Anton Webern

An Austrian creator of atonal and twelve-tone compositions across vocal, symphonic, ensemble, and choral genres, Webern gained recognition above all for Six Pieces for Orchestra (1913). Within the circle known as the Viennese School, Berg is often cast as its romantic voice and Schoenberg as its dramatic lyricist; Webern, by contrast, functions as the pointillistic impressionist. He forged an entirely fresh sonic palette and compositional method, rendering him, in one estimation, the most forward-looking figure among those surveyed. From the refined elegance of Das Augenlicht (“The Light of the Eyes”) for orchestra and chorus (1936), through the suspended, constellation-like balances of the celebrated Piano Variations (1936), to the varied timbral enigmas of Six Pieces for Orchestra (1913), he pursued an elemental clarity and grace he believed already resided in earlier traditions—one occasion found him declining to analyze a work’s architecture for a pianist and simply requesting that it be performed “like Bach.” Webern remains the archetypal trailblazer.