Schoenberg- 'Peripetie' (4th of 5 Orchestral Pieces) Flashcards
Date of composition
1909
Genre
Expressionist
Genre stylistics
Atonal One intense emotion Full range of instruments Timbre is important Extreme dynamics
Structure
Loosely in rondo form (ABACA)
Section A (tempo and rhythm)
‘Sehr rasch’- very quick
Lots of very fast movements
Feels faster than it is
Piece starts with a forte ‘hexagonic fanfare’
Dynamic extremes
Section B (texture)
Counterpoint texture (type of polyphonic) Two melodies playing at the same time
Section A2 (tempo and rhythm)
Horns play a sustained hexachord
Calmer section
Develops many motifs from the first section in reverse order
Section C (tempo and rhythm)
Tempo alternates between:
‘Ruhiger’- calmer
‘Heftig’- passionate
A calmer section that develops many of the motifs from the first section in revers order.
Section A3 (tempo and rhythm)
Some of the original rhythms
Motifs are combined in counterpoint
Harmony/ Tonality
Hexachord(6 notes played together) played by horns
Six remaining notes are called the compliment
Lots of dissonance
Melody
Klangfarbenmelodie (tone colour melody)
The melody is constantly switched between the instruments
All the timbre’s explored in the melody
Haupstimme- principal voice, main melody line
Nebenstimme- secondary voice, next most important melody line
Texture
Regularly changing, very fragmented
Section A (texture)
Different combinations of instruments come in for short bursts
Busy texture
Homophonic, hexachord played by the horns
Monophonic, clarinet line
Section B (texture)
Short bursts (mainly woodwind and bass)
Loud and strong
Violins and cellos play soft and gentle melodic phrases
Section A2 (texture)
Sparse texture
Strings and horn flourishes
Strong homophonic horn hexachord
Section C (texture)
Sparse texture
A few instruments overlap
Quiet dynamics
‘Rhutiger’ calmer
Section A3 (texture)
More and more instruments layered
More motifs explored
Crescendos to a huge climax
One fff chord before a sparse quite tremolo ending
Instrumentation
Enormous orchestra
Strings play tremolo in the last two bars of the piece
Explored instruments: horn players were told to put their hand further up the bell than usual- produces a thin nasal sound
Mutes used when playing fff to create a different sound
Dynamics
Extremes- incredibly loud the almost silent
