Klangfarbenmelodie in 1911: Timbre’s Functional Roles in Webern’s Opp. 9 and 10

Abstract

Anton Webern’s pre-World War I aphoristic works sometimes appear to defy comprehension, but through the lens of Klangfarbenmelodie the organizing principles of this music come into focus. Klangfarbenmelodie is a multifaceted principle of musical logic and presentation. In 1911, Webern showed new compositions to Arnold Schoenberg hoping his teacher and friend would find Klangfarbenmelodie in these works. This article examines Webern’s Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op. 9, Nos. 2–5 and 5 Orchestral Pieces, Op. 10, Nos. 1 and 4 and demonstrates how timbre functions as an organizational parameter alongside pitch in these works from 1911. Employing planal analysis and block topography—two new methods for visualizing musical analysis—to illustrate complex relationships reveals compelling connections that demonstrate well-defined, coherent, and comprehensible timbre-based musical logics. Planal analysis uses multiple analytical planes to illustrate aspects of music in context of each other. Block topography aims to integrate score-based study with perceptual principles to better understand the complex relationships created through all attributes of the musical tone. Analyses of Webern’s Opp. 9/2–5 and 10/1, 4 show that well-defined forms, lucid textures, symmetry, and musical ideas like expansion, contraction, wedges, and crossing lines are consistent aspects of the composer’s Klangfarbenmelodie works.