It is composed of classical four movements, the first two in tonality while the last two in atonality. It is also a remarkable and unique point that, in the last two movements, he has employed soprano solo to sing the poem by Stefan George.
He has stepped into atonal dodecaphony with this string quartet. It is a real epoch making piece in the history of modern music. This technique of composition has exerted much influence on the composers in 20th century and there after.
It is he has married to a sister of Zemlinsky named Matilda. Zemlinsky was a composition teacher whom he had lesson on counterpoint for several months. It is amazing it was the only professional training for composition he had had in his life. What a genius!
Matilda has had an affair with a young painter and left for him for a while. Nothing is easy to imagine what shock Schoenberg has had at this event. In the beginning of this quartet we could hear a motif of his moaning with sorrow possibly reflecting his experience with Matilda. This motif is repeated a few times until it lastly appear in the beginning of the 3rd movement titled Litanei. The poem soprano sings in that movement is to ardently ask for personal relief from sadness in life. Emotion of grief in his mind might require a new music genre which should overcome the limit of late romanticism. That is what I felt and interpreted this work. Following his life in this way, I guess it is possible for us to understand the reason why Schoenberg has stepped into this new genre of expression.
Either this explanation is right or not, this piece is a really historical work by a genius. I must confess it is not easy for me to be indulged myself in this genre of atonality. This piece makes me, however, feel closer to it.
It is he has married to a sister of Zemlinsky named Matilda. Zemlinsky was a composition teacher whom he had lesson on counterpoint for several months. It is amazing it was the only professional training for composition he had had in his life. What a genius!
Matilda has had an affair with a young painter and left for him for a while. Nothing is easy to imagine what shock Schoenberg has had at this event. In the beginning of this quartet we could hear a motif of his moaning with sorrow possibly reflecting his experience with Matilda. This motif is repeated a few times until it lastly appear in the beginning of the 3rd movement titled Litanei. The poem soprano sings in that movement is to ardently ask for personal relief from sadness in life. Emotion of grief in his mind might require a new music genre which should overcome the limit of late romanticism. That is what I felt and interpreted this work. Following his life in this way, I guess it is possible for us to understand the reason why Schoenberg has stepped into this new genre of expression.
Either this explanation is right or not, this piece is a really historical work by a genius. I must confess it is not easy for me to be indulged myself in this genre of atonality. This piece makes me, however, feel closer to it.
This performance by Juliard String Quartet is almost aggressive. A great performance in fact. Some people wonder why they have not re-recorded this piece after this one. I bet they thought they had done the best in this performance and had no room to record it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment