Skip to content

Anton Webern / VI. Modernism

Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6

1909 · Wind instruments and percussion

3 min

Recording

IV. Langsam (Marcia funebre)Columbia Symphony Orchestra; Robert Craft
3:28
The fourth of Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, is a funeral march marked Langsam. It opens with bass drum, tam-tam and low bells, the strings are silent throughout, and Robert Craft conducts its gradual crescendo from a very soft start to a final loud passage for the percussion.
Listening notes
1. Opening percussion, bars 1–⁠10
  A bass-drum roll sounds under quiet strokes of tam-tam and low bells, which Webern places at a distance. The winds then enter. The strings do not play in this movement.
2. Bass-drum strokes, bars 19–⁠27
  An alto-flute phrase passes to horn and muted trumpet, over soft chords in muted trombones and tuba. The bass drum stops its continuous roll and plays separate strokes beneath the melody.
3. Brass climax and percussion crescendo
  Horns and trombones play their short phrases louder. The tempo then broadens as drums, tam-tam and bells grow beneath them. The wind instruments stop before the end, and the percussion plays the final crescendo alone.
Open in the Concert Hall