Formale Kohärenz und Sprengung des Gefüges

When in 1923 the piano-score of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck was sent to critics and theatre directors, a chart was included indicating traditional and new formal designs in the opera’s musical organisation. This chart and the composer’s subsequent comments strongly influenced the early reception of the opera to the point that it became difficult for analysts to approach the work from a different point of view. Although the formal designs were indeed very important for the compositional process of the opera, they were counteracted and modified by strong undercurrents. This aspect is examplified by an analysis of the first scene of the second act (“Schmuckszene”). In this scene, Wozzeck surprises Marie admiring the ear-rings, given to her by the Drum Major. A short dialogue ensues, in which Wozzeck calms down Marie who is agitated by her bad conscience. Wozzeck leaves her alone with their child again, while Marie is fatalistically lamenting her fate. According to the formal analysis authorized by Berg the scene is based on a traditional firstmovement sonata form. The three-part-exposition is coordinated with Marie (first theme), the child (transition and secondary theme) and Wozzeck (closing theme). This sequence of thematic units reappears three more times (Reprise 1, Development, Reprise 2 / Coda). Apart from the sonata form skeleton, however, there are three arguably more significant principles contributing to the musical fabric and form: 1. A tendency to contraction and acceleration. The five main parts of the form (Exposition, Reprise 1, Development, Reprise 2, Coda) gradually decrease in length. This tendency can also be observed within each part in the increasing contraction of the subdivisions. The larger temporal shape of the scene is thus characterized by an inexorable progress toward a goal, rather than being constrained by the demands of symmetrical balance in Classical sonata form. 2. The tempo-structure of the piece is “fan-shaped”; this means that the sequence of events forms a “wedge-progression”, in which the tempi increasingly diverge. Once the extremes of tempo are reached, at the end of the development, the music breaks out of the frame of construction and abandons thematic unity. 3. Cyclic repetition. Contrary to the discontinuity of the wedge-progression (and in some respects contrary to the sonata principle), Berg pays attention to the continuity of the structural background. Most specifically, the development turns out to be a varied repetition of the first half of the exposition. This creates a multilayeredness of structure, which reflects the ambiguity of the dialogue between Marie and Wozzeck on the stage. In the coda the closing reappearence of the first theme in the bass leads to a metrically displaced collage-like combination of material of both the first and the secondary group.