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Tonal and Post-Tonal Music
Tonal Composers—it was still possible to compose tonal music after the turn of the
century. Composers such as Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Sergei Rachmaninov, and others composed actively through the 1930s and later, adhering
to triadic harmony (with some exceptions in Ravel), function and non-function harmony,
etc. Later composers who can also be categorized as tonal include Prokofiev,
Shostakovich, Copland and others.
Post-tonal Composers—some composers developed a personal style which extended the
boundaries of tonality in individual ways. Those composers include Claude Debussy,
Falla, Janáček, and Scriabin. Later composers who can also be categorized as Post-tonal
might include Bartok, Hindemith, and others.
This section of notes deals with composers of the “Second Viennese School”—Arnold
Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern. The idea of a “Second” Viennese School
implies that there was a “First” Viennese School, which would have included Mozart,
Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert. The latter term was created retrospectively, and the
terms are not parallel. Schoenberg had other students of prominence besides Berg and
Webern, including Egon Wellesz.
Second Viennese School
A. Arnold Schoenberg
1. General—Schoenberg was determined to continue the German classical tradition
while striking out into new directions.
2. Biographical Information
a. Born in 1874 in Vienna, died 1951 in Los Angeles
b. Austro-American composer of Jewish-Ashkenazi origin. Schoenberg was
raised a Catholic, later converted to Lutheranism, but embraced his Jewish
roots with the rise of Nazism, when he emigrated to the United States
(1933).
c. Mother was a piano teacher, father a shopkeeper.
d. Largely a self-taught composer. He took counterpoint lessons from
Alexander von Zemlinsky. In 1901, he later married Zemlinsky’s sister
Mathilde. Alexander Zemlinsky was Alma Schindler’s fiancée before she
married Gustav Mahler.
e. Made early living orchestrating operettas
f. Around 1908, Schoenberg took up expressionistic painting. Mathilde had
an affair with a minor expressionist painter named Richard Gerstl who
was Schoenberg’s painting teacher. When she returned to Schoenberg, for
the sake of the children, Gerstl committed suicide.
g. With the help of Richard Strauss, he established himself as a music
teacher in Vienna, attracting several important students, including Anton
von Webern and Alban Berg.
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i. Schoenberg excelled as a teacher because of his style of teaching,
which involved the detailed analysis of classical composers such as
Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and especially Brahms.
ii. Later, published several books, including “Theory of Harmony”
and “Fundamentals of Musical Composition”
iii. In the US, Schoenberg first taught on the East Coast (Boston) and
later moved to California, where he taught at USC and USC Los
Angeles
h. Recognized, early on, by both Mahler and Strauss as an important
composer
i. One of the first composers to champion atonal music
j. Developed twelve tone technique
k. Schoenberg was committed to the concept of “Idea” which he gained from
his Jewish faith (for example—One God). He thought that music had
“progressed” from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven to Wagner, and come to an
end. He believed that the language had to be renewed in order for music
to continue.
l. In this regard, he came to believe that Brahms was actually a
“Progressive”, returning music to more formal processes that the
subjective expression of Wagner and the Late Romantics.
3. Early tonal works
a. Verklärte Nacht (1899)—a romantic, hyper-chromatic tone poem for
string sextet, later orchestrated for string orchestra.
b. Gurrelieder—enormous song cycle for soloists, chorus and orchestra, a
work admired by Strauss
c. In these early tonal works, Schoenberg emulated Strauss and others in
devising unusual cadences and novel progressions along with the
heightened chromaticism, distant modulations, and the protracted
dissonance of Tristan to sustain the music.
4. Atonal Period
a. Around 1908, Schoenberg’s began composing atonal works. He conceived
of the “emancipation of the dissonance”, which would free music from the
necessity of resolution. Without a tonal framework, Schoenberg resorted
to three methods to sustain the music (Hanning):
i. Developing variation
ii. Integration of harmony and melody
iii. Chromatic saturation—a technique in which all 12 pitch-classes
appear within a segment of music. Wolf used this technique in the
song Lebe Wohl!
b. Works from this period include:
i. The Book of the Hanging Garden, Op. 15—a song cycle on fifteen
poems by the symbolist poet Stefan George
ii. Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16
iii. Erwartung, in which he carried the principle of non-repetition to
an extreme, since there are no reoccurring recognizable forms,
themes or motives.
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iv. String Quartet No. 2
v. Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912). Pierrot Lunaire is a cycle of
expressionist songs based on texts by Albert Giraud. Repetition
Important features of Pierrot are:
a) Sprechstimme—a kind of speaking-singing recitation
b) Use of a Chamber ensemble of 5-6 instrumentalists which
plays in different combinations for each of the songs
c. Schoenberg’s method was to “compose with the tones of a motive”. In the
method, a group of 3 or more pitches (usually a dissonant group of tones)
which formed a motive were treated like a tonic chord which could be
transposed, inverted, and rearranged in other order to generate melodies
and harmonies. Theorists have subsequently defined this as creating pitchclass sets.
d. In 1918, immediately after World War I, Schoenberg founded and directed
the Society for Private Musical Performances. In the three years of its
existence, the group (which was made up of the most gifted young
musicians in Vienna) gave 353 performances of 154 works in 117
concerts. The Society had to disband because of Austrian hyper-inflation.
Besides the music of Berg and Webern, the Society also performed music
of Bartok, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, and many others. Schoenberg did
not allow performances of his own music. Critics were not allowed at the
concerts!
5. Twelve-tone Period
a. In the early 1920s formulated the twelve-tone method, which he defined as
“a method of composing with twelve tones that are related only to only
another”.
b. Serial terminology:
i. Four forms: P—the original ordered set of 12 pitch-classes, known
as Prime; I—Inversion; R—Retrograde; RI—Retrogradeinversion.
ii. Each version’s transposition is designated by an integer from 1 to
11. For example, P-0 is the original row, while I-6 is the inversion
transposed to the tritone.
iii. Tetrachord—a group of four notes within the row. There are three
tetrachords in a row.
iv. Hexachord—six notes, or half the row.
c. The first twelve-tone works emulated the basic sound, form and texture of
atonal music, but with greater organization. In these works, Schoenberg
returned to traditional forms, as if to demonstrate the power of his new
method. These works include:
i. Piano Suite, Op. 25
a) The row only appears in eight forms throughout the work
b) In the chosen forms, the E and Bb always appear as the
second and third pitch-classes
c) The first four notes of R-0 are Bb-A-C-H, spelling Bach’s
name
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ii. Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31
iii. Violin Concerto, Op. 36
iv. Third and Fourth String Quartets, Op. 30, 37
v. Piano Concerto, Op. 42
d. This period climaxed with the opera Moses und Aron, which represents
Schoenberg’s view of the conflict between Apollonian and Dionysian
forces in Art
i. Moses = The Ideal (Act I)
ii. Aaron = The Sensual (Act II with the bacchanal and Golden Calf
iii. Act III left incomplete because Schoenberg could not resolve the
philosophical conflict
6. Other late works—in the wake of the rise of Nazism, Schoenberg, who was born
Jewish but who had converted to Christianity early in his life, returned to his
Jewish roots. He composed several works on Jewish themes, including:
a. Kol Nidre
b. A Survivor from the Warsaw Ghetto
B. Alban Berg
1. Biographical Information
a. 1885-1935
b. Pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and member of the “Second Viennese
School”. He began his studies with Schoenberg in 1904 at the age of 19.
c. Brought a kind of Mahlerian or Straussian romanticism to atonal and serial
music which made his music more successful than his teacher’s
d. Third of four children of Johanna and Conrad Berg. The family was well
off but fell into financial difficulties around 1900 with the death of the
father
e. Berg was more interested in literature than music as a child—this is
reflected in his interest in opera and his crafting of his own libretti.
f. As a young man he impregnated a family servant and felt guilt about it as
an adult
g. Married Helene Nahowski, a singer and daughter of a wealthy family,
against her family’s wishes
h. Belonged to a group of writers and painters who were fin de siécle artists,
such as the painter Gustav Klimt, the author-satirist Karl Kraus and the
poet Peter Altenberg. He set Altenberg texts to music (1912) in a song
cycle for voice and orchestra—premiered by Schoenberg, the work caused
a riot.
i. His relationship with Schoenberg was deeper than student-teacher;
Schoenberg was his mentor and remained a close friend throughout Berg’s
life. Biographers believe that Schoenberg was a surrogate father to Berg,
whose father died when he was 15.
j. Berg served in the army from 1915-1918. In 1914, he discovered the play
Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (1813-1837) and began work on it, doing
major work on it during military leave in 1917. The opera was completed
in 1922.
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k. Berg died of blood poisoning from an infected insect bite in 1935. He was
50.
2. Works
a. Wozzeck
i. Outstanding example of an expressionist opera, and perhaps the
most successful. Wozzeck appears with some regularity on the
seasons of major opera houses
ii. Based on the fragmentary play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (18131837)1
iii. The success of Wozzeck gave Berg economic freedom and fame.
He traveled to speak about the opera wherever it was performed.
iv. The play was left incomplete on Büchner’s death
v. The circumstances of the play were based of real life events that
Büchner knew of through his father’s work as a medical doctor
vi. Büchner was a revolutionary. He studied medicine and philosophy
and was a classicist, but his sentiments ran toward supporting the
poor and downtrodden. He became a utopian communist (preMarx).
vii. Woyzeck is the spelling of the name in the play, as opposed to
Wozzeck, which is the spelling of the name in the opera, due to a
typographical error in the printed version which Berg possessed.
viii. Characters in the opera—Wozzeck is a soldier. His common-law
wife is Marie. They have a child. Other characters include the
Captain, the Doctor, the Drum-Major, Andres (Wozzeck’s friend
and another soldier) and Margret (Marie’s neighbor)
ix. Plot—the events are based the true life events of a soldier named
Friedrich Johann Franz Woyzeck. Wozzeck submits to
experiments by the Doctor to gain additional money to support his
family. The Doctor is inhumane and his Captain taunts him.
Wozzeck suffers from delusions. Marie, alone and distraught, is
seduced by the Drum-Major. Wozzeck is pushed over the edge by
the taunting and infidelity and kills Marie. At the tavern, his crime
is suspected. He rushes to the lake to cover up the deed and
drowns. The real Woyzeck was tried and convicted of murder and
executed. The trial was the first in German law in which the
insanity defense was used.
x. Dramatic structure
1. Büchner’s play is a fragment and the scenes are not in
chronological order.
2. Berg selected 15 scenes and divided them into three acts
with five scenes, with continuous music. Each scene is
separated by an interlude.
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Not all literary critics believe that the play is fragmentary, or that the non-chronological order of scenes in
Büchner’s play is evidence of its being incomplete. Büchner’s sister suppressed the play because she was
defending her brother’s reputation and considering the work incomplete.
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xi. Musical structure:
1. The opera is atonal but not serial. Berg uses forms, but they
are difficult to perceive aurally. This was Berg’s intention
2. Act I consists of a Baroque suite (Wozzeck’s relationship
with his Captain), a rhapsody (Wozzeck’s hallucinations), a
March and Lullaby (the Drum Major, followed by Marie
and her child with Wozzeck), a passacaglia (The Doctor
and his theories), and a rondo (Marie’s seduction by the
Drum Major).
3. Act II is a five-movement symphony with a sonata-form, a
fantasia and fugue, a slow movement in ternary form, a
scherzo, and a finale in rondo form.
4. Act III is a set of six inventions which represent Wozzeck’s
growing obsession. They are inventions on: a theme (seven
variations and a fugue), a note (B), a rhythm, a chord, a
key, and on a duration.
5. Berg uses leitmotives as a unifying device. Notable is “Wir
Arme Leut” (“We Poor Folk”), which is a leitmotivs
associated with Wozzeck. Marie and the Drum-Major have
notable motifs as well.
6. The last interlude, which is the most tonal moment in the
opera, is a eulogy for Wozzeck. It is based on an earlier
work by Berg.
b. Lulu (1928-1935)
i. Berg’s second opera, also expressionist, but is serial
ii. Based on two plays by Wiedekind (Erdgeist and Die Büsche die
Pandora)
iii. Libretto by the composer
iv. Berg saw the play in 1905 in a production by his friend Karl Kraus.
He did not begin work on the opera until after Wozzeck.
v. It was believed that Berg left the opera “incomplete” upon his
death. His widow refused to release the third act. After her death,
it was discovered that Act III was almost entirely complete except
for orchestration and a few bridge passages. The opera is
performed in its entirety today.
c. Violin Concerto
i. Berg broke off composition of Lulu to write the Violin Concerto in
memory of Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler, who
was married to Adolf Gropius, the architect. This was the second
child that Alma lost, the first being a daughter with Gustav Mahler.
ii. The work was commissioned by the violinist Louis Krasner
iii. It is believed that work on the Violin Concerto prevented Berg
from finishing Lulu.
iv. The row for the Violin Concerto consists of four interlocking triads
for the first nine notes of the row (G, Bb, D, F#,A, C, E, G#, B).
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The last note overlaps with a whole-tone tetrachord (B, C#, D#, F).
The whole-tone segment of the row and three overlapping
tetrachords are contained in Bach’s setting “Es ist genug”.
v. In the Violin Concerto, serial procedures are completely subsumed
within a tonal context, so that the listener is unaware that every
note is determined by serial methods.
C. Anton Webern
1. General
a. 1883-1945
b. Austrian composer and member of the Second Viennese School
c. Student of Arnold Schoenberg. He began studying with Schoenberg in
1904.
d. Full name: Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern. He dropped the middle
names in 1918.
e. Webern had already studied musicology under Guido Adler—his thesis
was on music of Heinrich Isaac.
f. His interest in early music influenced his later compositional technique
g. Studied with Schoenberg, completing his studies with him in 1908
h. Made a living as a conductor
i. His music was denounced by the Nazis as “cultural bolshevism”. He
moved to Austria where he believed he would be safer.
j. In 1945 he was shot by an American Army soldier (believed to have been
drunk) following the arrest of his son-in-law for black marketeering
2. Music
a. Webern’s early works (especially the Passacaglia) romantic and tonal
b. Like Schoenberg, he moved on to atonal and then serial music
c. His style of Serialism is very sparse and compact.
d. There are only 31 compositions which fit onto 6 CDs
e. Webern believed that music:
i. Expresses ideas that can be expressed in no other way
ii. It operates on rules based in natural law, not taste
iii. Great art does what is necessary, not arbitrary
iv. Evolution in art is necessary
v. History can only move forward
f. Webern pioneered total Serialism, which applied serial technique to other
parameters of music besides pitch. In an essay titled The Path to New
Music, Webern wrote that 12-tone music was the inevitable result of
musical evolution because it combined the most advanced approaches to:
i. Pitch
ii. Musical space
iii. Form
g. He utilized special effects like flutter tonguing and col legno to a great
degree
h. He used canon and classical forms
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i. He arranged the rows into subgroups of pitches which are variants of each
other, creating “invariance” within the row
j. Although Webern received little popular success during his lifetime and
has never found as wide audience, his work is highly regarded among
scholars and a composers. He had influence on composers in Italy,
Germany, France and the USA immediately after the war. One composer
who was greatly influenced by Webern is Pierre Boulez.
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