Anton Webern, Variations, Op. 27

Background

The only solo piano work composed by Anton Webern. The three-movement piece was composed using the twelve-tone technique, based on the following row:

C

C#

A

B

Ab

Bb

E

F

F#

D

Eb

G

The row includes many instances of semitone, major seventh, or augmented octave, such as C–C#, E–F, F–F#, D–Eb. This lends to the music a tinge of piquant dissonance, a musical quality that defines much of Webern’s music.

Webern makes use of traditional forms—such as sonata form, ternary form, and theme-and-variation form—in his twelve-tone works. The first movement of the piano variations is modelled on a ternary form design; the second movement follows a binary structure, while only the last movement is in theme-and-variation form.

Webern’s twelve-tone music often shows a high degree of symmetry: either vertically by using inversionally related row forms, or horizontally by pairing a row with its retrograde, which resembles a palindrome.

The title “Variations” refers not to the formal structure of the entire piece, but to the twelve-tone method, by which every row statement is a variation of all the other rows in the piece.

 

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Listening

First movement

0:12  A section (Exposition)

The first phrase bears the structure of a palindrome: the second half is the retrograde of the first half.

(0:24) The second phrase hints at a mirror (inversional) symmetry between the two hands

(0:29) The third phrase reaches the climax with the high B at the beginning; dynamics reach up to f

(0:38) A closing phrase; tempo gradually slows down; dynamics drop to pp

0:44  B section (Development)

(0:44) The development section features two contrasting materials: (1) a fast arpeggios figuration in f; and (2) a slower and more tranquil passage with extended notes and played with hand crossing.

(1:00) The music reaches C# – the highest note of the piece.

1:14  A' section (Recapitulation)

The recapitulation makes use of the same pitches as the exposition, but they are played in different registers. The rhythm and the phrasing are also preserved as in the exposition.