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Expressionism

Expressionism. Impressionism. Modernism. Expressionism. Serialism. Experimental. Minimalism. Electronic. Second Viennese School. Alban Berg Student. Anton Webern Student. Arnold Schoenberg Teacher. Principles of Serialism ( dodecophony ).

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Expressionism

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  1. Expressionism

  2. Impressionism Modernism Expressionism Serialism Experimental Minimalism Electronic

  3. Second Viennese School Alban Berg Student Anton Webern Student Arnold Schoenberg Teacher

  4. Principles of Serialism (dodecophony) The set is a specific ordering of all twelve notes of the semitonal scale. No note is repeated within the set. The set may be stated in any of its "linear aspects": prime, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde-inversion. The set in any of its four transformations may be started upon any degree of the semitonal scale. Note that these statements may appear consecutively, simultaneously, or may overlap, giving rise to harmony. Tone Row (Prime Series): C D# E A# A G# F B C# D F# G Retrograde: G F# D C# B F G# A A# E D# C Inversion: C A G# D D# E G C# B A# F# F Retrograde/Inversion: F F# A# B C# G E D# D G# A C

  5. Kinderstűck (child’s play) 7 11 6 9 2 4 10 This is a very early piece of Serialism by Webern. It features the tone row only (no retrograde, inversion or retrograde inversion). Look at the unusual rhythm and wide leaps in the melody 8 5 1 3 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9umvR9_3peQ

  6. Background • Expressionism developed in the arts in the early C20th • Particularly in Germany and Austria • Aimed to explore and represent the inner consciousness of the creator • Visual representation was deliberately distorted until it eventually became unrecognisable • Kandinsky (Schoenberg’s friend) abandoned representational art completely in 1910. • At the same time Schoenberg abandoned his late-romantic style for atonality. • Schoenberg used a musical language that avoided any suggestion of triadic melody or harmony. • He used chromaticism and dissonance as a means of expression. • Atonal - not in any key. No functional harmony.

  7. Schoenberg: ‘Da KommiteinLicht’ from Erwartung, Op. 17 Scene 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJSvA8oP7rwSolo soprano and orchestra

  8. Erwartung • Atonal/expressionist • No repetition of thematic material • Thin, ethereal textures of the strings and woodwind accompaniment • Athematic sense of vocal melodies to depict a woman entering the edge of a forest • Lack tonal shape • No repetition/logical structuring of ideas • Hints of Sprechstimme.

  9. Composition VII by Kandinsky

  10. “PierrotLunaire” (1912) • Possibly the most famous of Schoenberg’s Expressionist works. First performed in Berlin and although some did not like the modernity, it was well received by Avant Garde enthusiasts. • PierrotLunaire is a character from Commedia dell’Arte – moonstuck clown. The sad clown who is obsessed by the moon, although we are never clear if he is really a lunatic, or merely deluded by its lunar magic. • To represent the clown’s madness, Schoenberg wrote 21 melodramas. • Melodrama - apassage in German opera in which dialogue is spoken to the accompaniment of atmospheric instrumental music. It was originally semi-staged with the reciter in costume and musicians hidden from view. • Commedia dell’Arte - comic theatrical entertainment that flourished in Italy from about 1545 to 1800. • “Der KrankeMond” (the sick moon). • A flautist and singer are required for Der KrankeMond but the complete work requires five players (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano). • The poems were written by Albert Giraud in 1884. See translation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A-feObF-lc

  11. Glossary Atonal Not in any key. No functional harmony. Uses chromaticism and dissonance as means of expression. Commedia dell’ArteComic theatrical entertainment that flourished in Italy from about 1545 to 1800. Expressionism “The art of the representation of inner occurrences”. Music that directly expresses feelings, thoughts and emotions. Melodrama A passage in German opera in which dialogue is spoken to the accompaniment of atmospheric instrumental music. SprechgesangA type of speech-song devised by Schoenberg,

  12. Structure • Through-composed (no formal music structure). The music responds to the imagery of the poem. • The poem consists of three non-rhyming stanzas with refrain. • These are separated by short flue interludes. Each stanza is set to different and unpredictable music, to express the reciter’s volatile state of mind. • Poem lends itself to melodic symmetry, but Schoenberg uses phrases of 9, 13, 8 ½, and 8 beats instead in the 1st stanza. The others are equally irregular.

  13. Tonality • In the first 3 bars Schoenberg uses all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. • By bar 7 he has used every melodic interval from a minor second to a major seventh. • (Since there is no tonality it doesn’t matter how pitches are notated – the interval G sharp-C in fl. b5 is the same as B-Dsharp in the same bar because both span 3 semitones.) • Atonal with no conventional chord progressions. • ‘Harmony’ occurs when notes from the two independent melodic lines coincide.

  14. Harmony • No harmonic logic in the intervals between the two instruments. • In first six bars, every interval from a semitone to an octave is heard. • None of the dissonances are resolved – “emancipation of dissonance” from an essay written in 1926 by Schoenberg. It could be described as a metanarrative to justify atonality.

  15. Word Painting • The images of the poem are expressed through: • Enormous melodic leaps (flute, bb9-10 and reciter, b15) • Fragmented melody (bb14-15) • Extreme range (voice b15) • Extreme dynamics (flute, b14) • Sprechgesang(‘speech-song’ - half-sung, half-spoken notes indicated by crosses through the note stems

  16. Rhythm and metre • Written in compound duple metre (6/4) but the slow pace and wide variety of note lengths makes it difficult to perceive a regular pulse. • The rhythm is flexible and influenced by the expressive portrayal of the text.

  17. Melody • Schoenberg avoided melodic repetition as it could suggest traditional ways of organising melody. • Only at the end do sequential (flute b22-24) and direct (reciter b23-26) repetitions occur. Augmentation in b.25. • The unpredictability of the melody represents the madness of the clown. • Angular leaps, semitonal movement, abrupt changes in direction, uneven phrases. • Chromatic. • Compound tritones – what does this mean?

  18. Texture • Schoenberg uses only flute and reciter in this song – thin texture. Text is heard clearly. • Flute and voice are of equal importance – not tune and accompaniment. Independent lines. • Often sounds like flute is trying to speak, but not conversation because no common melodic material. Each is absorbed in its own world and madness (e.g. compare the manic raging of the flute part in b 5-6 with the introspective reflections of Pierrot in the same passage). • Schoenberg is able to exploit the flute’s very lowest notes without them being masked by other instruments.

  19. Resources • Reciter: wide vocal range (nearly two octaves), use of sprechgesang, portamento, mainly quiet dynamics levels. • Flute: much of the part is in the low register, briefly rises to climactic high notes in three places. • Schoenberg explained that the rhythms in the vocal part should be strictly observed but that the pitch of notes with crosses through their stem should be immediately quitted in an upward or downward direction.

  20. Sprechgesang • Yvonne Minton tends to sing more than speak, sliding (portamento) between slurred notes. • Her pitches are however relative rather than absolute • Bb23-25 Schoenberg uses the same melody for three highly contrasting lines of text – in b24 he instructs the reciter to “use the same tone as in the previous bar. In b25 he writes “this bar differently, but not tragically”. B.23 has “use the same tone as in the previous bar”.

  21. Expressionism in Der KrankeMond“the portrayal of inner feelings and psychological states, often in an exaggerated fashion” • Enormous melodic leaps (Fl. Bars 9-10, Reciter Bar.15.) • Fragmented melody (Bars 14-15.) • Extreme range (Reciter Bar 15.) • Extreme dynamics (Fl. Bar 14.) • Sprechgesang. • Not much repetition. • Dissonant and chromatic. • Atonal. • No formal structure.

  22. Study Questions 1. Define and put into context the following terms: a) Expressionism b) dissonance c) chromatic scale d) atonality e) Sprechgesang f) sequential g) portamento Remember to give bar and beat numbers if applicable. 2. Describe the texture. 3. How does the flautist respond to the words fremdeMelodie(strange melody) in bars 7 - 8? 4. Comment on the dynamics of the flute part in bars 13 – 15. 5. What musical techniques does Schoenberg use to convey the emotions of Pierrot in this song?

  23. Essay Questions are going to focus on: • Expressionism • Twentieth Century / Modernism • Word-setting

  24. Homework • Comment on the aspects of ‘Der KrankeMond’ that audiences would have found revolutionary at the first performance of PierrotLunaire in 1912. (13)

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