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Abstract(s)
In his recent book collecting short notes and essays about music, Eduardo Lourenço gives an insightful
poetic account of two pieces of Webern—op. 10 and op. 21—that stresses the fragmentary, directionless
and discontinuous character of such compositions (LOURENÇO, 2012, 45-6), an approach that resonates
fairly well with a number of analytical views on this composer. Drawing from BERRY (1976) and
KRAMER (1988), I argue that Lourenço’s ideas can be complemented with a more fluid, process-oriented
approach that focuses on dynamic aspects that are also relevant to Webern’s musical syntax. As an example of that, I present a detailed analysis of op. 10/4, highlighting a number of either
progressive or recessive tendencies (in BERRY’s terms) that occur in this piece at the textural, metrical
and intervallic levels. I also show that the ultimate goal of such tendencies is generally not predictable,
creating instances of nondirected linear time (in KRAMER’s terms).
At the metrical level, for instance, a clear and uniform organization is gradually replaced by a much
more ambiguous and stratified one, whereas at the intervallic level one notes a gradual shift of emphasis
from set-class (015) to set-class (012). Supporting the intervallic analysis, I introduce two theoretical
concepts—intervallic combination and modulatory network—which allow us to conceive set-class
progressions in light of the mediating role played by given interval-classes. This represents a new way of
looking at this movement’s set structure, different from—but complementary to—classic approaches
such as FORTE’s (1973) and LEWIN’s (1993).
Description
Keywords
Progressive and recessive tendencies Nondirected linear time Intervallic combination Modulatory network
Pedagogical Context
Citation
MOREIRA, Daniel - Nondirected linearity and modulatory networks in Webern’s Op. 10/4. Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia. ISSN 2183-8410. Vol. 3, n.º 1 (2016), p. 79-106