Very enjoyable! Great stuff.

Thank you for honoring Webern this way, with this angle. It may seem obvious to highlight his brevity, but he truly mastered the gem-like potential of what gets characterized as "atonal," or with more structure--serially projected and dodecaphonic composition.

I've never been a huge fan of Webern, but you have helped me appreciate his mastery of the craft.

The hand washing thing is curious, I know there are people who put on a song to their morning routine, maybe Webern just wanted to do the same and write something to listen to while he brushed his teeth?

Glad he's being spoken about, I love his elf kurze stucke collection. Also, Bortkeiwicz is another of my hidden favourites

I hadn’t heard of Webern before now but I feel drawn to his work. I suspect that he found the whole in the fragment. That is genius. Thanks for creating videos on KZfaq, for beginning composers like me who are not in a conservatory, they are incredibly useful.

Webern is one of the few composers who still eludes yet fascinates me. I enjoyed your last video on his work greatly and this is a great followup. Thanks!

This is a brilliant and rare analysis - thank you

Yes, Webern was a genius and his music is amazing. The only problem is that almost no one has ever heard this piece. So he wrote this for himself. Sam does an excellent job of explaining why it is so modern and beautifully crafted, but he did not address why Webern wrote music that, by design, is almost totally ignored by music history.

I’ve played Drei Stucke over thirty years with no less than five pianists. Anton speaks to me because of his brevity surrounded in silence. I call the 2nd Viennese School the three A’s: Arnold, Alban, and Anton. I possess a Schoenberg and Berg autograph, but have yet to acquire a Webern. However, in lieu of that acquisition, I purchased a 1968 copy of Webern’s sketchbook (1926-1945) and it is quite fascinating to dive into! Ervartung, A Survivor From Warsaw and the Lulu suite move me.

Webern's music is so magical, hallucinatory and powerful.

I still remember hearing Webern for the first time over 50 years ago. I turned to my friend and said “I think I’ve just been influenced”.

Webern's Erinnerung Fließend, äußerst zart from 5 pieces for Orchestra Op. 10 is one I recommend often. The cleverness and poetry all in about 30 seconds never ceases to surprise me. When the final note in the violin plays you know it's over, it is complete.

This is an excellent video!! I'm reminded of artists like Anthony Braxton who I think was influenced by Webern and similar composers. I love this music and feature it on my radio show from time to time. 🙂

Love this channel. Samuel's breadth and depth of musical understanding and the holistic philosophy of his thought is truly inspiring. This piece with its long pauses remind me of Cage's Four Walls, a piece that has brought me much calm in times of intense duress

Hermosa música, una de mis predilectas de toda la vida y me acompaña de tanto en vez. La riqueza dentro de un espacio tan reducido es el encanto de estas piezas. Muchas gracias, Samuel, por el aporte y quedo suscrito a tu canal en espera de ver más adelante otras invervenciones con la música de Webern. Saludos.

Many years ago, on a snowy winter night, I was listening to an FM station playing classical music -- this was back when playing classical music on FM radio was much more common than now. At one point they played as something by Webern, who I had never heard. I was amazed, it was one of my most memorable music experiences. It was Webern's Six Bagatelles for string quartet. Another short piece, lasting about 5 minutes. Great music.

Love the way this video is put together. Excellent work!

This was nostalgic, as the op.11 was included in my first 'avant-garde' LP purchase (c.50 years ago), played by Siegfried Palm & Alois Kontarsky (alongside works by Ligeti, Penderecki, Hindemith and Zimmermann). Still have it!

Great and fun video! Love your analysis videos

Fantastic! Thank you, Mr. Andreyev.

New subscriber! Glad to have stumbled upon you. I'm a "closet" composer - sort of a modern-day Ives - working a "day job" & pursuing music on the side. I'm of course familiar with Webern & have heard many of his works, but never really did the analysis you offer here. I studied tone rows in college & wrote some interesting little pieces (you might call them fragments) using them, and later developed a technique of blending in some free atonality. I did not realize that Webern, too, composed miniatures, so now I have a new notion to shape these things up & publish them!

Kind of off the wall here but your discussion of Webern’s unique rhythms reminded me of the use of “ sprung rhythm” in poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. It was designed to imitate natural speech rhythms with a stressed first syllable followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables. Hopkins emphasized which syllables were to be stressed or unstressed by adding diacritical marks. This occurs within the foot of the poem the basic repeating rhythm of the poem. A lot of poets and critics thought Hopkins poetry was rhythmic anarchy just free verse. But while the feet can contain any number of syllables, he always kept the same number of feet per line. So there was definitely a structure, unity and even a formal discipline. Sorry to go on, but it just seemed like an interesting and hopefully useful analogy to understanding Webern’s work. Great episode as usual.

This would be a great composition exercise. Thanks for posting this!

I've been closely listening to this work for years, and i recently played it, and now KZfaq ahowed me this video, your explanation of this music is great, and i'm deeply thankfull for it.

Tanks for this video, so enlightening and well crafted.

Thanks for the explanation. It gave me more elements to appreciate music I find hard to get into.

99 % of the comment section: 1. Comments about blinking 2. Angry comments from musically close-minded individuals; the remaining 1 %: Actually interesting or thoughtful comments.

I could just spend days hearing you pronounce composer names. Joke aside, your content is great!

One of Zappa's favorite composers, along with ao Varese and Stravinsky.

Obrigado pela aula, sempre aprendo muito com seus videos. Um grande abraço de Pelotas, RS.

Fantastic, educational! Please make more videos like this 🌞

I absolutely love Webern's lieder and songs they're like Schubert turned inside out

Thank you for this interesting information. I believe it helped me to understand and appreciate this music.👏🎶

It's been one of my faves since 1971. Good presentation.

Fascinating. Webern is marvelous.

His transcription of Bach’s Ricercar a 6 is one of the best pieces

Great video. Thank you!

What I love about Serialism is how many times you can listen to it over and over!

Thanks for the analysis your way to teach is really engaging, fast and dynamic, it's always nice to find YT channels like yours! Also I mean no disrespect just pure and sincere curiosity, is there something causing you to constantly blink throughout the video?

Great video as always

Bonjour, SAMUEL ! Totally unrelated: I read some things you wrote about "ENCOUNTERS at the END of the WORLD" ! What a masterful film ! Thank you for mentioning it. 😃

When I discovered the Second Viennese School in my teenage I found Berg too soppy and romantic, Webern too analytic and stern so I gravitated to Schönberg. I am still not a fan of Berg's music per se but Webern's music as I have found out more about it has grown on me. I still however like Schönberg's music and especially his late String Trio which I saw / heard a lecture on at my university. For background, I was a Chemistry undergraduate and a skinhead who listened to a lot of punk rock (it was the early 1980s) as well as 20th century classical music. As a member of the university I could attend any lecture and noticed that the School of Music were doing a course on the Second Viennese School I went to the lecture / performance of the String Trio There were four people on the stage lecturer and a professional string trio and SEVEN people in the audience (including me in boots and braces with a shaved head LOL) The String Trio was performed the lecturer talked about it and bits were performed to illustrate then the trio was played in FULL again. I still think this is how lectures / concerts should be run if I had my way LOL I learnt so much that even forty years later I remember this concert / lecture. Webern could do with that kind of style of lecture / concert.

Loving chamber music the most, I should say Webern is not my “favorite “ BUT this explanation is fantastic I’m studying classical guitar, and the musical literature is totally different lots of names unknown in regular concerts halls and lot of new wonderful music You add a new dimension thank you for sharing David

3rd movement could be an homage to Wagner? The cello's 1st phrase is the opening of the overture to Tristan (with major 6th instead of minor), and the cello's 3rd phrase is the opening notes of "Mild und Leise". That popped out so quickly that I had to wind back to rehear it! Just a thought.

Gershwin took a lesson from Webern. He never revealed anything about the experience, but on various occasions would chuckle and say, "It inspired me to write 'I've Got Rhythm'".

I find the music of Webern quite soothing ... It just makes sense to me, I somehow understand it, and I know nothing about music structure and form. I find it amazing he lived through the entire second world war (in Germany) only to die in a tragic shooting accident. His music was not accepted, nor popular, but I believe he has inspired more composers than Schoenberg.

Danke für's Teilen! Greetings from Vienna.

Never "struggled" to "get through" Great Music Webern is wunderbar!

They are very beautiful. I'm 61 and I've never heard them before. And in my struggle and non struggle over the years, dedicating my task to try and come up with some fresh sounds. Some of my work has similarities to Webern, I don't read or write music, I memorise or at least my ear and body does.

Nice description/analysis. I was kind of puzzled about the 'von' Webern. I thought he dropped the 'Freiherr von' before those pieces. I find these pieces to be some of the most hypnotic music, ever. They feel like you hear them the first time, each time presented, still they felt like something i knew well the first time I heard them. Thanks for reminding me.

Just found him today via his 6 Pieces; resembles my poetry so much it's freaky. I understand this man.

very interesting. but even after you explain the virtues of these pieces i can't say i like listening to them..

Great video!

Wonderful music. Yes, you can do this yourself! I'd love to hear it.

Great analysis, interesting for professionals and those in the field and, I imagine, quite accessible to those with less background who are interested. Not an easy balance to strike!

These short compositions would fit right in with a contemporary art show

This might be some ways off the beaten track here, but this video really helped me better understand intuitions I've had regarding a sub-genre of extreme music called grindcore. Namely that grindcore songs, while usually very violent and short, are in fact miniatures. And when perfected (say, a band like Discordance Axis and an album like The Inalienable Dreamless) they are miniature masterpieces. I don't know if this is the case with "sets" of classical miniatures, but another attributes is that they "pile onto" one another. So, at the same time both very short and in relation to the other short miniatures in the set. Thank you very much for a wonderful video.

Nicely explained 👍

Looked forward to the future...? I always found the 12 tone serial phase, primal and at times, intriguing in its unique effect. Back in 1976 when having it rammed down our student throats, it seemed obvious that it's life would be as short and concise and (weirdly) predictable as the product of multiple tone rows soon becomes. It's refreshing to hear a committed advocate for Webern today.

I love your videos. very good

Fascinating.

Awesome. I used to listen to Schonberg and Berg, but I haven't heard too much Webern. I like it.

Editor's note: 3:03 I really wanted to add a speed-run timer in this section: Washing hands [Any %] There are so many interpretations of this piece... It's surprising how it can range from 15 to 20+ seconds. If you think about it's about 33.33% time difference which is crazy.

thank you so much for introducing me to this wonderful music, you have broadened mine and many others musical horizons.

Wow wee…i absolutely am happy to come across this. I write songs on my guitar the same exact way. Short and sweet….sometimes it’s all I got. Interesting 🎶🎶❣️

Not a big fan of Webern but the marcia funebre from his 6 pieces of orchestra always chills me.

Beautiful

Great video, how about a video about Schoenberg's miniatures? (Op. 19)

It seems like an example of the modernist "less is more" philosophy, a reaction to the over-elaboration of the 19th century, hints of the essential structure without the noisy spinning out of everything it entails. Like a stark white modernist house, it may be too little to satisfy for long, but there seems to me to be a clarity and sobriety in this that didn't exist before, akin to a calm, contemplative state of mind missing in the usually highly emotional late romantic works. (Sorry if this comes across as slightly pretentious!)

Thank you.

great video

12 tone music has never been my thing but using 12 tones has been essential for providing background music for films and TV

It’s simply too short to be a masterpiece. The work is amazing and certainly worth studying and playing, but they are no masterpiece.

I always find it relevant that Boulez referenced Webern and not the ever essay writing and teaching fighter Schonberg or the more emotionally comprehensible Berg and funnilyy enough most of the important 20th century took his lead . I have lots to learn about Webern and those aftereards . Thanks for these friendly approachable analysis !

I feel like I've heard this as the backing music for subterfuge action in 1950s cinema.

Sick and sick

There is something so alluring about this period in European art music - when composers were achieving extraordinary breakthroughs, or had gone completely bonkers, depending on one's point of view.

Could you perhaps, some time in the future, do an analysis of a Hans-Joachim Hespos composition? I personally love his music.

Bravo

Punk rock before punk rock baby!

Webern çok kısa ve çok samimi duygularla yazdığı müziklerle müzik tarihinin en özel bestecilerindendir. Sanatta büyük bir çığır açmıştır. Op.9 Bagatelleri bence başyapıtıdır. Klasik müziğe ilk yönelişlerimde Bach bir kutupta, birkaç eserini bildiğim Webern diğer kutuptaydı ama bana göre aynı değerdeydiler. Ancak çok tehlikeli bir müzik olduğunu da düşünüyorum. Delilik gibi bir şey bu müzik, özellikle Op.9. Önemli eserleri, müzikteki bütün katmanları bilinçli bir şekilde işleyerek eserin süresine varan hassasiyet içermektedir. Henüz erken olduğunu düşünüp çok kısa ve ses şokları şeklinde yazmıştır. Sıradan bir müzisyen asla çalamaz, ama en tecrübesiz izleyici bile onun bir sanat eseri olduğunu anlar. Salonun en sessiz derecede olması gerekmektedir. 12 nota ile yazılabilecek en yüksek müziktir. Klasik Türk müziği 53 tonlu bir müziktir ama hep o bilinen diatonik aralıklara yönelir. 53 tonda Webern tarzında müzik yazmak ne müthiş birşey olur. (Turkish) . . . . . . . . Webern is one of the most special composers in the history of music with the music he wrote with very short and sincere feelings. He made a big breakthrough in art. Op.9 Bagatelles is his masterpiece in my opinion. When I first turned to classical music, Bach was at one pole and Webern, whose works I knew a few, was at the other pole, but they were of equal value to me. But I also think that it is very dangerous music. Something like madness this music, especially Op.9. His important works contain sensitivity up to the duration of the piece by consciously processing all layers in music. He thought it was too early and wrote it very briefly and in the form of sound shocks. An ordinary musician can never play, but even the most inexperienced viewer will understand that it is a work of art. The hall should be at the quietest level. It is the highest music that can be written with 12 notes. Classical Turkish music is a 53 tone music, but it always tends to those known diatonic intervals. What a wonderful thing it would be to write music in the Webern style in 53 tones.

Webern? Count me in! More Webern please!

It's like listening to an argument. Fascinating.

You point out the lack of strong beats at the beginning of each bar of Op. 11/1. Webern's Drei Kleine Stücke, op. 11, was written in 1914. In 1913, Scheonberg's Sechs kleine Klavierstücke was published. No. 6 of this series was probably a homage to Mahler, and has been depicted as a Mahlerian funeral march without the strong first beat. Its first chord comprises the notes of the harp in bar 3-4 of Mahler's 9th, F#-A-B-A.

Great channel Samuel Subscribed

My question is, what is this music trying to do? Is it trying to be enjoyable to listen to? Is it trying to make a point or solve some technical problem? Or is it just supposed to be a minor curiosity? I would be happy to understand better.

3:03 2nd piece 3:42 1st piece 12:09 3rd piece

Hegel, specifically his “organicist” idea that coherence in a work of art ideally germinates from a single cell, then pervades every level of its structure, in the Schenkerian sense of layers, influences Stravinsky’s Trois Pièces, too, but in a completely different way. Why Webern’s work appears to the listener so much more abstruse than Stravinsky’s is an interesting question.

So happy to have found you. Would love hear your thoughts on Bartok’s Str Qt 4. 🌾🥀☘️💐🌻

This music seems appropriate for a movie score, especially for a "dark" film rather than something to be merely listened to.

its phantastic music. a relief for my ears. webern reletnlessly wrote against the hearing conventions we are conditioned with in the west.

Can anyone tell me why the chord at 11:05 is considered a dominant chord?

Odd….he omitted Debussy as a composer who stretched the tonal language. And, I believe that all his works can fit on one CD.

That was really interesting. I’d like you to explore more Dodecaphonic pieces or exerpts :)

Forgive me, I thought they were just trying out those instruments before commit themselves to make a purchase.

Thats chill... just got to be yourself

@ 4'47" 3 1/2 octaves from Fsharp to B??? Am I missing something, or is that more like 1 octave and a 4th (a.k.a. Compound 4th).

I can create atonal music with my eyes closed.

Around 11:30 or so, you mention in the piano a 6-note chord in m1 and a 5-note chord at the "recap". In the score I see only 5 and 4 notes respectively. Am I missing something?