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Five Pieces for Orchestra (Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16, 1909) by Arnold Schoenberg includes:

1. "Vorgefühle", Sehr rasch. ("Premonitions", very fast.)
2. "Vergangenes", Mässig. ("The Past", moderate.)
3. "Farben", Mässig. ("Summer Morning by a Lake: Chord-Colors", moderate.)
4. "Peripetie", Sehr rasch. ("Peripetia", very fast.)
5. "Das obligate Rezitativ", Bewegen. ("The Obbligato Recitative", moving.)

The titles were added reluctantly by the composer after their completion upon the request of his publisher.

The piece develops further the notion of "total chromaticism" and was composed by Schoenberg at a time of intense personal and artistic crisis, this being reflected in the tensions and, at times extreme violence within the score. At times deeply unsettling and disturbing, the music holds a distinct parallel with the expressionistic movement of the time, in particular its preoccupation with the subconscious and burgeoning madness.

Instrumentation

There are two different scorings of this work, the original 1909 version calling for a large orchestra, and the revised 1949 version.

The revised version "reduced for normal-sized orchestra by the composer", was made in September 1949 and published posthumously in 1952. The revision involved principally "giving up the contrabass clarinet, as well as four-fold scoring of the other woodwinds and two of the six horns."

"Summer Morning by a Lake"

According to Robert Erickson , "harmonic and melodic motion is curtailed, in order to focus attention on timbral and textural elements." Blair Johnston claims that this movement is actually titled "Chord-Colors", that Schoenberg "removes all traditional motivic associations" from this piece, that it is generated from a single harmony: C-G♯-B-E-A, found in a number of chromatically altered derivatives, and is scored for "a kaleidoscopically rotating array of instrumental colors". Whether or not this was an early example of what Schoenberg later called "Klangfarbenmelodie" (in his Harmonielehre of 1911) is a matter of dispute. One scholar holds that Schoenberg's "now-famous statements about 'Klangfarbenmelodie' are, however, reflections, which have no direct connection to the Orchestra Piece op. 16, no. 3". An attempt to refute this view was published in the same journal issue. Schoenberg explains in a note added to the 1949 revision of the score, "The conductor need not try to polish sounds which seem unbalanced, but watch that every instrumentalist plays accurately the prescribed dynamic, according to the nature of his instrument. There are no motives in this piece which have to be brought to the fore"

References

• Doflein, Erich. "Schönbergs Opus 16 Nr. 3: der Mythos der Klangfarbenmelodie". Melos 36 (1969): 203–205. p. 204.
• Doflein, Erich. "Schönbergs Opus 16 Nr. 3: Geschichte einer Uberschrift". Melos 36 (1969): 209–12. p. 211.
• Erickson, Robert. Sound Structures in Music. University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1975. ISBN 0-520-02376-5 p. 37.
• Förtig, Peter. "Arnold Schönberg über Klangfarbe". Melos 36 (1969): 206–209.
• Johnston, Blair. "Pieces (5) for Orchestra, Op. 16". Allmusic.com, .
• Mäckelmann, Michael. Arnold Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke op. 16. W. Fink, Munich, 1987. ISBN 3770524152
• Neighbour, O. W. "Schoenberg, Arnold." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Macmillan, London, 2001.
• Rufer, Josef. "Noch einmal Schönbergs Opus 16". Melos 36 (1969): 366–68.
• Schoenberg, Arnold. Five Orchestra Pieces, Opus 16, score. Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, 1999. ISBN 0-486-40642-3 p. 29.
• Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea. University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1984. ISBN 0-520-05294-3

Recordings

• Two piano arrangement by Anton Webern, performed by James Winn and Cameron Grant, Albany Records CD TROY992, UPC 034061099222
• Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, James Levine conducting, Deutsche Grammophon 419781
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik conducting, Mercury Living Presence 434397
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim conducting, Teldec 98256
• Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi conducting, Decca 436240
• London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti conducting, Mercury Living Presence 432006
• London Symphony Orchestra, Robert Craft conducting, Naxos 8557524
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly conducting, Decca 436467
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard Van Beinum conducting, Andante 4060
• Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen conducting, Orfeo D'or 274921
• Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hans Zender conducting, Cpo 999481
• BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez conducting, Sony 48463

External links

• Five Pieces for Orchestra at Schoenberg.org
• Free scores by Five Pieces for Orchestra (transcription for two pianos by Anton Webern) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

• Compositions by Arnold Schoenberg