The Five Pieces for Orchestra (Fünf Orchesterstücke), Op. 16, were composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1909, and first performed in London in 1912. The titles of the pieces, reluctantly added by the composer after the work's completion upon the request of his publisher, are as follows:
"Vorgefühle", Sehr rasch ("Premonitions", very fast)
"Vergangenes", Mäßige Viertel ("The Past", moderate crotchets)
"Farben", Mäßige Viertel ("Summer Morning by a Lake: Chord-Colors", moderate crotchets)
"Peripetie", Sehr rasch ("Peripeteia", very fast)
"Das obligate Rezitativ", Bewegte Achtel ("The Obbligato Recitative", busy quavers)
The Five Pieces further develop the notion of "total chromaticism" that Schoenberg introduced in his Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11 (composed earlier that year) and were composed during a time of intense personal and artistic crisis for the composer, this being reflected in the tensions and, at times, extreme violence of the score, mirroring the expressionist movement of the time, in particular its preoccupation with the subconscious and burgeoning madness.[citation needed]
The work had its world premiere in the Queen's Hall, London at a Promenade Concert on 3 September 1912, conducted by Sir Henry Wood, a constant champion of new music. During rehearsals for Schoenberg's suite he urged his reluctant players, "Stick to it, gentlemen! This is nothing to what you'll have to play in 25 years' time"[1][2] The work was not well received; the critic Ernest Newman, who was receptive to Schoenberg's music, wrote after the performance:
It is not often that an English audience hisses the music it does not like, but a good third of the people at Queen's Hall last Tuesday permitted themselves that luxury after the performance of the five orchestral pieces of Schoenberg. Another third of the audience was only not hissing because it was laughing, and the remaining third seemed too puzzled either to laugh or to hiss; so that on the whole it does not look as if Schoenberg has so far made many friends in London.[3]
Instrumentation
The work exists in two different scorings: the original 1909 version for a very large orchestra and the revised version of 1949 which reduces the size of the orchestra to more-or-less normal proportions, "giving up the contrabass clarinet, as well as the four-fold scoring of the other woodwinds and two of the six horns".[4] This version was published posthumously in 1952.
According to Robert Erickson, "harmonic and melodic motion is curtailed, in order to focus attention on timbral and textural elements".[5] Blair Johnston claims that this movement is actually titled "Chord-Colors", that Schoenberg "removes all traditional motivic associations" from this piece, that it is generated from a single harmony: C–G♯–B–E–A (the Farben chord, shown below), found in a number of chromatically altered derivatives, and is scored for "a kaleidoscopically rotating array of instrumental colors".[6]
Whether or not this was an early example of what Schoenberg later called Klangfarbenmelodie (in his 1911 book Harmonielehre) is a matter of dispute. One scholar holds that Schoenberg's "now-famous statements about 'Klangfarbenmelodie' are, however, reflections, which have no direct connection to the Orchestra Piece op. 16, no. 3".[7] An attempt to refute this view was published in the same journal issue.[8]
Schoenberg explains in a note added to the 1949 revision of the score, "The conductor need not try to polish sounds which seem unbalanced, but watch that every instrumentalist plays accurately the prescribed dynamic, according to the nature of his instrument. There are no motives in this piece which have to be brought to the fore".[9]
Second performance and influence
Wood invited Schoenberg to conduct London's second performance of the work in 1914. The composer's only British pupil, Edward Clark, conveyed the invitation and on 17 January 1914 Schoenberg conducted the work at the Queen's Hall.[10][11][12] The laughter and hissing of the first performance were not repeated, and the work was heard in silence and politely applauded.[13] The composer was delighted with the performance and congratulated Wood and the orchestra warmly: "I must say it was the first time since Gustav Mahler that I heard such music played again as a musician of culture demands."[14] This concert may have been attended by Gustav Holst,[15] who obtained a copy of the score, the only Schoenberg score he ever owned. Echoes of the work appear in The Planets (originally titled Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra), and in the opening of his ballet The Lure (1921), which closely resembles the third of Schoenberg's Five Pieces.[2]
Recordings
Two piano arrangement by Anton Webern, performed by James Winn and Cameron Grant, Albany Records CD TROY992, UPC 034061099222
^Anon., "Herr Schönberg in London. His Theory and His Practice", Daily News Leader (January 17, 1914), quoted in full on the Arnold Schoenberg Centre website (accessed 29 October 2013).
^Alison Garnham, Hans Keller and the BBC: The Musical Conscience of British Broadcasting, 1959–79.
^Jennifer Doctor, The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes
Jacobs, Arthur (1994). Henry J. Wood: Maker of the Proms. London: Methuen. ISBN978-0-41-369340-2.
Johnston, Blair. Pieces (5) for Orchestra, Op. 16 at AllMusic
Rufer, Josef (1969). "Noch einmal Schönbergs Opus 16". Melos (36).
Schoenberg, Arnold (1999). Five Orchestra Pieces, Opus 16 (score). Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-40642-3.
Short, Michael (1990). Gustav Holst: The Man and his Music. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-314154-4.
Further reading
Burkhart, Charles. "Schoenberg's Farben: An Analysis of op. 16, no. 3". Perspectives of New Music 12 (1973–74): 141–172.
Craft, Robert. "Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra". In Perspectives on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, revised edition, edited by Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone, 3–24. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972.
Forte, Allen. The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973.
Förtig, Peter. "Arnold Schönberg über Klangfarbe". Melos 36 (1969): 206–209.
Mäckelmann, Michael. Arnold Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke op. 16. W. Fink, Munich, 1987. ISBN3-7705-2415-2
Rahn, John. "Analysis Two: Schoenberg's Five Peces for Orchestra: Farben, op. 16 no. 3". In his Basic Atonal Theory, 59–73. New York and London: Longman, 1980. ISBN0-582-28117-2.
Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea. University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1984. ISBN0-520-05294-3
five, pieces, orchestra, fünf, orchesterstücke, were, composed, arnold, schoenberg, 1909, first, performed, london, 1912, titles, pieces, reluctantly, added, composer, after, work, completion, upon, request, publisher, follows, arnold, schoenbergportrait, arno. The Five Pieces for Orchestra Funf Orchesterstucke Op 16 were composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1909 and first performed in London in 1912 The titles of the pieces reluctantly added by the composer after the work s completion upon the request of his publisher are as follows Five Pieces for Orchestraby Arnold SchoenbergPortrait of Arnold Schoenberg by Richard Gerstl ca June 1905Native nameFunf OrchesterstuckeOpus16StyleFree atonalityComposed1909MovementsFiveScoringOrchestraPremiereDate3 September 1912LocationLondonConductorSir Henry Wood Vorgefuhle Sehr rasch Premonitions very fast Vergangenes Massige Viertel The Past moderate crotchets Farben Massige Viertel Summer Morning by a Lake Chord Colors moderate crotchets Peripetie Sehr rasch Peripeteia very fast Das obligate Rezitativ Bewegte Achtel The Obbligato Recitative busy quavers The Five Pieces further develop the notion of total chromaticism that Schoenberg introduced in his Three Piano Pieces Op 11 composed earlier that year and were composed during a time of intense personal and artistic crisis for the composer this being reflected in the tensions and at times extreme violence of the score mirroring the expressionist movement of the time in particular its preoccupation with the subconscious and burgeoning madness citation needed Contents 1 Premiere 2 Instrumentation 2 1 Original 1909 version 2 2 Revised 1949 version 3 Third movement 4 Second performance and influence 5 Recordings 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksPremiere EditThe work had its world premiere in the Queen s Hall London at a Promenade Concert on 3 September 1912 conducted by Sir Henry Wood a constant champion of new music During rehearsals for Schoenberg s suite he urged his reluctant players Stick to it gentlemen This is nothing to what you ll have to play in 25 years time 1 2 The work was not well received the critic Ernest Newman who was receptive to Schoenberg s music wrote after the performance It is not often that an English audience hisses the music it does not like but a good third of the people at Queen s Hall last Tuesday permitted themselves that luxury after the performance of the five orchestral pieces of Schoenberg Another third of the audience was only not hissing because it was laughing and the remaining third seemed too puzzled either to laugh or to hiss so that on the whole it does not look as if Schoenberg has so far made many friends in London 3 Instrumentation EditThe work exists in two different scorings the original 1909 version for a very large orchestra and the revised version of 1949 which reduces the size of the orchestra to more or less normal proportions giving up the contrabass clarinet as well as the four fold scoring of the other woodwinds and two of the six horns 4 This version was published posthumously in 1952 Original 1909 version Edit Woodwinds Piccolo 3 Flutes 3rd doubling on 2nd piccolo 3 Oboes English horn Clarinet in D 3 Clarinets 3rd doubling on contrabass clarinet in A Bass clarinet 3 Bassoons ContrabassoonBrass 6 Horns 3 Trumpets 4 Trombones Tuba Percussion Timpani Bass drum Crash cymbals Suspended cymbals Triangle Tam tam Xylophone CelestaStrings Harp Violins I II Violas Violoncellos Double basses Revised 1949 version Edit Woodwinds Piccolo 3 Flutes 3rd doubling on 2nd piccolo 2 Oboes English horn E Clarinet 2 Clarinets Bass clarinet 2 Bassoons ContrabassoonBrass 4 Horns 3 Trumpets 3 Trombones Tuba Percussion Timpani Bass drum Cymbals Suspended cymbals Triangle Tam tam Xylophone CelestaStrings Harp Violins I II Violas Violoncellos Double bassesThird movement Edit Klangfarbenmelodie in mm 8 11 of Summer Morning by a Lake source source source According to Robert Erickson harmonic and melodic motion is curtailed in order to focus attention on timbral and textural elements 5 Blair Johnston claims that this movement is actually titled Chord Colors that Schoenberg removes all traditional motivic associations from this piece that it is generated from a single harmony C G B E A the Farben chord shown below found in a number of chromatically altered derivatives and is scored for a kaleidoscopically rotating array of instrumental colors 6 source Audio playback is not supported in your browser You can download the audio file Whether or not this was an early example of what Schoenberg later called Klangfarbenmelodie in his 1911 book Harmonielehre is a matter of dispute One scholar holds that Schoenberg s now famous statements about Klangfarbenmelodie are however reflections which have no direct connection to the Orchestra Piece op 16 no 3 7 An attempt to refute this view was published in the same journal issue 8 Schoenberg explains in a note added to the 1949 revision of the score The conductor need not try to polish sounds which seem unbalanced but watch that every instrumentalist plays accurately the prescribed dynamic according to the nature of his instrument There are no motives in this piece which have to be brought to the fore 9 Second performance and influence EditWood invited Schoenberg to conduct London s second performance of the work in 1914 The composer s only British pupil Edward Clark conveyed the invitation and on 17 January 1914 Schoenberg conducted the work at the Queen s Hall 10 11 12 The laughter and hissing of the first performance were not repeated and the work was heard in silence and politely applauded 13 The composer was delighted with the performance and congratulated Wood and the orchestra warmly I must say it was the first time since Gustav Mahler that I heard such music played again as a musician of culture demands 14 This concert may have been attended by Gustav Holst 15 who obtained a copy of the score the only Schoenberg score he ever owned Echoes of the work appear in The Planets originally titled Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra and in the opening of his ballet The Lure 1921 which closely resembles the third of Schoenberg s Five Pieces 2 Recordings EditTwo piano arrangement by Anton Webern performed by James Winn and Cameron Grant Albany Records CD TROY992 UPC 034061099222 Berlin Philharmonic James Levine conducting Deutsche Grammophon 419781 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Rafael Kubelik conducting Mercury Living Presence 434397 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Daniel Barenboim conducting Teldec 98256 Cleveland Orchestra Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting Decca 436240 London Symphony Orchestra Antal Dorati conducting Mercury Living Presence 432006 London Symphony Orchestra Robert Craft conducting Naxos 8557524 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly conducting Decca 436467 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Eduard van Beinum conducting Andante 4060 Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Hermann Scherchen conducting Orfeo D or 274921 Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra Hans Zender conducting Cpo 999481 Sinfonieorchester des Sudwestfunks Michael Gielen conducting Wergo WER 60185 50 BBC Symphony Orchestra Pierre Boulez conducting Sony 48463References Edit Jacobs 1994 p 137 a b Lambourn David August 1987 Henry Wood and Schoenberg The Musical Times 422 427 JSTOR 965003 subscription required Newman Ernest The Case of Arnold Schoenberg The Nation 7 September 1912 p 830 quoted in Lambourn 1987 pp 422 427 Doflein 1969b p 211 Erickson 1975 p 37 Johnston Doflein 1969a p 204 Rufer 1969 pp 366 368 Schoenberg 1999 p 29 Anon Herr Schonberg in London His Theory and His Practice Daily News Leader January 17 1914 quoted in full on the Arnold Schoenberg Centre website accessed 29 October 2013 Alison Garnham Hans Keller and the BBC The Musical Conscience of British Broadcasting 1959 79 Jennifer Doctor The BBC and Ultra Modern Music 1922 1936 Shaping a Nation s Tastes Short 1990 pp 118 119 Letter dated 23 January 1914 quoted in Lambourn 1987 p 426 Holst 2008 p 32 Sources Doflein Erich 1969a Schonbergs Opus 16 Nr 3 der Mythos der Klangfarbenmelodie Melos 36 203 205 Doflein Erich 1969b Schonbergs Opus 16 Nr 3 Geschichte einer Uberschrift Melos 36 209 212 Erickson Robert 1975 Sound Structures in Music Los Angeles University of California Press ISBN 0 520 02376 5 Holst Imogen 2008 1969 Gustav Holst A Biography second ed London Faber amp Faber ISBN 978 0 571 24199 6 Jacobs Arthur 1994 Henry J Wood Maker of the Proms London Methuen ISBN 978 0 41 369340 2 Johnston Blair Pieces 5 for Orchestra Op 16 at AllMusic Rufer Josef 1969 Noch einmal Schonbergs Opus 16 Melos 36 Schoenberg Arnold 1999 Five Orchestra Pieces Opus 16 score Mineola New York Dover Publications ISBN 0 486 40642 3 Short Michael 1990 Gustav Holst The Man and his Music Oxford and New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 314154 4 Further reading EditBurkhart Charles Schoenberg s Farben An Analysis of op 16 no 3 Perspectives of New Music 12 1973 74 141 172 Craft Robert Schoenberg s Five Pieces for Orchestra In Perspectives on Schoenberg and Stravinsky revised edition edited by Benjamin Boretz and Edward T Cone 3 24 New York W W Norton 1972 Forte Allen The Structure of Atonal Music New Haven and London Yale University Press 1973 Fortig Peter Arnold Schonberg uber Klangfarbe Melos 36 1969 206 209 Mackelmann Michael Arnold Schonberg Funf Orchesterstucke op 16 W Fink Munich 1987 ISBN 3 7705 2415 2 Neighbour O W 2001 Schoenberg Arnold In Stanley Sadie John Tyrrell eds The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians London Macmillan Rahn John Analysis Two Schoenberg s Five Peces for Orchestra Farben op 16 no 3 In his Basic Atonal Theory 59 73 New York and London Longman 1980 ISBN 0 582 28117 2 Schoenberg Arnold Style and Idea University of California Press Los Angeles 1984 ISBN 0 520 05294 3External links EditFive Pieces for Orchestra Schoenberg at Five Pieces for Orchestra Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Portal Classical music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Five Pieces for Orchestra amp oldid 1100964981, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
