‘ Peripetie’
from Five Orchestral Pieces Opus
16 by
Schoenberg
Background
Schoenberg, Berg and Webern became known as
the ‘Second Viennese School’ of composers. Schoenberg later invented serialism [12 tone music]. Peripetie is atonal, but
not serial. ‘Five Orchestral Pieces’ was composed in 1909 and the first performance was
conducted by Sir Henry Wood in 1912. A huge orchestra of 90 players is
required.
Expressionism is
a style in which inner feelings are outwardly expressed as intensely as
possible.
Features of expressionist music
Intensely emotional
Angular melodies with
wide leaps
High level of dissonance [clashing notes]
Lots of atonal and extremely chromatic harmonies [using notes not belonging to the
key]
Instruments play at the extremes of their range
Extremes contrasts
of dynamics [louds and softs]
No cadences, repetition or sequences
No balanced phrases
Constantly changing texture and ideas
You need to know:
The additional orchestral instruments used include cor anglaise, piccolo, bass clarinet, 6 horns, 4 trombones, cymbals, gong [tam tam], bass drum, xylophone
To add colour the instruments
often play in their very high or very low ranges
The texture is contrapuntal [several overlapping melodies]
The tempo changes
frequently There are lots of extreme dynamics
The musical style is expressionism Hauptstimme means ‘principal part’
Nebenstimme means ‘a part of secondary importance’
The set of 6 pitches used for the harmonic and melodic material is known as a hexachord
The use of hexachords creates
dissonant sounds
Peripetie [‘A sudden reversal’] means a sudden change of fortune for a character in a
drama
The tonality is atonal
Ffp means very loud then quickly soft
Klangfarbenmelodie means moving the melodic parts rapidly through different instruments
The last 2 bars contain a tremolo in the strings [played rapidly up and down with the bow]
The structure is free rondo form
The opening melody is called the ‘principal voice’
Typical twentieth century musical features in Peripetie
1 Large orchestra
2 Wide ranging dynamics
3 Detailed dynamic markings
4 Each instrument has
a wide pitch range
5 Atonal
6 Melodic material moves
quickly from instrument to instrument [Klangfarbenmelodie]
7 Frequent use of devices
that alter the timbre of the instruments
e.g.
mute, tremolo, pizz. [pluck the strings]
8 Rhythmically complex
Schoenberg developed the 6 pitches in Peripetie by:
1 Transposing them
2 Inverting them [inversion]
3 Playing them backwards [retrograde]
4 Combinations of the above e.g. retrograde inversion
5 Playing the hexachord as
a chord [verticalisation] or as a melodic line
6 Using the compliment [the notes not in the hexachord]
7 Altering the rhythm of the notes [including augmentation: making the note values longer, and diminution: making the note values shorter]
8 Octave transpositions of different notes
Vocabulary to describe Peripetie
Harmony: words
describing the harmony are: atonal, dissonant, hexachord, chromatic,
chord clusters
Melody: angular, fragmented, passed from instrument to instrument
Rhythm: disjointed, unmetred, complex
Texture: sparse, varied, contrapuntal Pitch: extreme ranges of pitch Dynamics: extreme ranges of dynamics
Mood: constantly changing, turmoil, angst, unrest, nervousness
Form: Free rondo
Schoenberg’s Peripetie is atonal. Hexachords are used to create dissonant sounds. Like other late Romantic Period composers, Schoenberg uses an extremely large orchestra. The different timbres of the instruments are more important than the melody. Schoenberg uses extra woodwind instruments such as the cor anglaise, piccolo and bass clarinet and many brass instruments such as 6 horns, and 4 trombones together with percussion instruments which include cymbals, gong and bass drum. To add more colour, the instruments often play in their high or low ranges.
The texture of the music is contrapuntal [several overlapping ideas], and the melodies are fragmented and passed around to different instruments. The tempo changes frequently and there are many extreme dynamics. The sudden contrasts keep surprising the listener.
The structure is free rondo,
with sections
ABACA based on the treatment of ideas and not
dependent on the relationship of keys
as
in the classical era of music.
