Schoenberg's Musical Imagination (Music in the Twentieth Century, Series Number 24)

No composer was more responsible for changes in the landscape of twentieth-century music than Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and no other composer's music inspired a commensurate quantity and quality of technical description in the second half of the twentieth century. Yet there is still little understanding of the correlations between Schoenberg's musical thought and larger questions of cultural significance in and since his time: the formalistic descriptions of music theory do not generally engage larger questions in the history of ideas and scholars without understanding of the formidable musical technique are ill-equipped to understand the music with any profundity of thought. Schoenberg's Musical Imagination is intended to connect Schoenberg's music and critical writings to a larger world of ideas. While most technical studies of Schoenberg's music are limited to a single compositional period, this book traces changes in his attitudes as a composer and their impact on his ever-changing compositional style over the course of his remarkable career. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 7 Copyright 8 Contents 9 Music examples and figures 10 Acknowledgements 17 Introduction 19 1 Apassing of worlds: Gurrelieder as Schoenberg’s reluctant farewell to the nineteenth century 38 2 Dialectical opposition in Schoenberg’s music and thought 62 Introduction 62 Historical sketch 64 Categories of opposition 69 Schoenbergian dialectics of history 72 “Systems” as failed dialectics 81 Some implications for future analyses 84 3 Dramatic conflict in Pelleas und Melisande 86 Maeterlinck’s Pell as, Schoenberg’s Pelleas 86 The reception of Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande 94 The dramatic function of leitmotivs 104 Melisande Lost and Fate 110 The MELISANDE enigma 119 The Golaud theme and the Wedding Bond 130 Conflicted Pelleas 139 Eros 143 Jealousy 147 Love 152 Reversal of fortune: Death Drive and Lost Innocence 162 Final thoughts 171 4 Motiveand memory in Schoenberg’s First String Quartet 173 Coda 190 5 Uncanny expressions of time in themusic of Arnold Schoenberg 191 Introduction 191 The strangeness of passing time 192 Three types of uncannymusical time 194 Precursors to time shards 197 Schoenbergian time shards 198 Verk arte Nacht 198 Ent uckung 200 The Book of theHanging Gardens 203 Vergangenes 207 Erwartung 212 Mondestrunken 226 An excursus: motivations for twelve-tone serialism 233 Some closing thoughts 246 6 The tone row as the source of dramatic conflict in Moses und Aron 248 Introduction 248 The twelve-tone row: basic properties 255 Hexachordal partition 260 Chromatic tetrachord partition 263 Odd/even partition 270 Ordered tetrachord partition 280 Partitions of the Volk: Bringt ihr Erh hrung 286 The triumphant march 291 Some closing thoughts 316 7 The String Trio: metaleptic Schoenberg 317 Introduction 317 Distraction and imperfection 324 Formas memorial 331 Evocations of tonality 338 Memorial aspects of phrase structure 344 The waltz as trope: repose, equilibrium and images of death 346 The beginning of the waltz 350 Some final thoughts 356 Notes 358 Introduction 358 Chapter 1 362 Chapter 2 363 Chapter 3 370 Chapter 4 376 Chapter 5 377 Chapter 6 387 Chapter 7 393 Bibliography 402 Writings of Arnold Schoenberg 402 Books and Articles about Schoenberg 402 Books and Articles by and about Schoenberg’s Contemporaries 405 General Background 406 General index (Names and topics) 408 Index of Schoenberg’s works and writings 414 No composer was more responsible for changes in the landscape of twentieth century music than Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), and no other composer's music inspired a commensurate quantity and quality of technical description. Yet there is still little understanding of the correlations between Schoenberg's musical thought and larger questions of cultural significance in and since his time: the formalistic descriptions of music theory do not generally engage larger questions in the history of ideas, and scholars without an understanding of the formidable musical technique are ill-equipped to understand the music Schoenberg's Musical Imagination is intended to connect Schoenberg's music and critical writings to a larger world of ideas. While most technical studies of Schoenberg's music are limited to a single compositional period, this book traces changes in his attitudes as a composer, and their impact on his ever-changing compositional style over the course of this remarkable career No composer was more responsible for changes in the landscape of twentieth century music than Arnold Schoenberg, and no other composer's music inspired a commensurate quantity and quality of technical description. Yet there is still little understanding of the correlations between Schoenberg's musical thought and larger questions of cultural significance in and since his time: the formalistic descriptions of music theory do not generally engage larger questions in the history of ideas and scholars without an understanding of the formidable musical technique are ill-equipped to understand the music. This book is intended to connect Schoenberg's music and critical writings to a larger world of ideas. While most technical studies of Schoenberg's music are limited to a single compositional period, this book traces changes in his attitudes as a composer, and their impact on his ever-changing compositional style over the course of his remarkable career A Passing Of Worlds : Gurrelieder As Schoenberg's Reluctant Farewell To The Nineteenth Century -- Dialectical Opposition In Schoenberg's Music And Thought -- Dramatic Conflict In Pelleas Und Melisande -- Motive And Memory In Schoenberg's First String Quartet -- Uncanny Expressions Of Time In The Music Of Arnold Schoenberg -- The Tone Row As The Source Of Dramatic Conflict In Moses And Aron -- The String Trio : Metaleptic Schoenberg. Michael Cherlin. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [384]-389) And Indexes.