imported>JoshuaGearingMusic: /* Instrumentation */ Changed the percussion listing to more accurately reflect what was written in the score.

2024-12-20T22:46:07Z

Instrumentation: Changed the percussion listing to more accurately reflect what was written in the score.

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{{Infobox musical composition
| name = ''Drei Orchesterstücke''<br />Three Pieces for Orchestra
| type =
| composer = [[Alban Berg]]
| image = WP Alban Berg.jpg
| alt =
| image_upright = 0.8
| caption = The composer, sketched by {{nowrap|[[Emil Stumpp]] in 1927}}
| native_name =
| opus = 6
| dedication = [[Arnold Schoenberg]]
| composed = {{start date|1913}}–15
| published = {{start date|1929}} (revised)
| movements =
| scoring =
}}

[[Alban Berg]] composed his '''Three Pieces for Orchestra''' (German: '''''Drei Orchesterstücke'''''), [[Opus number|Op]]. 6, during 1913 and 1914.<ref>Lee, p.64</ref> They are dedicated to his teacher [[Arnold Schoenberg]]. A revised version of the score was published in 1929 by [[Universal Edition]].<ref name="UE">{{cite web
| url = https://www.universaledition.com/alban-berg-51/works/3-orchesterstucke-op-6-455
| title = Alban Berg – 3 Pieces for Orchestra
| publisher = [[Universal Edition]]
| accessdate = 10 August 2020
}}</ref> The first performance of the first two pieces took place in Berlin in 1923, conducted by [[Anton Webern]];<ref>Introduction to published score, Universal Edition, Philharmonia No.432</ref> the complete work was premiered (in the revised version) in [[Oldenburg (city)|Oldenburg]] in 1930, conducted by [[Johannes Schüler]].

== History ==
Berg composed the ''Three Pieces'' between 1913 and 1915. Studying with [[Arnold Schoenberg]], he had composed mainly [[lied]]er such as ''[[Altenberg Lieder]]'', and thought about a larger composition, such as a [[Suite (music)|suite]] or a [[symphony]]. He settled with orchestral pieces, and worked on them in [[Trahütten]], Styria, in summer, where his parents-in-law had a country estate. The work was completed on 23 August 1914.<ref name="UE" />

Berg dedicated it "to my teacher and friend Arnold Schoenberg with immeasurable gratitude and love",<ref name="UE" /> and sent it to Schönberg as a gift for his 40th birthday, on 13 September 1914. In a letter he expanded: "I have truly striven to give my best, to follow all your incentives and suggestions, whereby the unforgettable, yea revolutionising experiences of the Amsterdam rehearsals and thorough study of your orchestra pieces served me boundlessly and sharpened my self-criticism more and more."<ref name="UE" />

The premiere of the first two pieces was held in Berlin on 5 June 1923 during an Austrian Music Week, conducted by [[Anton Webern]]. It was not until 14 April 1930 that the complete composition was played, in its revised form, by the Oldenburger Landesorchester conducted by [[Johannes Schüler]].<ref name="UE" />

==Structure==
The three pieces are:
; Präludium (Prelude)
:An instrumentally colourful, [[Impressionist music|impressionistic]] prelude. After a murmuring introduction, an evocative, wide-ranging theme is stated by bassoons and violins, and then fully developed.
; Reigen (Round Dance)
:Replete with both [[Waltz (music)|waltz]] music and [[Ländler]] music, this piece demonstrates an inherent [[Eclecticism in music|eclecticism]] that, as in many of Berg's works, permitted a synthesis of old and new, classical and popular, often infused with [[grotesque]]rie.
; Marsch (March)
:A sizable and highly imaginative march, notable for its element of chaos and its extremes of orchestration.<ref name="liner notes">
{{cite AV media notes
|title = Three Orchestral Pieces, Opus 6
|last = Ramey
|first = Phillip
|others = Alban Berg
|date = 1986
|type = CD liner
|publisher = CBS Masterworks
|id = MK39741
}}</ref>

The score is marked for the possibility of playing the two first movements alone, as at the premiere. When the complete work was premiered, Berg compared the sequence of three movements to a symphony, Reigen taking the position of a Scherzo, and Marsch as a finale. Derrick Puffett suggested that the title may allude to Arthur Schnitzler's play ''[[Reigen (play)|Reigen]]'', of which Berg owned a copy.<ref name="Keller">
{{cite web
|last=Keller
|first=James M.
|url=https://www.sfsymphony.org/Data/Event-Data/Program-Notes/B/Berg-Three-Pieces-for-Orchestra-Opus-6
|title = Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 6
|website=[[San Francisco Symphony]]
|accessdate = 10 August 2020
}}</ref>

[[Theodor W. Adorno|Adorno]] wrote about the finale in his 1968 analysis of Berg works, connecting it to Schoenberg's ''[[Five Pieces for Orchestra]]'' and Mahler's [[Symphony No. 9 (Mahler)|Ninth Symphony]]: {{blockquote|Berg let himself go with complete abandon in the March from the Three Pieces for Orchestra, an absolutely stupendous work….When he showed me the score and explained it I remarked of the first visual impression: "That must sound like playing Schoenberg's [Five] Orchestral Pieces and Mahler's Ninth Symphony, all at the same time." I will never forget the look of pleasure this compliment—dubious for any other cultured ear—induced. With a ferocity burying all Johannine gentleness like an avalanche, he answered: "Right, then at last one could hear what an eight-note brass chord really sounds like," as if convinced no audience could survive such a sonority….<ref name="Keller" />}}

==Instrumentation==
The work is scored for:<ref name="UE" />

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
'''[[Woodwind]]s'''
:4 [[flute]]s (all doubling [[piccolo]])
:4 [[oboe]]s (4th doubling [[cor anglais]])
:4 [[clarinet]]s in A (3rd doubling clarinet in E{{music|flat}})
:1 [[bass clarinet]] in B{{music|flat}}
:3 [[bassoon]]s
:1 [[contrabassoon]]

'''[[Brass instrument|Brass]]'''
:6 [[French horn|horns]] in F
:4 [[trumpets]] in F
:4 [[trombone]]s (3 tenor, 1 bass)
:contrabass [[tuba]]

{{col-break}}
'''[[Percussion]]'''
: 2 sets of [[timpani]]
:[[Bass drum]]
:[[Snare drum]]
:[[Clash cymbals]] (including a cymbal attached to the bass drum)
:[[Suspended cymbal]]
:Large [[Tam-tam]]
:Small Tam-tam
:[[Tenor drum]] (or field drum) in 2nd & 3rd movement only
:[[musical instrument|Triangle]] in 2nd & 3rd movement only
:Hammer (not metallic, quasi "Mahler") in 3rd movement only
:[[Glockenspiel]] (3.3 octave range ideal - C5 to D8 required)
:[[Xylophone]] (4 octave range ideal - C4 to E7 required)

:[[Celesta]] (5 octave range)
'''[[string instrument|Strings]]'''
:2 [[harp]]s

:[[violin]]s I
:violins II
:[[viola]]s
:[[violoncello]]s
:[[double bass]]es
{{col-end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Lee, Douglas. "Masterworks of 20th Century Music", Routledge, 2002. {{ISBN|0-415-93847-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-415-93847-1}}
* [[Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Steinberg, Michael]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214094016/http://www.sfsymphony.org/music/ProgramNotes.aspx?id=34798 Program Notes for Berg, 3 Pieces for Orchestra]. accessed 2009-01-15
* Mark DeVoto. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110609124911/http://www.bso.org/images/program_notes/berg_three_pieces_for_orchestra.pdf Program Notes for Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra]. accessed February 12, 2010
* Huscher, Philip. [http://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/021110_ProgramNotes_Berg_Three.pdf Program Notes for Alban Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6]. accessed 7 August 2014.

==External links==
* {{IMSLP2|work=3 Orchesterstücke, Op.6 (Berg, Alban)|cname=3 Orchesterstücke, Op.6 (Berg, Alban)}}
* Maarten Brandt: [https://www.opusklassiek.nl/componisten/berglecture/mbberglecture.htm Alban Berg: Three pieces for orchestra Op 6] opusklassiek.nl August 2009

{{Alban Berg}}
{{Portalbar|Classical Music}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Pieces For Orchestra (Berg)}}
[[Category:Compositions by Alban Berg]]
[[Category:20th-century classical music]]
[[Category:1915 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions for symphony orchestra]]

Three Pieces for Orchestra (Berg) - Revision history

imported>JoshuaGearingMusic: /* Instrumentation */ Changed the percussion listing to more accurately reflect what was written in the score.