| Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5 |
| Alban Berg's Vier Stücke für Klarinette und Klavier was composed in May 1913. The work is the first of Berg's to bear a dedication to Arnold Schoenberg, his former teacher. "While the earlier works are indebted to Schoenberg as 'school' documents, now, after his energetic breakthrough, a master in grateful independance declares his allegiance to his friend" (Adorno 67). The four pieces in Op. 5 are shorter than the Altenberg songs, with Berg "loyally" following Schoenberg into the truly aphoristic realm (ibid.). The work is perhaps Berg's most Schoenbergian. Berg's Opp. 4 and 5 are often paired as his two contributions to the aphoristic form. However, the work for clarinet and piano "departs radically in style and means from its predecessor. Whereas the Altenberg Lieder had motives and themes, the Four Pieces...has only cells" (Perle 1980: 11). That is, the key to the work is groupings of notes rather than sequences of notes. In terms of the musical language, however, the two works have much in common: both use repetition, symmetrical structures, chromatic inflection, and progressive transformation patterns. "These procedures give each of the Four Pieces extraordinary structural coherence, unity, and direction" (ibid.). The Op. 5 pieces are strictly atonal: "there are none of the tonal references usually incorporated by Berg" (Adorno 67). "Formally they are unstructured and expand on the [non-repetitive nature] of the last Op. 2 song. Even sequences are no longer tolerated" (Adorno 69). The clarinet and piano pieces are also unusual for Berg in that they are non-circular: "the final piece ends without reference to the first" (Gable & Morgan 139). Previously, in his Piano Sonata and String Quartet, Berg totally reworked the Sonata form by "extending the developmental process [of themes] over the entire musical structure" (Adorno 68). Here, in the Op. 5, themes themselves incur development and thereby cease to exist. Thus the music is equivalent to time itself: time is defined not in terms of individual moments but in the replacement of one moment by the next. In the Four Pieces, "everything is development" (ibid.). Berg visited Schoenberg in Berlin during the week 4-11 June 1913. The visit began very well for Berg: he attended a full rehearsal of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21; it was the first time Berg had seen the work. Berg later wrote to Schoenberg that Pierrot "made the deepest impression on me that I have ever recieved from a work of art; the puzzling force of these pieces has left indelible marks on my insides" (in Reich 41). The work was to exert a tremendous influence on Berg. On the last day of his visit, Berg received a dressing-down from his old master. "Schoenberg pointed out to him in no uncertain terms various weaknesses that he had found in the current work of his one-time pupil" (Reich 41). The "current work" was the Altenberg Lieder and the Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano. This harsh criticism from the man whose respect Berg wished for most compounded the embarrassment of the Altenberg premier. Alban Berg, with his confidence ruined, set out to create something that would placate Schoenberg and his own self-doubt. next...................Three Pieces for Orchestra |