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An innovative approach to serialism: George Rochberg's Twelve Bagatelles for Piano and Symphony No. 2

Kim, Yoojin
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187133890

Abstract Details

2007, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Music.
George Rochberg (1918-2005) was a leading American composer who experimented with various musical styles. Influenced by Schoenberg and Dallapiccola, Rochberg started composing serial music in the mid-1950s. However, his serial music contains more traditional elements than Schoenberg’s serial style, and this makes his music more accessible and understandable to the listener. Rochberg blended serialism with traditional styles of melodic presentation, rhythm, and formal structure. Rochberg is more highly regarded as a composer than as a theorist, but, he did present his own theoretical ideas in a monograph, The Hexachord and Its Relation to the 12-Tone Row, which is based on the symmetric hexachordal structure of the series. It is not a well-known book, and it was criticized as unprofessional by contemporary theorists. Nevertheless it treated the theoretical aspects of music that interested him, and presented ideas that influenced his own music. Rochberg’s first 12-tone work, Twelve Bagatelles for Piano (1952) follows a strict serial style, but, his later Symphony No. 2, shows a more flexible use of the row, and a more traditional sound based on his idiosyncratic construction of the 12-tone series. It focuses on how Rochberg’s serial music is made approachable to audiences because it has close connections to conventional musical idioms. Rochberg’s music gives prominence to structurally well-organized melody. Even though he does not indicate words, such as Hauptstimme and Nebenstimme, as shown in Schoenberg’s music, Rochberg’s melodic line presents predictable phrasings and structures. Much of this study deals with exploring Rochberg’s structuring of the 12-tone series and examining his linear and vertical structures in these two representative serial works. It also reevaluates Rochberg’s position as a theorist, a composer, and a critic by examining where Rochberg’s theory comes from and how his theory influenced later composers and theorists.
Lora Dobos (Advisor)
Music
George Rochberg; Serialism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kim, Y. (2007). An innovative approach to serialism: George Rochberg's Twelve Bagatelles for Piano and Symphony No. 2 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187133890

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kim, Yoojin. An innovative approach to serialism: George Rochberg's Twelve Bagatelles for Piano and Symphony No. 2. 2007. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187133890.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kim, Yoojin. "An innovative approach to serialism: George Rochberg's Twelve Bagatelles for Piano and Symphony No. 2." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1187133890

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.