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Essay 1
Jacob Hammonds
The String Writing of Alban Berg in Lyric Suite
In Lyric Suite, Alban Berg uses various techniques in his string orchestration to create
diferent sonic textures. One of the problems with twelve tone or serial composition is creating
a unifed and pleasing musical object using language that is unfamiliar to the average listener.
Berg employs coloristic elements found in the string choir to unify specifc moments in the
piece on a sonic and timberal level. There is great attention paid to articulation to help unify
each movement and to create distinction between movements.
Movement one, or Allegretto giovale exhibits Berg's attention to detail in the frst several
measure. Giovale translates to jovial, so I will be focusing on moments in which Berg caters
his writing to evoke that specifc tenancy. Berg pays special attention to volume and volume
swells which unifes the lover strings as accompaniment and allows the frst violin part to lead.
Berg also explains some motivic ideas with text such as the echo stated by violin 2 in
measure six and also throughout the movement. During the movement, Berg employs quick
switches between pizzacato and arco playing. These abrupt changes seem to articulate the
jovial aesthetic stated in the tempo.
The andante amoroso or lovingly, Berg makes use of text notation to mark non vibrato.
Berg also employs matching articulations and dynamic markings to unify more than two parts.
Midway through the movement Berg splits into two textures, pizz and arco. The pizzacato
sections drive the arco sections foreward and are treated lightheartedly.
The third movement or the allegro misterioso, was my personal favorite movement. Berg
calls for string mutes which give the quartet an airy and mysterious timbre. I noticed Berg
uses many slurs in this section and even uses tied notes over the bar line. These diferences
are clear and articulate. Berg also utilizes tremolo bowing near the climax of the section, and
writes articulations that pair legato or slurred bowings under jete bowings. This creates an
urgent accelerating efect.
Movement four, the adagio appassionato relies mainly on Bergs painstaking
articulations to provide unity and clarity. It appears that in this movement, Berg is creating
textures using note and rhythmic information rather than leaning on extended techniques. This
movement does feature some split parts to allow octave doubling, and appears to be the only
movement in the piece in which Berg doesn't use pizzicato as an independent texture. He
does use it sparingly though.
With the ffth movement we see the return of the arco vs. pizzicato texture. The upper
strings make use of glissando techniques to quickly slide up to a higher note. This combined
with Bergs painstaking articulations creates and interesting volume swell efect. This
movement features tremolo bowing as a special efect to enhance sustained notes in the
piece.
The fnal movement, although short, still contains many colorful string techniques. It
features abrupt switches from pizzacato to arco, tremelo as well as either double stops or split
parts in the cello. This split allows the cello to take on the role of a lute or guitar. This
movement is chaotic and to achieve a level of clarity Berg relies heavily on dynamics and
articulation.
Overall Berg utilizes almost every string technique outlined in the chapter with the
exception of the Bartok pizz and harmonics. To unify and crate spacial clarity between the
parts Berg often matches articulations between parts. The most common technique of
creating contrast among parts is the pizzicato versus arco texture. Berg utilizes this technique
of sonic separation in almost every movement. Although this piece does feature some
extended techniques, what really hold this piece together is the constant attention to volume.
When creating structures in which the note info is unstable, Berg consistently uses articulation
to achieve clarity. Although invisible to the listener, I theorize that without specifed
performance instructions the piece would likely not work as a whole.