[University of Michigan, 2007]
The twentieth
century saw unprecedented developments in technology, warfare, population
growth, activism, and change throughout the world. People were often disheveled
as these sometimes catastrophic events unfolding around them, and modernism in
music is just one response to this upheaval.
Modernists sought to create entirely new styles of music; in the most
extreme cases, they aimed to entirely erase the musical traditions of the
past. Alban Berg was a part of the
Second Viennese School, along with Schoenberg and Webern. His first opera, Wozzeck, was written between 1917 and 1923, and represents the most
successful atonal work of the twentieth century. Atonality was part of the
modernist movement that began at the beginning of the twentieth
century—although it is said that the dissonant chord struck in the prelude of
Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde is the
inception of modernism—and the success of Berg’s atonal opera shows the
changing sentiments about the Classical and Romantic traditions of harmony,
melody, rhythm, and tonality. Premiered in 1925 in Berlin, Wozzeck at first was criticized.
One critic even claimed that upon leaving the opera house after seeing Wozzeck, he “…had the feeling that I was
coming out of a public institution dedicated not to art, but rather out of a
public asylum for the insane” (Zschorlich).
Soon, however, it became both a critical and commercial success.
Despite the non-tradition harmonies
and atonality of the opera, Berg incorporates a number of traditional
instrumental forms in Wozzeck. This shows Berg’s rejection of
past forms such as
arias and duets, while still providing some type of coherence to the opera as a
whole. The music of these dances has a strong
correlation to the characters in the scene as well as to the particular mood of
the plot.
In the first scene of Act I, even the opening sonorities are
disturbing; a drum roll and a downward fall in pitch, ending on a dissonant
chord, is how Berg chooses to begin his opera.
Right from the start, the audience gets the feeling that the music is
going to challenging for the conservative listener. Not only does this first passage descend, but
it rises in volume with a crescendo.
When the passage arrives not in consonance but in dissonance, it is
obvious that something is terribly wrong.
The ominous musical beginning is confirmed when the captain declares,
“Easy, Wozzeck, easy!” The captain is obsessed with time, and the rushed nature
of the opening of Wozzeck demonstrates
his paranoia. His next line, “Do take your time, man!” is at a higher pitch,
sounding panicked and desperate. The
music continues to rise in pitch, escalating the tension, and he then declares
that Wozzeck’s rushed nature is making him “giddy.” Here, the xylophone
oscillates on a second at a high pitch, the music itself becoming giddy as word
painting is incorporated. Then he
considers what he might do if he is given ten extra minutes of the day, and at
“ten minutes” his voice rises frantically, as if ten whole minutes is an extremely long time. Then, when he reminds Wozzeck that he has
almost thirty years to live still,
his voice once again rises dramatically in pitch, almost shouting the
numbers. To the captain, every minute of
the day is extremely precious, and he emphasizes this belief by musically
accenting the numbers. As he goes on
demanding to know what Wozzeck is going to do with all of the time remaining in
his life, the Captain seems to
become almost
angry with Wozzeck—though he doesn’t really give him time to respond—and ends
up shouting at Wozzeck to make up his mind.
Throughout these demands, the music remains extremely chaotic and
dissonant, and just as he waits for an answer from Wozzeck, the music is
waiting and wanting a tonal center. Of
course, as an atonal work, it never comes, but the discomfort and instability
of the music reinforces the Captain’s paranoia.
When Wozzeck finally is given the
opportunity to respond, his “yes sir, I will sir” is extremely monotonous and
submissive. This shows Wozzeck’s
submissiveness and inferiority to the Captain; he does not sing, produce a
melody, or even utter more than a obedient response. Following his answer, the music slows down,
and pulses for a few seconds in the lower register as the Captain thinks before
beginning another one of his rants. He
says that he is afraid for the world to think of eternity, and here his voice
becomes soft and fearful. When he sings
the word “eternal” the pitch jumps up dramatically and eerily, and his voice as
well as the music is held for a few seconds, emphasizing once again his
obsession with the idea of passing time. Then a low brass instrument descends
as he reconsiders for a moment, going the opposite way of his paranoia, and the
music seems to calm down as the Captain does.
Then, when he admits to Wozzeck his terror of the whole world revolving
in one short day, the flutes frantically play a passage in the upper register as
his fear returns once again. His voice
is brought down again, as the Captain sings at a lower pitch and in a softer
manner whenever he is afraid. His fear turns to hysteria once again, however,
when the music, along with his voice, escalates in volume and texture (more
instruments are added as it ascends and gets louder), the
flutes play a very frantic passage, the rolling of the drum adds suspension and
build up, and the musical climax is reached when he talks about the mill-wheel
that turns. Just speaking of the
mill-wheel causes him extreme distress, and it becomes the musical climax of
the dissonant passage. But before
admitting to his physical reaction to the mill-wheel—extreme depression—the
music stops suddenly. After a single
chord, the Captain confesses that he gets melancholia. His voice is radically
lower than where it had been when singing the words “mill-wheel that turns”
because he seems to be ashamed of the last part of his sentence. There is a slight pause before he says the
word “melancholia” and his voice drops even more in shame when he sings
it. The music remains absent from the
second half of the sentence—the confession of weakness—and his voice gets lower
and lower as if he is trying not to emphasize what he is saying. Again, Wozzeck’s response seems automatic and
monotonous: a simple “yes sir, I see sir” with extremely limited musical
elaboration or accompaniment.
The orchestra comes to the rescue
when Wozzeck still remains uninterested in the Captain’s conversation,
dissonant and eerie as usual, but this time with the viola. It takes precedent throughout the Captain’s
next rant, adding a little something extra to the music just as the Captain
tries to engage Wozzeck in conversation.
He declares Wozzeck to be a “worthy man,” and repeats this phrase, the
second time his voice rising in certainty and emphasis. When he states that worthy men do all things
slowly, the words are dragged out and brass instruments join in with repeated
notes, taking their time, and move downward.
Then the music seems to die down slightly in volume, as if it is taking
time. The viola takes on a trill,
wanting resolution (Wozzeck’s participation), and the Captain encourages Wozzeck
to say something, to resolve the trill and partake in the conversation. But the viola continues by playing seventh
chords, which almost demand a resolution (Wozzeck).
Yet Wozzeck still remains silent, and the flutes join in to help
move the conversation along. They play
descending, short passages that sound desperate, uncertain and nervous, and the
Captain, desperate for conversation, resorts to asking about the weather. Not surprisingly, Wozzeck replies that the
weather is not good, and that there is a wind.
Here, the flute passages are understood as representing the weather, and
right before the word “wind” is sung, they rise up and down frantically,
howling like the weather. When the
Captain replies that he can feel the wind, as well, the xylophone enters with
snippets of high notes, just a glimpse of the weather that is going on
outside. As he continues, all of the
instruments rise up and down like the wind, and when he sings the word “mouse”
it is at a much higher pitch (like the squeak of a mouse) and he sings the word
in a rather unpleasant manner. It is not
bel canto by any means, nor is it a single pitch. The note seems to vibrate unhappily, and when
he sharply cuts it off the music is accented and the strings stay in the high
range.
The music picks up once again, waiting for Wozzeck to respond, and
when he still does not, the Captain declares that there is a wind blowing from
the “South-North,” jumping up in pitch on the word “south” as the orchestration
becomes thicker and the music jumps upward at dissonant intervals, revealing
that something is off about the statement that was just made. Wozzeck immediately agrees, once again with
the monotonous, automatic response of “Yes sir.” The Captain, having successfully deceived
Wozzeck, erupts in
mockery. The music follows, the brass
entering for the first time in a while, laughing with the Captain with a short
descending, staccato passage repeated numerous times in ridicule. Then, when the Captain laughs again, this
time louder and more obnoxiously, another brass instrument laughs along with
him, louder as well and with more repetitions than before and thicker
orchestration.
Then, after the Captain insults
Wozzeck by calling him dense, the music calms down, slowing in tempo. The flutes perform an ascending/descending
passage, but then descends and slows down without rising again, eventually
coming to a halt. The bassoon, too,
calms down in its laughing matter, playing the interval of a second slower and
slower until it finally seems to give in entirely with a descending passage of
submission. It continues in the lower
range, no longer laughing or mocking but sounding very serious, as the Captain
assures Wozzeck that he is a worthy man.
Once again, the word “worthy” is emphasized, sung at a slightly higher
pitch, and it is obvious that the Captain wants Wozzeck to know his opinion of
him.
With the words “you have no moral sense,” however, more instruments
come back in, as if the Captain wants to emphasize this belief as well. He also emphasizes the word “moral” by
singing it at a higher pitch, and it is obvious that morals are very important
to the Captain. In addition, when he
states that Wozzeck has a child unblessed by the clergy, each word is sung
deliberately and slowly, really driving home the fact that Wozzeck is
immoral. The melody in the music follows
his words syllable for syllable, accenting every part of his statement. It is also set to the dance of a gavotte, a
folk dance associated with
peasants, and this is appropriate as the Captain reminds Wozzeck that his child
was born out of wedlock (something that would only happen to a poor
person).
Now, for the first time, Wozzeck
finally puts some emotion into his response.
It is obvious that the Captain has touched upon a sensitive subject,
because Wozzeck’s answer is animated.
This part of the scene is set to an air, which is often associated with
melody and lyricism. Wozzeck’s response
is also lyrical, and he is finally passionate about the topic of
conversation. He sings in the same range
as the Captain, his monotonous and automatic responses finally broken. The music continues in the chaotic, thick,
dissonance that had accompanied the Captain’s accusation, and finally Wozzeck’s
attention is captured. The captain
quotes the bible on its stance on illegitimate children, and the music as well
as his voice rise as he preaches, stressing the importance of the church, and
his pitch falls once again as he reminds Wozzeck that the words are not his,
and by bringing his voice down the Captain seems to temporarily cease his
hysteria, dropping down to Wozzeck’s social level as if to trying to level with
him and make amends for words that are not his own.
Wozzeck is fully involved in the
conversation now, and like the Captain, when he quotes the bible he takes care
to musically exaggerate the words, slowing down and dictating each syllable of
the gospel. Also, the melody in the
accompaniment follows Wozzeck’s every syllable, just as it had when the Captain
accused him of having a child not blessed by the clergy. This seems to be Wozzeck’s defense, as he
takes special care in the delivery. The
Captain jumps up in rage, and the music jumps up in intensity, volume, and
texture. On the repetitions of the word
“you” the pitch becomes higher and
higher, until with
the final declamation he is shouting it with a high, eerie scream. The rhythm is also off during this rant, as
the Captain tries to cover up his charges by insisting that he had not been
talking to Wozzeck all along.
“Poor folk like us” is an important
line. In his baritone voice, Wozzeck
confidently sings these words, and he seems to burst with emotion. The music that is set to “poor folk like us”
is a leitmotif, associated specifically with Wozzeck and used throughout the
rest of the opera. The leitmotiv is in a
minor key, representing the dismay and melancholy fate of the poor. The rest of Wozzeck’s response, a defense of
poor people, is delivered in a gentler manner, as if to persuade the Captain to
hear his point of view. Yet the music is
still very stately and assertive. There
are no sharp accents or high descending phrases in the flutes. Wozzeck does not to upset the Captain by
being disrespectful; he just wants to get his point across and defend his child
and poor people.
After he reminds the Captain that poor people always need money, the
music slowly descends in a diminuendo, as if sadly acknowledging this sad fact
and dying down as if giving up. When he
speaks of the luxuries of being wealthy, of watches and eyeglasses, the music
becomes more playful and Wozzeck fantasizes.
The xylophone plays a series of short ascending notes, rising and rising
with the thought of the indulgences of lords. Then a stringed instrument plays
a very melancholy phrase, as Wozzeck will never be a lord nor will he have the
luxury of being virtuous. On the word
“unfortunate” the music is very thick with dissonance, the low bass pulsing in
distress. Dissonant staccato pizzicatos
in the strings reinforce his misfortunes, and with thick
percussive accents
by the drums, Wozzeck states that poor people should be thunder-makers. Word painting is employed once again
here.
The Captain, having lost his
argument, retreats from the accusations and once again declares Wozzeck a
worthy man, accenting the word “worthy” just as before. He resorts to the original topic of
discussion, saying “your face always looks so harassed,” and the music of the
opening of the act comes back to close the scene. On the words “do go slowly, quite slowly,”
the music itself slows down, as does the intensity of the instrumentation. Because the music used in the opening
conversation returns at the end, the Captain is pretending that they had never
had the conversation about illegitimate children at all, and sends Wozzeck
off. Then the music proceeds slowly,
following the command of the Captain, and the trumpet slowly grows higher and
higher. But soon more instruments join
in, and the music becomes louder and louder, unable to remain slow to appreciate
the passing of time. It sounds rushed once again, and the scene ends in
complete chaos and frustration with a loud bang of the timpani.
By sending Wozzeck off into the
world at the end of the scene, the Captain is reassuring his power and superiority
to Wozzeck. He spends the entire scene
trying to involve Wozzeck in conversation, and when he finally achieves this,
he immediately backs down again because Wozzeck gets defensive and argues with
him. Sick of losing his own game, he gives up the argument and goes right back
to insulting Wozzeck. He uses his
authority to play with Wozzeck’s emotions, riling him up about his child and
then immediately backing down and sending him away. The Captain has the power to do this, and it
shows just the beginning of how everyone in Wozzeck’s life treats him poorly. One of Berg’s
objectives in the opera was to highlight Wozzeck as a social outcast, and he is
off to a convincing start with the Captain and Wozzeck.
Works Cited
Zschorlich, Paul. Deutsche
Zeitung. Berlin, December 15,
1925. Transl. MEB
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