‘Peripetie’ by Arnold Schoenberg

The fourth piece from “Five Orchestral Pieces”

HomeworkDefine and learn the meaning of the following keywords for a test next lesson:HaupstimmeNubenstimmeHexachordAtonalExpressionismTimbreKlangfarbenmelodieDisjunctDivisiPizzicatoArcoTutti

Musical Periods Timeline

Where does Peripetie fit in?

In the Baroque Period music was ornamented and melodies were often very long. Textures were often polyphonic.

In the Classical Period composers such as Mozart had frequent clear perfect cadences throughout and textures were often homphonic.

In the Romantic Period composers (Wagner, Verdi) produced vast symphonies using different keys, harmonies and a variety of textures.

Composers reactions to the Romantic Era were extreme, this led to the birth of many new styles. The 20th Century saw a continuous development of diverse musical styles.

Expressionism and Atonal music were one of these new Modern styles

Features of ExpressionismAtonal- avoids normal hierarchy of keys and chords,

giving each of the 12 semitones equal importance

Expresses one intense emotion

Disjunct and Angular melodies

Extreme pitch range of instruments

Lots of different playing techniques

Timbre is as important as melody

Extreme dynamics

Pieces are quite short

Watch the video and comment on the orchestra and the emotions expressed by the music.

Background of Schoenberg

He was born in Austria: 1874-1951.

Learnt violin as a child and composed as a child, learning theory from books and experimentation.

In 1908 he began to write atonal music due to his wife leaving him for his friend and then committing suicide.

Intense emotions expressed through his music- Expressionism was perfect for this!

He wrote short intense pieces expressing extremes of emotion.

Schoenberg and Expressionism

He decided that the combination of instrumental sounds was as important as melody

He coined the phrase klangfarbenmelodie (tone – colour melody) described how instrumental colours were as important as pitch

He took chromaticism to the extreme and his music became atonal –absence of tonality or key

‘Peripetie’ from Five Orchestral Pieces

Originally composed in 1909, considered shocking due to large orchestra needed and experimental nature. First performance at the proms- 1912.

We are studying 1922 new edition.

Peripetie translates to : “ A sudden reversal” the ideas from the beginning of the movement are reversed towards the end.

Techniques used…HEXACHORD- concealed within Schoenberg’s pre-

serialism music. It is a group of six notes played together. They can also be used to form short melodic ideas.

Hexachords notes (played by horns from second beat of bar 8) are C Bb E F C♯ A. Notes can be played in any order in any octave

Compliment of hexachord- take other six available semitones:

B D Eb F♯ G G♯- can be transposed and reordered

Performance markings….a 2 or a 3 All two or three bassoons should

play the same notes

divisi The players on this line divide into groups

pizz Short for pizzicato- pluck the strings

arco Bow the strings

bell up The brass player points the bell end of their instruments upwards produces loud strident sound

1 solo A single person plays this line

tutti Everyone joins in again

+ Hand-stopped- the horn player inserts their hand further than usual into the bell

Tremolo- note rapidly repeated

PERFORMANCE MARKINGS

Haupstimme- Principal voice/main melodic line

Nebenstimme- Secondary voice/

next most important in melodic line

Write out the order and the combinations of instruments used in the Haupstimme (main melody) in the first three pages. How does this relate to the phrase Klangfarbenmelodie? Perform using the different sounds of the keyboard.

Haupstimme and Klangfarbenmelodie

MOTIFSSeven motifs are introduced very quickly

right at the beginning of the piece

Each of the motifs is based on a hexachord

Here are the first three that we hear:

Motif A opens the movement. It is a short fanfare played by three clarinets, a bass clarinet and three bassoons.

In motif A compare the chord in Bb Clarinets 1-3 and the chord in bassoons 1-3. How would this be played in practice?

Now compare these chords to those in the cello and bass parts.

Perform this on the keyboards as a class.

Motifs continued…. Motif B :Piccolo, three flutes, three

oboes and cor anglais, plus three clarinets in B flat and one in D (a very unusual clarinet). Notice all the accidentals creating the dissonant chord at the end of the motif.

In motif B compare the chords in the woodwind instruments.

Now compare these chords to those in violin I, II and viola.

Perform this on the keyboards as a class.

Motifs continued…..Motif C: Six horns playing, another

angular line. Again the motif is in triplets but this time triplet quavers. Notice the use of the dissonant interval of a 7th.

Find the interval of a 7th in this motif

Analyse the chords

Perform this on the keyboards as a class.

Developing the motifsThe motifs are developed in the middle three

sections through:

Imitation – where a motif in one part is repeated a few notes later in a different part overlapping the motif in the first part

Diminution – where the note values are made smaller (usually halved)

Melodic inversion – where the melody is turned upside down

Using the fragment of motif a from the Bb Clarinet part, apply the following compositional techniquesDiminution & Inversion

MelodyMade up of short fragmented motifs combined in different

ways

First 18 bars = 7 different motifs quickly introduced

Melodies are disjunct (many large leaps) so often sound angular

Schoenberg uses octave displacement unexpectedly moving individual notes of main melody to different octave

Melodies are not developed or extended but varied through use of techniques e.g. inversion (melody turned upside down) and rhythmic augmentation (notes become twice as long).

Rhythm, Metre and TempoMetre changes between 3/4, 2/4 , and 4/4

Tempo is Sehr rasch= very fast

Rhythms are complex and varied and change quickly.

In parts of the work Schoenberg layers a number of different rhythmic patterns on top of each other creating a complex contrapuntal texture

Tonality and HarmonyThe piece is atonal. Uses dissonant harmony.

Chords and melodies often built from hexachords (groups of six notes).

Texture and DynamicsTexture is largely contrapuntal with occasional

monophonic and homophonic moments. Complex textures built up through techniques such as imitation and inversion. E.g. final part of piece created from three different canons- all heard at the same time.

Dynamics change frequently and suddenly- extreme contrasts between ppp and fff.

StructureFree rondo form.

Five sections (ABACA).

Called free rondo because it is very different to traditional rondo from classical period different sections clearly contrasted.

Exam Questions1. Describe the dynamics in the first section of the piece?

2. Name the type of ensemble performing Peripetie.

3. Describe the tonality of the piece.

4. Peripetie was written in the 20th century. List 6 musical features you can hear in the piece that are common to music written in the 20th century.

5. What is the name given to the group of notes Schoenberg used as a basis for his melodic and harmonic material in this piece?

6. How might Schoenberg have used this group of notes when he composed Peripetie?

7. The horns play a sustained chord in bar 8. In which section later in the piece can the horns be heard playing this chord?

8. What is the term given to Schoenberg’s technique of moving the melodic parts rapidly through the different instruments?

9. What playing technique can be heard in the strings in the last 2 bars of the piece?