Five Pieces for Orchestra

The Five Pieces for Orchestra (Fünf Orchesterstücke) Op. 16 was composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1909. The titles of the pieces, reluctantly added by the composer after the work's completion upon the request of his publisher, are as follows:

  1. "Vorgefühle", Sehr rasch. ("Premonitions", very fast.)
  2. "Vergangenes", Mäßige Viertel. ("The Past", moderate.)
  3. "Farben", Mäßige Viertel. ("Summer Morning by a Lake: Chord-Colors", moderate.)
  4. "Peripetie", Sehr rasch. ("Peripetia", very fast.)
  5. "Das obligate Rezitativ", Bewegte Achtel. ("The Obbligato Recitative", with movement.)

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 was 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.

Contents

Instrumentation

There are two different scorings of this work: 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."[1]. This version was published posthumously in 1952.

Original 1909 Version

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
Contrabassoon
Brass
6 Horns
3 Trumpets
4 Trombones
Tuba
Percussion
Timpani
Bass Drum
Crash cymbals
Suspended cymbals
Triangle
Tam-tam
Xylophone
Celesta
Strings
Violins I, II
Violas
Violoncellos
Double Basses

Revised 1949 Version

Woodwinds
Piccolo
3 Flutes (3rd doubling on 2nd Piccolo)
2 Oboes
English Horn
E-flat Clarinet
2 Clarinets
Bass Clarinet
2 Bassoons
Contrabassoon
Brass
4 Horns
3 Trumpets
3 Trombones
Tuba
Percussion
Timpani
Bass Drum
Cymbals
Suspended Cymbals
Triangle
Tam-tam
Xylophone
Strings
Violins I, II
Violas
Violoncellos
Double Basses

"Summer Morning by a Lake"

According to Robert Erickson, "harmonic and melodic motion is curtailed, in order to focus attention on timbral and textural elements."[2] 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), found in a number of chromatically altered derivatives, and is scored for "a kaleidoscopically rotating array of instrumental colors".[3] Whether or not this was an early example of what Schoenberg later called "Klangfarbenmelodie" (in his Harmonielehre of 1911) 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".[4] An attempt to refute this view was published in the same journal issue.[5] 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" [6]

References

Recordings

External links