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An Evaluation of Traditional and Innovatory Approaches in Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and ‘Nacht’ from Pierrot Lunaire

Year 2023, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 213 - 237, 31.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.33906/musicologist.1069010

Abstract

This study analyzes Arnold Schoenberg’s particular perspective on tradition and innovation. Verklärte Nacht (1899), which he composed in his tonal period and which thus has a more traditional character, and Pierrot Lunaire (1912), from his ‘free’ atonal period, are discussed to illustrate the composer’s different approaches. This article aims to show that these approaches do not represent two separate periods but rather create a single style and can be understood as mutually related within the composer’s output. Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 and Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, No. 8 will be interpreted in the context of tradition-innovation relations by means of descriptive analysis and literature review, and in the context of wider tradition and innovation relations in his other works. It is observed that the composer still adhered to 19th-century traditions at some points; however, as he himself argued, it is unrealistic to force Schoenberg into a specific mould. When examining the different compositional periods of the composer, it is possible to discern diverse features. It should be noted that the traditionalist and innovative tendencies in the composer’s works are not distinguished as easily as may be thought, and that the composer should not be evaluated in terms of degrees of complexity. Results show that Schoenberg was not a composer who adhered to any one theory or technique, but rather a versatile composer. Describing him as a traditionalist on one hand or a radical innovator on the other does him a disservice.

References

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  • Aktüze, İrkin. (2007). Müziği Okumak (Reading Music) Vol: 4 (2nd Ed). İstanbul: Pan Publications.
  • Axionov, Vladimir. (2010). “Among Tradition and Innovation in Pierrot Lunaire–By Arnold Schönberg”. Revart. 11(1): 65-70.
  • Bassie, Ashley. (2008). Expressionism (Art of Century). New York: Parkstone Press.
  • Boss, Jack. (2009). “The Musical Idea and the Basic Image in an Atonal Song and Recitation of Arnold Schoenberg”. Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic. 2(1): 223-266.
  • Cherlin, Michael. (2012). “Pierrot Lunaire as Lunar Nexus”. Music Analysis. 31(2): 176-215.
  • Dahlhaus, Carl. (1989). Die Musik des 19. Jahrhunderts (Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft) (J. Bradford Robinson, Trans.) Nineteenth-Century Music. US: University of California Press. [Original work published 1980]
  • Dallin, Leon. (1974). Techniques of Twentieth Century Composition: A Guide to the Materials of Modern Music (3rd edition). Iowa: C. Brown Company Publishers. [Original work published 1957]
  • Dunsby, Jonathan. (1992). Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Eren, Oytun. (2014). Klasik Batı Müziği Tarihinde Kırılma Anları (Breaking Moments in the History of Western Classical Music). Ankara: Sevda Cenap And Müzik Vakfı publications.
  • Feridunoğlu, Lale. (2004). Müziğe Giden Yol: Genç Müzisyenin El Kitabı (The Path to Music: The Young Musician’s Handbook). İstanbul: İnkılap Publications.
  • Frisch, Walter. (1993). The Early Works of Arnold Schoenberg, 1893-1908. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Goodall, Howard. (2018). Müziğin Öyküsü (The Story of Music). (Sevi Sarıışık Tokalaç and Emrah Tokalaç, Trans.) İstanbul: Pegasus Publications. [Original work published 2012]
  • Gustafson, K. Edward. (1989). “Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht: History, Editions and Analyses”. Doctoral Thesis, Washington: University of Washington.
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  • Marcus, H. Kenneth. (2016). Schoenberg and Hollywood Modernism. England: Cambridge University Press.
  • Mimaroğlu, İlhan. (1990). Müzik Tarihi (History of Music). İstanbul: Varlık Publications.
  • Morgan, Robert. (1991). Twentieth-Century Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Neighbour, Oliver; Griffiths, Paul and Perle George. (1980). Second Viennese School. London: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
  • Nemutlu, Mehmet. (2008). “Pierrot ile Monolog” (Monologue with Pierrot). Doxa. 3 (7): 94-111.
  • Newlin, Dika, (Ed.). (1950). Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. New York: Philosophical Library.
  • Özkişi, Z. Gülçin and Dündar, Emre. (2015). “Farklı Modernist Eğilimler: Empresyonist ve Ekspresyonist Yaklaşımlar Çerçevesinde Müzik ve Modernizm” (Different Modernist Trends: Music and Modernity in the Context of Impressionist and Expressionist Approaches). Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 16(2): 1-12.
  • Özkişi, Z. Gülçin. (2017). “Ekspresyonizm ve Müzik: 20. Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında II. Viyana Okulu Çevresinde Gelişen “Yeni Müzik” Yaklaşımı ve Müzikal Modernizm” (Expressionism and Music: A “New Music” Approach and Musical Modernism around the Second Viennese School in the First Half of the 20th century). Turkish Journal of Sociology. 37(1): 143-156.
  • Pamir, Leyla. (1998). Müzikte Geniş Soluklar (Large Breaths in Music). İstanbul: Boyut Publications.
  • Ramis Pablo. (02.01.2021). Leaving Home: Orchestral Music in the 20th Century, Dancing on a Volcano. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yT9f-MWqzQ&ab_channel=PabloRamis
  • Rubsamen, Walter. (1951). “Schoenberg in America”. The Musical Quarterly. 37 (4): 469-489.
  • Stein, Erwin (Ed.). (1965). Arnold Schoenberg Letters. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1905). Op. 4 Verklärte Nacht. Berlin: Verlag Dreililien. [Original work published 1899]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold (Composer); Hartleben Otto Erich and Giraud Albert (Librettist.). (1914). Mondestrunken and Nacht [Op. 21 Pierrot Lunaire]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1914]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1914). Als Wir Hinter dem Beblümten [Op. 15 Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1914]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1925). Gigue [Op. 25 Piano Suite]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1925]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1929). Finale [Op. 31 Variations for Orchestra]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1929]
  • Stuckenschmidt, H. Heinz. (2011). Schoenberg: His Life, World and Work. (Humphrey Searle, Trans.). London: Oneworld Classics. [Original work published 1974]
  • Taruskin, Richard. (2009). Music in the Early Twentieth Century. England: Oxford University Press.
  • Türk, H. Peter. (2015). “Harmonic Phenomena of 20th Century Music as Reflected in the Passacaglia of Schönberg’s ‘Pierrot Lunaire’”. Lucrări de Muzicologie. 30 (1): 99-112.
  • Webern, Anton. (1998). Yeni Müziğe Doğru (The Path to the New Music). (Ali Bucak Trans.). İstanbul: Pan Publications.
  • Weinstein, Larry. (1992). My War Years: Arnold Schoenberg. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.medici.tv/en/documentaries/my-war-years-arnold-schoenberg-larry-weinstein/
Year 2023, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 213 - 237, 31.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.33906/musicologist.1069010

Abstract

References

  • Adorno, Theodor. (2018). Müzik Yazıları-Bir Seçki (Essays on Music). (Şeyda Öztürk, Trans). İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Publications. [Original Work Published 2002]
  • Aktüze, İrkin. (2007). Müziği Okumak (Reading Music) Vol: 4 (2nd Ed). İstanbul: Pan Publications.
  • Axionov, Vladimir. (2010). “Among Tradition and Innovation in Pierrot Lunaire–By Arnold Schönberg”. Revart. 11(1): 65-70.
  • Bassie, Ashley. (2008). Expressionism (Art of Century). New York: Parkstone Press.
  • Boss, Jack. (2009). “The Musical Idea and the Basic Image in an Atonal Song and Recitation of Arnold Schoenberg”. Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic. 2(1): 223-266.
  • Cherlin, Michael. (2012). “Pierrot Lunaire as Lunar Nexus”. Music Analysis. 31(2): 176-215.
  • Dahlhaus, Carl. (1989). Die Musik des 19. Jahrhunderts (Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft) (J. Bradford Robinson, Trans.) Nineteenth-Century Music. US: University of California Press. [Original work published 1980]
  • Dallin, Leon. (1974). Techniques of Twentieth Century Composition: A Guide to the Materials of Modern Music (3rd edition). Iowa: C. Brown Company Publishers. [Original work published 1957]
  • Dunsby, Jonathan. (1992). Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Eren, Oytun. (2014). Klasik Batı Müziği Tarihinde Kırılma Anları (Breaking Moments in the History of Western Classical Music). Ankara: Sevda Cenap And Müzik Vakfı publications.
  • Feridunoğlu, Lale. (2004). Müziğe Giden Yol: Genç Müzisyenin El Kitabı (The Path to Music: The Young Musician’s Handbook). İstanbul: İnkılap Publications.
  • Frisch, Walter. (1993). The Early Works of Arnold Schoenberg, 1893-1908. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Goodall, Howard. (2018). Müziğin Öyküsü (The Story of Music). (Sevi Sarıışık Tokalaç and Emrah Tokalaç, Trans.) İstanbul: Pegasus Publications. [Original work published 2012]
  • Gustafson, K. Edward. (1989). “Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht: History, Editions and Analyses”. Doctoral Thesis, Washington: University of Washington.
  • Leibowitz, René. (1949). Schoenberg and His School. (Dika Newlin, Trans.) New York: Philosophical Library. [Original work published 1947]
  • Marcus, H. Kenneth. (2016). Schoenberg and Hollywood Modernism. England: Cambridge University Press.
  • Mimaroğlu, İlhan. (1990). Müzik Tarihi (History of Music). İstanbul: Varlık Publications.
  • Morgan, Robert. (1991). Twentieth-Century Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Neighbour, Oliver; Griffiths, Paul and Perle George. (1980). Second Viennese School. London: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
  • Nemutlu, Mehmet. (2008). “Pierrot ile Monolog” (Monologue with Pierrot). Doxa. 3 (7): 94-111.
  • Newlin, Dika, (Ed.). (1950). Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. New York: Philosophical Library.
  • Özkişi, Z. Gülçin and Dündar, Emre. (2015). “Farklı Modernist Eğilimler: Empresyonist ve Ekspresyonist Yaklaşımlar Çerçevesinde Müzik ve Modernizm” (Different Modernist Trends: Music and Modernity in the Context of Impressionist and Expressionist Approaches). Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. 16(2): 1-12.
  • Özkişi, Z. Gülçin. (2017). “Ekspresyonizm ve Müzik: 20. Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında II. Viyana Okulu Çevresinde Gelişen “Yeni Müzik” Yaklaşımı ve Müzikal Modernizm” (Expressionism and Music: A “New Music” Approach and Musical Modernism around the Second Viennese School in the First Half of the 20th century). Turkish Journal of Sociology. 37(1): 143-156.
  • Pamir, Leyla. (1998). Müzikte Geniş Soluklar (Large Breaths in Music). İstanbul: Boyut Publications.
  • Ramis Pablo. (02.01.2021). Leaving Home: Orchestral Music in the 20th Century, Dancing on a Volcano. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yT9f-MWqzQ&ab_channel=PabloRamis
  • Rubsamen, Walter. (1951). “Schoenberg in America”. The Musical Quarterly. 37 (4): 469-489.
  • Stein, Erwin (Ed.). (1965). Arnold Schoenberg Letters. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1905). Op. 4 Verklärte Nacht. Berlin: Verlag Dreililien. [Original work published 1899]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold (Composer); Hartleben Otto Erich and Giraud Albert (Librettist.). (1914). Mondestrunken and Nacht [Op. 21 Pierrot Lunaire]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1914]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1914). Als Wir Hinter dem Beblümten [Op. 15 Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1914]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1925). Gigue [Op. 25 Piano Suite]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1925]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold. (1929). Finale [Op. 31 Variations for Orchestra]. Vienna: Universal Edition. [Original work published 1929]
  • Stuckenschmidt, H. Heinz. (2011). Schoenberg: His Life, World and Work. (Humphrey Searle, Trans.). London: Oneworld Classics. [Original work published 1974]
  • Taruskin, Richard. (2009). Music in the Early Twentieth Century. England: Oxford University Press.
  • Türk, H. Peter. (2015). “Harmonic Phenomena of 20th Century Music as Reflected in the Passacaglia of Schönberg’s ‘Pierrot Lunaire’”. Lucrări de Muzicologie. 30 (1): 99-112.
  • Webern, Anton. (1998). Yeni Müziğe Doğru (The Path to the New Music). (Ali Bucak Trans.). İstanbul: Pan Publications.
  • Weinstein, Larry. (1992). My War Years: Arnold Schoenberg. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.medici.tv/en/documentaries/my-war-years-arnold-schoenberg-larry-weinstein/
There are 37 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Music
Journal Section Articles
Authors

İrem Yalçıner 0000-0003-0493-0806

Publication Date December 31, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 7 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Yalçıner, İ. (2023). An Evaluation of Traditional and Innovatory Approaches in Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and ‘Nacht’ from Pierrot Lunaire. Musicologist, 7(2), 213-237. https://doi.org/10.33906/musicologist.1069010