Alban Berg – Lyric Suite – Movement II

Well I’ve had this score on loan for a couple of weeks and the idea of being able to analyse it to any deep extent has felt so difficult I’ve tended to put it aside without ever spending much time looking at it. I’ve finally spent a bit of time looking at the order of the notes and his use of the 12 tone concept, but instead thought I’d comment on the difference in metronome markings. He employs three different tempi in the second movement. Tempo I (quaver = 100) and Tempo II (dotted crotchet = 150) alternate many times, whilst the slower Tempo III (quaver = 69) appears only once. The changes in tempo provide ways to counter the inability to return to particular tonal areas or specific melodies, that the 12 tone style avoids. As he was stuck with the tone row, and variations of it, rhythmic groupings become a sort of melody, or repeated motif, that doesn’t always sound the same, but provides some degree of cohesion for the listener. Despite the use of serialism, I found parts to be quite beautiful, particularly the Tempo III section which sounds like remnants of a nice tonal composition, in a post-apocalyptic world.

Warren.

Alban Berg – Lyric Suite

Yeah, you damned serialists... I see what you did there...

Alban Berg created some of the most lastingly beautiful compositions of the past century. In this alone—as in so many other aspects of this fascinating artist—Berg continues to defy some of the more dogged clichés about “modern music.” True enough, his scores abound with labyrinthine complexities—as do, for that matter, those of J.S. Bach. But for all their intricacies, Berg’s compositions remain rooted in the Romantic tradition, particularly its conviction that music can convey the most intimate emotional truths*.

Sure thing, captain. Captain Berg, that’s a good one. Hahahoho.

So anyway, Berg is a pretty cool guy who doesn’t afraid of anything.

This is 12-tone music, using a tonerow, but there is occasional rhythmic repetition of a pitch…

Thanks Wikipedia, you are amazing. You can see here the initial row used (and the repetition of that damnable Db, making the key completely Db! At least for that small segment of time.

Because of that rhythmic repetition, for motivic reasons, there is for brief points in time, audible tonal centres. The amazing thing about this piece is the orchestration of tonerows, the use of counterpoint and the level of complexity without sounding particularly dissonant or ugly, like some of Schoenberg’s music can. In fact, his melodic use of the tonerow is beautiful.

He employs some common compositional techniques that stretch back, probably as far as 16243BCE, such as:

+ immitation

Immitation in the sense that a motive or gesture will be repeated, though with different pitches, on multiple instruments, creating a sense of fluency to the music and a sense of continuity – something that can be lacking in 12-tone music.

+ Repetition

Berg quite often repeats a similar idea multiple times for quite a substantial amount of time, leading the listener to be able to grasp the musical material and hold on to it through the rough ride that 12-tone music can be.

+ Counterpoint

Berg uses melodic counterpoint effectively, in four parts, in 12-tone. The most impressive part of this is that it is derived from one single row, rather than multiple rows, which I have experimented with.

* www.nws.edu/downloads/programNotes/BergLyricSuite.pdf

Vince

Berg – Lyric Suite

Berg’s Lyric suite is a 6 movement piece for String Quartet. The title comes from Berg’s interpretation of the piece as being “essentially unsymphonic” in contrast to the “symphonic character of most string quartets”. It also refers to Alexander von Zemlinsky’s (to whom the piece is dedicated) piece “Lyric Symphony”, which Berg quotes in this piece.

Rene Leibowitz (1947) analyses the piece and conclused that it is “entirely written in the twelve-tone technique, [it] is a sonata movement without the development. Thus the recapitulation follows directly upon the exposition; but, because of the highly advanced twelve-tone technique of variation, everything in this movement is developmental.”

It is therefor important to pay special attention to analysing the tone-rows used by Berg in order to write the piece. Taking the first movement, there are two ways in which to look at the tone-rows.

Using regular analysis one can conclude that the tonerow is as follows

However, George Perle (who did the analysis), suggests writing it as follows :

Taking just the first bar, Berg starts with two open string double stops in the 2nd violin part, first G-D and second A-E. Balancing these double stops are C and F followed by B and F# in the viola and cello, respectively.

Although common sense dictates not to look at the content of these chords, as they are derived from 12 tone, but I thought it very interesting. If you place all the notes within one octave, the first chord consists of two sets of two notes just a tone apart, separated by a larger interval, and the second “chord” is the same, but down a minor 3rd. Once you spread it out, however, and suddenly the chord makes more sense.

Scarily, I like 12tone more and more. I’ve always liked the concept, but always balked when listening. I can, now, quite happily sit there and listen to two hours of 12-tone.

All the way through this piece, I am amazed at the level of detail Berg puts into this piece. Not only does he give some sort of dynamic marking almost every bar, but he also marks exactly who has the “first voice” and who has the “second voice”, who has the same rhythm as the first voice, and who are the accompanying parts, all the way through. There is a constant barrage of articulation and techniques, and written footnotes to help the performer interpret the piece. If I am going to take anything away from this piece, besides the amazingly musical use of 12tone, it is this phenomenal level of detail.

Saska

Berg, A. Lyric Suite

This piece is one that is has a very lyrical and smooth contour. The strings have a Romantic quality about them as their melodies often have a sweeping motion through the melodies. At times tension is brought forth through a discordant or chromatic movement. Generally a beautiful piece in which I would imagine accompanying a dramatic play or film scene.

- Sascha