THEMATIC IXTEGRATION IX BERG'S ALTEXBERG SO!o!GS
30I
To the ear this thematic complexity is merely a wash of jangling dissonance, in the midst of which, at bar g, an impassioned theme enters on the violas, later to be joined by the cellos (Ex. 3). This theme appears to be completely
Thematic Integration in Berg's Altenberg Songs BY
XICHOLAS CHADWICK Music examples by permission of rniversal Edition (Alfred .-\. Kalmus Ltd.)
THE symphonic structure of Alban Berg's Fiinf Orclzesterlieder nach AnsiciJts_ karten-Texten von Peter Altenberg, op. 4, makes a fascinating study, the results of which could fill a whole book. I intend here merely to draw attention to the chief points of interest in the thematic relationships. The publication of the orchestral score has made it possible for the student of Berg to unravel the daunting complexity of the orchestral introduction to the first song, "Seele, wie bist du schi:iner". At the very beginning, which 1 have quoted in a simplified form (Ex. I), there are already four important Ex.1 CL, Vln.,Xyl.
M8.ssige Achtel (."): u.96j Alles ppp, ohne Steigerung :~_
,.®,
-spiel 8va)
lt.J~
.J
@, ppP
Piano
una corda
Celesta
~-
~
:zr··
tJ
lt.J fl
/ ®
'":r
3
)l
Ex.4: •ars trr.
'L
,.r-'f"''
..
dl J1
---
7'
'~
J\
-
"'3""
)\
'
'7
..A_J\
,.. ..~q~IL
h ~qi£..
/!-
L..
~.!
-
(sounds as W!"itten )
I
s
...
pp
ll
I
I'-. ' .
_./.
s
!l®
h.,.-----:-----.... .,.
-
'
Cl.,VIa.
Trpt.muted
--
-
-
(Pice_, Glocken .
new until its first three notes are recognized as identical with the trumpet motive S from the opening. After two tentative starts the complete theme S is stated, beginning at bar II. :\Ieanwhile the accompanying web of sound moves higher and higher to congeal at bar I4. A powerful statement of R leads to the climax at bar IS, which releases the tension in preparation for the entry of the voice. However, the most interesting feature of this orchestral prelude is that even the use of sequence to raise the pitch of the accompanying web of sound is far from arbitrary. If the first notes of all the different pitch-forms of the quaver version of R are taken in order (Ex. 4), the result is a five-note row,
pp
G-A flat-B flat-C sharp-E, which acts as a sort of motto theme in the course of the cycle and which I shall call Y.
Harp ·o;
bOil
~·~--l;;;t
motives present. Of these, R, T and V are used in this song only, but S reappears later in the cycle. V in due course changes into a new motive, X (bar g, Ex. 2), consisting of two rising series of interlocking perfect fourths a tritone apart, followed by a descending sernitone. Ex. 2: motive @ Celesta.
r
1
(sounds~
~ j~
~I
Ex.5
y
•r
(!) '
.J.
"!/'
i
~f
&..
:__
r-3---,
:
q"f
B·· r--3--,
:
r-3-,
:.
jlnJ J Ji,P)I•J J J~R J qJIDiiCrqJ JN;; ~nd i.i-ber bei- den liegt noch ein trii-ber Haucb,eb' da.sGe- wOik-
>t
I
sich ver- :tog!
The song itself has its own independent motives, one of which appears on the piccolo in the passage quoted in Ex. 6. One seemingly new motive, which is shown on two solo second violins at the very beginning of the same example, turns out to be a combination of the inversion of the first three notes of Y
THE}!ATIC IXTEGRAT!OX IX BERG's ALTEXBERG SONGS
THE MUSIC REVIEW
302
with the chord T. Notable features of the song are the statement of Y by voice (Ex. 5), and the closing bars (Ex. 6), which, although highly atm,Jsp·heJic Ex.6 (All
~ b... I=!=;::
instruments written at t h) f'J soun d mg PI_;;.
Ex.S Ein wenig bewegter PP r-a -<
-J ~~' qJl~QtJ lq@
}!
Ich ha-be ge- war- tet,
Piccolo ~
PP~
~
fl
Celesta.
(+ SoloVln.I)
...
'c
I~ inverted (PP-P)
(J;?
pliZ.
""..<:
~~
~~
~
;::
CD
In the light of what has been said so far, the final and longest song, "Hier ist Friede", is seen as a recapitulation of the whole cycle (Ex. g). The first Ex. 9:
PP·
~
I)@~
-
(!) T
iiV
2 Solo Vlns. II ~
simplification of opening of 5th song.
'l'1emlich I angs am (Passaca g I'IR )(Tempo
1\
3"'-1
CD/ ~ /
.<>.
--._.....
pp (niclat ~ • •bt'z)
G)
),p---
®
(ohne Cf'tsc.)
Harmonium
:
[PP1']
~:
® Double-Basso on
:~#
Ein ·wenig breiter Tempo II
fl
[tT -...:__...
n arco Fl ag. g 1·
iSS.
All Vlns. except SoloVln.I
~~
a...d E . Saite
~
~ ~c;:-==<1)PP"""'"'P -<::
-<
"'·
:
-=--.="""'
-
==
L..3...J
PPPP
~
I ,
0.
Harmonium
=tq~~
~ ::.J Ll
~· ~ F
hJ hJ1. q..J.O)' ~L.JI.bJ)l ~
7~
~
*)
Violas 'Cellos Double- Basses
'
.
(p)
*Jnurch Streichen auf den LOehern des Saitenhlters htrvorzubrir:gen!
in terms of sound, are nevertheless totally thematic, even down to the celest•al glissando, which is an extension of Y. The middle three songs, which are in many respects the most inten~stimgl of the set, are considerably less important in the general thematic However, X appears on a solo cello at an important cadence-point second song, "Sahst du nach dem Gewitterregen den W ald? l? !"and a ~nrn"'"'h:tta camouflaged version of Y occurs in the voice part of the fourth song, ' · ist gekommen" (Ex. 8). The third song, "Uber die Grenzen des All", uses themes from the preceding songs, but introduces in the central section important oboe melody, theme Z (Ex. 7).
Ex.10
Ex. Sehr 7: moiive ® ( . n· z) l " zart a Jempo Massige , ,e,-Jez acce . • • - - z Yasc".
lf,"\f) r ft •r1!JB1
&otct5i
I
five bars consist of the five-note row Y on cellos and bass clarinet. At bar 5 the celebrated "twelve-note" theme enters on flute and harp. But its importance lies not in its serialism (there are in all thirteen notes, since the final F natural must not be discounted) but in the fact that it has been heard before: for it is simply theme S, unheard since the introduction to the first song and now transformed by means of rhythmic alterations and melodic transpositions. Beneath this, from bar 7 onwards, a grossly augmented version of X appears on bassoon, double-bassoon, trombone and double-bass, while at bar 10 the oboe theme Z from the third song is heard. The only new theme, which I call the "Friede" motive, is in reality a combination of the falling sixth of Z and the first three notes of S (Ex. 10).
t
1
',g===-~·)1! p-=== Hier _
ist
-==~
Frie
-
de.
r THE MUSIC REVIEW
In _addition to these unambiguous connexions with the preceding songs, there IS the remarkable correspondence between the setting of the Words "Siehe, hier sind keine Menschen, keine Ansiedlungen", in this song, and that of the words, "Siehe, Fraue, auch du brauchst Gewitterregen!", in the second song (Ex. n).
The Significance of Aleatoricism m twentieth-century Music BY
Ex.11: (i)
from 5th song, (jj) from 2nd song. Sie. he, bier sind keine Men • schen, kei - ne
,
AKTHO):!Y CROSS
An· sied-lun-gen ..
~ *~ra- 11 (f bw •(ita ,·rFJ~I~ J ,Pij J·, ~ ,; . ~l ': b; i ! i=r-~b~ r-Q
(i) ,
<'' ifo I ' : ' 0'
Sie- he,
r 'f I' ~6
Frau - e,
a.ucb
•u du
cyeJ$j'·'' I
#&CCI
brauchst Ge- wit
,I
present century has seen many revolutionary innovations in the technique of composition, and criticism has generally been directed at the fact that these have resulted either in a high degree of disorder (atonality), or in the imposition of an order which is imperceptible to the ear (twelve-note technique). 1 ~Iusic ,,·hich abandons tonality, it is often said, has lost all syntax, can no longer be considered a language and therefore cannot communicate the rich variety of expression found in tonal music. At best one can hope for sensual and beautiful sounds which are however condemned to remaining essentially decorative. Such criticism, applied to the music of an earlier generation of composers such as Schonberg, Berg and Webem, would hardly be taken seriously today. The music of Schonberg and Berg retains strong enough links with the nineteenth century to guarantee communication, and with familiarity, the musical personalities of these composers are much more varied than was once thought. .\s recent analysis has shown, 2 the music of \Vebern too (particularly the later works) possesses clearly perceptible shape and form, ensured by the adaptation of traditional contrapuntal techniques, and a serially derived motivic technique. In recent years, however, the old criticism of incomprehensibility has been raised again, particularly with the introduction of so-called aleatory techniques, or chance, into the process of composition. It is assumed, with apparently invincible logic, that to leave the formal evolution of the music to chance amounts to a renunciation of responsibility on the part of the composer and is an admission that the music can have no significant form. It is certainly true that many composers have used the element of chance quite deliberately, just to avoid the creation of significant form and an ordered syntax in the traditional sense. In his Lecture on Indeterminacy, 3 John Cage, writing of indeterminate pieces by Wolff, Feldman and others, states that this music is not meant to be understood and evaluated; the pieces are not objects in this sense but "processes essentially purposeless", where "sounds are just sounds". The element of chance in this music is often entirely fortuitous and completely outside the composer's control as is shown by the following anecdote recounted by Cage: THE
-
ter-re-r-ent
Finally it is to be observed that the principles of first-movement sonata form are here applied to the cycle as a whole. Broadly speaking one can say that the first four songs form the exposition and the fifth a telescoped development and recapitulation. The weight of the symphonic argument, however, rests firmly on the last song and on the introduction to the first, for these are the only parts where all three main themes S, X and Y are used together. For a conclusion, there are two points which I should like to make. The first is that I have not attempted in this article to do more than draw attention to the more obvious technical points. The second is that for all their intellectual disci~line _the A:ltenberg Songs are second to none in imaginative power, emotwnal mtens1ty and sheer virtuosity of scoring; and it is the perfect balance between intellect and inspiration that, for me, makes this song cycle a masterpiece.
"One dav when the windows were open Christian \Volff played one of his pieces at the piano. Sounds of traffic, ~oat-horns, were heard not only during the silences of the music, but, being louder, were more easily heard than the piano sounds themselves.
. l '
'
'Much analytical terminology (e.g., atonality, arhythmic, athematic) faithfully reflects this Yicw which regards new music merely as the negation of tonal mus1c. 2 See, for example, &mlez' analyses in Penser Ia J.1fusique Au}ourd'hui, Mainz, 1963. 3 John Cage, Lecture on Indeterminacy, Die Reihe, no. 5·
I
I
:i
i '
II I I
I
I
I
II ,
I
l::lr I'
I
'
. I I
