1. Presented by:
Tommy Boy y. Laus

5.  He was acknowledged as one of the
most significant figures in modern music
history
 He was an Austrian composer who was the most
controversial creator of the twelve tones
composition technique radically transformed 20th-
century music, seems to have had a great fear of
the number thirteen. Legend states that he had
predicted the date of his own death, which
occurred on Friday the 13th July 1951 at
the age of 76

6.  He was largely self-taught as a musician, but
studied briefly with Alexander Zemlinsky, his
eventual brother-in-law. His early works are
clearly in the high German Romantic tradition this
is still very much the case in his first important
composition, Verklärte Nacht (1899)
Schoenberg entered a more forward-looking
phase of his career, trying to write what he
wished to call "pantonal" music, something that did
not please many critics at the time.

7. In 1923 Schoenberg finished his first
strict 12-tone composition, the Suite
for Piano.
Schoenberg was offered the post of
Director of a Master Class in
Composition at the Prussian Academy
of Arts in Berlin.
He continued in this post until the
election of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
in 1933, when he was forced into exile .

8. The composer spent most of the
remainder of his life in the U.S. Despite
much critical resistance, Schoenberg
always stuck to his ideas, insisting that
the death of tonality was an inevitable
step in the evolution of music.
He was a brilliant teacher, partly through
his method of engaging with the methods of
the great classical composers, partly through
his focus on bringing out the musical and
compositional individuality of his students.
He published a number of books, for
example the famous Harmonielehre
(Theory of Harmony, 1911).

9. In Vienna, Italy , Schoenberg began to
teach his talented pupils: Alban Berg and
Anton Webern that came to him at that
time.
A stylistic change was the beginning to
occur in Schoenberg's work. Tonality, which
had been more and more freely treated in
such pieces as his Second String
Quartet, was finally abandoned.

10. Schoenberg composed the Five Pieces for
Orchestra, Op. 16, and Op. 17
“Erwartung”.
They are very important in the composer’s
development.
These pieces were Schoenberg´s first
steps on the path toward serialism; they
must therefore also be considered crucial
landmarks in the music history of the 20th
century.

11.  In July 1921 Schoenberg told
his pupil Josef Rufer, "Today I
have discovered something which
will assure the supremacy of
German music for the next hundred
years." It was the method of
composition with twelve tones.

12. In the twelve-tone method each
composition is based on a row, or
series, using all twelve notes of the
chromatic scale in an order chosen by
the composer.
 The Prelude of Schoenberg's
Piano Suite, Opus 25 is probably
the first twelve-tone composition.

13. All harmonies and melodies in a composition are
derived from its special row; thus, unity is
assured. While some critics feared that music
written in this way might become mechanical and
inexpressive.
Besides being presented in its original
form, the row may be inverted, played
backward, played backward in inversion, or
transposed to any scale step.

14. Schoenberg continued to write highly personal
and expressive compositions, using the expanded
resources made available by the new method. From
time to time he would return to traditional tonality
in one or more works.
It really made no difference to him whether his
compositions were tonal, atonal, or twelve-tonal.
As he said once, "I like them all, because I liked
them when I wrote them."

15. Notable works: Verklärte Nacht, Op.4
(1899) (string sextet)
Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912) ("melodrama"
for narrator and five musicians)
Violin Concerto, Op. 36 (1935-1936)
Piano Concerto, Op.42 (1942)
A Survivor from Warsaw, Op.46 (1947)
Fantasy for Violin and Piano Op. 47
(1949)

16. The Three Piano Pieces of
Op. 11 were written in a
very productive creative
phase in 1909.
Title Key Published Type Level
Piano Piece -
n/a 1909 Piece 8+
op 11 no 1
Piano Piece -
n/a 1909 Piece 8+
op 11 no 2
Piano Piece -
n/a 1909 Piece 8+
op 11 no 3

17. The date of completion of the piano piece Opus
11, no. 1 (Feb. 19, 1909), is an important one in
Arnold Schoenberg - Three Piano Pieces : the history of music, for this is the first
composition to dispense completely with
Piano Piece, opus 11 no 1
traditional tonality. In this new style any chord
combination can be freely used, and there is no
differentiation in the treatment of consonances
and dissonances.
The date of completion of the piano
Key: n/a Published: 1909 piece Opus 11, no. 1 (Feb. 19, 1909),
is an important one in the history of
music, for this is the first composition
to dispense completely with
traditional tonality. In this new style
any chord combination can be freely
used, and there is no differentiation
Level: 8+ Period: Modern
in the treatment of consonances and
dissonances.
Piano Piece opus 11 no 1 (sheet music)
In Feb. 19, 1909 is the of completion of the piano piece Opus
11, no. 1,it is an important one in the history of music, for this
is the first composition to dispense completely with
traditional tonality. In this new style any chord combination
can be freely used, and there is no differentiation in the
treatment of consonances and dissonances. BACK

18. Arnold Schoenberg - Three Piano Pieces :
Piano Piece, opus 11 no 2
Key: n/a Published: 1909
Level: 8+ Period: Modern
BACK
Piano Piece opus 11 no 2

19. Arnold Schoenberg - Three Piano Pieces :
Piano Piece, opus 11 no 3
Key: n/a Published: 1909
Level: 8+ Period: Modern
Piano Piece opus 11 no 3 BACK