Shadows, wraiths, and amoebas:the distinctive flops of Anton Webern in the United States

Abstract

On January 13, 1924, the music of Anton Webern was performed for the first time in the United States. It did not go well. Over the course of the next five years, performances of Webern’s works in the United States would become more frequent, but they just kept flopping. Some critics dismissed Webern’s compositions as “strange little things”; others went further, claiming that the music contained “neither melody, harmony, [n]or rhythm.” But if Webern’s music didn’t become better-liked during this period, it at least became better known. Webern developed a reputation distinct from that of his fellow modernists thanks to his incredibly quiet and remarkably brief compositions. Though critics did not respond positively to these qualities, they did take notice, with nearly every review from the period containing phrases such as “mere shadows of sound” or “scarcely perceptible tonal wraiths.” In one notable reception trend, Webern’s works were repeatedly likened to the sounds of animals, insects, skeletons, and even amoebas. Yet, far from presaging an eventual fading away, the initial flops endured by Webern’s music in the United States helped establish its staying power. The music may have failed, but in doing so it drew attention to Webern as an idiosyncratic composer unlike any other. As Nicolas Slonimsky once argued, “[n]ot every musical monstrosity is a potential musical masterpiece, but its chances of becoming one are measurably better than those of a respectable composition of mediocre quality.” Put another way, the story of Webern’s music in the United States proves that it matters how you flop.