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.