A cultural historian's view...

1. Why Schönberg?

2. Schönberg’s
parents were
G e r m a n -
s p e a k i n g
Jews whose
families had
immigrated
t o V i e n n a
f r o m
C z e c h o -
S l o v a k i a .
Schönberg
himself was
born in the
heart of the
city of
Vienna—in
the
‘Leopoldstadt’,
by the river
Danube (1874).

3. Periodization of
Schönberg’s
Aesthetic Evolution

4. c. 1 8 9 5 – 1 9 0 0
Fin de Siècle
The climax of Schönberg’s Early Period
i s h i s s y n t h e s i s o f t h e i d i o m s o f
Brahms and Wagner.

5. 1904-07: Schönberg de facto establishes the
‘New Viennese School’ along with collaborators
Berg and Webern; Mahler too is active.

6. Symbolist
z e i t g e i s t
u n t o
Modernism:
Schönberg’s
S e c o n d
P e r i o d ,
1 9 0 8 - 1 5 .
Though there was
little direct influence,
there seems to have
b e e n a g e n e r a l
aesthetic zeitgeist of
modernism across
Europe. Parallel
musical proclivities
exercised at this time
resulted in similar
style artworks of
D e b u s s y ,
Schönberg, and
S k r y a b i n .

8. T h e c h r o m a t i c
octave employs
t w e l v e e q u a l
semitone pitches
( f r e q u e n c y o f
v i b r a t i o n
producing sound
waves). Tonality
imposes a tonic
pitch hierarchy.
S c h ö n b e r g ’ s
p a n t o n a l l y
‘ e g a l i t a r i a n ’
d o d e c a p h o n i c
method eliminates
key-discrimination,
l e n d i n g t h e
emancipation of
equal importance
to all twelve notes
( p i t c h e s ) .
In Schönberg’s
m e t h o d , a l l
twelve notes are
s o u n d e d i n a
sequence chosen
by the composer
as a tone row;
the primary tone
r o w i s t h e n
t r a n s f o r m e d
( d e v e l o p i n g
va r i a t i o n ) vi a
i n v e r s i o n ,
r e t r o g r a d e ,
r e t r o g r a d e
inversion, and
i n t e r v a l l i c
transposition:
the tone row is
t h e m u s i c ’ s
veritable ‘DNA’.
1 2 - t o n e

9. 1936-44: Schönberg holds a chair in
music at the University of California,
L o s A n g e l e s .
He continues assiduously writing
a n d c o m p o s i n g i n t h i s h i s
‘ A m e r i c a n P e r i o d ’ .