Ricercar a 6 (Bach / Webern)

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Anton Webern orchestrated in 1935, the Ricercar a 6 from the Musical Offering of Johann Sebastian Bach . Webern referred to his transcription as Johann Sebastian Bach: Fuga (2nd Ricercata) a sei voci from "The musical sacrifice". Set for orchestra by Anton Webern. His orchestral version does not have an opus number .

Machining method

Although the six-part Ricercar can be played strictly with two hands on a keyboard, the prevailing idea at the beginning of the 20th century was that Bach's late work was not written for a specific instrument. This is why many orchestrations arose, especially the art of the fugue , but also of the musical sacrifice.

Webern's method of instrumentation deviates significantly from these attempts in that he transferred his own compositional technique to the work of Bach. Similar to his methods of dealing with twelve-tone rows , he divides the thematic passages of the movement into various successive motifs, which he then distributes to a group of three solo instruments. The process is clearly related to the timbre melody introduced by Arnold Schönberg in 1911 in his theory of harmony . For example, the first time the theme is played, the three brass players with mutes, who take turns after a few notes. On the second use, Webern uses the high woodwinds, then the bass clarinet, trombone and bassoon, and so on. Only the very last use does without motivic fragmentation in favor of a tutti final effect. The non-thematic material in the interludes, however, is mostly assigned to the strings.

The orchestral setting has a very colorful effect through the use of mutes, pizzicato, string solos, etc., and through motif-based doubling with other instruments - an accent in the theme is always emphasized by a harp flageolet. Differentiated dynamic and tempo instructions throughout the course show Webern's very personal creative will.

In a letter to Hermann Scherchen , Webern called the fugue (Ricercata) “my Bach fugue”. Here is his reason for the instrumentation:

“I perceive this part of the theme, this chromatic course from g to b, to be essentially different in character from the first five notes. [...] My instrumentation tries to expose the motivic context. Everything is the main thing in this work - and in this instrumentation. "

- Anton Webern

Numerous treatises deal with the splitting of the fugue theme in Webern's instrumentation.

Theodor W. Adorno attests to Webern that with the instrumentation of the ricercar from Bach's Musical Offering, he translated every feature of the composition into a color correlate, resolved the surface line into the smallest motif relationships and then reunited them through the overall constructive disposition of the orchestra.

György Ligeti writes on the splitting of the fugue topic:

“Sometimes only three or two tones are played within such a shape, and even only one single tone is played by the same instrument within such a shape. This emphasizes the series of timbre distribution even more, but without [...] correct timbre series serving as the constructive basis of the composition. The arrangement of the timbres is rather related to the pitch row. "

- György Ligeti

Instrumentation

The orchestral version of Webern contains the following instruments:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Natasa Nesic: The break in Anton Webern's music
  2. ↑ SWR2: Music lesson with Stephan Hoffmann "To doubt God - believe in Bach". The Bach reception since 1850. Editor: Bettina Winkler.
  3. ↑ The composition with rows and their consistency in Anton Webern. S. 301. From: Regina Bauer: Anton Webern and Johann Sebastian Bach: On the adaptation of the Ricercar from the 'Musical Offering'. In: Marcel Dobbertstein (ed.): Artes liberales: Karlheinz Schlager for his 60th birthday . Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1998, pp. 359-378
  4. ↑ see score

Web links

Recordings (selection)