Overview
Introduction
Anton Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24 (German, Konzert für neun Instrumente, op. 24, 1934) is a twelve-tone concerto for nine instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, and piano; containing three movements: I. Etwas lebhaft, II. Sehr langsam, and III. Sehr rasch; and composed with a derived row, "often cited [such as by Milton Babbitt (1972)] as a paragon of symmetrical construction".
In the words of Luigi Dallapiccola: "a work of incredible conciseness . . . and of unique concentration . . . . Although I did not understand the work completely, I had the feeling of finding an aesthetic and stylistic unity as great as I could wish for. [Prague, September 5, 1935]".
The second movement "limits quite severely the values of many domains," for example featuring "only two durational values (quarter and half note[s])," and, partly as a result, "features great uniformity in texture and gesture".
