Viktor Ullmann’s Twelve-Tone Technique in the Context of the Second Viennese School
Rachel Malinow Bergman (Yale University)

Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944), a Jewish, Austro-Hungarian composer who was killed in the Holocaust, was greatly influenced by Schoenberg and his circle. By the early 1920’s, critics hailed Ullmann as a "brilliant exponent of the twelve-tone system," though, unfortunately, none of these early serial compositions have survived. The only two extant works exhibiting Ullmann’s serial technique are the slow movements of the String Quartet No. 3 (January 1943) and the Piano Sonata No. 7 (August 1944), the latter of which is based on an 8-tone row. Both works were written during the final two years of Ullmann’s life, while he was interned in Theresienstadt (or “Terezin”), a “model” concentration camp just north of Prague that allowed, and eventually encouraged, musical activity. The musical language of Ullmann’s serial compositions resonates with much of the early twelve-tone music of the Second Viennese School. This paper places Ullmann’s serial music in the context of specific works by Schoenberg, Berg, and, to a lesser extent, Webern, focusing primarily on Schoenberg’s opp. 23-25 and Berg’s Lyric Suite. While an exploration of these works reveals many parallels, Ullmann’s musical style emerges as uniquely innovative and personal, characterized by a coherent integration of tonal and post-tonal procedures.


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