Form in Expressionism

As a reaction to the massive excesses of Romanticism, composers began to work with forms as concise and aphoristic as possible, saying as much as possible with as little as possible.

Consider what moderation is required to express oneself so briefly. You can stretch out every glance into a poem, every sigh into a novel. But to express a novel in a single gesture, a joy in a breath – such concentration can only be present in proportion to the absence of self-pity. –Arnold Schönberg, after hearing the Six Bagatelles op. 9 (1913) of Anton Webern, whose total duration is only 3’30”