Peripetie by Arnold Schoenberg Music in the 20Th Century

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Peripetie by Arnold Schoenberg Music in the 20th Century (AoS 2) Peripetie comes from the Greek word meaning ‘sudden changes’. Expressionist features (general) Atonal Dissonances Extreme use of pitch range Explores instrumental colour Extremes of dynamics Very large orchestra with full percussion section Complex and irregular rhythms and no sense of metre (time signature) No recognisable themes Breaks up the melody and passes around different parts (Klangfarbenmelodie) Frequent use of techniques that alter the timbre of the instrument (pizzicato, mute, tremolo) Musical Features in Peripetie Structure Rondo form (ABACA) Same melodic ideas (section A) returns twice Can be described as free rondo – ABA’CA’’ A’ and A’’ are variations on section A Melody Fragmented melody, which is passed from one instrument to another (‘klangfarbenmelodie’ tone-colour melody) Angular and disjunct melody, but also often uses repeated notes or short motifs Atonal melody Very wide pitch range Motifs arranged in different inversions – retrograde, inverted and transposed Tonality and Harmony Atonal (not in any key, uses all 12 notes of the chromatic scale) Uses hexachords (6 note chords) Frequent use of dischords (chords that ‘clash’ or are ‘dissonant’) Rhythm, Tempo and Metre Tempos change in each section. Lots of different note lengths (from demisemiquavers to semibreves). Complex and irregular rhythms No sense of metre Dynamics Extreme dynamics range from pp to ff (very quiet to very loud) Extreme crescendos are a feature of the music Instrumentation and Timbre Very large orchestra with full percussion section and quadruple woodwind section (3 flutes and a piccolo, 3 oboes and cor anglais, 3 clarinet and a bass clarinet, 3 bassoons and a contra bassoon). Big brass section (6 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones and a tuba) Unusual timbres created e.g. using a violin bow on a cymbal, extreme range of instruments are used Rapid changes of timbre and orchestral colour Texture Complex texture varies from polyphonic to homophonic, ranges from solo flute to the whole orchestra playing Why is it called ‘Peripetie’ (sudden changes): Dynamics – sudden and extreme changes and also includes sforzando (marked sfz) = sudden accent Rapid changes of timbre and orchestral colour Texture – ranges from solo flute to the whole orchestra playing. .

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