A Study On The Harmony Of Webern’s Second Cantata,Op.31

20th century classical music was a time of turbulence and change, a time when many composers developed strikingly different approaches to composition. Anton Webern was an example of the Second Viennese School of composition. His compositions are succinct but complex, containing advanced logical organization, and his works had a profound influence on all others after him.Webern’s Second Cantata, for Soprano solo, bass solo, mixed chorus and orchestra, Op.31, was the last piece that he completed. This was his longest work and is a mature example of twelve-tone serial music. In this piece, Webern maintained the elements of serial music while continuing to develop them in new directions. This study is a harmonic analysis of his Second Cantata, Op.31, a comprehensive analysis of his pitch organization as well as compositional style.This thesis is divided into five chapters:the first chapter is a short introduction to Webern’s life as well as the Second Cantata, Op.31. The second chapter analyzes his original series, series selection, series grouping, and series presentation mode. The third chapter looks at his chord materials, chord material interactions, and transverse line and chord material interaction relationships in order to analyze his harmonic form. The fourth chapter contains the overall layout of the serial tones he uses, as well as an analysis of his serial tone connecting processing and the potential tonality of the serial tones. The fifth chapter examines the relationship between his musical pitches and lyrics. After doing a deep and thorough analysis of his work using these several different methods and angles, there is a summary of Webern’s Second Cantata, Op.31, describing his overall pitch organization technique and compositional approach. After looking at Webern’s piece from the micro level to the macro level, we are left with a deeper appreciation for his work.