Links to review material on atonal/set theory, based on the Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory by Joseph Straus, and taken from my undergrad course on 20th-century music:
- Intervals in atonal theory
- Pitch class set analysis, part 1 and part 2.
Although I didn’t go over this in class, you can find my material for serialism and 12-tone composition.
A recording for the Berg movement that you are working on for next Thursday is in my iLocker account. (FourPieces-I.mp3) Focus mainly on the opening four measures and last four measures for set class analysis. Look at the entire movement for a sense of overall form. Careful examination of the first nine notes in the clarinet will go a long way to helping you understand how the piece develops over time, independent of a thorough set class analysis. The opening six notes can be divided into two overlapping sets. Consider notes 7, 8, and 9 to form a set and that will help with both parsing and with general analysis.
You should write about a page to page-and-a-half describing what you find. It is helpful to circle and label sets on directly on the score.
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