Before adopting atonality, Webern wrote in a style heavily influenced by Brahms and Schoenberg.
A tonal, intensely lyrical work written during a hiking trip with his future wife. It is characterized by lush harmonies and late-Romantic yearning . Anton Webern - Complete Music for String Quarte...
Anton Webern ’s complete output for string quartet represents a radical condensation of musical language, moving from the lush post-Romanticism of the early 1900s to the ultra-distilled "jewel-like" aphorisms of the Second Viennese School . Because Webern's total published output is famously brief—just over three hours for his entire life's work—his quartet music is often collected on a single disc, such as those by the Quartetto Italiano or Emerson String Quartet . 1. Early Post-Romantic Works (c. 1905) Before adopting atonality, Webern wrote in a style
A single-movement work inspired by a triptych of paintings. It is more vigorous than the Langsamer Satz and marks the beginning of his transition toward more complex chromaticism . 2. The Atonal and Aphoristic Middle Period Anton Webern ’s complete output for string quartet
As Webern moved away from traditional keys, his music became "pointillistic," emphasizing silence and precise tone colors . ANTON WEBERN – Early Works for String Quartet