Webern, Tradition, and "Composing
with Twelve Tones ..."
ANDREW MEAD
INTRODUCTION
Anton Webern's assumption and assimilation of Arnold
Schoenberg's "method of composing with twelve tones which
are related only one with another" 1 was marked by the rapid
emergence of traditional formal surface features in his music.
As early as the String Trio, Op. 20 one may find movements
that suggest a rondo and a sonata-allegro, and his subsequent
works also contain suggestions of binary and ternary forms,
as well as explicit sets of variations. As has been the case with
Schoenberg, a number of analysts have concluded that We-
bern's large-scale formal plans in his twelve-tone works are
a matter of superficial imitation, rather than the outward
manifestation of a certain set of possibilities inherent in his
underlying material. 2 But Webern, no less than Schoenberg,
'Arnold Schoenberg, "Composition with Twelve Tones," in Style and
Idea, ed. Leonard Stein, trans. Leo Black (London: Faber and Faber, 1975),
218.
2 This is particularly the case with Op. 20, and is maintained with regard
to that work by George Perle and Kathryn Bailey. See Perle, "Webern's
Twelve-Tone Sketches," Musical Quarterly 57, no. 1 (1971): 1-25; and Bai-
ley, The Twelve-Note Music of Anton Webern (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1991). Not all Webern analyses take this viewpoint; Milton
Babbitt's article "Twelve-Tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants"
(Musical Quarterly 46 [1960]: 246-59; reprinted in Problems of Modern Music:
Downloaded from http://mts.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Georgia on June 27, 2015
saw twelve-tone composition as a solution to the problem of
writing extended music in the total chromatic, and his works
show an extraordinary sensitivity to the possibilities of the
twelve-tone system for embodying the formal strategies of
earlier musicpossibilities that range from the primitives of
the system, through the potentials inherent in a row class, to
the way its members are articulated on the musical surface. 3
The Princeton Seminar in Advanced Music Studies, ed. Paul Henry Lang [New
York: Norton, 1962], 108-21), for example, contains remarks on the second
movement of Op. 27 that show deep connections between its form and its
row structure. Daniel Starr does much the same with regard to the first
movement of Op. 27; see his "Derivation and Polyphony," Perspectives of
New Music 23, no. 1 (1984): 180-257.
3 A complete discussion of these various possibilities is far beyond the
scope of this article, but certain aspects of these different levels of the twelve-
tone system may be mentioned here. By primitives of the system, I refer to
all those types of relationships that hold for all possible orderings, of arbitrary
length. These would include the properties of unordered pitch-class collec-
tions and unpitched order-number collections under various operations, as
well as what happens in general to intervals in an ordered collection under
those operations, to name but a few. Properties inherent in a row class would
include invariance relations based on collection and order, for example. How
these properties affect a work depends directly on how the surface of the music
is composed. The distinction between the primitives of the system and the
properties of a work's particular ordering is precisely that made by Babbitt
in "Invariants" and "Set Structure as a Compositional Determinant," Journal
of Music Theory 5 (1961): 72-94; reprinted in Perspectives on Contemporary
174 Music Theory Spectrum
This study is an attempt to illustrate some of the ways
Webern found to integrate compositional detail with large-
scale form, and to show how his individual approach to the
twelve-tone system allowed him to reanimate the formal pro-
cesses he admired in the works of his tonal predecessors. 4
Music Theory, ed. Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone (New York:
Norton, 1972), 129-47. The following deal with the analytical implications
of the composition of rows, among other things: Bruce Samet, "Hearing
Aggregates" (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1987); Stephen Peles, "In-
terpretations of Sets in Multiple Dimensions: Notes on the Second Movement
of Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 3," Perspectives of New Music 22,
nos. 1 and 2 (1983-84): 303-52; Martha Hyde, "The Roots of Form in Schoen-
berg's Sketches," Journal of Music Theory 24 (1980): 1-36; and two articles
by Andrew Mead: " `Tonal' Forms in Arnold Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone
Music," Music Theory Spectrum 9 (1987) : 67-92, and "Twelve-Tone Orga-
nizational Strategies: An Analytical Sampler," Integral 3 (1990): 93-169.
There is a considerable literature dealing with the various general aspects
of the twelve-tone system and related issues. An admittedly brief list would
include, in addition to works mentioned previously in notes: Babbitt,
"Twelve-Tone Rhythmic Structure and the Electronic Medium," Perspectives
of New Music 1, no. 1 (1962): 49-79, reprinted in Perspectives on Contem-
porary Music Theory, 148-79; Allen Forte, The Structure of Atonal Music
(New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973); David Lewin, "A
Label-Free Development for 12-Pitch-Class Systems," Journal of Music The-
ory 21 (1977): 194-237; Donald Martino, The Source Set and Its Aggregate
Formations," Journal of Music Theory 5 (1961): 224-73; Andrew Mead,
Some Implications of the Pitch-Class/Order Number Isomorphism Inherent
in the Twelve-Tone System, Part I," Perspectives of New Music 26, no. 2
(1988) : 96-163; Robert Morris, Composition with Pitch Classes: A Theory of
Compositional Design (New Haven and London: Yale University Press,
1987); Robert Morris and Brian Alegant, The Even Partitions in Twelve-
Tone Music," Music Theory Spectrum 10 (1988) : 74-101; George Perle, Serial
Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg,
and Webern (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1962);
John Rahn, Basic Atonal Theory (New York: Longman, 1980); Daniel Starr,
"Sets, Invariance, and Partitions," Journal of Music Theory 22 (1978): 1-42;
Peter Westergaard, "Toward a Twelve-Tone Polyphony," Perspectives of
New Music 4, no. 2 (1966): 90-112, reprinted in Perspectives on Contemporary
Music Theory, 238-60; and Godfrey Winham, "Composition with Arrays,"
After some preliminary discussion of Webern's sensitivity to
the relational possibilities available at various levels of the
twelve-tone system, three analytical sketches will be pre-
sented of movements that clearly exhibit the surface char-
acteristics of traditional tonal forms: the second movement
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of the Piano Variations, Op. 27; the initial movement of the
Saxophone Quartet, Op. 22; and the finale of the String Trio,
Op. 20. These are discussed in order of increasing complexity,
reversing the sequence of their composition. Doing so tends
to obscure any observations about Webern's compositional
development, but the approach does dramatize just how thor-
oughly Webern had grasped the implications of his mentor's
epochal insight from the very first. 5
PRELIMINARIES
Relations in Webern's music arise from all levels of the
twelve-tone system, and suggest an extraordinary sensitivity
on the composer's part to its potential. It is worth taking a
little time to tease apart some of these relationships, so that
we may more clearly understand the different contributions
that various levels of the twelve-tone system make to the
whole. Two examples shall be examined here, drawn from
the First Cantata, Op. 29 and from the Symphony, Op. 21.
Example la contains a chart of a portion of the rows found
in the choral sections of the first movement from the Cantata,
Op. 29. This movement has received some attention from
Perspectives of New Music 9, no. 1 (1970): 43-67, reprinted in Perspectives
on Contemporary Music Theory, 261-85.
4I am indebted to Stephen Peles, with whom I have had many conver-
sations concerning the issues dealt with in this article. I am very grateful for
his time, patience, and good humor.
'Nor, however, do I mean to imply by my selection of movements that
Webern in any sense grew simpler; the shortest movement I have chosen to
look at just happens to have been written last, and the longest first.


Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones .. " 175

Example 1. First Cantata, Op. 29, first movement, array structure

r 114
T9 P = RIg P
1201 etc. I_211
^--

y T6 P = RI2 RIg P
26

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I
^ S: A F Ab G B B b C# C E Eb F# D F E A6 G B b A C # C E F6 B D COF E etc.

^
I IS A : Al' C A Bb F# G E F CO D B E 6 C CO A B b G A AL' E F D F# E 6 E C C# et c.
T2
13 I3-> r+ T : G E 6 F # F A A.6 B B 6 D C# E C E 1' D F# F AE' G B Bb C# A C B Eb D etc. T 2 ./ ^

I > II
L__> B: F# Bb G Ab E F D El' B C A CO Bb B G Al' F F# D El' C E CO D Bb B etc. -)
Choral Array (mm. 14-27) (orchestra)

T6
y
4
,

T2 General repertoire
of tetrachords
formed by relations
7: Pr bpir h^r bb^r a-r T2 from choral array

la

Bar I etc. (Bar 7) * = Shared tetrachords

F
- ^

G B Al' A F F# E 6 E C CO B b D F-t
I I
I g Al'E G F# Bb A C B El'D F CO E__, 3
TS y IIp 1> C# A C B E b D F E Ab G B b F# `rl
13
^ D F# Eb E C C# Bb B G A b F A ^
Orchestral Array (mm. 1-6)

T5 General repertoire
of tetrachords and
dyads formed by
relations from
T5 orchestral array

T6
lb
176 Music Theory Spectrum
various analysts, who have attributed its uniform chordal
structure to a number of different factors. 6 The following
discussion is not an analysis, but is meant to demonstrate the
importance of differentiating between relations that depend
on the fundamental properties of the twelve-tone system and
those that derive from properties of the particular orderings
used in a composition.
6 Much of what follows deals with a passage covered in Bailey, Twelve-Note
Music and the following: George Rochberg, "Webern's Search for Harmonic
Identity," Journal of Music Theory 6 (1962): 109-22; David Saturen, "Sym-
metrical Relationships in Webern's First Cantata," Perspectives of New Music
6, no. 1 (1967): 142-43; and Jonathan Kramer, "The Row as Structural Back-
ground and Audible Foreground: The First Movement of Webern's First
Cantata," Journal of Music Theory 15 (1971) : 158-81. Rochberg bases his
explanation of the nature of the simultaneities in both the choral and or-
chestral parts of the movement on the R relations rather than inversion, as
does Bailey; Saturen observes the symmetries provided by the use of trans-
positional and inversional constants, and my Examples la and lb echo some
of his observations. Kramer also recognizes the importance of the fixed axis
of inversional symmetry for the work's repertoire of simultaneities, but cites
Rochberg's R relationship as the serial source of the various chords. Kramer's
analysis is extensive and insightful, noting the intersection of the repertoire
of chords in the instrumental and choral passages, and concentrating on the
heard surface of the music.
The trouble with basing the description of the passage on the R relation
is that it tends to obscure the deeper I relations at work, and to imply that
aspects of order have something to do with the nature of the chords them-
selves. Rochberg's resulting cycles ("rotations") yield all the proper results,
but fix one's attention on the order properties of the rows, rather than on
the more general relational property of inversion that may explain the pas-
sage. Both Rochberg and Bailey remark on a particular invariance relation-
ship between a row and RT 6 of that rowone that exchanges the outer
elements of all four trichords. This is better understood if we base the re-
lationship between the rows on some value of I, since we can then see that
the four dyads spanning the trichords are all members of a particular odd
inversional value's repertoire of dyads. This generalizes the principle that is
at work in this invariance relationship, and allows us to understand this par-
ticular relationship both with regard to other pairs of inversionally related
rows within the row class, and to the twelve-tone system in general.
Since the row-class of the Cantata is RI-symmetrical, we
can express the relations among the rows of the choral parts
in a couple of ways.' As may be seen, the relations among
the rows of the first block may be construed solely in terms
of transposition and inversion. Doing so reveals that the re-
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lations among the rows, rather than any ordering property of
the row class, are the source of both the preserved repertoires
of dyads between soprano and alto, and tenor and bass, and
the limited repertoire of tetrachords formed by the whole
ensemble. These all arise through the use of fixed inversional
values throughout.
Furthermore, the linkage between successive blocks of
rows by overlapped dyads guarantees both the continuation
of the dyadic repertoires between parts and the tetrachordal
repertoire of the entire chorus: all of the inversional relations
are automatically preserved. By expressing the relation-
ship between successive rows in a given part in terms of
retrograde-inversion, we can see that any ordering of the
twelve pitch classes could yield a set of RI chains of rows with
the same relations among its parts. In general, the successive
application of RI at an appropriate set of values will yield two
interlocked chains of T-related rows, as in the penultimate
variation of the finale of Webern's Op. 27. 8 The cyclical
length of a dyadically elided RI chain is determined by the
'I will use the following distinctions: a row is a particular ordering of the
twelve pitch classes; a row class is the class of all rows equivalent under a
certain set of operations. In the case of this article, those operations will be
the classical twelve-tone operations, T X for x = 0-11, I y for y = 0-11, R and
their compounds. The term "inversional value" is equivalent to Babbitt's
index number of inversion, a term that first appears in "Twelve-Tone Rhyth-
mic Structure." Forte, Rahn, Starr ("Partitions"), and Morris all deal in
various ways with these and related issues (see footnote 3).
8The concept of the RI chain and its concomitant pair of T chains was
introduced by David Lewin in Generalized Musical Intervals and Transfor-
mations (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987), along with
the example drawn from the finale of Op. 27 (181-82).
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 177
nature of the intervals at both ends of the ordering, as well
as the interval that spans the ordering. 9
How then does the particular ordering manifested in the
work's row class affect this structure? First and most obvi-
ously, the rows' orderings, while not affecting the content of
the chords, will affect the order in which they occur. 10 Sec-
ondly, the fact that the row class is RI symmetrical will allow
us to construe successive rows in a vocal part as a series of
transpositions, in addition to their behavior as an RI chain.
The intervallic relationship between the dyads at each end of
the rows will determine the number of iterations needed to
complete a cycle.
A third and more specific result of the row class's ordering
emerges when we inspect the transpositional relationships in
the choral rows. The hexachords of the row class are par-
titioned into two trichords of the type [0,1,4], ordered in
different ways, and transpositionally related by a major sec-
ond. Since pairs of transpositionally related rows in each
block of the choral array are always related by this same
interval, not only will the pairs of blocks of trichords on each
side of the hexachordal boundary contain repeated trichordal
collections, but each block of trichords may be parsed into
9 We can formalize this very easily. Let a be the interval from the initial
element of a row to its second element, b be the interval from the penultimate
element of that row to its final element, and c be the interval from the initial
element to the final element. The interval between a row and its next trans-
position in the RI chain will be 2c (a + b). Dividing 12 by this number will
give the number of links in the chain necessary to return to T o (assuming,
of course, that the segment is not RI invariant). This need not be limited to
twelve-tone rows, but may apply to ordered segments of any length. Fur-
thermore, we need not restrict ourselves to dyadically elided segments, but
may make similar determinations for any degree of overlap.
10 Details of the ordering of these chords may be found in Kramer, "Row
as Structural Background"; he notes the various palindromic patterns that
emerge because of the row class's order properties.
a pair of inversionally related hexachords of the same type
as that found segmentally in the rows. 11
Example lb contains a portion of the array of the or-
chestral introduction. This also contains four parts, but the
transpositional and inversional values relating the rows differ
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from those found in the array of the choral sections of the
work. A comparison of the relations in each array reveals an
interesting relationship between the two, however. Both con-
tain a single inversional value relating two pairs of rows, two
additional inversional values relating one pair each, and a
single transpositional value relating the remaining two pairs.
The inversional value relating two pairs of rows is shared
between the two arrays, which means that the repertoire of
dyads found between the soprano and bass as well as between
the alto and tenor in the choral section is reproduced between
two sets of parts in the orchestra. Because of this, and be-
cause of the particular transpositional relations between rows
in each array, their repertoires of simultaneities intersect.
The two resulting shared harmonies -9, E, A, B and its
tritone-related counterpart C, Bb, E b , F are found at ar-
ticulative moments throughout the movement both in the
chorus and in the orchestra. 12 Once again, it is Webern's
11
This has some bearing on the composition of the last section of the
movement, an orchestral coda employing a portion of the chorus's array. As
Kramer and Bailey (op. cit.) note, only the outer blocks of trichords in each
row-length chunk of the array are played as simultaneities, and the inner
blocks are played canonically. The invariance relation described in the text
allows trichords from the canonic portions of the passage to be heard in
different voices during the chordal sections.
12
As noted above, these remarks are offered only to illustrate the different
contributions made by various levels of the twelve-tone system; a true analysis
would pursue in detail the particularities of these articulative moments. This
is done much more fully by Kramer, who notes these moments and describes
their significance to the over-all flow of the movement; see his "Row as
Structural Background." Rochberg, in "Webern's Search for Harmonic Iden-
tity," notes their significance as well, particularly with regard to the openings
and closings of passages.
178 Music Theory Spectrum
selection of transpositional and inversional values, divorced
from ordering considerations, that permits the intersection of
chords between the two arrays, but it is the combination of
his ordering and his decision as to which sets of four rows
from his row class initiate each array that permits him to place
those intersections at significant junctures.
The preceding example distinguishes between the conse-
quences of the twelve-tone system's general principles and
those of a particular ordering. The following suggests the
significance of the specific ways rows are composed on the
musical surface. The first movement of the Symphony, Op.
21 has been described as a set of elaborate double canons,
with voices inversionally related by an even value . 13 For our
present purposes we shall not pursue the canons, but shall
examine how Webern's choices of rhythmic and instrumental
projection of his canonic parts combine at the outset to pro-
duce some significant details. The opening bars are found in
Example 2.
Although much of the composition involves tetrachordal
aspects of its rows, there are plenty of passages that articulate
trichords, derived segmentally. The rows contain only four
distinct segmental trichord types: [0,1,2], [0,1,3], [0,1,4], and
[0,1,6] . 14 Instances of all of these trichord types emerge in the
opening bars as a result of the counterpoint of rows, not
simply as arbitrarily grouped events, but depending on such
surface details as note repetition, metrical placement, and
articulation to distinguish them. 15
13 See Perle, Serial Composition, 128-31.
14 This last trichord type is only found between discrete segmental
hexachords, and contains the tritone, the hexachord type's excluded interval.
See Rahn, Basic Atonal Theory, for an elaborate discussion of the significance
of this interval in the composition of the Thema from the Symphony's second
movement.
15 As is noted by Christopher Hasty, the composition of details is crucial
to our understanding of Webern's music, as it more generally is in the works
of Schoenberg and Babbitt, for example; see his "Composition and Context
Surface details in Webern's music need not derive from
segmental collections of the row-class, nor need they nec-
essarily refer to any aspect of a work's underlying ordering,
but may themselves reflect more fundamental relational prin-
ciples at work. An example of this kind of detail emerges
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from the two dyads in m. 4 that are attacked simultaneously.
These four notes, derived from various positions in their re-
spective voices, clearly project a figure that may be heard as
an inversional relationship based on an even value. While the
value in question is not the particular one relating the various
voices of the canon, it is nevertheless a demonstration of the
principle underlying the relationships among the long-range
structures of the piece. 16
As the foregoing should suggest, relations in Webern's
music engage a wide range of levels in the twelve-tone system
in interlocking ways. We must be aware both of these dif-
ferent levels and of the ways they interact, as we move back
and forth between the musical surface and the underlying,
longer-range relations in his music. Bearing these differences
in mind, we may now turn to an examination of the ways
in Twelve-Note Music of Anton Webern," Music Analysis 7 (1988) : 281-312.
Such an approach informs the analyses of Samet in "Hearing Aggregates,"
and is one of the fundamental points of Peles's "Interpretations of Sets." I
believe that this is also the sort of thing that Perle refers to as "special
rhythmic, registral, textural, and harmonic relationships" in the following:
If a twelve-note canon is to be anything more than the mechanical and
literal unfolding of axiomatic twelve-note operations, there must be sig-
nificant criteria of association and contrast, based on special rhythmic,
registral, textural, and harmonic relationships. The futility of literal surface
imitation in twelve-note music was evident to Webern at once. (Perle,
"Sketches," 7)
16 This observation owes a debt to Lewin's "Klumpenhouwer Networks
and Some Isographies That Involve Them," Music Theory Spectrum 12
(1990) : 83-120; in this article he develops the idea of interpreting intervals
as the result of inversional operations to relate various aspects of a compo-
sition.
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 179

Webern's large-scale forms emerge from his approach to the Example 2. Symphony, Op. 21, surface details
twelve-tone system.
[0,1,2] [0,1,4] [0,1,6] [0,1,4] [0,1,3]
I I I I I i

VARIATIONS FOR PIANO, OP. 27, SECOND MOVEMENT

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ti II II II

[0,1,3] [0,1,4] [0,1,6] [0,1,4] [0,1,2]

We shall start with the second movement of the Variations
for Piano, Op. 27, both because it is very brief, and because
its form and details emerge from very deep levels of the 2
Trichord Types in Rows of Op. 21
n
2 Cl. [0,1,6]
[0,1,6
twelve-tone system. 17 The movement is divided into two
halves of roughly equal length, and, as all previous analysts
have noted, each half begins and ends with the same dyad
B b , G. These dyads facilitate the repetition of both halves
of the movement, but we are interested here in discovering
what motivates the repeats and how they contribute to our
sense of the progress of the music. We shall also probe be-
yond any simple symmetrical balance of the two halves, to
see if there is any significance to the overall order of events
Hp.
r

in the movement. I
[0,1,4]
II
[0,1,3]
In order to suggest how deeply one may trace the bipartite pizz.
pizz.
structure of this movement, we begin by constructing what
Robert Morris has called a compositional design, an abstract

imr arco
Str. 11W

pizz. arco
^
17This movement has been analyzed by several musicians, including Bab-
bitt, Westergaard, Bailey, Lewin, Roy Travis, and Catherine Nolan. Babbitt's
I I II
"Invariants" contains observations of the consequences of Webern's use of [0,1,2] [0,1,6]

[0,1,6] I
a single even inversional value throughout the movement, while close readings [0,1,6]
of its details are offered in: Westergaard, "Webern and `Total Organization':
An Analysis of the Second Movement of Piano Variations, Op. 27," Per-
spectives of New Music 1, no. 2 (1963): 107-20; Travis, "Directed Motion in
Schoenberg and Webern," Perspectives of New Music 4, no. 7 (1965): 85-89;
and Nolan, "Hierarchic Linear Structures in Webern's Twelve-Tone Music"
(Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1989). Lewin provides some interesting insights
about its metrical structure in "A Metrical Problem in Webern's Op. 27"
(Journal of Music Theory 6 [1962]: 125-32), and offers a variety of ways of
construing its pitch structure in Generalized Musical Intervals. These are syn-
thesized in a pitch-rhythmic analysis in Lewin, "A Metrical Problem in We-
bern's Op. 27," Music Analysis, forthcoming.
180 Music Theory Spectrum
structure that in this case will be motivated entirely by aspects
of the primitives of the system. 18 Only after having investi-
gated this structure will we insert the actual rows that Webern
used in the composition, in order to examine their particular
properties in this design. Finally, we shall look at the ways
these properties are exploited at the musical surface.
This analytical approach in effect reconstructs the move-
ment from the ground up, in essence tracing the decisions of
an imaginary composer. The power of such an approach has
been demonstrated with regard to Schoenberg's twelve-tone
music by Stephen Peles, and helps to clarify in just what ways
the properties of a work's row-class contribute to its struc-
ture . 19 It should be emphasized that this is an analytical de-
vice employed in order to make certain points, and does not
represent either how Webern composed this movement, or
how the author imagines Webern composed this movement,
18 The term originates in Morris, Composition with Pitch Classes. My anal-
ysis owes a large debt to Morris's notions about the compositional conse-
quences of such designs, as well as the distinctions between compositional
designs and their realizations. Not all compositional designs are constructed
solely from relational primitives, but may stem from the particular properties
of a collection or ordering. The range of possibilities for designs is presented
in Morris's chapter 6.
19 Stephen Peles, in a forthcoming article, "Continuity, Reference, and
Implication: Remarks on Schoenberg's Proverbial `Difficulty' " (Theory and
Practice), has revealed a wealth of information by using this approach on
Schoenberg's Op. 27 No. 1. By reconstructing a series of compositional de-
cisions that only gradually determine the work's row structure, Peles dem-
onstrates how the properties of Schoenberg's row class, his selection of rows,
and the details of their composition all work to unfold the music both locally
and globally. In both Op. 27 No. 1 and the Menuett from Op. 25, Peles seeks
to make a connection between that analytical level at which statements con-
cerning a work's row structure may be undeniably true but of questionable
relevance to how it is heard, and an analysis of the heard surface, by es-
tablishing that relevance through a recomposition of the work's surface from
its underlying row structure. This approach is taken even further in his forth-
coming Ph.D. dissertation, "Reconstructions: Ordering, Adjacency, and Ref-
erence in Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music" (Princeton University) .
or, for that matter, how a such movement should be com-
posed. 20
Example 3a is one of several compositional designs that
could underlie the movement. 21 The design represents an
array of two strands related by a single as yet undetermined
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inversional value. 22 Each strand consists of four ordered
pitch-class segments related by transposition. The entire de-
sign may be generated from a single ordered pitch-class seg-
ment of arbitrary length, plus the selection of an inversional
value. All the relationships at this stage depend on this se-
lection, plus the interval between the ends of the initial seg-
ment. As may be seen, the rudiments of the movement's
bipartite form emerge even prior to a decision that the or-
dered segment be a twelve-tone row.
Certain aspects of Webern's presentation of his material
may be fruitfully introduced at this point. First, the two
strands of the design unfold note against note, for the most
part. As the design is based on a single inversional value, this
means that the movement will present various reorderings
of that value's catalogue of dyads, formed between the
strands. 23 To emphasize the inversional heart of the design,
the pitch classes in the movement are symmetrically arranged
20 However, I imagine music could be composed in such a mannerin fact,
it has been: Morris's Composition with Pitch Classes is a compendium of
theoretical tools that, while useful for analysis, are primarily designed to be
used to compose, and derive from Morris's own compositional practice.
21
Both Nolan, "Hierarchic Linear Structures," and Bailey, Twelve-Note
Music contain different interpretations of strand membership in the work,
based on different sets of criteria. Nolan formalizes her relationships and
additionally notes that her basic design could be used with any possible or-
dering. She concludes, however, that Webern's particular ordering does not
have much bearing on the progress of the movement.
22
The term array originates in Winham, "Arrays," and is explored ex-
tensively in Morris, Composition with Pitch Classes.
23
This point is made in Babbitt, "Invariants," and echoed in Robert Wa-
son, "Webern's Variations for Piano, Op. 27: Musical Structure and the
Performance Score," Integral 1 (1987): 000.
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 181
about a pitch inversional axis, and are for the most part fixed
in particular registers. Obviously, the selection of an odd or
an even inversional value will have an enormous impact both
on the sound of the piece, and on the degree to which pitch
classes may be fixed in register. 24 This choice and its impli-
cations will emerge shortly.
More immediately germane is the decision to present the
resulting inversional dyads not as simultaneities, but rhyth-
mically articulated at a fixed temporal distance. This allows
us to ascribe two roles, "leader" and "follower," to the
strands of the design. 25 These roles change in the course of
the movement. Even at this point it is useful to elaborate our
design by imagining which strand might lead, and where the
two strands could exchange roles. There is an exchange of
elements between strands in the middle of each half of the
design. Let us echo that exchange by making an analogous
exchange of leader at the midpoint. Thus, if for the first half
we allow the strand starting on a to lead, its continuation
(starting on c) will follow in the second half. The exchange
of elements in each half will be echoed by the exchange of
roles for strands between the halves. 26
24
An odd inversional value would yield a catalogue of six odd-interval
dyads, while an even inversional value would yield five even-interval dyads
and two single pitch classes related by T6 .
25I am avoiding the traditional use of the word "canon" to describe this
movement in order to free up my description of the movement's behavior
from any preconceptions of what it is that canons do. Thus I can develop the
idea of changing roles in my row strands without having to comment on the
shift of dux and comes between strands. One of the difficulties of using the
word canon to describe what Webern did is that it tends to restrict how we
might think about his structures; it also seems to demand more and offer less
in the twelve-tone domain, a point implied by the earlier quotation from Perle
(footnote 14) .
26
Babbitt's "Invariants" employs the exchange in the second half of the
design in an analytical description of the repetitions in the movement; my
analysis echoes his insight, but is drawn at a level prior to the actual as-
signment of pitch classes to the design.
Doing this permits the ordered dyad arising between
strands that opens the first half to be echoed by the same dyad
opening the second half, due to the simultaneous exchanges
of elements and roles at this point. Unlike the midpoints of
each half, each strand shares an element across the central
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boundary, inviting us to elide the ends of the strands of the
first half and their beginnings in the second half. This, of
course, causes a problem, because the orders of the dyads at
the end of the first half and the beginning of the second are
different, even though their contents and strand assignments
are the same. But we could simply make our leader exchange
a little early, and effect an elision. Doing so enables us to
repeat the first half, since its very end through some com-
positional forcing reproduces its beginning, not only in terms
of pitch content, but in order as well. We could balance the
situation by playing the same game with the end of the second
half, at the very least permitting if not compelling us to repeat
the second half. The design at this stage is illustrated in Ex-
ample 3b.
As implied at the outset, the repetition of the dyads at the
ends of the two halves of the movement does not seem to
offer sufficient motivation for their repetitions. But is there
some way, even before we impose the particularities of or-
dering on the design, to motivate the repetitions of the two
halves? So far, our design is very symmetrical, and we hear
the exchange of elements in the two halves echoed in the
various exchanges of leader and follower between the two
halves. If we could slightly derange this symmetry, we might
generate some more compelling reasons to repeat the two
halves. One way to do this would be to obscure somehow the
element exchange in the first half. This would cause us to hear
the first half ending with an unexplained change of roles in
its final dyad. The first time through, this would simply return
us to the beginning with an unanswered question. The second
time through, we would receive a partial explanation in the
immediate continuation of the second half, with its exchanged
182 Music Theory Spectrum

Examples 3ac. Compositional designs for Piano Variations, Example 3c. Obscured exchange and I relations in the design
Op. 27, second movement when I, is even and y is odd

^ E l isions ', if y is odd

b c

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a ^ d^ c
etc. a /b b
b c^b^a a ^
Example 3a. Design generated by a and I, d a 'even c b 'odd
d a^
obscured
+ b : arbitrary pc string a, b = end pcs, + y = interval from a to b exchange
y (b = d)
a I x : arbitrary Inversional Value
TS r
'even
a a^
b<-7

Tr ^f e 'odd
^

^a odd interval
Db y,c ,e f a
a d n c ( cl e
( NB :
x = a+c, b+d, e+f l aD
even odd interval
interval

a >e=a--->c+ c^e)

Example 3d. Array of Op. 27, second movement

I ( Elision
i
a / b
C#
C B D C F# F E G# G Eb
F G E F# C C# D Bb B E c^
d
Example 3b. Leader/follower roles Intersection : 1 pc
I Elision
I

Elisions F# E G F B Bb A C# C G#
' d ^c
C D B C# G G# A F F# Bb b^
a
a
a d cte f'
Intersection : 3 pcs
b a e_^
c d f c
(G #) G B A C B 6 E Eb D F# F (Db) c /e
T
Role Exchange
T
Role Exchange
(B 6 ) B G A F# G# D Eb E C C# (F) a f

Intersection : 5 pcs
a
F E G# F# A G C ' O C B E D Bb
DI) D Bb C A B F F# G El/ E G# e
c

Intersection : 1 pc
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 183

Example 3e. Pitch composition of Op. 27, second movement leader-follower relationship. The midpoint of the second half
would subsequently reveal the underlying element exchange
f
bA_ bt
at the heart of the design.
Motivating the repetition of the second half is a little more
0- difficult at this point, but by hearing the second part's mid-

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point as an exchange, we can recognize the analogous ex-
i it.
9 .
^

change of roles in the final dyad of the second half, and use
* that to take us back through the second half, allowing us to
hear its central element exchange once again in the context
of a leadership exchange. This might be made more effective
by the composition of the details at the musical surface, and
b.t
km_ we shall eventually see that Webern has attended to these.
tt /
IMP
Even so, by dealing with the compositional design alone
#i
0 - we have been able to establish a motivation for the repetitions
{ at a very deep level of structure. This depends, however, on
#i
7. obscuring the element exchange at the middle of the first half.
* elaborated We can do this by making it moot: by making b and d the
same pitch class, we can just as readily hear the midpoint of
this section as a repetition of elements within strands, and
effect another elision. This helps set up the elision that fol-
t f
i t
lows at the midpoint of the movement.

#/
By taking this action, however, we have automatically de-
cided to use an even inversional value to relate the two
{
^
strands, and thus we have taken a major step in determining
7 .
the sheer sound of the piece, as suggested above. This de-
cision has additional consequences, as it will make our axis
of pitch inversion a single pitch, and the decision to use a
r _ Early Role Exchange
symmetrical distribution of the pitch classes around that pitch
will locate a second pitch class at two registral locations, a
tritone (or its compound) above and below the center pitch.
As we shall see, this sets a systematic precedent for shifting
rfrie- 6^ other pitch classes registrally for motivic reasons.
{
We can consider one final question at this levelabout the
interval class Y found between the end elements of the gen-
* elaborated . RT6* Mobile Pcs erating segment. As we know, all the segments that unfold
(Barlines do not coincide with barlines in the score.) simultaneously are related by a single even inversional value.
184 Music Theory Spectrum
We can also see that the inversional value that relates the
segment in one strand at the beginning of the first half to that
in the other at the beginning of the second must be even as
well, just as must be the values relating segments at the ends
of each section. The other inversional relations, between the
other pairs of inversionally related segments in each half
and the ends of each half, will be determined by the type of
interval class that spans the generating segment. If this in-
terval class is odd, the inversional values in these relation-
ships must be odd as well. This would increase the variety of
ways segments might be related, by containing adjacencies
that map onto themselves at the appropriate odd values, as
well as ones that do so at the appropriate even values. We-
bern's ultimate choice of an odd value for Y increased his
opportunities for interesting composing. The preceding
points are illustrated in Example 3c.
During the preceding we have constructed and examined
a compositional design that fits the structure of Webern's
movement. This design has been based solely on abstract
relations, yet in combination with certain decisions about
projection, it has suggested a number of aspects about the
ultimate form of the movement. We can now insert the rows
that Webern actually used to see how the ordered structure
of his row class and his choice of specific rows to fill the design
contribute to the way the music unfolds. The resulting array
is illustrated in Example 3d.
One thing that immediately springs to view is the varying
degrees to which the hexachords of the two strands' rows
contain the same pitch classes. In the first row pair, the in-
tersection is by one element, the minimum under an even
inversional value. In the second pair, the intersection is three
elements, and in the third pair, five, the maximum intersec-
tion under an even inversional value. But it is the final pair
that suggests the significance of this issue: the intersection
here is again one element, and the elements, because of the
fixed inversional value, will be the same as at the opening.
Thus, the bipartite form of the movement arises not merely
because of the repeated dyads at the beginnings and ends of
its sections, but also from the sense of departure and return
effected by the changing degree of hexachordal intersec-
tion . 27 This can produce a sense of closure, allowing the
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piece's opening and closing passages to behave in a similar
manner. The immediate effect on the musical surface of the
changes of hexachordal intersection will have to do with the
rapidity of pitch change, maximized at the outer ends of the
two sections, and minimized at the beginning of the second
section. This aspect of the movement is determined both by
Webern's selection of hexachord type for his row class's seg-
mental hexachords, and his selection of row pairs and their
positions in the design.
We can also inspect the rows for possibilities of invariant
segments preserved under the twelve-tone operations. The
most obvious one we can notice is the fact that the first pair
of rows contains as segments a dyad C,F# that is part of
the interval catalogue of the inversional value relating the two
strands. Looking a little further, we can see that the two odd
inversional values that relate the first pair of rows to the
second pair's opposite strands causes the two segmental
dyads B , D and G, E to occur at the same order posi-
tions. 28 These two odd inversional values crop up again when
we inspect other inversional relationships in our array, plac-
ing the dyads F, F and C, C # at like order positions in the
two outer pairs, and in the two inner pairs. It is left to the
reader to inspect the array for invariance opportunities af-
forded by the various values of transposition. The reader
should note, however, the three occurrences of the dyadic
27 This point is adumbrated in Wason, "Variations"; he notes the slowing
of the harmonic rhythm at the outset of the second half of the movement.
28 A similar pair of segmental dyads is potentially related in the second
half of the piece, but as we shall see, Webern chooses not to take advantage
of this.
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 185
adjacencies, E b , D and El, , E dyads arising from three lo-
cations of half steps as adjacencies in the members of the row
class that will play an interesting role on the surface.
We may at last turn to the musical surface, to see just how
Webern has taken advantage of the various opportunities
afforded by his particular orderings, and the ways they are
related by the underlying principles of the twelve-tone sys-
tem. Example 3e charts the movement's pitch composition.
With only two kinds of exceptions, each strand proceeds a
single note at a time. The exceptions, however, take advan-
tage of the sorts of possibilities we have been observing. The
first kind of exception uses dyads; the second kind groups
three adjacent elements as a simultaneity. 29
The first kind of exception, in which a segmental dyad
from the leader precedes the answering dyad from the fol-
lower, occurs initially with the pitch-class dyads that recur
segmentally in the following rows. Here, the dyads are ar-
ticulated in just the same way. Furthermore, the registral
positions of the pitch classes have been exchanged, preserving
the contour of their first appearance. In both cases, and in
following ones, the dyads are articulated with grace notes,
permitting the leader and follower to continue to be separated
by a fixed time interval.
The second occurrence of grace-note dyads occurs at the
central spot of the first half, the point marking the obscured
exchange of elements, masked by the pitch-class preservation
between row ends. This has some interesting consequences
in the second half. To begin with, the center of the second
half is similarly marked, and also involves the elision of pitch
classes, but in a different way. Here, the disappearance of the
central of three D h , F dyads from between rows forces an
exchange of association between strands to permit each
strand to contain complete rows. The relationship of this
moment to the analogous spot in the first half is made shortly
29 These exceptions are noted in all of the analyses I have previously cited.
afterwards by the final appearance of the grace notes, re-
producing the dyads that initiated the second set of rows in
the first half. Something very interesting happens here: as
noted above, the final dyad between strands of the second
half must be reversed to initiate its repetition. As suggested,
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it would be nice to have some surface motivic reinforcement
at this point, and this Webern gives us by effecting his role
reversal two dyads early, thus reproducing exactly the figure
that marked the midpoint of the first half, the first passage
only now retrospectively and by analogy revealed to partici-
pate in the series of exchanges of elements and roles that
spans the composition.
We have not mentioned one remaining set of grace-note
dyads, as they participate in another series of relationships
inviting us to hear the piece as unfolding from its beginning.
As we noted, Webern does not in the same way in the second
half take advantage of the pair of dyads linking its two sets
of rows by analogy to the grace-note dyads in the first half.
The following will suggest why. Although the two dyadsG,
E and B, D do not occur as row segments in the second half
of the movement, they are treated in a manner unlike all but
one of the remaining pitch classes in the piece. Aside from
E b , these are the only pitch classes that change register for
the entire duration of the composition. Since the pitch axis
of inversion is A, El, must occur in at least two registers in
order to behave symmetrically. It is a particular composi-
tional choice, however, to underscore the initial exceptional
role of dyads G, E and B, D in their continued exceptional
roles as pitch classes rather than pitches. This encourages us
to hear the later portions of the movement from the stand-
point of the opening.
This compositional attitude also applies to the initial three
dyads between strands, whose adjacent recurrences not only
signal the end of the first section, but which also appear in
the second half, drawn out of their nonsegmental order po-
sitions by a combination of the one remaining set of grace-
186 Music Theory Spectrum
note dyads and the second kind of exception we mentioned
above. This second kind of exception, which always groups
the same order positions as a three-note simultaneity, also
participates in projecting the invariance relationships we have
described. As mentioned above, the segmental dyads C, C#
and F, F# are shared at like order positions not only between
the central two row pairs, but also between the outer two row
pairs. In the central two pairs, this is brought out rhythmi-
cally, but in the outer pairs, these dyads appear at order
positions found within the three-note chords. In the first case,
these chords also include the dyads (both C and F#) that arise
both segmentally and between strands, and in the final ap-
pearance, they include G and B, two of the roving pitch
classes. Because of the registral flexibility of G and B, they
can be inserted in between the invariant pitches, and thus
allow this final pair of chords to sound like a more complex
version of their initial appearance. In combination with what
follows, this last portion of the movement sounds like a con-
centrated reprise of the first half . 3
We can point out still another interesting pitch-class aspect
of the initial three dyads and their relationship with the five
roving pitch classes of the movement: the two collections are
members of the same type, related by T6. Thus the sense of
reprise and closure during the last row pair is reinforced by
the fact that the three dyads prior to the final dyad of the
movement retrograde at T6 the initial three dyads of the
movement. This is one more reason suggesting that the events
on the surface and the structure of the array are closely in-
terconnected. The sense of through-composition that rides
across the symmetries of the movement has very much to do
30 Lewin, in his later "Metrical Problem" article (1993), observes the spe-
cial role not only of the shifting pitch classes, but of the initial three dyads
of the movement as well. I am grateful to Tiina Koivisto for sharing with me
some of these insights concerning these three dyads.
with Webern's selection of row pairs, their sequence, and
their composition.
The preceding hardly exhausts the movement, but it pro-
vides us with insights into the issues initially raised. 31 It also
suggests just how deeply into the underlying structure one can
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trace the roots of Webern's surface forms. This movement
works as a bipartite form not simply because that form was
imposed from without upon the foreign language of the
twelve-tone system, but because the twelve-tone system, at
several levelsfrom the most abstract up to the specific pos-
sibilities of the actual rows usedprovided the opportunity
to make a two-part structure, complete with musically mean-
ingful repetitions. The composition of the surface details for
the most part reinforces moves of departure and return af-
forded by the deeper structural levels. It is important to note
that while the basic two-part design of the movement can be
constructed abstractly for any possible ordering of arbitrary
length, it is the specific ordering of the work's row class
including such features as the selection of hexachord type, the
selection of the interval class spanning end-points, and the
presence of segmental adjacencies that belong to the same
inversional values as those found in the work as well as the
specific selection of rows from the row class to fill the design,
that contribute to our sense of departure and return in the
movement, as well as to the accumulation of detail as we
move through it.
The preceding was a lengthy look at a brief stretch of
music. The following analysis does not attempt again to build
31 Some additional questions to be addressed would be the particular
choice of registers for the remaining pitch-classes, as well as issues of rhythms
and dynamics. As noted above, Travis ("Directed Motion") and Westergaard
("Total Organization") address issues of register and dynamics along with a
host of other issues, and Lewin, in the 1962 "Metrical Problem" article, treats
aspects of the work's rhythmic structure. Nolan is particularly insightful in
"Hierarchic Linear Structures" with regard to register, and her work is in-
terestingly developed in Lewin's 1993 "Metrical Problem."
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 187
up an entire movement from scratch, but rather examines
how the composition of surface details interacts with the un-
derlying row structure to motivate certain aspects of a move-
ment's large-scale form.
SAXOPHONE QUARTET, OP. 22, FIRST MOVEMENT
The form of the first movement of Webern's Saxophone
Quartet, Op. 22, has occasioned a certain amount of debate
among previous analysts. The present discussion is concerned
not so much with identifying its form as with finding sensible
musical reasons to account for its succession of events. 32 For
our initial purposes, we may consider the movement as re-
sembling a rounded binary form with both halves repeated,
framed by an introduction and coda. As will be shown, both
the introduction and coda as well as the repetitions in the
body of the movement help to contribute to our sense of how
the musical narrative unfolds.
It is well known that this movement, like the second move-
ment of Op. 27, contains a pair of strands of rows, inver-
sionally related at an even value. As was the case in the
movement just examined, the composition of this pair of
strands reinforces their inversional relationship by projecting
their inversionally related pitch classes as pitches symmet-
rically disposed above and below the F# above middle C. In
this movement, pitch classes have a greater freedom of move-
32
Analytical discussions of this movement are found in Hasty, "Context";
Nolan, "Hierarchic Linear Structures"; Bailey, Twelve-Note Music; Perle,
"Sketches"; Babbitt, "Invariants"; Leland Smith, "Composition and Pre-
composition in the Music of Webern," in Anton von Webern Perspectives, ed.
Hans Moldenhauer and Demar Irvine (Seattle and London: University of
Washington Press, 1966), 86-101; Brian Fennelly, "Structure and Process in
Webern's Opus 22," Journal of Music Theory 10 (1966): 300-28; and Roger
Smalley, "Webern's Sketches," Tempo 112-14 (1975). Smith, Fennelly, and
Bailey remark to various degrees the movement's similarities to sonata-allegro
form, but contain different interpretations of its parts.
ment than in Op. 27, but the symmetry is still a palpable part
of our hearing. 33
This symmetry is broken in two placesthe first half of the
body of the movement and its reprise in the second half. In
these passages, an additional strand of rows is combined with
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the pair of inversionally related strands. These two passages
employ identical arrays of underlying rows, and so their dif-
ferences may be entirely characterized by the differences in
their composition and their different contexts within the
movement. Our sense of how this movement works depends
to a large extent on understanding these differences, and so
dramatizes the importance of examining the ways Webern
composes his surface details.
In the following, we will first examine certain properties
of the work's row class and consider how they are articulated
in the musical surface . 34 This will help explain some of We-
bern's choices of row succession, as well as aspects of his
composition of details. In the course of this, a description of
behavior that can encompass both large-scale and local
aspects of the movement will be developed. Finally, this
behavioral description will be expanded to account for a
33 Most of these points are found variously in all of the previously cited
writings. Babbitt's "Invariants" contains a brief comparison with the second
movement of Op. 27; Smith, in "Composition and Precomposition," details
the changing patterns of inversional symmetries among other points; Perle and
Smalley in their "Sketches" articles, remark on the sequence of rows used,
as well as discuss the sketches for the work.
34
Hasty, in "Context," provides a very close look at issues of surface
projection in the opening bars of this movement, considering rhythm, pitch,
instrumentation, register, and so forth. He makes the point that there must
be some perceptual basis for grouping any given batch of events on the musical
surface if we are to make a meaningful analysis thereby. He points out that
the significance of a note in this music must arise simultaneously from the
complex connections between it and other events afforded by a wide range
of musical criteria. Hasty's groupings correspond nicely with those observa-
tions that I wish to connect to underlying row structure.
188 Music Theory Spectrum

particular kind of ambiguity that arises at the ends of sections, Example 4. Saxophone Quartet, Op. 22, properties of the row
making it possible to develop a description of the movement class
as a whole.
Example 4 illustrates three properties of the row class Property 1:

necessary to our discussion. The first entails a pair of com-

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T o Q: Bb A C B Eb E F F# Ab D G
plementary second-order all-combinatorial hexachords in a
T6 Q:
retrogradably symmetrical set of order positions. Because of
the invariance properties occasioned by the nature of the Io Q:
hexachords and their set of order positions, they will remain 16 Q:
invariant under the various transformations illustrated. The
second property illustrated shows how a row may be parti- Property 2:
tioned into the set of segmental dyads that takes the end
To Q: ' O Bb A
C C B Eb E F F# Ab D G
elements as a dyad, and how they are preserved in rows ^

related by T6 as well as two odd inversion values six apart, T6 Q: E Eb F# F A Bb B C D . Al'

, I
D

and their retrogrades. 35 The third property, which we will not I3 Q: F F# Eb E C B 136 A G C #
' '
Al'
I
invoke at first, is identical to the property we discussed con- I9 Q: Ab B C A Bb F# F E Eb Db D
cerning the discrete trichordal collections in the rows of Op.
29: here as there, a hexachord is constructed of two trichords Property 3:
of the [0,1,4] type, transposed by a major second. 36 An im-
portant feature of this trichord type in relation to the other F F# Ab D G

two discrete segmental trichord types in the row class [0,1,2] Eb E F# C F

and [0,1,6] will emerge in the following discussion.
Example 5 contains the underlying array of the first por-
NB: To find the appropriate rows to relate to HQ (where H is any operation), apply
tions of the movement the introduction and first half up to HGH -1 to HQ, where H -1 = inverse of H, and G = the various operations of a
the first repeatalong with a sketch of how the materials are property (see Morris 1987, Lewin 1987).
projected on the musical surface. We may notice the signif-
icance of two of our properties in these passages. The initial

35 Certain subsets of these properties are noted in Bailey, Twelve-Note

Music, 20. These properties entail both the nature of the pitch-class mosaics
in question as well as their corresponding order-number mosaics. The term
mosaic originates in Martino, "Source Set." The theoretical implications of
pitch-class and order-number mosaics are explored in Mead, "Implications."
Additional insight into pitch-class mosaics may be found in Morris and Ale-
gant, "Even Partitions."
36 This is noted in Fennelly, "Structure and Process."
pair of inversionally related rows participate in our first prop-
erty, which holds a pair of [0,1,2,6,7,8] hexachords invariant
at a certain set of order positions under certain operations.
Because successive rows in the inversionally related strands
are related by T6, the embedded hexachords will remain at
their order positions. We can make a case for their musical
presence as follows: throughout the passage, rows of the in-
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 189

Example 5. Op. 22, first movement, introduction and first half, array

T6
T9

cl
sax sax vn vn

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vn pno
I BI C I Dbl ! ^

D 6 Bb A C B El' E F F# A6 D G E Eb F# F A IBb DAb DI" Bb A C B E6 E F F# Ab D G

II()
B D Eb C CO A Ab G F# E Bb F F Al' A F# G Eb D Db C B b E B B D Eb C CO A Al' G F# E Bb F
I I ^ I I ^ 1
vn pno vn cl pno pno
(

T3

- -

ti
CE F D DP B A Al' FO G G Bb B G# A F E Eb D C F# C#

0 4 0 sax
6 6 (Ili
pno
hno

T ^ ^
f
vn
pno

sax sax
Property 1 hexachord found at ends
Motivic links between opening Link between sax dyad
and extrema
and saxophone melody and registral extrema of
first half

versionally related strands all begin or end with F, B, CO or the registral extrema of the passage, while F and G are as
G. F# and C are the pitch classes that map onto themselves close together as possible. In the repeated passage, C# and
at the work's fixed inversional value; they are also always B are the registral extrema until the last two bars, where they
adjacent to the other four pitch classes in the rows. In the are supplanted by E and GO (for reasons that we will explore
introduction, the additional appearances of B and CO mark presently) .
190 Music Theory Spectrum
The T6 relations between successive rows in the inver-
sionally related strands will also guarantee the persistence of
the sets of dyads found in our second property. Their sig-
nificance in the inversionally related pair of strands is initially
less vivid, but the relationship also holds between the two
rows of the melody found in the saxophone. The dyads' emer-
gence in this passage, first as the intervals between discrete
events, and then as the intervals within discrete events, gives
us our first hint of what will become an overriding behavioral
description the shifting roles of certain aspects of the music
from "between" things to "within" them, or vice versa.
The saxophone's melody represents the first exception to
the inversional symmetry of the music. Absorbing this line,
both in terms of details and in terms of its rows, will be part
of the task of the movement as a whole. Our behavioral
description gains us a little more ground at this point in re-
lating the melody to the unfolding pairs of rows. First, we can
see the obvious (and superficial) connection of the first and
last elements of the melody's rows with the same positions
in two members of the inversionally related strands. Second,
we can see the emergence of the dyad F#, C as an adjacency
in each of the two rows. This is another instance of between
becoming within, in this case, a dyad originally arising as a
pair of pitch classes shared at like order positions under in-
version between two rows now appearing as an adjacency
within a single row . 37
Third, and of more far-ranging significance, is the motivic
connection between the opening of the work and the begin-
ning of the saxophone line. The initial tetrachord of the sax-
ophone's row is related by retrograde inversion to the tet-
rachord formed between the dyads of the saxophone and the
violin at the outset of the work. This connection is reinforced
by the contour of the two passages, as well as by the dyad,
37 Smith, Fennelly, and Bailey (op. cit.), all deal with the significance of
this dyad throughout the composition.
CO, D that forms the end-points of both. Considered as un-
ordered collections, the two tetrachords are related by a mi-
nor third, the initial interval of both spots. Once again, some-
thing of musical significance that was initially found between
things emerges within a single thing. 38
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Example 6 is a chart of the array of the middle section,
which opens the second half. First, we can see that the initial
row pair results from transposing each member of the opening
row by a minor third in opposite directions. Aside from pre-
serving the constant inversional value, this operation ex-
changes the order positions of the hexachords of our first
property, while exchanging the dyads of our second property
between strands. It also reflects at the level of the array the
sort of move that shifted extrema in the preceding section.
But what will prove to be of much greater importance in-
volves the trichordal partitioning of the surface . 39 All four of
the resulting pairs of trichords play important roles; we shall
first pursue the second two pairs, and later return to the
others.
The trichordal partitioning of the surface allows the violin
and the saxophone in m. 17 to reproduce the hexachord
formed between them at the opening of the movement from
a different pair of segmental trichords of a different type,
[0,1,2]. The same principle, the generation by inversion of a
given hexachord from two different types of segmental tri-
chords, yields the link between the initial pair of rows in the
middle section and the second pair. Here, the final trichordal
38 Hasty, in "Context," notes the set-type relationship between the open-
ing of the piece and the opening of the saxophone melody. He also points
out the presence of members of the same set type in the accompaniment at
the initiation of the saxophone melody, as well as in the opening bars, ar-
ticulated in register, and works them into a readily-heard web of relations.
It is interesting to note that just as the saxophone's entrance reproduces a
pitch-class dyad, C#, D, from the opening, its other dyad, F, E, heard as
pitches, connects to the same pitches in the accompaniment's instance of the
set type.
39 This partitioning is noted by Bailey and Fennelly (op. cit.).
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 191

Example 6. Op. 22, first movement, middle section, array

Preserved hexachordal contents generated

by various trichordal pairs

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m. 1
/ [0,1,4] (second trichord)
sax iC [0,1,4] (first trichord)
(first
D 6 Bb A [0,1,4]trichord) [0,1,2] [0,1,4] (second trichord)

B D Eb <
vn [0,1,6] [0,1,4]
11 61 18 1 19 1 201 22
vn vn sax pno cl (NB!) pno
pno cl vn pno sax
I I I ^ I ^^
..Bb G F# A G# C C#D Eb F B E B G# G Bb A C# D Eb E F# C F F #.C# G F E EbD B b B G#A C C A G #B BbD E b E F G C# F
^ ^ D F F# D# E C B B A G C # Ab C# E F D E B B 6 A G# F# C G B F G G # A Bb D C # E Eb C CEb E C # D Bb A G # G F B F#
_J I I I^`
^
^ I I ^ I
cl pno sax pno c l pno vn sax pno pno cl vn sax pno cl vn pno

Rows exchanging segmental \ ^ Embedded hexachord of Property 1

hexachords ( see Example 5 )

Compare with saxophone dyads Rows preserving segmental

in Example 5 dyads (Property 2)

pair, played by the piano in m. 18 and consisting of members
of [0,1,6], yields a hexachord that is immediately reproduced
by means of a pair of members of [0,1,4] that form the initial
trichordal pair of the following row pair. This is a special
feature of the segmental trichords of the row class and how
they fit into its hexachords; these two row pairs also share
hexachordal collections, but it is only between the adjacent
sets of trichordally partitioned hexachords that the tri-
chordally generated hexachords are also reproduced. 4
40The generation of given hexachords from various trichord types, and of
The second row pair of this passage is of enormous sig-
nificance to the work's long-range unfolding. First, the pas-
sage injects the saxophone's initial melodic row into the struc-
ture of the inversionally related strands, while allowing our
third property finally to come to the fore. As the example
illustrates, the piano duplicates the initial trichordal pair of
the movement at its other set of order positions. As Dora
Hanninen has pointed out, this same pair of trichords has
already been activated in this portion of the movement at
nonadjacent order positions, articulated by registral extrema
in mm. 16 and 17. 41 But this is also the same hexachord as

various hexachord types from single trichord types is dealt with in Martino,
"Source Set." Additional information on the same subject may be found in Dora A. Hanninen, "The Variety of Order Relations in Webern's Mu-
41

Morris and Alegant, "Even Partitions." sic: Studies of Passages from the Quartet, Op. 22 and the Variations for
192 Music Theory Spectrum

was generated in m. 17 by the violin and saxophone, using Example 7. Op. 22, mm. 19-20 and 26-28
a different trichordal type.
Second, this row pair and those that follow reveal another ( B) GO G Bb A CO ...
example of our behavioral description. The embedded C O E F D Eb B . . .
hexachord of our first property, which previously emerged by

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combining the edges of events, is now central, arising with cl
its complement as the combinations of segmental trichords. 19 . A _ 20
Several other things are happening here as well. This is the
climax of the movement, and F# and C are now at the ends
of the rows. The new pairs of rows replicate the dyads of the
saxophone's melody, and the [0,1,4] trichords at the high-
point duplicate trichords at the other set of order positions
in the row pair opening the development. This is a grand sax
moment of synthesis, uniting the various strategies of the
music up to this point. nit. p
I a tempo
n
26 . vn 27 28 7
But third, and of the greatest long-range significance, is the - -

role that the passage beginning in m. 19 plays with regard to

.
the reprise, as illustrated in Example 7. The reprise employs
pp ^ cl p
the same array of rows as did the first repeated section, but )
(
fp -

they are recomposed in significant ways. There are a couple 7 : .

7 7
of points worth noting here. We may mention in passing that sax pno
the change of roles in the presentation of the inversionally
related strands of rows by a single instrument (the piano) and
. A Bb Db G E .
the melody by a set of instruments is but another instance of
, Eb D B F Ab . .
our description of behavior in the movement. This is rein-
forced by the fact that the melody is now divided among
CO E . .
instruments, whereas initially it was heard within a single
instrument.
More immediately important is that the change of inter-
vallic direction and registral placement of pitch classes at the
beginning of the reprise allows a vivid connection with the changing the direction of the initial interval. Both aspects are
passage in the middle section. At the reprise, the clarinet set up in m. 19. This is the first time the clarinet and sax-
initiates the melody first heard in the saxophone, doing so by ophone are paired in the movement, and the clarinet plays
the same pair of pitch classes in the same temporal and reg-
Orchestra, Op. 30," presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music istral ordering as at the reprise. The association between the
Theory, Kansas City, November 1992. two passages is reinforced by the reproduction of all but one
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 193

of the remaining pitch classes in the piano, in the appropriate Example 8. Op. 22, reprise, registrally projected hexachordal
registers. collection
There is still more here: the connection between the two
passages also helps to effect a linkage across the boundary -F AL compare with
AL
between the end of the development and the reprise, as the
mm. 16-17

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middle section ends with a retrograde presentation of the very D F OWE C

opening of the work, the very pair of trichords that imme- cl pno
and mm. 20-21
diately follow the passage we have mentioned in mm. 19 and D E b E FPC F
20. This allows us to understand the material we have heard cl
in the initial section in a new light when we hear it in the etc.
reprise.
Several kinds of between/within exchanges are effected
here, imbuing the beginning of the reprise with the kind of
multiple significance one associates with analogous recapit-
ulatory moments in tonal music. First, the overall collection
of pitch classes found in mm. 19-20 and 26-28 was first found
within a row pair, but in the second passage arises from be-
tween the ends of row pairs, plus an additional row. Second,
the resulting connection over the boundary between the mid-
dle section and reprise helps to unite the two passages as part
of the larger continuity of the second half of the body of the
hexachordal collections shared between the two initial row
movement. Third, and of perhaps the most far-ranging sig-
pairs of the middle section. But this, along with the other
nificance, is the fact that the mechanism that fuses the reprise
changes of registral positioning, has the effect of erasing the
with the middle section provides a more encompassing con-
presence of the hexachords noted in our first property during
text for relating the rows used in the first part of the move-
the reprise. As we noted above, one of these hexachords first
ment to each other, allowing us to take in the body of the
emerged around the edges in the introduction, but receded
movement as a whole.
in importance during the first part of the main body of the
This still leaves two issues hangingthe role of the coda,
movement. It and its complement reemerged centrally in the
and a way of understanding the repetitions of the body of the
middle section, but their final appearance is reserved for the
movement. As the following will suggest, both issues are
coda. 42 Here, the recomposition of the retrograde of the row
ultimately linked with understanding the entire movement as
a whole. One more detail worth noting in the reprise is that
42 It is worth noting in passing that [0,1,2,6,7,8] hexachords themselves
the registral shift of the melody allows a member of the
may be generated inversionally both by a pair of [0,1,2] trichords and a pair
hexachordal collection class found segmentally in the row of [0,1,6] trichords. The former happens in the course of the movement, but
to unfold gradually in the highest register, as illustrated in the latter cannot as part of the inversionally related strands, as it must occur
Example 8. In point of fact, it is one of the segmental at an odd inversional value.
194 Music Theory Spectrum
pair of the introduction makes explicit the partition of the
surface into the hexachords of our first property, in effect
confirming at the close what we had been following first at
the edges, and then at the center of things. 43
And what about the repeats? Understanding them in-
volves invoking a still more general instance of our behavioral
description, one that helps blur the edges of the various sec-
tions by inviting us to reassess what passage a given measure
belongs to. A look at the score reveals a very interesting
aspect of the tempo indications: ritardandos happen at the
opening bars of sections, followed immediately by a tempo
markings. This rhetorical gesture encourages us to hear these
passages not merely as the openings of sections, but also, at
least initially, as the close of the preceding sections. The
composition of pitches enables us to do so, with interesting
results.
This first happens with the beginning of the main body of
the movement, illustrated in Example 9a. The pitches in the
piano part in m. 6 can be heard as a partial echo of its pitches
in m. 5. 44 The saxophone part is less easily absorbed, but it
43 One of the complementary hexachords is heard cleanly in the sustaining
instruments, while the other is found with the addition of A and El, in the
piano. This dyadic addition can be heard as a fleeting reference to the de-
velopment section, in which this dyad occurs between voices at the order
positions held by C and F# during the exposition and reprise. The dyad also
marks the registral extrema of the first part of the development, to be replaced
in a move analogous to that move of extrema in the first half of the movement
by the pair of Cs at the climax of the movement.
44 Hasty, in "Context," reads the end of the introduction in a contrasting
manner. Noting that Fennelly (as does Bailey, both op. cit.), interprets the
[0,1,6] trichords of m. 5 as cadential moves, Hasty (288) suggests that they
may also be heard as initiating moves to the following section, effecting an
elision through note repetition, the same repetitions I am interpreting as an
echo. This is an attractive alternative reading of the passage, one that suggests
still another layer of interpretive ambiguity, and one that might be worked
in effectively to the interpretation of the initiation of the coda that I develop
can at least temporarily be understood as a collapsing of that
instrument's registral extrema. The fact that it does not fit the
inversional symmetry of the preceding five measures provides
just a bit of pleasurable discomfort to pull us through the
slowed measure into an understanding of it as actually the
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initiation of a new section. The saxophone's next dyad at the
a tempo, a descending minor third, continues the ambiguity
of the passage as it is a strong echo of the opening gesture
of the movement. 45 By taking the repeat, we are given a
chance to hear m. 6 more readily as an initiation, both be-
cause of our previous reinterpretation, and because it works
a little less well as the close of the first main section: there
is more registral shifting of pitch classes. Certainly a con-
nection may be made, not only between the events of the
piano in mm. 15 and 6, but also between the saxophone dyad
in m. 6 and the high-register CO and E, but the effect seems
more of continuity rather than closure.
The initiation of the middle section, which is also marked
by a ritard, has quite the opposite effect. This passage is
illustrated in Example 9b. Although the passage is marked
by a change of instrumentation, the ritard, reinforced by the
dynamics and the repetition of the piano's pitches, makes m.
16 seem very much like the close of the preceding music, and
causes the clarinet's F# at the beginning of m. 17 to seem like
the beginning of something new. Even the change of instru-
mentation can be accounted for, as the violin and clarinet
have been alternating with the piano all through the pre-
below. Nevertheless, I still find the gestural nature of the ritard in m. 6 a
compelling reason to hear m. 6 as an extension of m. 5 containing an anomaly,
the saxophone dyad.
45 Hearing the descending dyad F, D of the saxophone at this point as an
initiation is reinforced in the body of the movement in a striking way. Doing
so allows us to group it with the instrument's initial dyad D h , B h and so
recognize the resulting ordered tetrachord's inversion in the registral high
points of the first portion of the movement and the middle sectionCO , E,
A, Cthe last note occurring at the movement's climax!
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 195

Example 9. Op. 22, ritards

violin puts
on mute
b.

vn

pno
k pity)

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1131

b
tb^
_ _-
^
- -
vn
b^--__

a. ^ ^
I/ :
)

cl
^ ^ ^ 7 ^^ ^ 7 . ^ ^^ ' q# ^

p fp
5 cl f
a tempo ^ r pp g
,^`
_e_ -10- 4 ^' -- ^,
^ ^ , ^ ,O. J
^n i..usw.ir =w^a^^o^^r^^
' `

(sax) sax (sax) ^ 7 n(pno) \- - ---- - ^cli

pno

c.

N.B.

pno
sax ;,s^^r^__ cl 36b a tempo
Registral extrema in sax, mm. 1 -5 ^
14 ^
#,
pn o .n""
pp cl etc.

7 b
7 pno sax

pno

ceding music. Furthermore, the violin's assumption of the
mute occurs after its first trichord of the section, creating a
timbral partition of the music that coincides with the rein-
terpretation of sectional boundaries.
Here too, however, the repeat allows us a second inter-
pretation of m. 16. Because in the reprise the violin and
clarinet have shifted their roles, their behavior at the repeat
seems less a continuation of the preceding music than it did
the first time through. The fact that the rhythm of the passage
echoes the rhythm of the very opening of the movement can
also help to counteract our initial hearing, and so lead us to
construe the passage as an opening rather than as a close.
An elegant parallelism with the repetition of the first half
emerges when we recall the fact that the hexachordal col-
lection projected in the highest register of the reprise is the
same as one found in the array in rows from the first two row
196 Music Theory Spectrum
pairs of the second half. As mentioned above, the high reg-
ister of the first half yielded the initial pitch-class dyad of the
saxophone's melody; the reprise forms an analogous con-
nection to the opening of its half. This is a vivid connection
with the middle section as a whole: the only segmental
hexachord played by a single instrument in the entire middle
section (clarinet, mm. 20-21) yields this particular collection.
There is another far more critical effect of the use of a
ritard in the second half that engages the issues surrounding
the initiation of the reprise that we have previously discussed,
and that was illustrated in Example 7. With the exception of
the very end of the coda, the reprise is the only occurrence
of a ritard not associated with a repeat, and it is furthermore
marked by a short pause. Here, the pause articulates the
beginning of the reprise from the end of the middle section,
while the ritard, in combination with those issues we have
previously discussed, helps to bridge the articulation, and
effect the connection between mm. 26-27 and 28. 46 This is
one more instance of the remarkable richness of this passage,
uniting several different strands of the work. The important
connection between this passage and the earlier passage in
mm. 19-20 is reinforced and revitalized by hearing the second
half repeated.
The possibility of hearing the initiation of sections as the
close of preceding sections is confirmed with the coda. Here,
the recomposition of the end of the reprise may be heard as
extended by the beginning of the final row pair, and what
might seem to be the initiation of the coda is articulated by
another pause. This allows the passage to echo both our first
hearing of the initiation of the middle section with F# in m.
46
Smith, in "Composition and Precomposition," considers the presenta-
tion of the retrograde of the row pair from the opening (mm. 24 through 27)
as initiating a reprise; such an interpretation is suggestive, if only once again
to underline the ambiguity of sectional beginnings and ends; the removal of
the violin's mute, interestingly, coincides with this passage.
17 as well as the close of the middle section, whose row pair
it employs. But our preceding experience with the ways of
this movement trains us also to leap such gaps, and to absorb
the very end of the second section into our sense of the coda.
Our recognition of changes in the second ending already
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alerts us to a different continuation, and so allows us to con-
strue the coda as beginning before the initiation of its row
pair; in this case, we may make the ambiguity of sectional
ends work in the other direction (see Ex. 9c).
The ultimate effect of the movement depends on the in-
teraction of all the various factors we have discussed. The
overarching behavioral description involving the changing
provenance of events applies both to local and long-range
pitch structures, and as well to how we parse the sections of
the movement as a whole. This latter depends not only on
the moment-to-moment behavior of the music, but also on
the ways the repetitions of sections force us to reinterpret
events. Without the introduction or the repetitions, we would
neither have the opportunity to reinterpret the opening bar
of the main body of the movement as an opening rather than
as a close, nor would we have had as rich an opportunity for
synthesis at the reprise. Without the coda, we would have lost
the ultimate confirmation of the dual interpretation of be-
ginnings and endings, as well as the large-scale instance of the
between/within exchange afforded by the hexachord derived
from our first property. While the outer appearance of the
form of the movement is reminiscent of tonal forms, its an-
imation clearly stems from Webern's crafty handling of pos-
sibilities inherent in the twelve-tone system.
STRING TRIO, OP. 20, SECOND MOVEMENT
For the final example, we turn to another instrumental
movement that seems even more dominated by features of
large-scale tonal form, the finale of the String Trio, Op. 20.
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 197

Webern's first attempt to write an extended twelve-tone Example 10. String Trio, Op. 20, properties of the row class
movement has received short shrift from some previous an-
alysts, who seem to feel that its large-scale form leans too Ab G D C # F# F A Bb Eb E C B
heavily upon imitations of tonal practice. According to Dyads
I Tetrachords
George Perle,

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I I I Hexachords
the superficiality of the composer's dependence on purely external
features of the classical design is demonstrated in the recapitulation
(measures 136-155) of the "subordinate theme" of the second move-
ment: the succession of row forms on which the expository statement Dyad families:
(measures 32-51) is based is simply transposed to the perfect fourth To Q: Ab G D C O Flt F ABb Eb E CB I
above, by analogy with the classical principle according to which the T1 Q: A G# Eb D G F# Bb B E F Db C II
subordinate theme, originally in the dominant key, is recapitulated
in the tonic. But since the succession of row forms that is employed
for each formal section does nothing, in itself, to characterize that
section in any comparable manner, there is no sense in which one
can attribute different tonal areas to the expository statements of the Tetrachordal families:
principal and subordinate themes and the same tonal areas to either To Q: Ab G D C# F# F A Bb Eb E C B
recapitulatory statements. 47 T6 Q: D CO Ab G C B Eb E A Bb F# F
I 9 Q: CO D G Ab Eb E C B F# F A Bb
The following analysis is an attempt to demonstrate that
I3 Q: G Ab CO D A Bb F# F C B Eb E
Webern's transposition of the second group by T5 arises for
reasons that can be traced to the twelve-tone structure of the
piece, as part of an elaborate compositional design that ex-
ploits the relational possibilities of his row class. Twelve-tone Hexachordal families:
relationships alone provide ample reasons for understanding To Q: A b G D C# F# F A Bb Eli E C B
the relations among sections of the movement, without re- IS Q: A Bb Eb E B C Ab G D C# F Fit
course to superficial analogies with classical tonality.
Various writers have mentioned certain features of the
work's row class that will be repeated and expanded upon Segmental hexachord and tetrachord types employing half steps:
here. 48 As may be seen in Example 10, each member of the Hexachord types: Tetrachord types:
row class contains six discrete half-step dyads, arranged into Ab G D C# F# F : [0,1,2,3,6,7] : 1 Ab G D C# : [0,1,6,7] :@
D CO F# F A Bb: [0,1,4,5,8,9] : 2 F# F A Bb : [0,1,4,5] :0

1
2 1
47 Perle, "Sketches," 10. This view is espoused even more strongly in IAb G D CO F#
I
FI A Bb Eb E C B I
Bailey, Twelve-Note Music, 155-63. ,I II I
48 These points are contained, in part or in whole, in Smalley, "Sketches"; O I 0 II 0 1
Bailey, Twelve-Note Music; and Perle, "Sketches." @ 0
198 Music Theory Spectrum
three inversionally symmetrical tetrachords, and divided into
two inversionally related hexachords. These properties allow
one to divide the row class into different sets of families based
on shared segmental collections. As others have noted, the
row class may be divided into two sets of twenty-four rows
sharing dyads. Any transposition of a member of the row class
by an even number of half steps and any inversion of it by
an odd value will yield another row in the same dyad family.
Similarly, any transposition of a member of the row class by
an odd number of half steps, or inversion by an even value
will create a member of the other family. The tetrachordal
families will contain four pairs of retrograde-related rows,
while the hexachordal families will contain an inversionally
related pair plus their retrogrades. Each of these families will
be contained within one or the other of the dyadic families.
Other associations among rows are afforded by the fact that
each row contains additional segmental instances of the seg-
mental hexachord type, and the two distinct tetrachord types.
One reason for the density of relations based on a small
number of collection types is the limiting factor of the set of
discrete half-step dyads. From such a set one can construct
only three different types of hexachords and three different
types of tetrachords. Of these six collection types, all but two
appear segmentally in the row class, and the remaining two,
the chromatic hexachord and tetrachord types, are repre-
sented frequently at the surface of the music. The small num-
ber of collection types makes it relatively easy to create ref-
erences to particular members or families of the row class
from nonsegmental partitions of other members; it is also
relatively easy in such a context to notice collections of other
types, either arising as row segments splitting up half-step
dyads, or arising nonsegmentally. Webern has created for
himself a row class with very powerful place-finding capa-
bilities, and he uses them with great aplomb.
The following analytical sketch incorporates previous writ-
ers' general descriptions of the movement's sections in terms
of sonata-allegro form, framed by an introduction and coda.
There are sections resembling an exposition (repeated), with
a strong demarcation at the middle that suggests the initiation
of a second group; a development section; and a recapitu-
lation, in which the second group is more immediately related
to that of the exposition in terms of its surface composition.
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The placement of the onset of the recapitulation is made
ambiguous in a couple of ways, about which more will be said
presently. 49
We shall start by asking how we might justify the trans-
position of the second group in the recapitulation by an in-
terval that on the face of it looks simply like the imitation of
a tonal move appropriate in the analogous spot in a tonal
sonata-allegro movement. We begin our quest by invoking an
invariance relationship that links the opening of the move-
ment with the beginning of the coda. 50 This is illustrated in
Example 11. As may be seen, the rows of the two spots are
related by inversion and belong to the same tetrachordal fam-
ily. In both sections, each instrument is associated with a
particular segmental tetrachordal collection. As a result of
the transformation, however, the first violin's part has been
reordered, while those of the other two have been preserved.
Here is the source of our desired interval, which will motivate
the transposition of the second half of the recapitulation: at
the opening of the movement, the first violin's initial pitch
class is Al, (GO); at the analogous spot in the coda, it is C# .
The clear sense of return to the opening of movement at the
coda is reinforced by the composition of the musical surface,
which readily permits us to hear the shift of the first violin's
initial note with regard to the notes in the other instruments.
Our first challenge is to associate this interval with the two
transpositionally related messages the second group of the
49 This description takes up points from Smalley, Bailey, and Perle (see
footnote 48) .
50hese two passages are discussed in terms of their invariance relations
in Bailey, Twelve-Note Music, 42.
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 199

Example 11. The Source of
0 Intro. Coda I180I
Violin G D C# ^ D G GP
T5 in Op. 20, second movement the movement, we will be able to make the association be-
tween our source intervalGO , CO and the transposition of
the second group of the recapitulation. 51
The exposition opens with the same row that opens the
movement. Although the details of its articulation are dif-

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Viola GI' F A Bb Gb F A B 6
Cello E6 E C B E C B
Ab G D CO Gb F A Bb EL' E C B II CO D G G# Eb E C B G6 F A Bb
Intro. Coda
0 b
vn^
ferent in the two passages, both open with GO (A b ), and it
is not hard to hear the opening of the exposition itself as
equivalent to the opening of the movement. By repeating the
exposition, we achieve our goal of associating the end of the
exposition with the opening of the movement, and thus can
11801 hear the transpositional relationship between the two second
etr_ groups in terms of an aspect of the row structure. This read-

1
.75 etc.
m7 ing, diagrammed in Example 11, makes the repetition of the
exposition essential to our understanding of the movement. 52
vn ^ 3-1
AIL 411. At
etc. This will need some support, as the second group is both
recomposed in its details and extended by some additional
rows at its return in the recapitulation. Although the sheer
8 weight of the amount of transpositionally related material is
vc in itself strong enough to allow us to hear the similarity of

)
7. 6
^
1& 4 ^ etc. 9. y 7 t
ee connection between the end of the exposition and its repeat
and the end of the recapitulation and the coda, the surface
details have been composed to reinforce this hearing in part
^ 10 1 40 m 10 T5
I73b1 11441 11801
by preparing the respective pitch classes, GO and CO , in the
To
appropriate registers at the ends of the two second groups

G# G# rG# ^C#
Intro Expo. Second Group I Expo. Second Group (Dev., Recap.) Second Group I Coda

51 This approach, which draws on the parallelism between transformational

first\ second )
structures relating pitch classes and those relating larger musical chunks, is
akin to the approach taken in Lewin, Generalized Music Intervals to a wide
range of musical dimensions.
52 This seems to me to be one more bit of evidence suggesting Webern's

close understanding of his tonal predecessors' practice, rather than a simple

knee-jerk imitation of tonal form. An examination of the ways that Mozart,
Beethoven, and Brahms treated exposition repeats strongly suggests that an
exposition and that of the recapitulation. We can do this as
important way of hearing their music included hearing the juncture of the end
follows. The end of the recapitulation leads directly to the of the exposition and the development as a replacement for the juncture of
beginning of the coda. Therefore, if we can somehow connect the end of the exposition and its beginning, the connection between the end
the end of the exposition to the equivalent of the opening of of the exposition and its beginning thus becoming a significant musical event.
 200 Music Theory Spectrum

(see Ex. 12). Still, it will be worth pursuing additional connec- Example 12. Op. 20, second movement, end of exposition, sur-
tions between these passages and the outset of the movement. face connections
Another aspect of the work that will strengthen our hear-
ing of the relationship between the end of the recapitulation Exposition (first time)-i Exposition (second time)
and the coda, as well as between the opening of the move- arco arc o

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172 vn ^1 . pizz 173at
ment and the coda, involves the beginning of the second 10 1 ` ff u n^^.^ ^
1101'
^
group in the recapitulation. The connection of this second .j Ls. . ^ arrct ^^
i)
passage with the opening is revealed in a couple of steps. iff-r^ ^
va p .. ^ ^^ ^ ^

First, we must look more closely at the composition of the (arco) _ _

. i arco ^ ^
opening bars of the movement. As may be seen in Example
13a, each instrument contains an eight-note statement, all
. / .

vc
6 -r_^- . '
3
-

dyads drawn from a single dyad family. Interesting things p -

pizz
emerge when we look at the instruments' overlapping
hexachords. The violin is the only one of the three to possess
(Recap.) - I ,f- -Coda
two hexachords of the type found segmentally; they represent affp
J =^ sf.fp
O O
the hexachordal families of the row found at the opening and
the row found in the melody at the beginning of the second ------- -) tar vn
11781
group in the recapitulation. The other two instruments yield b1 - va ^
bi -
r ^

chromatic hexachords and the complements of the violin's ^..

two hexachords.
We can also observe that the row paired with the melody
at the beginning of the second group in the recapitulation
belongs to the same hexachordal family as the row found at
(if)
the opening and at the beginning of the exposition, and is thus
invoked by the presence of the hexachordal collections in the
details of the opening bars. The row accompanying the mel-
ody in the recapitulation is itself a member of the tetrachordal
family of the row of the melody it accompanies. Thus we can
see a web of relationships linking material both within and
between the recapitulation's second group and the opening
of the movement.
We may now backtrack to the exposition, and consider the
rows used to initiate its second group. It would be nice to tie
this hexachordal area more tightly to the opening of the work,
rather than having it only retrospectively explained by the
behavior of the recapitulation. This may be accomplished in
v ^^ n:^r^-a
7 va va
3 3^
pizz
7
vc
6J.
^ VC
sff
two ways. First, when we look at the continuation of the
introduction immediately following the passage discussed
above, we find that the third and fourth row presentations
represent the other dyadic family. This is accomplished by
inversion by an even value, and the significance both of the
two sets of dyads and of the operation used to shift between
them is made by the repeated E b in the viola, one of the
two pitch classes that remain constant under the particular
value used.
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 201

Example 13a. Op. 20, projected hexachords and the rows of the The second way the second group of the exposition is
recapitulation, second group prepared at the outset arises from the composition of the first
group of the exposition. As may be seen in Example 14, the
Hexachordal Content References violin's melody in the first group gives us many details that
reinforce our longer-range hearing. First, the initial phrase

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local Recap. second group
Vn AbG D C# F F# B C melody (viola)
runs from G# to C, the same dyad that frames the move-
ment, and that initiated our discussion. The continuation of
recap. second group BbA E GB C
CFF FO CO
I I I l ^ the violin's melody affords a couple of interpretations of its
Va F# F A Bb G Ab E E 1 '
dyads, yielding not only hexachords of families used in the
chromatic '
chromatic F# F CO D G Ab C B E Eb By A passage, but also that hexachordal area found in the melody
Vc Eb E C B Bb A CO D acc. (vn + vc)
at the initiation of the second group. 53
local It is worth carrying the analysis a little further, in order
Mm. 144-52
to encompass at least a portion of the development section,
Mm. 1-5
and to try to suggest why the beginning of the recapitulation
is obscured. When we look at the opening of the development
Example 13b. Op. 20, projected hexachords and the rows in the section, we find that the first rows to be used are members
exposition of the same hexachordal family as that row which opens both
the exposition and the movement itself, as well as serving to
local Expo. second group accompany the melody at the return of the second group.
Vn E F A G # D Eb G # A Thus, the continuation of the movement at the end of the
Expo. second group melody (violin) second statement of the exposition picks up on an aspect of
the opening, but not the initiating G# . Here is another good
Va El' D Bb B E F (C# C) F E B B b El' D F # G C C# A G#
reason to repeat the exposition. Furthermore, the beginning
of the development is composed to make a strong gestural
Vc F# G C C# G F# Bb B Mm. 42-48 association with the very opening of the work, which helps
local us to take seriously the various connections between ends and
Mm. 6-8
openings that have motivated our analysis from the start.
A second aspect of the development section is worth look-
ing at as well. As other analysts have noted, the return of the
When we look at the resulting hexachords in the instru- sequence of rows found in the exposition does not coincide
mental parts, we can see that the collection found in the viola,
the leading instrument in this passage, represents the
hexachordal family found in the row of the melody at the
outset of the exposition's second group. The other collections
531 have had to limit myself to the broader outlines of the movement, but
in the passage represent the hexachordal family of one of the the interested reader may pursue the ways surface details throughout reinforce
local rows. This is illustrated in Example 13b. the larger moves I am pursuing.
202 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 14. Op. 20, exposition, composition of details

segmental hexachord content formed by nonadjacent row elements

Exposition second group G Ftt CO C A GO (compare with Example 13b)

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local
melody in violin
pizz ar n r 3 ^
10 c arco ^
3 , 3 pizz pizz
vn r ^
7 'l 7
^ r
etc.

r-- 3 ---1 r-- 3 3

r--- 3 ---- 1 etc.
va
-t %.^^ =^^^^^^^
vc ' d
a 4-

accompaniment played by
viola and cello

Notes played by violin

AbG D C O F A BbEbE C B C O C G FOB BbD EbAbA F E G Flt D Eb Al? A C O CFEB 13 6 A G il Eb D G F it Bb B E F(C# C)

P TS P * RI6 P Ti P

echoed in collections held invariant

single line array underlying passage violin melody in accompaniment

with a strong surface demarcation at the recapitulation. 54 The
gestural surface blends most of the first row with the close
of the development, and the following surface articulation
seems to jump into the midst of a varied reprise of the ex-
position's opening material. An explanation for these events
may be found earlier in the development.
At m. 95 there occurs a dramatic varied return of the
opening phrase of the exposition, sounding a major seventh
above its original position. This is illustrated in Example 15.
54 This is noted both in Smalley, "Sketches," and Bailey, Twelve-Note
Music.
This passage, in effect a false recapitulation, performs several
functions. The melody itself, elaborated with additional
notes, is related to the initial statement by a half step, and
its first pitch class is G. Thus the first statement and the false
recapitulation embody the initial dyad of the work, A , G.
The presence of this phrase in the development and at the
wrong level explains its absence at the onset of the actual
recapitulation, and helps motivate the recomposition of the
material at that spot. The extensive recomposition of the first
part of the recapitulation eliminates the preparation of the
hexachordal family of the second group that was a significant
aspect of the equivalent passage in the exposition. It also
 Webern, Tradition, and "Composing with Twelve Tones ..." 203

thrusts a greater recapitulatory role on the initiation of the Example 15. Op. 20, false recapitulation and final bars
second group, which returns to the hexachordal area of the
vn
opening of the exposition and the opening of the movement. 3
vn
But what is perhaps the subtlest aspect of the false reca- 95 3
vn
pitulation is the underlying row structure of its opening.

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^ - n
^.. ,^ b
^

_ .

.

Rather than articulating the beginning of a row, the passage ^. ^^ :^,

^. ^^^

va 0 ^ arco ^ 7- _
^

arises from the middle of a row statement, coinciding with ^ 7' '

,ff va
^ va
_
an embedded hexachord of the same type as that found seg- pizz 7.
mentally. The hexachordal row family thus invoked at the {
,E ^^ 1 br
"L
^'

passage is the same as that which opens the coda, and the vC b^
.
> vc i

coda reflects the relationship both by reproducing the row in

False Recapitulation
which the hexachord is embedded, and by extracting that
row's tetrachords from nonsegmental positions in the final
(F#F C B ) ( E ) Eb G Ab C# D Bb A E ... Local Array Source ( 95 , etc.)
row statement, a retrograde of the initial row of the move-
l oca l
ment. This is illustrated in Example 15. A closer look at the
details shows the way their composition reinforces the as-
sociations. The low El, in the cello is heard at the opening Coda: CO D G Ab Eb E C B F# F A Bb (see Example 10)
of the movement, at the false recapitulation, and at the open-
ing of the coda. This pitch class was that one found in the
viola in the introduction linking the first two sections, and is
held through the three row statements as a harmonic in the
violin at the close of the development . 55 vn
This analytical sketch leaves much unexplained. There -e- -^,3
^ arco
are additional interesting details to be explored involving the 191 = vn ^ a^
pizz arco
7# -
relationships between the transitional passages in the expo- ^ \^` ^
sition and recapitulation, as well as between those passages ^
J_ vra r
I
b
rP izzi
I
b I^. va^
^ 1'
and the beginning of the second group of the exposition. ' 3 ' I 3 i

The composition of details throughout the movement entails pizz

.
a variety of collections that take on issues other than those ^' 7 (b .)
. 7 ^ b.

q 13 i .7
depending on discrete half steps of a single family. 56 vc V

Coda (end)
55 Bailey, in Twelve-Note Music, notes the presentation of this pitch class
vn B C F F#
at the end of the development.
56 For example, the type of collection found in the viola and cello at the
local va E Eb G G#

outset of the exposition pairs half steps from the two families; a second vc Bb A COD
collection of this type is found at the climax of the violin melody in the
passage, and is reproduced in the viola and cello at the end of the passage. False Recap.: F# F C B E Eb G G# CO D B b A
204 Music Theory Spectrum
Nevertheless, our analysis begins to suggest a way that the
putatively tonal move of the recapitulation can be heard as
arising from underlying twelve-tone considerations, rather
than as an externally applied framework that cannot be
heard, derived from a practice associated with a musical
grammar that does not obtain in the piece. Like the same
move in the first movement of Schoenberg's Wind Quintet,
Op. 26, the transposition of the Trio's second group by an
interval usually encountered at the analogous moment in a
tonal sonata-allegro may be understood as a musical pun. 57
The preceding analytical sketch suggests that the finale of
Op. 20 was an extraordinarily sophisticated response on We-
bern's part to the challenge of writing a movement that be-
haves in a way that is somehow analogous to sonata-allegro
form, using the opportunities afforded by the twelve-tone
system. Rather than considering the work to be a safe, ten-
tative first step into the possibilities of the twelve-tone system,
held in check by the superficial use of an incommensurate
model, we should recognize it as a remarkable achievement,
one which seized upon the possibilities of twelve-tone com-
position with a surety and insight that is gratifying to en-
counter. That this was Webern's first essay in extended in-
strumental composition using the twelve-tone system makes
his achievement all the more remarkable.
CONCLUSION
Milton Babbitt has often said that he wished to make his
music as much as it can be, rather than as little as he could
get away with . 58 This seems to be an accurate characterization
57 For an account of the structure underlying Schoenberg's movement, see
Mead, " `Tonal' Forms."
58This is one of Babbitt's frequently made remarks, and can be found in
various forms. See, for example, Babbitt, Words about Music, ed. Stephen
Dembski and Joseph N. Straus (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
1987) , 183.
of Anton Webern's approach to composition as well, and may
be taken as good advice to those who would analyze his work.
To ignore Webern's obvious debt to compositional tradition
in order to emphasize the radical nature of his twelve-tone
language diminishes our appreciation of his treatment of
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work, as much as do analyses that can only hear his use of
traditional forms in terms of their surface gestures, and are
deaf to the ways those forms emerge from his treatment of
pitch structure. As the preceding analyses have attempted to
suggest, Webern's twelve-tone compositions show a rich in-
tegration of details into their large-scale forms, employing
relationships drawn from throughout the twelve-tone system.
The similarities in his music to tonal forms are not simply the
result of superficial modeling, but spring from a deeper level,
one at which the relational properties of the two grammars
allow similar narrative patterns to grow. In ways that should
continue to engage and delight us, Webern from the very start
has shown a deep understanding of Schoenberg's "new pro-
cedure in musical construction which seemed fitted to replace
those structural differentiations provided formerly by tonal
harmonies. "59
ABSTRACT
Anton Webern's twelve-tone music displays many surface features
in common with those of tonal forms, yet his works are based on
a fundamentally different musical grammar. This has led certain
analysts to conclude that there is a hiatus between his music's lan-
guage and its large-scale structure. A closer reading suggests, how-
ever, that Webern's forms derive in sensible ways from his under-
lying pitch language, and that their similarities to tonal forms arise
from the fact that both tonal and twelve-tone grammars permit sim-
ilar narrative strategies. This point is explored in analyses of three
movements that display similarities to tonal binary and sonata-
allegro formsthe second movement of Op. 27, the first movement
of Op. 22, and the finale of Op. 20.
59 Schoenberg, "Composition with Twelve Tones," 217-18.