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- Title
Themes of Exile in the Music and Public and Private Writings of Arnold Schoenberg (1930-1945).
- Authors
Hooper, Lisa
- Abstract
The years from 1933 to 1945 frame a period not only of national, political, and religious exile for Arnold Schoenberg, but they also connote a time of exile from musical academia and the larger listening public. In understanding Schoenberg's exile we must begin with the intuitive composition of his dramatic opera Moses und Aron in 1930. This work not only foreshadowed Schoenberg's own political exile, first from Berlin, then from Vienna and finally from Germany, but it also becomes emblematic of Schoenberg's perception of himself working in the exile of a musical wasteland to give to the world an enlightened musical truth. This paper seeks to elucidate Schoenberg 'spsychological travels within, or without, society through an exploration of his public and private writings. Beginning with the prophetic composition of Moses und Aron in 1930, the unfolding of events leading to his political exile are followed through personal correspondences conducted between Schoenberg and other musicians. His arrival in New York and Boston in 1933 provided historiographers with a wealth of letters, articles, and radio addresses documenting both his reception by Americans and his reaction to this new musical arena. We find throughout his writings not only descriptions of exile imposed from the outside, but also of a self-imposed exile that was both lamented and exalted in Schoenberg's own understanding. Through these documents Schoenberg's gradual acceptance by society and a corresponding rejection of society by Schoenberg can be traced. In exile both imposed and self-created, Schoenberg adopted a Moses-like role. As Schoenberg himself described it, it was his duty to develop a new and lasting music which, according to Schoenberg, could be accomplished only from the musical wasteland in isolation and exile. It is precisely this created path to exile that this paper explores.
- Subjects
SCHOENBERG, Arnold, 1874-1951; MUSICIANS; EXILES' writings; MUSICAL composition; EXILES
- Publication
Amsterdamer Beiträge zur Neueren Germanistik, 2009, Vol 68, Issue 1, p265
- ISSN
0304-6257
- Publication type
Article