20th Century Classics

Performance Notes

Piano Piece #1

OVERALL FORM: Sonata(?) / "Sonata-like"(?)
EXPOSITION: mm. 1-33 [FIRST THEME GROUP: mm. 1-11; SECOND THEME GROUP: mm. 12-18]
CLOSING MATERIAL (developmental): mm. 25-33
DEVELOPMENT: mm. 34-52
RECAPITULATION: mm. 53 (truncated)

The first maxim for the performance of Schoenberg's piano music is to follow explicitly every performance direction he provides. You will experience the emotional and aesthetic rewards of early twentieth century Expressionism if you but trust Schoenberg's guidance and make it your first responsibility to follow his instructions.

Click score to hear example.

mm.1-3 (a): The opening melody (a) of Op. 11 #1 descends sinuously in a Wagner-inspired chromatic line that begins p and includes a decrescendo down to its final resting note. The natural musical impulse might be to phrase it romantically, i.e., to shape the phrase with a 'high point' in the middle. But here we must resist the temptation. Schoenberg, like all great composers, knew precisely the effect he wanted to achieve. Shape this opening phrase in the most sensitive and tender way possible, taking extreme care to diminuendo from piano to near-inaudibility. In order to do this, one must sometimes (depending on the hall and the instrument) begin at a dynamic just above piano, in order to have enough sound remaining for the diminuendo.

NOTE: As you begin to learn this piece in the way you may have approached countless other pieces in the standard repertoire, consider going deeper into it by reading articles (see Form under "Bibliography and further reading") that have attempted to explain Schoenberg's pitch choices throughout through the use of "pitch class set theory" (developed and refined largely by Allen Forte). (See All About Set Theory.) It may be significant to your interpretation to know that this piece is highly unified (in the Beethovenian sense) and limits itself to a restricted harmonic vocabulary, despite its apparently free treatment of atonality. The opening phrase contains within it the basic pitch material for the entire piece, as you can hear and see readily if you look for cells of trichords (three pitches) such as the B-G#-G and A-F-E trichords contained within it. An awareness of this might influence your interpretation to bring out certain thematic connections throughout this "movement" (for the Op. 11 set should be heard as one three-movement work) and even the entire work. (There is a clear thematic reference to this movement in #3 at measures 24-26. Click score below to hear example.)

CRUCIAL to an understanding of the opening eighteen measures of #1 is the fact that each 'section' (as divided up here: mm. 1-3; 4-8; 9-11; 12-18) consists of relationships between hexachords that are significant. For example, the most important of the (only) six hexachords used in the movement is the one Forte calls 6-Z10. These are the pitch classes of the opening notes of the 'theme': B-G#-G-A-F-E, or in "prime" form, (0,1,2,3,5,7). It is not by chance that the l.h. in mm. 4-5, the "answer" (below) consists of the complement of this set, set 6-Z39. Measure 7, the phrase which finally completes the final version of the "answer" to the opening, consists of set 6-Z42, and its "complement" is (remarkably) set 6-Z13, the set found at the outset of m. 12 (discussed below). So while this may seem to be esoteric or arcane information only interesting to the theorist, it is hoped that the pianist will see that beneath the surface of this music lies harmonic material connected in an almost thematic way. Awareness of these connections will only enrich your experience during the performance.

mm.4-8 (b): The second phrase answers the first three times, each repetition more insistent than the previous one. Notice the "hairpins" and crescendos within each phrase and subphrase which give each of the phrases a shape. Take care to observe Schoenberg's rests in the treble clef, which may require you to assist the ascending line with the r.h. in order to retain the low G# for its full duration each time. (The r.h. silence appears each time over a different note in the l.h., namely A# (m. 5), A (m. 6), F# (m. 8). The alternate decision would be to pedal over the stretch, but (again, depending on the acoustics of the hall) this may be less effective. While this may seem like over-attention to detail, it is my belief that Schoenberg would not have gone to the trouble to notate the timing of the rests so carefully had he not intended them to be heard.

mm. 9-11: When the opening thematic material enters again here, observe the langsamer, bringing the tempo down just a notch. In eight short measures, the theme already seems transformed. The expressive hairpin swells in mm. 10 and 11 are easy to follow to the letter by merely taking both hands into account. But is is important here to find the spirit, too, for another way looking at this phrase is to see Schoenberg's fantasy of a l.h. chord being able to accomplish a crescendo, as if played strings or other sustaining instruments. The important thing is the musical gesture itself, a foreshadowing of mm. 11 and 12 in Op. 11, #2 where he does literally ask for that effect.

mm. 12-18: Despite the indication vier schneller, overcome the temptation to let this passage run away from you in an incoherent outburst of notes. Each note has been carefully chosen by Schoenberg, as documented by Allen Forte in his article, Magical Kaleidoscope. (Pointing out just one example, the hexachord--unordered set of pitch classes--heard first in m. 12 happens to be the complementary set of the above-mentioned "answer" in m. 7 to the opening theme.) The rapidly descending flurry of thirty-second notes in m. 12 that bring the arpeggiated figure from the high C# to the F# four octaves below, is simply a chromatic line, displaced! The point here is that pitch is as important as effect, and crucial to the musical syntax. Schoenberg clearly wants every note to be heard, yet the effect comes from an instinct for drama. Here, as elsewhere, Schoenberg shows his genius for innovative pianistic effects.

In m. 13, practice each hand separately at first (the l.h. is not difficult, but the r.h. skips are not at first easily memorized), then put the hands together in segmented divisions. For example, correlate each l.h. rhythmic grouping with its r.h. skip. Practice in such a way that you conceptualize groups. This strangely syncopated passage loses its fearsomeness if you think of it as little more than a series of hand placements (in syncopated time!). It is important that you do this in concert tempo, but work only in fragments that are short enough to do easily up to speed. Then "cement" them together, so to speak, by adding one at a time until the groups are all linked. Return to slow practice to reinforce, gradually increasing tempo until you are back to performance tempo.

m. 14: The diamond-shaped notes direct you (Die Tasten tonlos niederdrücken!) to depress the keys silently before allowing the fierce sf chords in the l.h. to activate the overtones in the strings with raised dampers. Here is the paradox of Schoenberg experimenting in an atonal context with the sonic possibilities of the overtone series, which some (Hindemith, Bernstein) have seen as "proof" of the inherent "naturalness" of tonality itself (which by implication sees atonality as "unnatural.")

mm. 14-18: are transitional measures to the reappearance of (b) at m. 19. The tempo sehr langsam is arrived at through the transitional tempo langsamer (from "slower" to "very slow"). As in the analogous measures 5-8, the rests (this time in the l.h.) in measures 19-23 should be explicitly observed. If there is any question about how strictly they should be observed in mm. 5-8, these measures should put the issue to rest. Releases are as important as attacks. Do not forget that this is Modernism, although its expressive roots are admittedly in (late) Romanticism.

mm. 25-33: Make sure each appearance of (a) is heard as such (brought out) in the brief canonic measures 25-27. In m. 29, it is easy to neglect the l.h. B when the "answer" to the r.h. appears. Land on the B with the thumb (from the previous arpeggiated figure), but quickly change it to the fifth finger in order to hold it for its full value, a dotted half note. Be aware that in m. 31 you are arriving at the final statement of (a) in what, it is now apparent, is the EXPOSITION of a sonata-like movement. The DEVELOPMENT begins in m. 34. Measures 31-33 should be played as an ending (as if you are ending the piece, but in tempo).

mm. 34-38: Here begins developmental material on (a) (see Schoenberg's discussion of "developing variation" in Style and Idea). Another typically Schoenbergian detail crops up in m. 34: he clearly intends a distinction between the first 'pickup' grace note E, which is a sixteenth note, and the ensuing grace notes (for that is the spirit in which they should be played), which are thirty-second notes. This detail is often overlooked in performances. Find the beautiful melodic line in the r.h. thirds and phrase it as naturally as you would a Chopin melody, taking care to follow the detailed dynamic directions (once again).

mm. 39-40: Measure 39 is tricky to execute. Practice by studying where the thumb falls in each hand. Then look at the passage as a collection of minor and major ninths(!). Also, practice various ways of "blocking" these ninths until you have memorized the measure.

NOTE: These two strange and wonderful outbursts (analagous to m. 12) are placed at exactly the Golden Mean of this movement's duration (as calculated by multiplying the number of measures times 0.61803). Surely this has some significance as to Schoenberg's control of form in terms of duration and proportion, and it should be experienced as part of the overall awareness of a performance.

mm. 42-43: The counting is tricky in these two measures because of the placement of the rhythmic stresses. Be sure to hold the forte first quarter note durations for their value each time (a "one-ee -and-duh, two-ee-and-duh" vocalization will do the trick: no device is too elementary to be passed up here). The key to mm. 41 through 44 is dynamic contrast! Reach a real pianissimo each time it is asked for. Decide whether you think the sforzandos in m. 41 are within the pianissimo context surrounding them, or are explosive outbursts which set up m. 44. Either case could be made.

mm. 50-52: The emotional climax of the piece. Note the direction NOT to use the pedal in the l.h. arpeggiated figure (martellato, or "hammered"), followed by two SLURRED arpeggiated figures (clearly with pedal, but avoid lack of clarity).

m. 53: The quarter note rest can be elongated, for effect. (Silence frames the "Development" on both ends.)

mm. 59-64: Count!

m. 64: Note the slight accent over the final chord, and its disappearance before the l.h. Eb has died away. Do not hold the final Eb octave past the rest on the third beat, which should be 'played' as part of the music.

Click score to hear example.