Schoenberg periods of Works
German composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), is widely considered to be the first atonal composer and the inventor of the 12-tone system. Schoenberg himself proclaimed that his music compositions were divided into three periods: Late Romanticism or
“expressionist” (1897-1908), Free Atonality (1908-1922), Twelve-tone and tonal works
(1922-1951). Schoenberg was not only a composer, but theorist, writer and teacher. His teaching career spanned five decades that included experiences in Vienna, Berlin, and the
University of California, Los Angels.!
!
Because his parents loved and practiced music, he was exposed to music very early in his life.
He started to learn the violin as a schoolboy and later moved over to the cello. Most of his achievements as a practical and theoretical musician was self-taught. Composer and friend
Alexander Zemlinsky taught Schoenberg counterpoint and introduced him to Brahms.
Beethoven, Strauss, Wagner and Brahms would be his influence for composition tonality and forms in his early works. !
!
Schoenberg started composing at the age of nine. He wrote music for himself to play, and with friends. The urge to write string quartets came from when he brought some Beethoven scores to look at with some of his friends, with whom he played with in a string quartet. One of those scores was the Grosse Fuge. He wrote for string quartet often in the 1890’s, but it was his
String Quartet in D major in 1897 that survived. It was also Schoenberg’s first important work to achieve public performance in 1898, it was well received by the public. Influences of Dvorak,
Brahms and Smetna can be heard in this four movement work. He used a three-note stepwise ascent as a starting from the tonic in several themes and it is a unifying factor. His use of thematic inversion at the start of the first movement’s development also characterizes his conscience emphasis on contrapuntal devices. The four movements are in the keys of D major,
F sharp
“expressionist” (1897-1908), Free Atonality (1908-1922), Twelve-tone and tonal works
(1922-1951). Schoenberg was not only a composer, but theorist, writer and teacher. His teaching career spanned five decades that included experiences in Vienna, Berlin, and the
University of California, Los Angels.!
!
Because his parents loved and practiced music, he was exposed to music very early in his life.
He started to learn the violin as a schoolboy and later moved over to the cello. Most of his achievements as a practical and theoretical musician was self-taught. Composer and friend
Alexander Zemlinsky taught Schoenberg counterpoint and introduced him to Brahms.
Beethoven, Strauss, Wagner and Brahms would be his influence for composition tonality and forms in his early works. !
!
Schoenberg started composing at the age of nine. He wrote music for himself to play, and with friends. The urge to write string quartets came from when he brought some Beethoven scores to look at with some of his friends, with whom he played with in a string quartet. One of those scores was the Grosse Fuge. He wrote for string quartet often in the 1890’s, but it was his
String Quartet in D major in 1897 that survived. It was also Schoenberg’s first important work to achieve public performance in 1898, it was well received by the public. Influences of Dvorak,
Brahms and Smetna can be heard in this four movement work. He used a three-note stepwise ascent as a starting from the tonic in several themes and it is a unifying factor. His use of thematic inversion at the start of the first movement’s development also characterizes his conscience emphasis on contrapuntal devices. The four movements are in the keys of D major,
F sharp