Page 255 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

The Sarajevo Period of Dane Škerl’s Artistic Activity
Table 3: Symphony No. 2. Largo. Dodecaphonic raw (Pi) and its versions.

Chromatic total i ii iii iv V vi vii viii ix X xi xii
of the precom-
posed material D D# E F F# G G# A Bb B C C#
li Ix lix Iviii liii lii Ixii Ixi Ivi Ivii liv Iv
Pi D B Bb A E Eb Db C G G# F F# Ri
Piv F D Db C G Gb E Eb Bb B Ab A Riv
Pv F# D# D C# G# G F E B C A Bb Rv
Pvi G E D# D A G# F# F C C# A# B Rvi
Pxi C A G# G D C# B Bb F F# D# E Rxi
Pxii C# A# A G# D# D C B F# G E F Rxii
Pii D# C B A# F E D C# G# A F# G Rii
Piii E C# C B F# F D# D A A# G G# Riii
Pviii A F# F E B Bb G# G D D# C C# Rviii
Pvii Ab F E Eb Bb A G F# Db D B C Rvii
Px B G# G F# C# C Bb A E F D Eb Rx
Pix Bb G F# F C B A Ab Eb E Db D Rix
Rli Rlx Rlix Rlviii Rliii Rlii Rlxii Rlxi Rlvi Rlvii Rliv Rlv

After the Symphony No. 3 (1965), which continues the compositional
paradigm of the No. 2, Bagatele for piano makes Škerl’s interest in organised
atonality more complex. The works in Bagatele are piano miniatures (Table 4),
dealing with the 12-tone row as the main material. The row is constructed ac-
cording to a compositional method similar to the one used in Symphony No.
2. It is based on the chromatic total of the pitch A (Table 5), which imposes it-
self as harmonic centre. In this, the row is initially presented in the vertical
dodecaphony in b. 1 of the Bagatela No. 1, organised as corresponding chords
which favour certain pitches due to their octave doubling and, additionally,
perfect fifth, in which the pitch A is accompanied with in the first chord of the
right-hand part. The chordal texture of the row organisation primarily has an
introductory rather than expositional formal function, and this material will
occasionally be used in the subsequent music flow, behaving as a kind of ritor-
nelo section, taking turns with the linear exposition of the row’s primary form
– which happens for the first time in b. 2 in both hands in octave doubled
semiquavers – and later (Poco meno, right hand part) organised in such a way
that it is practically in juxtaposition with the retrograde form in the left hand.

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