Neoclassicism and 12-Tone Music

Neoclassicism

• Igor Stravinsky, Octet (1923)• “Objectivity”• Adoption of a preromantic stance• Classicism of Haydn and Mozart• Influence of Baroque music• Influence of jazz and popular music

Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Path

• Histoire du soldat (1918)– theatrical piece– seven players and narrator– influence of jazz and popular

music• Pulcinella (1920)– ballet score– based on eighteenth-century

melodies

The Music of Stravinsky’s Octet

• [Anthology 3-24] – 1. Sinfonia• sonata form• octatonic melodies

– 2. Tema con variazioni– 3. Finale• walking bass• contrapuntal• reference to Bach

Some Ideas About the Octet

• “Some Ideas about My Octuor”– “My Octuor is not an ‘emotive’ work”– “I admit the commercial exploitation of a musical

composition”– “This sort of music has no other aim than to be

sufficient in itself”

Stravinsky and Neoclassicism

• Symphony of Psalms (1930)• Symphony in C (1938–40)• Symphony in Three Movements (1945)• Violin Concerto (1931)• The Rake’s Progress (1951)

The Ivory Tower

• Society for Private Musical Performance– 117 concerts between 1918 and 1921– compositions by German modernists and works by

Debussy, Bartók, Stravinsky, and others

In Search of Utopia:Schoenberg and Twelve-Tone Technique

• “Aggregate compositions”• Theories of Josef Mattias Hauer (1883–1959)– Nomos

• Means by which they could create extended instrumental works

Giving Music New Rules

• Tonreihe “tone row”– ordering of all 12 pitches from which motivic and

harmonic content will be derived– row may be transposed, in inversion, retrograde,

or retrograde inversion– rows subdivided into segments

• Serialism• “Twelve-tone technique”; “dodecaphony”

Giving Music New Rules

• Suite for Piano, Op. 25 [Anthology 3-25]– Präludium– Gavotte and Musette– Intermezzo– Menuett– Gigue

Back Again to Bach

• BACH (B♭ACB) inserted into Op. 25 tone row• Schoenberg, “National Music” (1931)• Contrapuntal art• Variations for Orchestra (1931)– BACH allusions

Berg’s Twelve-Tone Romanticism

• Alban Berg (1885–1935)• Studies with Schoenberg• Influence of Mahler• Wozzeck (1922)

Berg’s Twelve-Tone Romanticism

• Chamber Concerto for violin, piano, and a wind ensemble of thirteen instruments (1925)– ArnolD SCHönBErG = A – D – E♭- C – B – B♭ – E – G– Anton wEBErn = A – E – B♭ – E – AlBAn BErG = A – B♭ – A – B♭ – E – G

Berg’s Twelve-Tone Romanticism

• Lyric Suite for string quartet (1926) [Anthology 3-26]– symmetrical “all-interval” row– Hanna Fuchs-Robettin/ Alban Berg (HF/AB = BF/AB♭)– numerous extramusical references

Epitome: Anton Webern

• Anton Webern (1883–1945)• Symphony, Op. 21 (1928) [Anthology 3-27]– A-F#-G-A♭-E-F B-B♭-D-C#-C-E♭• intervallic palindrome