Schoenberg: 'Peripetie'

Question 1

when was the piece composed?

Answer 1

the Five Orchestral Pieces were composed in 1909

Question 2

with which school of composers is Schoenberg often associated with?

Answer 2

Berg & Webern

Question 3

features of expressionist music

Answer 3

1. aim is to express feelings as intensely as possible

2. expressionist art is often dark and moody, but it can also communicate feelings of happiness and joy

Question 4

instrumentation

Answer 4

1. it requires a large orchestra of at least 90 players
2. the instrumentation changes rapidly throughout, creating many contrasts in timbre
3. performers are often required to play at the extremes of their ranges (too high or too low)
4. unusual effects are used: cymbals are played with both a mallet and a cello bow

Question 5

instruments

Answer 5

piccolo: small flute (plays an octave higher than written)
cor anglais: a lower version of the oboe
bass clarinet: a large clarinet (sound an octave lower than a standard clarinet)
contrabassoon: a large bassoon (sounds an octave lower than written)
tam-tam: a large gong

Question 6

melody

Answer 6

1. ‘Peripetie’ is made up of many short, fragmented motifs that are combined in different ways. In the first 18 bars alone, seven different motifs are quickly introduced.
2. melodies are disjunct (with many large leaps) and so often sound very angular - Schoenberg uses octave displacement, unexpectedly moving individual notes of the main melody into a different octave.
3. the melody is varied through techniques such as inversion (a melody is turned upside down) and rhythmic augmentation (the notes become twice as long).

Question 7

rhythm, metre and tempo

Answer 7

1. the metre changes between 3/4, 2/4 and 4/4
2. the tempo is Sehr rasch - very quick
3. rhythms are complex and varied, and change quickly. In parts of the work, Schoenberg layers a number of different rhythmic patterns on top of each other to create a complex contrapuntal texture.

Question 8

tonality and harmony

Answer 8

1. the piece is atonal. It uses a lot of dissonant harmony.

2. chords and melodies are often built from hexachords (groups of 6 notes)

Question 9

texture and dynamics

Answer 9

1. the texture is largely contrapuntal, with occasional monophonic and homophonic moments
2. complex textures are built up through the use of techniques such as imitation and inversion. For example, the final climax of the piece is created from three different canons that are all heard at the same time.
3. there are frequent sudden changes of dynamics, leading to extreme contrasts between ppp and fff

Question 10

structure

Answer 10

the piece is in free rondo form, with five sections (ABACA). It is called rondo because it is very different to the traditional type of rondo heard in the Classical period, when different sections were clearly contrasted.