Webern's Path To New Music. Part 1

Started to read Webern's Path to New Music today, very inspiring and also opened me up to a new dimension and thinking in music. The book "Path To New Music" is a transcription of Weberns public lectures during the 1930s and the lectures were catered not only for musicians but also for layman.

Webern used a lot of Quotes of Goethe and also adopted Goethe's "Theory of Colour" (I guess Webern was a fan of Goethe). Webern mentioned that music is a natural law like what Goethe mentioned in his "Theory of Colour" that light are the natural law for sight, so music is the natural law for hearing. According to Webern, human are like empty vessels, it is nature which fills in musical elements into the "human vessels".

Webern believes that musical elements like diatonic scales and notes are not invented but discovered, meaning that 12 tones technique was being discovered by schoenberg rather than invented. in Webern point of view, each musical notes are very complex because each notes have their own overtones which are infinite, therefore each notes should be treated as important.

Consonences and dissonances are to be view as similar. Because triads are treated as "Equalibrium" force of the notes (Newton's 3rd law of force and motion: what goes up must come down). Triads exist during primitive times but it was discovered much later.

Webern view music as something which is the same as a languge because music can be used to express and communicate with their audiences as it is a law of nature, something music can express things that even words cannot express. Music should be comprehensive and to get to understand a particular music language, spiritual involvement is essential.

After reading through the first 4 lectures, I did some reflection on my point of view in music. During my music modules, my professors did mentioned about overtone series of a note itself, there was a lesson on schoenberg's 12 tone music, when I learned that schoenberg treated all notes as equally important. So what is the significants of treating all musical notes equal ? Well, finally got the answer today, kind of happy about it. Today is just the beginning of my journey in reading this book, I am sure I will learn more as I go deeper into the book. Great Book!!!

To Be Continue.......