Schoenberg and so much more, 2018

September 10, 2018.  Schoenberg and so much more.  One of the mild frustrations we have with this page is the unevenness with which nature spreads musical talent across the calendar.  Just last week we wrote about Bruckner, Perlman and Ozawa, but had to omit any mention of the fine French composer Darius Milhaud, a member of Les Six; Johann Christian Bach, the so-called “London Bach,” Johann Sebastian’s youngest son and one of the most important composers of the Classical era; the pioneering American, Amy Beach; Giacomo Meyerbeer, who as some point was the most celebrated opera composer; and Antonin Dvořák, probably the greatest Czech composer.  Maria Yudina, an influential Russian pianist, and the wonderful conductor, Christoph von Dohnányi, were also born last week.  This week turns out to be not much easier: Henry Purcell and another Englishman, William Boyce; Arvo Pärt, an Estonian Minimalist (Wikipedia claims that he’s the most performed living composer in the world); Girolamo Frescobaldi, a great keyboard composer of the late Renaissance; Arnold Schoenberg, one of the most important composers of the 20^th century; and the fine opera composer Luigi  Cherubini.  That’s not counting the talented Clara Schumann; Michael Haydn, Franz Joseph’s younger brother, and the very interesting Swiss-Dutch composer Frank Martin.  Plus, Jessye Norman, one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of all time.

Under these circumstances we try to present a composer or a performer whom we haven’t featured before or had mentioned only in passing.  Surprisingly, we haven’t written about Arnold Schoenberg at any length for many years.   And when we’ve done it, here and here, it was of necessity rather sketchy.   We’ll try to add some specifics to our narrative.  

One of Schoenberg most important compositions is Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31.  It’s his first completely twelve-tone piece.  Simply put, the twelve-tone technique is a method of composition which tries to make all notes of the 12-tone scale equal.  Not only the pitch and tonal harmonies are avoided, but also an attempt is made to use each note as often as any other.  As Schoenberg himself put it, it’s a "Method of composing with twelve tones which are related only with one another."   Variations for Orchestra were written in 1926-1928.  Up till 1926 Schoenberg lived, with short interruptions, in Vienna.  In 1923 his first wife, Mathilde, died.   Even though their relationship never fully recovered after an “episode” in 1908 when Mathilde left Schoenberg for the painter Richard Gerstl, they remained friends, and her death was a blow to Schoenberg.  Several months later he married Gertrud Kolisch, the sister of his pupil Rudolf Kolisch, a violinist who lead the Kolisch Quartet in Vienna, and later, after emigrating to the US, the Pro Arte Quartet.  In 1926 Schoenberg accepted the directorship of a Master Class in Composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin.  He moved to Berlin and several of his students followed him there.  The following seven years, till the Nazis came to power and Schoenberg was forced to flee Germany, were one of the best of his life.  He taught for just six months of the year, had a comfortable salary, and was in complete control of his own courses.  He had a lot of time to compose and he used it productively.  In addition to the Variations for Orchestra, he wrote a play, Der biblische Weg (The biblical Way), a major opera, Moses and Aaron, for which he also wrote the libretto, the Third Quartet, and several smaller pieces.

So, what holds together a 12-tone piece if there’s no tonality to anchor it on?  Clearly, it’s the relationship between the consequent sounds, but also such things as the timbre, texture, rhythm, tempo, dynamic changes in volume.  Whether it works is always a question, but here is Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra, performed by Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Try it and see if it works for you.