Three Pieces for Orchestra (Berg)
Alban Berg |
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Other works
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Alban Berg composed his Three Pieces for Orchestra (German – Drei Orchesterstücke), Op. 6 between 1913 and 1915.[1] It is dedicated "to my teacher and friend Arnold Schoenberg in immeasurable gratitude and love". A revised version of the score was published in 1929 by Universal Edition.[2]
Structure
The three pieces are:
- Präludium (Prelude)
- An instrumentally colourful, impressionistic prelude. After a murmuring introduction, an evocative, wide-ranging theme is stated by bassoons and violins, and then fully developed.
- Reigen (Round Dance)
- Replete with both waltz music and Ländler music, this piece demonstrates an inherent eclecticism that, like in many of Berg's works, permitted a synthesis of old and new, classical and popular, often infused with grotesquerie.
- Marsch (March)
- A sizable and highly imaginative march, notable for its element of chaos and its extremes of orchestration. Berg is said to have declared: "There had to come a day when we could hear how a chord of eight tones really sounds in the brasses!".[3]
Instrumentation
The work is scored for:[2]
- 4 flutes (all doubling piccolo), 4 oboes (4th doubling cor anglais), 4 clarinets in A (3rd doubling clarinet in E flat), bass clarinet in B flat, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon;
- 6 horns in F, 4 trumpets in F, 4 trombones, contrabass tuba;
- 2 sets of timpani, percussion (4 players), 2 harps, celesta;
- strings: violins I & II, violas, violoncellos, double basses.
Notes
- ↑ Douglas, p.64
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Alban Berg – 3 Orchesterstücke". Universal Edition. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ↑ Ramey, Phillip (1986). Three Orchestral Pieces, Opus 6 (CD liner). Alban Berg. CBS Masterworks. MK39741.
References
- Lee, Douglas. "Masterworks of 20th Century Music", Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-93847-3, ISBN 978-0-415-93847-1
- Steinberg, Michael. Program Notes for Berg, 3 Pieces for Orchestra. accessed 2009-01-15
- Mark DeVoto. Program Notes for Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra. accessed February 12, 2010
- Huscher, Philip. Program Notes for Alban Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6. accessed 7 August 2014.
External links
- 3 Orchesterstücke: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
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