Webern

Summary

Dominique Pagani refers to Anton Webern mainly as a member of the Second Viennese School, which he mentions several times when he traces the history of modern music123. He considers that this school remakes a European music4. In his view, Webern's writing is a reaction against post-Wagnerian gigantism: a highly temporal music that goes as far as evanescence5, with works lasting a few seconds and scored for small forces6. He links this point to his reflection on Nietzsche against Wagner and on the political dimension of aesthetics. He also looks further back: according to him, Beethoven's last bagatelles already foreshadow Webern7. He also reports that listeners compared the fast movements of a quartet under discussion to Webern's music8. In these passages, Webern is cited as a reference point rather than studied work by work.

1. 1#3 What is called modern music?3 Dec 2020 · 24:47
2. 2#12 Nietzsche (right up) against Wagner28 Jan 2021 · 7:59
3. 3John Lewis: classical or jazz?29 Jun 2022 · 0:42
4. 4#10 The two Klemperers and Bruno Walter in Wagner18 Jan 2021 · 25:04
5. 5#10.4 From Lascaux to modern music, the permanence of the political stakes in aesthetics3 Nov 2021 · 2:01:03
6. 6Nietzsche: no pity for Wagner27 Jul 2022 · 3:30
7. 7#2 From Lévi-Strauss to Nerval, on music3 Dec 2020 · 19:07
8. 8#10.4 From Lascaux to modern music, the permanence of the political stakes in aesthetics3 Nov 2021 · 5:22

Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.