Schoenberg's Discussions Of His Own Music example essay topic

The eighteenth centuries are reasonably described as an era of musical common practice, when composers of different nationalities and temperaments nonetheless wrote music that was stylistically and structurally similar in important respects. however, in contrast, the twentieth century has been a period of great and increasing diversity of both style and structure. More specifically, music criticism has divided twentieth century music into two opposing groups; the neoclassical and the progressive. This view has remained influential up to the present day. It depicts the neoclassicists (especially Stravinsky) as attempting to restore and revive aspects of earlier music while the progressive (Schoenberg, Berg and Webern) pushed music forward in a direction determined by the historical developments of late nineteenth century chromaticism. Neoclassical music is seen as relatively simple, static, and objective as having revived the classical ideals of balance and proportion. But Progressive music is seen as relatively complex, developmental, and emotionally expressive as having extended the tradition of romanticism.

Stravinsky realise's and asks himself,' Was I merely trying to refit old ships while the other side - Schoenberg - sought new forms of travel?' the answer seems to be 'YES'. Schoenberg has found new forms of travel which was the methode of composing with twelve tones, as we call it, 'Serial music'. For Schoenberg, progress was what history requires. Music is in continuous process of evolution. It is the composer's task to comprehend the historical trend and to keep it going in the proper direction. Schoenberg mentions,' While composing for me had been a pleasure, now it became a duty.

I knew I had to fulfil the task; I had to express what was necessary to be expressed and I knew I had the duty of developing my ideas for the sake of pro gree in music, whether I liked it or not. ' Webern spoke of a similar sense of compulsion and of the weight of the past pushing him: 'and never in the history of music has there been such resistance as there was to. Naturally it's nonsense to advance 'social objections'. Why don't people understand that? Our push forward had to be made, it was a push forward such as never was before. In fact we have to break new ground with each work: each work is something different, something new.

' For both Schoenberg and Webern, the tradition was not a generous friend or kind teacher; it was an intolerant despot. For Schoenberg, the only logical and responsible musical developments are those that grow out of the tradition. Schoenberg's discussions of his own music always related his achievement to that of the tonal masters, using their music as a touchstone of quality and value. Schoenberg mentions, 'The methode of composing with twelve tones grew out of a necessity', if it is so, how does Schoenberg responded to that necessity? In 1918, Schoenberg took the first steps toward an original project of an educational nature, where this, 'Verein fur Privatauffuhrungen', which means the Society for Private Musical Performances, occupied an important role in the history of new music.

The word 'Private' in the title explains that admission was restricted to a membership. The prospectus written by Berg shows clearly the aims methods of the society; 'The purpose of this society, founded in November 1918, is to provide Arnold Schoenberg with the possibility of personally carrying out his intention of giving artists and art-lovers a real and accurate knowledge of modern music', and it continues, 'Three things are necessary for the achievement of this aim: 1) Clear, well-prepared performances. 2) Frequent repetitions. 3) The performances must be withdrawn from the corrupting influence of publicity; that is, they must not be inspired by a spirit of competitions and must be independent of applause and expression of disapproval'. The concerts took place on Mondays, in the ceremonial hall of the Schwarzwald schools and later in the ceremonial hall of the Society of Engineers and Architects.

In relations to the establishment of the society for Private Musical Performances, an exploitation of the twelve tone music grew in order to distinguish the twentieth century music from the music of earlier periods. However, Schoenberg's exploitation is mostly related with an analysis of the music by his predecessors. When he analyses the music of his predecessors, he generally do so in light of his own compositional concerns, specifically their interest in relations. Such relations crucially determine musical structure, most obviously in the 'free atonal' music written by Schoenberg during the second decade of the century, the tonal harmony fall away, leaving the structure resting entirely on a foundation of contextually established associations.

Schoenberg disliked the designation 'atonal' for the music of this period and preferred to think of it as 'Working with tones of the motif'. In analysis of his own work from this period Schoenberg emphasizes interconnections. His discussion of the 'Four Orchestral songs', Op. 22, traces the major and minor second and their use in conjunction to form a 'fixed unit', that is, 'varied and developed in manifold ways. ', he continues, 'I am in the preliminary stages of a procedure which is essentially different both from the Italians and from Wagner. I am myself not yet quite able to say how far this may apply to my most recent works. At any rate, I am aware that it is mainly a concern with the art of variation, which allows for a motif to be a constant basis while, at the same time, doing justice to the subtlest nuance in the text.

' This demonstrates Schoenberg's intention of looking back to his predecessors and trying to cultivate the idea, such as 'Moti vic design' in order to develop and distinguish from the earlier music. Schoenberg's creativity can be seen from the work of Op. 21, 'Pierrot Lunaire', which was written in 1912. This work enabled to overcome the problems of frequent performances at various area. Here, although it was written for a chamber group, Schoenberg crosses the boundaries of different types of genre, that is, he wrote it for two woodwind, two strings and piano which they form a small scaled orchestra. And, even though it is a mere collection of songs, in accordance with the costumed singers it was performed as a stage music.

The relationship between Schoenberg and Stravinsky is quite interesting; They have first met in 1912, that was when Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire' was written and it was before the first performance of 'Rite of Spring'. Stravinsky's admiration towards Schoenberg was very much like admiration towards Schoenberg's idiom of Progressive music. However, in the 1920's, Schoenberg has cruelly criticised on Stravinsky's neoclassical works as 'worthless imitation of the past'. Surprisingly, after the Schoemberg's death in 1951, Stravinsky began working with the twelve-tone method. It seems that Stravinsky had to face up with the dead end of Neoclassicism and probably has realised that the only way, instead of going towards the dead end, was accepting the fact which Progressive music is the only solution to fill up the gaps of a necessity.

For Schoenberg, the necessity was what history required. His conception was that the music has to develop forward and he thought of it as hos task; the duty of developing his ideas for the sake of progress in music. In order to fulfil a task, he realise's the importance of performing their works by establishing the 'Society for Private Musical Performance' to create a chance for introducing the true modern music to the public. Some of hos works were written mainly for the performances, 'Pierrot Lunaire' is a good example. In order to create the characteristic of the twentieth century music, Schoenberg adopts the methode of music by his predecessors, but in different context to the neoclassicism. The requirement of certain method or technique and the analysis of the early music enabled to form a continuous line of the progress..