Part II

1. Start - 5'00"

ii. Segmentation

Having arrived at a general division of the work into three large-scale sections through listening, comprising onset, continuant and termination (as shown on the listening score overview), work on  the bottom-up process of segmentation can take place. The first stage of this is to identify the small-scale sound-objects which will be grouped together to provide the surface level of segmentation. In attempting this, a number of interesting features begin to emerge in this largest-scale onset section, particularly concerning the boundaries between sound objects.
The predominant morphological model present at the opening is an open attack-decay, presented as an irregular repetitive sequence (indicated clearly by material type 1, discussed above) which marks the music's obvious division into small-scale sound units for the first two minutes. A number of these attacks are led up to by smaller pre-attacks (clearly seen at 17") or dynamic swells (at 13" and 41" for example), both in the orchestra. These anacruses or upbeats, attached and leading on to the main attack which follows, are often ambiguous, in the sense that they are not clearly detached or separated from the previous attack gesture, of which they form, or emerge from, its continuant. A certain degree of overlap occurs between these units as the end of one appears to become the start of the next, without this change being clearly articulated. Dotted lines are used to identify this in the segmentation on the graphic score. Perhaps the clearest explanation for this ambiguity is that at this stage of the work the musical units remain, to varying degrees, open, often with weak or non-existent termination phases, the first of these which is clearly identifiable does not occur until the fourth sound-unit identified (17"-26"). This contrasts with the onset part of these basic level sound units (or continuant where there is an upbeat) which are clearly and unambiguously defined by the irregular attack sequence already discussed.
As this section proceeds, the attack sequence becomes more widely spaced and, as a result of this, the musical objects become generally longer, as the gesturally-propelled material of the opening gradually gives way to more textural material (within the orchestra). This is coupled with a move away from the attack-decay as the basic morphological model (which is led away from), to its reversed form (which is led up to). Further structural implications of this will be shown below.
After completing this small-scale segmentation, the process is then repeated to group together the units identified at this first stage into a larger-scale level, the results of which are themselves grouped, and so on, until the largest-scale form of the work is reached and the connection between small and large-scale form revealed. The results of this process are indicated on the accompanying graphic score, the layers being numbered from 1, the smallest scale, to 6 the largest (not shown). It is at this stage that the specific boundary between the onset and continuant portions of the whole work can be identified (4' 11") and a number of important features regarding the segmentation of this section of the work seen.
The first of these concerns the differences between the onset, continuant and termination sections (o, c, t) which the whole of this first section can be divided into and which is shown as the 5th level of segmentation on the graphic score. The clearest difference is seen at the start of each of these sections and chiefly concerns material type 2, identified previously. At the very opening of Verblendungen, this material, on tape, has a clear attack-decay morphology which persists throughout the whole level 5 onset. The start of both the following continuant (at 2' 06") and termination phases (at 3' 04") at this level are marked by the reversed form of this morphological model. There is a clear connection between this change and the process identified above, whereby the strongly attack dominated opening gradually gives way to more textural material. The change in the morphology of this material (type 2) makes clear the gradual weakening of the structural importance of the opening attacks, which occurs through this first part of the piece and the increasing importance of the upbeat. The progress of this process is clearly seen at the start of the termination phase, where the strongly directional upbeat (c. 3' 04" - 3' 09") is followed by a comparatively weak, delayed and almost non-existent, attack, the upbeat providing the gestural push forward, not the attack itself.
The number of levels of segmentation within this first part of the piece is also worthy of comment.  At the very opening, five levels of segmentation are identified (level six being the largest-scale segmentation of the whole work). These five hierarchical layers are consistently present through this onset portion. The incomplete nature of many of the sound objects within this structural layer, which are without clear termination phases, previously identified on level one of the segmentation of this section, continues up through the next two levels of segmentation (levels 2 and 3). Figure 9 reveals further patternings within these five layers.

The fourth level of segmentation, which has an identifiable onset, continuant and termination, is formed of six units from level 3, which are grouped into three pairs (onset and continuant). Each of these level 3 units itself groups together five level 2 units, the first two of these being identical (oc + oct), the third being a reverse of this pattern (oct + oc).
The move away from the exact repetition of level 3, with its three onset-continuant groups, towards more general patterning seen at level 2 is continued down to the smallest-scale of level one, where more complex organisation taking place. Most of the groupings which take place on this level result in onset-continuant pairs, with only three (of fifteen) units having a termination phase. These tripartite groups are evenly distributed within the boundaries of the higher level units identified, one occurring within the continuant phase of each level 3 group.
Figure 10 shows an overview of the remaining level 5 phases, the continuant and termination, of this first section of the piece. The five structural layers present throughout the level 5 onset do not all continue through these subsequent sections. Instead each loses a structural layer, with the continuant having four and the termination three. This structural simplification is coupled with the processes of lengthening identifiable musical objects and increase in textural importance identified previously. Despite the variability in the number of their structural layers, these two sections are consistent, in those layers which are present, with much of the segmentational structure of the previous level 5 onset. The smallest level groups 'oc' and 'oct' units as before, now with more complete tripartite groups and level 2 continues its alternation of 'oc' and 'oct' units. Level 3 is similarly consistent where it is present, in the level 5 continuant section, being made up of only onset and continuant phases.

One final point of note regarding the segmentation of this section is the coincidence of three complete 'oct' groupings at the end of this level 6 onset section (in levels 1,2 and 5). This is worthy of note given the presence of many 'oc' groups throughout the previous material and reinforces the idea of this phase (the onset) of the work ending.