Schoenberg Pelleas Und Melisande Analysis

Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande: an exegesis and analysis
Item type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)
Authors Hill, Christopher Cole
Publisher The University of Arizona.
Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this

material is made possible by the University Libraries,
University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction
or presentation (such as public display or performance) of
protected items is prohibited except with permission of the
author.
Downloaded 12-May-2016 14:19:36
Link to item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/348396

SCHOENBERG'S PELLEAS UND MELISANDE:
AN EXEGESIS AND ANALYSIS
. by
C h risto p h er Cole Hill
A T h esis Submitted to the Faculty of the
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
In P artia l F ulfillm ent of the R equirem ents

F o r the D egree of
MASTER OF MUSIC
In the G raduate College
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
19 7 8
STATEMENT BY AUTHOR
This th esis has been subm itted in p a rtia l fulfillm ent of requirem ents
for an advanced degree a t The U niversity of Arizona and is deposited in the
U niversity L ib rary to be made available to borrow ers under ru le s of the
L ib ra ry .
Brief quotations from this thesis a re allowable without special p e rm is

sion, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is m ade. R e
quests for p erm issio n for extended quotation from or reproduction of this
m anuscript in whole or in p a rt may be granted by the head of the m ajor d e
partm ent or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgement the.
proposed, use of the m a teria l is in the in te re sts of sch o la rsh ip . In all other
instances, however, perm issio n m ust be obtained from the author.
SIGNED:
APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR
This th esis has been approved on the date shown below:
,»
/R O B E R T TZWERNER
D irecto r, School of Music
for
E . W, MURPHY
<1
P rofessor of Music
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Profound gratitude to:
My p a re n ts, fo r th is stro n g and intelligent organism , so foolishly
abused in a consum ing p u rsu it of sch o larsh ip .
My tea ch e rs, fo r th eir patience and uncommon generosity of s p irit.
My students, fo r th e ir patience and th eir p ro b le m s.
My re a d e rs , D r. Murphy, M r. Pflugradt, and M r. C a rte r, fo r so
carefu lly executing th e ir task of c ritic ism , despite heavy com m itm ents, and
thereby im proving this p ap er considerably.
My a d v iso r, D r. Murphy, fo r supporting this p ro je ct in the stro n g est
possible way, and fo r providing, in h is own d isserta tio n , the m odel for much
of what fo llo w s. To him should go the c re d it fo r w hatever good th ere is in
this p ap er a s a w hole.
My frien d , M arg aret Klem m , fo r h e r assistan c e in tra n slatin g the
le tte r which ap p ears in an Appendix. I could not have done it without h e r . The
final v ersio n , how ever, is my own and e r r o r s of tra n slatio n m u st be laid to m e .
My d ear wife and fine son, fo r not only enduring, but a s sis tin g in the
p ro ject, each in th e ir own fashion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................... vi
LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
ABSTRACT ........................................ xi
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Need fo r the Study ......................... 1

Plan of the Study ............................... 2
L abels, T e rm s, and Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . 4"
The Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SCHOENBERG’S SYMPHONIC POEM . . . . . . . . . . . 7
H istory ..................... . . . . . . . . 7
M ilieu . ... . . . . . . . * . ■ 18
Animus and Anima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
MAETERLINCK’S PLAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
H istory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
P elleas e t M elisande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
MELODY . . .............................. 31
Motive X • 32
Destiny ............................... 33
M elisande, Golo, P elleas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
• C ounterpoint and R eg ister . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
V ariatio n Techniques ......................... 44
A rtificial Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
At the L im its of Tonality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Sum m ary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
IV
V
TABLE OF CONTENTS ~-Continued'
Page
5. MELODIC DISSONANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Rhythmic D istrib u tio n . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . 60

D ensity of D issonance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Sum m ary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6 o SONORITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
N on -T ertian Sonorities: W hole-Tone . . . . . . . . . . 75

N on-T ertian Sonorities: Q uartal ......................... 80
H arm onic Rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Rhythm ic D istribution of H arm onic D issonance . . . . . . 90
Sum m ary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7. KEY, TONALITY, AND FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Connotative Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Tonality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
V oice-L eading C ateg o ries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
A pplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Rhythmic D istrib u tio n ............................... 114
Sum m ary .............................. 119
8 . CRITICISM AND RETROSPECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
APPENDIX: A LETTER FROM SCHOENBERG TO STRAUSS . . . 128
REFERENCES ............................... 1 3 0
, ' . ' ;
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
F ig u re Page
1 „ A m algam ation of Leading M otives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2. The Leading M otives F ate (Above) and Anima (Below) . . . » 33
3. F a te ’s Unfolding: an Expansion of Motive X . . . . . . . 33
4. The H arm onic Leading M otives: Destiny~1 and D estiny-2 . . 34
5 c M elisande's Beauty (1) and H elplessness (2) . . . . . . . . . 36
6 . Leading M otives of Yearning: Golo (1) and Pelleas (2) . . . . . 37
7. M elisande’s Y earning a s a Blend of Golo and P elleas . . . . 38
8 . Golo Vs Jealousy a s a D isto rtio n of Y earning . . . . . . . . 38
9. M elisande's Diffidence a s a L oss of Balance . . . . . . . . 38
10. Golo’s Anim us (1) and A nim a ( 2 ) ......................... 39
11. Golo’s Leading Motive ( F ir s t V ersion) . . . . ... . . . . 40
12. Golo’s Leading Motive (Second V ersion) a s Used

in an Extended Them e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
13. T rip a rtite Leading Motive of P elleas. . . . . . . . . . . 41
14. M elisande's Awakening Love a s a Counter subject . . . . . . 43
15. Connotations of R eg ister: F a te ’s Unfolding a s a Bass Line . . 44
16. D ecoration and Interlock as Melody-Producing Agents . . . . 45
17. Techniques of Synthesis and Interlock in the Love M usic . . 46
18. Techniques of Synthesis in M elisande’s Fate . . . . . . . . 47
vi
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "^Continued
F igure Page
19. Juxtaposition a s a N arrativ e Technique . . . . . . . . . 49
20. S tratification of a W hole-Tone Scale W ithin a Diatonic

Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
21. Embedding of a W hole-Tone Scale W ithin a Melody . . . . . 51
22. C hrom atic D ensity in the Scene in the V aults . . . . . . . 53
23. P e llea s’ Death: P resen tatio n of F o u rteen C hrom atic

Tones with Two D uplications . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
24. Schoenberg’s Example of Em ancipated D issonance

In the H arm onielehre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
25. Melodic D issonances Left by Leap in the Love M usic . . . . 62
26. Melodic D issonance Approached and L eft by Leap in

D estin y -1 .............................. 66
27. D ensity of D issonance in M easure Eleven . . . . . . . . 69
28. Use of the D im inished-M inor Sonority in F ate . 70
29. Cadential S ix-F our and Dominant Eleventh Sonorities

in the Love M u s i c ......................... 73
30 . Use of S onorities in Slow H arm onic Rhythm . . v . . . . 74
31. Use of Sonorities in F a s t H arm onic Rhythm . . . . . . . 74
32. Whole -Tone Chord as a Coincidence of Melodic A ctivity . . . 77
33. W hole-Tone Chord as a Coincidence of D ecorative A ctivity . . 78
34. W hole-Tone Chord as a Coincidence of Augmented T ria d s

in C ontrary Motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
35. Q uartal Chords as P a rt of a Movement to E M ajor . . . . . 81

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS—Continued
F igure Page
36. Quintal Harm ony in Beethoven's Sixth Symphony . . . . . . . 82
37. . Quintal Harm ony in W agner's T ris ta n und Isolde . . . . . . 82
38. V iennese F o u rth s a s a By-Product of T extural S tratification . . 83
39. Key and Tonal M ovement a t the Beginning of Pelleas. . . . . . 97

40. Key and Key R elationships a s P rogram m atic Analogs . . . . . 98
41. Irre g u la r R esolution of Dominant C hords in Pelleas . . . . . 102
42. R eiteratio n of a Sonority as a Cadence -Producing Device . . . 104
43. Long-Lined Melody with V agrant H arm onies Implied . . . . . 124

LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. C ategorization of D issonance by Melodic C o n t r o l ...............................58
2 . C ategorical A nalysis of Total D issonant A ttacks ...............................61
3 „ Rhythmic D istribution of D issonant C ategories

in 4 /4 M eter, E x p ressed in P ercen tiles . .6 3
4 . Rhythmic D istribution of D issonant C ategories

in 3 /4 M eter, E x p ressed in P ercen tiles . ..............................64
5 . Rhythmic D istribution of D issonant C ategories

in 3 /8 M eter, E x p ressed in P e r c e n t i l e s ......................... 65
6 . Flux in D ensity of D issonance a t the F o rm al L e v e l ..........................67
7 . Sonorities in P elleas und M elisande . . . . . . . . . . . 71
8 . D uration of Sonorities in Pelleas und M elisande

in O rd er of Magnitude ......................... 85
9. Rhythmic D istrib u tio n of S onorities in Duple M eters . . . . . 86
10. Rhythmic D istribution of Sonorities in 3 /4 M eter. . . . . . . 87
11. Rhythmic D istribution of S onorities in 3 /8 M eter. ........................... 8 8
12 . Rhythmic D istribution of S onorities, in P ercentiles,

Including an Index of D eviation from the A v e ra g e .........................91
13:. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types

la and lb , in O rd er of Magnitude . ...........................................108
14. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Type 2,

in O rd er of Magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
15. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types

3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d, in O rd er of Magnitude ............................ 109
■
X
LIST OF TABLES--Continued
Table Page
16. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority, in Types

4a, 4b, and 4c, in O rder of Magnitude ........................................110
17. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types

5a, 5b, and 5c, in O rder of Magnitude . . . . . . . . . Ill
18. Two A pplications of the V oice-L eading C ategories

to the H arm onic Succession of F igure 28 . . . . . . . . 114
19. Rhythmic D istribution of V oice-L eading C ategories

in A ll M eters ............................................................ 116
20. D istribution of Voice "Leading C ategories Within

Strong Beats, Weak Beats, and Between Beats,
fo r All M eters . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
ABSTRACT
A youthful tone poem in a late rom antic idiom is the subject of this
. investigation. The sto ry of its creatio n and perform ance h isto ry leads to a
discu ssio n of the m ajo r philosophical ideas c u rre n t in S choenberg's m ileau .
These ideas a re m easu red against those of M aeterlinck and a re found to be
somewhat d ifferen t. (No com parisons a re made with D ebussy's opera on the
sam e su b ject.)
A nalysis of the sco re yields confirm ation that the co m p o ser’s dispo
sition tow ards precom positional o rd erings was already operative: F rom
m easu re to m easu re, the keys and regions of the m usic provide, by virtue of
th eir connotative assig n m en ts, detailed com m entary on, and am plification of,
M aeterlin ck 's d r a m a . The philosophical views so ex p ressed a re found to he
con sisten t with the ones previously in v estig ated .
Schoenberg's organization of key supplem ents a com plex fam ily of
leading m otives, often rem in iscen t of those in W agner's Ring and, especially,
T rista n und Iso ld e . W agnerian too is Schoenberg's tre atm e n t of sonority:
m a j o r - m i n o r and dim inished -m inor so n o rities a re the m o st n u m ero u s.
Because diatonic functional an aly sis does not account fo r over th irty
p ercen t of the so n o rities of the work, supplem entary voice -leading categories
a re used to classify in some way the operations, if not s tru c tu ra l functions,
Of a ll c h o rd s. It is observed that a lte re d chords and low er leading-tone chords

behave v ery much like functional tr ia d s . Upper leading-tone chords, on the
other hand, though m ore num erous, have le s s s tru c tu ra l im portance due to
th e ir stro n g tendency to fall between b e a ts .
The p ap er concludes, f ir s t, with a p resen tatio n of Schoenberg's own
am bivalent feelings about his la rg e st o rc h e stra l piece; and, second, with a
b rief sum m ary of the p ro g re ssiv e tendencies in the tone poem - -of which the
com poser was, la te r quite proud.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
As the title suggests, this th esis adopts a dual approach to Schoen
b e rg 's Pellea^jundJdeUsande^. The f ir s t approach attem pts to exam ine the sy m
bolic im port of the tone p o e m . This is the ex eg esis, a te rm defined by The
M erriam W ebster D ictionary (New York: Pocket Books, 1974) a s an "expla
nation o r c ritic a l in terp re tatio n of a te x t.” In the p resen t w ork, the m eaning
of "text" in the above definition is extended to include the textual analogs of
prog ram m atic m u sic . The second approach attem pts to quantify elem ents of
the tone p o em 's m u sical language. T his is the analysis , a te rm defined by The
M erriam W ebster D ictionary a s the "sep a ratio n of a thing into p a rts or elem ents
of which it is com posed." In the p re se n t work, the w ords " p a rts o r elem ents"
in the above definition shall m ean p rim a rily harm onic and m elodic p a rts and
ele m e n ts. The exclusion of other p a ra m e te rs and elem ents does not constitute
a value judgem ent, but is due to the exigencies of the academ ic calendar and
the w r ite r 's failu re to m eet the full challenge of the m usic in the tim e allo tted .
Need for the Study
At the tim e of w riting, no thorough exam ination in English of Schoen
b e rg 's la rg e s t o rc h e stra l sc o re , P elleas und M elisande, w as av ailab le. T here
1
a re se v eral re aso n s why th is state of a ffa irs is u n satisfa cto ry . F ir s t, in the
p re se n t w r ite r 's opinion, the in trin sic quality and in te re s t of the m usic justify
a com prehensive inquiry. Second, even if this w ere not the ca se , th ere would
still rem ain Schoenberg's not infrequent suggestion that the b est approach to
his la te r w orks is through study of h is e a r lie r ones. Thus, the tone poem
d eriv es an h isto ric significance from its place in Schoenberg’s sty listic dev el
opm ent. T hird, in a m ore g en eral way, this th e sis attem pts to bridge a sm all
gap in our p ictu re of the late Rom antic m usical id io m . In the hands of such
com posers a s W agner, S trau ss, R eger and Schoenberg, that idiom is among
the m o st com plex ev er evolved. And a s P elleas is one of the m ost am bitious
o rc h e stra l w orks conceived w ithin it, an exam ination of its m usic can enrich
our knowledge of the sty le a s a w hole.
H an of the Study
No single source te lls m ore than a fractio n of the h isto ry of the com po
sition and subsequent c a re e r of Schoenberg's symphonic poem . F o r that rea so n
this th esis begins with an attem p t to collect (and a t tim es a s s e s s ) a ll the in fo r
m ation cu rren tly available to th is w r ite r .
To catch the full range of Schoenberg's very broad m ind, a c o r r e s
pondingly larg e view of the subject has been taken. The com poser of Pelleas
was a thoughtful m an whose culture and p erso n a c ircle inclined him to a syn
thetic view of human en d eav o r. In o rd e r to tra c e the influence of h is thought
in h is m usic, a b rie f sum m ary w ill be given of his cu ltu ral and philosophical
3
background. And to put this in its p ro p er p ersp ectiv e, an even b rie fe r m ention
w ill be made of the v ery .d ifferen t background from which M aeterlin ck 's
P elleas e t M elisande sprang .
The bulk Of th is th e sis co n sists of a p a rtia l an aly sis of the m usic of
P elleas und M elisande . Since the sco re is a contrapuntal web of leading
m otives, typical exam ples of these w ill be exam ined for th e ir pitch content,
in terv a llic in te r-re la tio n sh ip s and connotative functions. A rtificial scales
and ch ro m atically satu rated pitch collections a re also investigated. Schoen
b e rg 's concept of em ancipated dissonance is touched upon, and h is treatm en t
of m elodic dissonance is com pared with that conception. S tatistical tab u la
tions a re included in the d iscu ssio n .
Schoenberg’s tre atm e n t of sonority is tabulated and textually high
lighted. Q uartal chords and w hole-tone chords a re shown in context and th e ir
u ses a re d iscu sse d . The rhythm ic d istribution of so n o rities is exam ined and
com parisons a re made with the corresponding p ra c tic e s in the m usic of R ichard
S tra u s s .
The tre a tm e n t of key, cadence and voice-leading is exam ined. Using
categ o ries of the w r ite r 's own devising, the relativ e proportions of functional
and non-functional so n o rities a re tabulated. Also tabulated a r e the various
ways in which non-functional chords a re em ployed. Rhythmic distribution of
the categ o ries is tabulated, and com parisons a re made with the rhythm ic d is
tribu tio n s of m elodic dissonance and s o n o ritie s . The p ap er ends with a su m m ary .
4
L abels, T e rm s, and Symbols
In C hapter 5 the re a d e r w ill encounter a quantity of program m atic
lab els applied to leading m otives d iscu ssed th e r e . The m ost im portant of
these a re e ith e r Schoenberg’s d escrip tio n s, o r derivations of h is d e s c rip tio n s „
Specifically, both leading m otives of D estiny, the motive of M elisahde's H elp
le s s n e s s , the chief m otive of Golo, and the trip a rtite m otive of Pelleas a re the
co m p o se r's id en tificatio n s. Bibliographic acknowledgem ent is m ade within the
te x t. An additional m otive owes its label to another w rite r: Egon W ellesz'
biography of Schoenberg is the source of M elisande's Awakening Love. A new
and apt title fo r this m otive would not be hard to discover, but in the w rite r’s
opinion, except w here la rg e r views have p rio rity , consistency am ong com m en
ta to rs is m ost d e s ira b le . Excepting the above-m entioned c a s e s, a ll labels
a re the w r ite r 's own.
A num ber of sym bols a re used h erein which may not be fam iliar to the
r e a d e r . In the lis ts which follow, the sign of equality (=) denotes "m eans" o r
"stands f o r" .
In d escrip tio n s of so n o rities the following signs a re used: M = m ajor;
m = m inor; o = dim inished; + = augmented; P = p e rfe c t. A dash (-) which
ap p ears in a chord denotation indicates a m issing m em ber of th at chord. In
denotations which include the ro o t of the chord (both a s sonority an d /o r function),
and in denotations of keys, G ottfried W eber’s distinction betw een upper and
low er case le tte rs and n u m erals is follow ed. So, a tonic chord in d m inor
5
is "i", but a tonic chord in D m ajor is " I" . In descriptions of a rtific ia l
scales, the following signs a re used: S = sem itone; T = a whole tone, or two
sem itones; A = an augm ented tone, o r th ree sem ito n es. The sym bolism used
for the conjoint depiction of pitch and re g is te r is a s follows:
CL
it EE
Several fu rth e r te rm s used in this th esis require definition. The
origin of the term ’’V iennese F o u rth ” is not known by this w rite r; but, as used
herein, the term is indicative of a tria d com prising the conjunction of an au g
mented fourth and a p erfect fourth, not n c e ssa rily in that o r d e r . The tria d
c-f-b is an exam ple, a s is the tria d c-f#~ b.
The term ’’p re fe re n tia l sonority” m eans any chord which is heard as
such and which is not explained by com m on-practice harm onic p ro c e d u re s. The
im plication that a sonority has im portance a p a rt from its stru c tu ra l function
is in tentional. In the b ro ad est sense, of course, all so n o rities a re p re fe re n tia l.

6
This was Schoenberg’s argum ent reg ard in g the em ancipation of dissonance „
But, to rep eat, a s used in this th e sis, the te rm ’"’p re fe re n tia l so n o rities” r e f e r s
to non-functional so n o ritie s.
The Appendix
The inclusion, as an Appendix, of a le tte r from Schoenberg to S trau ss
d e se rv e s explanation. Published docum entation of Schoenberg’s e a rly period
is p ractically n on-existent, eith e r in G erm an o r E n g lish . F o r that reason, if.
no o th er, it seem ed, a fte r tra n slatin g this le tte r, only logical to share it with
the r e a d e r . A fu rth e r justification fo r its inclusion lie s in the fact that the
le tte r is also the only docum ent contem porary with th e ir relatio n sh ip , an a s s o
ciation which brought about the com position of Pelleas und M elisande .
CHAPTER 2
SCHOENBERG’S SYMPHONIC POEM
H istory
In 1893 a young bank c le rk seeking m usical advice and c ritic ism was
encouraged to take some of h is p ieces to A lexander Zem linsky, "who was held
1
in high esteem by the young m usicians of the tim e .” As a re s u lt, Zem linsky
becam e Schoenberg's f ir s t, and la st, form al te a c h e r. He also becam e a frie n d .
By 1899 Schoenberg was a ttra c tin g notice in V ienna. H anslick had

2
alread y w ritten , "It seem s to me that a new M ozart is growing up in V ienna."
Though, a s m ight be im agined, H anslick w as p raisin g a work of "absolute"
m usic (the unnum bered D m ajo r String Q uartet), Schoenberg had at this tim e
been com posing p ro g ram m atic m usic for a num ber of y e a r s . A v ery early
effort w as "a kind of symphonic poem a fte r F rie d ric h von S c h ille r's dram a
3
Die R auber" which Schoenberg called Die R auber -P h an tasie.
1. Egon W ellesz, Arnold Schonberg, t r a n s . W .H . K erridge (London

and Toronto: J .M . Dent & Sons L td ., n .d .) , p . 12.
2 . M alcolm MacDonald, Schoenberg, The M aster M usicians S eries

(London: J.M . Dent & Sons L td ., 1976), p . 22.
3. Arnold Schoenberg, "Preface to the F our String Q uartets, " in

Schoenberg/B erg/W ebern: The String Q u artets, a Docum entary Study , ed.
U rsula v . Rauchhaupt, tr a n s , Eugene H artzell (Hamburg: D eutsche Grammophon
G eselleschaft M b h ., 1971), p . 35.
7
8
L a te r, under the influence of S trau ss, Schoenberg com posed s e v e ra l
symphonic poem s of larg e d im ensions. One, which he did not finish, was
Hans im Gluck, a fte r a G erm an fo lk -tale Another was F ru lin g sto d , a fte r
5
Lenau. So when, on a holiday with Zem linsky in Septem ber 1899, he w rote
h is f ir s t fam ous p ro g ram m atic work, V erk la rte Nacht, he w as w ell p rep ared
to deal with the problem s of fashioning a la rg e -s c a le w ork about a n a rra tiv e .
About this tim e Schoenberg fell in love with Z em linsky's s is te r,
M athilde. The two w ere m a rrie d in O ctober 1901, and soon th e re a fte r left for
Berlin, w h ere--o n ly th ree months a fte r the m a rria g e --a daughter was born.
Thug, when Schoenberg began h is setting of Pelleas the following July, it was
not without some p erso n al knowledge of the consequences of p assio n . ^
While in Berlin, Schoenberg w as able to m eet the leading com poser
of the G erm an p ro g re ssiv e school, R ichard S trau ss, and show him some of
h is w o rk s. Duly im p resse d , S trau ss helped Schoenberg in a num ber of w a y s.
He h ire d him to copy p a rts of h is new o rato rio , T a illefer (an enorm ous task:
it re q u ire s an o rc h e stra of 139 p lay ers, in addition to the ch o ru s). S trauss
4. Ib id ., p . 36
5. MacDonald, Schoenberg, p . 262.
6 . Ib id ., pp. 23-24.
twice p ro cu red fo r Schoenberg the annual L isz t Stipendium . He also obtained
fo r Schoenberg a job teaching com position a t the Stern C o n se rv a to ire . ^
It was probably S trau ss too who suggested to Schoenberg that M aurice
M aeterlin ck 's Pelleas e t M elisande would make an excellent lib re tto for an
o p e ra . The authenticity of the incident--about which a ll b iographers a g r e e -- is
brought into question by an unpublished a rtic le by Schoenberg which Jan M aegaard
quotes. In the a rtic le Schoenberg w rite s, "S trau ss, in 1902, a fte r having
glances through the (then unfinished) sc o re s of my 'P elleas' and 'G u rre lie d e r'
p rocu red me . .
But the statem ent is fro m 1944 and is probably a m em ory s lip . Though
Schoenberg's lite ra ry ta ste s m ight w ell have led him to M aeterlin ck 's dram a
9
before his sojourn in Berlin, the existence of dated sketches fro m 4 July 1902
m akes it unlikely that Pelleas was alread y a t the stage of an "unfinished sco re"
10
a t the tim e of his m eeting with S trau ss the previous A p ril.
As we know, Schoenberg did not use M aeterlinck’s play as the basis
fo r a d ram atic w ork. In view of the fact that D ebussy’s v e rsio n of Pelleas had
7. W ellesz, Schbnberg, p . 16.
8 .
Jan M aegaard, Studien zu r Entwicklung des dodekaphonen satzes
bei Arnold Schbnberg (Copenhagen: W ilhelm Hansen, 1972), pp. 35-36. .
9 . Josef R ufer, The W orks of A rnold Schoenberg , tr a n s . Dika Newlin

(London: F ab e r & F a b er, 1962), p . 25.
10. M acD onald, Schoenberg, p . 238.

10
its sensational p re m ie re that sam e A pril, we m ight imagine that it was this
which discouraged Schoenberg from attem pting the subject as an o p e ra . But
this conjecture does not take into consideration the considerable distance which
sep arated the two nations' a r tis tic sp h eres a t that tim e „ S tra u ss, fo r instance,
did. not becom e acquainted with D ebussy's w ork until 1905, when Romaine
Rolland suggested it a s a m odel fo r F rench te x t- s e ttin g .^ And in an a rtic le
on S choenberg's th eo retical w ritin g s, A lexander Goehr says that a s late a s 1911
(when the H arm onielehre was published), the com poser apparently know of
12
D ebussy's work only by h e a rsa y .
In. his la st y e a rs Schoenberg e x p ressed " re g re t that I did not c a rry out
my original intention (to w rite an o p e ra ). It would have been different from
D eb u ssy 's. I m ight have m issed the wonderful perfum e of the poem; but I m ight
13
have made my c h a ra c te rs m ore sin g in g." Yet the young S choenberg's d e c i
sion is not h ard to u n d e rsta n d . Of published w orks he had only one, the strin g
Sextet, a s yet u n p erfo rm ed . Of the unpublished w orks, the G u rrelied er had
consum ed m ost of two y e a rs, yet still lay a good way from com pletion. W hat-
11, Rom ain Rolland and R ichard S trau ss, R ichard S trau ss and Romain
Rolland: C orrespondence, e d . Rollo M yers (London: C alder & Boyars, 1968),
p p . 33-35.
12. A lexander G oehr, "The T h eo retical W ritings of A rnold Schoenberg, "

in Proceedings of the Royal M usical A ssociation, vol. 100, e d . Edward O lleson
( n . p . , 1974), p . 92.
13 . W illi Reich, Schoenberg: a C ritic a l Biography, t r a n s . Leo Black

(London: Longm ans, 1971), p . 12.
11
ev er the tem ptation to the com poser, to the m an recently becom e both husband
and fath er, it m ust have seem ed foolhardy to attem pt su ccess w here S tra u s s 's
Guntram had faile d .

\ ■ . . . .
Once the decision to w rite an o rc h e stra l work had been m ade, Schoen
b erg m ust have worked with his c h a ra c te ris tic sp e e d . The ninety-fifth and final
page of the o rc h e stra l sco re is dated 28 F e b ru ary 1903. Cognizant of the com po
s e r 's duties a s teach er and copyist, husband and fath er, it seem s little sh o rt
of am azing that in le s s than eight m onths tim e he conceived and o rch estrated
what MacDonald calls "one of the m ost dauntingly contrapuntal sc o re s anyone

' 14
had w ritten up to that tim e ." It is ju st possible, though, that the date a t the
end of the sco re re p re s e n ts some in term ediate stage of com pletion. W ellesz
(whose book is som etim es unreliable a s to dates) w rite s that when Schoenberg
retu rn ed to Vienna in July 1903 , Pelleas w as only "com pleted . . . up to the
■scene in the vaults under the castle . . , " that is, through the 298th m easure
(out of 643). At any ra te , in 1904, the y ear a fte r his re tu rn to Vienna, Schoen
b erg was h ard at w ork on both the O rc h e stra l Songs, op. 8, and the d m inor
IE
S tring Q uartet, op. 7.
Schoenberg was beginning to get m ore p erform ances of his w o rk s.
V erk la rte Nacht was given in Vienna during h is absence (M arch 1902); and
14. MacDonald, Schoenberg, p . 25
15. W ellesz, Schdnberg, p . 18.

shortly a fte r his re tu rn he arra n g e d fo r a second perform ance (1903) „ His
o rch e stra tio n of H einrich Schenker’s ”Syrian D ance” was conducted by Busoni
in Berlin (November 1903). ^ T h ree songs w ere included in a V iennese concert
(F eb ru ary 1904). D espite the m ixed reactio n which the public gave his Sextet,
these p erfo rm an ces m ust have fire d Schoenberg's natural am bition to h ear h is
la rg e -s c a le o rc h e stra l w o rk s . With this in mind, Schoenberg, together with
Zem linsky and O skar Posa, founded in 1904 the Society fo r C reative M usicians.
M ahler (who had recen tly taken a friendly in te re s t in both Schoenberg and Z em
linsky) lent his p restig io u s name to the e n te r p r is e . Though the Society lasted
only one season, its re p e to ire w as m o st distinguished. Some of the m ost d iffi
cult m odern w orks w ere included: fo r exam ple, M ahler's K indertotenlleder
and S tra u s s ’s Symphonia D om estica. N evertheless, when the o rc h e stra began
re h e rs a ls of Pelleas und M elisande, it was c le a r that som ething out of the o r d i
nary was being atte m p te d . W ellesz has w ritten, "I still rem em b er perfectly
w ell how difficult it was to get a g rasp of this . . . work, and that M ahler h im
self had no easy task , in reading the sco re, to get a lucid idea of the p artw ritin g .
16. H .H . Stuckenschm idt, F e rru c c io Busoni, tra n s . Sandra M orris

(London: C alder & Boyars, 1970), p . 36. Though a resid en t of Berlin, the
p erip atetic com poser did not m eet Schoenberg until a trip to Vienna in Septem
b e r 1903. Busoni was introduced to Schoenberg by S chenker.
17. W ellesz, Schonberg, p . 21.

13
The perform ance itse lf m ust have been deeply discouraging to the
18
c o m p o ser. "Sections of the audience left in droves, " and review s in the
p re s s w ere violent. Schoenberg has m entioned that one c ritic "suggested putting
19
me in an asylum and keeping m usic p aper out of my re a c h ." Ludwig K arpath,
20
who was perhaps the m ost influential V iennese m usic c ritic of that day, w rote:
The th re e le a d e rs of the Society fo r C reative M usicians, A rnold

Schoenberg, A lexander Zem linsky, and O skar Posa, devoted an en tire
evening to th e ir c a u s e . The m ost talented Of them - -Schoenberg--w as
the m ost u n p alatab le. Fully fifty m inutes takes his continuous sym
phonic poem, P elleas und M elisande. F o r the whole fifty m inutes one
deals with a m an eith e r devoid of a ll sense o r one who takes his lis te n
e r s fo r fo o ls . . . . Schoenberg's opus is not m erely filled with wrong
notes, as S tra u s s ' Don Quixote is, but is itself a fifty -m inute -long
w rong n o te . T his is to be taken lite ra lly . What else m ay hide behind
the cacophony is im possible to a s c e rta in .
More than m usic may have prom pted the tone of K arpath’s review .
F our y e a rs la te r Schoenberg w rote that a t the perform ance of P elleas, K arpath
fell a s le e p . "A dalbert von G oldschm ied, who w as sitting behind him , woke him
up with, a kick - -bringing him back to re a lity , so that he could give his opinion
21
of i t ." But in fa irn e s s to the c ritic , h is descrip tio n of cacophony may well
have accu rately rep o rted the p e rfo rm a n c e .
19... Arnold Schoenberg, "N otes on Pelleas und M elisande" accom pan
ying The M usic of Arnold Schoenberg, v o l. 2 (Columbia M2S- 694), unpaginated.
20 . Ludwig K arpath, review of the F ir s t Perform ance (26 January 1905),

in Die Signal, 1 M arch 1905, quoted in M usic Since 1900 , e d . Nicolas Slonimsky
(New York: W .W . Norton & C o ., 1971), p.. 70.
2 1. A rnold Schoenberg, "A Legal Q uestion," in Style and Idea, ed .

Leonard Stein, tra n s . Leo Black (New York: S t. M artins P re ss , 1975), p . 188.
14
Schoenberg’s hopes to estab lish him self with the public w ere dealt
another blow when, la te r in 1905 , the A llgem einer D eutscher M usikverein

22
rejec te d one of his w orks which he had offered to them fo r p e rfo rm a n c e . The
next y ear, still sm artin g fro m h is setbacks, Schoenberg w rote h is old bene
facto r, S trau ss, asking him if he would "re h ab ilitate" Pelleas during a fo rth
coming engagem ent with the Vienna P hilharm onic. In the le tte r, Schoenberg
attrib u ted the failu re of his symphonic poem to the lack of adequate re h e rs a l
23
tim e „ In the event, S trau ss did not conduct P e lle a s . Schoenberg had to w ait
until 1910 before a conductor would give h is work a second h e arin g . That y ear
O skar F rie d led a perform ance in B erlin (on 8 October) which was a g reat
24
su ccess„
A fter th is, the "rehabilitation" w as made complete when, in July 1911,
U niversal Edition undertook to publish the s c o r e . And so the w ork went forth
into the w o rld . Over the y e a rs it becam e one of Schoenberg's favored calling
22 . This would have been especially disappointing a s one of the in ten

ded functions of the Society (Co-founded by the p ro g ressiv e com poser, F ran z
L iszt) was helping needy com posers and th e ir fa m ilie s.
23. F ran z G ra sb e rg e r, ed„, Dje W elt urn R ichard S trau ss in Briefen

(Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1967), pp. 171-172. The full text is given in tr a n s
lation a s an Appendix.
24. MacDonald, Schoenberg, p . 241. However, at le a s t one c ritic

added a sour note to the occasion. Reich, Schoenberg, pp. 62-63 quotes W alter
Dahms in the Kleine Journal (26 F eb ru ary 1912) a s follows: ” . . . then F rie d
p erfo rm ed your symphonic poem Pelleas und M elisande at the G esellschaft d e r
M usikfreunde. People for whom m usic is a lofty and serio u s thing got the
belly-ache and fle d ."
15
card s with v ario u s o rc h e stra s „ In F e b ru ary 1912. at Z em linsky's invitation,
Schoenberg conducted his tone poem with the Prague Philharm onic O rchestra..
And in Novem ber 1912, Schoenberg sco red an "enorm ous su ccess . . . of the
highest im portance" when the Concertgebouw O rch estra of A m sterdam p e r
form ed Pelleas under the c o m p o se r's d ire c tio n . A month la te r, on 21 D ecem
b e r 1912, Schoenberg conducted the tone poem in St. P etersb u rg , R ussia at a

26 27
Siloti c o n ce rt. Pelleas was also h eard in Mannheim in e a rly 1914. Schoen
b e rg 's plans fo r fu rth e r ap p earan ces a s guest conductor of his tone poem w ere
cut Short by the F ir s t W orld W ar. N evertheless, it was during this period that
P elleas und M elisande was f ir s t p erfo rm ed in the United S tates. The A m erican
p re m ie re was given by the Philharm onic Society in New York City on 18 Novem
b e r 1915.28
Though Schoenberg had long since outgrown the m u sical w orld of
P elleas by the second decade of this century, the tone poem 's m usic was still
heady stuff fo r m o st young m u sic ia n s. Y ears la te r, H erm ann Scherchen r e
called: "M a h le r's Seventh Symphony had been my f ir s t whiff of a new a rtis tic
26. N icolas Slonimsky, "A Schoenberg Chronology, " in Schoenberg,

e d . M erle A rm itage (New York: G. S chirm er, 1937), p . 228.
28. H enry C . Lahee, Annals of M usic in A m erica (Boston: M arshall

Jones Company, 1922), p . 167.
feeling, one that m arked the tra n sitio n to E xpressionism ; now, in Schoenberg';
P elleas und M elisande, I felt the full fie ry b la st of i t . " ^
A fter the W ar, the Success of the tone poem continued unabated. In
1920, Otto K lem p erer m ade his debut with the B erlin Philharm onic conducting
both V e rk la rte Nacht and Pelleas . He la te r recalled: "No m ore opposition . A

30
unified, en th u siastic au d ien ce." In June of the sam e y ear (1920), Vienna
31
heard the sco re conducted by Zem linsky and received it with enthusiasm .
Six m onths la te r, P elleas was included in an all -Schoenberg p ro g ram given by

90
the Concertgebouw O rc h e stra on 6 and 8 January 1921. Copenhagen f ir s t
33
h eard Pelleas the following y e a r .
In the e a rly m onths of 1927, E rich K leiber led a perform ance of the
tone poem in the co m p o se r's native V i e n n a I n D ecem ber of the sam e y ear,
P elleas was p erfo rm ed in P a ris by the Societe M usicale In d e p e n d e n te .^ And
29. Quoted in Reich, Schoenberg, p . 62.
30. M erle A rm itage, e d ., Schoenberg (New York: G. Schirm er,

1937), p . 184.
31. W ellesz, Schbnberg, p . 38.
32. R eich, Schoenberg, p . 126.
33. Ib id ., p . 144.
34. Ib id ., p . 162.
35. On the evidence of a review which appeared in the V iennese jo u r

nal M usikblatter des Anbruch fo r M arch 1927. Listed in Kenneth Thompson,
e d ., A D ictionary of Tw entieth-C entury C om posers (London: F a b e r & F ab er,
1973), p . 468.
17
H erm ann Scherchen conducted the BBC Symphony O rc h e stra in the English
p re m ie re on 10 D ecem ber 1930.
In O ctober 1933, a t the age of sixty, Schoenberg em ig rated to the

37
United S ta te s . On a t le a s t th ree occasions subsequent to his a rriv a l, he
conducted P elleas und M elisan d e. The f ir s t was in M arch 1934, with the
QO
Boston Symphony O r c h e s tra . The second was on 17 F e b ru ary 1937, when
39
he conducted the F e d e ra l M usic P ro ject O rc h e stra ,in Los A ngeles. The
th ird occasion was in 1945, with the San F ran cisco O r c h e s t r a .^
M ore recen tly , P elleas und M elisande has become the choice of
m usically conservative conductors who wish to include Schoenberg in th eir
r e p e to ire s . In the la s t decade it has also found success a s a b allet vehicle
for Nuryev and F o n te y n .^ And so Schoenberg’s Pelleas has turned out to be
a d ram atic w ork a fte r a ll.
36. Ibid.
38. Reich, Schoenberg, p . 193.
39. Slonimsky, "Chronology, " p . 245.
40. Reich, Schoenberg, p . 214.
41. L aurence D avies, Paths to M odern Music (London: B arrie &

Jenkins, 1971), p . 74.
18
M ilieu
The Vienna into which Arnold Schoenberg was born w as a city deeply
divided. C apital of an em p ire without a name (usually r e fe r r e d to as the H abs-
burg E m pire), Vienna had been subjected to an extensive, th irty -y ear -long u r -
ban re n e w a l. A fterw ards it vied with P aris a s the m ost a ttra c tiv e city in E u ro p e .
The em p ero r resp o n sib le for the renovation, F ran z-Jo sef, had come to
pow er with the crushing of the 1848 revolution (the sam e one that W agner b riefly
v isited ). F ra n z -Jo se f's long reig n ended only with his death in November 1916.
Perhaps no b e tte r symbol fo r the conservative outlook of V iennese society
ex ists than the e m p e ro r's own rejectio n s of the telephone, the autom obile, the
40
e le c tric light, the ty p ew riter, and even the flush to ilet.
The urban renew al its e lf can be viewed a s a conservative act, an a t
tem pt to supply a confused society with im ages of purpose and p erm an en ce,
since it did nothing to reliev e the acute housing shortage fo r the living. By the
beginning of th is century th ere w ere few er than six thousand single -fam ily
hom es in Vienna, a city with over two m illion people. The average dwelling
housed 1.24 p erso n s p e r room , including kitchens, bathroom s and front h a ll
w ays. "C onsiderable num bers" of people lived quite p rim itiv ely - -for instance,
41
in caves dug in railw ay em bankm ents, and in hiding places under b rid g e s .
40. A llan Janik and Stephen Toulm in, W ittgenstein's Vienna (New
York: Simon and Schuster, Touchstone Books, 1973), p . 41.
41. Ib id ., p . 50.
19
Yet this was a perio d of g re a t econom ic expansion. And with the city ’s
m agnificent h eritag e in the a r ts - -esp ecially the m usical a r ts —it is not su p risin g
that "a m an’s aesth etic ta ste was a b aro m eter of his social and economic s ta tu s " .
In this way a r t becam e "essen tially the ornam entation of (business) life ." A m an
was judged by what he owned, by what he could afford to own . And thus the
aesth etic clim ate was g eared not so much to the creativ e p re se n t a s to the values
of the p a s t. B usinessm en "w ere co llecto rs, o r c u ra to rs of those m useum s which

42
they re fe rre d to a s th e ir h o m es” .
It is hardly n e c e ssa ry to point out that this state of a ffa irs was o ppressive
to th e g eneration which cam e of age around the tu rn of the c e n tu ry . And this was
esp ecially tru e fo r the jew s, to whom m ost avenues of established power w ere
closed, and who tended tow ards the a r t s .
To this g en eral p ictu re it is n e c e ssa ry to add that th is w as "a society
com pletely preoccupied with the thought of sex ” . Yet "th ere w as no socially a c
cepted channel fo r ex p ressin g th is p reoccupation. The o ld er generation viewed it
a s an an arch ical fo rce which m ust be com pletely regulated by so ciety . T here
m u st net be the slig h te st public ad m ission that such an urge actually e x ists, le t
alone that it is fundam ental to hum an nature o r that its fru s tra tio n can have d is a s -
43
tro u s co n seq u en ces."
42 . Ib id ., p . 45.
4 3 -. Ib id ., pp. 46 - 47.
20
The p r e s s u re s of econom ic expansion made late m a rria g e the ru le fo r
young m en of the tim e . T his in tu rn helped to prom ote a trem endous b usiness in
p ro stitu tio n which, Stefan Zweig te lls us, "constituted a d ark underground vault
over which ro se the gorgeous stru c tu re of m id d le-class society with its fau ltless ,
rad ian t facad e”; a. facade known to the w o rld today through the " d e s s e r ts ” con
cocted by m a ste r "chefs" like Johann S trau ss, F ra n z L e h a r, e tc .
What concerns us h e re is the close relationship betw een love (pros, not
agape) and the a r t s , P ro creatio n and com m unication have interdependent functions
both fo r an individual and for a so ciety . In Vienna, conservative economic fo rc e s
caused m ost citizens to view the outward freedom of p ro cre a tio n (= eros) a s
"an an arch ical fo rce which m ust be com pletely reg u lated ” while p ro m o tin g --
in p ra c tic e , p re fe rrin g --a n underground forum w here sex was d ire ctly exchanged
for money „ This sam e econom ic co n servatism caused m ost V iennese to view the
outward e x p re ssio n of a esth etic com m unication (the a rts) a s the m easu re of a
m a n 's p ro sp e rity (and thus of a man) while inhibiting the inw ard freedom which
tra n sfo rm s p erso n s into m ore than social a n im a ls .
Many in tellectu als in turn-of-the-century Vienna w ere aw are of the con
nection between e ro s and a r t . In his influential work Sex and C h aracter , Otto
W eininger argued that the m asculine and fem inine elem ents a r e m ixed in every
individual. And because each healthy p erso n has a preponderance of one of the
two sexual elem en ts, our liv es a re m ost fully realized when we unite with a m e m
b e r of the other sex whose sexual proportion com plem ents o u r s . These notions.
21
which m ight be considered common cu rren cy today, caused a scandal at the
tu rn of the century „ W eininger's conception of the nature of the m asculine and
fem inine elem ents ( a s , resp ectiv ely , creativ e and positive; chaotic and negative)
44
w as, unfortunately, a d ire c t reflectio n of his society’s p re ju d ic e s.
In K arl K rauss we find a contem porary who was able to disentangle the
constructive asp ects of W eininger's th e o rie s from the questionable ideas s u r
rounding th e m . " F o r K rau ss, the encounter between m an and woman was the
'o rig in ' by which rea so n was fecundated from the w ellspring of fa n ta sy . The p r o
duct of this encounter was an a r tis tic creativ ity and m oral integrity which ex~
' 45 .
p re sse d itself in everything that a p erso n d o e s ." Our m asculine elem ent finds
ex p ressio n in doing, in the conscious m anipulation of sy m b o ls: m an is both a
ratio n al and an a rt-p ro d u cin g c r e a tu r e . But a ll sym bolic activ ity --ev en reaso n
its e lf - - is but a tool we use in p u rsu it of our d e s ir e s . Thus a p erso n becom es
whole only when the conscious, m asculine elem ent tu rn s inw ard and is inform ed
by the ten d er fantasy of the unconscious, fem inine elem en t. Woman h e rse lf is
"em otion, irra tio n a lity and sexuality incarnate . . . the m an has sexual u rg es,
the woman is_ sexuality its e lf. . . . Hence, it m akes no sense to hold a woman
ration ally accountable fo r h e r conduct since it is in fact determ ined by the un-
46
conscious sensuality which is h e r v ery n a tu re ."
44 . Ib id ., pp. 73 f f .
45 . Ib id ., p . 75.
46 .. Ib id ., p . 71.
22
B ecause, fo r K ra u ss, sex, c h a ra c te r and a r t w ere in sep arab le, "to
c ritic iz e a work Of a r t was to determ ine w hether o r not it w as a tru e ex p ressio n
of the a r t is t „ On this conception of a r t th ere was no room fo r sensationalism o r
fo r crowd pleasing; these w ere b etray als of the nature of a r t, rooted in c h a ra c te r

47
d e fe c ts ."
We grow up with id eals, h arbour m istaken notions about love, about

women, about tru th , about falsehood, about tru s t, about everything
that m a tte r s . But we a re m et by ev er m o re lite ra tu re , and fo r a ll its
re a lism and n atu ralism it is, a s always , blue-eyed, blonde and bearded,
is poet, sculptor, o r a t the v ery le a st, p ro fe sso r, and m a s te rs life
o r philosophizes N ietzsche . D isappointm ents a re an end in them selves,
though; to suffer them , one needs the sam e difference of potential that
is the spur to production. And the enlightenm ent found in a r t and
lite ra tu re is n eith er a shield ag ain st disappointm ent nor a com fort.
It is an illusion to think that insight gives com fort o r that other people's
experience has any value fo r us except to confirm what we, too, have
undergone. If today’s unoriginals talked of what rea lly preoccupies
them , then they would in fact be talking about the re a l thing, instead
of its illu so ry im a g e . But fo r them the m ain thing is the illusion, the
‘beautiful illu s io n ', Such a thing is undeniably given off by a r t, and
that should be enough; but they want a r t itse lf to be this beautiful i l
lusion, and that is a confusion fraught with calam ity. ®
T his p assag e m ight have been w ritten by K arl K rau ss, but in fact it is
by Schoenberg. The sam e y ea r that he w rote it (1911) he gave K rau ss a copy of
h is H arm onielehre in scrib ed , "I have learn ed m ore from you, perhaps, than a
49
m an should le a rn if he wants to re m a in independent
47 . Ib id ., p . 81.
48 . Arnold Schoenberg, "Problem s in Teaching A rt, " in. Style and Idea,
e d . L eonard Stein, tr a n s . Leo Black (New York: St. M artins P re s s , 1975),
p p . 367 - 368.
49 . Janik and Toulm in, W ittgenstein's "Vienna, p . 17.

23
In fact, if one exam ines the w ritings of the two m en, the congruity
between both th e ir m anner and th e ir m a tte r is strik in g . So it ap p ears fa ir to
say that the view s on sex and a r t e x p ressed by K rauss a re v ery sim ila r to the
ones Schoenberg him self m u st have held around the tim e P elleas was com posed.
L a te r portions of th is th e sis attem pt to dem onstrate the ways in which Schoen
b erg organized keys, m otives, and m odulations of h is tone poem in accordance
with the ten ets of the K ra u ss -W eininger sexual philosophy.
But th ere is another asp ect of Schoenberg's mind which differs (at le a s t
in em phasis) fro m that of K rau ss i This is what m ight be called a Copernican
attitude tow ard our sen so ry ap p aratu s, an active acknowledgem ent that when
we a re m ost tru e to o u rselv es we become vehicles fo r som ething beyond our
o rdin ary knowing. The intensity of th is conviction in Schoenberg the man
c a rrie d over into his activ ity as a m usician with re s u lts that a r e too well known
to req u ire te llin g . It is also reflected in the texts he s e t--n o t le a s t of all those
by h im self. But in the m usic of Pelleas it is a t b est te n ta tiv e . M ost of the m usic
in this densely w ritten piece is ex p ressiv e of the passions of th is planet ra th e r
than the a ir of any other o n e .
Animus and Anima
As used in this th e sis, the te rm s "A nim us” and "Anim a" r e fe r to the
K rau ss -W einingerian conception of the m asculine and fem inine elem ents in
human c h a r a c te r . Since these te rm s a re widely asso ciated with C arl Jung's
philosophical psychology, som e explanation is in o r d e r .

24
The L atin w ords anim us and anim a w ere not common in the v e rn a
cu lar, but w ere p re c ise philosophical te rm s used by Plotinus and other Neo-
P latonists to denote, resp ectiv ely , Divine Intelligence and the W orld Soul.
They w ere also intended to denote these two fo rces in the sp iritu a l m ake-up
of each human being. Our creativ e a c ts, according to Plotinus, a re im ages of
the creativ ity in the Anima; and the Anima h e rse lf is the im age of the Word, o r
Reason, in the Anim us, from which she s te m s .
In K raus s ' view (in th is re sp e c t the opposite of W eininger’s) the r e l a
tive p rio rity of Anima and Animus is rev e rse d : it is the fem inine principle to
which the m asculine re tu rn s . Yet though the flavor of the two philosophies
(as of the two ages) is d ifferent, th ere is much in the K rauss-W eininger concep
tion which p a ra lle ls the N eo-Platonic ontology. If we add to th is the fact that
basic elem ents of W ein in g er's philosophy of sexual p roportions a re taken from
P lato’s Sym posium , the asso ciatio n becom es even m ore re le v a n t. F u rth e r, in
our p re se n t in tellectual clim ate, the altern ativ e te rm s , "m asculine principle"
and "fem inine p rin c ip le ” , borrow the im plications of insentience which are
cu rren tly attrib u ted to the fundam ental levels of ex isten ce. T his d isto rts the
convictions which inform ed K ra u ss' own w ritings as well a s those of Schoenberg.

CHAPTER 3
MAETERLINCK’S PLAY
H istory
Before 1880, the sm all nation of Belgium was a lite ra ry backw ater,
p o ssessin g no language of its own and no vital tra d itio n s. However, in 1878 a
passionate group of students a t the U niversity of Louvaine sta rte d a magazine
which intended to re tu rn Belgian lite ra tu re to its m edieval e sta te , when the
m use Was "the august s is te r of the sw ord, and stanzas w ere like bright s t a i r
c a se s clim bed, im pomp and epic fire s , by v e rs e s casqued with silv er knights
These w ords w ere w ritten by one of those students, A lb ert Guiraud,

2
who in 1892 w rote a cycle of poem s called P ie rro t L u n a ire . That sam e y ear a
young com patriot of G u irau d 's, M aurice M aeterlinck, w rote h is fourth play,
P elleas e t M elisan d e. Like his previous w orks it was set in a m ythical and
quasi -m edieval w orld which p a ralleled G uiraud’s im age of the new Belgian lite r -
a tu r e . M aeterlinck w as not, however, G uiraud’s effusive b a rd . Seven y ea rs of
m onastic train in g had. em phasized for him the need fo r inner c la rity through
1. Jethro Bithell, Life and W ritings of M aurice M aeterlinck (London

and F ellin g -o n -T y n e: The W alter Scott Publishing C o ., n .d .) , p . 21.
25
26
inner silence „ He ex p ressed the essen ce of his e a rly style in a nutshell when
he w rote, "As soon a s we e x p re ss som ething, we dim inish it s tra n g e ly . We
think we have delved into the depths of the ab y sse s, and when we reach the
surface again, the drop of w ater g litterin g a t the end of our pale fin g ers no
3
longer re se m b le s the sea it cam e f r o m .”
A ccording to M aeterlin ck 's b iographer, Bithell, m y sticism has long
been a F lem ish tra it, a p rim a ry featu re of its lite ra tu re a s w ell a s of its a r t
and m u s ic . M aeterlinck was thus consonant with his own h eritag e when he
placed the g re a te s t em phasis on the teachings of the C h ristian m y s tic s . "All
certain ty is in them alone, " he w ro te . "T h eir e c s ta sie s a re only the beginning
4
of the com plete discovery of ou rselv es . It is not difficult to tra c e these influ
ences in M aeterlin ck 's w ritin g s.
Pelleas e t M elisande
M aeterlin ck 's play opens with a sym bolic suggestion of the fo rces
which grip the c h a ra c te rs of the d ra m a . T h eir common home (a castle) has a
g re a t Gate which is never opened. Many sm all and private doors a re used in
ste a d . Inside th ere is a night which day cannot p e n e tra te . Everyone is a s le e p .
The sym bols a re clear: a castle p ro te c ts and d elim its our private
world; it re se m b les the m echanism of se lf. A door (or gate) is w here we m eet
3. Bithell, M aeterlin ck , p . 89.
4. Ib id ., p . 54.
27
the public w orld and w here that w orld m eets us . The m ain door of a common
home fu rth e r signifies a common and collective function, or purpose „ C onversely,
the little doors signify sca tte red and uncoordinated p u rp o se s .
M ingling am ong these im ages a r e the s e rv a n ts . Being n am eless, the
serv an ts do not function a s s e lv e s . R ather, they suggest the condition of things
before people assum ed nam es and se lv e s. M aeterlinck's depiction of the s e r
vants is consistent with h is conviction that the unconscious wisdom of a child is

5
a thousand tim es g re a te r than a ll the w ords of the g re a te st s a g e s .
In the f ir s t scene the s e rv a n ts ’ work is to open the g re a t and neglected
Gate; and when this difficult task is accom plished, a final symbol appears: .'the
s ill of this neglected Gate is rim ed with such an accretio n of filth that "all the
w aters of the Flood" could not clean it . T his Biblical im age is w ell chosen:
redem ption by Flood is a public redem ption. But the problem s of the dram a a r e
the pro b lem s of a mind which is out of touch with its own source; which, in the
p ro c e ss of individuation, has forgotten its w holeness. As M aeterlinck puts it in
an essay:
O ur re a l and invariable life takes place a thousand leagues away

from . . . p assio n s o r pure re a so n . It is not a m atter of telling us
what we feel when the woman we love abandons u s . She goes away
today; our eyes weep, but our soul does not w eep. It may be that our
soul h e a rs of the event and tra n sfo rm s it into light, fo r everything
that falls into the soul irr a d ia te s . It m ay be too that our soul knows
not Of it; and if that be so what use is it to speak of it?^
5. Ib id ., p . 83 .
6. Ibid.
28
The c h a ra c te r of M elisande is a p o rtra it of this id e a . When we m eet
h e r she is in a deep fo re st, sittin g by a spring, weeping. A widowed prin ce.
Go laud, has been sent by h is grandfather, King A rkel, in search of a p rin c e s s .
But somehow Golaud has becom e sidetracked and has spent h is tim e hunting
boar, instead of bride (the b o ar sym bolizing atav istic fo rces he needs to face in
h im se lf). A s the scene opens, Golaud has lo st both his q u arry and him self in
the fo re s t. U nexpectedly, he Comes upon M elisande. She s ta r ts up wildly
when he touches h e r . Golaud, for h is p a rt, is astonished at h e r beauty.
The im portant thing about M elisande is that she has no p ast or future;
she is alw ays speaking in the p re se n t te n se . Golaud never re a liz e s th is . He
is always asking h e r about h e r p a s t. So she lie s to h im . F ro m h e r point of
view, to Be is to be P re se n t. Anything said about what is not p re se n t ( e .g .,
what is past) is fan tasy , is u n tru th . So h e r lie s a re not re a lly c ru el ones.
A nother thing about M elisande that Golaud cannot understand is Who
she i s . In the fo re s t in the sprin g is a crow n. When Golaud se e s it, M elisande
te lls him that it fell off while she wept ( i . e . , h e r realm and pow er a re not of the
w orld in which she w eeps). When Golaud o ffers to get the crow n, M elisande
c rie s out that she would ra th e r die than have him re trie v e it ( i . e ., the roots of
the soul cannot be tra n sp lan ted into the phenom enal w orld).
If M elisande re p re s e n ts the little child of M aeterlinck’s com parison,
then A rkel re p re s e n ts the w orldly sag e. We m eet him in the next scene, along
with h is daughter, G enevieve, and his grandson (Golaud's h alf-b ro th er), P e lle a s.
29
The im portant thing about A rk el is th at decisions a re ultim ately re fe rre d to
h im . F o r instance, it was he who sent Golaud in search of a b rid e . And in the
scene a t hand, he decides that Golaud and M elisande can come to live in his
c astle , despite the la d y 's questionable lin e a g e . He also decides that Pelleas,
who w ishes to v isit a dying frien d , had b e tte r stay at home with his own sick
fa th e r. In a ct two, a fte r the plot has thickened, A rkel vetoes P elleas’ tra v e l
plans ag ain . And th is brings up the second point about A rkel: fo r a ll th e ir b a l
ance and com passion, his decisions b ring about the m ost tra g ic consequences.
In our sym bolic m ind-m odel, A rkel undoubtedly re p re s e n ts the T
which re a so n s and judges, upon which r e s ts both our h a rsh e s t s e lf-c ritic is m s
and our m ost a b stra c te d philosophies. Golaud is one p ro jectio n of that T , a
p ris o n e r of the p a st whose confusion of tru th with facts underm ines h is kind
h e a r t. Pelleas is a com plem entary p rojection of. that T , a young m an obsessed
with the fu tu re, with escape to a new life, with propogation and tra n scen d en ce.
Not unnaturally, it is th is asp ect of our ego to which, M aeterlinck believes, the
soul ( i . e . , M elisande) is a ttra c te d .
If the trag ed ies of the play a re c learly related to A rk e l's symbolic
decision to open the c en tra l Gate, it is still the case that that decision does not
in itself b rin g about the events which follow . R ather, it allow s them to unfold
as they m u st. This sym bolism is com plem ented by A rk e l's growing re alizatio n
that the need fo r inner unity is not m et by becom ing w ise in the w o rld 's w a y s.
Thus, taken a s a didactic m odel, a s a C h ristian m orality play, Pelleas e t
M elisande has an underlying positive attitude, despite its surface p e ssim ism .
30
T his is im portant to the la r g e r purpose of this th e sis because of
Schoenberg’s co n trastin g tre atm e n t of the su b je c t. The com poser has com
pletely expunged the c h a ra c te r of A rkel from his own p ro g ra m m e . In so doing,
he has rad ically a lte re d the m eaning of the rom antic triangle upon which he
dwells: Golo, M elisande and P ellea s. D eprived of th e ir cen tral point of r e f e r
ence (like a mind depreived of its sense of ego), the im portance of these c h a r
a c te r s ' individual tendencies is g rea tly in c re a se d . This m akes the dram a
much m ore com patible with the K raus sian view of sex and c h a ra c te r discussed
in the p revious c h a p te r. T his, in its own way is full of su b tle tie s. But i t also
m akes a p e ssim istic in terp reta tio n of the p la y 's sym bols unavoidable„ Schoen
b e rg 's tone poem has many points of resem blance with T r is ta n , but this is not
one of them : the w ork ends with a mood of brooding d e s p a ir.

CHAPTER 4
MELODY
In P elleas the elem ent of melody is dominated by a sophisticated
deployment of leading m o tiv es. In th eir internal organization, Schoenberg's
leading m otives a re rem in iscen t of those in T ris ta n : th ere one leading motive
grows out of another, and the connotative functions of each a re always dynamic,
reflectin g the re c ip ro c a l relationship that obtains between the sm allest elem ents
and the work as a w hole. This is also tru e of P e lle a s .
Schoenberg's independence of his model is shown by the complex ways
he com bines leading m otives into c h a ra c te ris tic th e m e s . W agner uses a s im i
la r technique when he builds a long them e such as V alh alla. But Schoenberg's
leading m otives have no sim ple correspondence to the p hrase stru ctu re of th eir
am alg am atio n s. This is shown in the following exam ple, the motive of M elisande's
D eceit. Brackets isolate the two antecedent leading m otives combined h e r e .
S em ew h ot mere live)
/
-m. IH8 '
J l,
s l i £ = .f -
F ig . 1. A m algam ation of Leading M otives.
31
32
As ju st evidenced, su b titles a re given to the leading m otives high
lighted in th is th e s is . Though a sim ple enum eration m ight seem sufficient a s
an index of them , th is would not come to te rm s with the frankly program m atic
intent of the c o m p o se r. Schoenberg h im self w rote that P elleas w as "in sp ired
en tirely by M aurice M aeterlin ck 's wonderful d ra m a . I trie d to m irr o r every
detail of it . . ." ^
Motive X
The m o st im portant m elodic unit in Pelleas is probably that com posed
of th ree conjunct pitches, usually chrom atic . T his unit w ill h e re a fte r be _e
re fe rre d to as Motive X . Rhythm ically, Motive X p re se n ts a com plete g e stu re,
both a r s is and th esis, with the downbeat o ccu rrin g som etim es on the second
and som etim es on the th ird p itch . The tone poem opens with Motive X conjoined
with a falling trito n e . T his p h ra se , which is very nearly a re tro g ra d e of
T r is ta n 's opening, shall be called F a te .
A derivative of Motive X, the ascending sem itone, is also ubiquitous.
It w ill be called Motive X' (x -p rim e). It is som etim es used by itse lf to suggest
impending d is a s te r (as in m e a su re s 11, 43, and 213). It also underlies the
sh o rt p h rase which dovetails with F ate, and which will be called A nim a. The
1. Schoenberg, "N otes on P e lle a s, " unpaginated. But we have alread y

seen that Schoenberg ignores those elem ents of M aeterlin ck 's play which lie
outside of the rom antic tria n g le . And in the quotation h ere cited, Schoenberg
continues, . . with only a few om issions and slight changes of the o rd er of
the sc e n e s. Perhaps, a s frequently happens in m usic, th ere is noire space
devoted to the love s c e n e s ."
33
m ost c h a ra c te ristic featu re of Anima, and the one m ost often borrow ed
from it, is not, however, X1, but the double neighbor.

S low
m. 0
I E E *
F ig . 2 . The Leading M otives of Fate (Above) and Anima (Below).
An expansion of Motive X in m easure six provides the im petus that
leads to the f ir s t clim ax of the tone poem . In the course of Pelleas this e x
panded v arian t proves to be an im portant leading motive in its own rig h t. It
w ill be called F a te 's Unfolding.
-m . (o
m m
F ig . 3. F a te 's Unfolding: an Expansion of Motive X
Destiny
In the second m easu re a leading motive is heard which Schoenberg

7
calls D estiny. In at le a s t two ways, Destiny is different from Fate and
Anima: it is harm onic (m inor-m ajor) as well as melodic; and though its
c h a ra c te ris tic m ajor seventh is often borrow ed, the motive itself is static
Ib id .
34
throughout the tone poem . This suggests that Schoenberg conceived of
destiny as a force or law independent of people's actio n s. In his ’’Notes on
P elleas, Schoenberg speaks of a second Destiny m otive. F o r ease of re feren ce,
these two m otives will henceforth be called D estiny-1 and D estiny~2. Though
the second is not as static as the f ir s t (being a chord succession), it is also
harm o n ic. And as these two leading m otives a re the only harm onic o n es--an
exception will be discussed l a te r - - is it too much to suggest that at this tim e
Schoenberg considered the v e rtic a l, harm onic elem ent to be an elem ent of
natural law in m usic?
7n. 2. -m,. 9 Z
S
(
3 Aim
■ ^ '
F ig . 4 . The Harm onic Leading Motives: Destiny-1

and D estiny-2
M elisande, Golo, Pelleas
T here is a wealth of subtle d etails in the construction of the leading
m otives for the th ree m ain c h a ra c te rs of Schoenberg's tone p o em . M elisande's
chief them e, heard f ir s t, is sim p ler than e ith e r of the two b ro th e rs' tu n e s .
H er single idea does, however, ex ist in two p arallel v e rs io n s . These might

be term ed M elisande's H elp lessn ess (after S choenberg's own description,
3
’’M elisande in h e r h elp le ssn e ss and M elisande's B eauty.
The beautiful M elisande is h eard a s an em bellished, arpeggiated
m inor sonority (figure 5). T his is the one addition to the lis t of harm onic
leading m otives m entioned ab o v e. If we rem em b er that, fo r K rau ss, the
gentle fem inine unconscious stands under a ll e lse , it is not h ard to see such
a concept pro jected in Schoenberg's m usical depiction. To this we m ight add
that the idea of w om an's dependence on m an is. reflected in the duality of
M elisande’s motive: h e r beauty is only h eard in the vicinity of P elleas'
leading m o tiv e .
The h elp less M elisande is shown by a chrom atic a lte ra tio n of h er
beautiful self (figure 5). Significantly, h e r tonic note, f-s h a rp , is not only
retain ed , but is re ite ra te d in an extension of the p h ra se .
Though only one p h rase in length, M elisande's leading m otive rep ay s
close exam ination. The f ir s t th ree pitches, isolated by th e ir r e g is te r, a re
cle a rly an inversio n (or re tro g rad e ) of Motive X. The next four ascending
pitches m ay likew ise be considered an expansion of Motive X by the prefixing
of a fourth (conjunct) p itch . T his grouping w ill henceforth be called Motive X"
Notice too that while M elisan d e's Beauty ends with Motive X, M elisande's Help
le s s n e s s conjoins th is with a falling sixth, and thus re c a lls F a te .

36
SomewkaT m ore Anim ated

( »)
m , 12. t- 4
!
Slower X
rrv M3 ( 4 iA r 1r f . 1 T X
r t - ^ r 1-------1----- r - I : . ; , --------------
------ I ----- —ft—
'
—
r
1-----------------
F ig . 5. M elisande's Beauty (1) and H elplessness (2)
If we de-em phasize the p resence of Motive X by ignoring the f ir s t
and seventh pitches of M elisande’s m otive(s), the notes between rem ain as an
angular aggregate which re fle c ts (literally) one of the m ost im portant melodic
ideas of the tone poem . To facilitate la te r re feren ce, this aggregate will be
labeled Motive A .
The sim ple inversion of this motive is f ir s t adum brated in m easure
tw enty-five by the leading motive of Golo’s Yearning (for love). The impulse
of Golo’s Y earning is a gentle one, b rief but p e rs is te n t. Rhythm ically, it
p re se n ts a single pulse, approached weakly and resolved w eakly. But this
motive only rev ea ls its poverty when com pared with its counterpart, P elleas’
Yearning (for love). In the la tte r leading m otive, the ex p ressiv e appoggiatura
is subsumed within a la rg e r melodic im pulse, leaping upward before its final
g e s tu r e . Rhythm ically, Pelleas* Y earning is ch aracterized by its dynamic
q u arte r-n o te p u lse.

37
( I ) L i t t l e by Li Tile. S o m e w h a t F a s te r
m.2&
e t c ,.
t*
Som ewhat Held BacK

C2,)
&
s ^ iTr T'i: W
F ig . 6 . Leading Motives of Yearning: Golo (1) and
Pelleas (2).
Schoenberg's application of the inverted Motive A extends to
M elisande h e r s e lf . In h er Y earning motive (figure 7), G oio's weak upbeat
com bines with P elleas' wide ra n g e . A m eiism atic v ersio n of M elisande s
Beauty--note how Motive A is here filled in -- is followed by four final notes
which have much in common with G oio's Yearning, both in range and rh y th m .
(This is indicated in the fig u re .) Thus, despite the influence of P elleas’
Y earning, the o v erall c h a ra c te r of M elisande's motive rese m b le s G oio's.
This sim ilarity m ight seem to suggest affinity between the two c h a r a c te r s .
But, as we know, the K rauss-W eininger (and presum ably Schoenberg) viewpoint
holds that it is the balance of m ale -fem ale elem ents which d eterm ines the
nature of a p a rtic u la r union between the se x e s. And in this r e g a rd , the upward
th ru st of G oio's Y earning (especially in sequence) differs from the careful
balance of r is e and fall in Pelleas and M elisande’s v e rs io n s .

38
S o m e w h a t m o re l«ve/y
1 1
rrv,
148 FE
r+
Pe fleas; G q IQu
i 5 S 2Z
F ig . 7. M elisande's Yearning as a Blend of Golo and P elleas.
When, la te r, the inverted Motive A is applied to Golo, it signifies
a yearning which has been distorted into Jealousy: the risin g gesture is now
answ ered by a stro n g er falling one; but the motive ends inconclusively.
SloW
mZZ3
f T i‘r-
F ig . 8 . G olo's Jealousy as a D istortion of Y earning.
M elisande's dispassionate response to Golo is sim ilarly interesting
in the way it has lost the balance so c h a ra c te ristic of h er other leading m otives
ytv{>7 Brood Ijr__
I x____________x_
e r iS /O T V
F ig. 9. M elisande’s Diffidence a s a Loss of Balance.

The co n trast in m elodic range between the two b ro th e rs is not lim ited
to th e ir m otives of Y earning. F o r exam ple, Golo's f ir s t idea moves from a
risin g third to a falling fifth; P e lle a s’ from a falling fifth to a risin g octav e. In
the continuation of th e ir them es this relationship is r e v e rs e d . At the h eart of
Pelleas* trip a rtite leading motive is D estiny-2: harm onically audacious but
m elodically re s e rv e d . In co n trast, the cen tral idea of G olo's theme is a
sweeping rom antic g e s tu r e . This can be broken down (as Schoenberg la te r
does) into two subsidary leading m otives, those of Golo's Passion (Animus) and
G olo's V ulnerability (Anima). Upon exam ination the la tte r proves to be a re tro
grade of the leading m otive, Anima (figure 2). Even at this point in his d ev el
opment Schoenberg was prone to the ex p ressiv e employment of c ereb ra l device
The upward th ru st of Animus is hardly balanced by A nim a. In the
p resen t example (figure 1 0 ), the whole is somewhat tem pered by the rhythm ic
settin g . During m ost of the tone poem, however, this rhythm gives way to that
of a m ilitary fanfare o r h u n te r's h o rn -call, in keeping with G olo's m asculine
im age. When Anima is heard as a continuation of Animus, it suggests that
G olo's vulnerable fem inine side has come within the orbit of this m asculine
image (ra th e r than vice v e r s a ) .

Very Warmly ( |J
m . 45
IZL)
F ig . 10. G olo's Animus (1) and Anima (2).
40
m .ZB Lttle Ly L/'H'le Somewhat Fcxster
d „
W -#
C w1 # • • •
F ig . 11. G olo's Leading Motive ( F ir s t V ersio n ),
-m H4 Very Wttrrnly, w ilk Broader Movemen't
- f -----K----j-:------ 1"....- .... - [ ' J ' < ~ j ........., ............................t a

4 ; " r - J . --------------
J J J - J— J ^ J ~3 |
r \ : r ) 11 " (I r f f I
/ — = — 1
F
n J. ^ ;
e tc .
^ B - n 4 3 3 4 = F -P -j:-- 4 ^ — - - • • •
■ -------- j*— t f — :— :
F ig . 12. G olo’s Leading Motive (Second V ersion) a s Used

in an Extended T hem e.
L ively
m6C| i >:r ^ ^ Ir 1. H f t
^ k l I
- -u.. o
N 3" i ,
-4—
T 4- = &oO [^=]-t— "•
y Z t r -------------^-e----- ^ —-£—
F ig . 13. T rip a rtite Leading Motive of P e lle a s.

42
As a final point of com parison between the m usical tre atm e n t of
Golo and P elleas, it is in tere stin g to note that, like M elisande, Golo has two
d istin ct v ersio n s of his leading m otive i P elleas has only o n e . Of course, the
m otives of the two b ro th e rs a re subject to v arious d egrees of divergence from
th e ir o rig in als, according to p ro g ram m atic n ecessity . But the shape of P e lle a s '
motto (the f ir s t five notes) re m a in s constant, w hereas in G oio's case it does not.
The significance of this lie s in the fact that Goio’s m otto v a rie s a c c o r
ding to his re latio n with M elisande a t a given point of the p ie c e . This is a
p assiv e, fem inine a ttrib u te according to the K rau ssian view, and it re in fo rces
the im p ressio n that Goio’s fa ilu re to win M elisande's love is due to an overabun
dance of the fem inine in his m akeup. This m ight seem a lot to impute to m ere
m u s ic . N ev erth eless, it is one of the aim s of this th esis to show how the con- :
junction of a m an, a m ilieu, and an e ra m akes some such in terp retatio n
inev itab le.
Counterpoint and R eg ister
A m ore conventional so rt of m ale -fem ale relationship is shown by the
leading m otive of M elisande'.s Awakening L o v e. In this case it is the fem inine
im pulse which r is e s m elism atically and leads into m a te ria l derived from
P elle as’ Y earning. In tim e-honored love -duet fashion, the m otive is c o n stru c
ted to fit with that of P e lle a s . T his is also an example of counterpoint used for
p ro g ram m atic clarification: if P e llea s' leading m otive w ere not p re se n t u n al
te re d , the specific m eaning of M elisande's Awakening Love would be u n c le a r.

43
‘
M.1 2 H-S lower
&
if 4 i
1
:) % ? r j . n rr ; L r xp
6
GIF B/< m e: i j)#1
e: FtMsM. Ei
F ig . 14. M elisande s Awakening Love as a Counter su b je c t.
In the above exam ple, the leading motive of the active force (Pelleas)
lie s below its Msphere of influence” . Schoenberg uses this in terp retatio n of
re g is te r ra th e r co n sisten tly . F o r exam ple, in the section of the tone poem
which depicts the vaults under the c a stle , the com poser gives the scenic sy m
bolism a sonic p a ra lle l by using D estiny - 1 as an ostinato in the b a s s. In s e v e ra l
other p assag es he uses F a te 's Unfolding (figure 3) as a b ass line, eith er in its
original pitch o rd e r, a s in the exam ple below, or in a re tro g ra d e version, a s
in m easu res 299-308.

— i
J - - - t r .. . . . . = j = J U U h r± =
F ig . 15. Connotations of R egister: F a te 's Unfolding a s a
Bass Line
V ariation Techniques
Schoenberg's unified conception of the three protagonists has been
seen in the extensive sharing of m a te ria ls among th eir different leading m o tiv es.
As the tone poem p ro g re s se s , Schoenberg's ability in applying a wide variety
of variatio n techniques to his p rim ary m a te ria ls in su res a consistency within
the abundance of new th e m e s .
One of the longest of the new them es epitom izes M elisande's mood
during the f ir s t scene a t the A rtesian W ell. The co m p o ser's setting has a light,
teasing quality rem in iscen t of ballet m usic; short p h rases, bright tim bres and
staccato articu latio n contribute to this im p re ssio n . With this in mind, it is in
triguing that Schoenberg uses decorative v ariatio n techniques h e r e . M elisande's
Beauty underlies the f ir s t m easu res quite explicitly. In the la tte r p a rt of this
theme F a te 's U nfolding, Motive X” , L ove's Awakening, and Anima are in terlo c k e d .
45
m. l(?l Very Qu«cK|
Li-ove/s AwaAknlng 1
a____ #-
» M #—
S ' --------- ------ ---------
F F F ^ M r
n
' t
F ig . 16. D ecoration and Interlock as Melody -Producing A gents.
The term ’’in terlo ck ” r e fe r s , in W en n erstro m 's definition, to ’’the

„2
overlapping and in terp en etratio n of two or m ore p a ra m e te rs or e le m e n ts.”
A sub tler exam ple of these techniques may be found in the m usic of Pelleas
and M elisande' s la st m eeting. H ere P elleas' motto is so thoroughly embedded
in the new theme that the term ’’decoration” does not suffice. Sim ilarly, in
2. M ary H. W ennerstrom , ’’P aram etric A nalysis of Contem porary

M usical F o rm ” (Ph.D . d isse rta tio n , Indiana U niversity, 1967), p . 27. In that
work this term (and o th ers which follow) is used p rim arily as a form al d e s c rip
tion. H ere the sam e term has been applied to the subform al p ro ced u res under
d iscu ssio n .
46
r r \ .3 Z 6 Sloyv
_cd ..^ittJ r
$ 4JJ-I ----------------- iM
•
-“If* -4-
.......... F— L -------J
F ig . 17 T echniques of Synthesis and Interlock in the Love

M usic.
47
the strin g of m otivic elem ents which follows, new them atic m a te ria ls p re se n t
v ariatio n s of th eir m odels which a re m ore rad ical than those of figure 16.
Techniques of synthesis reach another peak with the presentation of
the leading motive of M elisande's F a te . H arm onically this m otive derives
from D estin y -1. Its upbeat suggests M elisande's Y earning, as does the end
of its second p h r a s e . Its m elodic stru ctu re derives from the opening of
M elisande's Awakening Love, as shown in figure 18. In its subsequent d ev el
opment, m easu res 480-487, M elisande’s Fate becom es entangles with G olo's
A nim a. This asso ciativ e adm ixture of m otives owes a g re a t deal to Wagner;
but it shows an even stro n g er affinity with the melodic fam ilies in M ah ler's
symphonie s .
■m. 468 SloW
■ i
F ig . 18. Techniques of Synthesis in M elisande's F a te .

Juxtaposition is defined by W ennerstrom as ’’the change in focus to
a new p a ra m e te r or elem ent placed alongside of a different p a ra m e te r or
different elem ent from the sam e p a r a m e te r .”' This technique is prom inent
in the pow erful p assag e which begins a t m easu re 217 (figure 37). H ere the
inform ed liste n e r can lite ra lly follow G olo's thoughts step by Step a s they
move fro m d ark suspicion of P elleas (1), to the ru sh of pain a t M elisande's
resp o n se to P elleas (2), to the b itte r mocking of F ate a t h is own blindness
and tru s t (3), to the powerful and proud anger which r is e s in response (4) and
b rin g s in its wake the searin g re a liz a tio n (as the m usic m oves into P elleas”
key) that G olo's own love would never call fo rth from M elisande anything m ore
than a gentle re jec tio n (5, 6).
A rtificial Scales
Schoenberg's use of a rtific ia l scales can be divided into two c ateg o ries
those that a re based (at le a s t in part) on w hole-tone scales, and those that a r e
n o t. Of the la tte r category th ere is only one instance, strik in g in its iso latio n .
T his occurs a t m easu re 538 in a harp g lissa n d o . The o rd e r of tones and
sem itones is a s follows: ST A SSA S . The two augmented seconds give the
scale a "H ungarian” fla v o r.
Schoenberg's use of the whole -tone scale shows how, even near the
beginning of h is developm ent, he w ished to integrate new ideas into the in h e r
ited m usical language, enriching it ra th e r than supplanting it. His chief
m eans of doing this m elodically was to tr e a t the seven tones of the scale
F ig . 19. Juxtaposition as a N arrative Technique.
(including octave duplication) as two overlapping te tra c h o rd s . In the f ir s t
m easu re of the following exam ple (figure 20), the two whole -tone tetra ch o rd s
in the flutes form a com plete whole -tone scale which obtains a tonic function
by its asso ciatio n with the supporting diatonic figuration and p e d a l. In the
second m easu re, the upper flute shifts up a half step to p re se n t a com plem en
tary whole -tone te tra c h o rd . The low er flute does not make this shift, but
instead reso lv es its whole -tone tetra ch o rd into a diatonic scale by the shift of
the f ir s t m e a su re 's f-fla t (= e) to the second m e a s u re 's e - f la t.
t*v 538 Witin Wal kin^ Motion
I
S' m
¥
F ig . 20. S tratification of a W hole-Tone Scale W ithin a

Diatonic C ontext.
51
Schoenberg’s w hole-tone scale can be even m ore thoroughly absorbed
by the diatonic. In the exam ple which follows, notes of a whole-tone scale a re
embedded in a melody, in an extension of the technique observed e a rlie r in
connection with m o tiv e s. The chief difference between the treatm en t here as
opposed to figure 20, is that the non-diatonic notes are resolved individually,
m ,464 Somewhat Slower
A *
m
£
i *
I
F ig . 21. Embedding of a Whole -Tone Scale Within a M elody.
Both the previous exam ples a re symbolic of M elisande's brief re tu rn
to con scio u sn ess--an d life . It is alm ost too easy to infer that the whole -tone
scale, which ignores tradition, which m akes no referen ce to the senario, had
"o th er-w o rld ly ” connotations for the co m poser. N evertheless, this inference
is supported not only by the p re sen t p ro gram m atic context, but by Schoenberg's
la te r m atchings of m usic to tex t.
At the L im its of Tonality
Looking once again at figure 20, two ra th e r consistent featu res of
Schoenberg's experim ental pitch collections in Pelleas may be observed. F ir s t,
with the presen tatio n of a second whole - tone tetrach o rd in the second m easu re,
52
ten of the twelve chrom atic p itches a re h eard in the flu te s . Second, one of
the two m issin g pitches is e - fla t.
C hrom atic satu ratio n is also p re se n t in figure 19. The lin e a r, p ro p u l
sive quality of this p assag e looks p a st the Cham ber Symphony to the period of
E rw artu n g . In fact, C olo's Jealousy is m ore m eaningfully d escrib ed a s an
(012)-(567) set (= Motive X twice) than as a m ixture of harm onic and non “h a r
monic tones . Even m ore audacious is the "m ocking" p resen tatio n of D estiny-1
with its im itation at the m inor ninth. In fact, ten of the twelve chrom atic tones
a re p re se n t in m easu re 230. The rem aining two, e -fla t and f, a re heard in the
f ir s t half of m easu re 231.
Two fu rth er exam ples m ay be mentioned h e r e . The f ir s t is the open
ing p h rase of the scene in the v a u lts . T his m usic is som etim es rem em bered
3
fo r its slow trom bone gli-ssandi, which Schoenberg believed he had pioneered
h e r e . H owever, the relev an ce of this passage to the p re se n t topic lies in the
uneasy tru ce which ex ists between the horizontal and v e rtic a l elem ents, ra th e r
than in incidental m ic ro to n e s.
Typically, the dense polyphony of P elleas follows the S trau ssian (and
W agnerian) proto ty p e, w here the n e c e ssitie s of rhythm ic control of melodic
dissonance a re circum vented through harm onic underpinning. In the scene in
the vaults, how ever, the disjunct and chrom atic lines a re left on th eir own to
3. F o r instance, in MacDonald, Schoenberg, pp. 111-112; W ellesz,

Schonberg, p . 94; and Schoenberg, " N o tes," unpaginated.
53
to produce w hatever v e rtic a l constellations they m ay. The uneasy truce com es
about becuase the above description clearly operated within an extended orbit
of d m in o r.
m.ZBB Very Slow
F ig . 22. Chrom atic Density in the Scene in the V aults.
A fu rth e r point to be made is that one of Schoenberg’s c h a ra c te ristic methods
of pitch organization in Erw artung is already p resen t h e re . Specifically, if
we make a tabulation of the chrom atic tones p resen t in the m otives of figure
22--leav in g out of consideration the descending chrom atic scale which ap p ears
in every m easu re--w e find ten of the possible twelve to n es. The two m issing
tones, e -fa it and g -flat, form the harm onic focus ( i.e ., the root and third) of
the next m usical idea, which appears in m easure 287.
The second passage to be discussed occurs between m easu res 451
and 458, and co rresponds to the death of Pelleas at the hand of Golo. Schoen-
54
b e rg ’s m usical resp o n se to this incident shows how, in his idiom , the dominant
chord could ab so rb alm o st any dissonance, so long as the th ird or the seventh
w ere not obscured a t the end of the prolongation,
fiv H5 I Little by Little S lower-
7 T T 7f
F ig . 23. P elleas' Death: P resentation of F ourteen C hrom atic

Tones with Two D uplications.
The angular denouement of P elleas' motive p resen ts seven different
pitches, which may be collected as an 0 12 4 5 7 8 s e t . This occurs over a
pedal which, though it does not duplicate any of the seven pitches, nonetheless
provides a tonal referen ce point for them , as mentioned above. The an sw e r
ing p h rase, D estiny-1, adds two non-duplicating p itch es. Together with the
previous eight, th ere a re once again ten of the twelve possible chrom atic
n o te s . The m issin g two a re e -fla t and g„ And the subtlety of th eir appearance
is that they a rriv e p rec isely during the duplicating fourth pitch of D estiny-1 .
(The final f-sh a rp of D estiny-1 does not duplicate since it ap p ears only after
the presen tatio n of all twelve to n es.) Following this is a v a ria n t of M elisande's
H elplessn ess, the pitch content of which duplicates that of P elleas' D eath.
55
Com pare 0 1 2 4 5 6 7 (norm al form : 0 1 2 4 6 7 8) with P elleas' s e t, 0 1 2 4 5 7 8 „
This is not to suggest that Schoenberg purposely organized h is tones in this
w ay. Yet neith er a re those tonal arran g em en ts h ap h azard . As the com poser
once told an in terv iew er, ” . . . y e a rs before I had the courage to w rite out
what I h eard it cam e to me fro m —w ell, perhaps from the d ev il--b u t I heard
4
and h eard and finally chanced it and w ro te ."
F o u r p assag es have now been exam ined w here the m elodic-m otivic
content deploys a ll the chrom atic tones with the exception of e -fla t and one
other, v ariab le, note. The f ir s t passage depicted M elisande's dying hour, one
culm ination of the tra g ic fo rc e s in the d ra m a . The second passage depicted
Golo’s m om ent of hum iliation, a m om ent which p recip ita te s the tra g ic events
which follow . The th ird p assag e depicted the overt sm ell of death in the c a s tle 's
v a u lts. And the fourth passage depicted the actual death of P e lle a s. The com
p o s e r's connotative assig n m en ts a re consistent: at this point in his developm ent
the breakdown of tonality w as asso ciated with life-denying f o rc e s .
To the above four citations can be added one curious coincidence. The
opening p h rase of the tone poem (a p h rase which re c u rs a fte r P elleas’ death)
contains a ll the chrom atic tones save e - f la t. The key of e fla t (m ajor or m inor)
is not a prom inent one in P elleas except in the m usic preceeding the Epilog, the
m usic of M elisande's death.
4. L aura Rem ick Copp, "Interview with Arnold Schoenberg, " Etude ,
O ctober, 1934, p . 68.
Summa ry
Schoenberg o rg an izes his sounds horizontally into snail (two to six
pitch) units which function a s connotative m o rphem es. Some of these units
constitute leading m otives, while o th ers ( e .g ., M otives X, X' and A) a re p a rts .
of leading m o tiv es. The in terv a llic identity of m otives and leading m otives is
flexible, and the rhythm ic identity is usually d isp en sib le.
Interlock and synthesis of se v eral m elodic m orphem es into a la rg e r
unit is Schoenberg's c h a ra c te ris tic m ethod of creatin g a th e m e . Contrapuntal
p ro c ed u res such as in v ersio n and re tro g ra d e a re applied to m elodic m orphem es
as analogical devices with specific p ro gram m atic re fe re n c e s . R eg ister is
em ployed-for s im ila r p u rp o se s.
In his use of a rtific ia l sc a le s, Schoenberg seem s to p re fe r a division
into interlocking te tra c h o rd s . C ertain other p assag es p resag e Schoenberg's
m ethods of pitch organization in his atonal (pantonal) m u s ic . In these, ten -
pitch collections a re the m o st com m on. In ev ery such collection, e -fla t is one
of the m issin g p itc h es. C e rtain p assag es organized around identifiable te rtia n
so n o rities exhibit the sam e fe a tu re s in th e ir pitch collections, even including
the absence of e - f la t.
CHAPTER 5
MELODIC DISSONANCE
The an aly sis of a co m p o ser's tre atm e n t of m elodic dissonance is
helpful in determ ining the significant o r unique featu res of his s ty le . Table 1,
which defines the categ o ries of m elodic dissonance used herein, is taken from
page seven of Edw ard W . M urphy's "Harm ony and Tonality in the L arge W orks
of S trau ss" (Ph.D . d isse rta tio n , Indiana U niversity, 1963). In that work s e p -
a ra te attention is also given to harm onic dissonance . Such is not the case
h ere . In Pelleas the norm al sound is the seventh chord - -tr ia d s being the ex- .
ception ra th e r than the r u le . With harm onic dissonance so thoroughly em bed
ded into the vocabulary of the sc o re , it h a s seem ed appropriate to tre a t it
w ithin the g en eral context of sonority, ra th e r than independently.
In P elleas und M elisande, c e rta in questions about dissonance suggest
them selves because of its co m p o se r's subsequent developm ent. F o r instance,
is the future em ancipator of dissonance tending in that d irectio n in this tone
poem ? To answ er this question one needs a c le a r idea of what "em ancipated
dissonance” re a lly is.. Schoenberg’s own discu ssio n has n atu rally influenced
many a u th o rs' tre atm e n t of the su b ject. In the H arm onielehre of 1911, the
com poser cited a chord from his own cham ber opera, E rv artu n g , a s an exam
ple of em ancipated, o r unresolved, d issonance. His subsequent com m entary

Table 1. C ategorization of D issonance by Melodic C ontrol
C ategory D issonance Resolution Label
1 . sam e sam e pedal point

2. sam e step down suspension
3. sam e step up re ta rd a tio n
4. sam e leap down escape tone
5. sam e leap up escape tone
6. step down sam e anticipation
7. step down step down passin g tone
8. step down step up low er neighbor
9. step down leap down escape tone
10. step down leap up escape tone
11. step up sam e anticipation
12. step up step down upper neighbor
13. step up step up p assin g tone
14. step up leap down escape tone
15. step up leap up escape tone
16. leap up sam e anticipation
17. leap up step down appoggiatura
18. leap up step up appoggiatura
19. leap up leap down neighbor tone approached
and left by leap
20. leap up leap up neighbor tone approached
and left by leap
21. leap down sam e anticipation
22. leap down step down appoggiatura
23. leap down step up appoggiatura
24. leap down leap down neighbor tone approached
and left by leap
25. leap down leap up neighbor tone approached
and left by leap
P. not prep ared ; dissonant note e n te rs en tirely new but

does reso lv e, e ith e r sam e, step down, step up,
leap up or leap down.
Z. not resolved; dissonant note ends abruptly a s itself but
is p rep ared , e ith e r sam e, step down, step up,
leap up, or leap down.
PZo neith er p rep a re d nor resolved; dissonant note begins
and ends with no thought of any m elodic c o n tro l.
59
has been sum m arized by A lexander Goehr as follow s. Schoenberg "points
out that the placing of the constituent groups is done so that it is easily possible
to lead back to e a r lie r, m ore trad itional fo rm u latio n s. And he gives the r e s o
lutions (figure 24-b) saying ra th e r quaintly, ’the fact that they a re not resolved
this way (in the actual piece) does no m ore damage than the non-resolution of
,„1
quite sim ple harm onies
Cb) h it
&
F ig . 24. Schoenberg's Example of Emancipated D issonance

in the H arm o n ieleh re.
1. Goehr, "T h eo retical W ritin g s," pp. 87-88.

60
F ro m th is point of view, P elleas is not by and larg e a p ro g re ssiv e
com position. Table 2 shows that fully 69.1 p ercen t of the m elodic dissonances
a re both approached and left by s te p , T his sty listic featu re is sh ared by both
M ahler and S tra u s s . In Bin H eldenleben, the la te st of S tra u s s 's tone poem s
at the tim e Pelleas was w ritten, 69.8 p ercen t of the m elodic dissonances a re
approached and reso lv ed by ste p .^ And in th ree symphonic m ovem ents M ahler
3
reso lv e s 66.8 p ercen t of the m elodic dissonances by s te p .
M ore significant a re the re la tiv e s ta tis tic s fo r dissonances resolved
by leap . In Pelleas 11.2 p ercen t a re so resolved, a figure which takes on a
conservative c ast when com pared with the com parable s ta tis tic fo r Ejn H elden
leben: 17.3 p e rc e n t. On the other hand, M ah le r's m ovem ents reso lv e a m ere
4 .3 p ercen t of th e ir dissonances by leap . It should be kept in mind, however,
that the categ o ries of m elodic dissonance do not include double -neighbor con
fig u ratio n s. These constitute an authentic sty le-featu re in the la rg e r tone poem s
of S tra u s s .
Rhythmic D istribution
As is w ell known, the prom inence of m elodic dissonance within an
in te rp a ra m e tric unit is larg ely governed by rhythm ic p lacem en t. Tables 3,
2 . Edw ard W . M urphy, ''H arm ony and Tonality in the L arge W orks
of S tra u ss” (Ph.D . d isse rta tio n , Indiana U niversity, 1963), p . 282.
3 . T h ird Symphony, m ovem ents th re e and six; F ourth Symphony,

movem ent tw o. S tatistics on these w ere com piled by the p re se n t w r ite r .
Table 2 „ C ateg o rical A nalysis of T otal D issonant Attacks
C ategory Quantity Percentage of T otal D issonance
1. 83 2.2
2. 124 3.3
3. 51 1.4
4. 13 0.3
5. 15 0 .4
6. 12 0.3
7. 847 22.6
8. 302 8.1
9. 61 1.6
10. 63 1.7
11. 10 0 .3
12. 252 6.7
13. 1188 31.7
14. 32 0 .9
15. 40 1.1
16. 6 0.2
17. 238 6.3
18. 54 1.4
19. 51 1.4
20. 17 0 .5
21.
22. 25 0 .7
23. 155 4.1
24. 3 0 .1
25. 81 2.2
P. . 19 0 .5
Z. 8 0.2
PZ.
Totals: 3749 100.0

4, and 5 show that the v ast m ajority of Schoenberg’s dissonances fall between
b e a ts . In this re sp e c t, neighbor tones and passing tones actually exceed the
no rm . F o r exam ple, in duple m e te rs, of the 69.1 p ercen t of melodic d isso
nances which a re approached and reso lved by step, 78.2 p ercen t fall between
b e a ts . And of all the dissonances which fall between beats, 76.9 percent a re
passing tones or neighbor to n e s . C onversely, of the dissonances resolved by
leap, 46.7 p ercen t fall on strong beats one and three in 4/4 m e te r . The fo l
lowing p h rase from the love m usic is often heard in the la tte r p a rt of the tone
poem and accounts for much of this high p e rc e n ta g e .
fn, H2.3 Somewtadir Broader

©
>-X__
M rr
.................
— tp
- —
F ig . 25. Melodic D issonances Left by Leap in the Love M usic.
In other sections of the tone poem the ubiquitous D estiny_1 accounts
for many of the dissonances approached and left by le a p . T his is illu strated
in F igure 26, below .

Table 3 . Rhythmic D istribution of D issonant C ategories in 4 /4
M eter, E x p ressed in P e rc e n tile s .
C ategory Beat 1 Beat 2 Beat 3 Beat 4 Between Beats
1. 44.6 16.9 7 .7 10.8 20.0

20 23.2 7.3 51.2 11.0 7.3
3. 15.0 12.5 12.-5 20.0 40.0
4. ---- 10.0 30.0 60.0 ----
5. 2 1 .4 14.3 42.8 2 1.4 ^ ^
6. ---- . 11.1 11.1 22.2 55.5
7. 3 .9 10.0 6 .4 . 9 .8 69.9
8. 1.0 5 .8 1.9 8.6 82.7
9. 10.2 23.1 ---- 10.2 56.4
10. 2 .6 2 .6 2 .6 5.1 87.2
11. 16.7 --- ---- ---- 83.3
12. 4 .6 1.5 4 .6 1.5 87.7
13. 3.5 5 .5 2 .9 7 .0 81.1
14. 29.6 ---- 33.3 7 .4 29.6
15. 13.2 7 .9 15.8 10.5 52.6
1 6 .. 20.0 20.0 -- - 2 0.0 40.0
17. 11.3 11.3 4 .8 4 .8 67.7
18. ---- 3 .7 7 .4 14.8 70.4
19. 39.5 7 .9 5.3 15.8 31.6
20. 41.7 8 .3 -- - 50.0
21. ---- ---- - -- -- - ----
22. ---- 7.7 ---- 7.7 84.6
23. 8.7 5 .8 10.7 11.6 63.1
24. 50.0 ---- -- - 50.0
25. 16.9 3 .4 18.6 5.1 54.2
P. 12.5 25.0 31.2 . --- 31.2
Z. --- --- 20.0 2 0.0 60.0
PZ. ---
rage: 7.4 7 .2 7 .0 8.1 70.3

Table 4 „ Rhythmic D istribution of D issonant C ategories in 3 /4
M eter, E x p ressed in P e rc e n tile s .
Category Beat 1 Beat 2 Beat 3 Between Beats
1. 15.4 23.1 61.6

2. 17.1 45.7 25.7 11.4
3. 10.0 30.0 30.0 30.0
4. 100.0
5. 100.0
6„ 100.0
7. 2 .3 13.4 4.2 80.1
8. 1. 8 1,8 17.2 79.3
9. 7.7 7.7 84.6
10 . 2 1. 1 21. 1 . 57.9
11. 100.0
12 . 3.5 5.3 2. 6 88.5
13. 1.9 2. 2 1.9 94.1
14.
15. 100.0
16. 100.0
17. 5 .5 1.9 92.7
18. 100.0
19. 11.1 11. 1 77.8
20. 100.0
21.
22. 25.0 75.0
23. 26.8 2 .4 70.7
24.
25. 6 .7 46.7 26.7 20.0
P. 66.7 33.3
Z. 33.3 66.7
PZ.
Average: 5 .1 7 .9 6.5 82.4

65
Table 5 . Rhythmic D istribution of D issonant C ategories in 3 /8

'M eter, E x p ressed in P ercen tiles „ .
Category Strong Beat Weak Beat 1 Weak Beat 2 Between
1. 40.0 20.0 --- 40.0
2. 71.4 ----- 28.6 ----
3. 100.0 ---- --- ----
4o 50.0 50.0 ---- ----
7. 5 .7 12 .9 24.3 57.1
8. 5 .5 8.3 8.3 77.8
9. 33.3 ■
--- - — -
66.7
10. ---- ---- ---- 100.0
12. •---- - --- 11.1 88.9
13. 7 .1 14.3 15.7 62.9
14. • , --- - 40.0 - - 60.0
15 --- - ---- 100.0
17. ---- 6 .3 ---- 93.7
18. 3 6 .4 36.4 27.3 ■---
19. --- ---- ---- 100.0
20. ---- --- ~ 100.0
22. ---- '-- - — - 100.0
23. 36.4 18.2 ---- 45.5
24. ---- 100.0
25. w* 57.1 42.9 — ——

66
F ig . 26. Melodic D issonance Approached and Left by

Leap in D estiny-1
Density of Dissonance
Table 6 shows the level of dissonance as a v e rtic a l/te m p o ra l phe-
nomemnon. With a m ean density of 1.9 dissonances p er beat, it would appear
that the level is fairly high. This figure may be com pared with the c o r r e
sponding one of 1.2 dissonances p er beat for the three S trauss tone poems
4
exam ined in M urphy's "Harm ony and T o n a lity ".
4. This figure is obtained by dividing the total num ber of beats by

the total num ber of d isso n a n c e s. The la tte r number is derived from figure
42, p . 284 in "Harmony and T o n ality ". The fo rm er hum ber is calculated
from figure 39, pp. 278-80, as follows: Each of the 2,217 b a rs of 4/4 and
Alla Breve is considered to have four beats, making a total of 8, 868 beats in
these m e te r s . Each of the 334 b a rs of 3/4 is considered to have three beats,
making a total of 1,002 beats in this m e te r. Each of the 49 b a rs of 6/8 is
considered to have two b eats, making a total of 98 beats in this m e te r. Each
of the 76 b a rs of slow 6/8 is considered to have six beats, m aking a total of
456 beats in this m e te r . Each of the ten b a rs of 3/2 is considered to have
three b eats, making a total of th irty beats in this m eter.
T hese fig u res a re then added and th eir sum (10, 454) is divided
by the total num ber of chords in the th ree tone poems (2,268). F igure 39
also shows explicitly that 76.2 percen t of the m easu res in these three pieces
have one h arm o n y .
67
Table 6 „ Flux in D ensity of D issonance a t the F o rm al L evel.
M easu res D issonance/B eat D eviation from the Mean (1.9 D iss./B eat)
1 -1 1 3 .1 +1.2
1 2 -4 1 1.2 -0 .7
42 - 43 3 .3 + 1.4
44 - 66 2 .5 +0.6
67 - 88 0 .4 -1 .5
89 - 112 1.3 -0 .6
113 - 136 1.0 -0 .9
137 - 147 . 1.0 -0 .9
148 - 160 2 .1 +0.2
161 - 216a 4 .2 +2.3
216b - 243 0 .6 "1.3
244 - 258 3 .2 +1.3
259 - 263 1.3 -0 .6
264 - 282 2 .4 +0.5
283 - 29 8 2 .7 4 0 .8
299 - 325 3 .6 +1.7
326 - 386 1.9 0 .0
387 - 398 2 .0 +0.1
399 - 457a 1.0 -0 .9
457b - 478 1.6 “0 .3
479 - 487 3 .1 +1.2
488 - 501 1.9 0 .0
502 - 5 3 7 . 0 .8 "1.1
538 - 562 1.5 "0.4
563 - 579 2 .1 40.2
580 - 607 1.7 "0.2
608 - 643 0 .7 -1 .2
68
The s ta tis tic s fo r fluctuations of density confirm the inform al im
p re ssio n that m o st lis te n e rs receive: th ere is a general m ovem ent tow ards
in creased density fro m the opening to the cen tral, developm ental portions of
the tone poem . F ro m th ere the tendency re v e rs e s , and the piece ends with a
level of density exactly as fa r below the m ean a s the opening is above it. It
is also in tere stin g to note that the f ir s t larg e section of the love m usic has
the m ean density of disso n an ce. Then, a fte r a slight in crease in the c o n tra s t
ing middle section, the level of density d e c re a se s by about half fo r the im p a s
sioned clim axes of the la s t p o rtio n .
An exam ple of one of the d en ser p assag es, figure 27, shows the
thicket of am biguities and m u ltip licities of m eaning that the analyst faces in
P e lle a s . The exam ple is only one m easu re in length.
Sum m ary
Schoenberg’s tre a tm e n t of m elodic dissonance in P elleas is not
ra d ic a l. Like his o ld er co n tem p o raries, S trau ss and M ahler, he p re fe rs to
approach and leave a dissonant note by ste p . Like them , too, he places the
m ajo rity of his dissonances between b e a ts . If Schoenberg's own concept of
em ancipated dissonance does indeed d escrib e the evolution of h is e a r lie r to
his la te r style, it is not significantly p resag ed in P elleas.
It is inaccu rate to say, a s K arpath did, that the g en eral level of
dissonance in Pelleas is considerably different from that of S tra u s s 's tone
poem: it is 63.2 p ercen t h ig h er.

69
Slow
^ b =
r
- n 'r r J- "4*^m —k J Ip^ --------
_e__
------- #4r-
b - *4 "3F• K f - p
# ^
2 2>
m i1 =
i* *
f r 3
r\ P 4* — » #' 1fa#
1 "^S i ^ qj 44J -
k ti r v ------- V-
4 ]r ': ■*
T - J T
F ig . 27. Density of D issonance in M easure Eleven.

CHAPTER 6
SONORITY
The alm o st u n iv ersal use of rubato in nineteenth -century perform ance
points up the tendency of that age to dwell upon the ex pressive mom ent even
at the expense of c learly artic u la te d s tr u c tu r e . Thus, the quality of a sound
had an ex trao rd in ary degree of m eaning in this period, and the s ta tistic s on
sonority for a given com poser o r piece provide one of the best m easurem ents
of his or its id en tity .
In P elle as, Schoenberg shows him self above all as a follower of
W ag n er. No post "W agnerian com poser known to this w rite r has used the
half-dim inished (dim inished-m inor) sonority m ore prom inently in a larg e-
scale work than Schoenberg has in this p ie c e . The melodic sim ilarity to the
opening of T rista n has previously been noted. This sim ilarity is reinforced
by the occurrence of a dim inished-m inor sonority at the end of the f ir s t p h r a s e .
(H ere, however, the sonority is functional: a submediant seventh chord.)

# .___
f F p :
- J v — t - A ------- i ------
N =
Gfo- bom
F ig . 28. Use of the Dim inished "Minor Sonority in F a te .
70
Table 7 . Sonorities in Pelleas und M elisande „
Sonority Num ber of A ttacks Percentage of T otal Sonorities
Octave 1 0.05
Fifth 6 0 .3
F ourth 2 0 .1
M 228 11.4
m 244 12.1
o 12 0 .6
+ 112 5 .6
MM 37 1.9
Mm 374 18.6
mM 18 0 .9
mm 130 6.5
oM 1 0,05
om 331 16.6
oo 149 7 .4
+M 26 1.3
-Hrt 103 5 .1
F ren ch 72 3 .5
b7/no 5 /3 4 0 .2
MMM 1 0.05
MmM 47 .2.3
Mmm 29 1.3
- - m 2 0 .1
- mM 4 0 .2
mmM 4 0 .2 .
mmm 1 0.05
- mm 1 0.05
o mM 1 0.05
ooM 1 0.05
oom 1 0 .05
+ mM 3 0.15
+ mm 3 0.15
MmMP 1 0.05
- mMP 5 0.25
- mmP 1 0 .05
Table 7, continued.
Sonority Num ber of A ttacks Percentage of T otal Sonorities
Mmm - M 1 0.05
" m M PM 1 0.05
Bi -chordal .2 0 .1
T otal Dyads 9 ' 0.45

T otal T riad s 596 29.70
Total Sevenths 1245 .6 2 .2 5
T otal Ninths 98 4 .9
T otal Elevenths 7 0 .4
Total T h irteenths 2 0.1
T otal T e rtia n 1959
Q uartal 4 0 .2
W "T (4 -m em ber) 6 0.3

W -T (5 -m em ber) 24 1.2
W~T (6 -m em ber) 7 0.35
Grand Total 2000

73
The love m usic previously quoted in figure 25 shows the use of the
dim inished-m inor sonority in a clim ax. In this way the downbeat significance
of the dim inished-m inor sonority in Fate is tra n sfe rre d to the stru c tu ra l
level of the tone p o em . Again, th ere is a c le a r p a rallel in W agner; sp ecifi
cally, the love duet in the second act of T r is ta n . In co n trast, the cadential
six -fo u r chord that S trau ss uses so frequently and so well occurs in only one
passage of P elleas, the clim ax of the love m u sic. Note that the dominant to
which it reso lv es contains an eleventh which is not treated in the usual way
( i . e . , a s a suspension).
m 437 Very Broadly
k J iT r-in M P
F ig . 29. Cadential S ix-Four and Dominant Eleventh

Sonorities in the Love M usic.
74
The two exam ples which follow offer a com parison of Schoenberg's
tre a tm e n t of sonority in two different v a rie tie s of Harm onic R hythm . Figure
30 has been shorn of its decorative contrapuntal activ ity . The Harmonic
Rhythm here is e x tra o rd in a rily slow for Schoenberg. The following passage
shows a m ixture of so n o rities that is en tirely typical of P e lle a s . Schoenberg's
m arked preferen ce for inversions of chords is here clearly related to the
n ecessities of co n trast within chrom atic voice-leading.

™.3)Z A little Animated
07
F ig . 30. Use of Sonorities in Slow Harmonic R hythm .
v
1r I I I — F 1— —
aft A
" M> 7 T 5 r E .* .i
im s ovn
F ig . 31. Use of Sonorities in F a st Harmonic R hythm .

Non "T ertian Sonorities: Whole -Tone
F o r com poser and auditor, the whole -tone scale p o s se s se s a double
m eaning „ In the f ir s t p la c e --a n d in common with other s c a le s - - its lin ear
s e rie s can be reo rg an ized as so n o rities classifiab le by th e ir v e rtic a l o rg an i
zatio n . F o r exam ple, the superim position of a te rtia n tria d upon any degree
of the w hole-tone scale re n d e rs an augm ented sonority. Superim position of
a te rtia n te tra d is le s s straig h tfo rw ard, since the whole-tone scale p o sse sse s
only six d e g re e s. In p ra c tic e , com posers have used e ith e r sc a le -ste p s one,
th re e , five, and six to produce a homologue fo r the augm ented-m inor seventh
chord of com m on-practice harm ony; o r d eg rees one, th re e , four, and six to
produce a homologe fo r the F ren ch seventh chord of com m on-practice h a r
m ony. Like the augm ented tria d , the F ren ch and augm ented-m inor sonorities
a re available on all six d eg rees of the s c a le . Hence, planing (paralleling) of
so n o rities is strongly suggested by the whole -tone s e rie s its e lf. This is
frequently D ebussy's method of em ploym ent of the w hole-tone s c a le . In
Schoenberg's P elleas, how ever, p a ra lle l whole-tone so n o rities follow a c h ro
m atic, ra th e r than a w hole-tone, p a tte rn . T his point is not without significance
in the following d iscu ssio n .
/• The second asp ec t of the w hole-tone scale is that it is itself a so n o r
ity, a sp ecies of hexachord which the e a r g ra sp s whole in the sam e way it
g ra sp s whole a fully -dim inished seventh chord, an augmented tria d , or a
trito n e . Two of the m o st widely im itated p ro ced u res of W agnerian rh eto ric
. 76
a r e the sequences of p eriods and the ta ilo rin g of counterpoint to the needs
of harm onic prolongation. Both Schoenberg and Debussy can arguably be
called in h e rito rs of the W agnerian tra d itio n . Debussy --through whose w orks
m ost liste n e rs a r e acquainted with whole-tone r e s o u r c e s - - is v ery fond of
sequencing along d eg rees of the whole-tone scale p h ra se s whose contrapuntal
stru c tu re exem plifies the W agnerian m odel m entioned above. Since the whole -
tone scale is itse lf a sonority, the net re s u lt of such sequences is the p ro lo n
gation of a single sound.
W agnerian sequences of p eriods and p h rases also make up the bulk of
P elleas und M efisande's m usical arg u m en t. However, S choenberg's penchant
fo r fa st harm onic rhythm s p reclu d es the use of the whole -tone sonority a s the
harm onic b asis of the model to be sequenced. Schoenberg's p re fe rre d em ploy
m ent of whole-tone so n o rities (one also found in Debussy) is to tre a t them as
the products of voice -lead in g --th at is, a s a controlled deviation from the o r
dinary re so u rc e s of the chrom atically enriched diatonic s c a le . As W alter and
A lexander Goehr have w ritten , "Schoenberg . . . developed the theory of h a r
mony following Simon S ech ter’s p atte rn of incorporating into the system of .
functional harm ony increasin g ly complex harm onic phenomena . . . som etim es
fo r re aso n s of f r e e r p a rt-w ritin g and som etim es with the aim of achieving e v e r
m ore subtle e x p re s s io n .”
1. W alter Goehr and A lexander Goehr, "Arnold Schoenberg’s D evel

opm ent Tow ards the Tw elve-Note S y stem ," in European M usic in the Twen
tieth Century, ed . Howard H artog (London: Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1957),
p . 79.
77
When Schoenberg shows in his H arm onielehre how whole -tone
chords can be derived by ra isin g or low ering the fifth of a dominant seventh
or dominant ninth, he is in effect describing one of his p ro ced u res in P e lle a s .
Of the total duration of the tone poem, 2 .8 p ercent is given to whole -
tone so n o ritie s. Typically, these occur when an augmented tria d , a F rench
seventh chord, o r an augm ented -m inor seventh chord is heard in conjuction
with m elodic activity which unambiguously contributes a fu rth e r note essen tial
to the whole-tone sc a le . In the case of an augmented tria d or augm ented-
m inor seventh, that esse n tial note would be the ra ise d fourth s c a le -s te p . In
the case of a F rench sonority, the e sse n tia l note might be e ith e r the second
scale -step, o r the ra ise d fifth s c a le -s te p . In figure 32, the whole -tone so n o r
ity might be described eith e r way, since no unessential tones a re p re se n t.
m .28 Little by Little Semewkcit FciSte
F ig . 32. Whole -Tone Chord a s a Coincidence of Melodic

A ctivity.
78
F igure 33 shows an augmented -m inor sonority which is filled in
by p assing to n e s . Looking as the risin g scale as a whole, it might seem
m ore appropriate to d iscu ss that asp ect ra th e r than the whole -to n e . But in
spection shows that this a rtific ia l scale is composed of a whole -tone te tra -
chord linked to a mixolydian d ia te ssa ro n . R em em bering our e a r lie r o b s e r
vations on Schoenberg’s treatm e n t of the whole -tone scale, it thus seem s m ore
likely that whole -tone te tra c h o rd s w ere chosen for th eir own qualities ra th e r
than by the d ictates of an inclusive sc ale.
H32 Mounti ng
f fcj» f
- J
--------- =
U r M ” ■ r*JI P---
1 ^1 g
w >
------- # 1--------------------- 45
3 6 * - p— --------------:-------------------------------- ^ t= E =
F ig . 33. W hole-Tone Chord as a Coincidence of D ecorative

A ctivity.
The m ost extended display of whole -tone so n o rities, illu strated in
figure 34, occurs in the Scene in the V a u lts . The so n o rities h ere are (p re f e r
ential) coincidences created by augm ented tria d s in chrom atic contrary m otion.
T his is also a r a r e instance in the score of the planing of so n o ritie s. As m en
tioned e a r lie r, Schoenberg does not use the whole -tone scale itself as the
m elodic b asis for the planing.

79
m, 2 8 8 Ve ry Slow
#3
■ "
------------------- b—
* 5 V f j ---------
* 5jji V ibN
O ---------
§
% ; C f f 1' f
W -
_ 6 ______ i
1/ L
9 ^: “ T
tim - F---
t 4 : |h
•
f
u
—© --------------
“ —0 ---------------
—
I
^ -0 - t- a L .-rb s 1
— }?*-* ------
------ — ------ 0
V ‘
F ig . 34 W hole-Tone Chords as a Coincidence of Augmented

T ria d s in C ontrary M otion.
The upper tria d of the f ir s t whole -tone am algam is an F -augmented
sonority, diatonic in the key of this subsection, d m in o r. The stru ctu ral im
porta nee of this chord is reinforced by its duration here and in the second
m e a s u re . The F-augm ented sonority is heard twice in the third m easure,
f ir s t as p a rt of the w hole-tone sonority and finally as an autonomous chord
in which the augm ented fifth reso lv es upward in the traditional m a n n e r.

Thus, the s tru c tu ra l function of the fig u re 's f i r s t th ree m e a su re s is that of
a m ediant augm ented tria d which re so lv e s to a tonic chord in the fourth m e a
s u re . T h is, together with the previous exam ples, confirm s the observation
made in chapter four th at v irtu ally all w hole-tone situations in Pelleas a re r e
solved into a chrom atically enriched diatonic language.
•M on-Tertian Sonorities: Q uartal
In co n tra st to the ubiquitous whole -tone so n o rities, Schoenberg's
use of q u artal chords is lim ite d . A side from a questionable spot in the in tro
duction (shown in figure 27), only m e asu res 85 and 86 b ear q u artal chords.
Though few, these so n o rities a re of in te re s t because, once again, Schoenberg
tre a ts the unusual a s a product of v oice-leading within the ordinary re so u rc e s
of his inh erited m u sical language. (In S a tie 's F ils d’E toiles and D ebussy's
Ppur le Piano, q u artal chords a re planed in the m anner of o rg an u m .)
As figure 35 shows, the q u artal chords occur in a movem ent tow ards
a cadence in E m a jo r. In the context, the f ir s t q u artal chord is tre ated a s a
substitute for an A m ajo r to n ic. The second q u artal chord has a sequential,
or m odulatory, significance --th a t is, so long a s the sonority itse lf is am b i
guous to our e a rs : it m ay not have been so fo r Schoenberg „ In his Harm onie -
leh re he identifies the dual o rig in of the m odern q u artal chord to be, f ir s t, a
passag e in Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and second, the beginning of the f ir s t
scene in A ct two of T rista n and Iso ld e. T hese a re quoted in fig u re s 36 and
37, below.
81
i.,84 Broadly
q -s
f P
cU e- A j .a
t e
E22 %
C3t) F
55. 3Sh 1 Tb
A: I ffi
ffi 3c n 4 ?
F ig . 35. Q uartal Chords as P art of a Movement to E M ajo r.
82
7? b i # 'H - -a j1 ~a —a ■
-J- ------ ------- 'N
h -
.u d»- -------*
p n i- - - 'L> 4i : #
J o • „d • <r • jr
F ig . 36. Quintal Harmony in Beethoven's Sixth Symphony.
m
P mS
n r z 'r
•y p z ■
i F = ?
g
-e-
etc.
U"
F ig . 37. Quintal Harmony in W agner’s T rista n und Iso ld e .

83
The exam ple by Beethoven may be described e ith e r a s a tonic chord
with a non-harm onic tone, o r a s a dom inant fifth over a tonic pedal. The r e s o
lution of the quintal chord produces an unambiguous tonic tria d , making the
f ir s t descrip tio n the m ore a p p ro p ria te . By way of co n trast, the exam ple by
W agner (here highly condensed) has a quintal chord which is clearly a dominant
ninth in B-flat m ajor with a m issing th ird (which eventually ap p e a rs, approached
from the fourth degree of the s c a le ). It is thus conceivable that Schoenberg
heard the q u artal te tra d as a kind of a lte re d dom inant. F rom this point of
view, the q u artal chord in the th ird m easure of figure 35 is a dominant in A
m ajo r, the key of the exam ple’s beginning.
Another passage in the sco re is p artic u la rly strik in g to the eye
because of the Viennese F o u rth s (defined on page five) given to the bassoons.
In the total te x tu re , the upper note of each fourth is resolved by step on the
following beat in another in stru m en t. Within the bassoon p a rt itself, the t r i
adic sonority which follows each V iennese Fourth (after a b e a t's re st) may be
considered its resolution, afte r a fashion. In any event, the exam ple is in tr i
guing because of its suggestion of the influence of textural stratifica tio n upon
the em ancipation of dissonance.

Tn,2.6
F ig . 38. Viennese F ourths as a By-Product of T extural

S tratification.
84
H arm onic Rhythm
One of the m ore rem ark ab le fe a tu re s of the score is the rhythm ic
distrib u tio n of so n o rities, shown in tables 9, 10, and 11 „ To place this in
p ersp ectiv e, it m ight be useful to su m m arize S tra u s s 's rhythm ic distribution
of so n o rities, as tabulated by M urphy. F igure 39 in that d isse rta tio n shows
that, fo r a ll m e te rs taken together, 77.3 p ercen t of the so n o rities of the th ree
tone poem s analyzed fall on the stro n g b eats, 18.7 p ercen t fall on the weak
2
beats and 4 .0 p erce n t fall between b e a ts . T his co n trasts strongly with the
corresponding p ercen tag es in Schoenberg's P elleas: 41.4 p e rc e n t of the so n o r
itie s th ere fall on stro n g b eats, 30.6 p e rc e n t on weak b eats, and fully 28.0
p ercen t betw een b e a ts .
At this point the re a d e r m ight w ell question if the p re se n t w r ite r 's
c r ite re a fo r what co nstitutes a chord is not different from the c rite re a of
Murphy in the work cited . F ortunately, it is possible to answ er this query with
a definite " n o " . The w r ite r 's own an a lases of large sections in rep resen tativ e
S trau ss tone poem s c o rro b o rate the tabulations in M urphy’s w ork quite c lo se ly .
T h ere a re two re a so n s behind Schoenberg's high percentage of be twee n -
b eats so n o ritie s. The f ir s t and chief re a so n is that his m elodic g estu re s a re
rhythm ically p la stic, frequently assy m etric al; and by virtu e of th ese qualities,
they often avoid stro n g b e a ts . T his is especially tru e of the them es which
c h a ra c te riz e G olo. P ertinant in this re g a rd is the following com m ent which
2 . M urphy, "Harm ony and Tonality, " p . 280.

Table 8 . D uration of S onorities in P elleas und M elisande in O rder
of M agnitude.
Sonority D uration (in Beats) Percentage of Total B eats/A ttack
Mm 411,66 18.0 1.1

om 339.92 14.9 1.0
m 332.13 14.5 1.4
M 280.13 12.25 1.2
oo 163.70 7 .2 1.1
mm 130.95 5.7 1.0
+ 101.39 4 .4 0 .9
MmM 98.10 4 .3 2.1
+m 74.11 3.2 0 .7
F ren ch 54.14 2 o4 0.8
Mmm . 53.81 2 .4 1.8
MM 43 .07 1.9 1.2
mM 38.16 • 1.7 2.1
W -T (5 -m . ) 21.83 1.0 0 .9
+ M 13.49 0. 6 0 .5
o 11.50 0 .5 0 .9
Fifth 8.75 0 .4 2.2
- mMP 8.66 0 .4 1.7
W -T (6 -m . ) 8.00 0 .3 1.1
W -T (4 -m . ) 6.25 0 .3 1.0
b7/no 5/3 5.33 0.2 1.3
- - m 5 .00 0.2 2 .5
Q uartal 4.33 0.2 1.1
MmMP 4.00 0.2 4 .0
- mM 3.33 0.1 0.8
+ mm 3.16 0.1 1 .0 -
- mmP 3.00 0.1 3 .0
mmM 2.00 0.1 0.5
oo m 2 .00 0.1 2.0
Octave 2.00 0.1 2.0
+ mM 1.66 0.1 0.6
B i-chordal 1.50 0.1 0. 8
F ourth 1.33 0.0 0 .7
MMM 1.00 0.0 1.0
mmm 1.00 0. 0 , 1.0
- mm 1.00 0.0 1.0
o M ,0.50 0.0 0 .5
o mM 0 .5 0.0 0 .5
ooM 0 .5 0.0 0 .5
86
Table 8 , continued.
Sonority D uration (in Beats) Percentage of Total B eats/A ttack
Mram - M 0.50 0.0 0 .5

- m M PM 0 .50 0.0 0.5
Total 2241.89
Table 9 . Rhythmic D istribution of Sonorities in Duple M e te rs.
Sonority Beat 1 Beat 2 Beat 3 Beat 4 Between
Octave 1
Fifth 2
F o u rth 1 1
M 49 20 38 15 36
m 76 36 33 14 48
o 2 6 1 3
+ 16 19 10 24 43
MM 5 3 4 7 5
Mm 62 37 69 45 70
mM 3 2 4 3
mm 25 7 15 23 19
oM 1
om 49 20 49 39 87
o o 29 13 30 14 19
+M 1 2 18.
+ m 9 6 6 15 31
F ren ch 7 14 5 18 17
b7/no 5 /3 , 1 1 1
MMM 1
MmM 23 3 4 2 3
Mmm 8 2 4 2 6
- - m 1 1
- mM
mmM
mm m
- mm
o mM
Table 9, continued.
Sonority Beat 1 Beat 2 Beat 3 Beat 4 Between
o oM ------------ ------------ -- ---------

1 ------ - -
o om ---- ------------
1 ------- - ----
+m M ------------ ------------ ---- 1
+ mm 3
MmMP 1 ----- -- --------- ------- ----
- mMP 1 - -
1 1 2
- m M PM ------------ ------------ -- --- ------------

1
T otal T e rtian 372 188 279 227 422
Q uartal 2 ---- -- - -
2
W -T (4 -m .) 1 1 ---- 1 3
W -T (5 -m .) ---- 1 5 4 14
W -T (6 -m .) 3 2 1 1
G rand T otal 378 192 . 284 233 442
Table 10. Rhythm ic D istribution of Sonoritiesi in 3/4 M e te r.
Sonority Beat 1 Beat 2 Beat 3 Between
1 ---- 1 1
Fifth
M 11 10 8 5
m 25 2 1 11
o ---- 1 *---
---- ---- 2
+
MM 5 2 2 4
Mm 29 4 12 . 22
mM 1 1 3 1
mm 8 10 4 12
om 17 4 23 20
0 0 9 9 13
+M ---- 1 1 1
+m 16 6 ; 8 6
Table 10, continued.
Sonority Beat 1 Beat 2 Beat 3 Between
F ren ch . 2 ---- 2 2
MmM 5 1 — — —
5
Mmm 2 - - - 1 4
+ mM --- -- 2 ----
- mmP 1 « -----
Mmm - M ---- ---- - ---- 1
Bi-chordal ---- ---- ---- 2
Grand Total 123 50 78 112
Table 11. Rhythmic D istribution of Sonorities in 3/8 M ete r.
Sonority Strong Beat Weak Beat 1 Weak Beat 2 Between
M 18 8 6 4
m 6 2
Mm 6 4 14 —- -
4 1 2 ----
mm
om 13 4 7 1
4 7 2 ----
o o
F ren ch ----- 5
MmM ----- ---- 1 ----

1 ---- ---- -----
Mmm
mmM 2
Grand T otal 52 28 32 10
89
Berg w rote in 1924: "It is m ore than c le a r that m usic fo r which unsym m etrical
and fre e construction is fully a s legitim ate a s two, four, and eig h t-b a r con
stru c tio n - -and th is is perhaps the m ost significant feature of Schoenberg's style - -
w ill be understood only with difficulty, o r, a s is the case with Schoenberg's la te r

3
w orks, not at a l l . ”
The second re a so n for the larg e percentage of so n o rities which fall
betw een beats is the crowded harm onic rhythm that Schoenberg som etim es e m
p lo y s. The average duration of a chord in P elleas is 1.17 b e a ts . Using figure
39 in M urphy's "H arm ony and Tonality" (pp . 278-80), an average duration of
2.8 9 beats p e r chord can be calculated fo r the th ree tone poem s discussed
th e r e .^ Thus, Schoenberg's harm onic rhythm is Pelleas is approxim ately 2 .5
tim es a s dense a s that of his p ro g re ssiv e contem porary, S tra u s s . M urphy's
figure 39 also sta te s explicitly that 76.2 p e rc e n t of the m e a su re s in the pieces
exam ined have only one h arm o n y . The com parable figure in P elleas is 18.3
p e rc e n t. The quick harm onic rhythm is obviously a much m ore prom inent f e a
tu re of the tone poem than is the tre atm e n t of m elodic d isso n an ce. It rem ain s
to be seen how many of these dense so n o rities a c t as dissonant chords in the
horizontal context of the w o rk .
3 . Alban Berg, "Why is Schoenberg’s Music So H ard to Comprehend ?"

in Schoenberg/B erg/W ebern: The S tring Q u artets, a D ocum entary Study, e d .
U rsu la v . Rauchhaupt, tr a n s . Eugene H artzell (Hamburg: D eutsche Gramm o -
phon G eselleschaft M m h., 1971), p . 22. E m phasis m ine.
4. Obtained by dividing the total num ber of beats (10,454) by the total
num ber of chords (3 ,6 0 6 ). See also footnote 4 of C hapter 5, p . 66 .
90
Rhythmic D istribution of H arm onic D issonance
Since the p ercen tag es of chords falling on weak b eats o r between
beats a re so high, the question a r is e s , to what extent do the m ore complex
seventh and ninth chords d iffer fro m tria d s in th e ir distribution? Table 12
shows the p ercen tag es of d istrib u tio n fo r tria d ic and su p ertriad ic so n o rities in
P elleas. F ro m the category of su p ertriad ic so n o rities a re fu rth e r extracted
the categ o ries of seventh and ninth c h o rd s . The p ercentages of rhythm ic d is
tribution fo r the to tal so n o rities a re used a s a locus of m easu rem en t „
The ninth chords deviate the fa rth e s t from the norm , tending to fall
on the stro n g b eats in g en eral, and the f ir s t beats in p a r tic u la r . T heir ra te
of doing so is 55 „8 p e rc e n t g re a te r than a v e ra g e . This prom inence is fu rth e r
em phasized by the 56 p e rc e n t g re a te r than average duration of ninth chords,
which average 1.75 b eats p e r a tta c k . C onversely, the percentage of ninth
chords falling between b eats is 4 2 .8 , or twelve points below the av erag e.
One of the m ost in te re stin g fe a tu re s of Schoenberg's rhythm ic d is t r i
bution is the fact that the tre atm e n t of ninth chords is m ore like that of tria d s
than that of seventh c h o rd s . On the other hand, the close c o rre la tio n of this
asp e ct with that of d uration is not c a rrie d th ro u g h . The tendency of tria d s to
fall on the f ir s t beat is 20.6 p e rc en t g re a te r than average, while the average
duration of tria d s is 1.22 beats p e r attack, a m ore m odest 8.9 p ercen t g re a te r
than a v e ra g e .
Table 12, Rhythmic D istribution of Sonorities > in P ercentiles, Including an Index of Deviation from the A verage.
Category Beat One Index Strong Index Weak Index Between Index
Beats Beats Beats
Average 27.6 41.4 ----- 30.6 --- - 28.0 --~—

T riad s 33.3 + 5 .7 47.6 + 6.2 27.4 - 3 .2 25.0 - 3 .0
Sevenths 23.8 - 3 .8 38.1 - 3 .3 33.1 + 2.5 28.8 + 0.8
Ninths 43.0 + 1 5 .4 53.0 + 11.6 31.0 . + 0 .4 16.0 - 12.0
S upertriads 24.7 - 2 .9 38.5 - 2 .9 31.8 + 1.2 29.6 + 1.6
Strauss:
Average 59.0 ------ 77.3 ------ 18.7 ----- 4 .0 ------
T riad s 82.6 + 5.3 15.2 -3 .5 2.2 - 1.8
S upertriads 72.9 - 4 .4 21.6 + 2 .9 5.5 + 1.5
92
C ontrasting with the s ta tis tic s on .triads and ninth chords a re the ones
fo r seventh chords: h ere the tendencies of the fo rm er categ o ries a re re v e rs e d .
D eviations fro m the average a re sm a lle r since seventh chords dominate that
a v e ra g e . Seventh chords tend to fall on the f ir s t beat 1 3 .8 p e rc e n t le ss often
than average „ They tend to fall on weak beats 8 .2 p ercen t m o re often than
a v e ra g e . And they tend to fall between beats 2 . 8 p ercen t m ore often than
a y e ra g e .
To put these s ta tis tic s in p ersp ectiv e, table 12 includes sim ila r in fo r
m ation about S trau ss, whose rhythm ic distributions a re le s s id io sy n c ra tic . U n
fortunately, the w rite r w as unable to b reak down the s ta tis tic s in M urphy's
’’Harm ony and Tonality” into categ o ries any m ore detailed than those of triad ic
and su p ertriad ic c h o rd s. Thus, no com parison of S tra u s s 's relativ e rhythm ic
tre atm e n ts of seventh and ninth chords can be m ade h ere But despite th e ir
cru d ities, the s ta tis tic s rew ard com parison because of th e ir rev elatio n of this
sim ple fact: Though Schoenberg p laces a larg e quantity of chords on weak b eats,
5. The fig u re s on S trau ss a r e obtained in the following way. F rom

figure 39 on page 280 of "Harm ony and T onality” we le a rn the rhythm ic d is tr i
butions of the to tal so n o rities in the w orks stu d ied . The rhythm ic distribution
of harm onic dissonances (seventh, ninth, eleventh, and th irteen th chords) is
obtained fro m figure 46 on page 292. Since these harm onic dissonances c o r r e
spond by definition to the seventh, ninth, eleventh, and th irteen th chords given .
in the breakdown of so n o rities in figure 35 (on page 268), the p ercentages may
be applied th e re to obtain rhythm ic d istributions of those su p ertriad ic ch o rd s.
By su btracting the re s u lts from the total num ber of chords on each beat (figure
46), the quantities of tria d s can be obtained; and from this, in the usual way,
the relativ e p e rc e n ta g e s .
93
the quality of those chords is v ery m uch the sam e a s it is in S trau ss „ In other
w ords, the enrichm ent of harm onic dissonance in Schoenberg's vocabulary
does not influence the rhythm ic deploym ent of that vocabulary.
Sum m ary
Schoenberg's tre atm e n t of sonority in Pelleas und M elisande is in te r
estin g fo r a num ber of re a s o n s . F ir s t, seventh chords a re by fa r the m ost
num erous category, and constitute the norm al harm onic m olecule of Schoen
b e rg 's vocabulary. Seventh chords also a re in the m ajority in S trau ss, but le s s
m arkedly s o . In th is re sp e c t, the chief difference between the two com posers
lie s in S choenberg's high percentage of dim inished-m inor so n o ritie s.
A second featu re of in te re s t is the density of so n o rities in the s c o re .
This is ra th e r high, averaging slightly le s s than one p e r b eat. S tru a s s 's den
sity is c lo se r to one chord p e r every th ree b e a ts .
A m ost rem ark ab le co ro lla ry of this is the rhythm ic distribution of
so n o ritie s. L ess than half fall on stro n g b e a ts . C onversely, m ore than "a
q u a rte r fall betw een b e a ts . Equally rem ark ab le is the consistency with which
Schoenberg d istrib u tes h is v ario u s so n o rities among the rhythm ic groupings.
H arm onic dissonance can not be c le arly asso ciated with p u lse.
. N o n -tertian so n o rities used by Schoenberg a re q u artal chords and
w hole-tone c h o rd s. The la tte r a re m ore num erous in the sc o re , com prising
1.85 p erce n t of the total so n o ritie s. Both q u artal and whole -tone sonorities
a re tre a te d a s controlled deviations within the prevalent m usical idiom .

CHAPTER 7
KEY, TONALITY AND FUNCTION
P elleas und M elisande begins and ends in the key of d m in o r. This
key had an alm o st exclusive a ttra c tio n fo r Schoenberg at this tim e . Both
V e rk larte Nacht and the F i r s t S tring Q uartet cen ter on d m in o r. The delightful
un-num bered S tring Q u artet fro m 1897 is in D m a jo r . And a th ird , unfinished,
Q uartet fro m the period of the G u rre lie d e r' s com position is also in d m in o r.
Connotative Functions
In P elleas, keys a re assigned specific p rogram m atic m eanings. The
c en tral key of d m inor is the key of F ate, the inevitable tonic. Each of the p r o
tagonists has a ce n tra l key a s w ell a s a subsidiary, relativ e key. P elleas' c e n
tr a l key is E m ajor; C olo's is F m a jo r. M elisande's cen tra l key is f-sh a rp
m inor; but also , in a sen se, A m a jo r . T his is because of the view that W om an's
essen ce finds its n atu ral (= M ajor) balance only when acted upon by the m ale
prin cip le, a relationship which w ill be fu rth e r explained below .
It is probably no accident that the keys of the th ree c h a ra c te rs together
fo rm a Motive X . In fact, key relatio n sh ip s a re also assigned program m atic
functions by Schoenberg. The dom inant key of another key a c ts upon that other
key (dom inates it). So, in the f ir s t scene a t the A rtesian W ell, when M elisande
is playing with C olo's ring, much of the m usic is in the key of C .
94
* 95
The subdom inant key of another key is acted upon by that other key
(dom inated by it). Thus, M elisande in B~flat is under G olo's influence; and
M elisande in A is under P elleas' in fluence. As a fu rth e r illu stratio n , the
scene of M elisande' s death is e n tire ly in e -fla t m inor until the m om ent she
ex p ire s--d e p ic te d m u sically by a plagal cadence into B -flat.
The re lativ e m ajo r o r m inor of a key shows the inseparable link b e
tween the sym bols applied to those two k eys. T hese,sym bols m ay be c h a ra c
te r s o r ideational e le m e n ts. Thus G olo's relativ e m inor is F a te 's key of d .
M elisande's re lativ e m ajor (A) is h e r key of dom ination by P e lle a s. And lik e
w ise, P elle as’ re la tiv e m inor (c-sh arp ) is the dominant of M elisande' s key of
f -s h a rp .
R elative m ajo r and m inor keys m ay also be seen to re p re se n t, r e s p e c
tively, the conscious and unconscious fo rc e s of the d ra m a . In terp reted this
way, the exam ple ju st given shows that the unconscious fo rc e s in Pelleas lead
him to the fem in in e. A lso noteworthy is the fact, that the two th ird -re la te d
m a jo r-m in o r so n o rities of D estin y -2 a re dom inants of a p a ir of relativ e m inor
and m ajo r keys (c -sh arp m inor and E m a jo r). In this way the m otive shows
the linking of unconscious with conscious fo rc e s in P e lle a s.
A s a c o ro lla ry to the above, distantly related keys, such a s E m ajor
and F m ajo r, o r F m ajo r and f-s h a rp m inor, denote fundam ental incom pati
bility, despite them atic (family) resem b lan ces between the c h a ra c te rs assigned,
those k ey s.
96
A t the tim e Schoenberg w rote P elleas mid M elisande, assignm ent
of keys to c h a ra c te rs was an op eratic p ra c tic e of long standing. But the con
stru ctio n of a larg e symphonic w ork about N eapolitan key relatio n sh ip s p r o
bably s ta rte d With S trau ss in A lso Sprach Z a ra th u s tra . Schoenberg’s own
tem p eram en t often led him to take a tendency to its m ost d arin g e x tre m e .
Coupled with this is h is m arked taste fo r precom positional o rd e rin g s. In his
m onograph on the com poser, Glenn Gould w rite s that:
w ithin the aesth etic which Schoenberg em ployed, the b asic sentim ent
which governed the s p irit of his w ork w as an insistence upon re g a rd -
- ing a w ork of a r t as a totally com prehensible, totally organized
object . . . The question which governs all a r t is to what degree is
it e n tire ly logical, to what degree can it be worked out before the
fact? . . . S choenberg's own p ersu asio n lay in acknowledging a con
ception before the f a c t. *
The chief difference betw een precom positional choices in Pelleas and
in the la te r, s e ria l w orks is that in the fo rm e r case the o rd erin g hinges on an
e x tra -m u sic a l elem en t. The somewhat a r b itra ry nature of this dependency
obviously went ag ain st Schoenberg's g ra in . It is one thing to use m usical
g e stu re s ( i . e . , p rim a rily rhythm ic and m elodic ideas) to d escrib e an e x tr a -
m usical event. It is another to organize a w ork m inutely about assigned tonal
m ean in g s.
. The opening of P elleas shows how p re c ise this organization can b e .
Given the assigned m eanings to keys: d = F ate, f = Golo, and f-s h a rp = M eli-
1. Glenn Gould, Arnold Schoenberg: A P e rsp e c tiv e , U niversity of

Cincinnati O ccasional P apers No. 3 (Cincinnati: U niversity of Cincinnati
P re ss , 1964), pp. 12-13.
97
sande; im agine the construction of a m usical sentence that re p re s e n ts the
fateful m eeting of Golo and M elisande. As figure 39 shows, it would be
difficult to im prove on Schoenberg's re s u lt.
S lo w
ta r
EEf
m. O
3
/
E
(37)
±
P
^
F ig . 39. Key and Tonal Movement at the Beginning of Pelleas
A s a fu rth e r exam ple, we re ite ra te here the observation that
D estiny ~2 con sists not m erely of two th ird -re la te d dom inants, but specifically,
of the dom inants of P elleas' relativ e m inor and m ajor keys, rep resen tativ e of
unconscious (Anima) and conscious (Animus) fo rc e s . R ecalling that the r e l a
tive m inor key (c-sh arp ) is dominant to M elisande's original key, then it is
possible to see how, through key sym bolism , D estiny-2 becom es a token of
the linking of the gentle, fem inine unconscious in Pelleas with the conscious,
creativ e, m asculine elem en t.

98
A third exam ple, shown in figure 40, is drawn from a passage in the
sco re which does not p rec ise ly correspond to any action in the dram a (though
its own developm ent of the plot co rresponds vaguely to the conversation b e
tween M elisande and Golaud subsequent to the lo ss of the wedding rin g .
SoTnewkot more LiVelx

rn. 155
i t
m
I
u
j - ...
T T C T "
N f:*
Its
e tc .
S t 6
I C'tc-
A , $
F ig . 40. Key and Key R elationships a s Program m atic A nalogs.

T his is one of the many p laces in which Schoenberg’s tre atm e n t of
the c h a ra c te rs as individuals supplants the p la y 's tre atm e n t of them a s sy m
b o ls. The m usic does this by explicitly suggesting, even dwelling upon, the
c h a ra c te rs ’ in n er feelin g s. In the p re se n t instance, the use of key a re a s
explains a s much if not m ore than do the leading m otives and rhythm ic g e s
tu re s . Those la tte r identify fo r us M elisande's Awakening Love (including
A ttraction), and an excited use of M elisande's H elplessness over a b ass line
in which Motive X' is p ro m in en t. The rhythm s suggest in cre a sin g agitation,
o r fru s tra tio n . The keys explain the context.
The f ir s t thing to notice about the keys is that they all have subdom i
nant re latio n sh ip s to p ro g ram m atically im portant k eys. The f ir s t, G m ajor,
is subdom inant of F a te 's key of d . The rem ain d er of the passage a ltern ates
the key a r e a s of B-flat m ajo r and A m a jo r--th e subdominants of F (Golo) and
E (P elleas), re sp e c tiv e ly . Thus, the p ro g ram m atic connotations of keys e x
plains that the influence of F ate upon M elisande is p resen tly m anifested by the
powerful conflict betw een different fo rc e s in h e r which Golo and Pelleas
aro u se . V irtually any page of the sco re can be studied in the sam e detail,
rig h t up to the final m e a su re s, whose alte rn a tio n of b -fla t m inor and d m inor
is a p e ssim istic entwining of Death (especially M elisande's) and F a te .
Analyzed in th is way, the e n tire sco re fragm ents into a huge m osaic
of b rie f key a r e a s . The stru c tu ra l cohesiveness provided by key in traditional
tonal m usic is abjured in favor of p rogram m atic specificity . And insofar as

100
p ro g ram m atic aptness is an ideal of the genre, this is an adm irable analog
to M aeterlin ck 's c astle , whose g re a t Gate has been neglected in favor of
m any p riv a te d o o rs. But, a s we know, the m usician in Schoenberg reb elled
again st a lite ra r y bondage. The " e a r 's " tendency to h e a r synthetically and
inclusively led the com poser to the form ulation of h is system of regions and
re la te d n e ss .
The w r ite r 's own an aly sis of the opening m ea su re s - -indicated on the
low er staff of each system in figure 39 - -se e s the en tire m usical sentence '
d ire cted tow ards f-s h a rp , the d im inished-m inor Sonorities being p refe re n tia l,
ra th e r than functional, harm onizations of a dim inished -seventh chord on e -
sh arp which leads to a Dominant - Tonic cadence in the key of F - s h a r p .
H ere, how ever, we reach the c u rre n t a ren a of analytical dispute, as
w ell a s the lim its of the w r ite r 's own analytical e x p erien ce. So, while the
p u rsu it of such an approach would be educationally enriching fo r the w rite r, it
would have v ery little com m unicative v a lu e . The advantage of the sta tistic a l
approach in this re g a rd is su b stan tial. It organizes raw data so that it may be
a useful re so u rc e fo r answ ering not only the W rite r's q u estio n s, but those of
o th ers too.
Tonality
Like so many other fundam ental issu e s, the concept of tonality has
engendered a broad spectrum of insights from those who have ad d ressed th e m
selv es to it. F o r the p u rp o ses of this d iscussion, the v ario u s insights can be
grouped around the two poles of cadence and s c a le . The fo rm e r point of
view is typified by the com m ents of Andre Boucourechliev: "H arm onically,
the fundam ental e x p ressio n of tonality is the dominant -tonic relationship „
When the harm onic relatio n sh ip s of a com position can be considered to derive
fro m this fundam ental relatio n sh ip - -rem o tely o r closely, fo r a long o r a sh o rt

o
tim e - -the m usic is said to be to n a l."
Schoenbergs own views on tonality place em phasis on a constituent
s c a le . In S tru ctu ral Functions of Harmony he w rites:
A tonality is e x p resse d by the exclusive use of a ll its to n es. A

scale (or p a rt of one) and a c ertain o rd e r of the harm onies affirm
it m ore definitely . . . In m o s t ca se s, fo r sh a rp e r definition, a
cadence is added a t the end of an en tire piece o r of its sections,
segm ents, and even sm a lle r u n its.^
Though w ritten late in h is life, the ideas ex p ressed above follow the
actual p ra c tic e s of the younger Schoenberg quite closely. The f ir s t thing to
be noticed is Schoenberg’s casu al attitude tow ard the final cad en ce. To explore
th is in P ellea s, attention w ill be paid to the endings of tw enty-seven divisions
of the tone poem (the sam e divisions found in table 6 ) . Of th ese, only three
have a dom inant-tonic cadence - -none of which happen to be the end of the
p ie c e . In two fu rth e r ca se s (one of which is illu strated in figure 34), a p ro g re s -
2 . Andre Boucourechliev, "A tonality, ” in H arvard D ictionary of

M usic, 2nd e d ., r e v . and e n l., edited by W illi Apel (C am bridge, M ass.:
The Belknap P re ss of the H arvard U niversity P re ss, 1975), p . 62.
3 . A rnold Schoenberg, S tru ctu ral Functions of H arm ony, re v . e d .,

edited by Leonard Stein (New York: W .W . Norton, 1969), pp. 11-12.
102
sion at the close of a subdivision leads to a dom inant-tonic cadence in the
subsequent m u sic. In nine ca se s a dominant chord reso lv es irr e g u la r ly .
F igure 41 illu stra te s the considerable variety of these cad e n c e s.
V
eroo 'emm gMmM
-e-
yr.: ■
o . c) “ a—------- 'N
15) .. o .
- o - *e-
1
z*7 bo
§-
1
tj o
—
-4-------4“o — — p----
___■__ ""L
bo
C7
A FA^-m A D bni-m
F ig . 41. Irre g u la r Resolution of Dominant Chords in P e lle a s.
The f ir s t exam ple (m . 258) is a sim ple re tro g re s s io n . The second
(m . 242) may also be classed as a re tro g re ss io n , though it m oves from the
dominant to the subdominant by way of a fully-dim inished ch o rd . The following

103
p a ir of exam ples is in tere stin g fo r its connotative in te g rity . Both cadences
depict the relationship of M elisande to P e lle a s . But w hereas the e a r lie r of the
two (m . 87) re so lv e s to a chord on the dom inant scale -ste p of Golo’s Animus,
the la te r one (m . 386), by a shift of one note, reso lv e s to a chord on the dom i
nant sc a le -ste p of P elle as’ A nim a. The fifth exam ple (m , 398) is a deceptive
cad en ce. (Schoenberg p re fe rre d the te rm "deceptive p ro g ressio n " .) The sixth
exam ple (m . 263) d iffers fro m the r e s t in that it is drawn from a passage that
is predom inantly polyphonic . This is also an instance of a deceptive cadence,
h ere interpolating a non-functional dim inished-m inor sonority.
The final th re e exam ples a re all instances of the irre g u la r resolution
of a G erm an c h o rd . In the f ir s t exam ple, the G erm an chord is in "root" p o s i
tio n . Like the e a r lie r p a ir, th is trio is united by a common connotative func
tion: the th re e cadences all r e f e r to the e a rly relatio n s betw een M elisande and
Golo. That, a ll is not w ell between them is suggested not only by the nature of
the cadences th em selv es, but by com parison with the authentic cadences which
occur in the m usic depicting M elisande’s e a rly relationship with P e lle a s.
Of the rem aining th irte e n divisions of the tone poem , only two might
p ro p erly be said to have ca d en c es. The f ir s t, which has alread y been m en
tioned, is the plagal cadence closing M elisande ’s death-scene (m . 562). The
second, and m ore in terestin g , case occurs at the end of the tone poem, the
la s t twenty m e a su re s of which a re condensed in figure 42.

104
SIOW 3
i 7 = 0 ^ )
e
~o
e
-a-
3 t i
f f l
e l' dfe b om Lb Db p IJP u ffc|AfV> !<• F +
Mmjoo|c7m^
F ig . 42. R eiteratio n of a Sonority as a Cadence -Producing

D evice.
The tonic chord is approached through the subm ediant triad in m e a
sure 623; through the dominant seventh in m easure 628; through the mediant
tria d in m easu re 634; through a non-functional chord on the low ered su p e r-
tonic in m easu re 636; and finally, through a non-functional chord on the sub
m ediant in m easu re 642. In light of this d iv ersity , it seem s pedantic to in sist
that the " re a l" cadence is the approach from the dominant at m easu re 628.
N either does the passage affirm a key (d m inor) by the consistent deployment
of a p a rtic u la r sc a le . It is ra th e r the p e rsis te n t re tu rn of the d-m inor son o r-

105
ity in in creasingly stable form ations which im p re s se s the e a r and affirm s a
tonic a t the end of the tone p o em . T his technique is. tra n sfe ra b le to n o n -tertian
idiom s „ One finds it again in some of Schoenberg’s m ature m u sic --fo r exam ple,
a t the end of the th ird m ovem ent of opus 23.
In the rem aining eleven divisions the m ost common techniques of
clo su re a re , altern ately , rhythm ic decrescendos and pitch-rhythm ic g e s tu re s .
The la tte r a re usually followed by pregnant s ile n c e s . A technique of closure
which b e a rs some resem b lan ce to the end of the tone poem, though on a sm a lle r
scale, is the re ite ra tio n of a b rief fig u re, usually Motive X '. Typically, this
is accom panied by a decrescendo, and the total effect re c a lls p attern s of r e
flected wave m otion that occur in an enclosed field in the wake of a strong
im p u lse.
V ojce-L eading C ategories
In this th e sis, a system of five categ o ries has been devised which
extends tra d itio n al functional an aly sis into the dom ain of chrom atic vo ice-
leading. In p ra c tic e , the categ o ries a re sim ple enough to apply, although,
inevitably, they adm it the sam e subjective elem ents of in terp retatio n as func
tional a n a ly sis. The categ o ries a re defined and subdivided a s follow s.
1. D iatonic C h o rd s.
a . C hords which derive from the scale of the m ajo r o r m inor key.
b . Chords borrow ed fro m the p a ra lle l m ajor o r m inor key.

Secondary (or applied) chords; chords which in a given context not
only could function as applied chords, but which actually do function
that w ay.
A ltered chords; chords in which at le a s t one chord m em ber is c h ro
m atically a lte re d without borrow ing from the p a ra lle l key; and which
do not function a s leadingdEone c h o rd s . This category is subdivided:
a „ The ro o t is a lte r e d .
b. The ro o t is diatonic, but a t le a s t one other note is a lte re d .
c. The ro o t is a lte re d and at le a s t one other note is a lte r e d .
d. A ltered chords which a re also secondary c h o rd s .
L ow er-leading-tone chords; chords in which the b ass note acts as a
low er leading-tone and a t le a s t one chord m em ber is chrom atically
a lte re d . Also chords in which the b ass rem ain s the sam e, but a p r e
ponderance of other voices act a s low er leading-tone s . This category
is subdivided:
a. The ro o t is a lte re d .
b . The ro o t is diatonic but a t le a s t one other note is a lte re d .
c . The ro o t is a lte re d and at le a s t one other note is a lte re d .
Upper leading-tone chords; chords in which the b ass note acts as an
upper leading-tone and a t le a st one chord m em ber is chrom atically
a lte r e d . A lso chords in which the b ass rem ain s the sam e, but a p r e
ponderance of other voices act as upper lead in g -to n e s. T his category
is subdivided:
a . The ro o t is a lte re d .
b . The ro o t is diatonic but a t le a s t one other note is a lte re d ,
e . The ro o t is a lte re d and at le a s t one other note is a lte re d .
To obtain the sh a rp e st p ictu re of Schoenberg's deviation from common
p rac tic e harm ony, that te rm needs to be defined. H ere it w ill include a ll dia -
tonic and borrow ed chords (categ o ries la and lb), all applied chords (category
2), N eapolitan and augm ented-m inor dominant chords (from category 3), and
the three v a rie tie s of augm ented sixth chords (from category 5). The sum of
a ll these elem ents in Pelleas is 63 .0 percent, slightly le ss than tw o-thirds of
the total so n o ritie s. In the absence of com parable s ta tis tic s fo r other com po
s e rs , it is difficult to evaluate this figure at this tim e. But one suspects that
it is ra d ic a l, if only because this score prom pted the creation, of the categ o ries
P erhaps the m ost in te re stin g re s u lt of the tabulation is the p resen ce
of the dim inished-m inor sonority as the p rim a ry key-defining chord. In this
capacity it functions a t le a s t a s often a s a subm ediant tonic - substitute a s it
does a s a supertonic ch o rd . N ev ertheless, there a re num erous p assages
w here a key m ight be defined not only in the absence of a tonic, but in the a b
sence of a dom inant. This is su rely a curious consequence of the T rista n
ch o rd .
Weakly defined key a r e a s a re also the in tern al re a so n that led Schoen
b e rg to re ly alm ost exclusively on harm onic sequences in h is form al c o n stru c
tio n s. Without th e ir rhythm ically defined harm onic p erio d s, the m usical
108
Table 13. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types la and lb ,
in Order of Magnitude.
la lb la and lb
Sonority Quantity Sonority Quantity Sonority Quantity %
om 180 m 48 om 207 20.2

m 151 M 38 m 199 19.2
M 137 om 27 M 175 17.0
Mm . 127 mm 24 Mm 135 13.0
mm 91 Mm 8 mm 115 11.1
+ 48 oo 8 + 50 - 4 .8
oo 33 Mmm 6 oo 41 4.0
MmM 25 MmM 4 MmM 29 2. 8
MM 19 MM 3 MM 22 2.2
mM 6 mM 3 Mmm 10 1.0
+M 6 "1" 2 mM 9 0.9
o 4 b7/no 5/3 2 W -T (6) 7 0 .7
Mmm 4 mmM 2 +M 6 0.6
- mM 4 mmm 1 0 4 ■ ' 0 .4
Fifth 4 +mM 1 - mM 4 0 .4
- mMP 3 - mmP 1 mmM 4 0 .4
— m 2 B i-chordal 1 Fifth 4 0 .4
mmM 2 b7/no 5/3 3 0 .3
b7/no 5/3 1 - mMP 3 0.3
MMM 1 - - m 2 0.2
- mm 1 Bi -chordal 2 0.2
Octave 1 MMM 0.1
MmMP 1 mmm 1 0.1
Bi “chordal 1 - mm 1 0.1
+ mM 0.1
Octave 0.1
MmMP 1 0.1
- mmP 1 0.1
W -T (4) 0.1
Table 14 „ Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Type 2 ,
in Order of Magnitude „
Sonority Quantity Percentage
Mm 48 37.2
oo 33 25.6
om 16 12.4
MmM 11 8.5
M 6 4 .6
Mmm 6 4 .6
+ M 3 2 .3
MM 2 1.6
- mMP 2 1.6
o 1 0.8
- m M PM 1 0.8
Table 15 Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types

3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d, in O rder of M agnitude.
Sonority Quantity P ercentage
Mm 43 17.0
+m 40 15.8
om 26 10.3
m 24 v 9 .5
F ren ch 22 8 .7
M 21 8.3
W -T (5) 17 6.7
+ 7 2.8
mM 7 2.8
Mmm 7- 2.8
MM 6 2 .4
mm 6 2 .4
oo 6 2 .4
MmM 5 2.0
o 3 1.2
+M 3 1.2
+ mm 3 1.2
+ mM 2 0.8
Q uartal 2 0.8
Table 15, continued.
oM 1 0 .4
o oM 1 0 .4
Mmm - M 1 0 .4
Table 16. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types 4a, 4b,
and 4c, in O rder of M agnitude.
Mm 69 2 7 .0
oo 44 17.2
om 33 12.9
+ 28 10.9
+m 24 9 .4
F ren ch 14 5.5
M 10 3 .9
m 8 3 .1
W -T (5) 5 2 .0
Mmm 4 1.6
W -T (4) 4 1.6
mm 3 1.2
o 2 0.8
MM 2 0 .8
mM 1 0 .4
+M 1 0 .4
MmM 1 0 .4
F ifth 1 0 .4
F ourth 1 0 .4
Q uartal 1 0 .4
Table 17. Quantity and Percentage of Each Sonority in Types 5a, 5b and 5c,
in Order of Magnitude.
Mm 79 24.9
o m 44 13.9
+m 39 1 2 .3
F ren ch 36 1 1 .4
+ 27 8 .5
oo 25 7.9
M 16 5 .0
m 13 4. 1
+ M 13 4. 1
mm 6 1.9
MM 5 1.6
o 2 0.6
Mmm 2 0.6
W -T (5) 2 0.6
mM 1 0 .3
b7/no 5/3 1 0 .3
MmM 1 0 .3
o mM 0 .3
oom 1 0 .3
Fifth 1 0 .3
F o u rth 0 .3
Q uartal 0 .3
112
syntax would be much m ore difficult to com prehend„ As Berg.pointed out,
this is exactly the path that Schoenberg subsequently followed.
In some re sp e c ts the m o st rad ical of the categ o ries is the third, in
which a ch ro m atic a lte ra tio n does not a c t as a leading tone . Only 11.9 p e r
cent of the so n o rities have been in te rp re te d this way. A substantial num ber
of these a re alte re d dom inants, e ith e r augm ented-m inor or F ren ch so n o ritie s.
But th is category also a b so rb s chords which traditionally a re not related to
a key. A s a sim ple exam ple, the b -fla t-m in o r so n o rities of the final m e a
s u re s have been in terp re te d as category 3 chords in the key of d m inor .
The two final categ o ries a re fa r m ore num erous, together com prising
29.2 p ercen t of the total s o n o ritie s . Into the fourth category fall all leading-
tone seventh chords which do not have the ro o t in the b a s s . But the la rg e st
sh are of th is category belongs to the m ajor -m inor so nority. T hese a re not
deceptive reso lu tio n s, though h isto ric a lly they may, a s a type, have th eir
o rigin in the deceptive cadence. H ere they occur in p assag es w here dense
harm onic rhythm and chrom atic voice -leading blur the sense of k ey . The
tru e deceptive cadence u ses diatonic m ajor -m inor so n o rities, and thus would
be classifie d under category l a .
A com parison of the s ta tistic s in category 4 with those of category 5
shows a consistency in the tre atm en t of the m ajo r-m in o r chord, w hereas the
fully-dim inished seventh (which some reckon a sub-species of the dominant)
fa lls off d ra stic a lly in category 5, w here its usual leading-tone function is
re v e rse d . •
113
In co n trast, the augm ented sonority shows a consistency of tre atm e n t
in the two c a te g o rie s . An exam ple of a category 5 augm ented tria d m ay be
found in figure 28. What th is fig u re, a s w ell as the tables, does not show is
the frequency with which an augm ented chord m oves chrom atically to another
augm ented ch o rd .
A pplication
A pplication of the categ o ries to the sequence of chords in figure 31
w ill illu stra te th e ir stren g th s and w eak n esses. Though re g re tta b le , the w eak
n e sse s a re unavoidable: If a system of classificatio n is unable to account for
a ll the elem ents in its dom ain, the two options of analytical refinem ent a v a i
lable a re specificity and g en eralizatio n . Both options have th e ir exclusive a d
vantages; though, in the long run, that of generalization is probably the m ore
rew ard in g „ •
Thus, the new categ o ries do not aid the analyst in discovering an
ov erall tonality, if indeed th ere is one . When a passage seem s to be m odula
ting, one excludes category 1 fro m the a n a ly s is . If it seem s that a key is so m e
how im plied, one m u st f ir s t decide what key is p re se n t before proceeding. In
the p assag e in question, the context within the score suggests that it m ight be
heard in F a te 's key (d m inor), or in M elisande’s p a ra lle l key (F -s h a rp m a jo r).
As the table shows, the re s u lts will differ considerably, depending on the
choice. But in e ith e r c a se --a n d this is the strength of any m eaningful set of
c r ite ria - -th e re s u lts w ill accu rately re fle c t the p a rtic u la r a n a ly s t's choice
114
and, presum ably, his e a r . Besides this, th ere is the not insignificant ability
of the categ o ries to explain how a s e rie s of p re fe re n tia l so n o ritie s--su c h as
those in figure 28--m ig h t be re la te d to each other without the n ecessity of
changing k e y s .
Table 18. Two A pplications of the V oice-L eading C ategories

to the H arm onic S uccession of F igure 28.
Key:
Category: F#: 3b 5b 5b 5c 4c 3 5b
Sonority: f#om 6/5 G#Mm 6/5 b om C+m 4/2 A Mm W -T F ren ch
Category: d : 3b 5b la 5b la 5 5b
Key:
Category: F#: 3c 5b 5b 5b 5b
Sonority: GMm g#o 4/2 c#om 6/5 B+m 6/5 DMm E^Mm 4/2
Category: d : la 5c lb 5b 5b
Rhythmic D istribution
T ables 19 and 20 show the rhythm ic distributions of the five c a teg o ries.
A sum m ary view of the two tab les shows that Schoenberg’s d istrib u tio n of the
categ o ries is rem ark ab ly hom ogeneous. The tre atm e n t of category 5 is the
m o st individual: upper leading-tone chords fall on strong beats 26.8 percen t
le s s frequently than the av e ra g e . T h eir tendency to fall betw een beats is
th irty p ercen t g re a te r than the a v e rag e. In c o n trast to th is, the percentages
of rhythm ic distrib u tio n fo r lower leading-tone chords deviate only slightly

115
fro m the av erag e . Functional so n o rities a re by fa r the m o st frequent in
all th re e categ o ries of a cc e n t. Taken together, categ o ries 1 and 2 com prise
63.9 p erce n t of the stro n g b eats, 56.4 p e rc e n t of the weak b eats, and 53.8
p e rc e n t of the chords betw een b e a ts . Looking at the functional categories
sep arately , how ever, th ere is considerable c o n tra st in th e ir in tern a l rhythm ic
d istrib u tio n s. C ategory 1 so n o rities tend to fall on stro n g beats 12.6 p ercen t
m ore frequently than the a v e ra g e . On the other hand, category 2 chords
occur on strong beats 9 .7 p erce n t le s s frequently than the a v e ra g e . The m ost
idio sy n cratic featu re of the second category is its tendency to fall on weak
b eats 24 .8 p e rc e n t m ore frequently than the a v e ra g e .
C ategory 3 is found 9 .8 p ercen t m ore frequently than the average on
w eak b eats and 4 .3 p e rc e n t le s s frequently than the average on strong b e a ts .
N either of these fig u res is larg e enough to constitute an outstanding feature of
the categ o ry ’s tre a tm e n t. M ore in te re stin g is the co n trast betw een the d i s t r i
bution p ercen tag es fo r su b categ o ries 3a, 3b, and 3 c. C hords which fall into
the subcategory 3b can usually be explained a s products of m elodic dissonance i .
Augmented dom inants - -typically c reated by a Chromatic p assin g tone--com - .
p ris e m uch of the raw m a te ria l of subcategory 3b in P e lle a s . T his w rite r
would classify a s 3b the fam ous T ris ta n chord (a dim inished-m inor sonority
which " re so lv e s" to a functional F ren ch sixth).
Keeping in mind the relationship of m elodic dissonance to subcategory
3b, it is in tere stin g to note that this subcategory is evenly d istrib u ted am ong
Table 19. Rhythmic Distribution of Voice-Leading Categories in All Meters „
Category Strong Percent Weak Percent Between. Percent Total Percent
la 398 . 46.6 235 27.5 220 25.8 853 99.9

lb 83 4 6 .4 53 29.6 43 24.0 179 100.0
la&b 481 46.6 288 27.9 263 25.5 1032 100.0
2 46 37.4 47 38.2 30 24.4 123 100.0
3a 8 57.1 5 35.7 1 7.1 14 99.9

3b 64 36.0 64 36.0 50 28.1 178 100.1
3c 18 54.5 6 18.2 9 27.3 33 100.0
3d 3 30.0 4 40.0 3 30.0 10 100.0
3 a,b , c, &d 93 39.6 79 33.6 63 26.8 235 100.0
4a 32 65.3 9 18.4 8 16.3 49 100.0

4b 43 37,1 37 31.9 36 31.0 116 100.0
4c 32 33.3 33 34.4 31 32.3 96 100.0
4 a ,b , &c 107 41.0 79 30.3 75 28.7 261 100.0
5a 11 26.2 17 40.5 14 33.3 42 100.0

5b 45 30.0 49 32.7 56 37.3 150 100.0
5c 42 34.7 35 28.9 44 36.4 121 100.0
5a, b, &c 98 31.3 101 32.3 114 36.4 313 100.0
116
Table 20 . Distribution of Voice-Leading Categories Within Strong Beats, Weak Beats, and Between Beats,
for All M eters.
C ategory Strong P ercent Weak Percent Between Percent Total Percent
la 398 48.2 235 39.6 220 40.4 853 43.4

lb 83 10.1 53 8.9 43 . 7.9 179 9.1
2 46 5 .6 47 7.9 30 5.5 123 6.2
3a 8 1.0 5 0.8 1 0.2 14 0.7

3b 64 7 .8 64 10.8 50 9.2 178 9.1
3c 18 2.2 6 1.0 9 1.6 33 1.6
3d 3 0 .4 4 0 .7 3 0.6 10 0.5
4a 32 3.9 9 1,5 8 1.5 49 2.5

4b 43 5 .2 37 6.2 36 6.6 116 5.9
4c 32 3.9 33 5.6 31 5.7 96 4 .9
5a 11 . 1.3 17 2.9 14 2.6 42 2.1

5b 45 5 .4 49 8.2 56 10.3 150 7.6
5c 42 5 .1 35 5 .9 44 8.1 121 6.2
Total 825 100.1 594 100.0 545 100.2 1964 99.8
117
118
strong, weak, and b etw een 'b eats so n o ritie s. But subcategories 3a and 3c,
whose m em b ers a re usually tre ated a s e s se n tia l dissonances ( i . e . , whose
reso lu tio n includes a ro o t m ovem ent), have an especially pronounced tendency
to fall on stro n g b e a ts . N eapolitan so n o rities a r e exam ples of chrom atic
chords which a re classified in subcategory 3 a. Exam ples of subcategory 3c
m ay be seen in the second and fifth m easu res of figure 35, on page 81.
C om parison of the two categ o ries of leading-tone chords (4 and 5)
shows how differen t th e ir stru c tu ra l functions a re within S choenberg's m u s i
cal syntax. D istribution p ercen tag es fo r the low er leading-tone chords of
category 4 deviate le s s th a n one p ercen t fro m the average fo r strong, weak,
and betw een-beats tab u latio n s. In sh o rt, though they a re fa irly evenly d is tr i
buted, they tend to fall oh stro n g b e a ts . T h e ir distribution is not d iss im ila r
to that of the functional so n o rities of category 1. The d istrib u tio n p attern of
upper leading-tone chords is somewhat d ifferen t. The percentage of category
5 chords which fall on stro n g b eats is over eleven points below a v e ra g e . Con
v ersely , category 5 chords fall between beats 8 .4 p ercen t m o re frequently
than the a v e ra g e . To the extent that rhythm ic placem ent is c o rre la te d with
stru c tu ra l prom inence in Schoenberg's P elleas, it can be said that non-func
tional low er leading-tone chords a re assigned m ore fundam ental ro le s in the
com position than a re upper leading-tone c h o rd s .

119
Sum m ary
Schoenberg's ta ste fo r precom positional ord erin g s takes a special
fo rm in Pelleas und M elisan d e. By assigning program m atic functions to both
keys and key relatio n sh ip s, m odulations in the tone poem becom e p re c ise
tonal an alo g s fo r statable propositions ( e .g ., M elisande's feelings fo r Golo
a re in conflict with h e r feelings fo r P e lle a s). Thus, key plays an im portant
ro le at the subform al le v e l. R egarding the function of key a t the form al level,
one m ay s ta r t by observing that the tone poem begins and ends in d m inor, and
that Schoenberg assig n s a key signature to each section of the com position„
However, the relatio n sh ip of a given key signature to the m usic it th e o re ti
cally subsum es is highly v a ria b le . Sonorities whose duration a n d /o r rhythm ic
placem ent give them s tru c tu ra l im portance, and which a re also diatonic in
the co n cu rren t key signature, a re the exception, not the r u l e . Still few er
a re sections whose key sig n atu res a re co rro b o rated by m ajo r cadences. In
fact, though at the tim e he com posed Pelleas Schoenberg had not yet fo rm u
lated h is concept of reg io n s, that concept is en tire ly consonant with the com po
sitional p ra c tic e s in the tone poem . But even this proves too g en eral an a n a
lytic tool in the face of perp etu al chrom atic voice-leading, which often suggests
a different key fo r each chord „
F o r this reaso n , so n o rities have been classified according to c a te
g o rie s of chrom atic a lte ra tio n and v o ice-lead in g . In gen eral, functional
so n o rities p re v ail throughout the s c o r e . Among diatonic chords, the high

120
percentage of d im inished-m inor so n o rities is in tere stin g because it suggests
that a key is defined le s s often by its tonic or dom inant than by its supertonic
and subm ediant„ This diffusion of the to n ic's authority is fu rth e re d by the
high level (31.1 percent) of functional chrom atic c h o rd s . The tonal fab ric is
fu rth e r p erm eated by non-functional chrom atic chords, which together make
up fully 37 .0 p ercen t of the m u s ic .
The th ree broad categ o ries of non-functional so n o rities a re altered ,
low er leading-tone, and upper leading-tone c h o rd s . In te rm s of quantity ,
these th ree categ o ries fo rm an ascending s e rie s , com prising, resp ectiv ely ,
11.9, 13.3, and 15.9 p e rc e n t of the total so n o ritie s. In the exam ination of
the th ree c a te g o ries' s tru c tu ra l functions, this h ierarch y is not re ta in e d . In
so fa r a s rhythm ic placem ent affects stru c tu ra l significance, the category of
low er leading-tone chords lead s the field, followed by the category of a lte re d
chords, and tra ile d at some distance by the category of upper leading-tone
ch o rd s.
CHAPTER 8
CRITICISM AND RETROSPECTIVE
P elleas und M elisande was the f ir s t o rc h e stra l work of Schoenberg's
to be p erfo rm ed . Am bitious in scale a s w ell a s ex p ressiv e scope, audacious
in its technical req u irem en ts and exploitation of new instrum ental tim b res, a s
tonishing in its command of contrapuntal techniques, this is a score clearly
intended to dazzle the public in the way that s im ila r w orks by S trau ss had a l
ready done. At the sam e tim e, Pelleas is m anifestly the w ork of a spontaneous
and p assionate a r t is t .
In an age when failu re was not yet fashionable, the f ir s t perform ance
of the tone poem w as, according to re p o rts , a decided f a ilu r e . It speaks v o l
um es fo r the young co m p o ser's faith in h is gifts that in the afterm ath of this
debacle, he com posed the buoyant, affirm ative F ir s t Cham ber Symphony. But
this does not im ply that Schoenberg was satisfied with his achievem ent in the
tone p o em . On the co n trary , the very speed with which Schoenberg's com posi
tional idiom evolved suggests a high degree of s e lf - c ritic is m . And Schoenberg's
delight in the eventual su c ce ss of Pelleas with the public, som e ten y ea rs a fte r
its com position, m ust have been tem pered by an acute aw aren ess of its s h o rt
com ings . While this w rite r knows of no docum entary evidence to reccom end
this supposition, such evidence does e x ist from a slightly la te r tim e, during
122
which Die Jaco b sleiter was p a rtia lly com posed. S choenberg's c ritic is m of
h is early, tone poem w as prom pted by Zem linsky’s suggestion that certain
cuts - -evidently including one a t the beginning of the recap itu latio n - -be made
at a forthcom ing p e rfo rm a n c e . Schoenberg w rote:
. . . I have alw ays told everyone who pays any attention to me that
I consider the la s t p a r t p re c ise ly from re h e rs a l 50 on, * the b est
in the whole work, indeed the only thing in the w ork, with a few e x
ceptions from w hat goes before, that is still of any in te re s t to me
now. P a rtic u larly the p assag e, re h e rs a l 50 to re h e rs a l 5 5 j very
c le a rly rem em b er it was h ere fo r the f ir s t tim e (while I w as com
posing it) that I re a liz e d the many sequences of the ore ceding p a rts
w ere only of m oderate a r tis tic value and it w as h ere „ c „ fo r the
f ir s t tim e that intuitively and consciously I trie d to achieve a m o re
irre g u la r and, indeed, m ore involved form and, a s I can now see,
did achieve it.
. . . But then (quite a p a rt from an am ount of m elodically, f o r
m ally, and, in p a rtic u la r, harm onically in tere stin g d etail--y o u
m ust forgive me fo r p ra isin g it, but I am a t such a rem ove from the
w ork th at I think m yself entitled to p ra ise it as objectively a s I
find fault with it), in p a rtic u la r, this rep etitio n is h e re m ore than
a recap itu latio n with v a ria tio n s . A p art from the fact that it follows
the line of the d ram a (which would no longer strik e me a s the m ost
e sse n tia l thing), it seem s to me ju stified (and this is m ore im p o r
tant to me than justificatio n in the light of a fo rm al schem e) by the
sense of fo rm and space that has always been the sole facto r guiding
me in com position and which w as the re a s o n why I fe lt this group to
be n ec e ssa ry . . . . I hope you w on't be annoyed and w on't think I
believe in " infallibility " . On the co n trary , if I had w ritte n m ore, I
shouldn’t much mind if this work didn't ex ist at a ll. T ru e, I can 't
rea lly think it bad, and even find plenty of very good stuff in it, and
1 . M easure 485, a t which point the opening m usic of the tone poem
re tu rn s as an audible recap itu latio n .
2. M easures 458-501.
123
above a ll it has a num ber of fe a tu re s that indicate my subsequent dev el

opment, perhaps even m ore than my f ir s t q u a rte t. But I know exactly
how fa r rem oved it is fro m perfection and that I have m anaged to do
much b e tte r thin g s.^
This c ritic s m speaks fo r itself, and it would be im p ertin en t of this
w rite r to add anything to it save the observation that a s e a rly a s 1906 Schoen
b erg com pared Pelleas to his next concerted w ork, the O rc h e stra l Songs, sa y
ing that he considered the la tte r "much m ore m ature, q u ieter, and cleaner, so
that I would want th e ir perform ance very m u c h ." ^
F o rw ard -looking fea tu res of the tone poem, all of which a re justified
by p ro g ram m atic co n sid eratio n s, a re distributed throughout the various p a r a
m e te rs of the m u sic. Those of tim bre a r e localized in the sc o re , which a s a
whole is thickly, though not ungratefully, o rc h e s tra te d . The depiction of the
m u rd e r of Pelleas a t m . 446 ff. includes some skillful w ritin g fo r percu ssio n
q u a rte t (excluding tim p an i). The scene in the vaults beneath the castle (m m .
283-98) is m o st im aginatively conceived, the tim b ral com posite a fitting analog
to the dank, oozing stench of death to which the d ra m a 's c h a ra c te rs r e f e r . In
fact, this portion of the sco re is a veritable catalogue of ex p ressio n istic d e
vices: strin g s trem olo a t the bridge; m utes on horns, tru m p ets, and trom bones;
3 . Arnold Schoenberg, Arnold Schoenberg L e tte rs, e d . Erw in Stein,

t r a n s . Eithne W ilkins and E rn s t K aiser (London: F ab er and F a b e r, 1964),
pp. 54-56.
4. See the Appendix fo r a com plete tran slatio n of this l e t t e r .

124
fluttertonguing in the flutes, clarinets, and bassoons; and rhythmically inde
pendent writing for the bass drum and gong.
T exture is forw ard -looking a t m easure 28 of the Introduction. H ere,
against the continuation of a double canon in woodwinds and low strin g s, a horn
(rep resen tin g Golo) is superposed in an alien key, to unique effect.
Pitch com plexes a re som etim es organized about the full exploitation
of the chrom atic s e rie s without re g a rd to tonality. Such com plexes are gen
erally asso ciated with life -denying asp ects of the p ro g ra m m e . Schoenberg's
m elodies a re often long-lined and so free in their em ploym ent of different h a r
monic regions that they sound atonal when standing a lo n e . The beginning of
the love m usic o ffers one instance of such a m elody.
Slow, with Qreat feen m

' A
j. U ij. p i J i p ^ i jJjjjj'J r''&
F ig . 43. Long-Lined Melody with V agrant H arm onies Im plied.

' 125
V ery few tonal cadences a re used to define the ‘stru c tu re of the tone poem .
More frequently, techniques of clo su re a re substituted.
’ Rhythm is both one of the m ost and one of the le a s t forw ard-looking
asp e cts of the s c o r e . It is one of the m ost in so far a s the harm onic rhythm
p laces stro ng em phasis on betw een-beats a tta c k s. This is coupled with a con
tinuance of the rhythm ic experim ents of W agner and S trau ss in avoiding strong
b eats in c e rta in types of m elody. Rhythm is one of the le a s t p ro g ressiv e e le
m ents when viewed from the point of view of p h rasin g . The g re a t m ajority of
the sco re depends on the double sequencing of a p h rase, o r the rep etitio n of a
p h rase, usually one or two m ea su re s long.
One of the concepts cen tra l to this w r ite r 's approach is that of p r e
fe re n tia l s o n o ritie s . Im plicit in this concept is the notion that in our perception
of c e rta in com positions, foreground events can, a t le a s t tem p o ra rily , preem pt
the governing logic of the background. Now, it m ight be a s s e rte d that p r e f e r
en tial so n o rities a re m ere ly coincidences of voice -leading; and Pelleas und
M elisande is assu red ly a m eticulously polyphonic com position by a com poser
som etim es accused of ignoring the v e rtic a l dim ension of m u s ic .
Yet, though th ere is some truth in such an a sse rtio n , it also g lo sses
over the very d ifferent tre atm e n ts which Schoenberg gives to m elodic d isso
nances, harm onic dissonances, and non-functional (preferential) so n o ritie s.
Inspection of table 3 shows a m arked tendency of conjunct m elodic dissonances
to fall betw een b e a ts . The deviations from the average, in p e rc e n tile s, for
126
the four categ o ries of betw een-beats conjunct dissonance a re : descending
p assin g tones, - 0„4; ascending p assin g tones, + 10 .8 ; descending neighbor
tones, + 1 2 .4 ; and ascending neighbor tones, + 1 5 .4 . In sh o rt, ascending con
junct dissonances a re somew hat m ore common between beats than descending
o n es. But this situation r e v e rs e s itself in the sta tis tic s on p re fe re n tia l son
o r itie s . Betw een-beats category 4 (ascending) chords have an index of devi
ation of + 0 .7 ; betw een-beats category 5 (descending) chords have an index of
+ 8 .4 . It is sim ply not possible to ignore the effect of v e rtic a l unity in the
tre atm e n t of d isso n an c e.
Even m ore pronounced a re differences in the o v erall distributions
of m elodic d issonances, harm onic dissonances, and p re fe re n tia l c h o rd s. In
duple m e te rs, 70.3 p e rc e n t of the m elodic dissonances fall betw een b e a ts .
This figure is even higher in other m e te r s . As table 12 shows, 29.6 p ercen t
of the harm onic dissonances fa ll between b e a ts . C om parison with the p e rc e n
tages of tria d s between b eats (25.0) shows that so -called harm onic dissonances
a re tre a te d much m ore like so n o rities than they a re like m elodic d issonances.
The sta tistic on harm onic dissonance is closely p aralleled , how ever, by the
percentage of p re fe re n tia l so n o rities which fall between beats (2 8 .0 ). All of
this gives the im p ressio n that a chord is a chord is a ch o rd —w hether tria d ic
o r su p ertiad ic, functional o r non-functional.
The fo rm of the tone poem is forw ard -looking in so far a s it attem pts
the one m ovem ent, synthetic sonata-cycle that Schoenberg essay ed m ore su e-
cessfully in the F i r s t Q u artet and F i r s t Cham ber Symphony. But th is attem pt
at la rg e -s c a le organization does not p rev en t the tone poem fro m sounding like
a strin g of dram atic episodes, each with its own affect, a s it w e re . Pelleas
is e ssen tially a young m an’s w ork. Schoenberg has storm ed the w alls of his
lib re tto . W here the playw rite, M aeterlinck, carefully m olds the em otional
in ten sities of h is d ram a around th ree passionate scenes, the com poser ex p li
citly depicts pow erful em otional reactio n s to each of the events of the play.
No w onder, then, that P elleas und M elisande has appealed m ost to young m u
sician s with both the education and the tem peram ent to appreciate it. In a
fine perfo rm an ce, such a s that of K arajan on DG 2530 485, the tone poem r e
m a in s --a fte r th re e -q u a rte rs of a c e n tu ry --a n enjoyable p o rtra it, not only of
the A rtis t a s a Young Man, but of an eruptive age in which the g re a t tensions
of g re a t m inds led to the b irth of our m odern psychological m odes of p e rc e p
tion, with a ll that they im p ly .

APPENDIX
LETTER FROM SCHOENBERG
TO STRAUSS
Honored M aster, I re ad in a Vienna new spaper that you have accepted
an invitation to conduct the Philharm onic in a co ncert h e r e . Up to now there
h a sn ’t been anything of mine given in a Philharinonic. concert, and I don't
believe M ottl could m ake up h is mind about any of my w o rk s . So I p e rm it
m yself once again to appeal to your generous nature-"w hich you have shown
to me so often—and a sk w hether I m ight send you some things on ap p ro v al.
W orks I have th at a re suitable a re my Symphonic Poem Pelleas and
M elisande, then Six O rc h e stra l Songs and finally a Cham ber Symphony for
15 solo in stru m en ts (a sh o rt p iece, a t m ost twenty m inutes long). This la st,
how ever , I sent about 3 w eeks ago to Lowe (Vienna K o n zertv erein ). But I am
convinced he w on't like it and in any case I ’ll have it back in 2 w eek s. Of the
other two w orks I consider the O rc h e stra l Songs much m ore m atu re, qu ieter,
and c le a n e r, so that I would want th e ir perform ance very m uch. And this all
the m ore so since up to now alm o st none of my w orks has been sung in V ienna.
On the other hand, it would be v ery pleasan t to have my "P elleas" reh ab ilitated
since when I conducted th is piece (with the Vereinigung schaffender Tonkunstler)
128
129
the lack of adequate reh ersals caused it to come off only very poorly and it
was terribly ripped up.
I don't know w hether I can expect you to p re se n t y o u rself to the Vienna
Public w ith one of these w o rk s. I m ention this side of things in the in te re st
of full u n d erstan d in g .
May I now ask i f you would let me know in a few w ords w hether I m ight
send you som ething? O ther than this I am not pushing my w orks, a s is evidenced
by the v ery sm all num ber of p erfo rm an ces I have received up to now.
The re a so n I am bothering you with it this tim e is sim ply that the
o th ers a re much too sm all a s m usicians to be able to look a t a w ork o r even
to want to . (T h is la s t point, the wanting, I consider to be an im portant a t t r i
bute of a good m u sician .) Proof of this is that when the A llgem eine deutch
M usikverein re je c te d m e la s t y ea r - -along with many o th ers, undoubtedly ju st
a s untalen ted --th ey did so without giving any re a s o n s . And th is cam e about
because I d id n 't w ant to bother you again by asking fo r a recom m endation, and
also because I believed that a m usician can judge a com position solely from
the n o te s .
In hopes of receiv in g a speedy, friendly answ er, 1 thank you for it now
and send you my w arm e st r e g a r d s .
Yours faithfully,
A .S .
31 August 1906
REFERENCES
A rm itage, M e rle , e d ito r. Schoenberg. New York: G. S ch irm er, 1937.
Berg, A lban. "Why is Schoenberg’s M usic So H ard to Com prehend?" In

Schoenberg/B erg/W ebern: The String Q uartets, a D ocum entary
Study, pp. 20-30. Edited by U rsula v . Rauchhaupt. T ran slated
by Eugene H a r tz e ll. Hamburg: D eutsche Grammophon G eselle -
schaft M bh., 1971.
Bithell, Jeth ro . Life and W ritings of M aurice M aeterlinck. London and

Felling-on-T yne: The W alter Scott Publishing C o ., n .d .
Boucourechliev, A ndre. "A tonality." In H arvard D ictionary of M usic. 2nd

edition, re v ised and enlarged, p . 62. Edited by W illi A pel.
C am bridge, M a ss.: The Belknap P re ss of the H arv ard U niversity
P re ss , 1975.
Copp, L aura R em ick. "Interview with A rnold S choenberg." Etude, O ctober

1934, p . 6 8 .
D avies, L a u ren ce. Paths to M odern M u sic. London: B arrie & Jenkins, 1971.
G oehr, A lexander. "The T h e o retical W ritings of Arnold Schoenberg." In

Proceedings of the Royal M usic A ssociation, p p . 85-96. Edited
by Edw ard O lleson. n .p ., 1974.
G oehr, W alter and G oehr, A lexander. "Arnold Schoenberg's Development

Tow ards the Tw elve-N ote S y stem ." In European M usic in the
Twentieth C en tu ry . Edited by Howard H arto g . London: Routledge &
Keegan Paul, 1957.
t
Gould, Glenn. Arnold Schoenberg: A P e rsp e c tiv e . U niversity of Cincinnati
O ccasional P apers No. 3 . Cincinnati: U niversity of Cincinnati
P re ss, 1964.
G ra sb e rg e r, F ra n z , e d ito r . Die W elt um R ichard S trau ss in B riefen. Tutzing:

Hans Schneider, 1967.
Janik, A llen and Toulm in, Stephen. W ittgenstein's V ienna. New York:
Simon and S chuster, Touchstone Books, 1973.
130
131
REFERENCES- -Continued
K arpath, Ludw ig. Review of the F ir s t P erform ance (26 January 1905) of
P elleas und M elisan d e. In Die Signal, 1 M arch 1905 . Quoted in
M usic Since 1900, p . 49. Edited by Nicolas Slonim sky. New York:
W . W . Norton & C o ., 1937.
Lahee, H enry C . Annals of M usic in A m e ric a . Boston: M arshall Jones ..

Company, 1922 „
MacDonald, M alcolm . Schoenberg. The M aster M usicians S e rie s . London:

J.M . Dent & Sons L td ., 1976.
M aegaard, J a n . Studien zu r Entwicklung des dodekaphonen sa tz e s bei A rnold

Schonberg. Copenhagen: W ilhelm Hansen, 1972.
M urphy, Edw ard W . "Harm ony and Tonality in the Large W orks of S tra u s s ."
Ph .D . d isse rta tio n , Indiana U niversity, 1963.
Reich, W illi. Schoenberg: A C ritic a l Biography. T ran slated by Leo Black.

London: Longm ans, 1971.
Rolland, R em ain and S tra u ss, R ich ard . R ichard S trauss and Rom ain Rolland:
C o rresp o n d en ce. Edited by Rollo M y e rs . London: C alder & Boyars,
1968.
R ufer, Josef. The W orks of Arnold S choenberg. T ran slated by Dika Newlin.
London: F a b e r & F ab er, 1962.
Schoenberg, A rnold. A rnold Schoenberg L e tte r s . Edited by Erw in Stein.

T ran slated by Eithne W ilkins and E rn s t K a is e r. London: F aber &
F a b e r, 1964. . . . . . .
. "A Legal Q u estion." In Style and Idea, pp. 188-91. Edited by

Leonard Stein. T ran slated by Leo Black. New York: St. M artins
P re ss , 1975.
________ . "N otes on P elleas und M elisande . *’ Accompanying The Music of

A rnold Schoenberg, v o l. 2 . Columbia M2S - 694.
132
REFERENCES - "Continued
Schoenberg, A rnold. "Preface to the F our String Q u a rte ts ." In Schoenberg/

Berg/W ebern: The String Q u artets, a Docum entary Study, pp. 35-36.
Edited by U rsula v . Rauchhaupt. T ranslated by Eugene H artzell.
Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon G eselleschaft M bh., 1971.
________ . "Problem s in Teaching A r t . " In Style and Id ea. Edited by Leonard

Stein. T ran slated by Leo Black. New York: St. M artins P ress,
1975.
________ . S tru ctu ral Functions of H arm ony. Revised edition, with c o r r e c
tio n s. Edited by Leonard Stein. New York: W. W. Norton, 1969.
Slonimsky, N icolas. "A Schoenberg C hronology." In Schoenberg, pp. 215-

245. Edited by M erle A rm itag e. New York: G. S chirm er, 1937.
Stuckenschm idt, H. H. F e rru c c io Busoni. T ranslated by Sandra M o rris.

London: C alder & Boyars, 1970.
Thompson, Kenneth. A D ictionary of Tw entieth-C entury C o m p o sers. London:

F a b er & F ab er, 1973 .
W ellesz, Egon. Arnold Schonberg. T ran slated by W. H. K errid g e. London

and Toronto: J . M. Dent & Sons L t d . , n. d.
W ennerstrom , Mary. "P aram e tric A nalysis of C ontem porary M usical F o r m . "
Ph.D. d isserta tio n , Indiana U niversity, 1967.

Schoenberg Pelleas Und Melisande Analysis

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Schoenberg Pelleas Und Melisande Analysis

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande: an exegesis and analysis

Item type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)

Authors Hill, Christopher Cole

Publisher The University of Arizona.

Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this

Downloaded 12-May-2016 14:19:36

Link to item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/348396

AN EXEGESIS AND ANALYSIS

C h risto p h er Cole Hill

A T h esis Submitted to the Faculty of the

In P artia l F ulfillm ent of the R equirem ents

In the G raduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Brief quotations from this thesis a re allowable without special p e rm is ­

APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR

This th esis has been approved on the date shown below:

Profound gratitude to:

My p a re n ts, fo r th is stro n g and intelligent organism , so foolishly

abused in a consum ing p u rsu it of sch o larsh ip .

My tea ch e rs, fo r th eir patience and uncommon generosity of s p irit.

My students, fo r th e ir patience and th eir p ro b le m s.

My re a d e rs , D r. Murphy, M r. Pflugradt, and M r. C a rte r, fo r so

thereby im proving this p ap er considerably.

My a d v iso r, D r. Murphy, fo r supporting this p ro je ct in the stro n g est

of what fo llo w s. To him should go the c re d it fo r w hatever good th ere is in

My frien d , M arg aret Klem m , fo r h e r assistan c e in tra n slatin g the

final v ersio n , how ever, is my own and e r r o r s of tra n slatio n m u st be laid to m e .

p ro ject, each in th e ir own fashion.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................... vi

Need fo r the Study ......................... 1

SCHOENBERG’S SYMPHONIC POEM . . . . . . . . . . . 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS ~-Continued'

Rhythmic D istrib u tio n . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . 60

N on -T ertian Sonorities: W hole-Tone . . . . . . . . . . 75

7. KEY, TONALITY, AND FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

8 . CRITICISM AND RETROSPECTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

APPENDIX: A LETTER FROM SCHOENBERG TO STRAUSS . . . 128

1 „ A m algam ation of Leading M otives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

2. The Leading M otives F ate (Above) and Anima (Below) . . . » 33

3. F a te ’s Unfolding: an Expansion of Motive X . . . . . . . 33

4. The H arm onic Leading M otives: Destiny~1 and D estiny-2 . . 34

5 c M elisande's Beauty (1) and H elplessness (2) . . . . . . . . . 36

6 . Leading M otives of Yearning: Golo (1) and Pelleas (2) . . . . . 37

7. M elisande’s Y earning a s a Blend of Golo and P elleas . . . . 38

8 . Golo Vs Jealousy a s a D isto rtio n of Y earning . . . . . . . . 38

9. M elisande's Diffidence a s a L oss of Balance . . . . . . . . 38

10. Golo’s Anim us (1) and A nim a ( 2 ) ......................... 39

11. Golo’s Leading Motive ( F ir s t V ersion) . . . . ... . . . . 40

12. Golo’s Leading Motive (Second V ersion) a s Used

13. T rip a rtite Leading Motive of P elleas. . . . . . . . . . . 41

14. M elisande's Awakening Love a s a Counter subject . . . . . . 43

15. Connotations of R eg ister: F a te ’s Unfolding a s a Bass Line . . 44

16. D ecoration and Interlock as Melody-Producing Agents . . . . 45

17. Techniques of Synthesis and Interlock in the Love M usic . . 46

18. Techniques of Synthesis in M elisande’s Fate . . . . . . . . 47

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "^Continued

19. Juxtaposition a s a N arrativ e Technique . . . . . . . . . 49

20. S tratification of a W hole-Tone Scale W ithin a Diatonic

21. Embedding of a W hole-Tone Scale W ithin a Melody . . . . . 51

22. C hrom atic D ensity in the Scene in the V aults . . . . . . . 53

23. P e llea s’ Death: P resen tatio n of F o u rteen C hrom atic

24. Schoenberg’s Example of Em ancipated D issonance

25. Melodic D issonances Left by Leap in the Love M usic . . . . 62

26. Melodic D issonance Approached and L eft by Leap in

Brief quotations from this thesis a re allowable without special p e rm is

As the title suggests, this th esis adopts a dual approach to Schoen

b e rg 's Pellea^jundJdeUsande^. The f ir s t approach attem pts to exam ine the sy m

M erriam W ebster D ictionary (New York: Pocket Books, 1974) a s an "expla

At the tim e of w riting, no thorough exam ination in English of Schoen

this th esis begins with an attem p t to collect (and a t tim es a s s e s s ) a ll the in fo r

To catch the full range of Schoenberg's very broad m ind, a c o r r e s

and ch ro m atically satu rated pitch collections a re also investigated. Schoen

Schoenberg’s tre atm e n t of sonority is tabulated and textually high