Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music: Symmetry and the Musical Idea (Music since 1900)

Jack Boss takes a unique approach to analyzing Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone music, adapting the composer's notion of a 'musical idea' - problem, elaboration, solution - as a framework and focusing on the large-scale coherence of the whole piece. The book begins by defining 'musical idea' as a large, overarching process involving conflict between musical elements or situations, elaboration of that conflict, and resolution, and examines how such conflicts often involve symmetrical pitch and interval shapes that are obscured in some way. Containing close analytical readings of a large number of Schoenberg's key twelve-tone works, including Moses und Aron, the Suite for Piano Op. 25, the Fourth Quartet, and the String Trio, the study provides the reader with a clearer understanding of this still-controversial, challenging, but vitally important modernist composer. Clearly defines Schoenberg's notion of a 'musical idea', which has been considered a vague and confusing term, and uses it to provide a large context for detailed music-analytic observations. Demonstrates the role that symmetrical pitch and interval shapes play in large 'idea' narratives, helping readers better appreciate the significance of symmetry in Schoenberg's music. Examines nine twelve-tone pieces in rich detail, whilst at the same time dealing with these pieces as wholes and providing important context The author takes a unique approach to analyzing Schoenberg's twelve-tone music, adapting the composer's notion of a 'musical idea'--problem, elaboration, solution--as a framework and focusing on the large-scale coherence of the whole piece. The book begins by defining 'musical idea' as a large, overarching process involving conflict between musical elements or situations, elaboration of that conflict, and resolution, and examines how such conflicts often involve symmetrical pitch and interval shapes that are obscured in some way. Containing close analytical readings of a large number of Schoenberg's key twelve-tone works, including Moses und Aron, the Suite for Piano Op. 25, the Fourth Quartet, and the String Trio, the study provides the reader with a clearer understanding of this still-controversial, challenging, but vitally important modernist composer. This book clearly defines Schoenberg's notion of a 'musical idea', which has been considered a vague and confusing term, and uses it to provide a large context for detailed music-analytic observations. The author demonstrates the role that symmetrical pitch and interval shapes play in large 'idea' narratives, helping readers better appreciate the significance of symmetry in Schoenberg's music, and the author examines nine twelve-tone pieces in rich detail, whilst at the same time dealing with these pieces as wholes and providing important context Content: Musical idea and symmetrical ideal -- Suite for Piano Op. 25: varieties of idea in Schoenberg's earliest twelve-tone music -- Woodwing Quintet Op. 26: the twelve-tone idea reanimates a large musical form -- Three Satires Op. 28. no. 3: the earliest example of the "symmetrical ideal" in a (more or less) completely combinatorial context -- Piano Piece Op. 33a: the "symmetrical ideal: conflicts with and is reconciled to row order -- Fourth String Quartet Op. 37, movement I: two motives give rise to contrasting row forms, meters, textures, and tonalities (and are reconciled) within a large sonata form -- Moses und Aron: an incomplete musical idea represents an unresolved conflict between using word and image to communicate God -- String Trio Op. 45: a musical idea and a near-death experience are expressed as a conflict between alternative row forms. Jack Boss takes a unique approach to analyzing Schoenberg's twelve-tone music, adapting the composer's notion of a 'musical idea' - problem, elaboration, solution - as a theoretical framework. Containing analytical readings of key works including Moses und Aron, this study provides the reader with a clearer understanding of this vitally important composer. Jack Boss presents detailed analyses of Arnold Schoenberg''s twelve-tone pieces, bringing the composer''s ''musical idea'' - problem, elaboration, solution - to life