Arnold Schönberg
Piano Piece, op. 33a
First draft. 25 December 1928

With the opera From Today till Tomorrow, op. 32, Schönberg established a standard for the combination of row forms, which would remain relevant for the structuring of almost all of his later works: “the inversion a fifth below of the first six tones, the antecedent, should not produce a repetition of one of these six tones, but should bring forth the hitherto unused six tones of the chromatic scale. The advantage of this is that melodic segments built from the first set of six pitches can be accompanied by harmonies built from the second set of six pitches, without any pitch duplication.“ The fragmentary first draft of Piano Piece, op. 33a, which he began on 25 December 1928, was preserved on a single page, the bottom of which contains a row table. On the left half of the page, Schönberg notated the primary form with the inversion, transposed down by a perfect fifth. The six opening four-note chords provide a motto-like prefix consisting of the row and its inversion. They appear at key points of the work and form the harmonic backbone of the entire composition. The song-like subsidiary idea, which begins with the indication “cantabile“ (3rd system), corresponds to the primary form in the treble clef, while the melody in the bass linearly unfolds the inversion transposed by a fifth.