A very beautiful piece and have listened to this many times. It shows an inevitable early and youthful style given the musical circles he associated with. He went on to invent his own voice very soon after.
It is indeed a pity that Webern did not publish works before the passacaglia. There are quite different works of course, but which deserve to be heard.
One can hear signs of what´s to come. It´s a hotch-potch but his obsession with sheer beauty of sound and colour are manifest. lol. Even the applause at the end is sort of in Webern-poetic style.
Where I grew up, we say “hodgepodge,” not “hotch-potch.” I wonder if these are regional differences, and there is a continuum of variations. Josh-posh. Mosh-mush. Hox-tox.
Even mature Webern is romantic and beautiful, just in a completely different way. Think of every Webern work as something taking place on another planet, where atoality is their common musical language. In that context Webern is sweet, gentle and obsessed with the glory of pure sound...it's romantic.
@Qerftg Shlll ahhh yes! I just don't get into atonal Webern. I didn't really understand Opus 21 as a student (I thought it was musical JACKSON POLLOCK)....I understand it a bit more now! But I yes I too greatly prefer the Late Romantics as Strauss, and of course, Mahler....who clearly DID influence Webern here. I just prefer this and the Passacaglia to Five Pieces and Op. 21. I also prefer Berg...and if he only he didn't die so young (and Webern's tragic death) I often wonder had Mahler lived 35 more years, if he maybe could have impacted Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg more.
Wow, thanks for this. I almost passed it up as most Webern is not to my liking. I love this, though .. kind of post-Mahler, with some impressionist moments. Not a "stylistic dead-end," regardless of Schoenberg's criticism (I don't care much for Schoenberg's music, either).
"He never tried to have it performed or published, but kept it as a memento of his youth." Autrement dit, il aurait très bien pu le foutre à la poubelle un jour de grosse déprime. Et nous ne l'aurions pas. Terrible à penser...
So when *was* this piece first published and performed? I will admit that, listening to it without knowing the composer, I would never have guessed Webern.
Webern didn't publish anything until after meeting Schoenberg which effectively means everything we know of Webern in the "mainstream setting" (for lack of a better term) is atonal. It wasn't until Boulez came along and headed the project that recorded ALL his works, published and unpublished, that we hear his delicate restrained romantic style before Schoenberg. Besides this, Webern only wrote some 30 works, so its easy to miss what he wrote prior to 1908 (his first opus numbered work).
Both the Op. 1 Passacaglia and the Op. 2 choral piece have key signatures, although the latter is pretty weakly in its key of G major (like Webern himself, I don't think atonal is a good description of his music).
@@AnthonyLeighDunstan Correction, I believe he didn't only write 30 works - he deemed only 30 of his works worthy of publishing, and so he did. He was very concious about his choices :-)
I find both opus 1 and this piece quite listenable whereas I am no longer able to consume Mahler who released three majestic symphonies 7, 8 anf 9 between 1905 and 1910.
Hmmm, it's odd people continue to want more of the same. How many other composers were there (known and unknown), besides Schoenberg and Webern, writing this type of music. So much of the same and yet you still want more. I find this an odd mindset. What place do living composers have in society today if this is the attitude? Imagine if medical practitioners or mechanics or IT professionals had the same mindset. I understand a deep seeded component of art is nostalgia, but it's also innovation - ironically Schoenberg and Webern's atonal music is nostalgic to me - time and perspective are curious phenomenons. There needs to be a healthy balance. For the moment, my feeling is it's digressed to former.
Lots of people don't want innovation. They stop listening to music after 1850 or they listen to only Baroque. I know people who only listen to Medieval and Renaissance music. With popular styles it seems to be even worse. Being eclectic is probably, would be interesting research, not how most people enjoy music. I might be wrong but I doubt it.
I should add that Webern's style was already shifting toward the harmonic extremes of serialism even in this piece. Between 1904 and 1908 he was developing a much more adventurous chromatic style than his peers. To me it's perfectly natural he followed this into atonalism. As to your point, that's my feeling too. Most people want to experience music as entertainment. I also look for this at times, of course, only I enjoy Webern's String Trio as much as Puccini's Tosca because I oddly met one before the other. Music is incredibly versatile. Like all art and expression it comes down to taste - limited, narrow, broad, or extensive. It's all relative an fair enough.
@@bartjebartmans I've found that too. Some people miss out the 20th century and some the 19th as well. My favourite genre is 1850 to 1950 German and Austrian music. Much recent music is hire only sadly.
@@AnthonyLeighDunstanas Thomas Mann said on his Doktor Faustus: music is an intellectual art. Listening to academic music is very different from listening to a pop song, because the listener has to decypher the notes and tones, whereas a pop song is easy for to swallow.
Uno strano brano, questo... Bisogna essere indulgenti con i giovani...con gli artisti che ancora non hanno trovata la loro strada... Non posso impedirmi, però, di notare qui, una sorta di distillato di molte delle cattive qualità proprie a Richard Strauss... Non si tratta di stili o di scuole... Evidentemente ci sono musicisti che (ancora?) non capisco... Anton Webern è uno di questi...
A very beautiful piece and have listened to this many times. It shows an inevitable early and youthful style given the musical circles he associated with. He went on to invent his own voice very soon after.
"memento of his youth"? What a beautiful moment!
Thanks, I had never given this a proper listen and now I see how great it is.
Que coisa linda! Uma verdadeira aula de elegância sonora. Estrutura interna sem arroubos. Economia que nos satisfaz! Bravo, bravo, bravo!!!
It is indeed a pity that Webern did not publish works before the passacaglia. There are quite different works of course, but which deserve to be heard.
One can hear signs of what´s to come. It´s a hotch-potch but his obsession with sheer beauty of sound and colour are manifest. lol. Even the applause at the end is sort of in Webern-poetic style.
hotch-potch my a**
Where I grew up, we say “hodgepodge,” not “hotch-potch.” I wonder if these are regional differences, and there is a continuum of variations. Josh-posh. Mosh-mush. Hox-tox.
Absolutely beautiful, thanks for this upload.
Beautiful ! Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful!
What a beautiful music
Wonderful tone poem by Anton Webern, who takes cues from Richard Strauss.
The first works by Webern are really beautyfulk, in a romantic way.
Even mature Webern is romantic and beautiful, just in a completely different way.
Think of every Webern work as something taking place on another planet, where atoality is their common musical language. In that context Webern is sweet, gentle and obsessed with the glory of pure sound...it's romantic.
Soul-touching music
If I had to guess the composer I would have said Richard Strauss. What a difference between this early piece and his String Quartet!
Bellissimo. Un incanto!!!
AHHHH. When Webern still was tonal! Remarkable listen isn't it?
@Qerftg Shlll Haha! Do you like his later works better?
@Qerftg Shlll ahhh yes! I just don't get into atonal Webern. I didn't really understand Opus 21 as a student (I thought it was musical JACKSON POLLOCK)....I understand it a bit more now! But I yes I too greatly prefer the Late Romantics as Strauss, and of course, Mahler....who clearly DID influence Webern here. I just prefer this and the Passacaglia to Five Pieces and Op. 21. I also prefer Berg...and if he only he didn't die so young (and Webern's tragic death) I often wonder had Mahler lived 35 more years, if he maybe could have impacted Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg more.
Wow, thanks for this. I almost passed it up as most Webern is not to my liking. I love this, though .. kind of post-Mahler, with some impressionist moments. Not a "stylistic dead-end," regardless of Schoenberg's criticism (I don't care much for Schoenberg's music, either).
Webern's first two Op numbers also display a clear and obvious influence of Mahler.
Sounds more Straussian to me. The expressionist Webern is closer to Mahler than this.
"He never tried to have it performed or published, but kept it as a memento of his youth." Autrement dit, il aurait très bien pu le foutre à la poubelle un jour de grosse déprime. Et nous ne l'aurions pas. Terrible à penser...
Somewhat surprised that no one mentions this work being excerpted in Disney's fanfare at the beginning of their movies.
So much Disney music is Second Vienna School. RIP Frank Churchill!!
Anton Webern:Nyári Szél-Idill zenekarra
Chicagói Szimfonikus Zenekar
Vezényel:Bernard Haitink
So when *was* this piece first published and performed? I will admit that, listening to it without knowing the composer, I would never have guessed Webern.
First published in 1962 and performed that year in Seattle by the Philadelphia Philharmonic conducted by Ormandy.
Bartje Bartmans Thank you.
Webern didn't publish anything until after meeting Schoenberg which effectively means everything we know of Webern in the "mainstream setting" (for lack of a better term) is atonal. It wasn't until Boulez came along and headed the project that recorded ALL his works, published and unpublished, that we hear his delicate restrained romantic style before Schoenberg. Besides this, Webern only wrote some 30 works, so its easy to miss what he wrote prior to 1908 (his first opus numbered work).
Both the Op. 1 Passacaglia and the Op. 2 choral piece have key signatures, although the latter is pretty weakly in its key of G major (like Webern himself, I don't think atonal is a good description of his music).
@@AnthonyLeighDunstan Correction, I believe he didn't only write 30 works - he deemed only 30 of his works worthy of publishing, and so he did. He was very concious about his choices :-)
I find both opus 1 and this piece quite listenable whereas I am no longer able to consume Mahler who released three majestic symphonies 7, 8 anf 9 between 1905 and 1910.
Hmmm, it's odd people continue to want more of the same. How many other composers were there (known and unknown), besides Schoenberg and Webern, writing this type of music. So much of the same and yet you still want more. I find this an odd mindset. What place do living composers have in society today if this is the attitude? Imagine if medical practitioners or mechanics or IT professionals had the same mindset. I understand a deep seeded component of art is nostalgia, but it's also innovation - ironically Schoenberg and Webern's atonal music is nostalgic to me - time and perspective are curious phenomenons. There needs to be a healthy balance. For the moment, my feeling is it's digressed to former.
Lots of people don't want innovation. They stop listening to music after 1850 or they listen to only Baroque. I know people who only listen to Medieval and Renaissance music. With popular styles it seems to be even worse. Being eclectic is probably, would be interesting research, not how most people enjoy music. I might be wrong but I doubt it.
I should add that Webern's style was already shifting toward the harmonic extremes of serialism even in this piece. Between 1904 and 1908 he was developing a much more adventurous chromatic style than his peers. To me it's perfectly natural he followed this into atonalism.
As to your point, that's my feeling too. Most people want to experience music as entertainment. I also look for this at times, of course, only I enjoy Webern's String Trio as much as Puccini's Tosca because I oddly met one before the other. Music is incredibly versatile. Like all art and expression it comes down to taste - limited, narrow, broad, or extensive. It's all relative an fair enough.
@@bartjebartmans I've found that too. Some people miss out the 20th century and some the 19th as well.
My favourite genre is 1850 to 1950 German and Austrian music. Much recent music is hire only sadly.
@@AnthonyLeighDunstanas Thomas Mann said on his Doktor Faustus: music is an intellectual art. Listening to academic music is very different from listening to a pop song, because the listener has to decypher the notes and tones, whereas a pop song is easy for to swallow.
This mess was a dead end for Webern. Five years later he found his real voice.
And then it became an unlistenable hot mess.
@@andrewpetersen5272 Like a lot of other music in the 20th century.
Anton Webern out here looking like discount Gustav Mahler.
and Paul Dukas, Strauss and Disney cartoons…..no wonder he did a complete volteface later
スークの「夏のおとぎ話」に似た音
SAGITTARIUS
Uno strano brano, questo... Bisogna essere indulgenti con i giovani...con gli artisti che ancora non hanno trovata la loro strada... Non posso impedirmi, però, di notare qui, una sorta di distillato di molte delle cattive qualità proprie a Richard Strauss...
Non si tratta di stili o di scuole... Evidentemente ci sono musicisti che (ancora?) non capisco... Anton Webern è uno di questi...
hmmm a shame he didn't continue writing in and developing this style
Miles Shore There are a lot of post-romantic composers, but there is only one Webern, so no, this is not a shame at all.
thanks so much for your input
And this work is a bit "clumsy", if you want to listen real post-romantic music, try Mahler, Bruckner, Rachmaninov, Hahn, Fauré, Dukas, R. Strauss ...
How is Rachmaninoff post-romantic? His music is some of the most popular in the romantic repertoire.
Soyoko U. Rachmaninov is post-romantic
About 12 minutes too long, I'd say.
Meh.