Music : Expressionism

'Peripetie' from five orchestral pieces is an atonal (no significant key signature) Expressionist piece of music written by Austrian composer Schoenberg (who is associated with the expressionist movement of the early twentieth century and was the founder of the second Viennese school of music). It was composed in 1909, written for a big orchestra, made up of mainly flutes oboes clarinets and bassoons. Additionally some other brass instruments and percussion play in the piece such as the trumpet, trombone, xylophone, cymbals and bass drum.

'Peripetie' can be described as a very intense and restless piece of music with many quick changes in speed, mood and instrumentation. The translation of Peripetie into english is ' a sudden change in fortune'', which perfectly describes the nature of this piece.

One factor which makes 'Peripetie' a clear example of expressionist music is the instrumentation. In this piece the instruments are often played at the extreme of their registers, heightening the dramatic style which sets the stage for this expressionist piece of music by including extreme contrasts in the dynamics, which can be seen in the score of the piece where Schoenberg marks from 'pp' to 'fff'. Another two factors which portray the genre of this piece are the constantly changing textures and unusual structure; there are many motifs which are changed throughout the piece however there is no concrete main melody. It is made out of complicated melodic fragments which are based on 6 notes from 12 different semitones in a scale, known as hexachords, which are almost in rondo form (abaca..) where the same melodic idea returns many times. The 'a' theme, which returns more than twice, are each very different to each other and described as 'almost unrecognisable'. This creates a sensation of unawareness , a feeling of unpredictability and suspense for the listener, we never expect what we will hear next. The idea of using free rondo form