© Dmitri N. Smirnov:
POST–WEBERN
TEACHING IN RUSSIA
Born
on 7th September 1906 in Yassy (Romania)
1927-29
studied in Vienna conservatory with Josef Marx
1929-31
studied with Alban Berg
1934-39
studied with Anton von Webern
Webern
gave him a diploma – a scrap of paper – which said that Herschkowitz,
having studied composition with him for many years, deserved a fervent
recommendation.[1]
With
this diploma in hand, Herschkowitz escaped from Hitler and Nazi Vienna
to Bucharest
and in 1940, he moved to the town of Chernovtsy (Czernowitz),
which Stalin had just joined to his Empire.
1941-87
lived and taught in the USSR (Tashkent, 1941-46, then Moscow 1946-87) [2]
1987
returned to Vienna
Died
on 5th of January 1989, in Vienna
Four
volumes of his work On Music (in Russian and partly in German) were posthumously
published in 1991 – 1997
A
Book on Herschkowitz: A Geometer of Sound Crystals by Dmitri Smirnov
was published (in English) by Verlag Ernst Kuhn – Berlin in 2003
Many
famous names came into contact with Hershkowitz. These included Andrei
Volkonsky, Edison Denisov, Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Nikolai
Karetnikov and many other Russian composers of the so called Underground
division, as well as performers and musicologists – Yury Kholopov for
example. All of them were highly affected by his teaching however none
could be named as his “pupil”, for as Hershkowitz himself often used
to say: “I do not have any pupils: I am my only pupil.” Compositions
by the above-named Russian composers of the 50-70-s nevertheless show a
strong influence of the compositional style of the New Viennese School.[3]
Yuri
Kholopov brought Hershkowitz’s teachings to the cathedra of the Moscow
Conservatory, and by this means it was handed on to younger generations
of Russian composers and musicians.
But
a paradox lay in the teachings of Herschkowitz: following in the footsteps
of his teacher Webern, Hershkowitz did not teach 12-tone technique or any
other “modern” or “avant-garde” theories; he taught something completely
different, and in this paper I will try to outline the range of topics
that Herschkowitz based his lessons upon.
PRINCIPLES AND DEFINITIONS
1.
This is a Teaching about Musical Form
This
teaching represents ‘the material concept' of the form of music
– 'the most immaterial of the arts’[4],
providing concrete criteria and proper tools for its analysis. Form is
considered in close connection with harmony, because harmony and form are
related and inseparable, like pitch and duration of a single sound. “Form
is harmony in the condition of crystal”.[5]
“Harmony, however, is interesting as a creator of form”[6].
Usually harmony goes before, and form hurries after.[7]
But there was only one historical moment of their perfect balance – this
was Beethoven.
2.
The Great Masters
Bach,
Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler, Schoenberg and Webern – make up a
strictly organic chain.They were aware of their predecessors, and
creatively developed their principles.“The Great Masters are always
‘innovators’, and never
‘avant-garde’… Innovation is the only
possibility of remaining on the rails of tradition.”[8]
After Webern, all composers tried to be new, thinking that music which
was not new could not be music. But Schoenberg, after all, was new
on the basis of tradition!”[9]
3.
The Rest of the Composers
What
is the difference between the Great Masters and the rest of the composers?
“There are two kinds of composer: those who make
music, and those who do something
with music. In order to count the first group on our fingers…
the fingers on our hands are enough. The second group are all the rest
– enough to create the population of a not exactly small country. The
music of the first group is made with sounds, but exists independent
of the sounds. The music of the second group is made for
the sake of sounds themselves. The first is a world of crystals,
the second – a world of (good and bad) porridge…”[10]
4.
Beethoven
Webern
stated: “The music of Beethoven is the highest point of musical
form; therefore, it is impossible to fully understand any composition
that belongs to any epoch, either before or after Beethoven, if you do
not proceed from Beethoven – from the principles of musical construction
that are the essence of Beethoven’s music.”[11]
“Everything goes towards Beethoven and from Beethoven”, Herschkowitz
liked to repeat.
Examining
the works of the Great Masters, Herschkowitz focused on Beethoven with
an emphasis on his (mainly early) piano sonatas.The music of the rest of
the composers that did not meet the requirements of the main formal principles
was not considered seriously. However, Herschkowitz was selective even
with the works of the Great Masters. “Beethoven has only six symphonies”,
Herschkowitz loved to say, or: “Beethoven is Beethoven in his piano sonatas beginning
from the first; whilst in all
his other cycles,in no way is he Beethoven from
the very beginning. I have a very specific litmus paper test for
determining that.”[12]
5.
Fixed and Floating
This
‘litmus paper’ is a principle based on the two opposite conditions
of musical structure: ‘fest’ und ‘locker’ or ‘fixed’
and ‘floating’[13],
which are the basic construction of form in the music of the Great Masters,
and which are most evident in the music of Beethoven. ‘Fixed’
and ‘floating’ are two key notions in Webern’s teaching; these
two words express a united ‘double essence’ of musical structure, which
was not understood theoretically, before Schoenberg and Webern.
Webern
explained ‘fixed’ and ‘floating’ as follows: “musical composition
is similar - not to a stick that cannot bend - but to a flexible human
leg or arm: it has joints.The function of the joints is performed in a
musical composition by the ‘floating’ parts
which alternate with the ‘fixed’
parts of the structure.”The word ‘fixed’describes
material that is related to the main key. The main key represents itself
most clearly with a principal theme, and therefore, a principal theme is
always built in a ‘fixed’ manner. All the rest: transitions, subordinate
themes, etc., are ‘floating’.
6.
Repetition and Variation
Schoenberg
stated that a musical compositionconsists
only of repetitions, which means that musical composition
presents, by itself, a system
of repetitions.“ Schoenberg dressed this view in
very colourful words: he said that, by the repetitions that create a composition,
the composer should not be constantly stating: “I am an idiot, I am an
idiot”.”[14]This
means that the repetitions must be inventive, that they are
subject to variation.
The
‘repetition’ is not only an exact reproduction
in any respect. <…>There are different
categories of repetition [for example, those that apply to rhythm
or pitch]. The important thing is not only these categories but also the
scale of the repetitions and their
formal [or structural] levels: an element that
is repeated on a larger scale (and as a consequence, representing
a higher formal level) at the same time can include a system of repetitions
on a smaller scale. Therefore,
if we look at the space of time from the position of geometry, we could
comment, with some kind of meaning about the
concentricity of repetition within a composition. Indeed, the
essence of musical form in general, and of Beethoven’s musical form in
particular, is only contained within such a concentricity; that it represents,
by itself, geometry which is created
not in space, but in time.”[15]
As
a rule, the object that is repeated is built
fixed, along with its presented floating repetitions which
will differ depending on the varied functions they perform. For example,
the subordinate theme in some respects is a transformed repetition of the
principal theme, while the transition often begins as a literal repetition
of the principal theme but then modulates and leads to the subordinate
theme in the subordinate key.The development section is a developed repetition
of the exposition. And the recapitulation is an altered repetition of the
exposition. All such repetitions represent examples of different kinds
of ‘floating’ elements of form.
There
is a balanced relationship
between one and the other: “a less floating subordinate theme can correspond
to a less fixed principal theme; a musical problem within a work can even
stand the relationship of the two themes on its head: the principal theme
can have a floating structure instead of the subordinate theme and, correspondingly,
a subordinate theme can have a fixed structure.”[16]
7.
Motive and Thematicism
“One
of the major theoretical achievements of Webern that becomes the principle
of music analysis is the delimitation of the two main categories of repetition.
Webern was the first (or the second, following Schoenberg) who understood
the duration and pitch of a sound to be
two independent criteria of repetition. The inevitable connection
of the notions of a motive and
of thematicism[17]
appears as the result of such understanding.
‘Motive’
is
explained by Schoenberg as ‘the smallest particle of a musical
idea that can appear and sound independently, and therefore – repeat
itself’. Webern stated: as
the notion of the motive is related only to the duration of the sounds, at
the same time pitch becomes exclusively the object of the concept of
thematicism. In fact, motivic-repetition and thematic-repetition
can coincide, but they
do not at all represent an indivisible unity; as such the notion of a
precise repetition ceases to be all-embracing or to be indivisible”[18].
8.
The Principal Theme
The
important content of these teachings is the concept of the principal
theme as bearer of a fixed element of form. There are
three types of principal theme: the period, the sentence, and
the three-part song. Any given principal theme
will be found to represent one of these three types, or at least
will be found to show some features that allow us to
refer it to one of the types. All these types are divided into
two categories: the first two types are simple, the third is complex, or
compound. Either of the two simple types (the period or the sentence) is
included within the main part of the last complex type (the three part
song).
9.
Period
The
first and simplest form is the period.A
period is always divided into two parts: the antecedent and the
consequent.Normally, the antecedent ends with ahalf-cadence
on the dominant, and the consequent ends with a full
cadence on the tonic.
Webern
defines a period as a structural phenomenon consisting of two clauses that
are identical or similar to one another; these
clauses are characterised by the fact that each conclude
with a cadence.
Herschkowitz
added: the period is a type of principal
theme that consists of two clauses (the antecedent and the consequent), which
are identical in form but opposed in harmony.
10.
Sentence
“Der
Satz”, or the sentence, is a more complicated form than the period –
it functions at a higher structural level. Webern used to say that in the
period we are dealing with an interchange, whereas the sentence is dealing
with a development. It is a structure that cannot be divided into two similar
parts: it has only one cadence. The sentence consists of the motive; repetition
of the motive, followed by a developmental reduction of the motive until
its “liquidation” (the dilution or dispersion of the motive). (See
Beethoven: First Sonata, Op.2/1-I– the beginning of the first movement.)
The
‘three-part song’[19]is
the third and last form of principal theme.The first part of the ‘three-part
song’ exists as either a period or a sentence, and the third part is
a repetition of the first part: if the first part is a period, then the
third part is, as a rule, just a repetition of the consequent.The second
part of the ‘three-part song’ often represents a short (two- or four-bar)
repeated segment, usually “dwelling on the dominant”, and contributes
a ‘floating’ element into the fixed ‘three-part song’ structure.
The
‘two-part song’ (or Binary Form) is a more primitive variant of the
‘three-part song’: there are two balanced segments built from closely
related motive-forms.The first part is usually a period, but the second
section is in some respects a contrast: the beginning of the second section
of the ‘two-part song’ (4 bars) relates to the second part of the ‘three-part
song’, and the end of it (the last 4 bars) relates to the third part
of the ‘three-part song’.[20]
12.
Subordinate Theme
According
to this teaching, there are certain
types of ‘fixed’ structure, but there are no types
of floating structure in music. A Subordinate theme can begin like
a period, but then - to use an expression used by Webern - ‘an element
of free fantasy’ enters that transforms it into a ‘floating’ type
of structure.
“Musical
forms relate to each other in the same way that developed organisms relate
to those that are less developed. Moreover, as in biology, it is possible
to establish a certain succession of forms that show different stages of
the development of musical form as a totality.”[21]
Herschkowitz deepened this comparison of music and biology by saying that,
like a cell, musical form “at one stage could be a very primitive although
independent organism, but at a higher stage could become part of an organism
at a higher level.”[22]
If the period is a rather primitive form of principal theme, the sentence
is much more developed, and by the same logic, we can also trace the growth
and development of simple forms and transform them into more sophisticated
units.
14.
Basic types of form in music
1)Theme
and Variations: AAA… – including Basso ostinato (Passacaglia or Chaconne)
Soprano ostinato etc;
2)Minuet
(or Scherzo) and Trio: ABA – both A and B (Trio) are ternary forms. In
Scherzo, the second part (Development) is usually longer and more elaborate;
3)Small
Rondo: ABA – where B is built freely as a subordinate theme;
4)Large
Rondo (or just Rondo): ABA-C-ABA – where C is the 2nd subordinate
theme or Trio; the 1st subordinate theme B is usually transposed
into the tonic;
5)Sonata
form (or Sonata Allegro): AB-Development-AB – Exposition-Development-Recapitulation.
All
these forms are included in a sonata cycle. Most of the forms have a three-part
structure.
There
are a number of possibilities of variation (for example, incomplete forms
like a Sonata without a Development Section) and fusion between these forms,
for example, between Rondo and Sonata; between Rondo and Variations; between
Variations and Sonata, etc: Rondo-Sonata: ABA-Development-ABA; Sonata-Rondo:
ABA-C-Development-ABA; Simple Rondo (or Primitive Large Rondo): ABACADA…Double
Variations (with elements of a Sonata Form).Fugue and other polyphonic
forms (normally relate to ternary, sonata form, etc.,).
15.
Modulation
As
Webern stated: “The principal theme, as a rule, does not modulate”;
it is not possible to have a modulation within a theme!It can be ended
on the tonic, dominant or some other degree, but this would be a degree
of the same principal key.
The
formal function of harmony is the process of leaving the tonic and then
returning to it. We have only one modulation per piece,
occasionally two.[23]
Up to circa the twentieth century it was generally accepted that a tonal
musical composition consists of a series of modulations, however, on closer
examination it will be seen that this view is in fact, incorrect. The modulation,
as a rule, takes place within the transition. The secondary key is established
by the subordinate theme, and remaining harmonic changes serve as the re-modulation,
where instead we speak of a series of degrees of the same key [or fundamental
tonality], rather than of modulations to other tonalities.
16.
Tonality
Tonality
is understood as a system of sound organisation with the hegemony
of one tone. The tonic does not exist by itself: it exists at the
expense of balance between the dominant and the subdominant, the two main
forces of tonality (like a game of ‘tug-of-war’ in which the rope is
pulled in different directions; where the rope is represented by the tonic).
However, these forces are not equal: the subdominant is much stronger than
the dominant, like a giant compared to a pygmy.
17.
“Tonal Dodecaphony”
The
development of tonality had three stages before it became a complex system
that embraces all sounds of the chromatic scale: the inclusion into the
diatonic of 1) “artificial dominants”, 2) chords of the “subdominant
minor region”, and 3) “vagrant” chords.[24]
In
C major, for example, the notes C#, D#, F# G# and Bb can be incorporated
by the ‘artificial dominants’ on the 6th, 7th,
2nd, 3rd and 1st degrees.The use of the
different chords in the ‘subdominant minor region’ adds Ab, Db, Eb
and Bb.With so called ‘vagrant chords’ (all diminished, augmented and
all manner of chromatic chords) we traverse, as it were, into a world of
ambiguity, where every note and every chord can be interpreted differently.By
such means we achieve the equality of the dominant and the subdominant.So,
tonality has been superseded, replaced by the 12-tone system, where the
role of the tonic is served by the 12-tone row as a whole, in its primary
form.
HERSCHKOWITZ
ON WEBERN
There
are many references to Webern in the works of Herschkowitz:
“From
Alban Berg I heard the following valuation of the music of Anton Webern,
which at first baffled me, but which I began to understand very well after
I learned about Berg’s desire for popularity: ‘Webern writes very beautiful
music that, nevertheless, will never achieve popularity. His music is as
the music of Mozart; Mozart is also unpopular.’”[25]
“I
am indebted to Webern for the content of my life: for my attitude to music.
He revealed to me the importance that is appropriate to the notion of ‘Beethoven’.
From him I learned in fact what music is; he made clear to me that any
music has to be considered as proceeding from Beethoven, and also why such
is the only and necessary consideration…
For
five and a half years (from February 1934 to September 1939!), three times
per month Webern used to give me lessons; each lesson lasted at least two
hours.
And
I was given these lessons for free. I was poor. As well as he himself.
As well as Webern. Who gave me these lessons. To me. To a Jew…[26]
I
feel an obligation to describe to you my last meeting with Webern.
We
– my wife and I – went to say goodbye before leaving. Webern, his wife
and his daughter, met us in their small garden. After a few minutes, he
said to me: ‘let us leave the ladies here and go into the house; I would
like to tell you something more. And this ‘something’ that he wanted
to ‘tell’ me was an extensive lecture on Mozart and Wagner, about the
interrelations in their stage works. As you see, even his goodbye was music.
He himself was music.”[27]
“…Webern
– perhaps intentionally – shaped our parting as a transitional point
for the continuation of my study in the future under the conditions of
a lack of tuition: my private teaching practice in Moscow became
one of these forms of continuation… So in this way, I kept, with integrity,
in contact with that modest and very clean, small house in Maria Enzersdorf,
Auholz 8.
A
pupil idolizing his teacher – is quite a widespread phenomenon; but eventually
the idolized person quite often appears as a mediocrity, a ‘marked’
artist, or scientist. However, Webern was not a mediocrity, and I did not
idolize him .I am endlessly thankful to him. He made me become one
of those to whom Beethoven’s words could be addressed: ‘Those who can
understand my music will be liberated from all that wretchedness that others
drag with themselves’. <…>
This
‘music’ became not only ‘understandable’ to me; it became – thanks
to Webern – the content of my life. Webern found the laws for teaching
form; <…> and I, if not to be too immodest, have deepened the well
dug by him...”[28]
Text
edited by Helen Tipper and Guy Stockton
see also:
Introduction to Herschkowitz
Corrections and Index
Herschkowitz: On an invention of Johann
Sebastian Bach (1967-70s)
Herschkowitz: Three-part Invention in F minor
(1967)