Nondirected linearity and modulatory networks in Webern’s Op. 10/4

Abstract

In his recent book collecting short notes and essays about music, Eduardo Lourenço gives an insightful poetic account of two pieces of Webern—op. 10 and op. 21—that stresses the fragmentary, directionless and discontinuous character of such compositions (LOURENÇO, 2012, 45-6), an approach that resonates fairly well with a number of analytical views on this composer. Drawing from BERRY (1976) and KRAMER (1988), I argue that Lourenço’s ideas can be complemented with a more fluid, process-oriented approach that focuses on dynamic aspects that are also relevant to Webern’s musical syntax. As an example of that, I present a detailed analysis of op. 10/4, highlighting a number of either progressive or recessive tendencies (in BERRY’s terms) that occur in this piece at the textural, metrical and intervallic levels. I also show that the ultimate goal of such tendencies is generally not predictable, creating instances of nondirected linear time (in KRAMER’s terms). At the metrical level, for instance, a clear and uniform organization is gradually replaced by a much more ambiguous and stratified one, whereas at the intervallic level one notes a gradual shift of emphasis from set-class (015) to set-class (012). Supporting the intervallic analysis, I introduce two theoretical concepts—intervallic combination and modulatory network—which allow us to conceive set-class progressions in light of the mediating role played by given interval-classes. This represents a new way of looking at this movement’s set structure, different from—but complementary to—classic approaches such as FORTE’s (1973) and LEWIN’s (1993).