Peripetie Flashcards
What period was Peripetie written in?
Expressionism (early 20th century)
Schoenberg founded what including which 2 composers?
Second Viennese School including Berg and Webern
When was Peripetie composed?
1909
What does Peripetie mean?
‘A sudden reversal’
3 reasons why Peripetie is difficult to perform
- Large orchestra required
- Expensive
- Not many perform due to its experimental nature
Instrumentation of Peripetie
- Large orchestra = over 90 players (woodwind, percussion, strings, large brass section)
- Instrumentation changes rapidly throughout = contrasts in timbre
- Extreme ranges in pitch
- Unusual effects (e.g. cymbals played with cello bow)
What does Haupstimme mean?
Principal melody
Main melodic line
What does Nebenstimme mean?
Secondary melody (Second most important melodic line)
What does divisi mean?
Players divide into groups
What does pizzicato mean?
Pluck the strings
What does arco mean?
Bow the strings
What is a tremolo?
Note is rapidly repeated
Metre of Peripetie
3/4, 2/4 and 4/4
Melody of Peripetie
- Made up of short, fragmented motifs that are combined in different ways
- Disjunct, very angular melodies created for example by octave displacement
- Motifs varied using inversion and rhythmic augmentation
What does octave displacement mean?
Unexpectedly moving individual notes of main melody into different octave
Tempo of Peripetie
Sehr rasch (very quick)
Rhythms of Peripetie
- Complex and varied
- Change quickly
- Layered to create a complex contrapuntal texture
Tonality of Peripetie
Atonal
Harmony of Peripetie
- Dissonant
- Chords and melodies often built from hexachords (and compliments)
Texture of Peripetie
- Mostly contrapuntal
- Some monophonic and homophonic passages
- Complex textures built up through use of imitation and inversion e.g. ending of piece, 3 different canons heard at same time
Dynamics of Peripetie
- Sudden changes
- Extreme contrasts (ppp-fff)
Structure of Peripetie
Free rondo (ABACA)
What is a hexachord?
Chord made up of 6 notes
What is a compliment?
6 semitones not heard in hexachord
What word means ‘tone colour melody’?
Klangfarbenmelodie
