Expressionism (music)

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The musical Expressionism was built around 1906. In contrast to musical impressionism , which reflects the perception of external phenomena of things expressionist art movements formulate the mental impulses of man.

characterization

Theodor W. Adorno characterizes:

“Overall, the expressionist ideal of expression is one of the immediacy of expression. That means two things. On the one hand, expressionist music seeks to eliminate all conventional elements of convention, everything that is formulaically frozen, indeed all the unique case and its kind of generality of musical language - analogous to the poetic ideal of the 'scream'. On the other hand, the expressionist turn concerns the content of the music. As this, the seeming, undisguised, unexplained truth of the subjective impulse is sought. Expressionist music, according to a happy expression by Alfred Einstein, wants to give psychograms, protocol-like, unstylized records of the soul. In this she shows herself close to psychoanalysis. "

Stylistically, the changed function of the dissonances is particularly noticeable, as they appear on an equal footing with consonances and are no longer resolved - which is why it was also called "emancipation of dissonance". The tonal system was largely dissolved and expanded to atonality . The musical characteristics include: extreme pitches , extreme volume differences ( dynamic opposites), jagged melody lines with wide jumps; Metrically unbound, free rhythm and new instrumentation .

Phases of expressionism

Expressionism is divided into three phases:

phase Chronological order Composers
Preforms / early expressionism Early 20th century Scriabin , Ives , Stravinsky , Hindemith , Prokofjew , Honegger and Bartók
High expressionism 1907 to approx. 1912 ( twelve-tone music ) Schönberg , Webern and Berg ( Vienna School )
Late expressionism From 1914 and leads to microtonal music Busoni and Hába

Like Expressionism as a whole, musical expressionism developed primarily in the German-speaking area. While many composers of early Expressionism later abandoned the Expressionist style , Schönberg and his students remained true to this method of composition. The group around Schönberg is known as the Vienna School : They most radically achieved the emancipation of dissonance , which became the most important means of expression of Expressionism.

reception

There was a gap between the intensive work of the artists and composers among themselves and the perception by the audience, as Rudolf Stephan wrote:

“When the term expressionism appeared (to the discomfort of Schönberg and Ferruccio Busoni ) in music literature (since 1919), it had long since become a widespread, much misused catchphrase that played a certain role in the art struggle that now also affected music. After the end of the war, this filled brochures, music newspapers, especially Melos (edited by Hermann Scherchen ) and the (new, mostly short-lived) art and culture magazines, while in the fields of literature and the visual arts it was already loudly announcing the end of Expressionism has been. The discussion suffered from its delay from the very beginning and above all from the fact that around 1920 there were only a few relevant musical works in print and hardly any appropriate performances took place, so the works were practically unknown. "

Stylistic limitation

The musical style determination has the task of representing the main elements of the expressionist style. The following main moments (style criteria) can be demonstrated:

  • Irritation (excitement):
    Irritation means: the rapid change of melodic directions, the juxtaposition of dissonant harmonies , restlessness of the motifs , alternation of homophony and linear parts ( polyphony ), preference for sharp intervals , large pitch range ( ambitus ), liberation of the rhythm ( polyrhythmics ) and resolution of the meter (music) ( polymetric ).
  • Expression:
    Expression means the fanning out of the pitch space by expanding the chord formation (expansion of the pitch space). Each voice has equal rights, different musical material is developed at the same time and superimposed on one another. Due to the equality of the voices, the overall sound is focused on the linearity.
  • Reduction:
    Reduction means the restriction to the essentials. Every note is important, this creates an effective density in the music. A frequently occurring means of reduction is the compression of the orchestral apparatus . New orchestra colors and instrumentations are sought. When the greatest possible reduction (density) is achieved, the sound is split up, which is expressed through polyrhythms and the distribution of a motif over several alternating instruments.
  • Abstraction :
    The abstraction means a rationalization of the harmonic development, which can be represented as follows:
    1. The music has no relation to the tonic , i.e. H. the piece is no longer subject to any key (impressionism and early expressionism)
    2. The chords have no (easily understandable) function-harmonic relationship
    3. The chord connections are dissolved by alteration ( late romantic : Tristan chord )
    4. The leading tones are no longer dissolved in atonal music , they freeze
    5. With the twelve-tone technique , a new law is created, which becomes the basis of the atonal method of composition

Traditional forms in musical expressionism

Due to the atonality , the harmonic context of the compositions is lost, which is why the expressionist composers try to give their compositions a balance on a formal level. For this reason, the Expressionists use traditional forms such as: canon , invention , fugue , suite , minuet , march , serenade , waltz , classical sonata main clause and especially the basis of the song form. Through the traditional forms they build a bridge between the rational and the emotional .

Anton Webern said in his "Lectures" in 1933 regarding the situation around 1910:

“All works that were created between the disappearance of tonality and the introduction of the new twelve-tone law were short, strikingly short. - What was longer written back then is related to a supporting text [...] - With the abandonment of tonality, the most important means of building up longer pieces was lost. Because tonality was extremely important to bring about formal unity. As if the light had gone out! - so it seemed. "

Major works

In the following chronological listing, it should be noted that many of the works were only performed or printed long after they were composed.

Preforms / early expressionism

Preforms of expressionist music: heavily contrasting works that revel in dissonances

High expressionism

  • Scriabin: Le Poème de l'Extase op.54 for orchestra (1905–1908)
  • Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 5 in F sharp major, op.53 (1907)
  • Schönberg: Second String Quartet, Op. 10 (F sharp minor) with soprano part (1907–1908)
  • Schönberg: The Book of Hanging Gardens op. 15 after Stefan George for voice and piano (1908–1909)
  • Webern: Five Movements for String Quartet op.5 (1909)
  • Webern: Six pieces for large orchestra op.6 (1909)
  • Schönberg: Three Piano Pieces op.11 (1909)
  • Schönberg: Five Orchestral Pieces op.16 (1909, revised 1922)
  • Schönberg: Expectation op.17 , monodrama (1909, only performed in 1924)
  • Webern: Four pieces for violin and piano op.7 (1910)
  • Schönberg: The Happy Hand op. 18 (1910–1913, only performed in 1924)
  • Schönberg: Six Little Piano Pieces op.19 (1911)
  • Schönberg: Herzgewächse op.20 for high soprano, celesta, harmonium and harp (1911, only performed in 1928)
  • Webern: Five pieces for orchestra op.10 (1911)
  • Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire op 21st for a speaking voice and ensemble (1912)
  • Berg: Five orchestral songs based on poems by Peter Altenberg op.4 (1912)
  • Berg: Four pieces for clarinet and piano op.5 (1913)
  • Schönberg: Four songs op. 22 for voice and orchestra (1913–1916, only performed in 1932)
  • Berg: Three Orchestral Pieces op.6 (1914)
  • Schönberg: Jacob's Ladder , oratorio fragment (1917)
  • Webern: songs for voice and ensembles opp. 14-18 (1917-1925)
  • Berg: Wozzeck op. 7 , opera (1917–1922, first performance 1925)

Late expressionism

  • Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 70 (1912–1913)
  • Scriabin: Vers la flamme, poème op.72 for piano (1914)
  • Scriabin: Deux Danses op.73 for piano (1914)
  • Bartók: The Wonderful Mandarin for Orchestra (1918–1923, rev. 1924 and 1926–1931)
  • Schönberg: Five Piano Pieces op. 23 (1920–1923)

literature

chronologically

  • Arnold Schönberg - Wassily Kandinsky, letters, pictures and documents. Edited by J. Hahl-Koch. Salzburg 1980.
  • Heinz Tiessen: The new electricity. IV. Expressionism. In: Melos. 1, 1920, pp. 102-106, after a lecture in Königsberg, August 21, 1918, Goethebund ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  • Arnold Schering: The Expressionist Movement in Music. In: M. Deri, M. Dessoir u. a .: Introduction to contemporary art. Leipzig 1919, 3rd edition 1922, pp. 139–161 (Reprinted in: A. Schering: Vom Wesen der Musik. Selected essays, Stuttgart 1974, pp. 319–345).
  • Arthur Wolfgang Cohn: Review of Schering. In: Journal of Musicology. Volume 2, 1920, pp. 671-676.
  • Anton Webern: The way to new music. two lecture cycles 1932–1933. Edited by Willi Reich. Universal Edition, Vienna 1960.
  • Theodor W. Adorno : Nineteen articles about new music: Musical expressionism. 1942. First printed in: Gesammelte Schriften Volume 18, Frankfurt 1984, pp. 60–62.
  • Theodor W. Adorno: Philosophy of the new music. JCB Mohr, Tuebingen 1949; 2nd Edition. European Publishing House, Frankfurt 1958; 3rd edition 1966, last edition.
  • Karl H. Wörner, Walter Mannzen, Will Hofmann: Expressionism. In: Music in Past and Present , 1st Edition, Volume 3, 1954, Col. 1655–1673.
  • Michael von Troschke: Expressionism , 15th delivery 1987, 16 p. In: Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht , Albrecht Riethmüller (Hrsg.): Concise dictionary of musical terminology. Loose-leaf collection. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1971-2006,
  • Rudolf Stephan : Expressionism. In: Music in the past and present . 2nd edition, Sachteil Volume 3, 1995, Col. 243-251.
  • Peter Williams: Expressionism. In: New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . 2nd edition 2001, Volume 8, pp. 472-477.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor W. Adorno: Musical Expressionism , p. 60.
  2. ^ Rudolf Stephan: Expressionism. In: Music in the past and present . 2, factual part, volume 3, column 244.
  3. ↑ The following paragraphs after: Will Hofmann: Expressionismus. In: Music in the past and present . 1, Vol. 3, Col. 1658-1671.
  4. ^ Anton Webern: The way to new music. Lecture February 16, 1932, p. 57 f.