spe preigureda more distant mica (odernist mantle was bein, ines te tle was being assumed by sna he end of the century, W generation, ve 10 cl M spel old Schoenberg ag sens rion of German-Austrian comp aing 9). Perhaps no other com composers was Arnold Schoe i 2 ‘ poser, Wagner excepte cen ered sel ee, and his works into musi hisont fe se aught ih ois eganng ith he it at he choeabery's whole rang us eats a9 composition Leche wash stairiee ta chet a never became accomplished on any inst re mal instruction in harmony fr strument. He got from a playing partner « ional forse be had to lock up infomation nan eneploncde ation in an encyclopedia. as so strongly ood see zi ef pgin ti working as 2 bank clerk atthe time, Schoenberg showed some of in 1895; wes to Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942), a young conservato es owas condoctngan amateur chest in whch chow pe fo ter became Schoenberg’ brother inlaw gave his fends ee zemlinsy in count the next Se" sing in his spare time. inthe history of afthat history OF isues—he knew t secure the future of German aces his music squarely within the tpexpand, challenge, (isg5-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945). Ths trinity is sometimes refer “Second Viennese School” by those who seek to put them in a dir tpas the ist Viennese Schoo!” of Haydn, line of succession from a fictional “Fi Beethoven. The term is unfortunate, ssperpetual pupils and also because it 0 ‘musical life at the time. There were other kinds of found in the operas of Franz Schreker (1878-1934) imaginative but more conservative figures such as Pitener (1869-1949), and Franz Schmidt (1874-1939); Vienna ing a so-called Silver Age of operetta, represented by Franz Lehir (1870- Enmerich Kélman (1882-1953), and others. December 1899, the date Schoe! masterpiece, Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Ni end oF the nineteenth century. Verklarte Nacht is a tone poe 4 for string sextet rather than for orchestra 08 if Schoenberg Catng himself as heir to both the programmatic ‘esthetic associated with the emans and the chamber-music tradition of ‘Brahms. Its program was InsP! Dehmel (1863-1920), one of Germany's leading poe nberg place ght), Op. 4 is neatly symbol f A Figure 27-9 Amold Schoenberg, selleporttalt erpoint and some general advice. Schoenb Schoenberg earned his living over veral years by conducting amateur choruses, Sees RCC comp though he is typically viewed as one of the most disruptive composers ‘Western music, few matched Schoenberg's intense eres his technical mastery of its traditions. These are not unrelated fhe musical past well and came to feel that his innovations would music. His desire for both continuity and change gloried Viennese heritage, one that he tried and pass on to his own students, most notably Alban Berg ed ect Mozart, and partly because it positions Berg and Webern ybscures competing currents in the vibrant ‘German Modernism, such as ), as well as in the music of is Max Reger (1873-1916), Hans was also enjoy- 1948), on the manuscript of his first lic of m scored, unusu- ‘were deliberately e New ired by 4s and a prominentThe Hungarian FO" _ =—= vant” (1901. ee Soe ad 41900) sn: MANLE, STRAUSS: AND SCHORN Ig Sane Ne sequen wODEENT = ser san gy nani ASTRO per wrote to Detinel “YOUr Poems hae Se stem, he scoala e comport: They er WHA Bt ma ag gol decadent py developmen Or rather, en without es ee io i inven pone in the VEC ar poems stirred up in me" yah oni i mn erotic, 25 me. The narrative in Verklarye # eto raneihe rane nelle seeaee Ferengi ves hi lover or having become pregnayy ge we magna ne anerpetatin, the mals Proms to accay woe diag InSchoenbess hed mood of the D-minor beginning oye ry Flo" ansforms the 8 ye end. Bes ee eae out his life, and ae radiant D major that Be ntroversy through » and even the Schoenberg COMrts” late Nacht had a rocky Viennese prem, a ig sual maximally Rom iyo was in Berlin atthe time, later reported tha te, 1902, The compost a fghts"® The conservative Wiener Tonk aoe “ended in aot an gy) objected over what its jy considered tg pe eet (Vienna Masa My that might aneably be analyzed a a dominanema bor sonal ear a hor eh inthe bass) but that is better justified gy qin woe in ee by semitones inal voices in contrary motion (Ba, 27, 4 Ta - son ear Schoenberg claimed, in an essay he wrote almost half cena s for Teast as wa example asterisk and all, i taken), was the reason ye eH Brak (Grom vs perhaps more disturbing was that Schoenberg appeared tobe od the ret matic inspirations into the realm of chamber music which had ore des Pere raned its pry. asin Brahms own two string Sexes. On top of a ow shocking subject matter of the poem. ie for Example 27-4 Offending passage from Arnold Schoenberg, Vek hay wa : th in a v = a c 1 _Whatever the reason for it, the early experience of rejection seems tobe ; equipped Schoenberg with the resentment and the sense of alienation tht sone in a transformation that dated from te i itbecame a point of pride for him and many of his followessts oe the envelope of stylistic and technical innovation. Some four dls Pa en famous and infamous, Schoenberg looked back in an esa lel ine Becomes Lonely”: Verkta . wy een i writen ble the gain ofthis century—hence aworkot di ‘made me a kind of reputatior . From it I can enjoy (even among, works of my later periods would not nheard, especially initslaterve° inly nobody has hearitasstt ued to compose inthisschoenberg gave a response he said ee co™POS Prised people Mes people“ not ay ab tthe verybegianing spor audiences often frighte tests mane eee ightened by his later music the eae, Jngin the same style. 8) le and in the fe ae f Verklarte Nacht hardly = Brafbiweatisllacoremsingisorey ne — aNd melodies, and luxurious harmon ned by consistent hroghout New Synthesis pect oP Schoenberg went about achieving his of pat had previous been considered op startling innovations was Be n18705, German pa ee ee ben we cp th the Babian 08 y the atid thenethresthewith the younger generation, tite need to choose. the century, Schoenberg, psc departures both in Wagner’ “roving hs aortas poms’ tecinigue of “developing variation” Of the wee pate ietherallel eres pecive by hit contmporis Se se fm ahs whos techni of working outa eee se ofa Grundgstall obs sbae-amotvie eee mo eeyhingthathappenedit a omposton Al Bete nea a canapanta textures wee tbe derived omit the ee as isles theoretically their relationships could be uncovered ot ae ce veep manipulated smal groups of notes constantly hacer a vi pew combinations (hence the name ofthe technique: “developin devlors a elm gondii me in Trane Nacht in 1899 as he was more than thirty yeasIater: He was plang pices by having them develop into something new but related. To label Brahms Trrogessve was nothing if not contrary, since the older composer had himself i the idea of musical progress that was proclaimed in his own day by the Hegdlan-minded New German School. Schoenberg clearly had an ulterior motive: Inhis eyes, what was progressive about Brahms was the fact that he was a sort of Schoenberg-n-waiting, whose motivie webs foreshadowed his own in density. Schoenberg’ early pieces were the subject of 2% article Berg later wrote called “Why Is Schoenberg's Music So Difficult to Understand?” (1924), which explores the unprecedented level of motivic saturation 1 Schoenberg's music through an andysis ofthe First String Quartet, OP-7 (1905).Berg claimed that there was “hardly aay” material in the piece, even in its ‘accompanimental figuration, that cannot be tuced to its germinating motifs. Having quoted the fist ten measures Berg noted ththe had in fact supplied the reader with the ‘whole forty-five-minute quartet in ‘nutshell. The music was more difficult to understand than any ‘other contemporary ‘micbecause comprehending ts rigorous motvie complesitiesrequied more oF tive work from the listener.”* fis asic during this easy peiod of pieces and Keyboard pies: ————————