Nuts and Bolts: Finales, Schoenberg

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Do curso por Curtis Institute of Music

O Mundo do Quarteto de Cordas

282 classificações

Curtis Institute of Music

O Mundo do Quarteto de Cordas

282 classificações

Arnold Steinhardt, first violin of the internationally acclaimed Guarneri String Quartet, invites music listeners to the world of the string quartet repertoire and ensemble. Journey with him and interpretive analysis instructor Mia Chung through the history and features of quartet music, colored by stories of legendary quartets and insights from the stage. This season's Curtis courses are sponsored by Linda Richardson in loving memory of her husband, Dr. Paul Richardson.

Na lição

The Explorers: Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Ives, Cage, and Reich

This program's quartets were written during the 20th century, a time of technological exploration and avant-garde expression. Visionary composers such as Schoenberg (Op. 10), Webern (Op. 5), Berg (Lyric Suite), Ives (No. 1), Cage (String Quartet in Four Parts), and Reich (Different Trains) used four string instruments in ways far different than Haydn. What did these composers dare to do, and how does one play works that present an entirely new and unexplored language?

Schoenberg at the Threshold7:18

Atonality and Expressionism8:50

Nuts and Bolts: Finales, Schoenberg5:58

Aizuri Demonstration: Quartet No. 2, IV. Entruckung9:14

Conheça os instrutores

Arnold Steinhardt
Performance Faculty
Dr. Mia Chung
Instructor of Interpretive Analysis
Musical Studies

Welcome to the “Nuts and Bolts” segment for Program 6, The Explorers. Today, I will

be demonstrating the ideas and building blocks

found in the final movements of Schoenberg’s String Quartet

No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10 and Ives’s String Quartet No. 1. The two

are very different works, but both display an extraordinary level

of adventurousness and invention. Let’s begin with Schoenberg’s 2nd string

quartet composed in 1908. As discussed earlier,

the quartet is in the key of F-sharp minor, but in the final movement,

he makes a bold move toward a new musical texture as inspired by

Stefan George’s poem “Rapture.” The first line of this poem is: “I feel

air from another planet.”

In order to create the otherworldly quality suggested by this text,

Schoenberg introduces atonality or music without a key.

In the proverbial “glass half-empty or half-full” sense, Schoenberg viewed keyless

music as being pan-tonal, that is including all keys,

rather than as atonal, which is without any key at all.

But what exactly does this music look and sound like? Let’s take a look.

If we examine the opening bars in this final movement,

“air from another planet” is certainly present.

The cello, viola, 2nd violin and 1st violin pass delicate strands of notes around

from one to the next in the super quiet dynamic of “pianissisimo.”

The sixteen pitches in just the cello and viola alone cover all 12 half-steps

in an octave plus a few duplications. It's an example of chromatic saturation,

where all the half-steps of an octave occur in a very short span of time.

Here's what it sounds like.

[PLAYS]

The chain continues in the second violin and the first violin,

with another set of pitches that does the same.

[PLAYS]

Together, the passage sounds like this.

[PLAYS]

So, from the onset, all the

chromatic pitches of the octave are present and are used freely

without any reference to a particular key. We see a similar use of pitches

in the voice part. It wanders downward and snakes around, eventually covering

all the half-steps of the octave in eight measures.

Here is how the melody sounds.

[PLAYS]

Schoenberg’s free use of all pitches without a hierarchical organization

is a stunning departure from the traditional tonal

or key-centered language that defined western music up to this time.

At the conclusion of the work, however, Schoenberg makes a fascinating

harmonic move that flips all of this on its head.

In the final measures, he recalls the wispy fragments I described

earlier in the opening of the movement, and then concludes the work

with the restful harmony of F-sharp major. Notice that the F-sharp minor chord

makes a passing appearance before this major mode conclusion.

It's an amazing moment. Suddenly, everything about this music

comes into sharp focus. Rapture, or freedom from the suffering

expressed in the 3rd movement, has indeed taken place as symbolized by the

key of F-sharp major. According to German tradition,

the affective description of this particular key

is triumph over adversity. Its appearance is in essence a musical sigh of relief.

Here is how these final measures sound.

[PLAYS]

Schoenberg’s return to tonality at the end of the work is effective

in light of the text’s meaning. However, as Schoenberg continued

toward greater use of the atonal or pan-tonal language

in later works, he felt that adherence to a key was forced, almost arbitrary.

Eventually, he abandoned tonality.

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