A Model for the Pitch Structure of Webern's Op. 23 No. 1, "Das dunkle Herz"
Brian Alegant · Music Theory Spectrum · 1991
This paper formulates a model for the pitch structure of Webern's “Das dunkle Herz” by focusing on the properties of certain transformations of the 12-tone row, and by examining the pitch organization articulated by retrograde symmetries (pitch and pitch-class palindromes) and piece-specific RI-symmetrical configurations that occur at the junctures of successive rows. These R- and RI-symmetrical constellations, and the pitches that anchor them, form a transformational network that governs not only the surface realization of the song, but the deeper levels of structure as well.