Chamber Music: An Essential History

11. Nationalism and Tradition: Schoenberg and the Austro-German Avant-Garde

eleven Nationalism and Tradition: Schoenberg and the Austro-German Avant-Garde Histories of music rarely speak of Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) as a nationalist or as a traditionalist; however, he was de‹nitive in asserting both his status as a German composer and as a continuation of the German musical heritage. Josef Rufer, who studied composition with Schoenberg and was his assistant at the Prussian Academy of Arts from 1925 until 1933, quotes an article by Schoenberg that begins with the statement: “Whenever I think about music, I never visualize . . . any other than German music .”1 When he formulated the precepts of serialism, Schoenberg told Rufer: “Today I succeeded in something by which I have assured the dominance of German music for the next century.”2 On another occasion, when seeking an appointment to teach composition, Schoenberg described himself as “an educated Brahmsian, Beethovenian, and Mozartian.”3 In his essay of 1931 entitled “National Music,” Schoenberg lists Bach and Mozart as primary in›uences and Beethoven, Brahms, and Wagner as secondary models.4 Schoenberg was deeply hurt when the president of the Prussian Academy , Max von Schillings, in accordance with National Socialist anti-Semitic policies, denounced Jewish faculty members. Schoenberg recoiled in pain, declaring to Anton Webern in a letter of 4 August 1933 that he had separated himself from whatever connections he had had with the Occident; however, his protestations were more rhetorical than realistic. Webern sent the letter to Alban Berg with the observation that “[Schoenberg] has shaken 209 me deeply. Even if I regard his departure from the Occident humanly as possible (I don’t believe it . . . ) there remains for me the unshakeable fact of his musical works, for which there is only one description: German.”5 Nationalism in Schoenberg’s music is demonstrated through his alliance with German musical traditions. At the precise moment when he ostensibly broke with that tradition, he took pains to demonstrate that on the contrary, he was maintaining and continuing that tradition; thus, in his ‹rst serial work, the Suite, Op. 25 (1923), he replaced the perfunctory designation Stück (piece), which he had often used to label earlier pieces, with highly indicative designations: Prelude, Gavotte, Musette, Menuett, and Gigue. Because he was a composer who valued his musical heritage, Schoenberg attached great signi‹cance to chamber music, as his output demonstrates . His principal chamber scores include an early String Quartet in D (1897); four additional works for that medium—Op. 7 (1905), Op. 10 (1908), Op. 30 (1927), Op. 37 (1936)—the string sextet Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (Trans‹gured night; 1899); Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, for ›ute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello, piano, and speaking voice reciting surrealist poems by Albert Giraud in German translation by Otto Erich Hartleben; the Serenade, Op. 24 (1923) for clarinet, bass clarinet, mandolin , guitar, violin, viola, cello, and bass voice; the Wind Quintet, Op. 26 (1924); the Suite, Op. 29 (1926) for two clarinets, bass clarinet, violin, viola , cello, and piano; Ode to Napoleon, Op. 41 (1945) for string quartet and reciter; the String Trio, Op. 45 (1946), and the Phantasy, Op. 47 (1949) for violin and piano.6 Verklärte Nacht has established an enduring place in the repertoire, and rightly so. The piece uses Wagnerian techniques of sequence and leitmotif to construct a tone poem in the manner of Strauss, albeit for chamber ensemble in this case. Schoenberg indicated on the title page of the manuscript that the piece is based on Richard Dehmel’s poem by the same title; however, the manuscript does not include the text of the poem. Similarly, when Schoenberg gave the score to Dreililien Verlag for publication, it was without the poem. Max Marschalk, the director of the ‹rm, had to write to the composer requesting the poem in order to include it with the published score. In early performances of the piece, programs did not include the poem either.7 The poem is in ‹ve stanzas of irregular length. Individual lines have variable numbers of syllables, and rhyme schemes are erratic. The third and ‹fth stanzas are the shortest, with four and three lines respectively. The ‹rst stanza amounts to a set design; the second lays bare the crux of 210 • chamber music the drama: a woman has become pregnant out of wedlock; she is uncertain how her present companion will respond; the third stanza is an interlude leading to...