klee and webern - speculations on modernist theories of composition

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Klee and Webern: Speculations on Modernist Theories of CompositionAuthor(s): Nancy PerloffReviewed work(s):Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Spring, 1983), pp. 180-208Published by: Oxford University Press

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Kleeand Webern: peculationson Modernist heoriesofComposition

NANCY PERLOFF

I

JN is article n theSeptember, 977, ssue of ArtsMagazine,AndrewKagan arguesthatPaul Klee derivedhis contrapuntal

procedures fdrawing ndpainting rom he theoryndpractice feighteenth-centuryolyphony."' Kagan bases this argumentonKlee'savowedpreferenceor hemusic f ighteenth-centuryienneseClassical composers nd his applicationof lateeighteenth-century

musicalterminologynd techniques opictorial rt.2When discuss-ing thepaintingNew Harmony 1936),Kagan admitsthatthetrueanalogyto the vendistributionf olorunits nd to themirroringfthe eft alfof thepaintingbytherightsfound n twentieth-atherthan ighteenth-centuryusic.Nonetheless agancontends hat hecontrapuntal rocedures nd the lack of dissonancestill link thepaintingmore losely oeighteenth-centuryusic.

But sthis eally he ase, r sKagana bit oohastyn hisdismissal

1 "Paul Klee'sAdParnassum: heTheory ndPractice fEighteenth-Centuryolyphonyas Models forKlee'sArt,"ArtsMagazine,LII (September, 977):90-104.Kaganis not thefirstcritic oexplore he nfluencefmusic nKlee'sart.Forearlier iscussions eeWillGrohmann,Paul Klee (New York,1954),pp. 67-74;and RichardVerdi, Musical Influencesn theArt fPaul Klee,"MuseumStudies,Art nstitute f Chicago, III (1968):81-107.The subject s ofconsiderablenterestecauseKlee nitially esitated etween career n aintingand a careernmusicalperformance.venas a painter, e continued operformn orchestrasnd chambergroupsthroughout is life.

2 For furthernformation n Klee's preferenceor ighteenth-centuryusic,see TheDiariesofPaul Klee: 1898-1918,d.FelixKlee,trans.R. Y. ZacharyndMaxKnight Berkeley,

1964),pp. 72,

147,74.We learnfromGrohmann hatKleebelieved

aintingwas

developingmuch more lowly hanmusic. He thereforesedtheformal rinciples nd techniques f lateeighteenth-centuryusic s a model forhisart, ndby1929hereportedhathehaddevelopedpainting, n a formalevel, othe tagereachednmusicbyMozart. eeGrohmann, p. 70-71.

180








Klee andWebern 181

ofthetwentieth-centuryarallel?To whatextent oes Klee ncorpo-rateMozartean rinciples f formal rganizationndpitch rrange-

mentntohis own work? willcompare neofKlee's"magic-square"paintings,Flowering 1934),witha chamberworkbyMozart, he

String Quintet n C Major, K. 5153and then discussthe strikingresemblance etween hecompositional rocessesnKlee's Bauhaus

paintings nd in the erialmusicofAntonWebern.The quintet s infourmovements,hree fwhich re nC major.

The first ovement,n sonata-allegroorm,penswith n exchangebetween elloand firstiolin,while the nnervoicesprovide three-

partharmonic upport. n Example 1,thefirstighteenmeasures onotdepartfrom major.Mozart oncludes hese peningmeasureswith half adence nC (m. 19),then, ather hanmoving oa bridgepassage,hereintroduceshe peningmaterial n the onicminorwiththeviolin and cello roles reversed. s in Examples 1and 2, thefirstviolin andcello are featuredn thefirstubsectionmm.1-19)and inmost f he econd ubsectionmm.20-60)of he xposition,whilethesecondviolinand twoviolasprovide n inner ccompaniment,hus

creating homophonicexture.owardthe ndofthe econd ubsec-

tion m.46),Mozart lters he exture;he nner oices ntroduce briefcontrapuntal assagewhichculminateswith C-major adence, ol-lowedbythebridge nd themodulation oG.4

It is difficulto find he samekind of tonalcenteringn Klee's

painting see Fig. 1). Square-shapedor rectangular nits of colormove cross he urfacenevery irectionright o eft,optobottom,diagonally, tc.). n this imultaneityfcolorprogressions,o singlerow tands ut;theirrrangements nothierarchical. he tenunits n

theuppermost orizontal owof thepaintingmatch hetenunits nthe owesthorizontal ow, ndthenineunits nthe ertical owonthe

right ide ofthepaintingmatch henine units n thevertical owonthe eft.Asthe yemoves oward he ower enterfthe'painting,he

arrangementfrowsbecomesess ystematic:nits re maller, arynsize, nd arenot inedup evenly. he lighterolorofthese nits lsodraws ur attentiono the ower enter f thepainting.However t s

3 Klee completedFlowering ust after heBauhaus closed in Dessau in 1933, nd the

paintingresemblesmanyofhisearlyBauhausworks.The string uintet, omposed n 1787,illustratesMozart'smasteryfchambermusic ndspecificallyffive-partexture.havechosenthequintetbecause t s a workKleemaywell haveperformedn chamber ecitals.

4 For more etailed iscussion f tonal olidity"nthefirst ovement fthe uintet,eeCharlesRosen,The ClassicalStyleNew York,1971),p. 267.








182 The Musical Quarterly

Ex. 1:Quintet nC, K. 515,mvt.1

Allegro

dolceiolino I

Viola

Viola I -

Violoncello

.P'

PPPI

____ rfp42 t~-?-

impossible to isolate an individual square and call it thefocalpoint.The progressionfromdarkto light,from arge tosmall, is so gradual

that the eye cannot detach and defineeven a central portion of thepainting. Moreover, ust when the eye has followed the squares in-

ward, the diagonal rows of the painting lead back outward. The

painting's interiormotion thus resists focusedgaze.








KleeandWebern 183

Ex. 2: Quintet nC, K. 515,mvt.

20

Af P_

ADp-

dolce

f p

M imi.. ..

? , ,......








184 The MusicalQuarterly

40

IA.

resc. I fI

? --- _ I--FL,..

colc~F 0 a








Klee and Webern 185

p`3-x F F i iPZIE

f ,e f

?7,ef

bi, I

FE,-

t+ ... [. , ..........i."' . ' "+

, .." .

",.lf . . ."

FE +oe?

AsKagansuggests, leemayhavebeen cquaintedwithJ.J. ux'streatise n counterpoint, radus ad Parnassum 1725).Howeverthelink betweenKlee'spaintings nd thepolyphonicwriting fHaydnand Mozart s stillquestionablefor woreasons: irst,ux's treatisesessentially summarynd a refinementfseventeeth-centuryoun-

terpoint;5econd,

lthoughHaydnand Mozartused Fux as a

primerfor trict ontrapuntal omposition, heirmusictended ocombinethe ateBaroque,Viennese ontrapuntaltyle asedon Fux withthenewhomophonic tyle fWagenseil nd Monn.6 Thereis no doubtthat he pplicationofcounterpointovisualartfascinated lee.But,whether e was aware of it ornot,he was employing ontrapuntalproceduresn a modernistdiom,witha modernist's isregard orcenteringndhierarchical reatment.

I thereforeropose an analogy between hepaintingsofKlee,

particularly ith eferenceo works ompleted uringhisyears t theBauhaus 1920-30), nd themusic fAntonWebern, articularly ithreferenceo works omposedafter is espousalofserialismn 1924.Althoughneither rtistwas acquaintedwiththeworkoftheother,bothaimed toachieve countlessnumber fconnections etweenrestricted,arefullyrdered etofelements.Also noteworthys their

5HarvardDictionary fMusic,ed. WilliApel, 2nded. rev. Cambridge,Mass., 1969),p. 209.

6 The New GroveDictionaryLondon, 1980)VII, 45. HellmutFederhoferefines ux'sGradus s a primerf trictomposition orater enerations,ncluding heViennese lassicists.See also thediscussionofcontrapuntal ractice n theHarvardDictionary: After ach theemphasis hiftedoaccompaniedmelody.However ontrapuntalassages refound n the ateworks fHaydnand Mozart, s well as in Beethoven,chumann ..," p. 209.









shared estheticensibility asedon the cientificheories f Goethe:specifically,henotion f nUrpflanzeromwhich llother lants re

derived nd thenotionof awscommonto nature nd toall creativeprocesses. he writings fKlee and Webern ndicate hatGoetheanterminologyndgeneralGoethean onceptswere erymuch part ftheirvocabulary. shall discuss firstherespective ompositionalprocesses nd theories f KleeandWebern, hen everalmusical andpictorialworks n which similarformal echniques re used andsimilar esthetic rinciples pplied.

II

In his theory fartentitledCreativeCredo 1920),Klee isolatesmovement s thebasisfor he reation f work f rt, or tscontent,and for heviewer's esponse o it: "The pictorialworkwas bornofmovement,s itself ecordedmovement,nd is assimilated hroughmovementeyemuscles).'7 In his Pedagogical Sketchbook f 1925(usedfor heoreticalnstructiont theBauhaus) and inhisBauhaus

lectureTheoryfform

roduction"includednThe

Thinking ye)Kleeprovides moredetailed iscussion fmovements itapplies totheformal lements fgraphic rt-the dot,the ine,and theplane.He writes:I beginwhere llpictorial orm egins:with hepointthatsets tselfnmotion."8After hepointmoves ff,he ineappears ndwe have thefirstimension. fthe ine shifts r closes non itself, earrive t a two-dimensional lement-a plane. Once we have theseconddimension,nd a planewhich s set ntomotion,we canspeakof tructuralhythmeneratedytherepetitionf unit, rom eft o

right r from opto bottom.9Klee'sdiscussion fthe nteractionf everalmoving ines round

an imaginarymain ine sone instance f histransferencefmusicaltechniques,n thiscase counterpoint,o thepictorialrealm.Con-versely,n hisdiscussion fthevarious rtisticmethods or xtendinga smallcomposite nitof the econddimension, e cites number f

7Paul Klee:Watercolors,rawings,ndWritings,nd d.,trans.Norbert uterman, ith

essays nd short ritiquesbyCarola Giedion-Welcker, ill Grohmann,WernerHaftmann,Werner chmalenbach, eorgeSchmidtNewYork,1969), . 4.

8 Paul Klee: The Thinking ye, d.Jiirgpiller, rans. alphManheimNewYork, 961),p. 24.

9 Paul Klee, The Pedagogical Sketchbook, rans. ibylMoholy-NagyLondon, 1953),p. 22.








Klee andWebern 187

pictorial evices hathave musicalcounterparts.'0he firstsalterna-tion,namely he uccessive ositioning ftheunitondifferentevels,

fromhighto low tohigh: This drawing,which

Kleeprovides, tronglyuggests hemusicaltechnique f mitation.He nextproposes hat he rtistxtend nd enrich he riginalunitbysurrounding t withreflectionsf itself: Here again, the

word"reflection"nd theaccompanying ketchbringto mind themusicaltechnique f mirror r nversion. inallyKleesuggests urn-ing the basic unitso that tcan be viewed from nother ngle,themusicalanalogyforwhich s transposition.

When compositeunits or planes collide to formvolumes,weobtain he hird imension-that f pace. npictorial epresentationsof thethird imension, nd ofthefourth r space-time imension,Klee considers olor a necessaryomponent. orhim,colorand huetakethe

placeof traditional

erspectiven

creatingsenseof

depth.Again motion s thekey.Gradationsof colorfrom, or xample,a

lighternner ointofthepictureurfaceo darker uter ne, eadtheeye rom nside ooutside orviceversa) nd from orefrontorear,ndthesegradationsnabletheviewer operceive epth."

Whereas n his graphicart Klee startedwiththepoint, n his

paintingsbeginninground1923)he substitutedhe olored quare.He found hatwhenhebeganwith colored quare nthe enterfhiscanvas, "progressive rench ookplace,pushing utmore nd more

theoblongs that wereoriginally f the same size."'2Thus, in theprocessof painting, quares mightbe extended nd color densitymight hin ut.If,on theotherhand,hebeganwith squareon oneside or in one corner f thepainting,thesquares mightbecome

progressivelymaller nd thedensity f"tonevalue" progressivelythickers he approachedthecentersee Flowering, ig. 1).The rule

10The followingnformationn Klee'spictorial echniquessdrawnfrom summaryfthese echniques yWerner aftmannn TheMind and Work fPaul Klee NewYork,1954),pp. 97-98.Seealso the ection, Organization fstructuralharacters. ecrease nd increase fcomposite nits," n The ThinkingEye,pp. 249-51.

1 The ThinkingEye,-p. 3.12Paul Klee:Notebooks, d.Jiirgpiller, rans.HeinzNorden, vols. NewYork,1973) I,

141.









was: "Extension or contractionftonality,ombinedwithdimen-sionalchange, esultsnenlargementr reduction fareacontent."'3Klee called these aintings,nwhichrowsofcolored quarescoveredthe entirepicture urface, is magic squares.'4The coexistence findependentolorprogressions,ikethe imultaneityfactivemov-inglines nKlee'sgraphicwork,had itsbasis n counterpoint.

Althoughthemagic-square aintingswere bstractworks, heirtransparent,lowing olorsmadethem ich nassociative alues andconsequentlymagesoftenmerged.'" uchimagesprobably xplainthespecificityf the titlesKlee gave thesepaintings.However,his

compositionalprocessdid not beginwitha pictorialassociation;rather,n image ppeared ohim ntheprocess forganizingoloredformsn thepicture urface.n fact, s early s 1903,heestablishedruleto whichhe seems o have adhered hroughout iscareer:

Picture-making neverstartsfrom poetic mood or idea but with theconstruction ofone or more figures,with theharmonizing ofcertaincolors and tone values, or withthe settingaside of spiritual relationships.'6

WhenKlee ncorporatedmusicalterminologynd formal echniques

ofmusic nto hisart,he was not ustusingmusicas a metaphor.Hewastryingo"introduceo rt heorynd nstructionparticular ypeof discipline found in music theory.""7Construction," disci-pline"-these words re mportantecausethey ointtoKlee's nter-est n scientificrinciples r laws that re fundamental ot ust tomusic but to all creative rocesses. ictorial rtand music differedonly n thatmusichad succeededn formulatinghese undamentalprinciples,whereas rthad notyet.

In developing terminologynd a theoryfart,Klee wasdeeplyinfluencedythe cientificritingsfGoethe,particularlyheMeta-morphosis ofPlants and theTheoryofColors. IntriguedbyGoethe'sbelief that thereare fundamental aws of nature,Klee followed

13 Notebooks,I, 141.By tonality"nd"tonevalcie,"Klee meant hehueortint f color.14 Ibid., I, 142.15 Fora discussion fKlee's viewson the ssociative alueofcolor, ee Haftmann, lhe

Mindand Work, . 172.16Ibid.,p. 168.17 Kagan,"Paul Klee'sAdParnassum,"p. 91. The followingtatement,aken rom lee's

essay ExactExperimentsn theFieldofArt"1928), llustratesisconcernwith heformulationofrules n visual rt: Whathad been ccomplishedn musicby he ndofthe ighteenthenturyhasonlybegun nthefine rts.Mathematicsndphysics avegivenusa clue n the ormfrulesto bestrictlybserved rdeparted roms the asemaybe." QuotedbyKagan,p. 90.








Kleeand Webern 189

Goethe'sexampleand dissected lants n order ostudy heir nnerstructures.'8e discovered,s Goethehad,that "leaf s partofthe

whole. fthe reesanorganism,he eaf sanorgan.Thesesmallpartsofthewhole areagain articulatedn themselves."'9 e also cametotherealization hat hegrowth f eaves,plants, nd treessno differ-entfrom hemovement fformal lementsn graphic rt.Webeginwith he eedor thepoint,bothfull f atent nergy.he seedbecomesa stalkwhichproduces ranchesnd leaves onsisting f inearforcesthatradiateoutwards.These linearforces ervadetheairspaceandtakeus into theseconddimension.20Thus the fundamentalaws of

point, ine,plane, nd theirorrespondingimensions,re t thebasisofgrowthnnature.Clearly, heconcept s borrowed romGoethe.A statement rom

thetalianJourneyeflectsoethe'sbeliefntheunity fnature ndofall creative rocesses:

Thelofty orksf rt, quallywithheoftiestorksfnature,ave een roducedbyhuman eings ccordingotruendnaturalaws. verythingrbitrary,anciful,falls way:heresnecessity,eresGod.21

Since artobeysnaturallaws, it cannotbe viewedapart fromtheorganicgrowth fnature.This is whyKlee,who shared Goethe'sworldview, elected hegrowing ree s a modelforhis owncreativeprocesses,nd hisworks ecamemicrocosms f he rdered atternsfnature.

Klee sawnature n a perpetual tate fgrowthnddevelopment.Indeedthe ctofforming as muchmoremportanthan heultimateappearance, nd it was thisprocess fgrowthhatheportrayedn hisart.22At the same

time,Klee sharedGoethe's belief n an

original,essentialplant,an Urpflanze hatwas thelivingmanifestationfnature's nityn themidst fhermovementndchange. mplicit nGoethe's conceptof the Urpflanzewas a distinction etweentheoutward ppearanceoftheorganism,whichvariesfrom ne to the

18For furthernformationn Klee's discussionand studyof plants,see the sections:

"Objects nnaturenvestigatednregard otheirnner eing," nNotebooks,,59, nd"Ways fnature tudy: onstructivepproaches ocomposition,"nNotebooks, I, 113.

19Notebooks, I, 5.

20Notebooks, I, 29,35.21Trans.byOlin WannamakerndquotedbyRudolf teiner n Goethe he cientistNew

York,1950),p. 105.22Notebooks, , 43,67.For descriptionfGoethe'sviewoforganismsna perpetual tate

ofbecoming, eeSteiner,Goethethe cientist, . 21.









next, nd the nner dea whichremains onstant: Thus it is alwaysonlythe ameorganismswhich,withnumerous estinations nd in

frequentlyltered orms, ulfillheorder f nature."3Klee makes asimilar istinction:The objectgrows eyondts ppearance hroughtheknowledge hatthething s more than ts outward ppearancesuggests."24he essencereveals tself,ccording o Klee,when theartist issects he thing" nd visualizes ts nterior.With hisknowl-

edge t spossibletomaketheUrformisible hroughhemedium fart.25

III

Webern's nterestn Goethe s also easilydocumented; xcerptsfrom he talianJourneyrefound n his diary, long witha com-ment, ated pring, 929, hathe hadreceived rom lbanBerg copyof theTheory fColorsandfound t to be"themost ublimework fall time."26Moreover,n his two ecture yclesThe Path to theNewMusic (1933) and The Path to Twelve-NoteComposition 1932),Webern sesGoethe's heories fnature ndart o formulate is ownviewofmusic and thehistory fmusicalcomposition, articularlyGoethe'stheoryf theUrpflanze,whichprovide he basisforWeb-ern'scompositional rocess.

Atthebeginning fThePathto theNewMusic,Webern ndorsesGoethe'sbeliefthat certainfundamentalaws underlie ll creative

processes:

Theresnoessentialontrastetweenproductfnaturend productf rt.Whatweregards andcalla work f rt sbasically othingut productfnaturen

general.27

Furthermore, ebern oints ut thatntheTheory fColorsGoethewidenshis view tocomprehendmusicas well as art nd advocatesunionofmusic ndart n thebasisofrules forder ommon o both.

23 GoethesWerke,d. KarlAlt,40vols. Berlin,1910),XXXVII, 49.Mytranslation.24Notebooks,I, 135.25 n theCreativeCredo,Kleewrites:Artdoes notreproduce hevisible;rathert makes

visible."For a translationf the CreativeCredo, eePaul Klee: Watercolors,rawings, nd

Writings,p. 4-8.26Quoted inHans Moldenhauer, ntonvon Webern: Chronicle fHis Lifeand Work

(New York,1979),p. 328.27WilliReich,ed. Vienna,1960), . 10;American d.,trans. eo Black BrynMawr,Pa.,

1963).








Klee and Webern 191

Once Webernhas established he ink between rt nd music on theonehand, nd art nd nature n the ther, e usesGoethe's efinitionf

color-"lawful nature n relation o the ense fseeing"--topresentparalleldefinitionf notes: "natural law as related o the senseofhearing.""He thenproceeds oemploy heword law" in hisdiscus-sionoftwelve-toneomposition. or nstance,whenhedescribes owhecomposedtheSixBagatellesfor tringQuartet, pus 9 (1913),he

explainsthathe beganbywriting ut all twelve hromatic itches.Then a "rule oflaw emerged: ntilall twelvenoteshaveoccurred,noneofthemmayoccur gain."29Furthermore,iving he uccessive

twelvenotes particular rdern itself onstituted law.30Webernwas concernedwiththe pplicationof aws for rderingand deployingpitchesbecausehis primary oal was a motivicallyunifiedmusicalcomposition.And hismusicological rainingmadehim awarethathe was not thefirstomposer o be concernedwithunity.n bothhislecture ycleshe describes hehistoryfmusicas asuccession fgenres nd stylesn whichcomposers trove or omekindofmusicalunity ndcoherence.3' ccording ohim,polyphony,

particularlymitative

ounterpoint,as one of the arliestmeansof

achievingunity.Thus, he states, uringthe thirteenthenturyweobserve hefirstnstances f canonicwriting.mitative olyphonyreachedtspeak nthemusic ftheNetherlandsomposers fthe arlyseventeenthentury,centuryhat lso witnessed hedevelopmentfthefugue.On the otherhand,eighteenth-centurylassical musictended o be morehomophonic.According oWebern, hetightestthematic nitywas achievednthedevelopmentection f Classicalpiece,because there hethemes ormally resentedn theupper part

ofthemusicalspacecould beextended othe owerpart nd treatedcontrapuntally.As late eighteenth-nd earlynineteenth-centurycomposersbecame ncreasinglyoncernedwiththematic nity, hecounterpointn thedevelopment ection took on moreand more

28 For Goethe'sdefinitionf olor, ee GoethesWerke XXIX,77.ForWebern's efinitionofnotes, eeWebern, hePath,p. 11.What s nterestingere snot the orrectnessfGoethe'sand Webern'sdefinitions,ut ratherWebern'sdirectparaphrase fGoethe.Thus Webern'sinterpretationf musicparallelsGoethe's nterpretationfart.

29The Path,p. 51.30Webernhasadoptedthenotionof a "natural aw" fromGoethe ndhasreapplied t to

music,specificallyo theordering f twelve ones. For our purposes,we mustunderstandWebern's aw in thecontext fGoethe'swritings. ut ofcontext,tseems uitearbitrary.

31The Path,pp. 33-36,52.









significance. raduallytherewas a move fromhomophonicmusicback to polyphony, n orderto "deepen and clarify heunity."32Webern rguesthatfrom heeighteenthenturyo thepresent,hevariation asbeen theprime xampleof a musicalformnwhichtheentire omposition s unifiedbya single theme nd in which allmusical materialfollowing hetheme s derived rom t.The com-

poser lters he heme ndpresentst na newguiseby omposing naccompaniment hatconsists f counterfigureso themain theme.The results a polyphonic exture.

Sincemusic nd nature rebasedonthe amefundamentalaws, t

is not surprising hatwe findthe variationprinciple n nature.Goethe'sUrpflanzes themodel, ndwith hiskey o tonecan nvent

"plants," ccording othismodel, d infinitum.33hus Webern on-cludeshis discussionof variationformwithan analogybetweenmusicaltheme nd Goethe'sUrpflanze:

The root s infactno differentrom he talk, he talknodifferentrom he eaf ndthe eafno differentrom heflower: ariations fthe ame dea.34

Webern lso employsGoetheanterminology henhe analyzeshis

ownmusic. n a letteroHildegardJone dated1940),hespeaks fthe"germcells" of his Variations orOrchestra, pus 30 (1940). Hecontinues:

Six notes regiven n a shapedeterminedy he equence nd therhythm,ndwhatfollows . . is nothingother than this shape overand overagain. Naturally ncontinual metamorphosis"inmusicaltermshisprocesss called"Variation")butit s neverthelesshe ameevery ime.35

According oWebern, ariation ormettheprecedentor welve-

tonemusic,36n whichtheorder ftwelve itchclasses therow orseries), orms hebasisfor he ntiremusicalcomposition,37nd, ikethe hemenvariation orm,nifieshe omposition. ust s Kleeusesa number fpictorial echniquesn order oextend rvaryhisbasic

compositeunit,and justas theeighteenth-nd nineteenth-century

32The Path,p. 52.33For Goethe'sdiscussion f theUrpflanze s a modelforplantcreation, eethe talian

Journeyn GoethesWerke, XV,277ff.

34The Path,p. 53.

35AntonWebern: etters oHildegardJone ndJosefHumpliked.Josef olnauer BrynMawr,1967),p. 44.

36For a detailed iscussion ftwelve-tone usic ndcomposition,ee the rticle yGeorgePerle nd Paul Lansky n The New GroveDictionaryXIX, 286-96.

37ThePath,p. 52.








KleeandWebern 193

:~n~All

'Aw: -:--:-?iiXxi

Fig. 1: Paul Klee,"Flowering",1934.KunstmuseumWinterthur.

(c) ADAGP, Paris and COSMOPRESS, Geneve,1983.









j::::::

iiiiiii-:ii:iii:-i

:iiii::::i:i:_:-: :

::::::::i-?:::::::

:::~:i: ::,: :::?::::::::: - i:

:''':':' :::?J~i--::::i.

::::-:-.::i-;ii-: ?:_::_::::

:::.....:-.::__:::-:i: ::::

Fig. 2: Paul Klee,"New Harmony",1936.The Solomon R. GuggenheimMuseum,NewYork.








i i~iiiiii,,iiiiiiii

i:

i~ii<I;:

?

i

Fig. 3: Paul Klee,"Fugue in Red", 1921.

SammlungFelixKlee,Bern.

(c) ADAGP, ParisandCOSMOPRESS, Geneve,1983.









:Jo`'

Fig. 4: Paul Klee,"Intensificationf Colorfrom heStatic otheDynamic",1923.Private ollection, erlin.

(c) ADAGP, ParisandCOSMOPRESS, Geneve,1983.








iii~-iiiiiiiiii

:::~i~iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Fig. 5: Paul Klee,"NewThingson Old Soil", 1931.Kunstmuseum ern.(c) ADAGP, ParisandCOSMOPRESS, Geneve,1983.









Ant:i'?'iil:j:::::::::..............::~-:-:

::::-::::::...................:;...............

.................i,

Fig. 6: Paul Klee,"Ancient ound", 1925.KunstmuseumBasel.

(c) ADAGP, Paris and COSMOPRESS, Geneve,1983.








KleeandWebern 199

&Ewa

Fig. 7: Paul Klee,"Architecture:ubesGradedfrom ellow toPurple",1923.Nationalgalerie erlin.(c) ADAGP, Parisand COSMOPRESS, Geneve,1983.









composer ontinually resentshethemennewmusicalguises, hecomposer ftwelve-tone usic s free oapplydifferentspects fthe

same series--retrograde,nversion,nd retrogradenversion. hesepermutationsnablehimtocreate ver-freshonorities y ombininginversionwithretrograde,hebasicrowwith tsretrogradenversion,and so on. Variation an also be achievedbychangingtheregistralplacementfpitchesf he ow, ndbygiving hem ifferentnstrumen-tation.Webern tresseshat,no matterwhattechniques reapplied,"unity scompletelynsured ytheunderlyingeries. t'salwaysthesame;only tsmanifestationsre different."38his is also Goethe's

and Klee's distinction etween utward ppearanceand inner deaand goesbackto theconcept f theUrpflanze.To illustrate he qual status f thebasicrow, ts nversion,etro-

grade, ndretrogradenversion,Webern sed an ancient atinpalin-drome rrangedn theform fa word quare:

SATORAREPOTENET

OPERAROTAS

Viewedhorizontallynd vertically,hefivewords can be read fourways.Furthermore,hefourthnd fifth ords re mirroreadings fthe firstnd secondwords.The thirdword-tenet-acts as a centralpillar. Thus, thisword square-which Webern called a "magicsquare"--isa modelofconcision, ymmetry,nd an ingeniouswayofunifying ive qually importantlements.Webern elt hatmusic n

general nd twelve-tone usic nparticularhouldfollow he xam-pleofthemagic quare. t wasthe omposer's esponsibilityo"createas many onnections s possible.""39

WhereasKlee's compositionalprocessbeganwiththepictorialtechniquendproceeded o n evocation f nimage, bject, rmood,Webern's ompositional rocessbeganwith he mageorextramusi-cal association.ErnstKrenekwrites hat n hisdesire o inkmusicalworks-in-progressitheverydayvents travel, tc.),Webern cca-

sionallyplaced diarynotesamid sketches f musical deas. For in-

38 The Path,p. 40.

39ThePath,p.56. n theConcerto, p. 24,wewillsee thatWebern ried oconstructrowinwhich he elationship etween itcheswasmodeled n the elationshipetween he ettersftheLatinpalindrome.








Klee andWebern 201

stance,nthe ketch or heConcerto or iolin, larinet, orn, iano,and string rchestralaterrescored orpiano, clarinet, iolin,and

saxophoneand entitledQuartet,Op. 22 [1930]),Webern ncluded aliteraryrogramnwhich hefirst ovement astobeassociatedwiththe own fAnnabichl ndthemountains,he econdmovement iththe townofSchwabegg, nd the thirdmovement iththe nowandiceoftheDachstein.40

Acloser tudy fthe ketcheseveals hatmany fWebern'sworkswere nspiredby literary rograms.For example,the firstmusicalsketch ftheSymphony, pus 21 (1928), ncludes hefollowing:

Three movements: 1. Rondo: lively-sun2. Variations: moderately3. Free form:verycalmly: moon.4'

Webern's iterary rogramfor his Concerto,Opus 24 (1934),alsoillustrateshe loseconnection etween ismusicalthinkingndhisextramusicalxperience.Moreover,he ontent fthese rogramsellsus something bouthis choiceof nstruments.t is possiblethatheoften rchestratedorguitar,mandolin, nd celestebecause thetonecolor ndsonorityfthese nstrumentsvoked or imthemageof n

alpine snowflurryr the lpine flora.Fromourstudy f the ndividual reative rocesses ndaesthetics

ofKlee andWebern,wecan draw hefollowing onclusions: irst,othartistsppliedcontrapuntal echniques nd variation roceduresoaminimal mountofmaterialnorder o achieve ompositional nity;second,neither rtist verventured ntirelynto therealmof theabstract; hird, oth derived heir heories fartfrom hescientifictheories fGoethe. wantnow to considerhow these imilarities f

technique rereflectedn thepaintings fKlee,and in themusicalcompositions fWebern.

IV

Workingwith imitedmaterial nabledbothKleeand Webern o

exploreevery ossible treatmentf thismaterial.42 oreover,Klee

40AntonvonWebern:ketches1926-1945), ommentaryyErnstKrenekwith foreword

byHans MoldenhauerNewYork,1968), . 1.Schwabegg ndAnnabichl, woAustrian owns,weresitesof thegravesof Webern'sparents.For furthernformation,ee Moldenhauer,AChronicle, . 431.The Dachstein s one ofthehighest eaks nAustria.

41Moldenhauer, Chronicle, . 324.42Recall that n The ThinkingEye,thedot,the ine,and theplane are the three asic

elements fpictorial orm. leesays he rtist as thefollowing ask: hemanipulation fthese









could achievestructural nityby creating n interdependencefasmallnumber fcompositional lements,ndWebern ycreatings

manyntervalliconnections spossible. n "Contributionsowardstheory fpictorialform,"Klee suggests hattheartist implify hecreative rocessbybuildingforms utofone ortwo basic elements.Oncethis sdone, number f omplex ompositional echniques anbe applied in orderto createvariety: isplacement,mirroring,ndrotation f motives fcomposite orm.43

The paintingNew Harmony Fig. 2) perhapsbest llustrates he

applicationofmirroring roceduresn order oachievean interde-

pendence f elements. nitsof colorareevenly istributedcross hepictureurface,ndtheborderonsists f lternating edium-coloredanddark-coloredquares.The resultsan allover ather han center-

ing effect.urthermore,here succession fcolorunitsand tonevaluesdescendsn the eft alf,tascends nthe ight. hus,asKaganpointsout,therighthalfof thepainting sa mirrormageofthe efthalf.44he referenceothetwelve-toneystems evenmore trikingwhenone discovershatKlee has used twelve hadesof color.

Thecompositionalmirroring,

heppearance

oftwelve ifferentcolorunits, ndthe itleNewHarmony reof oursenocoincidence.agreewithKagan that,n additiontofulfillingisgoal ofcomposi-tionalunity, lee smaking n allusionto the nventionfthe welve-tonesystem.However,Kagan's statementhattwelve-tonemusic smonodicand his implication hatKlee's art s thereforetillmore

closelytiedto eighteenth-centuryolyphonymustbe questioned.45Counterpoint,anon,and thedeliberatevoidanceofa homophonicor chordaltexture asedon melody nd accompaniment re at the

heart f twelve-toneechnique.In the earlierpaintingFugue in Red (Fig. 3), Klee transfershe

contrapuntal roceduref uccessivetatementsf principal hemeor subjectto thepictorialrealm n orderto achievecompositionalunity.Howeverhe does not adherestrictlyo fugaltechnique, nwhichthepresentationfa subject nall voices sgenerally ollowed

limited esourcesin order oproduce picturenwhich nterestssustained hroughngenuityin treating restrictedocabulary felements,atherhanthewillingness o use a superabun-danceofthese."This statementfKlee's s quotedin Verdi, Musical Influences..," p. 91.

43The ThinkingEye,p. 307.

44 "Paul Klee's AdParnassum,"p. 91.

45 bid.,p. 99.








Klee and Webern 203

byan alternation etween ubject nd episode. nstead,he presentsinstances ffugal mitation.We readthepaintingfromeft orighto

that n theupper,middle, nd lowerportions,eafforms, ircularforms, ectangular orms,nd jug forms representedn imitativesuccession.Furthermore,n thestatementsf theseforms,heres agradual progression romdarkto light,and from arge to small.AngelaSchneider oesso far s toarguethat he eafformwhich srepeatednseveral laces n thepaintings thefugal ubject,while hebig-belliedug forms n thesecondrow (or middleportionof thepainting)are variations n therounded eafform nd consequently

countersubjects.46owever countersubject,ydefinition,ppears nassociationwith thesubject ntries, ather han after hem.47 ore-over, am notconvinced hatKlee had subjects nd countersubjectsspecificallyn mind. If one labeled these ug forms t all, episodesmightbe a moreappropriate erm.Just s theepisodesofa fuguefollow he ubject ntriesnd containmaterial erived rom he ub-ject,these ug forms ollowthe nitial leafforms nd appear to bederived rom hem.

Webern, ike Klee,used contrapuntal,nd particularlyanonicproceduresnorder ounify ismusic. n the ymphony,or larinet,bass clarinet,wo Frenchhorns, nd stringswithout oublebass,hemakes xtensive se ofcanonic andmirroringrocedures.he rowoftheSymphonyreads as follows:F -Ab-G -F# Bb-A /Eb-E -C -C# D-B . In a briefnalysis,Webern ointsoutthat he econdhalfof therow sactually transposedetrogradef thefirstalf i.e. transposedby ixhalf-steps).48his meansthat herowcontains he ame nter-vals,reading rom ither ndtoward hemiddle.Thus the eries tself

is a palindrome.49The Symphony onsists ftwomovements,nd theform fbothgrowsout ofcanonic procedures.n thenotesthat ccompanyhisrecording, he CompleteWorksofAnton Webern, ierreBoulezprovides hefollowing escriptionf thefirst ovement:

The first ovement.. evolves ntirelyrom anonic mitations f themetherow)which tselfncludes ts wnmirror ersion. hese "imitations f mitations"verlap

46 "Zum Musikalischen m WerkPaul Klees," n Hommageh Sch6nberg Berlin,1974),p. 80.

47 WallaceBerry,orm nMusic EnglewoodCliffs, . J.,1966), . 386.48 The Path,p. 56.

49WalterKolneder, ntonWebern: n ntroductionoHis Works,rans. umphreyearle(Berkeley, 968),p. 115.









in layers,tracing through theorchestrato form a continuous line of fragmentarilydisposed instrumentalsounds.50

In the secondmovement, themeand variations,Webernagainapplies thepalindromeprinciple.Variation4 is themidpoint. nvariation5 Webernpresents retrogradeersion fvariation3, invariation a retrogradefvariation , in variation a retrogradefvariation1,and in thecoda a retrogradef thetheme.Thus, justascanonicprocedures perateon a local level n the ndividualvaria-tions,theyoperateon a large-scale evel in the entiremovement.Indeedthemovements a symmetrical irrormageof tself.5'

Hans Moldenhauerwrites hat heSymphonyonstitutesmile-stone n thedevelopment fserialtechnique.HereWebern s veryclose to therealization fhis deal oftotal ntegration.52e undoubt-edlyhad Goethe'stheories n mind and likenedhis tonerow to theUrpflanze ecause all components f thepiecewerederived romt.Moreover, istightlynit ariationmovement as ntended oreflecttheprinciple fmetamorphosis:Unheard-ofhings appenandyetit s alwaysthe ame."53

It isinteresting

hatboth Kleeand Webern

sed theterm magicsquare,"Klee withreferenceo hispaintings fthe1920s nd 1930s

andWebernwith eferenceothe onstructionfhistwelve-toneows.Recall thatn themagic-square aintings,Klee setup rowsofrectan-gular units and placed them n an architectural ramework. heviewer's ye an follow heprogressionsfunits nanydirection.n sodoing,he realizes hat,lthough ne rowmaybe solated ndfollowedupward,there re a multitude f other rows that can be read indifferentirections. hus Klee's magic-squarepaintingspresent"simultaneityf ndependentolor themes nalogous topolyphonyin music."54

The emphasis n Klee'smagicsquares, nd in Webern's welve-tonecompositions,s on relationships etween nitsrather hanonindividualunits.WithKlee,thismeansprogressionsfhue, value,and color.Thus, just as the twelve-toneystems implemented ySchoenberg nd Webern voids any hierarchyf pitchesor tonal

50"The Works fAntonWebern, pus 1-31" n The CompleteWorks fWebern, ol. I,ColumbiaMasterworks 4 35193,p. 6.

51 Ibid.52A Chronicle, . 327.

53The Path,p. 52.54Kagan,"Paul Klee's AdParnassum,"p. 94.








Klee and Webern 205

centering,55hemagic square enables Klee to avoid a hierarchicaltreatmentf olor nd form.na work uch sIntensificationfColor

from heStatic o theDynamic Fig. 4),Klee uses colorgradations othatdarktoneson theborder f thepaintingbecomeprogressivelylighter s the color units approach the center.The viewermightassumethat he ighter olorunits n the enter onstitute pointofarrival nd are therefore ore mportant han thedarkunitson theborder.However,Klee's placementof a dark unit in themidstoflighter nitschallenges his ssumption.

The samepropertiesf themagic squarethat ntrigued leealso

intriguedWebern: ack ofhierarchy,oncision, otal ntegrationfidentical lements.n 1934,Webern ried o nvent row nwhichtherelationship etween itcheswould reflecthepalindrome rincipleof themagic square.He beganbydividing hechromatic cale intothreefour-noteroups,and assigningeach pitchto a letter f theLatinpalindrome, or xample:

A Bb B Bb ATE NE T

However,because the number favailable pitches 12) exceeded henumber funduplicated ettersnthepalindrome8: S, A,O, R,P, E,N), he modified isprocedurend assignedpitches osyllables:

SA TOR A RE PO TE NET O PER A RO TAS1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

ErnstKrenekwrites hatthefinalrow "musthave appearedtoWebern s anapexof onstructiveensity."56hisrow,whichbecame

thebasisfor heConcerto, pus 24,contains our roups labeled ,b,c,and d inEx. 3) ofthree ones ach.Eachgroupconsists f the ametwo ntervals: minor econd nd a majorthird.ndeed,groupa canbe considered hetheme,nd thefollowing hree roups-in whichretrogradend inversion reapplied to the ntervallicuccession fminor econd ndmajorthird-thevariations. he principleWebernestablishes fderiving ll pitchmaterial rom he nitial three-notecellechoes heGoetheanprinciple hat ll organic ife riginates rom

55Alban Berg'stwelve-tone ritingwas freer hanSchoenberg's nd Webern's. n hisViolinConcerto, or xample,he usespitch lasseswhichdo notrepresentransformationsftheseries. n suchserialworks fStravinsky'ss Threni nd Canticum acrum,notes ndphrasesarerepeated,nd tonalfieldsre mplied.

56Antonvon Webern: ketches, . 5.









one germinalnucleus.57 hus we have a case in whichmusic andnature refollowing he ame aws.

Ex. 3a b c d0 i I '

I

Both Klee and Webernbelieved hatone could create n alloverrather hana centeringffectnd stillproducea unified ictorial/musicalcomposition.Consequently, othexplored hepossibilitiesof

space.nNew

Thingson Old Soil

(Fig.5),Klee

replaces erspecti-val laws with "determinations fposition" in space.58He assignsdifferentolors r inesdifferentositions nthepictureurfaceashedoes withthecolor units n themagic squares). Similarly,Webern'sinterestnspace nspires imto divide uccessions fpitches etweenvarious egistersnd nstruments.nhisorchestrationfthe ix-voicericercarrom ach'sMusicalOffering, ebernmploys hedevice fKlangfarbenmelodie-melodyf tone colors-in whichpitches reassigned odifferentnstrumentsnd arepositioned egistrally,ather

thanoccurring s components f a vertical, hordal texture. itchrelationships ecome thoseof timbre r tone color.Just s theeyemoveshorizontallyndverticallycrossKlee'spictureurface,he arfollowsWebern's solated, tomized oundswhichseem to emergefrom ll directions.

To repeat, either leenorWebernver enturedntirelynto theabstract.Kagan pointsout that lthoughpaintings uch as AncientSoundof1925 Fig.6)contain nonreferentialicture pace nwhich

colorand light hemselves ecome he ubject,Klee'sgoalwasalwaysa synthesisfconstructionndexpression.59 ften,nhisworks,nimagewillemerge rom seeminglybstract ridofcolored quares.In Architecture,o citeonlyone instance,Kleeplacestwotriangularshapesabove theverticalowof olorunits seeFig. 7).Theeffect-anevocation ftwotowers-brings hepaintingback nto a semirepre-sentational ealm.

We can also ascribe thegoal ofa synthesis f construction ndexpression oWebern; edeveloped omplex, ystematicrocedures

57 bid.,p. 6.58The ThinkingEye,p. 38.59"Paul Klee's Ad Parnassum," . 97.








Klee and Webern 207

for onstructingis tone ows t the ametime hathewas nspired yscenes ndobjectsfrom ature. orKrenek,Webern'sQuartet,Opus22,evokedthe"imageof the tense tillness f thehighestmountainpeaks,"wellbefore renekwas even ware thatWebern ad writtenliteraryrogram or hispiece.60

V

"Mozart and Bach are more modern than the nineteenth en-tury."61This statement, hich can be found n Klee'sDiariesalongwithdescriptions f concertshe attended nd chamber works he

performed,evealshis strong iestoeighteenth-centuryerman ndAustrianmusic. Howeverwe should not take uchstatementstfacevalueandexpect o find recurringse of ighteenth-centuryusicaltechniquesn Klee'sart.What anbegleanedfrom iswritingssthat,unlike many painters, he had an acute knowledge of musicwhich edhim toexplorethepossibilities fmovement n pictorialart.He believed hat ndependently oving ines-a product fcon-trapuntal echniques-neednotbe confinedomusic, nd hisdraw-

ingsandmagic-square aintings emonstratehe pplicationofcon-trapuntal evices.Moreover, lee's nonhierarchicalrrangementfthecolored quares,his deliberate voidanceoftonalcentering,ndhis economyof means reflectmodernist atherthan eighteenth-centuryoncerns. omposersworking uring he1920s nd 1930s adsimilarconcerns,nd Webern s particularlynterestingostudy nconnectionwithKleebecause,unlikeSchoenbergndBerg,he wroteserialcompositionswhichwere xtremelyrief nd concentrated.

Paintings of Klee's such as New Harmony and Architecture re

abstract isualizations fproperties eare familiarwith nWebern'sserialmusic: otal ntegration,oncision, ndcontrapuntal rocedureas a unifying evice. Thus Klee's pictorialwork can shedlightonWebern'smusicalwork,nd viceversa.Moreover,ustasmusicalformand terminology rovidedthebasis for Klee's pictorialconcerns,visualanaloguesaidedWebernn hiscompositional rocess. owardthe ndofhis ifeWebern egantousecoloredpencils n his scores oindicate hedifferentormsfthe ow,dynamic ndtempomarkings,

time ignatures,measurenumbers,nd instruments.6260Antonvon Webern: ketches, . 3.61The Diaries, d. FelixKlee,p. 374.62Moldenhauer, Chronicle, . 568.









The striking imilarities etweentherespectiveompositionalprocessesnd aestheticsfKlee ndWebern reyetnother nstance f

the loseassociation etween rtisticndmusicaldevelopmentsntheearly twentieth entury.Art historians and musicologistshavealreadydrawnparallelsbetween choenberg's enunciation ffunc-tionalharmonicprogressionn favor f atonalwritingnd WassilyKandinsky'snonobjective, xpressionist ainting.63WernerHaft-mann devotedpartof his studyof music's functionn twentieth-century aintingto a discussionof Luigi Russolo, an artistwhodepicted henoiseof ndustrynd the utomobileboth nthepictorial

realm nd-with thenoisemakers-inthemusicalrealm.64ertainlythe ikelihoodof a shared esthetic nd a shared ompositional ro-cesstends obegreater mongcollaborators. travinskynd Picassoarea caseinpoint. nGermany he stablishmentf theBlaueReiterand the Bauhaus reflectedhe ncreasingnterest,n thepartof anintellectual vant-garde, o bringartists nd musicians together.Whether leeactuallyknewWebern herefore attersittle. he twowerecontemporaries ho worked n a similarculturalmilieuandwhowere cquaintedwithmany f the ameartists ndcomposers-Schoenberg, andinsky, ranzMarc,to name a few. hope that heinsightKlee'swork hedson Webern's,nd Webern's n Klee's,will

inspiremore tudies long these ame ines.

63For nstance,s inStephen olomonVise, WassilyKandinskynd Arnold choenberg:Parallelism n form nd meaning" Ph.D diss.,WashingtonUniversity,969).JoanPeyserdiscusseshow"Schoenbergnd Kandinsky ollowed emarkablyimilarpaths n theirmoves

awayfrom epresentationo bstraction"nThe New Music:The SenseBehind he ound NewYork,1971),p. 27. PeterSclz discussesKandinsky'snterestn Schoenberg's panchromaticscheme,which dvocates hefullrenunciationf functional armonious rogression . . andaccepts nly hemeans hat eadthe omposer o themostuncompromisingelf-expression,"n

(;ermanExpressionistainting Berkeley, 957), . 229.64"'iber die Funktion esMusikalischen nderMalereides20.Jahrhunderts,"nHom-

mage zSch6nberg, . 11.

klee and webern - speculations on modernist theories of composition

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