Perle, George (1915–2009)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Headlam
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
Alban Berg ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Wind Quintet ◽  
Ernst Krenek ◽  
Twentieth Century Music ◽  
George Perle ◽  
Compositional System ◽  
Macarthur Foundation

George Perle (1915–2009) was an American composer and scholar, awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Pulitzer Prize (1986) for his Wind Quintet no. 4, and the Otto Kinkeldey Award (AMS) for his books on the operas of Alban Berg. Born in Bayonne, NJ, Perle discovered Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite when studying with Ernst Krenek in 1937 and went on to develop a compositional system called twelve-tone tonality from the implications of Berg’s score. Collaborative work with Paul Lansky expanded on the compositional possibilities of the system (1969) and led eventually to Perle’s mature style, exemplified by the two Piano Concerti (1990, 1992) and Transcendental Modulations for Orchestra (1993). Perle’s dual role as composer and scholar is reflected in his seventy-five compositions, ranging from solo to orchestral pieces, and seven books and numerous articles on analysis and theory issues related mostly to twentieth-century music.

scholarly journals The Expectancy Dynamics of Anti-Tonal Twelve-Tone Rows: A Commentary and Reanalysis of von Hippel & Huron (2020)

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Niels Chr. Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Computational Model ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Music Cognition ◽  
Arnold Schoenberg ◽  
Anton Webern ◽  
Alban Berg ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Information Theoretic Measures ◽  
High Uncertainty

This commentary provides two methodological expansions of von Hippel and Huron's (2020) empirical report on (anti-)tonality in twelve-tone rows by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg. First, motivated by the theoretical importance of equality between all pitch classes in twelve-tone music, a full replication of their findings of "anti-tonality" in rows by Schoenberg and Webern is offered using a revised tonal fit measure which is not biased towards row-initial and row-final sub-segments. Second, motivated by a long-standing debate in music cognition research between distributional and sequential/dynamic tonality concepts, information-theoretic measures of entropy and information content are estimated by a computational model and pitted against distributional tonal fit measures. Whereas Schoenberg's rows are characterized by low distributional tonal fit, but do not strongly capitalize on tonal expectancy dynamics, Berg's rows exhibit tonal traits in terms of low unexpectedness, and Webern's rows achieve anti-tonal traits by combining high uncertainty and low unexpectedness through prominent use of the semitone interval. This analysis offers a complementary–and arguably more nuanced–picture of dodecaphonic compositional practice.

scholarly journals Tonal and "Anti-Tonal" Cognitive Structure in Viennese Twelve-Tone Rows

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Paul T. Von Hippel ◽  
David Huron
Keyword(s):  
Mirror Symmetry ◽  
Cognitive Structure ◽  
Arnold Schoenberg ◽  
Anton Webern ◽  
Alban Berg ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Tonal Structure

We show that the twelve-tone rows of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern are "anti-tonal"—that is, structured to avoid or undermine listener's tonal schemata. Compared to randomly generated rows, segments from Schoenberg's and Webern's rows have significantly lower fit to major and minor key profiles. The anti-tonal structure of Schoenberg's and Webern's rows is still evident when we statistically controlled for their preference for other row features such as mirror symmetry, derived and hexachordal structures, and preferences for certain intervals and trichords. The twelve-tone composer Alban Berg, by contrast, often wrote rows with segments that fit major or minor keys quite well.

ERNST KRENEK (1900–1991)The Flea (1960)

2020 ◽  
pp. 154-156
Author(s):  
Jane Manning
Keyword(s):  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Ernst Krenek

This chapter explores Ernst Krenek’s setting of John Donne’s poem, ‘The Flea’. Krenek’s work is an exuberant piece of twelve-tone writing, referring back, not without irony, to his Viennese heritage, and friendships with all the leading artists and intellectuals of the day. Here, there are some enjoyable glissandos covering broad spans. Rhythms may appear complex, but the plethora of quintuplets and other varied divisions of beats should, in fact, create a spontaneous, flexible impression to the listener. The vocal line proceeds in uninhibited, expressionistic fragments throughout, with the piano providing some startling dramatic interpolations. Extremes of dynamic abound. One suspects an element of affectionate parody, yet veering dangerously close to losing control.

The Perception of Tone Hierarchies and Mirror Forms in Twelve-Tone Serial Music

1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol L. Krumhansl ◽  
Gregory J. Sandell ◽  
Desmond C. Sergeant
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Probe Tone ◽  
Wind Quintet ◽  
Serial Music ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
Invariant Structures

Four experiments are reported in which the materials are derived from two 12-tone serial compositions (Schoenberg's Wind Quintet and String Quartet, No. 4). Two experiments use the probe tone method (Krumhansl & Shepard, 1979) to assess factors contributing to tone prominence in serial music. The contexts in Experiment 1 are musically neutral statements of the complete or incomplete tone rows; the contexts in Experiment 4 are excerpts from the two pieces. Two experiments use a classification task to evaluate whether the prime form of the row is perceived as similar to its mirror forms (inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion). The materials are neutral presentations of the forms (Experiment 2) or excerpts from the pieces (Experiment 3). Large individual differences are found. A subgroup of listeners, with more music training on average, show the following effects in the probe tone experiments: low ratings for tones sounded more recently in the contexts and high ratings for tones not yet sounded; low ratings for tones fitting with local tonal implications; similar patterns for the neutral contexts and the musical excerpts. The remaining listeners show the opposite effects. Classification accuracy of mirror forms is above chance and is higher for the neutral sequences than the musical excerpts; performance is correlated with music training. The experiments show that some, but not all, listeners can perceive invariant structures in serial music despite mirror transformations, octave transpositions of tones, and variations of rhythm and phrasing.

scholarly journals Chаmbеr-instrumental style by A. Berg: programmability of "hidden opera", chamberinness and concertity synthesis

2018 ◽  
pp. 112-124
Author(s):  
Anton Poslavsky
Keyword(s):  
Chamber Ensemble ◽  
Alban Berg ◽  
Instrumental Ensemble ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Second Viennese School ◽  
Musical Thinking

The article focuses on the chamber and instrumental ensemble as a special type of musical thinking, as well as distinguishes the style "constants" and "variables" of this artistic phenomenon. The main purpose of the article is to characterize the general and specific features of Second Viennese chamber-ensemble instrumentalism in the person of its representative, Alban Berg. In this connection, we propose the appropriate conclusions regarding the specifics and general patterns of the timbre complex in the chamberinstrumental style of the mentioned author, which was not specifically investigated in the previous works. The chamber-instrumental style of the Second Viennese School evolved from the embodiment and modernization of the traditions of European instrumentalism with an emphasis on its Austria-German branch. The fundamental generic features of chamber instrumentalism in the form of the ratio of voice parts based on their equi-potentiality and timbre complementarity were the initial and consonant with musical expressionism, technologically expressed by the twelve-tone composition. The chamber-instrumental style became the basis and the "title" sphere of artistic intents of creativity of such various in their aesthetic-poetic installations composers as A. Schönberg, A. Webern and A. Berg. Each of them, at his individually creative level, embodies the traditions of chamber instrumentalism as a method of thinking, reflected through the timbre complex work. In the chamber thinking of the Second Viennese School representatives, in particular, of A. Berg, the timbre is not distinguished as an independent carrier of expression, but it complements (mainly through registration and articulation) the texture-spatial and texture-procedural (temporary) sides of the sound filling of the chamber-instrumental work.

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