Composer, born in Vienna, Austria. He was largely self-taught, and in his 20s lived by orchestrating operettas while composing such early works as the string sextet Verklärte Nacht (1899, Transfigured Night). His search for a personal musical style emerged in these works, which were not well received: his Chamber Symphony caused a riot at its first performance in 1907 through its abandonment of the traditional concept of tonality. He became known for his concept of 12-note or serial music, used in most of his later works. At the end of World War 1 he taught in Vienna and Berlin, until exiled by the Nazi government in 1933. He settled in California, and took US nationality in 1941.
Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (the anglicized form of Schönberg — Schoenberg changed the spelling officially when he left Germany and re-converted to Judaism in 1933), (September
13, 1874 – July 13, 1951) was an Austrian and later American composer. Many of Schoenberg's works are associated with the expressionist movements in early 20th-century German poetry and art,
and he was among the first composers to embrace atonal motivic development. Both Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler recognized Schoenberg's significance as a composer, Strauss when he
encountered Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder, and Mahler after hearing several of Schoenberg's early works. Strauss regressed to a more conservative idiom in his own work after 1909 and at that
point dismissed Schoenberg, but Mahler adopted Schoenberg as a protégé and continued to support him even after Schoenberg's style reached a point which Mahler could no longer understand, and
Mahler worried about who would look after him after his death. Schoenberg, who criticized Mahler's first several symphonies, was nevertheless influenced by Mahler's art, championed his work and
considered Mahler a "saint."
Schoenberg began teaching harmony, counterpoint and composition in 1904.
The summer of 1908, during which his wife Mathilde left him for several months for a young Austrian painter, Richard Gerstl (who committed suicide after her return to her husband and children),
marked a distinct change in Schoenberg's work.
During the summer of 1910, Schoenberg wrote his Harmonielehre ("Textbook on Harmony"), which to this day remains one of the most influential music-theory books.
Another of his most important works from this atonal or pantonal period is the highly influential Pierrot Lunaire, op.
Later, Schoenberg was to create the dodecaphonic (also known as twelve-tone) method of composition, which later grew into serialism. They included Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Hanns Eisler, all
of whom were profoundly influenced by Schoenberg. He was then wooed to Los Angeles, where he taught at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, both
of which later named a music building on their respective campuses Schoenberg Hall .
During this final period he composed several notable works, including the difficult Violin Concerto, op. 36 (1934/36), the Kol Nidre, op. 39, for chorus and orchestra (1938), the
Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, op. 41 (1942), the haunting Piano Concerto, op. 42 (1942), and his memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, A Survivor from Warsaw, op.
Arnold Schoenberg was grandfather of the lawyer E.
Music
Works and ideas
To understand why Schoenberg composed the music that he did, it is useful to begin with his own statement: "Had times been 'normal' (before and after 1914) then the music of our time would have
been very different."
Schoenberg, as a Jewish intellectual, was passionately committed to the concept of unshaken adherence to an "Idea" (such as the concept of an inexpressible God) and the pursuance of Truth. He
saw the development of music accelerating through the works of Wagner, Strauss and Mahler to a state of saturation. For a time Schoenberg's music became very concentrated and elliptical, as he
could see no reason to repeat and develop. He regarded it as the equivalent in music of Albert Einstein's discoveries in Physics, and Schoenberg announced it characteristically, during a walk
with his friend Josef Rufer, when he said "I have today made a discovery which will ensure the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years".
This remark, much misquoted and misunderstood, was probably made with Schoenberg's customary wry and ironic humour, referring to the collapse of the dominant political position of the
German-speaking world in previous years, and also emphasising his desire to stand with Bach and Beethoven.
In the following years he produced a series of instrumental and orchestral works showing how his method could produce new classical music which did not copy the past.
It is worth noting that Schoenberg was not the only composer (or even the first) to experiment with the systematic use of all twelve tones. Both the Russian composer Nikolai Roslavets and
Schoenberg's fellow Austrian Josef Matthias Hauer developed their own twelve-tone systems quite independently at around the same time as Schoenberg, and Charles Ives experimented with twelve
tone techniques substantially earlier. Schoenberg's music had made a break from tonality, which greatly polarised responses to it: his followers and students saw him as one of the most
important figures in music, while critics hated his work, on the whole.
Schoenberg was said to be a very prickly and difficult man to know and befriend.
Schoenberg's serial technique of composition with 12 notes was among the most central and polemical conversations among American and European musicians of the mid-20th century. Beginning in the
1940s and continuing to the present day, composers such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Milton Babbitt have extended the legacy of serialism in increasingly radical directions,
while even composers normally considered opposed to Schoenberg's point of view, including Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein (in "Mass") and Aaron Copland, began, in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,
to explore and incorporate some basic tenets of serialism within otherwise basically tonal frameworks.
In recent decades, composers have managed to transcend the serial polemic, but new controversies around Schoenberg have emerged: most notably, since Schoenberg's later music did not strictly or
consistently follow 12-tone serial principles, the centrality of serialism to Schoenberg's thought has been questioned. According to the composer and writer Chaya Czernowin, Schoenberg's most
significant (albeit insufficiently credited) revolution was not atonality or serialism, but the decentralization of the recognizeable motive as the main source of identity in music
composition--arguably a more lasting and widespread feature of avant-garde music of the last century. By contrast, recognizing the diminished importance of serialism in contemporary music
history, critics from Pierre Boulez to James Tenney have argued that the overall historical importance of Schoenberg himself may have been overstated.
Extramusical interests
Schoenberg was also a painter of considerable ability, whose pictures were considered good enough to exhibit alongside those of Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky, and he wrote extensively: plays
and poems, as well as essays not only about music but about politics and the social/historical situation of the Jewish people.
Works
See also: :Category:Compositions by Arnold Schoenberg
Selected compositions
Verklärte Nacht for string sextet (1899)
Gurre-Lieder for soloists, chorus and orchestra with text by Jens Peter Jacobsen (1900-1901, 1913)
Kammersymphonie No. 1), op. 2
F-Sharp minor (with soprano), op. 10 (1907)
Five Pieces for Orchestra, op. 16 (1909)
Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke, op. 19 for solo piano (1911)
Pierrot Lunaire op. 21, with
text by Albert Giraud (1912)
Moses und Aron (Moses and Aaron) (1930/32, unfinished opera)
Suite for piano, op. 25 (1921/23)
Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B
flat (1933) after the Concerto Grosso, op. 7 by George Frederic Handel, freely transcribed and developed by Schoenberg
Violin Concerto, op. 2), op. 38 (1909/39)
Piano Concerto,
op. 42 (1942) Theme and Variations, op. 43a, for concert band (1943)
A Survivor from Warsaw, op. 46 (1947)
Complete list of compositions with opus numbers
2 Gesänge [2 Songs] for baritone, op. 1 (1898) 4 Lieder [4 Songs], op. 2 (1899) 6 Lieder [6 Songs], op. 3 (1899/1903) Verklärte Nacht [Transfigured night], op. 4 (1899) Pelleas und
Melisande, op. 5 (1902/03) 8 Lieder [8 Songs] for soprano, op. 1, D minor, op. 7 (1904/05) 6 Lieder [6 Songs] with orchestra, op. 1, op. 2, F-sharp minor (with Soprano), op. 10 (1907/08) 3 Stücke
[3 Pieces] for Piano, op. 11 (1909) 2 Balladen [2 Ballads], op. 12 (1906) Friede auf Erden [Peace on earth], op. 13 (1907) 2 Lieder [2 Songs], op. 14 (1907/08) 15 Gedichte aus Das Buch der
hängenden Gärten [15 Poems from The book of the hanging gardens] by Stefan George, op. 15 (1908/09) Fünf Orchesterstücke [5 Pieces for Orchestra], op. 16 (1909) Erwartung [Expectation] for
Soprano and Orchestra, op. 17 (1909) Die Glückliche Hand [The lucky hand] for Chorus and Orchestra, op. 18 (1910/13) Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke [6 Little piano pieces], op. 19 (1911) Herzgewächse
[Foliage of the heart] for Soprano, op. 20 (1911) Pierrot lunaire, op. 21 (1912) 4 Lieder [4 Songs] for Voice and Orchestra, op. 22 (1913/16) 5 Stücke [5 Pieces] for Piano, op. 23 (1920/23)
Serenade, op. 24 (1920/23) Suite for Piano, op. 25 (1921/23) Wind Quintet, op. 26 (1924) 4 Stücke [4 Pieces], op. 27 (1925) 3 Satiren [3 Satires], op. 28 (1925/26) Suite, op. 3, op. 30 (1927)
Variations for Orchestra, op. 31 (1926/28) Von heute auf morgen [From today to tomorrow] for Five Voices and Orchestra, op. 32 (1929) 2 Stücke [2 Pieces] for Piano, op. 33b (1931) Begleitmusik zu
einer Lichtspielszene [Accompanying music to a film scene], op. 34 (1930) 6 Stücke [6 Pieces] for Male Chorus, op. 35 (1930) Violin Concerto, op. 4, op. 2, op. 38 (1906/39) Kol nidre for Chorus
and Orchestra, op. 39 (1938) Variations on a recitative for Organ, op. 40 (1941) Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte for Voice, Piano and String Quartet, op. 41 (1942) Piano Concerto, op. 42 (1942) Theme
and variations for Band, op. 43a (1943) Theme and variations for Orchestra, op. 43b (1943) Prelude to “Genesis” for Chorus and Orchestra, op. 44 (1945) String Trio, op. 45 (1946) A Survivor from
Warsaw, op. 46 (1947) Phantasy for Violin and Piano, op. 47 (1949) 3 Songs, op. 48 (1933) 3 Folksongs, op. 49 (1948) Dreimal tausend Jahre [Three times a thousand years], op. 50a (1949) Psalm 130
“De profundis”, op. 50b (1950) Modern psalm, op. 50c (1950, unfinished)
Works without opus numbers
Operas
Moses und Aron [Moses and Aron] (1930/32, unfinished)
Choral works
Ei, du Lütte [Oh, you little one] (late 1890s) Gurre-Lieder [Songs of Gurre] (1901/11) 3 Volksliedsätze [3 Folksong movements] (1929) Die Jakobsleiter [Jacob’s ladder] (1917/22, unfinished)
Orchestral works
Cello Concerto “after Monn’s Concerto in D major for harpsichord” (1932/33) Concerto “freely adapted from Handel’s Concerto grosso in B-flat major, op.6, no.7” (1933) Suite, G major, for
string orchestra (1934)
Chamber works
Stück, in D minor for Violin and Piano (1893/94) Presto, in C major for String Quartet (1896/97) String Quartet, in D major (1897) Scherzo, in F major for String Quartet (1897) Die eiserne
Brigade [The iron brigade] for Piano Quintet (1916) Weihnachtsmusik [Christmas music] for Piano Quartet (1921) Fanfare on motifs of Die Gurre-Lieder for Brass and Percussion(1945) Ein
Stelldichein [A rendezvous] for Mixed Quintet (1905) 3 kleine Orchesterstücke [3 Little orchestra pieces] (1910) Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) (a 43-bar fragment)
Songs
Am Strande [At the seashore] (1909) Die Beiden (Sie trug den Becher in der Hand) [The two (She carried the goblet in her hand)] (1899) 8 Brettllieder [8 Cabaret songs] (1901) Deinem Blick
mich zu bequemen [To submit to your sweet glance] (1903) 4 Deutsche Volkslieder [4 German folksongs] (1929) Ecloge (Duftreich ist die Erde) [Eclogue (Fragrant is the earth)] (1896/97) Gedenken
(Es steht sein Bild noch immer da) [Remembrance (His picture is still there)] (1893/1903?) Gruss in die Ferne (Dunkelnd über den See) [Hail from afar (Darkened over the sea)] (Aug 1900) In hellen
Träumen hab’ ich dich oft geschaut [In vivid dreams so oft you appeared to me] (1893) 12 erste Lieder [12 First songs] (1893/96) Mädchenfrühling (Aprilwind, alle Knospen) [Maiden’s spring (April
wind, all abud)] (1897) Mädchenlied (Sang ein Bettlerpärlein am Schenkentor) [Maiden’s song (A pair of beggars sang at the giving gate)] (1897/1900) Mailied (Zwischen Weizen und Korn) [May song
(Between wheat and grain)] Mannesbangen (Du musst nicht meinen) [Men’s worries (You should not...)] (1899) Nicht doch! (Girl, stop knitting)] (1897) Ein Schilflied (Drüben geht die Sonne
scheiden) [A bulrush song (Yonder is the sun departing)] (1893) Waldesnacht, du wunderkühle [Forest night, so wondrous cool] (1894/96) Warum bist du aufgewacht [Why have you awakened] (1893/94)
Keyboard works
3 Stücke [3 Pieces] (1894) 6 Stücke [6 Pieces] for 4 hands (1896) Scherzo (Gesamtausgabe fragment 1) (ca. 1900) Langsam [Slowly], A-flat major (Gesamtausgabe fragment 3) (1900/01) Wenig
bewegt, sehr zart [Calmly, very gentle], B-flat major (Gesamtausgabe fragment 4) (1905/06) 2 Stücke [2 Pieces] (Gesamtausgabe fragments 5a & 5b) (1909) Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment
6) (1909) Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 7) (1909) Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 8) (ca. 1910) Mäßig, aber sehr ausdrucksvoll [Measured, but very expressive] (Gesamtausgabe
fragment 9) (March 1918) Langsam [Slowly] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 10) (Summer 1920) Stück [Piece] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 11) (Summer 1920) Langsame Halbe [Slow half-notes], B (Gesamtausgabe
fragment 12) (1925) Quarter note = mm. Slowly] (Gesamtausgabe fragment 14) (July 1931) Andante (Gesamtausgabe fragment 15) (10 October 1931) Piece (Gesamtausgabe fragment 16) (after October 1933)
Moderato (Gesamtausgabe fragment 17) (April 1934?) Organ Sonata (1941)
Canons
O daß der Sinnen doch so viele sind! July 1934) (3 voices) Canon (Bärenreiter IV) (April 1926) (4 voices) Von meinen Steinen [From my stones] (for Erwin Stein) (Bärenreiter V) (December
1926) (4 voices) Arnold Schönberg beglückwünschst herzlichst Concert Gebouw [Arnold Schoenberg congratulates the Concert Gebouw affectionately] (Bärenreiter VI) (March 1928) (5 voices) Mirror
canon with two free middle voices, A major (Bärenreiter VIII) (April 1931) (4 voices) Jedem geht es so [No man can escape] (for Carl Engel) (Bärenreiter XIII) (April 1933; text 1943) (3 voices)
Perpetual canon, A minor (Bärenreiter XV) (1933) (4 voices) Mirror canon, A minor (Bärenreiter XVI) (1933) (4 voices) Es ist zu dumm [It is too dumb] (for Rudolph Ganz) (Bärenreiter XXII)
(September 1934) (4 voices) Man mag über Schönberg denken, wie man will [One might think about Schoenberg any way one wants to] (for Charlotte Dieterle) (Bärenreiter XXIII) (1935) (4 voices)
Double canon (Bärenreiter XXV) (1938) (4 voices) Mr. Saunders I owe you thanks (for Richard Drake Saunders) (Bärenreiter XXVI) (December 1939) (4 voices) I am almost sure, when your nurse will
change your diapers (for Artur Rodzinsky on the birth of his son Richard) (Bärenreiter XXVIII) (March 1945) (4 voices) Canon for Thomas Mann on his 70th birthday (Bärenreiter XXIX) (June 1945) (2
violins, viola, violoncello) Gravitationszentrum eigenen Sonnensystems [You are the center of gravity of your own solar system] (Bärenreiter XXX) (August 1949) (4 voices)
Transcriptions and arrangements
Bach: Chorale prelude: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele [Deck thyself, oh dear soul], BWV 654 (arr. 1928: orchestra) Brahms: Piano quartet, G minor, op. Arnold Schoenberg & Arnold
Schoenberg, 1920: voice, flute, clarinet, harmonium, piano, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass, percussion) Reger: Eine romantische Suite [A romantic suite], op. Arnold Schoenberg &
Rudolf Kolisch, 1919/1920: flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, harmonium 4 hands, piano 4 hands) Schubert: Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern: incidental music, D. Arnold Schoenberg,
1903?: piano 4 hands) Schubert: Ständchen [Serenade], D. Arnold Schoenberg (1921) (voice, clarinet, bassoon, mandolin, guitar, 2 violins, viola, violoncello)) Sioly: Weil i a alter Drahrer bin
[For I’m a real old gadabout] (arr. 1921: clarinet, mandolin, guitar, violin, viola, violoncello) Strauss: Kaiserwalzer [Emperor waltz], op. 1925: flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, violoncello,
piano) Strauss: Rosen aus dem Süden [Roses from the south], op. Schoenberg, Arnold (translated by Roy E. Belmont Music Publishers Schoenberg, Arnold. One or more chapters deal with modern music,
atonality and Schoenberg.
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