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Burkhart Farben
Burkhart Farben
3
Author(s): Charles Burkhart
Source: Perspectives of New Music , Autumn, 1973 - Summer, 1974, Vol. 12, No. 1/2
(Autumn, 1973 - Summer, 1974), pp. 141-172
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
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to Perspectives of New Music
CHARLES BURKHART
141
2 The complex matter of the names is treated in detail by Erich Doflein in his
article, "Sch6nbergs Opus 16 Nr. 3/Geschichte einer Yberschrift," Melos, May
1969, p. 209.
3 Robert Craft has an excellent comparison of the editions in his "Schoenberg's
Five Pieces for Orchestra" in Perspectives on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, Benjamin
Boretz and Edward Cone, eds., Princeton University Press, 1968, pp. 3ff.
4 Kindly provided by Belmont Music Publishers, Los Angeles. This document is
142
voice 3 voice 1
not~voice voic 3 n
voice 5 used voice 2
voice 4
Fig. I
143
(X.0 Li
Fig. 2 (con
* 146 ?
from the opening al to the c#2 in m. 24, and its high status is signalled
by its syncopated entrance (in Oboe 1) and its slight crescendo. The
second upward move-from C-1 to C-4-occurs at mm. 23-24, where
the entire process just described, slightly modified and rhythmically
compressed, is repeated. (An exception here, however, is the bass,
which, since it did not state M in m. 23, now is a retained d rather
than a c#. Not only is this ellipse part of the general acceleration, but
a bass c# here would be temporally very close to the climactic c#2 that
will arrive in m. 24-again syncopated [see solo viola]-and might
produce an unwanted octave relationship.) The essence of these moves,
lying in the manipulation of the perfect fourths in the upper voices, is
summarized in Fig. 3.
mm. 1 13 15 23 24
Fig. 3
In the final section of the piece, mm. 32-44, the three-note motive
(M) again appears in strict canon, but now inverted. The inversion
produces a large upward move from C-0 to C-1 in mm. 32-38. Since
the original order of the canonic voices, if applied here, would produce
some infelicitous octaves and awkward counterpoint, it is replaced by
an order which yields better results: 2-4-1-3-5. From m. 39 on, parallel
motion in all voices brings the counterpoint to a halt, while a retro-
grade of M restores C-0 for the last time.
The pitches of the five voices, though passed from instrument to in-
strument, are all present at every instant. Thus the piece does turn out
to be, in a sense, one "changing chord"-one great five-strand organism
that ever so slightly crawls, snake-like, through all 44 measures. From
the broadest viewpoint, the pitch patterns in this organism divide
Farben horizontally into four large parts, indicated by brackets in Fig.
2. The first, mm. 1-15, consists successively of the opening three com-
pletely static measures, the canon on M (C-0 to C-11), and the up-
ward move from C-11 to C-2. Here the end of this part elides with
the beginning of the second, mm. 15-24, which is a modified and,
from m. 20, speeded-up sequence of the first. I read mm. 15-19 as one
almost-static chord comparable to the opening, but embellished by a
neighbor-tone in each of the upper two voices. Similarly, three neigh-
bor-tones embellish the beginning of the climactic third part, which
147
148
Organism r rt
see m. 31
Two-note r r a [
motive
Fig.
Atten
-this
accele
plung
emph
in th
rapid
same measures.
* 149 ?
a)
1X ' -3I
Fig. 5
* 150 ?
COLOR
* 151 *
Fl. I ;
Vn. I
_ J etc.
r -; t|etc-
Cl. I H.
E. H. I2 7 VFf
Fig. 6 Fig. 7
9 On Fig. 9, compare
mm. 1-10, of course) to r
or permuted form. Even
same because of the horn
second half of ().
152
The Instruments
mm. 12 10 13 29 32 44
v--vlc i - - - - - - -
2- I
(repetitions I
ofm. 1) I
Ae 3-
4--- I------
v. 5
B Fvoice 5
(end)
mm. 11 25a 28 30-31 40a
C {string punctuations
Fig. 8
10 From here on, the tern "instrument" will mean "type of ins
153
flute, oboe, etc. References to, say, "oboe" pertain to the sum of the three oboes'
parts, not to one or the other oboe separately.
11 I do not intend, of course, to denigrate the manifold finesses achieved by the
use of special effects.
12 Since the serial passage treats in like manner the Bb and D clarinets, I do not
distinguish between them.
154
ond, and perhaps more convincing, reason emerges from the general
stipulation that no instrument be used twice in immediate succession in
the same voice. If, then, open horn and muted horn were of equal rank, it
is highly probable that there would be a fair number of occurrences of
the horn playing open and muted contiguously. But the fact is that it
almost never does'3-a strong suggestion that instrument-types form
the primary class of color components. Finally, if open horn and muted
horn were equal, one might expect to find in the work instances of two
(or more) vertical combinations identical in instrument-type but dif-
ferent in their use of mutes-a practice consonant with the principle
that all timbre-combinations be different. It seems significant that this
happens only once-and just for a quarter note-as observed above.
However, this one case shows Schoenberg using muting as a secondary
color-class. Lacking his primary criterion, he achieves a difference in
timbre by resorting to the second: in the earlier of the two combina-
tions (m. 14, third quarter), only one horn is muted, but in the other
(m. 44, first quarter), both are.
The color components of highest status, then, are the 15 varieties of
instrument used in the organism (A-B-C of Fig. 8). The total number
of attacked notes in the organism (excluding the repetitions of mm.
2-10) are distributed by instrument-family among the 7 woodwinds,
4 brasses, and 4 strings at a ratio very close to 7:4:4. How gratifying
it would be to the seeker of a rationale if each individual instrument as
well (or each player's part) received the same, or even almost the same,
number of notes! While this is not exactly the case, it is true that a gen-
eral principle within A is to distribute each instrument's notes so that
they touch as many of the pitches within the gamut B-d2 as possible,
and repeat no pitch a conspicuously large number of times. I assert this
as an ideal in spite of several obvious (some inevitable) failures to ful-
fill it. Contrabassoon, tuba, and (except for two single notes) double
bass play only in voice 5. All remaining instruments play in at least
three of the voices, but the flute and oboe do not play below middle C.
The bass clarinet is confined almost exclusively to voices 4 and 5
(would it be too loud in its high register?); the trombone is asked to
play only one note in voice 1, and the viola figures most prominently
in voices 1 and 5. Otherwise the ideal is realized to a surprising degree,
1.; But there are just two places in Farben where it does in fact happen. Also, a
very few instances of two consecutive notes by one instrument can be found. These
arise from exigencies of the moment; the minute percentage of the whole that they
represent does not invalidate the general principle.
155
156
/ I
I d1 7 - - --- r--J - -J
v,,
FL EN t *
e
CL SNu
1^^:
"-/ ,I
Fig. 9
)A ?? ?? @) ? ( o i ( o io *
ON VNm HU YkHm 0 TP CL ob FL VN CL TP 0 CL TP
J ,. b J - '-J] 7
TP CL EH 0 CL TE 0 C E H V C N EH VC V B N t EN C
O\
?9 <LLU rrrr f F F r
^^ IC
o: 8N
W-D C11CN
I DB DB DRCDB
t CN
Be DCBrDCO
4Ci9I) 'c2 - ',. C
Fig. 9 (c
) A ? I????@ I I ,
I-: > Ia-t r t to *- - b.4 iad in 6 Ah z f
Qy I : ! f ' ' I t . l , 1 t 1-
IVAhI FL VNm CL ENH W! 08 VA HN H
'- I
L I iL IY I I I
KhL CL
l?tf!r r r Ur rrr r
DBh tNm CN BC B tihmTBvrTBDBTBmDB ICN OB CN C
<I4 ": t Tn t
-:z:c-4) c-4j2 c
Fig. 9
I \
?@ @? @? @@ 8 ( * 9 (i)
fe" .. .I J_
t*1h I VN Hlm FL CL TPmOi 81I EH Ob TP Htm \m FL VA CL KtN EH
1 1 _ ,___- 1z,,
J . j j ,
VCh I i EH HNmVCm TBmCL TPra m HiN FL El CL BN VNm FL B
qs\b .^ J Jl ^i . - J jf ?J
s8h ,/- UHN BC TBmVAm DB CN VC TU BN TBm BC Hftm V
Fig. 9 (con
1) Only nine instruments can play in all five voices of Farben. Three others (FL,
OB, and VN) can play in four voices. Of the remaining three, CN and TU
*161
play only in one voice, the bass. Since the DB has only two notes outside v
5, I propose that it, too, be counted as a bass-only instrument.
2) A given verticality may contain no more than one twice-occurring instrum
(This is certainly the general practice in spite of No. 44 .) Since ther
is only one each of EH, BC, CN, and TU, and since we are confining.D
the bass, only 10 of the 15 instruments can so occur twice.
3) Verticalities may contain as many as 5 woodwinds, but no more than 3 b
and no more than 3 strings.
When the total has been reached, it should be compared in size with 114, the
ber of five-voice combinations in A plus B-that is, the 87 encircled in Fig. 9
the additional 28 caused by bass quarter notes, minus the 1 that Schoenberg him
repeated!
*162
* 163 ?
16 I would like to add that I arrived at Fig. 9, including its reading of m. 29,
long before I had any inkling of the serial ordering of mm. 25-29. A few other as-
pects of this extremely complex measure are discussed below.
*164
* 165 ?
In two respects the bass voice of the organism is not only set apart,
but given a somewhat "traditional" character. Its distance from voice 4
is greater than that between any other adjacent voices, and it is twice
doubled in lower octaves. Its assignment to a group of instruments,
some of which play entirely or most notably in the bass, also recalls
tradition and would even be expected if this were not an apparent con-
tradiction of one of the basic ideas of Farben. But Schoenberg makes a
triumph of the necessity that the lowest instruments of each family
simply cannot play effectively, if at all, in the upper part of the gamut
B-d2 by devising a bass line that has a color scheme of its own and that
uses some quite untraditional "bass" instruments, e.g., solo viola, in the
process.
Throughout the first 24 measures, the instrument-changes in the bass
occur in quarter notes when the quartets are changing in halves, thus
creating rhythms-groups of 2 quarters in mm. 1-10, 3 quarters in
mm. 13-24-that counterpoint the slower color changes in the upper
voices. When these counter-rhythms cease, the bass maintains its inde-
166
_ /
Fig.
Anot
side
cont
flute
fact
quart
87 v
tiona
How
these
syste
verti
are g
consi
men
poin
scope
Some
Ther
the i
the t
such
168
Verticalities( ( () () () ( @ () ) ) (
(Fig. 9)
see retrograde
Voice 1: OB TP CL OB FL VN CL TP OB CL TP OB
retro. (e (6 (@
~~~\ ,~j/ \ ,
Fig. 11
169
Measure 29
Prime series- - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3
J JJit J J J J J
Quanityof - 10 14 19 13 17 19 24 21 26 27 27 15 16 14 16 8
instrumental parts
Fig. 12
(This figure does not account for the extra-chordal cello descent nor
for the two-rote motives, but these do not significantly alter the overall
picture.) The contrabasses' second two-note motive is then sustained
into and contributes strikingly to the next measure, 30, where staggered
releases finally leave C-0 sounding alone on just five string harmonics.
The resulting diminishing blocks of sound provide yet one more way
whereby m. 30 relates to the other chief dividing point in the work,
m. 11, for the identical effect is used there.18
FORM
18 Schoenberg was not the first to use this effect in the romantic orc
Wagner uses it several times in Siegfried's Funeral March.
* 170
* 171 '
* 172