Education
Sorry for the delays this week! This week has been absolutely crazy, and getting this podcast out has taken a back burner to many other things. Please look in the feed for the other lectures from this week. (4/9 and 4/11)Music 271: 4/13/07I: Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951): A new approach to harmonic organization prompted by an essentially conservative philosophy:• Believed he was the heir to a great musical tradition: Art music as cultivated in Vienna• Harmonic order of Central Europe (Vienna) was being overwhelmed by chromaticismII: Schöenberg’s career: Two stages and three concepts of harmony: (GB: p.73, Bonds Ch.21) A: Diatonic chromaticism in the style of Wagner, Mahler, and Brahms (to 1907):• “Transfigured Night” - 1890s B: Atonality - no tonic and no alternative harmonic organization (1907-c1923):• All 12 chromatic pitches have equal weight• Expressionism - musical compositions as well as visual arts and theatre• Expressionism: refers to art that takes an inner psychological reality and projects it outwards (Mental instability, emotional repression)• Examples: “The Scream” painting (Blood red skies reflection of the Krakatoa explosion)• “The Crosses” C: Twelve-tone composition or Serialism (c1923-1951):• Dodecaphony• Designed to establish order over the chromatic scale• No one pitch is more important that the others• Composing in “rows”: Each row includes each pitch. No one pitch is repeated until all of the others have been played• Suite für Klavier, Op. 25: Prime form: E-F-G-Db Gb-Eb-Ab-D B-C-A-Bb• Three variants: Inverted transposed up six semi-tones (Tritone), Prime transposed up six semi-tones (Tritone), Inverted (Same initial pitch as Prime)• Prime → Variant 1 Variant 2 → Variant 3 set up and antecedent-consequent relationship• Maintains forms and genres from the 18th century