Arnold Schoenberg - composer, theorist, teacher, painter, and one of the most important and controversial figures in twentieth-century music. This Companion presents engaging essays by leading scholars on Schoenberg's central works, writings, and ideas over his long life in Vienna, Berlin, and Los Angeles. Challenging monolithic views of the composer as an isolated elitist, the volume demonstrates that what has kept Schoenberg and his music interesting and provocative was his profound engagement with the musical traditions he inherited and transformed, with the broad range of musical and artistic developments during his lifetime he critiqued and incorporated, and with the fundamental cultural, social, and political disruptions through which he lived. The book provides introductions to Schoenberg's most important works, and to his groundbreaking innovations including his twelve-tone compositions. Chapters also examine Schoenberg's lasting influence on other composers and writers over the last century.
Chronology of Schoenberg's life and works; 1. Introduction Jennifer Shaw and Joseph Auner; Part I. Schoenberg's Early Years: 2. Schoenberg's Lieder Walter Frisch; 3. Schoenberg and the tradition of chamber music for strings Michael Cherlin; 4. Two early Schoenberg songs: monotonality, multitonality and schwebende Tonalität Robert P. Morgan; 5. Arnold Schoenberg and Richard Strauss Craig De Wilde; Part II. Schoenberg, Modernism, and Modernity: 6. Interpreting Erwartung: collaborative process and early reception Elizabeth Keathley; 7. The rise and fall of radical athematicism Ethan Haimo; 8. Schoenberg, modernism, and metaphysics Julian Johnson; 9. Pierrot lunaire: persona, voice, and the fabric of allusion Richard Kurth; Part III. Schoenberg Between the World Wars: 10. Schoenberg as teacher Joy H. Calico; 11. Schoenberg, satire, and the Zeitoper Peter Tregear; 12. Schoenberg's row tables: temporality and the idea Joseph Auner; 13. Immanence and transcendence in Moses und Aron Richard Kurth; 14. On Jewish history and identity: approaches to Schoenberg as Jew Steven J. Cahn; Part IV. Schoenberg's American Years: 15. Cadence after thirty-three years: Schoenberg's Second Chamber Symphony, Op. 38 Severine Neff; 16. Schoenberg's collaborations Jennifer Shaw; 17. Listening to Schoenberg's Piano Concerto Walter B. Bailey; 18. Schoenberg's reception in America, 1933-1951 Sabine Feisst; 19. Schoenberg: dead or alive? His reception amongst the post-war European avant-garde Richard Toop.
