Non-tonal Centricity

September 22, 1997

"Free Atonal Music". Anton Webern's Song Op. 3, No. 1 as an example of an atonal work which has a very strict pitch structure while, at the same time, not following any particular u "system".

Looking at the vocal part, one discovers that a five sound cell is transposed, embelished and slightly distorted to generate the entire voice part of this song (">" stands for "flat"):

	Bar 1-2     D   D>  E>      G>  F       A>  (E  B>)
            3       D>              F   E   C#  G    D	
            4       E>              G   F#      A    E
          ---------------------------------------------------
            8       C               E   D#      F#   C#
            9-10    D   D>  E>  G   G>  F       A>  (E  B>)

Moreover:

First four sounds in bars 5-6 are a retrograde of the first four sounds in bars 1-2
The first five sounds in bars 5-6 are transposed in bar 8

		D D> E> G> ==>  G> E> D> D (G)
				G  E  D  E> A>

Top sounds in the piano part, bars 2-3 are an exact imitation of the voice line in bars 1-2
The voice in bars 9-10 imitates the top sounds in the piano part, bars 8-9
The four sound group in bars 5-6 are doubled (top line) then imitated in the piano (left hand).
The first sounds in each vocal phrase, bars 1-5 spell the first sounds in bar 1, vocal part (D, D>,E>,G>).
The chords in bar 1, piano part contain the sounds: D, B>, E> and D>, B>, E>, an inversion of D, D>< E>, and G>:
```
			D  D>  E>  G>
      	inversion       D  E>  D>  B>
```
the first sounds of the vocal line.
The rest of the chord: E>, B and E is an exact transposition of D, B>, and E> (size of the interval in semitones only is important here since this is not tonal music).
The piano accompaniment in bar 2 consists of the same sounds as the chords in bar 1 plus the imitation of the vocal line.

With a little patience, one could demonstrate how all the sounds in this short composition were derived from the 5 note cell mentioned above.

Expressionism. The extremely intimate feelings and the unusually soft general dynamic of this song as an example of expressionist art.