Structural Functions of the Twelve-Tone Row in René Leibowitz’s Trois pièces pour piano op. 19

Abstract

The composer René Leibowitz was known after his death mainly as a conductor, music theorist, and teacher dedicated to disseminating Schoenberg’s music and twelve-tone technique. Whereas his life and musical thought have both been extensively researched and documented, little attention has hitherto been paid to Leibowitz’s large compositional output (93 twelve-tone works in the major genres), with several exceptions, such as the emblematic Chamber Symphony op. 16 (1946–48) and the Third String Quartet op. 26 (1951). This article focuses on the Trois pièces pour piano op. 19 (1949/50), analyzing the primary sources (annotated score, sketch books, and the unpublished “Traité de la composition avec douze sons” from 1950, all at Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel). In the works between opp. 16 and 26 Leibowitz contributed not only to the consolidation of his twelve-tone method (generally traced back to Schoenberg and Webern), but also to its individualization and partial emancipation from his models. His approach in this period grew from the total functionalization of the twelve-tone series by means of serial segmentation, the structural use of the fragmented twelve-tone row, and the uncommon highlighting of the outer hexachord notes in the form of an omnipresent four-tone sequence that represents the real Grundgestalt of the expressive composition, thus providing unity to the three-movement work.