Schoenberg“Peripetie” for Five Orchestral Pieces

Essay Question- Melody

Klangfarbenmelodie (“tone-colour-melody”)- melody is broken up and passed around different instruments

Short distinct melodies or motifs

The most important melody line is called the principle voice

Essay Question- Harmony/Tonality

Atonal- not written in a key

Uses hexachords- a group of six semitones used in short melodic ideas and in chords (usually creates dissonance)

The other six semitones not used are called the “complement”

Essay Question- Texture

Complex contrapuntal texture-lots of separate melodic lines played all at once

Texture changes repeatedly and quickly

Lots of complicated rhythms playing at once creates a thick texture

Sudden reduction to a thin texture - solo lines for instruments for quiet contrast

Essay Question- Structure Free rondo with 5 sections - doesn’t conform to traditional

structure

Section A (Bars 1-18)Every instruments playing, melody passed around, instruments play in groups

Section B (Bars 18-34)Very thick texture- instruments all playing different rhythms and overlapping

Section A’ (Bars 35-43)Hexachord played by the horns

Section C (Bars 44-58)Thin texture- solo lines in cello and double bass. Calm and quiet.

Section A’’ (Bars 59-66)Variation of Section A, instruments build up to fff chord, then finishes with pp chord in horns and double basses

Essay Question- Instruments

Large post Romantic orchestra

Quadruple woodwind section, large brass section, percussion and strings

Instrumentation changes in each section of the Rondo

Moving melody between instruments changes the timbre of the piece

Quick changes between families of the orchestra

Tricky scores- very high and very low with lots of leaps

Essay question - Timbre

The timbre (tone) of the instruments is as important as the melody

Shcoenberg uses the extreme ranges of the instruments to create interest

Schoenberg- Background

Schoenberg composed in the Expressionist period (early 20th century)

Schoenberg was born in1874 and wrote music that showed short, extreme bursts of emotion

Expressionist music was atonal- avoided normal keys and chords

He believed that each of the 12 semitones were equally important

Peripetie was written in 1909

Test: Melody

Write 2 things about melody

Test: Harmony/Tonality

Write 2 things about harmony and tonality

Test: Texture

Write 2 things about texture

Test: Structure

Write 2 things about structure

Test: Instruments

Write 2 things about instruments

Essay question - Timbre

Write 2 comments about timbre

Schoenberg- Background

Which period is the set work from?

When was this peiod?

What did shcoenberg think was equally important?

When was Peripetie written?