussy and Wagner (London: Eulenburg, 1979).
Holloway works by a method of collocation, showing
similarities between passages often related by common
dramatic or literary ideas. More recently Timothy Martin has
employed a s d r method to show the influence of Wagner
on James Joyce: Joyce and Wagner (Cambridge: C W , 1991).
f i e h t of Joyce's allusions to Wagner at the end of Martin's
book makes his case far more persuasively, in my view, than
the arguments that lead up to it. See also the important article
by Charles Rosen, 'Influence: Plagiarism and Inspiration',
19th-Century Music, Vo1.4, No.2 (Fall 1980).
Harold Bloom, 7he Ann'ety of Influenre: A 7%eory of Poetry
(London: OW, 1973); see also A Map of Misreading (Oxford:
OW, 1975) and &tics oflnfiuence (New Haven: Schwab, 1988).

CI

22

Webem i Wrong Key-Signature

Ex. 1
Webem, 'Aufblick', bars 1 4
Klagend, nicht zu langsam

U - ber

un

sre

Lie

be

hangt ei - ne tie

fe

Trau

er - wei

de.

Ex.2
Wolf, 'Lebe wohl', bars 1 4
Sehr lawsam. innin und leidenschahlich

involving a 'perversion' of the usual notation: it is

almost as if Webern has written the song in G flat
and then moved the three lower parts up a
semitone to disguise the resemblance.
I adnut I am riding a hobby-horse of mine.6 A
reference within a work to a source outside it,
whether it takes the form of deliberate quotation
(as in the 'Hero's Works of Peace' section of
Strauss's Ein Heldenleben) or unconscious paraphrase (as we seem to have here), must surely
carry a particular significance if it occurs at the
exact same pitch as the external source. Wagner's
leitmotive technique makes much play with this.
O n the other hand it is not easy to define what the
significance of such a reference might be. There
is of course the general matter of Wolfs
'influence' on Webern, but this is well known and
hardly needs underlining. There is also a general
similarity of mood between the two songs:
Dehmel's poem describes a state of gloom
overwhelming two lovers (who 'look up' to a

great weeping d o w tree at night, with its

shadows), whtle Morike's describes the pain of
farewell. But beyond these general points some
more specific ones can be made.
We know that Webern knew this particular
song of Wolfs intimately because he orchestrated
it.7 Moreover, he did so in the same year that
he composed 'Aufblick'. There is, therefore,
circumstantial evidence to support this particular
case of 'influence'. But the reference to 'Lebe
wohl' is only the first of several such references in
this song. The rising third, followed by a
descen&g " semitone,-in the third bar -.the
pattern intensified by a pair of crescendo/
decrescendo hairpins - is strongly reminiscent of
the opening of Wolfs 'Frage und Antwort',
though this time the reminiscence is not at the
same itch. At the end of the first stanza (bars 9101the music cadences with a 4-3 suspension over
the dominant which is a further borrowing from
'Lebe wohl' (the last bar before the piano

See my articles "'Lass Er die Musi, wo sie kt": Pitch

Specificity in Strauss', in Richard Struuss and His World, ed.
Bryan Gdham (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992)
and '"Music That Echoes w i t h One" for a Lifetime: Berg's
Reception of Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisandp', Music and
Letters, Vo1.76, No.2 (May 1995). p.246.

'See Hans Moldenhauer, in collaboration with Rosaleen

and
Moldenhauer, Anton von Webem: A Chronick of His
Work (London: Gollancz, 1978) [henceforth 'Moldenhauer'],
p.67. Apparently the first page of Webern's orchestration is
rmssing. The Eight Early Songs are &cussed by Moldenhauer
(without any mention of Wolf), ibid., pp.62-4.

Life

Webemi Wrong Key-Signature

23

is that all references are to songs from the

Miirike-Liederbuch. (My citation of the Italienisches
Liederbuch above was a deliberate red herring,
the sort of connexion that would indeed be
irresponsible unless backed up by evidence more
specific.) There is a certain historical interest in
knowing that Webern was more deeply Influenced
by one Wolf songbook than by another. Such an
assertion could be supported by references to
other Miin'ke-Lieder in the early songs. Two of
these references are pitch-specific (though
neither is as s&g
as that in 'Aufblick', with its
Horch - ein ferner Mund - vom Dom:'perverse'
notation).
One occurs at the climax of
Glockenchore . . .
the Gustav Fake setting 'Fromm' (1902).8 Thls
- to that of Wolfs 'In der Friihe', another song time the reference is to Wolfs 'Gesang Weylas',
that ends with the sound of bells. Here the open the text of which Webern had copied into his
fifths in the bass (marked 'wie Glocken'), the
diary;9 the song was composed in D
sequential nature of the transpositions (including flat, but in the BreitkopfjPeters edition that was
one at the major third) and (for the only time in Webem's likeliest source it is transposed to
the song) the fragmentary vocal writing combine E flat.1 Strumming, harp-Wre textures (a feature
to form a startlingly direct reminiscence - of the song as a whole) and pious/religiose text
Ex.3

postlude). The middle section brings a change of

time signature to 1218 and a one-bar 'ostinato'
pattern (a pattern repeated, as it happens, at the
interval of a major third, one of a number of
Wolfian thud-relationshps we shall encounter):
the reference here is less specific but may be to a
song such as 'Im Friihling' (614 rather than 1218,
but the same flowing rhythm). More substantial
than any of these last three connexions, however,
is the relationship of the music of Webern's final
lines -

Webem, 'Fromm', bars 24-6

[Langsm und i ~ i Ig

hrr

und mein

dich

Glikk.

Wolf, 'Gesang Weylas', bars 15-17

[Longsam undfeierlichl

"

be"

gen

rich

K6

ni

though*again, not one at the

pitch. (The
very end of the song, however, with its daring,
even
unresolved six-four
more daringly, by step, is quite u&e Wolf.)
The point of all this reference-hunting* which
might well appear arbitrary and impressionistic,

ge, die dei -re

WII

- ta rind.

No.3 of the 7hree Iberns for Voice and Piano (New York:
Fischer, n.d. [copyright 19611).
Moldenhauer,p.42. In a letter Webem describes this song as
'especdy beaut&$: see ibid., p.44.
lo I

refer to the version for high voice, h c h retains most of

wolfs O@
keys: 'Gesang WeyLs' is an exception.

24

Webern's Wrong Key-Signature

aside, there are at least three points of s i d a r i t y

which Webern has combined into a composite
'reference': (a) the approach to the six-four,
involving a flattening of the submediant; (6) the
climactic vocal phrase, G5-F5-Eb5, in Wolfs
setting, transferred to the accompaniment in
Webern;" and (c) the final vocal cadence itself,
G4-F4-Eb4 in both songs (see Ex.3).
The other pitch-specific reference comes in
'Heimgang in. der Friihe' (1903),12 a setting
of Detlev von Lhencron. Here the depiction
of early morning evokes Wolfs 'Verlassene
Magdlein'. The specific connexion occurs at the
Ex.4

chords restate a similar progression in the Wolf

(see Ex.4). My point is not the use of the chords as
such - augmented-fifth chords are a commonplace of Webern's early language - but the fact
that they occur in the same order, forming a
harmonic counter-structure13 in which all four
chords together complete the total chromatic.
The harmonic context is different, of course, not
least because of Webern's bass pedal C#, and the
chords are respelt enharmonically. Yet the
similarity remains stnlung. There is even an echo,
in the little piano interlude that follows Webern's
second stanza. of the dotted-note motive that

Webern, 'Heirngang in der Friihe', bars 14-21

[ Gehend]

I-

" und

dm Vo - gel - lied

'$chl;ih noch-in den Zwei - gen.

Wolf, 'Das verlassene MBgdlein', bars 23-37 (piano part only)

start ofwebern's second stanza (top of the second

page of score), where four augmented-fifth
" There
l2

is also an echo of Wagner's Rheingold here.

The last of the Eight Early Songs.

I 3 The term is Christopher Wintle's: see esp. 'KontraSchenker: Largo e mesto from Beethoven's op.10, NO.^', Music
Analpis, Vo1.4, Nos.1-2 (March-July 1985) and 'Analysis and
Psychoanalysis: Wagner's Musical Metaphors', in Companion
to Contempormy Musical 73ought. ed. John Pdynter and others
(London: Routledge, 1992).

Webern's Wrong Key-Signature

precedes Wolfs final verse (x in the Example);
and in both songs the motive helps to prepare a
move (in Wolfs case, a return) to A minor. The
is also striking.
suniladty of register at b s
Further resemblances, though unimpressive
when taken in isolation, serve to support the
'case'. The four-part texture f a d a r from
'Aufblick' and 'Lebe wohl' returns in the fist bar
of the piano postlude to 'Nachtliche Scheu'
(1907),14an otherwise rather Brahmsian piece, at
least in piano texture. 'Gebet' (1903)15 not
surprisingly invokes Wolfs Morike setting of the
same name, though here the similarity is one of
general harmonic language (see in particular the
passage at the words 'Korn, das der armen Seele
Hunger stillt') rather than of specific recall.
(None of these 'further resemblances' is pitchspecific.) The false relation insistently hammered
home in 'Der Tod' (1904)16 is very hke that at
the end of Wolfs 'Heimweh'. And, perhaps most
intriguing of all, the whole of 'Sommerabend'
(1903)17appears to be an extended paraphrase of
Wolfs 'Um Mitternacht': the resemblance is
especially close at the top and bottom of the
second page of the Webern (third-relations
again!) and throughout the third page, though it
is difficult to draw precise parallels.
So what is the 'case' being made?That Webern
took a particular interest and pleasure in Wolfs
Morike settings, as opposed to his Eichendorff,
Goethe, Spanish or Italian collections.This case is
reinforced by historical considerations: by remarks
such as the one Webern made in a letter of 1927,
that 'Auf eine Christblume I' (another Monke
setting) 'is perhaps the most beakful [song] that
Wolf has written';18 by the fact that all three of
the Wolf songs he orchestrated were settings of
Monke;19 and even by a curious piece of
'negative' evidence. The Eight Early Songs contain
a setting of Goethe's 'Blumengruss' (1903). I find
it hard to believe that Webern would have made
this setting had he known Wolfs setting (in the
Coethe-fiederbuch) of the same poem. Wolfs
version is superior in every way - imaginatively,
as a setting of the words (all ofwhich he gets right
- Webern makes a mistake in the last line) and in
its avoidance of banality (which Webern signally
fails to avoid here) - to Webern's; and it hardly
l4 No.4 of the Five Songs & - r Poems by Richard Dehmel (New
York: Fischer, n.d. [copyright 19621).

No.2 of the niree Songs after Poems by Ferdinand Avenarius

(New York: Fischer, n.d. [copyright 19611).

25

seem Lkely that the 20-year-old Webern was

attempting an 'alternative interpretati~n'.~~
More significantly, there is no sign at any point
that Webern has been influenced by Wolfs
setting in its handling of poetic declamation.
Could it be that he actuallv did not know it?
There is, after all, no reason to assume that he did.
And yet on the very next page of Wolfs Goethefiederbuch is a setting of the same Goethe poem 'Gleich und gleich', with its famous reference to a
bee - that Webern was to make so successfullyhis
own many years later!z1 This is probably just
coincidence. It can be assumed that he knew
Wolfs Goethe volume, not an obscure publication, by the time he wrote 'Gleich und gleich' though by this date his style had changed
so radically that he could have felt little
compunctio'n about tackLng the words.
A further aspect to this question is Webern's
attitude to Monke. We know that he set no
Monke poems - although he copied some of
them out - and yet one might have thought that
Monke was the perfect poet for him. With his
simple piety, amazing landscape-descriptions and
leanings towards the mystical, Monke seems Lke
an anticipation of the Hddegard Jone whose
verses came to preoccupy web& in his last years
(though an anticipation at a much higher level
than the actuality!). (Another of the Wolf songs
Webern orchestratedz2was a setting of Morike's
'Der Knabe und das Immlein', which also
concerns a bee: premonitions of the Drei Lieder,
op.23, and the Second Cantata.) Could it be,
again, that Webern was put off sekng the poems
of Monke by the knowledge that Wolf had done
it so well?23His avoidance of this poet's verses. as
a vehicle for musical setting, seems in a curious
way to confirm his a h a t i o n for Wolf. There is
no point, after all, in s c h g the same mountain
twice - even one described by Monke.
The substantive t e c h c a l point to emerge
from all b s is that a ~ e d a r i t of
v notation such
as I have described can put us on to a pitch20 Cf. the letter of Mozart quoted by Rosen: 'For practice I
have also set to music the aria "Non so d'onde viene" which
has been so beautifullycomposedby U.C.] Bach.Just because
1 know Bach's setting so well and hke it so much, and because
it is always ringing in my e m , I wished to try and see whether
in spite of all this I could not write an aria totally unlike his'.
Quoted in 'Influence: Plagiarism and Inspiration', p.87.

'Gleich und gleich', No.4 of the

Vier Lieder, op.12 (1917).

l5

2'

l6

No.7 of the Eight Early Songs.

The third was 'Denk es, o Seele', with its proto-Webernian

shifts of register and texture.

I'

No.5 of the same collection.

l8 Quoted
l9

in Moldenhauer, p.668 (n.1).

See entry in Moldenhauer's catalogue: ibid., pp.746-7.

22

Such knowledge did not deter Webem's contemporary

Othmar Schoeck, another Wolf admuer, &om malang 40
Monke settings late in life: see Das holde Bescheiden, op.62
(1947-9).
23

specific relationship which may, in turn, alert us

to relationships of a more general kind. These
need not always be a matter of 'influence': I can
imagine such pedarities yielding insights into
chronology and genre, for example. Yet it is
interesting to speculate on possibilities afforded
by a study of the early songs from the point
of view of other composers Webern admired,
notably Brahms, Strauss, Mahler and Schoenberg. One particular opportunity that suggests
itself is an investigation of the relationships
between the Stefan George settingsz4 that
Webern chose not to include in his opp.3 and 4
and those in Schoenberg's Das Buch &r Hangenden
Carten: 'Trauer 1', especially, shows astonishing
simdarities, pitch-specific and non-specific, to

songs in Schoenberg's cycle. The interesting

point here is that the chronology of the two
works overlapped: Das Buch was composed in
1908-9 while Webern's songs, according to
Moldenhauer's Prefatory Note, originated in
1907-9 (unfortunately Moldenhauer does not
give the dates of individual songs). In such a
context considerations of influence hardly matter
- though Webern's decision to suppress these
compositions surely betrays anxiety of a kind.
What is fascinating is to recognize how the styles
of these two composers, styles so different in
many ways, became almost indistinguishable at
a crucial point in their development. Further
research on this topic seems in order.

Music examples by Webern @ copyright 1961, 1965

by Carl Fischer Inc., New York.
Published by Moldenhauer as Four Stdun George Songs
(New York: Fischer, n.d. [copyright 19661).

24

Gottfried von Einem

1918 - 1996

BOOSEY&HAWKES