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- Title
Pierrot Lunaire as Lunar Nexus.
- Authors
Cherlin, Michael
- Abstract
My title is a pun on Stravinsky's characterisation of Pierrot Lunaire as the solar plexus of twentieth-century music. Given its place in the history of musical depictions of moonlight, I characterise Pierrot as the twentieth century's lunar nexus - a place of intersections among literary and musical depictions of moonlight in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first part of this essay is a survey and discussion of the musical topos of moonlight in German and Austrian nineteenth-century literature and music. I then discuss Schoenberg's depictions of moonlight in key works prior to Pierrot, including Verklärte Nacht, Gurre-Lieder, Pelleas und Melisande and Erwartung. The third section explores the depictions of moonlight developed across the 21 songs of Pierrot, with special focus on three: 'Mondestrunken', 'Eine blasse Wäscherin' and 'Der Mondfleck'.
- Subjects
ESSAYS; MOON light; 20TH century music; SOLAR plexus; SCHOENBERG, Arnold, 1874-1951; MUSIC &; literature
- Publication
Music Analysis, 2012, Vol 31, Issue 2, p176
- ISSN
0262-5245
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1468-2249.2012.00345.x