20세기 음악에 나타난 대위적 텍스처의 양상들 (Ⅰ)

Contrapuntal texture in 20th-century music

Music in 20th-century, with the diminishing importance of tonality, has placed its emphasis rather on linearity and horizontality than on harmony and verticality. In terms of 20th-century counterpoint, therefore, we have some particular points to observe: first, the problems of insufficiency in vertical consideration, and of octave equivalence, and particularly, the fact of rising importance of parameters other than pitch, such as timbre, duration, articulation, ambitus, and octave range. Accordingly, in study of 20th-century counterpoint, there is a necessity for exploring these various parameters as a whole. Second, in examination of contrapuntal texture in 20th-century music, each proper method for individual composers or pieces is necessary, because 20th-century atonal music does not have a common pitch system or style of composition. To demonstrate an example, I have examined the contrapuntal texture of Anton Webern's Sechs Bagatellen for string quartet, op. 9, no. 5 into details. This is a piece for four instruments with homogeneous timbre, yet it shows subtle change of texture by means of sophisticated playing techniques, articulations, spacing, durations in a quintessential piece of musical aphorism.