Arnold Schoenberg composer. Biography. Works for orchestra
Forerunner
Arnold Schoenberg is, of course, one of the most brilliant composers of the 20th century, who already during his lifetime had a huge influence on the development of music around the world. One could disagree with him, but he could not be ignored.
I. Sollertinsky compares Schoenberg with the titans of the Renaissance; in his opinion, he embodies the same type of "all-round person." And indeed, in addition to the fact that Schoenberg was a great composer who left behind works in almost all musical genres, he was a major musicologist whose research is not outdated to this day, a teacher who created an influential school of composition (“the only one in Europe,” notes Sollertinsky ), conductor, as well as an expressionist artist. In addition, he wrote texts for some of his works (the operas “The Happy Hand”, “Moses and Aaron”, the oratorio “Jacob’s Ladder”, “Three Satires” for choir, etc.); he is also the author of the drama "The Bible Way".
Schoenberg's main discoveries - atonality and dodecaphony - have not lost their significance to this day. The first spread so quickly and began to be taken for granted that the name of its “inventor” was even forgotten. One of the largest Italian composers of that time, Alfredo Casella, recalled already in 1921: “It is reliably known that atonality was created by a single composer - Arnold Schoenberg, and not by a group of them.<...>And from that time, already in the distant past, this man tirelessly walked along the same road, heroically struggling with the misunderstanding of his contemporaries and even with material deprivation."
An even greater influence on the art of music was exerted by the “method of composing with 12 tones” created by Schoenberg, or, as it later became known, dodecaphony. Its essence was set out, probably, in all articles devoted to Schoenberg. Although dodecaphony was the subject of the most vehement attacks during the composer's lifetime, it subsequently spread very widely. Even the composer’s most fierce opponent, his complete antipode Igor Stravinsky, converted to the dodecaphonic “faith” after Schoenberg’s death.
Dodecaphony also influenced the “sixties” composers of the former Soviet Union. Thus, dodecaphony was developed in a unique way - rather, however, its French version, in the spirit of Boulez - Edison Denisov. Arvo Pärt also started out as a dodecaphonist, and eventually created the original “Tintinnabuli” system, which is essentially a variant of dodecaphony, in which he still composes.
Schoenberg was also the progenitor of computer music, which arose from the desire to streamline the form of a work in the same way as Schoenberg streamlined its vertical series. The computer was originally just an electronic computer, and the first computer works, for example by Yiannis Xenakis, were created on a mathematical basis. But this mathematical framework soon broke away from its computer origins and became independent; For example, Sofia Gubaidulina composes using this technique.
Schoenberg had a strong influence on the musical aesthetics of the twentieth century. He formulated his creative credo as follows: “Art begins where entertainment ends.” In other words, the artist should not isolate himself in an “ivory tower” (which, by the way, Schoenberg was very often accused of); he must certainly be a citizen - with his later works the composer fully proved this point of view. On the other hand, in his opinion, an artist should not write for the public, because the public too often makes mistakes; It would never have occurred to Schoenberg to declare the opinion of his listeners the ultimate truth, like Hindemith. He himself wrote as if for eternity - and now, half a century after Schoenberg’s death, we can be fully convinced of the correctness of his aesthetic position.
With his formula, Schoenberg indirectly gave a definition of light music, which is also very important, as if separating its meaning from the technical means with which it was created. Indeed, the technique of both composing and performing a piece can be as complex as desired, but if it is created for entertainment, it is light music, be it jazz, heavy metal or classical operetta.
Biography
Let us briefly recall the biography of Schoenberg. The composer was born in 1874 into the family of a small Viennese merchant. When he was 15 years old, his father died, and the family's situation immediately became difficult. Schoenberg remained in cramped financial conditions almost all his life, and for a very long time he worked in whatever way he could - he served in a bank, as a “musical black” he instrumentalized other people’s operettas, and led workers’ choirs.
As a composer, Schoenberg was an absolute autodidact (his entire musical education came down to the violin lessons he took as a child). A decisive role in his life was played by his meeting with the composer Alexander Tsemlinsky, from whom Schoenberg took composition lessons for several months. However, it would be a stretch to call these lessons lessons; In many ways, these were disputes between young composers looking for their path (Zemlinsky was only two years older than Schoenberg) about new means of expression, about the essence of art, about the development of modern music. Tsemlinsky remained Schoenberg's friend and like-minded person for the rest of his life (later he even wrote the libretto for Tsemlinsky's opera "Zarema"); later, when Schoenberg married his sister, they became related.
In 1898, Schoenberg's first song opuses were performed at one of the concerts in Vienna; During the performance, a small scandal occurred in the hall, “and since then,” the composer wrote with humor, “the scandals have not stopped.” Soon after his debut as a composer, in 1903, Schoenberg's theoretical and pedagogical activities began, alternately in Vienna and Berlin. From 1911 to 1915, Schoenberg lived permanently in Berlin, making concert tours as a conductor. From 1915 to 1917 the composer served in the army. In 1925, for his fundamental work “The Doctrine of Harmony,” he was awarded the title of professor and invited to head the composition class at the Berlin Higher School of Music. Around the same time, he also became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts.
After the Nazis came to power, Schoenberg emigrated, first to France. For some time he was planning to move to the Soviet Union, which at that time was the most ardent opponent of fascism in the international arena (there were still six years left before the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) - conductors Fritz Stiedri and Oscar Fried, who had already moved to the USSR, called him there. But in the end he makes a choice in favor of America; Schoenberg settled in Los Angeles, where from 1936 to 1944 he taught at the University of California. The composer died in 1951.
To the heights
Schoenberg begins his composing career as a romantic - a follower of Wagner; it is characterized by programming and, in symphonic works, huge compositions of instruments. However, here he manages to be original, composing a programmatic string sextet (“Enlightened Night” by R. Demel), which had not been done before. Another significant work of that period is the symphonic poem “Pelléas et Mélisande” based on the drama by Maurice Maeterlinck. This work is very long in duration, and often it seems that the form breaks up into separate episodes, held together only by the plot - despite the abundance of leitmotifs. However, the instruments are used superbly here - often they are also charged with visual effects - and the work as a whole makes a strong impression.
In 1903, Schoenberg met Gustav Mahler, who forever became for him the ideal of a brilliant composer, despite the misunderstanding, firmly pursuing his goal and not recognizing any compromises in art. Not only the personality, but also the work of Mahler greatly influenced Schoenberg. The most striking example of this was the cantata "Songs of Gurre". It revealed all the advantages and disadvantages of the early period of the composer’s work. The plot is based on an old Danish legend, close to the tale of Tristan and Isolde. The orchestra's composition exceeds even that used by Mahler in "Symphony of a Thousand Participants". At the same time, due to the fact that the cantata, unlike a symphonic poem, is still divided into parts, it is easier to perceive than “Pelléas et Mélisande,” despite its length and even the abundance of complex harmonies, which seem to gravitate nowhere.
The next - atonal - period of Schoenberg's work began in 1909 with "Three Pieces for Piano" op. 11. Atonality was not a purely speculative invention of Schoenberg. The very public mood in that anxious time before the First World War was such that it obviously could not be expressed only with the help of tonal means. It was at this time that interest arose in early music, written before the emergence of tonality. Works that seemed to be forgotten by everyone - from the first polyphonists of the 12th - 13th centuries to Purcell and Monteverdi - suddenly began to be published and performed. So Schoenberg only sensitively caught what was already floating in the air.
It is characteristic that the transition to atonality was not accompanied by any sharp change; new technology gradually grew out of the old. However, Schoenberg's style changed dramatically. The composition of instruments is being reduced, because at first it was not clear how to combine a large number of voices into one whole in this style. If an orchestra is used, it is treated as a large ensemble. Extended forms are also disappearing - the classical ones were based on tonality, and new ones have not yet been found. Word and timbre, which Berlioz also used for these purposes, were used as connecting means. In the operas of that period “Waiting” and “Lucky Hand” (however, Schoenberg himself defined them respectively as monodrama and drama with music), the orchestra plays an accompanying role, and the vocal part comes to the fore, and in “Lucky Hand” there is also pantomime . Among the timbre discoveries here, the speaking choir should be noted.
Schoenberg also has other innovations. First of all, it is worth noting the “timbre melody” (Klangfarbemelodie), which appeared in Five Pieces for Orchestra. The essence of this technique is that the timbres themselves seem to form an exact sequence. The conductor must not “interpret” the work, but must only faithfully execute what the composer has written. Another novelty is "conversational singing" (Sprechstimme or Sprechgesang), which appeared for the first time in the vocal cycle "Pierrot Lunaire"; it represents a melody in which all the sounds are precisely indicated in pitch, but they are not sung, but as if spoken.
Tragedy, lyricism, humor
However, “Pierrot Lunaire” represents such an important milestone in Schoenberg’s work that it is worth dwelling on this work in particular. But before that, let's make one more digression.
Schoenberg's work is classified as expressionism, and this is certainly true, because its basis is internal experiences, and not external impressions. This, strictly speaking, is the essence of expressionism; the content of works is not limited in any way. But we in the Soviet Union were so strongly driven into our heads by the statements of Schoenberg’s most malicious critics that these must certainly be negative experiences, and any manifestation of bright feelings is the influence of other styles, which many still believe in. But even the work of his closest students can serve as a refutation here. Berg's Wozzeck is by no means more tragic than other socio-psychological operas of that time - Prokofiev's The Gambler, Hindemith's The Artist Mathis, Shostakovich's Katerina Izmailova, and his Violin Concerto is one of the brightest works of the era. Schoenberg's most consistent student, Anton Webern, is generally an absolute lyricist.
The great expressiveness of Schoenberg's music for a long time prevented us from seeing the brighter sides of his music. Even Hans Eisler, a student of the Viennese maestro, who treated his teacher with the greatest reverence and certainly knew his works, wrote, with Marxist-Leninist justification, of course, that “the main mood of Schoenberg’s music is fear.” What to take from other, much less favorable critics?
Meanwhile, the lyrical current in his work is very strong. Schoenberg's most popular work of the first period - "Enlightened Night" - is an enthusiastic hymn to nature and love. The already mentioned “Three Pieces for Piano”, and “Five Pieces for Orchestra”, and the vocal cycle “The Book of the Hanging Gardens” to the words of S. George are also lyrical in nature, and from later works - the Violin Concerto. Schoenberg also has humorous works, at least the same “Three Satires” for choir.
In the vocal cycle “Pierrot Lunaire” (1912) to the words of Albert Giraud translated by E. O. Hartleben, which is the quintessence of Schoenberg’s music of the atonal period, all these three principles - tragic, lyrical and satirical - merged into one inextricable whole. In principle, “Pierrot Lunaire” is a direct successor to the vocal cycles of the romantics from Schubert to Mahler. It has the same huge number of parts, the same tragic outcome. But this is where the similarities end. Otherwise, in Schoenberg’s cycle everything seems to be turned upside down. Instead of a rich melody - talk; instead of a piano or orchestra in the accompaniment, there is a sharp-sounding chamber ensemble of five instruments, and even that is never fully used (in the finale, the vocalist is generally accompanied by one flute); the heroes are by no means richly gifted creative people, but puppets who seem to be pulled by strings by irrational evil forces. (A parallel is often drawn between "Pierrot Lunaire" and Stravinsky's ballet "Petrushka", created a year earlier. I think this is a fundamentally wrong approach. Stravinsky endows dolls with human feelings, and Schoenberg depicts people in the form of dolls, and therefore the intensity of passions in "Pierrot Lunaire" "much more.) The music of the cycle leaves a very strong and very eerie impression. This is a tragic vision of the coming century with its world wars, senseless revolutions, Auschwitz, the Gulag, Hiroshima and its absolute contempt for the individual human person.
“Pierrot Lunaire” is also important for Schoenberg’s work because here he found a form that was different from the classical one and at the same time not a sequence of free miniatures. The structure of the cycle is based on the mystical numbers 3 and 7 in the European tradition. The twenty-one numbers of the cycle seem to fall into three parts, each with its own logic of development. Of course, the cycle also contains numbers with a free structure. But along with this, traditional genres (barcarolle, serenade) are also used. Like Mahler, they are associated with a negative principle; but if in Mahler this is opposed by bright images, then in Schoenberg it is elevated to the absolute and symbolizes some kind of world evil. The very use of such forms is, of course, conditioned by the “puppet” plot and is presented in a very distorted, caricatured form (again echoing Mahler); but the basis can be heard quite well, and this facilitates perception and enhances the emotional impact of the music. Finally, Schoenberg uses forms of pre-classical music, such as the passacaglia and the canon, which in principle are not necessarily related to tonality.
Having completed half of my earthly life
Schoenberg did not immediately come to the dodecaphonic technique, as opposed to the atonal one; For several years he did not write music at all. The purpose of creating the new system was the desire to find a counterbalance to the pseudo-romantic revelry of feelings, which after the war turned into a refuge of vulgarity and a common place. Schoenberg's first dodecaphonic works, written for small ensembles (Five Pieces for Piano, 1923, Quintet for Winds, 1924, Fourth String Quartet, 1927), seem to be deliberately dry, devoid of any signs of “experience” in the romantic sense of the word. The author seems to admire the strict, almost mathematical precision and beauty of the structure.
In general, Schoenberg’s dodecaphonic works, composed in Germany, met with a strange fate. Official criticism, of course, scolded them; those who did not understand and ill-wishers also mocked Schoenberg as best they could; composers like Hindemith and Orff, who in principle greatly valued musical structure, were put off by the fact that for Schoenberg it was a means and not an end; and friends, on the contrary, were perplexed why the composer was “deviating from principles” by introducing expression into works based on a technique invented to avoid this expression. As a result, the operas "From Today to Tomorrow" and "Moses and Aaron", written in the blood of the heart, were staged much later, after the death of the author.
Schoenberg resumed normal creativity only during the years of emigration, and even then not immediately. Discouraged by the fate of his operas, he wrote only instrumental music for a long time. During this period, he created his most expressive instrumental works: the second chamber symphony, trio, fifth quartet, piano and violin concertos. In concerts, he goes to the very limits of the technical capabilities of the instruments, which, of course, increases the expressiveness of the music. One of the performers said about the violin concerto: “It’s devilishly difficult to play, but what a pleasure you get when you learn it!”
Gradually Schoenberg returned to vocal genres. His works are becoming increasingly social in nature. The central works of those years are "Ode to Napoleon" - a passionate protest against tyranny - and "A Survivor from Warsaw" - a chilling story about the tragedy of the Warsaw Ghetto. In the post-war years, Schoenberg sometimes moved away from dodecaphony, turning to free atonality. This is primarily due to the fact that he often introduces direct quotes into his works: “Marseillaise” in “Ode to Napoleon”, the prayer “Shema Israel” in “A Survivor from Warsaw”. And with such music, free atonality goes much better stylistically.
Revolutionary Conservative
Schoenberg's work has often been presented as a complete and consistent negation. But one cannot build music on negation alone, much less remain in history when the subject of negation disappears or becomes obsolete. Schoenberg's strength lies precisely in the fact that he was always connected to tradition. During his lifetime, the composer was reproached for having neither melody nor harmony. From a distance of time it is clear that this is not so. Of course, Schoenberg does not have the same melodies as in Verdi's operas or Tchaikovsky's symphonies. But if you look at the vocal parts of Wagner’s operas (which were called “endless melodies”), some operas by Russian composers (“The Stone Guest” by Dargomyzhsky, “Mozart and Salieri” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Francesca da Rimini” by Rachmaninov) or even the exact opposite Schoenberg and Debussy's writing method, one can notice similarities between his melodies and the melodies of these composers. Moreover. The repeating series itself is just a more sophisticated version of Wagner's leitmotif.
The same applies to harmony. Of course, this is not the classical harmony that reigned in Europe from Monteverdi to Mahler, but it is undoubtedly harmony - because a series can be “folded”, forming chords in this way. (No one seems to have disputed the presence of polyphony in Schoenberg’s works.)
Schoenberg's form was even more traditional - in this sense, he fully justifies Bernard Shaw's thought that "revolutionaries are the greatest conservatives." Schoenberg composed only in classical genres - he wrote operas, oratorios, symphonies, suites, concertos, symphonic poems, vocal and choral cycles, quartets, quintets, sextets, etc.; It never occurred to him to “throw Mozart off the steamship of modernity.” This apparent conservatism was caused not by a lack of courage or a lack of imagination - Schoenberg had plenty of both - but most likely by the desire, perhaps subconsciously, to prove to himself and the whole world that with the help of his system it is possible to create works in all existing forms .
But Schoenberg is connected to the tradition not only through his direct predecessors. The music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance played no less a role in his development, and his connection with that time was expressed not only in the fact that he suffered and struggled, like Dante, or was a versatile personality, like Leonardo.
Schoenberg was influenced by both the aesthetics and art practices of this era. Phillippe de Vitry, the ideologist of the Ars nova movement, who lived at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, called for abandoning diatonicism, stopping harmonizing voices with each other using consonances, and also avoiding strict rhythms. Schoenberg repeated - almost six hundred years later - all his calls and tried to put them into practice; when justifying his theory of “emancipation of dissonance,” he directly refers to the music of those years.
He borrowed all the main types of the series from the great polyphonists of the Renaissance, which he repeatedly wrote about in his articles. (However, at that time this was perceived either as nonsense or as an attempt at self-justification.) And the methods of working with the series and its modifications - conducting longer or shorter durations, “folding”, transferring to another height, etc. - these were also techniques of the musicians of that era.
It was through his many connections with tradition that Schoenberg ensured the longevity of his works. Strictly speaking, Schoenberg was not the first to come up with the idea of dodecaphony. The Austrian composer Joseph Matthias Hauer, with whom Schoenberg fought for priority almost his entire life, wrote his first dodecaphonic work back in 1912 (i.e., 9 years before Schoenberg), and in 1920 he had already published a textbook on atonal music. But Hauer’s system was much more cumbersome and did not provide the composer with such wide possibilities, and that is why Schoenberg went down in history as the inventor of dodecaphony. But deep down in his soul he still has the complex of a “little man” who fears for his future.
Musicologist, teacher
All of Schoenberg's other musical activities are closely related to composition. He wrote many theoretical articles. They can be divided into three large groups. In the first, the composer formulates his aesthetic views. The second - the largest - group is devoted to purely theoretical issues. Thus, in the article “Emancipation of Dissonance” he substantiates the idea of atonality, in the article “Method of Composing with 12 Tones” he sets out the idea of dodecaphony. Schoenberg likes to draw analogies between the work of his and his followers and the classics - as an example, I will give the article “Bach and Dodecaphony”. The third group consists of reviews of the performance of works by contemporary authors who need propaganda - as a rule, they also provide a musicological analysis of them.
Schoenberg's most fundamental theoretical work, which appeared in 1911 - "The Doctrine of Harmony" - was born from the composer's lessons with Alban Berg. It is based on the works of composers in the German tradition, from Bach to modern times. Schoenberg's work does not at all represent a certain set of exercises; rather, these exercises become an illustration of ideas about the significance of individual periods and even individual works in the development of music. The composer strives to show it as a process; he considers change the main engine of musical progress. The book looks like an antipode to Rameau's The Doctrine of Harmony, written two hundred years before Schoenberg's work. Rameau is full of educational optimism, delight in the vast horizons that a new form of musical expression opened up. Schoenberg rather sums it up. His book ends with hypotheses about the possibilities of a different, non-classical chord structure. As one of the options, the one that will subsequently form the basis of dodecaphony is given. It is necessary to especially note the language in which the “Teaching of Harmony” is written. It is through the means of highly poetic language that Schoenberg achieves in readers the effect of reverence for classical works.
Schoenberg is no less significant as a teacher. During his life, he trained more than a thousand students, among them the most significant are Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Ernst Kshenek, Hans Eisler; In America, John Cage took private lessons from Schoenberg. Schoenberg's students became, together with Tsemlinsky, his support in the struggle for new musical ideas. Schoenberg believed that a teacher should be an example for his students, a role model. Many students wrote about the “magnetic” influence of his personality. Schoenberg never taught his students on examples of contemporary music. He believed that the teacher should give students a technical basis for composition and said that “everyone must win freedom for himself.” It is interesting how Schoenberg used all the experiences he had in his multifaceted life in his lessons. Eisler, who eventually became famous as an author of choral works and a songwriter, believed that he owed this to his teacher: Schoenberg early noticed his inclinations and recommended him to those workers' choirs that he himself once conducted; Communist ideology, and the style of Eisler’s works, were formed precisely at this work, in the process of composing music for such choirs.
Artist
Schoenberg's interest in painting was also constant. His library contained manifesto books by Malevich, Kandinsky, and Kokoschka. He was a professional artist, and, as mentioned above, even a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. For some time he was a member of the Blue Rider art association, which united primarily expressionist artists, the most significant of whom was Wassily Kandinsky. Schoenberg took part in exhibitions of The Blue Rider, and in a collection dedicated to his anniversary, two articles analyzed his paintings. Of course, Schoenberg was a very important artist, closest in style to Munch. And, undoubtedly, his talents would have been appreciated if they had not been overshadowed by much more striking achievements in the field of composition.
Schoenberg wrote more than 300 paintings (they can be seen) - much more than musical works. The peak of Schoenberg's creativity in the pictorial genre occurred in 1908-1912, i.e., during the composer's most fruitful period, when he made the transition to atonality, culminating in the creation of Pierrot Lunaire. At this time he formulates his credo as an artist; here he stands on the position of pure expressionism. In the article “Attitude to the Text,” he directly declares all painting up to the present time to be only a kind of preface to the required completeness of expression of thought; The real history of painting begins, according to Schoenberg, only with abstract art.
In practice, however, Schoenberg did not carry out his own instructions. His paintings are divided into four large groups; these are portraits and self-portraits, still lifes, landscapes, etc. “visions”, abstract paintings, the meaning of which is revealed, as in music, only in the process of empathy.
All these groups are very important for the general understanding of the composer's aesthetics. Portraits are the weakest of his paintings. They do not particularly characterize the composer; many of them were created for friends or family members; however, among them there are real masterpieces, such as the portrait of Mahler. But Schoenberg’s numerous self-portraits are painted with the greatest variety. Schoenberg depicts himself alone and among people, sometimes completely realistically, sometimes in an abstract form - for example, he really likes to depict himself in the form of a skull, individually or surrounded by other skulls. However, among Schoenberg’s self-portraits there is not a single one where he depicts himself joyful. Judging by them, the composer looked at himself with nothing less than horror, despite numerous evidence that in life he was a completely different person.
Schoenberg's still lifes and landscapes are relatively few. In mood they are exactly the opposite of self-portraits. They are emphatically light; despite all his nihilistic statements. Obviously, the romantic, hiding in the very depths of the composer’s soul, still perceives nature and the “material” world as something stable, opposing the restless world of the human soul. Schoenberg's still lifes are more realistic, while his landscapes are openly impressionistic, their characteristic blurry colors further emphasizing their optimistic mood.
The composer's "visions" range from absolute abstraction to almost caricature. Often he draws the organs of the human body: hands, head, etc. And all this in large quantities; he also has many paintings called "The Look". These paintings are all very different both in writing style and in emotional character. To understand their figurative structure, the viewer is required to have maximum empathy, to feel into the figurative world of the image. This is expressionism in its purest form, of most of them it can be said in the words of Eisler that “their dominant mood is fear.” For example, one of the paintings, entitled “Meat” (Schoenberg has the same title as many paintings) is, at first glance, a collection of meaningless brushstrokes. Only knowing the title, we can understand that this is not the meat from which food is prepared, but rather the remains of someone killed in war. He also has role-playing films: “The Critic”, “Winner”, “The Defeated”, etc. In them, horror is mixed with irony and lyricism, as in “Pierrot Lunaire” - it’s not for nothing that they were created at the same time. Sometimes Schoenberg's "Visions" are related to specifics - for example, he has several "Visions of Christ"; the image of Christ in these paintings is directly opposite to the biblical one; Only the “plot” is taken from the Bible, and the emphasis is on the suffering of Christ. However, most often in “visions” Schoenberg does not give us such guidelines. He relies entirely on our sensations. In the feeling of horror that dominates here and in the self-portraits, one can, to a certain extent, discern a kind of integrity: Schoenberg feels himself as an inextricable part of a terrible world.
Schoenberg and Jewry
Schoenberg's attitude towards Jewry is interesting. He was born into an absolutely non-religious family and for a long time was completely indifferent in this sense. As a musician, he considered himself a representative of the German school. When Schoenberg first came up with the dodecaphonic system, he wrote that he ensured the dominance of German music for the next hundred years. He never went to the extremes of Herzl, who first wanted to unite Catholicism and Judaism into a single religion, and then came to the idea of a Jewish state. Schoenberg had no time for this. Herzl belonged to the elite, he was a reporter for an influential newspaper - and Schoenberg was a plebeian who sometimes did not know how to earn his daily bread; the society of composers into which Tsemlinsky introduced him was essentially bohemian. But despite all this, Schoenberg never renounced Jewishness. Undoubtedly, he, like the whole of Vienna, could not help but be impressed by Mahler’s forced baptism: at that time, a non-Christian could not lead the main opera house of the empire.
It is significant that Schoenberg quite early, already in 1921, drew attention to the ominous figure of Hitler. Once, the artist Wassily Kandinsky, who was for some time a like-minded person of Schoenberg, allowed himself to speak negatively about the Jews and encouragingly about Hitler, whose ideas, in his opinion, could improve the spirit of the nation. In response to the composer’s indignant response, he wrote that Schoenberg was a “good Jew” and that everything said did not apply to him. (Of course, this thought was not something special and represented a typical point of view of the Russian man in the street. Have you noticed? The Russian man in the street never hates all Jews without exception. He always finds pleasant exceptions among them - and they, as a rule, turn out to be his personal acquaintances .) The composer objected that perhaps Hitler did not share this point of view. He wrote: “Don’t you see that he is preparing a new St. Bartholomew’s Night, and in the darkness of this night no one will notice that Schoenberg is a good Jew?” (Kandinsky subsequently recognized Hitler's regime and remained in Nazi Germany.)
The most striking work on a Jewish theme written in Germany is the opera Moses and Aaron. It was created in 1932 and was a kind of protest against the looming threat of fascism. In threatening times, the composer returns to the high ethics of the Torah. Schoenberg conceived this opera as an antipode to the works of Wagner, whom he once adored. In Wagner's mature operas, all good characters stand out primarily for their strength, and the one who wins, be it a positive or negative character, wins only with the help of strength. Power is the alpha and omega of Wagner's world. All the struggle between the heroes, all the intrigues are carried out only in the name of strength and power; in "Nibelungen" there is even a special symbol for them - the ill-fated ring. From a moral point of view, the heroes do not fall under any standards, they steal, kill, commit adultery - the “Aryan” heroes are not only allowed to do all this, as the superior race, but are even encouraged - in extreme cases, minor “showdowns” arise among themselves.
In Schoenberg, heroes win with the help of thought, only because of their high morality and purity of thoughts. The opera is based on the episode when Moses went to Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. As you know, Aaron, in his absence, made a compromise to calm the people and created a golden calf. From this episode, the content of which can be summarized in two sentences, Schoenberg created a real drama of ideas. It takes place in the form of a confrontation between good and evil, which are personified in the images of Moses and Aaron. The composer, who has never made any compromises in his life, considers them absolute evil and cannot justify them with any good intentions. Very often he had to observe how people who made a deal with their conscience or simply underestimated the danger (Kandinsky, for example), subsequently became servants of the devil. The trouble is that people listen not to the wisest, but to the one who makes the most noise. This is how he is depicted, without any mercy, in the opera “Moses and Aaron”. He certainly strives for the best, but this is an ignorant mass, and the leader cannot indulge the bestial instincts of this mass - for this he himself is responsible before his conscience and before God. The trouble is that, according to the Torah, Moses is tongue-tied, and Aaron must convey the thoughts of the prophet to the people. They are interconnected, just as good and evil are connected in life. But what to do if the “mouth” is divorced from the “mind” and does not express what is needed? Schoenberg has no answer to this question. Moses' final phrase, "O word, the word that I have not!" fully expresses the composer's despair at that time. (For accuracy, we note that later, in an effort to ensure the production of his opera, Schoenberg wanted to attribute an optimistic ending, continuing the plot and describing the subsequent retribution. But this was so contrary to the general style of the opera that only a few phrases of the libretto remained from the planned third act.)
The musical language of the opera is also an antipode to Wagner's. The dodecaphony technique, based on the unity of the material of the entire work, can best convey the unity of the people with God, the unity of the leaders with the people, the indivisibility of good and evil; and at the same time, thanks to the almost limitless possibilities of transforming the series - the split of the people, the mutual misunderstanding of the leaders and the people, the tragic confrontation between good and evil. It is no coincidence that “Moses and Aaron” is Schoenberg’s largest dodecaphonic work. Despite the absence of a love conflict (also a contrast to Wagner - according to Schoenberg, it is not passions that rule the world), the opera is exclusively scenic. Flexible recitative perfectly conveys all the subtleties of moods, talking choirs are used in conflict scenes, the dance around the golden calf is comparable in temperament and pronounced “wild” oriental coloring to the “Polovtsian Dances” from Borodin’s “Prince Igor” or to the “Dance of the Seven Veils” from "Salome" by R. Strauss.
After emigrating to France in 1933, Schoenberg defiantly accepted the Jewish faith. Living in America, he becomes the most implacable anti-fascist, and this is not only solidarity with the oppressed and suffering, but also a pronounced Jewish position. "Ode to Napoleon" is often compared to "The Career of Arturo Ui". Both works are really similar: they are allegories on a theme that was recognizable to everyone at that time. The difference is that Brecht's play is written from the position of an ideological opponent, and Schoenberg's musical pamphlet is written from the position of a victim. And although both works have a very strong effect, the effect is different in nature.
Schoenberg's most striking work on a Jewish theme, created in America, is "A Survivor from Warsaw" for reader, male choir and orchestra. The composer was shocked by the discovery of Hitler's mechanism for the total extermination of defenseless people after the liberation of the Warsaw ghetto. The narration is told from the perspective of a fictional narrator who allegedly managed to escape; Schoenberg wrote the text himself. The reader was not chosen for the solo part by chance. According to the composer, no amount of singing could convey the horror of what the prisoners experienced. The work ends with a picture of Jews going to their deaths, singing “Shema Yisrael.” The precisely quoted prayer, sung by a male choir in Hebrew, is a kind of eerie catharsis; in spite of everything, the spiritual principle still wins.
At the end of his life, Schoenberg became even more interested in Jewish issues. He welcomed the creation of the State of Israel, wrote many spiritual works, and in recent years was planning to move to Jerusalem. These intentions were undoubtedly the most serious, but once upon a time the composer was seriously planning to go to the Soviet Union. One way or another, I cannot imagine Schoenberg with his aestheticism, with his sense of himself as a citizen of the world, with his close connection with the European tradition in the marching Israel of Ben-Gurion. Death resolved this issue and mercifully saved Schoenberg from disappointment in the Jewish idea.
(1951-07-13 ) (76 years old)Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg(German) Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg, initially Schönberg; September 13, 1874 - July 13, 1951) - Austrian and American composer, teacher, musicologist, conductor, publicist. The largest representative of musical expressionism, the founder of the new Viennese school, the author of such techniques as dodecaphony (12-tone) and serial technique.
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Arnold Schoenberg was born on September 13, 1874 in the Leopoldstadt quarter of Vienna (the former Jewish ghetto) into a Jewish family. His mother Paulina Náchod (1848-1921), a native of Prague, was a piano teacher. Father Samuel Schönberg (1838-1889), originally from Presburg (where his father had moved from Szechenyi), was a shop owner. Arnold was largely a self-taught musician, taking only counterpoint lessons from his brother-in-law Alexander von Zemlinsky (Schoenberg married Zemlinsky's sister Matilda in 1901).
In 1901-1903 he lived in Berlin, teaching a composition class at the Stern Conservatory. In 1903 he returned to Vienna, where he worked as a teacher in one of the music schools.
As a twenty-year-old young man, Schoenberg made a living orchestrating operettas, while simultaneously working on his own compositions in the tradition of German music of the late 19th century, the most famous of which was the string sextet “Enlightened Night”, op. 4 ().
He developed the same traditions in the poem “Pelléas et Mélisande” (1902-1903), the cantata “Songs of Gurre” (1900-1911), and “The First String Quartet” (1905). The name of Schoenberg begins to gain fame. He is recognized by such prominent musicians as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. From 1904 he began private teaching of harmony, counterpoint and composition. The next important stage in Schoenberg's music was his First Chamber Symphony (1906).
In the summer of 1908, Schoenberg's wife Matilda left him after falling in love with the artist Richard Gerstl. Several months later, when she had returned to her husband and children, Gerstl committed suicide. This time coincided for Schoenberg with a revision of his musical aesthetics and a radical change in style. He created the first atonal works, the romance “You leaned against the silver willow” (“Du lehnest dich wieder zu einen Weinenbaum an”) and the most revolutionary of his early works, “Second String Quartet”, op.10 (1907-1908), where in the finale he adds a soprano voice, setting poems by Stefan Gheorghe to music. In “Five Pieces for Orchestra” op.16 (1909) he first used his new invention - the method of timbre-colored melody (Klangfarbenmelodie).
In the summer of 1910, Schoenberg wrote his first important theoretical work, “The Doctrine of Harmony” (“Harmonielehre”). Then he creates the vocal-instrumental cycle “Pierrot Lunaire”, op. 21 (1912) to poems by Albert Giraud, using the technique of Sprechstimme - vocal recitation, intermediate between reading and singing. In the 1910s, his music was popular in Berlin among the Expressionists, and was performed at meetings of the literary New Club.
In the early 1920s, he invented a new “method of composition with 12 related tones,” commonly known as “dodecaphony,” first trying it in his “Serenade” op. 24 (1920-1923). This method proved to be the most influential for European and American classical music of the 20th century.
Until 1925, Schoenberg lived mainly in Vienna. In 1925 he became professor of composition in Berlin at the Prussian Academy of Arts.
In 1933, after the Nazis came to power, Schoenberg emigrated to the United States, where he taught first at the Malkin Conservatory in Boston, from 1935 at the University of Southern California, and from 1936 at the University of California in Los Angeles.
One of Schoenberg's most significant achievements was his unfinished opera based on the biblical story "Moses and Aaron", begun in the early 1930s. All the music of the opera is based on one 12-note series. The main role of Moses is performed by the reader in the manner of Sprechgesang, the role of Aaron is assigned to a tenor.
Throughout his life, Schoenberg was active as a teacher and trained a whole galaxy of composers. The most prominent of them are Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Ernst Kshenek, Hans Eisler, Roberto Gerhard. Schoenberg created and headed an entire school of composers known as the “new Viennese school”. Hauer wrote his early works under the influence of Schoenberg's atonal music. In 1935, already in California, John Cage became his private student.
Along with teaching, composing music, organizing and performing in concerts as a conductor, Schoenberg was also the author of many books, textbooks, theoretical studies and articles. Among other things, he painted paintings that were distinguished by their originality.
Died on July 13, 1951 in California. He was buried in the Vienna Central Cemetery.
A crater on Mercury is named after Schoenberg. Featured on a 1974 Austrian postage stamp.
Essays
- 2 Gesänge (2 Songs) for baritone and piano, op. 1 (1897-1898)
- 4 Lieder (4 Songs) for voice and piano, op. 2 (1899)
- 6 Lieder (6 Songs) for voice and piano, op. 3 (1899/1903)
- "Verklärte Nacht" ("Enlightened Night"), op. 4 (1899)
- "Songs of Gurre" for soloists, choir and orchestra (1900, orchestrated 1911)
- "Pelleas und Melisande", ("Pelleas and Melisande") op. 5 (1902/03)
- 8 Lieder (8 Songs) for soprano and piano, op. 6 (1903/05)
- First String Quartet, D minor, op. 7 (1904/05)
- 6 Lieder (6 Songs) with orchestra, op. 8 (1903/05)
- Kammersymphonie no. 1 (First Chamber Symphony), op. 9 (1906)
- Second String Quartet, F sharp minor (with soprano), op. 10 (1907/08)
- 3 Stücke (3 Pieces) for piano, op. 11 (1909)
- 2 Balladen (2 Ballads) for voice and piano, op. 12 (1906)
- “Friede auf Erden” (“Peace on Earth”) for mixed choir, op. 13 (1907)
- 2 Lieder (2 Songs) for voice and piano, op. 14 (1907/08)
- 15 Gedichte aus Das Buch der hängenden Gärten
- Fünf Orchesterstücke (5 pieces for orchestra), op. 16 (1909)
- “Erwartung” (“Waiting”) Monodrama for soprano and orchestra, op. 17 (1909)
- "Die Glückliche Hand" ("Lucky Hand")
- Three small pieces for chamber orchestra (1910)
- Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke (6 Little Pieces) for piano, op. 19 (1911)
- “Herzgewächse” (“Shoots of the Heart”) for soprano and ensemble, op. 20 (1911)
- "Pierrot lunaire", ("Lunar Pierrot") 21 melodramas
- 4 Lieder (4 Songs) for voice and orchestra, op. 22 (1913/16)
- 5 Stücke (5 Pieces) for piano, op. 23 (1920/23)
- Serenade (Serenade) for ensemble and baritone, op. 24 (1920/23)
- Suite for piano, op. 25 (1921/23)
- Wind Quintet, op. 26 (1924)
- 4 Stücke (4 Pieces) for mixed choir, op. 27 (1925)
- 3 Satiren (3 Satires) for mixed choir, op. 28 (1925/26)
- Suite, op. 29 (1925)
- Third String Quartet, op. 30 (1927)
- Variations for Orchestra, op. 31 (1926/28)
- “Von heute auf morgen” (“From today to tomorrow”)
- 2 Stücke (2 Pieces) for piano, op. 33a (1928) & 33b (1931)
- Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene
- 6 Stücke (6 pieces) for male choir, op. 35 (1930)
- Violin Concerto, op. 36 (1934/36)
- Fourth String Quartet, op. 37 (1936)
- Kammersymphonie no. 2 (Second Chamber Symphony), op. 38 (1906/39)
- “Kol nidre” (“All Vows”) for choir and orchestra, op. 39 (1938)
- Variations on "Recitative" for organ, op. 40 (1941)
- Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte (Ode to Napoleon)
- Piano Concerto, op. 42 (1942)
- Theme and variations for brass band, op. 43a (1943)
- Theme and variations for symphony orchestra, op. 43b (1943)
- Prelude to “Genesis” for choir and orchestra, op. 44 (1945)
- String trio, op. 45 (1946)
- A Survivor from Warsaw, op. 46 (1947)
- Fantasia for violin and piano, op. 47 (1949)
- 3 Songs (3 Songs) for low voice and piano op. 48 (1933-1943)
- 3 Folksongs (3 choirs - German folk songs), op. 49 (1948)
- “Dreimal tausend Jahre” (“Three thousand years”) for mixed choir, op. 50a (1949)
- Psalm 130 “De profundis” (“From the depths”) for mixed choir, op. 50b (1949-1950)
- "Modern psalm"
- “Moses und Aron” (“Moses and Aaron”) Opera in three acts (1930-1950, unfinished)
Musicological works
. Some translations by Leo Black; this is an expanded edition of the 1950 Philosophical Library (New York) publication edited by Dika Newlin. The volume carries the note. - Ryzhinsky A. S. Choral works of Arnold Schoenberg. - M., 2010. - ISBN 978-5-9973-0966-4.
- Vitol I., The Doctrine of Harmony (“Harmonielehre”) by Arnold Schoenberg, “Musical Contemporary”, 1915, No. 2.
- Roslavets N., “Pierrot Lunaire” by Arnold Schoenberg, “To New Shores”, 1923, No. 3.
- Karatygin V., Arnold Schoenberg, “Speech”, 1912, No. 339, the same, in the collection: V. G. Karatygin. Life, activities, articles and materials, vol. 1, L., 1927.
- Igor Glebov [Asafiev B.V.], A. Schoenberg and his “Gurre-Lieder”, [Appendix to the program of the symphony. concert 7 XII 1927], L., 1927, the same, in the collection: Asafiev B.V., Critical articles, essays and reviews. From the legacy of the late tenths - early thirties, L., 1967.
- Shneerson G., About music alive and dead, M., 1960, 1964.
- Schneerson G., On Schoenberg’s letters, in: Music and Modernity, vol. 4, M., 1966.
- Kholopov Yu., On three foreign systems of harmony, in: Music and Modernity, vol. 4, M., 1966.
- Denisov E., Dodecaphony and problems of modern compositional technique, in: Music and Modernity, vol. 6, M., 1969.
- Pavlishin S. The work of A. Schoenberg, 1899-1908, in: Music and Modernity, vol. 6, M., 1969.
- Pavlyshyn S. “Monthly P’ero” by A. Schoenberg, K., 1972 (in Ukrainian).
- Pavlyshyn S. Arnold Schoenberg: Monograph. - M., 2001. - 477 p.
- Laul R., On the creative method of A. Schoenberg, in: Issues in the theory and aesthetics of music, vol. 9, L., 1969.
- Laul R., Crisis features in the melodic thinking of A. Schoenberg, in the collection: Crisis of bourgeois culture and music, M., 1972.
- Kremlev Yu., Essays on the creativity and aesthetics of the new Viennese school, Leningrad, 1970.
- Elik M., Sprechgesang in “Pierrot Lunaire” by A. Schoenberg, in: Music and Modernity, vol. 7, M., 1971.
- Druskin M., Austrian expressionism, in his book: On Western European music of the 20th century, M., 1973.
- Shakhnazarova N., On Schoenberg’s aesthetic views, in: The Crisis of Bourgeois Culture and Music, vol. 2, M., 1973.
- Shakhnazarova N., Arnold Schoenberg - “Style and Idea”, in the book: Problems of musical aesthetics, M., 1974.
- Auner, Joseph. A Schoenberg Reader. Yale University Press. 1993. ISBN 0-300-09540-6.
- Brand, Julianne; Hailey, Christopher; and Harris, Donald, editors. The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence: Selected Letters. New York, London: W. W. Norton and Company. 1987. ISBN 0-393-01919-5.
- Shawn, Allen. Arnold Schoenberg's Journey. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. 2002. ISBN 0-374-10590-1.
- Stefan, Paul . Arnold Schönberg. Wandlung - Legende - Erscheinung - Bedeutung. - Wien/Berlin/Leipzig: Zeitkunst-Verlag; Berlin/Wien/Leipzig: Zsolnay, 1924.
- The Origin of Music- Bob Fink. Reviews; ISBN 0-912424-06-0 . One or more chapters deal with modern music, atonality and Schoenberg.
- Weiss, Adolph (March-April 1932). "The Lyceum of Schonberg" Modern Music 9/3, 99-107
; the main representative and founder of one of the directions of modern “serious” music, characterized by the complexity of language and dissonant sound - it is known under the names of “atonal” or “12-tone” music (the terms “dodecaphony” and “serial technique” are also used). Schoenberg was born on September 13, 1874 in Vienna. Until 1925 he lived mainly in Vienna. In 1925 he became a professor of composition at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin and worked there until 1933. After leaving Germany, he moved to the USA, where he taught first at the Malkin Conservatory in Boston, from 1935 at the University of Southern California, from 1936 at the University of California in Los Angeles. -Angeles. Schoenberg died in Brentwood (California) on July 13, 1951.
Schoenberg was a wonderful teacher, which contributed to the widespread dissemination of his ideas; he created an entire school of composers (the so-called new Viennese school), which united such outstanding musicians as A. von Webern, A. Berg, E. Kshenek, E. Welles and G. Eisler. Famous textbook on harmony published by Schoenberg in 1911 ( Harmonielehre), made an even stronger impression because he presented the traditional teaching of harmony from the point of view not of a school teacher, but of an active modern composer.
see also HARMONY.
The origins of Schoenberg's music are in the late romantic art of R. Wagner, A. Bruckner, R. Strauss and G. Mahler. Such influences are so obvious that critics often overlook three other important qualities of Schoenberg's style that are antithetical to the Romantic tradition. Firstly, the late Romantics developed their musical thoughts in a dense, rich harmonic fabric, while Schoenberg, with the exception of a few early works (for example, Songs of Gurre, Gurrelieder, for soloists, three choirs and orchestra, 1910–1911), preferred a laconic presentation of the idea, without unnecessary repetition, and a clear, audible texture. Secondly, Schoenberg had a positive way of thinking, and therefore even his most romantic works (such as the early sextet Enlightened night, Verklärte Nacht, op. 4) are distinguished by logical development and structural clarity. Thirdly, Schoenberg’s polyphonic technique is characterized by confidence and virtuosity, which brings him closer not to the romantics mentioned above, but rather to J. Brahms.
Although the composer’s entire path represents a consistent movement in the chosen direction, it is customary to distinguish three periods (or styles) of Schoenberg. The works of the first period (op. 1–10, 12–14) demonstrate a gradual complication of language, an increase in dissonance, but they still contain traditional tonality and, to a certain extent, traditional functional harmony. Starting with piano pieces op. 11, written later op. 14, the composer sought to avoid diatonic sequences and used all twelve tones of the chromatic scale as equals, i.e. does not make either of them the tonal center. The third period begins with op. 23: the composer’s attraction to a clear organization of musical material brings to life a method that is more universal and rigid than the means he had previously used. The method consists of organizing the twelve tones that make up an octave into a melodic sequence, where each tone is used no more than once. This sequence is called a “row” or “series”. For each composition, one “row” is usually chosen; it can be developed using various kinds of movements (transpositions) and variations, but the entire composition is necessarily built on the basis of a given “row”.
It remains to list the fundamentally important works of Schoenberg, in addition to those mentioned above - a symphonic poem for orchestra Pelleas and Melisande (Pelleas und Melisande), op. 5; Chamber Symphony (Kammersymphonie) op. 9; Fifteen poems from Stefan Gheorghe's Book of the Hanging Gardens (Fünfzehn Gedichte aus Stefan George "s "Das Buch der hängenden Gärten"), op. 15; one act opera lucky hand (Die glückliche Hand), op. 18; Six small piano pieces (Sechs kleine Klavierstücke), op. 19; Lunar Pierrot (Pierrot Lunaire) – twenty-one poems for a reader and eight instruments, op. 21; Five piano pieces (Fünf Klavierstücke), op. 23; Piano Suite, op. 25; Quintet for woodwinds and horns, op. 26; variations for orchestra, op. 31; Musical accompaniment for a film scene (Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene), op. 34; op. 34; Ode to Napoleon (Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte) for reader, string quartet and piano, op. 41; concert for piano and orchestra, op. 42; four string quartets, op. 7, 10, 30, 37.
(.1874 - .1951) Austria
Austrian, then American composer, conductor, musicologist and painter.
Article: short biography
Date of publication: 00.00.0000
Arnold Schoenberg was born on September 13, 1874 in the Leopoldstadt quarter of Vienna (the former Jewish ghetto) into a Jewish family. His mother Paulina, a native of Prague, was a piano teacher. Father Samuil, originally from Bratislava, was the owner of a store. Arnold was largely a self-taught musician, taking only counterpoint lessons from Alexander von Zemlinsky, his first brother-in-law. As a twenty-year-old young man, Schoenberg made a living orchestrating operettas, while simultaneously working on his own compositions in the tradition of German music of the late 19th century, the most famous of which was the string sextet “Enlightened Night” op. 4 (1899).
He developed the same traditions in the poem “Pelléas et Mélisande” (1902–1903), the cantata “Songs of Gurre” (1900–1911), and “The First String Quartet” (1905). The name of Schoenberg begins to gain fame. He is recognized by such prominent musicians as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. In 1904 he began private teaching of harmony, counterpoint and composition. The next important stage in Schoenberg's music was his First Chamber Symphony (1906).
In the summer of 1908, Schoenberg's wife Matilda left him, having fallen in love with the artist Richard Gerstl. A few months later, when she had returned to her husband and children, Gerstl committed suicide. This time coincided for Schoenberg with a revision of his musical aesthetics and a radical change in style. He created his first atonal works, the romance “You leaned against the silver willow” (“Du lehnest wider eine Silberweide”) and the most revolutionary of his early works, “Second String Quartet”, op.10 (1907–1908), where in the finale he adds a soprano voice, setting the poems of Stefan Gheorghe to music. In “Five Pieces for Orchestra” op.15 (1909), he first used his new invention - the method of timbre-colored melody (Klangfarbenmelodie).
In the summer of 1910 he wrote his first important theoretical work, “The Doctrine of Harmony” (“Harmonielehre”). Then he creates the vocal-instrumental cycle “Pierrot Lunaire”, op. 21 (1912) to the poems of Albert Giraud, using the Sprechstimme method he invented - vocal recitation, something between reading and singing.
In the early 1920s, he invented a new “method of composition with 12 related tones,” commonly known as “dodecaphony” or “serialism,” first trying it in his “Serenade” op.24 (1920–1923). This method proved to be the most influential for European and American classical music of the 20th century.
Until 1925, Schoenberg lived mainly in Vienna. In 1925 he became professor of composition in Berlin at the Prussian Academy of Arts. In 1933, Schoenberg emigrated to the United States, where he taught first at the Malkin Conservatory in Boston, from 1935 at the University of Southern California, and from 1936 at the University of California in Los Angeles.
One of Schoenberg's most significant achievements was his unfinished opera based on the biblical story "Moses and Aaron", begun in the early 30s. All the music of the opera is based on one 12-note series. The main role of Moses is performed by the reader in the Sprechgesang manner, the role of Aaron is assigned to the tenor.
Throughout his life, Schoenberg was active as a teacher and trained a whole galaxy of composers. The most prominent of them are Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Ernst Kshenek, Hans Eisler, Roberto Gerhard. Schoenberg created and headed an entire school of composers known as the “new Viennese school”. Hauer wrote his early works under the influence of Schoenberg's atonal music. In 1935, already in California, John Cage became his private student. In parallel with teaching, composing music, organizing and performing in concerts as a conductor, Schoenberg was also the author of many books, textbooks, theoretical studies and articles. Among other things, he painted paintings that were distinguished by their originality and ardent imagination.
Schoenberg always had a superstitious fear of the number 13. And, unfortunately, what he was so afraid of happened. He died on July 13, 1951 (19-5-1=13) at the age of 76 (7+6=13), thirteen minutes before midnight: (11:47; 1+1+4+7)
Arnold Schoenberg, whose work can be briefly described as innovative, lived an interesting life and He entered the history of world music as a revolutionary who made a revolution in composition, created his own school in music, left an interesting legacy and a galaxy of students. Arnold Schoenberg is one of the outstanding composers of the 20th century.
Childhood and family
On September 13, 1874, Arnold Schoenberg was born in Vienna, whose biography will be difficult, but always connected with music. The Schoenberg family lived in a Jewish ghetto. Father - Samuel Schoenberg - was from Presburg and had his own small shoe store. Mother - Paulina Nachod - a native of Prague, was a piano teacher. Arnold had an ordinary childhood, nothing foreshadowed his great future.
Finding a calling
From an early age, Arnold's mother began to teach him music; he showed promise. But the family did not have the means to continue their education. He independently comprehended the science of composition. He was given several lessons in counterpoint by his brother-in-law, the famous Austrian composer and conductor whom Schoenberg's sister Matilda married, Alexander von Zemlinsky. The musicians became very friendly, remained like-minded people all their lives and often helped each other with advice and argued about art. It was Tsemlinsky who strongly recommended that his colleague become a professional music composer. The future composer Arnold Schoenberg, already in his teens, keenly felt his calling, and although circumstances were not in his favor, he devoted all his free time to music.
The beginning of a professional journey
The family did not live well, and when his father died, Arnold was 15 at the time, things became very difficult. The young man had to take on any job. Arnold Schoenberg worked as a bank clerk, a delivery man, led workers' choirs, and wrote orchestrations for operettas. But he did not give up his music studies; in his free time he wrote his own works. Already in 1898, Schoenberg's works were performed on stage for the first time in Vienna. In 1901, he left for Berlin, where he earned money by giving music lessons; he even taught a composition course at the Stern Conservatory.
At this time he met Gustav Mahler, who had a significant influence on Schoenberg's worldview. In 1903 he returned to Vienna and began working at a music school. At the same time, he managed to write music, during this period it was kept in the traditions of the German school of composition of the late 19th century. The most significant works of this stage were: the string sextet “Enlightened Night”, the poem “Pelléas and Mélisande” (1902-1903), the cantata “Songs of Gurre” (1900-1911). Arnold Schoenberg was distinguished by his great capacity for work; already at the beginning of his career he simultaneously taught, wrote music, and gave concerts.
Biography and music
Three periods are distinguished in the work of the composer Schoenberg: tonal (from 1898 to 1908), atonal (1909-1922) and dodecaphonic (from 1923). The evolution of a musician is connected with his search for a new path and new expressiveness. His fate was first connected with expressionism, on the basis of which he later made his revolutionary discoveries. Until 1907, Schoenberg moved in the traditional direction of classical music. But this year there is a radical change in his artistic worldview; he thinks a lot about music and writes theoretical work. His musical language is becoming more complex, the desire for dissonance is increasing, but for now traditional harmony is preserved.
And in 1909 a new round of his life began. In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg, whose biography was gaining momentum in the musical world, again traveled to Berlin, where he toured as a conductor for 4 years. By this time he was already a fairly well-known musician in Europe. In 1915, the composer was drafted into the army for two years. This atonal period is characterized by a rejection of the tonal center of the work; Schoenberg tries to equally apply the 12 tones of the chromatic scale. In 1923, he received the title of professor of music and an invitation to work at the Berlin School of Music. With the Nazis coming to power in 1933, Schoenberg was fired from the conservatory, and he, fearing further persecution as a representative of the Jewish nation, emigrated. First he goes to France, and later to the USA.
The third period of the composer's work is marked by his main discoveries. He begins to gravitate toward a rational organization of the musical series; compositions are built from twelve tones that are not repeated in the same series. This is how dodecaphonic music appears. Schoengberg's work fully reflected an era full of changes, as well as his subjective and emotional experiences.
Music theory
The composer always tried to control the forms and expressive means of his music, which most often came unconsciously. Therefore, all his milestone experiences and reflections were outlined in serious scientific works. In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg wrote his first major theoretical work, “The Doctrine of Harmony.” Already in it he outlined his ideas about tonal harmony, which were central to him all his life. This book became the composer's only fully completed work. Later, he began writing several works at the same time, constantly correcting and adding to them; they were not published during his lifetime.
Only in 1994 were the works published, combined into one volume - “Interrelation, counterpoint, instrumentation, the doctrine of form.” These reflections on musical logic and thought, on orchestration, on preparatory exercises in counterpoint and on composition were not completed by the author, but show the direction in which his research took place. “Fundamentals of Musical Composition” was published already at the end of the 20th century by the master’s students. Arnold Schoenberg made a significant contribution to music theory; he was able to see the evolution of musical thought and anticipate its development for years to come. In his writings, Schoenberg reflects on the integrity of the work, the development of musical thought, and comes to the idea of monotony.
Pedagogical activity
The composer taught throughout his life - first at school, then at the conservatory in Berlin. In exile, he worked at universities in Boston, Southern California, and Los Angeles, teaching music theory and composition. Arnold Schoenberg created an entire school of composition, which was called the “New Viennese School”. He raised students in the spirit of serving music; he categorically did not advise them to follow his example, but to seek only their own path in art. A. Berg and A. Webern are considered his best students, who remained faithful to his ideas until the end of their days and grew up to be independent composers worthy of their teacher. Schoenberg taught all musical subjects, paying special attention to polyphony, which he considered the basis of mastery. The composer continued to communicate closely with his students even after their graduation, and he was an indisputable authority for them. This is what allowed him to form a whole galaxy of like-minded people.
Dodecaphony by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg, whose brief biography can be described in one word “dodecaphony,” became an ideologist and promoter of a new direction in music. In his search for the most economical musical writing, the composer came up with the idea of a 12-tone composition system. This discovery forces the composer to learn how to compose music again; he experiments a lot with form, looking for new possibilities for his sound-frequency method.
He tests the basics of the new technique on piano pieces, of which he writes a lot. Later he moved on to creating large works (suites, quartets, orchestras) in a new style. His discoveries radically influenced the development of music in the 20th century. His ideas, which he did not fully develop, were picked up by his followers, developed, brought to perfection, and sometimes to the point of exhaustion. His contribution to music was manifested in his desire to streamline musical form.
Major works
Arnold Schoenberg left a huge musical legacy. But his most important work is the unfinished opera “Moses and Aaron,” the idea of which appeared back in the 20s of the 20th century and embodied the entire evolution and search of the composer. In the opera, Schoenberg embodied his entire philosophical worldview, his entire soul. Also significant works of the composer include: “Chamber Symphony”, op. 9, opera “The Happy Hand”, 5 piano pieces, op. 23, "Ode to Napoleon".
Personal life
Arnold Schoenberg, whose photo can be seen today in all textbooks on the history of music, lived a rich life. In addition to music, he painted a lot, his works were exhibited in major galleries in Europe. He was friends with Kokoschka, Kandinsky, and was a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. During his life he wrote about 300 works.
Arnold Schoenberg married for the first time quite early, for this he converted to Protestantism in 1898. His wife cheated on him, went to see her lover, but then returned to the family, and her lover committed suicide. His wife Matilda died in 1923, ending a turbulent period in the composer's personal life. A year later, he married the violinist’s sister and lived happily with her for the rest of his life. In 1933, he decides to return to Judaism and undergoes the corresponding ceremony in a Paris synagogue.
Arnold Schoenberg's Fears
The composer was distinguished by high intelligence and mathematical abilities, but the irrational principle was also not alien to him. All his life he was haunted by strange fears and premonitions. What was the composer Arnold Schoenberg afraid of? He had a rare phobia - he was terrified of the number 13. He was born on this number, and all his life he avoided houses and hotel rooms with this number. So what was Arnold Schoenberg ultimately afraid of? Numbers? No, of course, he was afraid of death. He was sure that he would die on the 13th, that the number 76 - in total 13 - would bring him death. For the entire year of his upcoming 76th birthday, he lived in tension, until one day he went to bed with the confidence that today death would come for him. He lay in bed all day, waiting for the last hour. By nightfall, his wife could not stand it and forced him to stop doing nonsense and get out of bed. But 13 minutes before midnight he said the word “harmony” and left this world. Thus, on July 13, 1951, the world lost
