Music is undoubtedly a temporal art. Most discussions around music tend to focus on its unfolding at performance or perceptual time. However, when composing or analysing a particular piece, different time scales are uncovered that range from the architectural view of the piece as a whole to that of a working out of a particular passage, a chord or a single sound event. These different perspectives of time precede performance and yet are rarely taken into account when discussing musical meaning.
Anton Webern’s variations for piano op. 27 is probably one of the most written about pieces of atonal music. Much has been said about its form, symmetries, rows, etc. In this experiment, we will expand the scope of temporal perspectives of the second movement of this Webern’s op.27
Social networks and the easy access to the Internet promote a fast and inmediate use of knowledge in many of the human actions. Is it possible to use this environment to promote reflection? The online and expanded version of these Anton Webern’s variations for piano op. 27, 2nd movement, explores the potential of Instagram as an alternative performance to promote reflection and uncover otherwise hidden aspects of the piece.
This work has been presented at Jornades ab Sentits:
- E. Guaus, F. Pastor. Challenging the Hegemony of Performative Time in Music. Expanding the Temporal Perception of Webern’s op.27. Jornades ab Sentits. Barcelona, Nov. 22, 2019.