Four Score and More
Webern: Symphonie
Part of Scored-up Scores.
Webern: Symphonie op.21, Movement 1, Opening
This page provides some notes on the Webern Symphonie extract shown in the interactive score.
Canons
Webern described this movement as a ‘double canon in contrary motion’ (i.e. melodic inversion). There are canons in each section, very much including this opening which sees a double canon between parts 1 and 2, and 3 and 4. The table below shows how this works for the first two rows forms and corresponding instrument successions.
| Part | First Row | Instruments | Second Row | Instruments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P0 | Hn2-Cl-VC | I3 | VC-Cl-Hn2 |
| 2 | I0 | Hn1-BCl-Vla | P9 | Vla-BCl-Hn1 |
| 3 | I8 | Hp-VC-Vln2-Hp-Hn2-Hp- | P5 | Hp-Hn2-Vln1-Hp-Vla- |
| 4 | P4 | Hp-Vla-Vln1-Hp-Hn1-Hp- | I7 | Hp-Hn1-VC-Hp-Vln2- |
There are comparable timbral sequences in both of the canon pairs and pairings of instruments (including harp’s two hands) from the outset. There is also palindromic symmetry in the first pair (connecting to many other symmetries in this work).
The Row
The row matrix is set out below in a one possible configuration that sees the piece begin with P0 (Webern’s sketches set this out with P and I swapped around).
| . | I0 | I9 | I10 | I11 | I7 | I8 | I2 | I1 | I5 | I4 | I3 | I6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | A | F# | G | G# | E | F | B | A# | D | C# | C | D# | R0 |
| P3 | C | A | A# | B | G | G# | D | C# | F | E | D# | F# | R3 |
| P2 | B | G# | A | A# | F# | G | C# | C | E | D# | D | F | R2 |
| P1 | A# | G | G# | A | F | F# | C | B | D# | D | C# | E | R1 |
| P5 | D | B | C | C# | A | A# | E | D# | G | F# | F | G# | R5 |
| P4 | C# | A# | B | C | G# | A | D# | D | F# | F | E | G | R4 |
| P10 | G | E | F | F# | D | D# | A | G# | C | B | A# | C# | R10 |
| P11 | G# | F | F# | G | D# | E | A# | A | C# | C | B | D | R11 |
| P7 | E | C# | D | D# | B | C | F# | F | A | G# | G | A# | R7 |
| P8 | F | D | D# | E | C | C# | G | F# | A# | A | G# | B | R8 |
| P9 | F# | D# | E | F | C# | D | G# | G | B | A# | A | C | R9 |
| P6 | D# | C | C# | D | A# | B | F | E | G# | G | F# | A | R6 |
| . | RI0 | RI9 | RI10 | RI11 | RI7 | RI8 | RI2 | RI1 | RI5 | RI4 | RI3 | RI6 |
Some properties of the row:
- The second hexachord is a retrograde of the first.
- That symmetrical property is exploited through dovetailing row forms, so the same minor third dyad both marks the end of one row and the beginning of another. For instance, in b.11-14: P0>I3, I8>P5, P4>I7 and I0>P9.
- There are pairs of identical rows (like P0 = R6), and so 24 distinct forms in total, rather than 48 (4x12).
- The tritone is important in this piece; notice that opposite notes in the row (notes 1 and 12, 2, and 11 …) are always a tritone apart.
- The row can be thought of as four trichord cells: [013], [014], [014], [013].
Confused?
Again, just explore the interactive score to get a sense of how this looks in action.