Sound series music

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Sound series music in a broader sense is an umbrella term for musical works whose composition technique is based on certain twelve-tone principles of Josef Matthias Hauer . In a narrower sense, however, the term primarily refers to works that were composed according to the sound series theory developed by Hauer's student Othmar Steinbauer (1895–1962) .

Josef Matthias Hauer

Resonance technique according to Hauer

Based on the twelve-tone principles he formulated, Hauer developed methods for the formation of consonant harmonies and orderly sound progressions on the basis of twelve-tone rows . These procedures were mostly based on leaving ("reverberation") of previously sounded series notes as harmony tones and on observing voice guides between chord changes. In 1926, Hauer used this to formulate a schematic method of harmonizing twelve-tone rows, which is based on leaving row tones within previously defined voice layers. Here the chromatic pitch space is usually divided into four layers, each with three chromatically adjacent tones (e.g. F sharp-G-G sharp | ABH | C-C sharp-D | D flat-EF). A previously sounded row tone remains as a harmony tone until it can be replaced at a later point by a new row tone from the same vocal layer. From this schematic process, a four-part series of sounds ("harmonic band", "sound band") is created on the basis of the given twelve-tone series, the chords of which are always connected step by step.

Example of a strict series of sounds according to the harmonization scheme [3-3-3-3].

Similar to the figured bass in Baroque music , the series of sounds represents the framework for a composition in terms of harmony and voice guidance, but does not necessarily appear fully in it.

Othmar Steinbauer

Steinbauer took up the process of Hauer's after-sounding technique and systematized it from 1930, but also greatly expanded it. In contrast to Hauer, whose musical development aimed at eliminating the compositional idea in favor of maintaining a construction scheme, Steinbauer strived to expand the musical design possibilities within the harmonic and voice-leading principles of sound series technology. He formulated freedom of harmony treatment and guidelines for the use of notes that are not in the chord, but also developed further harmonization techniques for twelve-tone rows. From the late 1950s, the term “ sound series theory” was introduced for this music theory . Steinbauer's students took up this technique in their works partially or entirely. Above all, Johann Sengstschmid and Helmut Neumann continued the sound series technique after Steinbauer's death, supplemented it and passed it on to their own students. In 2003 a society for sound series music was founded in Vienna , which endeavors to maintain musical and musicological care for sound series music.

Sound series music today

The sound series music leads a niche existence in the field of contemporary music as a twelve-tone sentence theory outside the musical avant-garde. Nevertheless, it is perceived and appreciated as part of Austrian music history. While in Austria it was mainly Hauer , Steinbauer and his students, above all Sengstschmid and Neumann , who worked, in Germany it was primarily Heiss and Simbriger who wrote sound series music (based on Hauer's resonance technique). Outside of the German-speaking area, this type of composition is still practically non-existent.

Composers

References

  1. ↑ after Josef Matthias Hauer: Zwölftontechnik , Vienna 1926, p. 16.
  2. ↑ cf. Josef Matthias Hauer, twelve-tone technology , Vienna 1926
  3. ↑ See: Helmut Neumann (ed.), The Sound Series - Composition Theory According to Othmar Steinbauer , Frankfurt / M. 2001, vol. 1.
  4. ↑ Rudolf Flotzinger and Gernot Gruber (eds.), Musikgeschichte Österreichs Vol. 3, Vienna a. a. 1995, p. 233.

literature

  • Helmut Neumann (ed.), The Sound Series - Composition Theory according to Othmar Steinbauer , Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2001, 2 volumes.
  • Dominik Sedivy: Serial Composition and Tonality. An Introduction to the Music of Hauer and Steinbauer , Edition mono, Vienna 2011.
  • Johann Sengstschmid, Fundamentals of the theory of sound series (typescript), self-published, St. Pölten 1968.
  • Rudolf Flotzinger : Sound series theory. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3044-9 .

See also

Web links