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Anything Goes: Schoenberg and
Musical Expressionism
CHAPTERfi52
i. rejection of tonality, key
ii. highly dissonant, maximum tension
iii. eventual development of “twelve- tone”
method
C. Pierrot lunaire (Moonstruck Pierrot)
1. song cycle; Schoenberg’s atonal- Expressionist
period
2. poetry by Belgian writer Albert Giraud
a. Pierrot: poet- rascal- clown, parodied character
b. ele ments of macabre, bizarre
c. abrupt mood changes: guilt, depression,
atonement, playfulness
3. 21 texts, German translation
a. arranged in three groups of seven
b. each poem is a rondeau (15th century verse
form)
c. female vocalist and chamber ensemble
i. five players, eight instruments (piano, flute/
piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola,
cello)
ii. no repetition of instrument combinations
d. Sprechstimme: speechlike melody
e. Klangarbenmelodie: tone- color melody
i. each note of melody played by dif fer ent
instrument
ii. shifting effect, evokes moonbeams
D. LG 44: Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire, Part III,
No.18 The Mooneck (Der Mondeck) (1912)
1. voice with 5 instruments (piccolo, clarinet, violin,
cello, piano)
2. Pierrot is disturbed by white fleck on his black
jacket
3. contrapuntal techniques: fugue, canons
4. pointillistic, flickering instrumental effects
5. disjunct line (Sprechstimme), harshly dissonant
OUTLINE
I. The Emancipation of Dissonance
A. Dissonance became the norm
1. dissonance can serve as a final cadence
2. dissonance is relative
3. freed from need to resolve to consonance
II. Schoenberg and Atonality
A. Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951)
1. Viennese conductor, educator, highly influential
Expressionist composer
2. impor tant students: Alban Berg, Anton
Webern
3. WWI military ser vice, compositional silence
4. WWII emigrated to U.S.
a. faculty of USC and UCLA
b. 1940 became U.S. citizen
5. musical style: leader of con temporary thought
a. early works: post– Wagnerian Romanticism
b. second period: atonal Expressionism
c. third and last periods: twelve- tone technique
6. output: orchestral music, operas, choral music,
chamber music, piano music
B. Expressionism
1. fascination with the unconscious, depths of
human psyche
2. German movement initiated in poetry and
painting
a. painting: Edvard Munch
b. lit er a ture: Franz Kafka
3. musical language:
a. hyper- expressive harmonies
b. extraordinarily wide leaps in melody
c. instruments in extreme registers
d. creation of atonal music
Anything Goes: Schoenberg and Musical Expressionism | 217
TEACHING CHALLENGES
The music of Pierrot lunaire is likely to challenge the stan-
dards of your students’ musical taste. It might be helpful to
review the components of modernist art discussed in the Pre–
lude to Part 6 to better frame their perceptions of the music.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dunsby, Jonathan. Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1992. Provides a detailed background
and analy sis of Pierrot lunaire.
Frisch, Walter, ed. Schoenberg and His World. Prince ton, NJ:
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Seek out recordings of musicians who are currently attempting
MODEL RESPONSE
to the musical theater tradition is clear: he has acknowledged
the structural influence of works like Jesus Christ Superstar
OVERVIEW
Schoenberg’s Expressionist music is introduced here as an
early statement of twentieth- century musical modernism.
Schoenberg’s song cycle Pierrot lunaire is an example of his
atonal Expressionist style.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
3. To understand the Expressionist techniques of atonal–
ity, Sprechstimme, and Klangfarbenmelodie explored
in Pierrot lunaire
nance and consonance play in these dif fer ent excerpts.
2. Show examples of Schoenberg’s visual artwork for your
class while playing excerpts from Pierrot lunaire. Ask
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Read the text of Giraud’s poem The Mooneck from Pier–
2. Compare the effects of Sprechstimme to those of the
standard vocal style employed by singers of opera and
