How Tonality Functions in Webern's Opus
9, Nrs. 1 and 4
Will Ogdon
1.
In his textbook, Serial Composition,[1] Reginald Smith-Brindle
paid some attention to residual tonality in both serial music and `atonal'
music composed without reference to a series.
Smith-Brindle pointed out certain tonal polarities in the opening phrase
of the adagio movement of Schoenberg's Third
String Quartet and also found a rather strong C basis for the beginning
phrase of the final movement of Webern's Symphony,
op 21. Smith-Brindle again compared
music of Webern and Schoenberg in his discussion of "free atonalism"
but, this time, contrasted the two composers on the basis of the presence or
absence of tonal implications.
Schoenberg was represented by the
first two phrases of opus 19, nr.4 and Webern by the first phrase of opus 9,
nr.1. Smith-Brindle pointed out the B
flat minor implication of Schoenberg's first phrase and found in the second an
A major harmony followed by a white key zone and it, in turn, by a black key
zone. He found one harmonic implication
in the Webern phrase but no tonal condition.
On the contrary, Smith-Brindle proceeded to describe the process by
which Webern avoided tonal
implications: it is the registral linking of semitones that was considered
responsible for maintaining the atonal equilibrium of this phrase.
There is no doubt that Webern did
depend on semitonal relations in composing this phrase but, if Webern proceeded
in this fashion to avoid tonal implications, he failed miserably since this
phrase exhibits at least as clear a tonal condition as the antecedent phrase of
Schoenberg's op.19 nr.4.
2.
Let us observe Webern's opening phrase
to opus 9 nr.1 with an intent to uncover its tonal connections, if any. First of all, there are the chromatic
connectives that Smith-Brindle found indigenous to Webern's working
method. In example 1a, the curved lines
connect chromatic neighbors while the straight lines connect simultaneously
sounding chromatic neighbors whether attacked at the same time or while the
chromatic relative is still sounding. If
we relate these chromatic neighbors within unbroken groups, it becomes evident
that Webern divided the descending E flat chromatic scale into three contiguous
segments of four notes each (compare 1b with 1a.)
Example 1: Webern
op.9 nr.1, pitch reduction of opening phrase
Webern's registral placement has been
maintained in example 1a, showing that only one of the nine chromatic
connections is half-step related. This
is tonally important since it allows a rather clear separation of diatonic
modalities by register.
Example 2: Webern op.9 nr.1, diatonic orientation of opening phrase
We can readily see that the bass clef
is dominated by a `sharp region' and the treble by a `flat region'. The sharp group is revealed as more
exclusively D oriented when the two leading notes of D are recognized at the
beginning of the phrase (see example 1a.)
In fact, it becomes quite clear that
Webern's phrase, although maintaining a bi-modal registration, modulates from D
to E flat by weakening one tonal orientation while progressively strengthening
the other (see example 3). The `lowered'
seventh, appearing early in both regions, has an opposite effect on the two
tonalities: the indefinite E flat
arrives at a strong cadential confirmation while the strongly oriented D is
only `half cadenced' by phrase end.
Example
3: Webern op.9
nr.1 opening phrase, modulatory interpretation.
Overt triadic references that relate
intervals of the perfect fifth and major third also help clarify the two tonal polarities
(see example 4). These two polarities
are more closely interwoven at the beginning of the phrase but Webern's
registral chromatic threading preserves their diatonic clarity (review example
1a).
Example 4: Webern op.9 nr.1, opening phrase, registration of tonal polarities
When the principal melodic line is read as in
example 5a, the melodic movement from D to E flat is easily heard and the
continuing D-oriented motives relegated to their accompanying function. It is true that there is a timbral
disfunction since the viola's participation remains `am steg': its E flat
participates in the up-beat of the melodic line while its alternating A-B
sixteenth notes form an accompaniment motive.
However, this timbral cross-over of structural function is not tonally
disruptive. A second reading, as in
example 5b, that would clarify the melodic phrase thematically by articulating
the two motives and treat the the three-note motive in the second violin as a
connecting link, still maintains the tonal progress from D to E flat.
Example 5a and 5b: Motivic and modulatory function in the opening phrase of Webern's op.9 nr.1
The two accompaniment motives in the bass
clef are easily related to D since all four notes are members of the D major
scale (see example 6a.) In spite of
their clear, registral D orientation, the A-B sixteenths are absorbed into the
harmonic progression of the melodic line, perhaps because of that line's strong
directionality but also because the enharmonic ambivalence of the #7/-3 chord[2], although
only slightly tilted in our tonal perception by the harmonic weight of the
minor sixth over the minor third, is only too willing to be influenced by
context and that context favors E flat (see example 6b). The strength of the E
flat major third, as the phrase cadences, is unquestioned and although the
cello's F#-E half cadences can assert some tonal independence after the cello's
opening D harmonic and the triadic fifth degree in the viola, it too, in spite
of textural distance, is absorbed into the strong orbit of the E flat melodic
cadence as minor mediant descending to flat supertonic.
Example 6a, 6b, and 6c: Harmonic orientation of accompanimental functions in
the opening phrase of Webern's op.9 nr.1
Schoenberg demonstrated in op. 11 nr.1
the harmonic independence from the bass and tonal influence of consonant
intervals formed immediately below the melody. Chromatic neighbors of the root
of such consonances, often thirds and sixths, registrally displaced below these
consonances are either perceived as tonally independent, as in bi-tonality, or
as being absorbed into the tonal orbit of the upper consonance. This practice probably evolved into so-called
atonal music from Schoenberg's willingness to invert minor ninth chords with
the ninth in the bass.
Example 7: Schoenberg op.11 nr.1 m.4, harmonic orientation.
The above analytical observations
allow a reasonable conclusion that Webern's first phrase in opus 9 nr.1 is at
least as tonally directed as the antecedent phrase of Schoenberg's op.19
nr.4. Of course it is the more or less
regular harmonic and metrical rhythm in both examples that emphasizes their
tonal connections.
3.
Interesting enough, the remaining
phrases of Webern's opus 9 nr.1, reveal more or less clear tonal allegiances
and in a distribution that permits us to suggest that D remains the primary tonal
focus of the entire piece. The third and
penultimate of the six phrases are strongly D-centered. The second phrase can be analyzed in B flat,
the flat submediant, while the fourth phrase is more tonally mobile, proceeding
from the D orientation of phrase 3 down through the circle of fifths to B
flat. Following the fifth phrase's D
orientation, the last phrase presents a more suspended tonal condition but,
even here, the influence of D is still manifest in the harmonic movement from E
flat through B flat to G (flat II, flat VI, IV) where a C#, the leading tone of
D, can be reinterpreted enharmonically as D flat in order to move on to C
natural, a deflection from the tonic region.
One is tempted to go beyond
recognition of an operative tonal directionality in Webern's opus 9 nr 1 to
extol the refinement of Webern's ear or the ingenuity of his conscious craft,
as the case might be. Phrases 1 and 2
are companion phrases acting, traditionally, as model and complement. Their close structural relationship,
confirmed by Webern's ritard at the close of measure 4, is supported by
the harmonic connection as well as by factors of time, dynamics and melodic
contour. The E flat major cadence with the
flat 2 below allows a consonant connection to C as the upbeat harmony of the
new phrase.
Example 8: Webern
op.9 nr.1 m.2-3
The subtle harmonic movement from I
through IV and II to V (and I) of B flat in the short second phrase is
completed by a kind of "cubist" cadence in which two harmonic
degrees, commonly experienced linearly, are superimposed: the F root of V is supported
above by its own dominant (see example 9).
Of course the F chord could stand on its own as a major/minor construct
but its suspended 5th to the 4th degree recalls rather explicitly an orthodox
V7. Curiously, the seventh is also perceived melodically as the tonic of the B
flat region.
Example 9: Webern op.9 nr.1 m.4
The third phrase, a single tonic
gesture, is interrupted by the high dynamic level of the following phrase,
these two phrases being as closely linked as phrases 1 and 2. The tonal connections are both smooth and abrupt,
in keeping with this interruptive, continuation relationship. The D tonality of phrase 3 is continued in
the leading melodic motive acting as a tonal pivot, D to G, from the third to
fourth phrase.
Example
10a and 10b: Webern op.9 nr.1, m.1
to m.7
The interruptive aspect of the phrase relationship
is carried out harmonically in the cello's bowed three note motive, tonally
scale degrees 7 - 4 - 7 in D major, followed by the forte, pizzicato double
stop which forms the major third and fourth degrees in G. This second, more impassioned phrase,
although modulating from the point of view of a stable tonal center, is still
tonally directed as it descends from G to B flat. The upbeat of this phrase implies a V to I
progression in G from the third beat of measure 6 to the first beat of measure
7. The G#-E interval, formed by the
cello within the first beat, substitutes for a C harmony, leading to F on the
second beat. The E flat and G flat
within this beat confirm the significance of F as V prepares the B flat tonic
harmony of the third beat. The B natural
to C, on the first beat of the following measure, deflects the harmony upward
again, something like the questioning inflection of a half cadence, acting as a
link to the following phrase (see example 11).
The next to last phrase is the closing
tonal phrase since its following companion phrase turns away from the D
emphasis to other degree members of that key.
The cello's B to C#, scales digress 6 to 7 in D, no longer has the
strength of reach the tonic and the progression falls back to the lowered
seventh, the violas ppp C natural,
leaving an inconclusive subdominant feeling more than a conclusively directed
motion to a C final. The complete tonal
analysis can be encountered in example 11.
4.
Even if the foregoing, detailed
analysis allows one to remain unconvinced that Webern exercised conscious craft rather than, or along
with, a refined ear to devise the tonality of opus 9 nr.1, there can hardly be
reason to doubt that he did so in the broad and methodical harmonic structuring
of a companion piece, opus 9, nr.4. This
work is only eight measures
long yet its implications are immense since its
structure is a systematic demonstration of a "schwebend" kind
of tonality as well as an extension of the Schoenbergian "cubist"
cadence to the whole of the composition.
Example 11:
Webern op.9 nr.1, Tonal Analysis
What is understood as "schwebend"
is the integration of two or more tonal centers, finely balanced, so that none
attains a conclusive dominance or priority.
Three competing tonalities are active in the first half of opus 9 nr.4,
a four measure phrase that begins with B flat, continues with G, and is
transformed into E at the half-cadence.
It is their detailed interaction that occasions the label of "schwebend". Over a longer or more articulated construct,
we might speak of modulation.
Only the more critical tonal elements
define these centers and it is with the leanest economy that these elements are
dispatched over the textural surface as short, inexpressive motives of a
mechanized character. The even
distribution of these harmonic entities, using the various levels of the
textural range as planes, again prompts the `cubist' characterization which
implies the compressed presentation of tonal
functions normally experienced linearly.
We will isolate, in examples 12 a and b, the harmonic elements of
measures 1 and 2 in order to demonstrate this `cubist' compression.
Example 12a and 12b: Webern op.9 nr.4, m.1 and 2
However, the tonal transfer from B
flat through G to E in the principal melodic line is simple and unforced as our
isolation of the first phrase's melodic line will show.
Example 13: Webern op.9 nr.4, Opening Melodic Phrase
Webern has applied stylized, bi-tonal
cadences which emphasize the tritonal relationship of B flat -E at the ends of
both phrases (see examples 14a and b). It
is these cadences that keep active the balancing of tonal polarities rather
than confirming a modulation from one to the other.
Example 14a and b: Webern op.9 nr.4, m.4 and m.7
A tonal analysis of opus 9 nr.4
follows with an appended harmonic reduction. (See example 15a and b.)
Example 15:
Webern op.9, nr.4, Tonal Analysis.
Postscript
During an intense period of
post-tonal, harmonic experimentation, both Webern and Schoenberg looked to
Schoenberg's concepts of "schwebend" and "aufgehobend"
tonality (the first balancing tonal polarities and the second temporarily
suspending tonal directionality), for intellectual support. We learn from Webern's informal lectures
published as The Path to the New Music[3], how
attached Webern was to those particular ideas and how intrigued he remained
with the tonal implications of songs from Schoenberg's "Book of the
Hanging Gardens" as well as Schoenberg's piano pieces op. 11.
Schoenberg, himself, wrestled with the
significance of tonality in various contexts within his Theory of Harmony but most specifically in the chapter on the whole
tone scale and related chords (pp.394-395, Carter tr. 1978). In this chapter, Schoenberg attempted a
refined distinction between what he considered to be the doubtful exercise of
working for tonality and of creating freely within a tonality "if there is
feeling for this tonality in the unconscious." In a footnote, he reminds his readers that he
has already called attention to
"the formal
possibilities of fluctuating and suspended tonality; where as these do admit
the assumption of an effectual center, they show it is not necessary to help
this center attain externally a power that it has, at most, internally."
The import of these statements would
seem to down-play conscious craft and suggest only an inbred, residual tonality
at work in Schoenberg and Webern's atonal music but pieces such as Schoenberg's
opus 11 nr.1 and opus 19 nr.1, or pieces from Webern's opus7 and 9 are more
systematic and more tonally inventive than that statement of Schoenberg's would
seem to allow.
Schoenberg and Webern's intense concern with whether tonality functions or not in pantonal music still haunts us some eighty years later. We have only begun to understand the harmonic ramifications of Schoenberg and Webern's experiments, whether conscious or instinctive. Schoenberg suggested then, perhaps prophesied might be more correct, that someday this new harmony would be tonally explainable. Perhaps these present studies of tonality in Webern's opus 9 will contribute to that end.