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. . . The first movement
[of Schoenberg’s Five Pieces
for Orchestra] begins with this little tune.
[E, F, A, G-sharp, A, C-sharp.]
. In constructing the [opening] chord [C, G-sharp, B, E, A] [for the third movement], all he did was take the first trichord from the first movement [B, C, E] and combine it with its own inversion centered around E [E, G-sharp, A]. The chord was derived from that trichord-type (015), with a note in common where the two trichords overlap (the note in common being that E that’s had such a central role) to make it perfectly clear that the chord is symmetrical. Symmetry is not any kind of geometrical metaphor or anything of this kind. It simply means that you have a chord which is internally redundant, and this involves repetition of intervals.
Milton Babbitt
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