Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings

This paper aims to show how Arnold Schönberg's political views permeate his theoretical writings and to a lesser degree even his musical works. Scholars usually point to works such as Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte or A Survivor from Warsaw, when discussing Schönberg's political thinking. Only...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Noda Haruki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Akademija umetnosti Univerziteta u Novom Sadu 2020-01-01
Series:Zbornik Radova Akademije Umetnosti
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-8666/2020/2334-86662008073N.pdf
_version_ 1818401095062388736
author Noda Haruki
author_facet Noda Haruki
author_sort Noda Haruki
collection DOAJ
description This paper aims to show how Arnold Schönberg's political views permeate his theoretical writings and to a lesser degree even his musical works. Scholars usually point to works such as Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte or A Survivor from Warsaw, when discussing Schönberg's political thinking. Only seldom have scholars dealt with a more uncomfortable facet of this topic: Schönberg, for the longest time, was a convinced German nationalist. As late as 1931, ten years after the incident at Mattsee, he wrote Nationale Musik. In this short text, Schönberg tries to explain why German music is supposedly superior to that of other nations. In trying to prove his point, he uses many theoretical and analytical concepts, such as "Gedanke", "Gestalt", chromaticism, polyphony and homophony, "Themen und Sätze", "Variation und Variierung", etc. These terms and concepts are also continuously used in Schönberg's 'non-political' writings such as Harmonielehre (1911), Der musikalische Gedanke (1934-36) and Fundamentals of Composition (1937-48). This paper re-examines these texts critically and illustrates the cross-contamination between political beliefs and music theoretical thought within the writings of Schönberg.
first_indexed 2024-12-14T07:47:01Z
format Article
id doaj.art-aecb18c0931a4e06b60377e126d74f98
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2334-8666
2560-3108
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-14T07:47:01Z
publishDate 2020-01-01
publisher Akademija umetnosti Univerziteta u Novom Sadu
record_format Article
series Zbornik Radova Akademije Umetnosti
spelling doaj.art-aecb18c0931a4e06b60377e126d74f982022-12-21T23:10:52ZengAkademija umetnosti Univerziteta u Novom SaduZbornik Radova Akademije Umetnosti2334-86662560-31082020-01-012020873832334-86662008073NCross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writingsNoda Haruki0The University of Music and Performing Arts, The Institute of Musicology and Musical Performance, Vienna, AustriaThis paper aims to show how Arnold Schönberg's political views permeate his theoretical writings and to a lesser degree even his musical works. Scholars usually point to works such as Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte or A Survivor from Warsaw, when discussing Schönberg's political thinking. Only seldom have scholars dealt with a more uncomfortable facet of this topic: Schönberg, for the longest time, was a convinced German nationalist. As late as 1931, ten years after the incident at Mattsee, he wrote Nationale Musik. In this short text, Schönberg tries to explain why German music is supposedly superior to that of other nations. In trying to prove his point, he uses many theoretical and analytical concepts, such as "Gedanke", "Gestalt", chromaticism, polyphony and homophony, "Themen und Sätze", "Variation und Variierung", etc. These terms and concepts are also continuously used in Schönberg's 'non-political' writings such as Harmonielehre (1911), Der musikalische Gedanke (1934-36) and Fundamentals of Composition (1937-48). This paper re-examines these texts critically and illustrates the cross-contamination between political beliefs and music theoretical thought within the writings of Schönberg.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-8666/2020/2334-86662008073N.pdfschönbergnationalismpolyphonygedankegestalt
spellingShingle Noda Haruki
Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
Zbornik Radova Akademije Umetnosti
schönberg
nationalism
polyphony
gedanke
gestalt
title Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
title_full Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
title_fullStr Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
title_full_unstemmed Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
title_short Cross-contaminations: On Schönberg's political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
title_sort cross contaminations on schonberg s political beliefs and his music theoretical writings
topic schönberg
nationalism
polyphony
gedanke
gestalt
url https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-8666/2020/2334-86662008073N.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT nodaharuki crosscontaminationsonschonbergspoliticalbeliefsandhismusictheoreticalwritings