What an amazing piece! I've known most of Webern's published work since college, but never heard this quartet before. It has a lot of the charm of Verklärte Nacht, and the Berg Op.1.
There are some picky listeners commenting below, particularly Verschlungen. Once the piece started I had to listen to the end. Webern's genius is in keeping the listener interested with a new thought or idea without boring them with a lengthy and unnecessary musical conversation.
Anton Webern:Vonósnégyes 1. Scuro e pesante - Con grande slancio 00:03 2. Adagio - Molto adagio 04:53 3. Molto ampio e lento con grande passione 09:02 4. Allegro commosso 12:02 Emerson Vonósnégyes
I intend no backhanded compliment when I observe that Webern is the only composer that I know of who had composed his greatest music by the time he reached his Opus 1.
@@dordiwesterlund2528 Set theory. Pitch-class sets. You can read John Rahn's "Basic Atonal Theory" or Allen Forte's "The Structure of Atonal Music" for more details or check this out for a quick overview: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_theory_(music)#:~:text=The%20fundamental%20concept%20of%20musical,(i.e.%2C%20without%20duplicates).
@@dordiwesterlund2528 The (014) set class consists of a beginning note, a semi-tone above it, and a major third above the beginning note. For example, G G# B.
This was composed under the supervision of Schoenberg and inspired by a text of the mystic writer Jakob Böhme. The first motif was perhaps inspired by Beethoven's "Muss es sein?" in the string quartet in F major, op. 135. (Source: "Anton Webern und seine Zeit" (2001) by Andreas Krause.)
Interesting. In fact I hear a lot of Verklarte Nacht which Schönberg composed six years earlier. I didn’t think of Muss es sein? The first thing I thought was the opening of the C# minor quartet Op. 131
It seems to me to be catchier music than that of Varese... Strange landscapes, mysterious evocations... fascinating! Suitable as a background for an exhibition of abstract paintings. Although perhaps the one in Varese is more suitable for an exhibition of abstract paintings...❤
shortly after its first occurrence, in 2nd measure of section 2., the sixtheenths motive reminds me of the 2nd theme in Schoenbergs d minor quartet (violin m9). Probably very deliberate.
@@miguelbevilacqua9354 Yeah I just looked it up and noticed that too. But the chronology is a bit too tight. At least I read that Schoenbergs d-minor quartet was completed "in september 1905" and that Webern didn't become a pupil of Schoenberg until 1908. I cannot find a date for the premiere or publication of the d-minor quartet but even if it did happen in 1905, it seems not very likely that the score would be easy to come by. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd be interested to know more about this.
This is not the quartet op. 28, a masterpiece in which the B-A-C-H motto is used as a series generating cell, used sometimes with an impressive rigor, sometimes with great fantasy, using thhe octave jumps the composer was familiar with. This i certainly a work written as an exercice during his studies with Schoenbergas was Berg's op. 1. Berg's score was very dense and expressionist. Here, Webern takes care not to use a too heavy quartet writing. The score gives the feeling both to be quite light and very firmy built. Some features of the sonata form can be found, very freely used. For instance, if we look at other composer's outcomes; Bartok's first quartets were very different.
@@Baghdadbatterymusic It says in the first frame of the video the name of the quartet that performed it, so obviously it wasn't a computer. I was just commenting on the curious errors in performance, such as the first measure of page two in the video, which is performed arco, not pizz. And yes, a score like this could be performed by a computer and sound deceptively human. In case you don't know, algorithmic performance has become quite sophisticated.
Cringe-y. I've enjoyed several other early 'unknown' Webern pieces that Raveliantique posted -- compositions that struck me as beautiful and helpful for gaining new insights into Webern (e.g., Raveliantique's post of 8 Early Songs by Webern, 1901-1908). But when I stumbled on the post of this 1905 String Quartet, I had a different reaction. I thought: "This is why so many authors and composers burn their juvenilia." In particular, the "quintuplet cell" is embarrassing (nor is it saved by miguel bevilacqua's suggestion that it might be a reference to Verklarte Nacht; the latter contains some quintuplets, yes, but they are mixed in skillfully with triplets, sixteenths and plenty of septuplets, too). It seems like a disservice to Webern to post such a hideous piece. In 1905 he would have been 21 or 22 years old, but from the jejune tone of the piece, I suspect that its actual date of composition might be a few years earlier than that, when he was still in his teens.
@@gopalkambo5885 I admit this is subjective, but to me it has a syrup-y adolescent 'love-lorn' quality about it. When Schoenberg uses it, it is mixed in with many related figures so that no such saccharine quality emerges from it.