UNIT V - Class 31
- 1. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), and Late Romanticism Self-conscious inheritor of a dual tradition: •Classicism – formal and technical rigor associated with Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms •Romanticism – personal, expressive style associated with Beethoven, and the harmonic expansions/programmatic aspects of Liszt and Wagner Early style: characterized by astringent, expressive style – contrapuntal complexity, and harmonic adventurousness
- 2. Schoenberg: The Breakdown of Tonality Techniques of harmonic expansion, delayed cadence, and intense motivic development led to a breakdown of tonaltiy Tonality: A system in which harmonic materials (pitches/notes) are organized around a single generative tone – functional harmony Atonality: Music written without an overarching system of tonal organization/hierarchy – no tone is more important than another Paul Cezanne Mill at the River
- 3. Expressionism Anticipated in the bleak outlook of Schopenhauer, the dark themes in Georg Büchner (Woyzeck – 1837), plays of Frank Wedekind Movement in art which rejected the developments of Impressionism and Naturalism, in favor of a highly-personal, emotionally-charged style which prized, extremity, psychological depth, dislocation, and even violence Edvard Munch – Symbolist, Proto-Expressionist
- 4. Schoenberg’s Serenade – Petrarch’s Sonnet Oh, will I never cure myself of the pain I bear of her who destroys me by her looks and words, and then, to cause a greater pain, turns away from me and denies the smallest glance from those sweet, cruel eyes. So that my spirit is grieved and wearied, drained dry and withered, and like a roaring lion tears at my heart the whole night long, with no hope of rest. My soul, which heretofore feared only death, leaves my body and, freed from its cruel prison, Flies to her side, there to await more pain. It is no wonder that I find myself confused, for though my sould pleads with her, cries and caresses, the ungrateful one sleeps on, unmindful and uncaring.
- 5. Schoenberg: 12-Tone Composition Style Periods in Schoenberg’s output: •Early – late-Romantic •Free Atonal – Expressionist •Serial – Highly personal, but highly controlled •Sub-periods: •Early-Serial •Late-Serial A Survivor from Warsaw (1947)