MILTON BABBITT: A Celebration of his Life and Music
October
31-November 1, 2003
Millsaps College
Jackson, Mississippi
Joseph
Brumbeloe
University of Southern Mississippi
"Serialized"
Rhythm, Derived Sets, Combinatoriality, and Invariant Trichords
in Webern's
Concerto for Nine Instruments, op. 24, III. (sehr rasch)
An analysis of the serial and rhythmic structure of the third movement of Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments, op. 24, presented in order to explore several theoretical ideas first introduced by Milton Babbitt: derived sets, hexachordal combinatoriality, invariance, and the structural function of rhythm in the twelve-tone medium. Webern's Concerto features an all-combinatorial derived twelve-note set that preserves trichordal content (and at times order) under several operations. Much of the piece is comprised of events involving groups of three, thereby deploying these trichords as either three discrete melodic notes or as a three-note chord. The movement is articulated into five sections, based primarily on rhythmic procedures. Frequently, a repeated rhythmic figure is featured that encompasses twelve notes and corresponds to a row. I will attempt to demonstrate that Webern's choice of rows in each section is a result of correlations among the invariant trichords. Several ideas are found in embryonic form in Webern's Concerto related to the structural functions of both pitch and rhythm sets; the full potential of these ideas eventually are clarified in the writings of Milton Babbitt, and have received their most convincing realization in his music.
