“A True and Genuine Music”: Berg’s Linear Counterpoint
Abstract
Although many post-tonal languages, particularly those of Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg, move away from tonality, they never abandon a musical logic based on the conduct of voices, that is, linear progressions. On the contrary, they maintain an emphasis on voice conducting, or linear directed motion, as a means of creating structure, continuity and unity. As a result, even in the absence of a tonal framework, it is possible to perceive an underlying contrapuntal-linear structure in many post-tonal works and to hear and understand certain pitches and sonorities in a post-tonal work as structuring elements of interrelated, linear, and directed virtual voices. To illustrate this, the author presents an analysis of an early piece by Julius Schloss, a student of Alban Berg, and then the first and last pieces of Berg's Fünf Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtskarten-Texten von Peter Altenberg Op. 4, also known as Altenberg Lieder. The analyses provide a thorough and detailed explanation of the linear counterpoint underlying a limited vocabulary of motifs, perceived salient pitches and virtual voices.
