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Wil Sontag

Music 309

Analysis #2:

Webern’s Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5 #3

Question 1

Webern’s op. 5 #3 has three sections, though each section shares motivic and

harmonic material so that the formal divisions of the piece are not always apparent at

first. The form is dictated mostly by the texture of the music, and Webern uses abrupt

changes in texture to articulate the boundaries between them.

For instance, the first section of the piece is from measure 1 to 6, and is

characterized by the ostinato pizzicato C# in the cello. The other instruments play

pizzicato or am Steg (on the bridge) and mostly at a pianissimo volume, which gives the

section a hushed and ghostly sound. This texture is then contrasted in measure 7 by the

violin and cello playing arco staccato in contrary motion and at fortissimo.

Despite this dramatic change in texture, other elements carry over from the

previous section such as the violins’ and viola’s rising motive in measure 8, which was

heard in measures 2, 3, and 5. However, even as Webern brings back the motive from the

first section, he also changes the sound of the gesture from legato to col legno, using this

contrast to emphasize that we are moving to a new section. Measures 7 and 8 serve as an

“interruption” of the first section with its loud contrasts, while the second section begins

in earnest in measure 9 with the introduction of new melodic material in the first violin.

There is another interruption between the second and third sections at the end of

measure 14. Here, Webern contrasts the polyphonic texture of the previous measure with
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that of a solo violin. Webern also marks the tempo as four times slower than the rest of

the piece, as well as marking the three-note phrase sehr zart (“very tender”) in contrast to

the rest of the piece, which is marked sehr bewegt (“very agitated”). Once again, this

interruption signifies a transition from one section to the next.

The third section of the piece is a miniature apotheosis, bringing together

elements from previous parts of the piece. We have the return of an ostinato in the cello,

but now the first violin plays a line similar to what we heard in measures 12 to 14 of the

second section. The second violin and viola also play motivic material that has been

heard throughout the piece (more on that later). The piece concludes by directly restating

the violin melody from measures 9 and 10, returning to familiar material. This sense of

closure and “return” is emphasized further by the final pizzicato C#, which was the first

sound of the piece. The music returns to where it started, much like a more traditionally

structured ternary form.

Question 3

In this piece, [014] is used to prolong or sustain musical material, whereas [015]

marks the ends and beginnings of said material. For example, the first section contains

mostly [014] until measure 5, when [015] motives begin disrupting the continuity of the

first section. [014] and [015] alternate three times in measures 6 through 8, creating a

sense of instability that signals the start of the second section in measure 9.

In the second section, [015] is used to mark the ends and beginnings of the first

violin’s phrases. For example, the first violin plays an [015] at the end of its phrase in

measure 10. Then as it begins it’s next phrase in measure 11 we hear [015] again. We
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also hear [015] at the end of its phrase in measure 14, and then again played by the

second violin, but this time signaling the transition to the third section.

In the third section, [014] is once again a very stable trichord, and is played as an

ostinato by the cello. [015] is not as prominent in this section, although in the final phrase

of the piece it returns to mark the end of the piece.

In conclusion, Webern uses [014] as a signifier of musical stability, such as the

rising gesture in the opening of the piece or the ostinato in the final section. [015]

represents musical development and change, and appears in between formal sections and

at the ends and beginnings of phrases.

Question 4

The two trichord classes not yet discussed are [023] and [026], and they are an

important part of the piece’s structure. In the first section of the piece they are heard

briefly in measure 4, played by the first violin and the viola. Of note here is how the first

two notes of each player’s figure forms an [014] with the cello’s ostinato C#, as if

Webern is trying to initially hide these new trichords from the listener.

In the second section these two trichords become more prominent and form the

basis of the accompaniment parts of the second violin, viola, and cello in measures 11

through 14. They also begin to emerge in the line played by the first violin: In measure

13, the violin’s sustained notes are C#, G, and A, or yet another [026]. And in measure

14, the first violin plays E, F#, and G, an [023].

In the third section these trichords become even more prominent. The ostinato

figures of the second violin and viola are not the only presence of these trichords, but
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they once again appear in the first violin melody: Measures 18 and 20 contain [023],

while measures 19 and 20 outline [026], as well as en entire whole tone scale. At this

point in the piece, [023] and [026] seem to have taken over the structure previously

dominated by [014] and [015]. The gradual proliferation of [023] and [026] over the

course of the piece is woven into the ternary form so that by the end of the piece we have

shifted away from the original pitch material. Only in the last two bars does Webern

return to the world of [014] and [015], giving the piece a sense of closure.