Anton Webern's Six Pieces for Ocrhestra, op. 6, Arrangement for ...

in Quellenstudien I: Gustav Mahler-Igor Strawinsky-Anton Webern-Frank Martin
(Veröffentlichungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung, 2), ed. Hans Oesch (Winterthur: Amadeus,
1991), pp. 53-100; Felix Meyer/Anne Shreffler, "Webern's Revisions: Some Analytical
Implications," in Music Analysis 12/3 (1993): 355-79.
29 The revised version has been available in a pocket score since 1956 (Philharmonia
Scores No. 394). Even before this version had been produced (in the summer of 1928),
Webern apparently undertook a new reorchestration for a planned performance under
Hermann Scherchen; cf. Erich Wolfgang Partsch, "Ergänzungen zur
Verbreitungsgeschichte von Weberns Sechs Orchesterstücken op. 6," in 40,000
Musikerbriefe auf Knopfdruck: Methoden der Verschlagwortung anhand des UE-
Briefwechsels-Untersuchungen-Detailergebnisse, ed. Ernst Hilmar (Tutzing: H. Schneider,
1989), pp. 55-62.
30 Cf. Webern's notation to this effect in a program book from the year 1933, quoted by
Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern (see note 6), p. 128.
31 Due to the shortening mentioned, the revised version's measure numbers differ from
those of the original version by one.
32 Letter to Arnold Schoenberg of August 20, 1928, quoted after Moldenhauer, Anton von
Webern (see note 6), p. 128.
33 Mention should also be made here of Webern's later reservation with regard to the
programmatic dimension of his music, as can be seen from the way he described his music.
For example, while in a letter of January 13, 1913, to Arnold Schoenberg, Webern refers
extensively to the autobiographical background of the Six Pieces- -the funeral of his
mother in 1906--in the program note of 1933 mentioned above (see note 30), he limits
himself to the following cues: "expectation of catastrophe" (No. 1), "certainty of its
fulfillment" (No. 2), "the most tender contrast" (No. 3), "funeral march" (No. 4),
"remembrance" (No. 5), "resignation" (No. 6); quoted after Moldenhauer, Anton von
Webern (see note 6), p. 128.
34 Cf. Joachim Noller, "Fasslichkeit-eine kulturhidtorische Studie zur Ästhetik Weberns,"
in Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 43/3 (1986): 169-80. It was by no means accidental that
Webern remarked that the revised orchestral version, as distinct from the original version,
looked "like an old Haydn score." (Letter of August 20, 1928, to Alban Berg: quoted from
Moldenhauer, Anton von Webern [see note 6], p. 129).