Composer

:

Anton Webern

Genre

:

Orchestral

Style

:

Fugue

Compose Date

:

1935

Average_duration

:

7:28

Anton Webern's "Fuga (arr. from Bach's Musical Offering)" is a composition for string quartet that was completed in 1935. The piece is an arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Ricercar a 6" from the "Musical Offering," which was composed in 1747. The premiere of Webern's arrangement took place on March 23, 1936, in Vienna, Austria. The piece consists of a single movement, which is a fugue. A fugue is a type of composition in which a theme is introduced and then repeated and developed by different voices. In this case, the theme is Bach's "Ricercar a 6," which is a complex and intricate piece that features six voices. Webern's arrangement of the fugue is characterized by his use of serialism, which is a compositional technique that involves organizing musical elements (such as pitches, rhythms, and dynamics) into a series or row. Webern was a leading figure in the Second Viennese School, a group of composers that also included Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, who were known for their use of serialism. In Webern's arrangement of the fugue, he takes Bach's original theme and subjects it to a series of transformations. He uses the technique of inversion, in which the intervals between the notes of the theme are reversed, and retrograde, in which the theme is played backwards. He also uses augmentation, in which the duration of the notes is lengthened, and diminution, in which the duration of the notes is shortened. The result is a highly complex and abstract piece of music that is characterized by its use of dissonance and fragmentation. Webern's arrangement of the fugue is a testament to his mastery of serialism and his ability to transform a piece of music from one era into a work that is distinctly modern.

More....