Analysis - Schoenberg - Chamber Symphony

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Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 123 (1998) © Royal Musical Association

The 'Skeleton in Schoenberg's

Musical Closet': The Chequered

Compositional History of

Schoenberg's Second Chamber

Symphony

CATHERINE DALE

REFLECTING on the co m po sitio n of his First C ha m be r Sym pho ny, op . 9,

in the essay 'How One Becomes Lonely' (1937), Schoenberg wrote:

I had enjoyed so much pleasure during the composing, everything had gone

so easily and seem ed to be so convincing, that I was sure the au dien ce would

react spontaneously to the melodies and to the moods and would find this

music to be as beautiful as I felt it to be.

But, he continued in the same essay, ' i t was not only the expectation of

success which filled m e with joy. It was an oth er a nd a mo re im po rta nt

matter, I believed I had now found my own personal style of compos-

ing',

1

and he reaffirmed this view 11 years later in the essay 'On Revient

To ujours': 'Now I have established my style I know now how I have to

compose. '

2

He immediately sought to capitalize on this style and began

a second Ch am ber Sym phony on 1 August 1906, only one m on th after

completing the first. By the autumn of 1907 he had produced a still frag-

mentary continuous draft in short score of bars 1-143 and 166-251 which

is retaine d a lmost intact in the final version, with the exc eption of some

mo difications in the orchestration and a few m ino r revisions in the in ne r

parts. In spite of his initial enthusiasm for the project, however,

Schoenberg found himself unable to complete this or any other large-

scale work for two years, and although he had begun to copy a full score

he had laid this aside in August 1908, shortly after the completion of

the Second String Quartet .

The comp osit ional history of the Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op. 38,

is thus bound up with at least four phases in Schoenberg's development:

its con ception and fragmentary working out in 1 906-8, two further abor-

tive attem pts to com plete it in 1911 and 1916, and its com pletio n in 1939.

In the 1906-8 phase, however, the tonal beginnings of the Second

Chamber Symphony lay at a tangent to Schoenberg's atonal preoccupa-

tions, and from the winter of 1906-7 its composition was largely sup-

planted by that of several other works,_notably the beginnings of

' Arnold Schoenberg,

Style and

Idea, ed Leon ard Stein (London, 1975), 30 -53 (p 49)

*

Ibid.,

108-10 (p 109)



THE SKELETON IN SCHOENBERG'S MUSICAL CLOSET 6 9

several songs to verses by Dehmel, C. F. Meyer, Goethe and Hermann

Lons, sketches for a chorus

Des Fnedens Ende (The End of Peace)

to a text

by Got t f r ied Kel ler , 50 bars of

Kennst du das

Land,

wo die Zitronen bliihn?

(Know'st thou the land where the citrons

bloom?), four pages o f ske t ches fo r

an opera based on Gerhard Hauptmann 's

Und Pippa tanzt,

the Second

String Q ua rtet, o p. 10 (Stefan George), begu n o n 9 March 1907, the T wo

Ballads 'Jane Grey' (Heinrich Ammann) and 'Der verlorene Haufen'

(Viktor Klemperer), op. 12 (1907), the chorus

Friede auf Erden,

op. 13

(C.

F. Meyer), completed in March 1907, trie Two Songs 'Ich darf nicht

da nk en d' and 'In diesen W intertagen' , op. 14 (1907-8), and some of the

songs from

Das Buck der hangenden Garten,

o p. 15 (Stefan Geo rge), begun

in M arch 1908. It was inde ed the language of these works an d particularly

that of the Second String Quartet and the op. 14 songs that spoke for

Schoenberg now and demanded to be followed up. Table 1 il lustrates

the way in which the sketches for the Second Chamber Symphony in-

teract chronologically with those for several of these works in Sketchbook

III.

3

Th e precise mean s by wh icrrSchoenb erg arrived at atonality have been

described in numerous ways in the critical literature, ranging from a shift

from harmonic progression to voice-leading by Edward Cone

4

to an in-

creasing consciousness of pitch-class set structure on the part of the com-

poser, particularly through the discovery of the musicar counterpart of

his signature, the six-note set El?, C, B, Bb, E, G, by Allen Forte.

5

Sch oenb erg himself m ainta ined that i t was an intuitive process tha t

occurred directly under the influence of the poetry of Stefan George,

and he wrote in 'How One Becomes Lonely':

I had started a second Katnmersymphonie But after having composed almost

two mo vem ents, that is, ab ou t half of the whole work, I was insp ired by poe m s

of Stefan George, the German poet, to compose music to some of his poems

and, surprisingly, without any expectation on my part, these songs showed

a style qu ite different from every thing I had w ritten before An d this was only

the first step on a new path , but on e beset with th or ns It was the first step

towards a style which has since been called the style of 'atonality'.

6

In comparison with the works in which Schoenberg embarked upon

this new path towards atonality, the 'established style' of the Second

Chamber Symphony indeed seems regressive within the context of

' Sketchbook III was begun in April 1906 and o riginally belonged to the legacy which was

in the possession of Schoenberg's widow, Gertrud, together with all musical and literary

man uscripts in Scho enberg's own handw riting (including first drafts and fair copies), sketches,

sketchbooks and all paintings an d draw ings unless anoth er ow ner is specified (see Josef Rufer,

The Works of Arnold

Schoenberg'

A

Catalogue

of his Com positions, Writings and Paintings, tran s Dika

Newlin, London, 1962) It is currently housed at the Arnold Schonberg C enter, Vienna, to which

grateful thanks are due for the loan of all sketch m aterial The sketchbook is boun d in a black

cover with the inscription 'Skizzen' and consists of 175 num bered pages in oblo ng format,

19 x 36 5 cm, which have been written on u p to p 132, between p p. 139 and 156 eight leaves

have been cut out Where dates of sketches are available they are given in Table 1

4

Edward T Cone, 'Sound and Syntax An Introduction to Schoenberg's Harmony', Perspec-

tives of New Music, 13 (1974), 21-4 0

5

Allen Forte , 'Scho enbe rg 's Creative Evolution Th e Path to Atonality ' ,

Musical Qu arterly,

64

(1978), 133-76

6

Sc h o e n b e r g , Style and Idea, 30 -5 3 (p 49)



7 0 CATIIhRINh DALF

TABLE 1

PRINCIPAL CONTENTS OF SKETCHBOOK III

pages contents date

32 o p. 38/1, sketches 1 Aug ust 1906

33 op 38/1, co ntin ua tion of sketches with the no te 14 Aug ust 1906

'ange fang en 14.8.1906 in R ottach '

38 -9 op . 38/1, draft of bars 1-57

42-5 Und Pippa tanzt (Gerhard Ha uptm ann)

56 op. 10/11, sketches

57 op . 10/1, sketches 9 M arch 1907

58 ,

71 op p 12 an d 14, first drafts

74 -5 op 10/1, draft of bars 17-84

76 op . 38/1, co ntin ua tio n of sketches 8 July 1907

77-9 op 38/1, draft of bars 57 -14 3

80-5 op 38/11, drafts of bars 3-41, 43-55,

53-158, 86-105

86 op 10/11, sketches

87-8 op 38/11, sketches

90-2 op . 10/1, drafts of bars 143 -5, 159 -end 1 Se ptem ber 1907

93 op. 10/11, sketches

94 -5 op 10/II, drafts of bars 53 -62 , 65-9 4

96 op 10/11, sketches; op 10/111 (?), pa rti al dra ft in

Eb minor

97 op 10/11, sketches

99-101 op 10/11, drafts of bars 1-52, 98- 13 2, 16 0-76

103 o p p 12 an d 14, first drafts

105 op . 10/IV, sketch es

106 op. 10/111, partial draft with a Bb major key

signature

108 op.

10/111,

sketches

109 op. 10/111, draft of bars 1-25

110-11 op. 10/111, sketches; op. 10/11, drafts of bars

132-60, 177-99

113-15 op. 10/11, draft of bars 20 0- en d 27 July 1908

116 op. 38/11, con tinua tion to bar 257 23 No vem ber 1911

'Fortsetzung der II Kammersinfonie angefangen

am 23./11.1911' ( 'continuation of the Seco nd

Chamber Symphony begun on 23 November

1911')

118 op . 38, 'Fortsetzung beg onn en am 6./XII.1916' 6 De cem ber 1916

('continu ation begun on 6 D ecem ber 1916')

119 A slip of pa pe r pasted to p 119 con tains the

beginning of a text for the Second Chamber

Symphony (recitation) with the title Wendepunkt

[Turning Point], Orchesterwerk von Arnold Schonberg



Ti l l - SKhLKTON IN SCMOKNBKRGS MUSICAL C1X5SFT 7 1

Schoenberg's development, particularly in view of its ternary-form first

movement and sonata-form second, and Christ ian Schmidt observes in

the Preface to the Philharmonia score:

O p. 9 opened up new paths: its harmony, with its extremely tight-knit rela-

tion to the motivic-thematic occurrences, thrusts out to the very limits of the

tonal system. In this respect the Second Chamber Symphony represents a

regression neith er can its harm ony be rega rded as a further step towards the

dissolution of tonality, nor are its harmonic formations so organically rooted

in the structure of the musical substance as is the case in Op. 9.

7

The Second Chamber Symphony, in contrast to the First, accepts its terms

of tonal reference rather than constantly seeking to overthrow them, but

although i ts rate of harmonic change appears slower and i ts harmonic

language more conservative than those of op. 9 as a result of its more

lyrical, ho m op ho nic style, the dissona nce in this work results not so much

from the use of convention ally d isso nan t intervals (as was the case with

the who le tone s and fourths of op. 9), althou gh these do exist, or from

a proliferation of appoggiaturas and suspensions with delayed resolu-

tions, as from the jux tapo sition of distantly related ton al triads mo dified

by dissonant addit ions and arrived at by means of uncompromising

semitone movement in the parts. This conjunction of triadic forms is

similar in princ iple to Bruckn er's jux tapo sition of entire p hrases in tonal

areas that would normally require considerable preparation and l ink-

ing. In S cho enb erg, how ever, it is telescoped to form a vocabulary of ad-

jace nt cho rds exemplified by the them e in bars 62-7 of the first movem ent,

in which the movement of the parts by step leads away from and returns

to a C major triad, followed by A major and a seventh chord on C in

third inversion, as shown in Example 1.

This sem itone voice-leading had tend ed to give rise in the First Ch am ber

Sym phony to the fourth chords that featured so prom inently in this earlier

work and now constituted an integral element of the 'settled style' that

Schoenberg wished to maintain in his Second Chamber Symphony. Con-

trary to Schmidt 's assert ion that the work's 'harmonic formations' are

not so 'organically rooted in the structure of the musical substance as

is the case in Op. 9', however, both the perfect fourths (together with

their inversion to the perfect fifth) and the semitone steps are in fact

projected in both a horizontal and a vertical dimension. Indeed, Klaus

Velten maintains that 'while the fifth leap stresses the tonic and thereby

suggests the tonality, the chromatic step oversteps the tonal boun-

daries',

8

and the opening theme (bars 1-11), shown in Example 2,

de m on strate s its deriv ation from these two intervals, the p erfect fifth (a)

and the m ino r second (b). Th e third statem en t of the perfect fifth is con-

tracted to the perfect fourth (c) in bar 4 an d is succeeded by the sem itone

e\>'-f\>'.

The direction of the semitone (b) is reversed on the final beat

of bar 3, w here it is followed by the perfec t fou rth. T he des cen din g form

of the semitone is designated as '(£>)' in Example 2. This three-note

' Schoenberg, //

Kammersymphonie,

op

38, ed Christian M Schmidt, Philharm onia score No

461 (Vienna, 1952), 3-11 (p 6)

9

Klaus Velten,

Schbnbergs

Instrumentation

Bachscher

und

Brahmsscher Werke

al s

Dokumente

semes

Traditions

Verstandnisses

(Regensb urg, 1975), 91 .



72

CATHERINE DALE

Exam ple 1. Sch oenb erg, Second C ham ber Symph ony, op . 38/1, bars

62-7 .

62 H

Exam ple 2. Sch oenb erg, Secon d Cha m ber Sym phony, op . 38/1, bars

1-11.

Adagio

. | 1 ^Z Z

h I ~1

- (J)

J L

(c)J

•

v r

— ( a ) -

(*)-



TH E 'SKELETON IN SCHOENBKRG'S MUSICAL CL OS ET 73

figure

(b)-(c)

becom es an ind ep en de nt motive: the initial chrom atic des-

cent is protracted through two descending semitones

(b)

in bars 4-5; i t

is restated in bars 5-6 and then again in bars 6-7, where the perfect fourth

is ex pa nd ed to a m ino r sixth (d). Th e m ino r sixth (d) is de tach ed from

the complete motive in bars 7-8, where it is subdivided" by the semitone

d\ -c% .

This three-note cell thus creates a contracted form of the

preceding motive in bars 6-7 which serves to restore the original inter-

val, the perfect fifth (a), in bar 8. The vertical projection of these ho rizonta l

motivic forms is expressed throughout the opening paragraph. These

11 bars form th ree co m plem entary pairs of phrases in which the second

of each pair unfolds by means of the successive reinterpretation of the

harmonic and motivic material of the first in such a way as to lead to

a new harmonic area a tone or a semitone away from its predecessor.

The root relationships between the chords thus reflect the motivic iden-

tity of the se m itone (b), rising from Ab m ino r to A m ino r in b ar 1 an d

co nti nu ing to a half-diminished seventh ch ord on Bb in bar 3. T he first

ph rase of the second p air retu rns to A m ino r in bar 5 and its transfor-

mation in bars 5-7 unfolds a semitone bass progression clj-cb-.BlJ-.8li,

reac hing a chord of B m ino r in bar 7. Th e final pair of phrase s liquidates

the ma terial and leads towa rds the final cadence. Beg inning in B mino r,

it moves through the related keys of Fit minor and D major in bars 8

an d 9; th e /S ' of the D major cho rd is rein terp rete d enha rm onically as

g\>'

in bar 9 be ne ath w hich the Bb half-diminished seventh ch ord from

bar 3 returns . T hi sg b ' resolves t o / ' , which forms p ar t of a dom inan t

chord in bar 10 and leads to the final cadenc e in the tonic key, Eb mino r,

in bar 11.

In the Second Cha mb er Sym phony there are n on e of the six-part fourth

chords of the type that occur in the First, and neither do the quartal

elements function as self-sufficient referential sonorities. Rather, in the

passages that date from 190 6-8 they resolve consistently to ton al triad s,

often serving as dominant substitutes or appoggiaturas onto dominant

cho rds. They nevertheless contin ue to function as a me ans of articulating

,the principal structural divisions and new thema tic statem ents in the work,

although not as consistently as in op. 9.

The first statement of the fourths occurs harmonically in bar 9 in the

ap pr oa ch to the cade nce in Eb m ino r that articulates th e end of the first

the m e and the start of the se cond iri^bar 11. Th e ch ord consists of

d\>'

and

a\>

in the violas be nea th the flute gi»', which serves as an ap po gg iatu ra

on to t h e / ' of the dom inan t chord in bar 10. The fact that it is under-

pinned by a

b\>

root indicates i ts function as a dominant substitute and

demonstrates that the quartal elements are merely dissonant additions

to a functional triad (see Example 3).

The fourths are exploited at three further junc tures in the 1906-8 draft

as a means of articulating the form. In bar 22 (see Example 4) they mark

the progression from the second to the third theme

(B\>-e\> -ab/ab',

$'Ifi*

' -(d\>')),

but again the final

B\>

in the cello, although motivic in its

derivation, indicates the dom ina nt function of the chord . In bar 35 (see

Example 5) the fourths

e\le\'-a\-d\ I6\' -g\'lg\

punctuate the return

of the second theme, and in bar 47 (see Example 6) the same chord



74 CATHhRINh DALK

Exam ple 3. Sch oenb erg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op. 38/1, bars

9-10.

9=f

Vcs.,

Cbs. [,

>

Example 4. Schoenbe rg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op. 38/1, bar 22.

22

„

H r n l

Vc.

I (theme 2)

Example 5. Schoe nberg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op . 38/1, bar 35.

V l n l

A A A

H r n l

Via

Exam ple 6. Sch oenb erg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op . 38/1, bars

47-8.

Vc.n

Cbs.



T l l h 'SKKLCTON IN SCHOKN BKRGS MUSICAL CLO SKT

75

articulates the co detta, prog ressing by step to an Eb m ino r triad . In both

instances the resolution of the fourth chords onto tonic triads emphasizes

their function as dominant substitutes. As in bars 1-11 (see Example 2

above), the fourths are integrated into the motivic substance of the move-

m ent throu gh their l inear and harm onic p rojection in bars 18 and 43.

In bar 18 (see Example 7) the fourths complex

ab-d\>-g\>-c\>'

-j\> reflects

the melodic fourths/b"-cb", b\>'-fl\' in violins I and resolves by semitone

step onto a dominant chord in first inversion. In bar 43 the motive is

exten ded and the chord progresses by sem itone m otion to a first-inversion

triad of C major on the final quaver of the bar, as shown in Example 8.

Exam ple 7. Schoen berg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op .

38/1,

bar 18.

18

Exam ple 8. Schoenb erg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op . 38/1, bar 43.

The musical and emotional conditions that obtained in 1908 impelled

Sch oen berg in a directio n that led him away from the language of triadic

tonality into the atonal world of his second period. The sketches of the

first draft indicate clearly the precise points at which Schoenberg, unable

to reconcile the style of the work with his current preoccupations, laid

it aside to await a solution only in the 1939 phase of composition. Sketch

1298b, transcrib ed in Examp le 9, shows Scho enb erg h alt ing on a dom i-

na nt seventh in Eb m ino r in b ar 140; bars 141-3, a l though marked out

in the sketch, remain blank, however, only to be completed in the full

draft to b ar 145 in sketch 1257 (see Figu re 1). In the la tter sketch

Sch oen berg con tinue s with a restatem ent of the first five bars of the first

theme combined in counterpoint with i tself in clarinets and bassoons

and the opening motive of the second theme in oboe I. In these bars

Scho enberg ap pea rs to be beginning a full restatem ent of the them e, but

as the rep rise has already occurred in trum pe t I in bar 9 5 he clearly wished

to avoid a further restatement and broke off in bar 145 with the note



76

CATHhRIN* DALK

Exam ple 9. Scho enberg , Second C ham ber Symp hony, op . 38/1, bars

138-43;

transcription of sketch 1298b,

Sdmtliche Werke,

IV, Series B, xi/2,

ed. Schmidt, 170.

133

139 14

141 142 143

Fl.l

Col t

f

C l s {

W/Fg.

Figure 1. Schoenberg, Second Chamber Symphony, op. 38/1, sketch 1257,

bars 141-5.



TIIK 'SKELETON

IN

SCHOENBERG'S MUSICAL CLOSK T

/ /

'there follow m s. 146 -165' and a calculation of the timing as 7 ' 3 0" . W hen

Schoenberg resumed work on the Second Chamber Symphony in 1939,

the bars that date from this period becam e much m ore fragmentary and

contained a larger incidence of dissonance and pointillist interjections.

Lacking a solution to these specific prob lem s in 1906=8, however, the

work rem aine d 'a disturb ing skeleton in Schoenbe rg's musical closet' for

some three decades.

9

For the time being the increasing pressure

towards atonality led him to regard composition as a duty rather than

a pleasure, and he maintained in an interview with Merle Armitage:

I was content as I wrote in the period of the Chamber Symphony . .. Then

to compose was a great pleasure. In a later time it was a duty against myself.

It was not a question of pleasure. I have a mission - a task . . I am but the

loudspeaker of an idea.

10

On 12 Dece mb er 1916, however, Sch oenb erg declared his inte ntio n

to resume work on the Chamber Symphony in a letter to his friend and

former teacher, Alexander von Zemlinsky:

I have decided to complete my Second Chamber Symphony, which I began

in 1907 and which has been untouched up till now. Two movements have

been written one is complete with the exception of the final bars and the

other is half-finished. I shall merge these into

one

movement. This is the first

part, because I plan a second part but it is still possible that I shall aban-

don this plan."

Schoenberg evidently did abandon it, for there is no suggestion in the

sketches of an attempt either to fuse the first two movements into one

or to write a second part. He continued in the same letter: 'I shall not

compose the work for solo instruments but shall immediately write an

entirely new score for (medium-size)

orchestra.

. .. I ho pe to comp lete [the

work] in a few d ays - if no th in g gets in th e way '

12

Schoenberg's pro-

jected 'few days' turned into 23 years, however, for it was not until 21

October 1939 that the Second Chamber Symphony was finally completed.

So precisely what were the circumstances that prevented its completion

in 1911 and 1916? What, in Schoenberg's words, 'got in the way'?

9

Glenn Gould, record notes for Schoenberg Works (conducted by Pierre Boulez), CBS

Masterworks 79349 (1982)

10

Arnold Schoenberg, 'Affirmations', cited in

Schoenberg,

ed Merle Armitage (New York,

1977),

251-2

" Arnold Sch oenberg, letter to Alexande r von Zemlinsky dated 12 December 1916 The

original German, c ited below, is given in Zemhnsky's

Bneftoechsel

mil

Schonberg,

Webern, B erg und

Schreker, ed Horst Weber (Darmstadt, 1995), 158-9, and is translated here by the present author

'Ich habe mich entschlossen, meine II Kam mersymph onie, die ich 1907 (I) angefangen habe

und die b isjetzt liegen gebh eben ist fertig zu machen Es sind 2 Satze da Der eine fertig bis

auf die SchluBtakte, der an de re zur Halfte fertig Die verschmelze ich zu einem Satz. Das ist der

erste Teil Ich plane namhch einen 2 Teil aber es ist moghch, daB ich den doch nicht

mache.'

11

Schoenberg, letter to A lexander von Zemlinsky dated 12 December 1916. Th e o riginal

German is given ibid, 159-60, and is translated here by the present auth or 'Ich werde abe r

das Stuck

nicht

fur Solo-Instrumente schreiben, sondern sofort eine ganz neue Partitur fur

(mittelgroBes) Orchester schre iben Mit der II hoffe ich in wenigen Tagen fertig zu sein -

wenn nichts dazwischen kommt

1

' Schoenberg's reference to the initial conception of the work

for solo instruments emphasizes the relationship between the

1906

draft of the Second Cham ber

Symphony and the First Chamber Symphony, op 9. To the 15 solo instruments of the latter

he added a second flute, a second viola, a second cello and a double bassoon



7 8 CATIIFRINl' DAI-h

The harmonic problems that obtained in 1911, although different in

kind, were not so in degree from those of the crisis years of 1906-8, and

by 1916 they had found no real solution either. By 1911 the language

of post-Wagnerian chromaticism in which the Second Chamber Sym-

phony was conceived had become a 'petrified symbol of feeling ',

n

a moribund gesture from a bankrupt past, and the only possible alter-

native, it seemed to Schoenberg at that time, was atonality. Schoenberg

having freed himself from the shackles of diatonic tonality, his creativity

rose to prolific dimensions in 1909 with the completion of the song Am

Strande on 28

F e b r u a r y ,

Das Buck der hdngenden Garten, op. 15, on 28

F e b r u a r y ,

the

T h r e e P i a n o P i e c e s ,

op.

1 1 ,

in

F e b r u a r y

and

A u g u s t ,

the

Five P ieces

for

O r c h e s t r a ,

op. 16,

b e tw e e n J u n e

and

A u g u s t ,

and th e

m o n o d r a m a

Erwartung,

op. 17,

in a

m ere 17 days be tw een

27

A u g u s t a n d

12 S e p t e m b e r , a l t h o u g h

the

full s co re

of the

w o r k

was not

c o m p l e t e d

unt i l 4 O ctob er . T he in tense em ot io na l fee l ing an d a tona l , a the m at ic s ty le

of

the

l a t t e r work

had led

S c h o e n b e r g i n t o

a

co m po s i t i o na l cu l-de- sac ,

h o w e v e r ;

its

e x p r e s s i o n i s t l a n g u a g e p r o v i d e d o n l y

a

t e m p o r a r y s o l u ti o n

to a speci fi c a r ti s ti c p rob le m tha t Sch oen be rg would have found imposs i-

ble

to

r e p e a t .

No

crea to r can deve lop by draw ing exclusively

on

t he d ep ths

of his

own

s u b c o n s c i o u s ,

and in th e

de ca de th a t fo l lowed

the

c o m p o s i -

t ion

of

Erw artung

S c h o e n b e r g c o n s c i o u s l y s o u g h t

to

w i t h d r a w f ro m

the

c o n f i n e s

of

p e r s o n a l f e e li n g .

A s

if to

e n c a p s u l a t e

the

c r e a t iv e d i l e m m a

in

w h i c h

he

f o u n d h i m s e l f

w h e n

he

r e s u m e d w o r k

on th e

S e c o n d C h a m b e r S y m p h o n y , S c h o e n b e r g

c o n s i d e r e d c o m p l e t i n g t h e w o r k

as a

m e l o d r a m a b a se d

on a

s p o k e n t e x t

e n t i t l e d ' W e n d e p u n k t ' ( T u r n i n g P o i n t ' ) w h i c h is q u o t e d b e lo w .

1 4

Text

zur II

Kammersymphonie

(Melodram) Titel 'W end epu nk t ' Orchesterwe rk

v AS

Auf diesem Weg weiterzugehen

war

mch t moglich.

Ein Lichtstrahl hatte eine Trauer sowohl allgemeiner,

als

auch besonderer Natur erhellt . Abhangend [von der Laune] mcht

n ur von lhrer [seiner inneren ] Ko nstitution, sond ern auch von den

Launen auBerer Zu[GIucks]falle, kann eine Seele gegen

den

Gliicksfall sich sowenig unempfindlich verhalten,

wie

vorher

gegen

das

Ungluck.

[und

antw ortet ln/m it/einem zunach st]

In plotzlichem Umschlag antwortet

sie mit

[eine r] frohlichem

[Beschwingtheit]

Behagen, erhebt sich dann

mit

machtigem Aufschwung,

t raumt

von

seligen Erfullung en, sieht sich

als

Sieger,

sturmt weiter, fuhlt lhre [seine] Kraft immer mehr wachsen, und

sammelt,

lm Wahn eine Welt besitzen [erobern]

zu

konnen ,

die sie

schon

fur die lhre halt, alles was in lhrer Fahigkeit liegt, um

in einem machtigen Anlauf eine l ibenrdische Hohe

zu

erreichen.

" Donald Mitchell, TTie Language of Modern Music (London, 1963),

71

14

Passages that have been crossed out are placed

in

square brackets

'Text

for

the Second'Chamber Symphony

(Melodrama Title 'Turning Point' Orchestral Work

by

AS

To continue further along this path was not possible

A ray of light had lit up a sadness of both a general



THK SKhU.TON IN SCHOKN'BKRGS MUSICAL CLOShT 79

Was notwendigerweise geschehen muBte, besorgt der Zufall:

wie die ang esam m elte Kraft au sbre che n soil, versagt sie;

ein kleines aber hinterlistiges Ereignis

- ein

Staubchen

lm

Uhrwerk

- ist

imstande, sie an lhrer Entfaltung zu h indern .

Dem Zusammenbruch folgt Verzweiflung, danach die Trauer . Sie ist

erst [allgemeiner]

[wieder allgemeiner und besond rer Natur . Dann auch besond]

besondrer , dann auch al lgemeiner Natur Vom auBeren

Ereignis ausgehend glaubt die Seele [lhren Ab] den Grund zuerst

in diesem zu l inden, sucht ihn dann in ihrer Konstitution

Das ist die eigentliche Vollendung dieses [des] Zusamm enbruchs. Aber

das bedeutet kein Ende,

ist lm

G egenteil

ein

Anfang,

ein

neuer

Weg

zum

Heil zeigt sich,

der

einzige,

der

ewige.

Ihn

zu finden war der Zweck alles vorhengen Erlebens.

Although this text is mo st frequently associated w ith the 1916 phase of

composit ion owing to the fact that this is the latest date of com posit ion

that precedes it in the sketchbook, the folio on which the text is written

(118

1

-

4

),

like f. 118

5

-

8

, has been inserted and, since parts of the music on

these sheets date unquestionably from 1911, it is possible that the text

may also have been written before 1916.^ It begins with the symbolic

words 'To co ntin ue further along this path was

not

possible',

and it

charts

the progression of the soul from sadness throug h c on tentm en t to despair

and sorrow. The cause of this sorrow d oes not lie in external p henom ena,

however,

but

w ithin

the

soul itself,

and may be

perceived

not as an end

but as

a

new beginning,

a

means

of

salvation, towards w hich all p revious

experience

was

directed.

The impossibility

for

Schoenberg

of

con tinuin g further along his

par-

ticular path

was

apparen t

not

only

in the

case

of

the Second Cham ber

and a particular kind Dependent [on whim] not

only on its [inner] constitution, but also on the

whims of external coincidences [strokes of good fortune], a soul can

respond to the stroke of good fortune with no less sensitivity than

it did previously to misfortune [and responds in/with/an initially]

In a sudden reversal it answers with [a) cheerful [elation]

contentment, then rises with a mighty, soaring movement,

dreams of blessed fulfilments, sees itself as victor,

rushes on, feels its [its] power grow more and more, and,

in the illusion that it can possess [conquer] a whole world, which it already

considers its own, gathers together all that lies within its capability, to

reach a heavenly height in one mighty charge

Chance provides what ought to come about through necessity

just when the accumulated power should burst forth it fails,

a small but perfidious incident - a speck of dust in the clockwork - is capable of

hindering its development

After the collapse comes despair, then sorrow The sorrow is first [of a general]

[again of a general and particular kind Then also panic]

of a particular, then also of a general kind. Starting from

the external incident, the soul first believes the cause [its abyss]

lies there, then seeks it in its own constitution

That is the real completion of this [the] collapse. But that

does not mean an end, it is on the contrary a beginning, a new

way to salvation appears, the only, the eternal way To find this

was the purpose of all previous experience

15

See Arno ld Schonberg ,

Sdmlliche Werke, IV. Orchesterwerke Kammersymphonien,

Series B,

xi/2,

ed Christian M Schmidt (Vienna, 1979), 202.



8 0 CATHERINE DALL

Symphony, but also

in

the fact that his only com pleted original composi-

tion

in the

period between

the

complet ion

of

Pierrot lunaire

in

1912

and

Die eiserne

Brigade,

a

spoof m arch

for

piano quintet,

in

1916 was the Fo ur

Orchestral Songs, op. 22 (1913-16),

a

work

of a

mere ten-minutes' dura-

tion which had taken Sch oen berg almost four years to complete . Its

lengthy compositional history, like that

of the

Second Ch am ber Sym-

pho ny, testifies

to

the obvious difficulties Sc hoe nbe rg was exp erie nc ing

at this tim e and should be com pare d with the rapid rate at which he had

composed

the

30-minute

Erwartung

u n d e r

the

influence

of a

kind

of

' s t reamof-consciousness ' outpouring

of

spo ntan eou s creativity. Ap art

from op. 22, the only other works of this per iod rem ain incomp lete or

are arran gem ents of works by oth er com posers; they include

an

unfinished

symphony

for

soli, chorus

and

orchestra (1912-14), arrangements

for

voice and orchestra of Carl Lowe's

Der

Nock, Beethoven's

Adelaide

and

three songs

by

Schubert,

and an

a r r angemen t

for

cello

and

p iano

of

G. M.

M onn's Cello Co ncerto

in G

m inor with

a

cadenza

by

Schoenberg.

The period between 1916

and the

emergence

of

the first serial works

in 1923

was

marked

by a

similar dearth

of

original compositions,

and

Schoenberg occupied himself instead with arrangements of his own

works

16

and

those

by

other comp osers, including Jo ha nn Strauss,

Schubert, Busoni

and

Bach. The only original comp ositions datin g from

this period were a handful of short or incom plete works written for special

occasions, such as the

Weihnachtsmusik

for

two violins, cello, ha rm on ium

and piano (1921); Schoenberg's major project, the oratorio

DieJakobsleiter,

was left unfinished in 1922 and was resumed only later in 1944, when

it still remained incomplete

Schoenberg's failure

to

bring w orks

to

com plet ion

in

this pe riod may

not have been entirely due

to

mu sical reasons , however. D urin g the 1908

period

in

which prog ress

on

the Second Cham ber Sym phony had faltered

initially, Schoenberg

had

sought

to

express

his

in tense inne r em otion

through

a

second creative medium, that

of

painting. His subsequent

in-

volvement with

the

artist R ichard Gerstl, which

led to his

wife's liaison

with

the

latter,

17

devastated

him.

This event, couple d with financial

hardship which obliged

him to

w rite

to

Mahler begging assistance,

18

the

demands

of

teaching, tou r ing

and

conducting,

his

declining health

and

the interruptions to his work cau sed by two p eriod s of active service dur-

ing

the war,

imp eded Sch oenberg 's creativity.

The problems were greater than these, however,

as

Schoenberg also

" These include the string-orchestra versions of

Verklarte

Nacht and the Second String

Quartet, op 10, in 1917 and c 1919 respectively, an arrangement for chamber ensemble (with

Felix Greissle) of op 16, nos 1, 2, 4 and 5 in 1919, the full-orchestra version of op 9 and an

arrangement for mezzo-soprano, 17 instruments and percussion of'Lied der Waldtaube' from

Gurreheder

in 1922

" See Michael G raub art , review of S tuckenschmid t.

Arnold

Schoenberg His

Life, World

and

Work,

T e m p o , 111 (1974), 44-9, MacDona ld ,

Schoenberg

(Lon don , 1976), 6-7, and H H

Stuckenschmidt , Arnold Schoenberg His Life, W orld and Work, t r ans Hum phrey Sea r le (L ondon ,

1974),

93-7

" Schoenberg, l e t te r

264 to

Gustav Mahler dated

2

Aug ust 1910, Arnold Schoenberg Letters,

selected

and ed

Erwin Stein, t rans Eithn e Wilkins

and

Ernst Kaiser {Lo ndo n, 1964),

297



THK 'SKELETON IN SCHOENBKRG'S MUSICAL CLOSET

v

8 1

lacked the technical means to continue. Musically as well as spiritually,

this was a time of intense searching for him. The abandonment of func-

tional tonal harmony had led him to the dissolution of the large-scale

symmetries on which the recognition of musical form depended, and

Sc ho enb erg sought to re store to his music a logical,- cons tructive basis

that would allow him to escape the exp ressionist world of Enuartung and

reinstate a link with musical tradition. In

Pierrot

lunaire his retr ea t into

a distant, cooler, more ironic style of composition provided his music

with a self-sufficient framework once more through a return to abstract

forms and counterpoint .

The sketches and reworkings of the Second Chamber Symphony that

Sch oenbe rg m ade in 1911, shortly before the com position of

Pierrot,

demonstrate the beginnings of this tauter, more imitative style, whilst

those that date from the 1916 phase of composition reflect the contrapun-

tal dexterity of

Pierrot.

The various stages of evolution of the second theme

(from bar 11) of the Chamber Symphony from a repetitive, somewhat

circuitous theme in the 1906-8 sketches, shown in Examples lOa-h,

through the more concise version in the 1911 sketches (see Examples

lOi-j) to its final form (see Ex am ple 10k) clearly illustrate this m or e con-

cise style. In the 1916 wo rking the con trap un tal dexterity of S choe nberg 's

later style is apparent in his attempt to combine not only the same motive

in imitation with itself (see Examples lla-b) but also different motives

in counterpoint with one another (see Examples l lc-d) .

Once again the tonal beginnings of the Second Chamber Symphony

lay at a tangent to his compositional concerns at this time, however, for

Schoenberg now sought a rational basis on which to construct his works

that would replace the structural support of the tonal system and enable

him to integrate the stylistic advances of his atonal music with the for-

mal legacy of the past. Lacking the technical m eans to p roce ed, however,

he fell silent for the remaining years of the decade, and it was not until

1921 that he felt able to announce the discovery of the 12-note method.

By 1939 Schoenberg's music was once again approaching a turning-

point, even if a less acute one than in 1908 or 1920. He maintained in

the essay 'On Revient Toujours':

I was not destined to continue in the manner o f

Transfigured Night

or

Gurrelteder

or even

Pelleas and Melisande

The Supreme Commander had ordered me on

a harder road

But a longing to return to the older style was always vigorous in me; and

from time to time I had to yield to that urge.

19

He had 'yielded' initially in the late 1920s with a series of transcriptions

or arrangements of pre-existing tonal material , beginning with the

orch estra tion of Bach's 'St A nn e' Prelu de an d Fugue in Eb major (BWV

552) and continuing with the arrangements of

G.

M. M onn's harpsichord

concerto in D major for cello, Handel's Concerto Grosso op. 6, no. 7 in

Bk major for string qu arte t and orch estra, and the orc hes tratio n of

Brahms's Piano Quartet no.

1

in G major, op. 25. Th ere followed a n um ber

19

Sc h o e n b e r g , Style and Idea, 108 -10 (p 109)



82

CATHERINh DALK

Example 10. Schoen berg, Second Ch am ber Symphony, op. 38/1: (a)-

(h) transcription s

of

sketches

of

theme

2,

bars

1 Iff.

(1906-8),

Sdmthche

Werke,

IV,

Series

B, xi/2, ed.

Schm idt, 122 -6; (i)-(j) trans crip tion s

of

sketches

of

theme

2,

bars

llff.

(1911),

ibid.,

137;

(k)

final form

of

theme

2,

bars 11-19 (1939).

(a)

• M U L H

J5^5M / tmm ^^m I

(b)

Violin

^

kVTP



THE 'SKELETON IN SCHOENBERG'S MUSICAL CLOSET'

83

Example 10 (cont.)

(c)

(d)

ii-TbJ IwT

iJ jg

r r̂



84

CATHKRINK DALK

Example 10 (cont.)

(e)

(0




85

Example 10 (com.)

(g)

>* i*

m

w

IF

(h)

r

T

j t|tj

,

J



86

C A TH U l IN h D A LK

Example 10 (cont.)

(k)

H ,

r r i

q

r j - r ry j

16

poco pesante

Example 11. Schoenberg, Second Cha mb er Symphony, op. 38/1, sketches

(1916),

Sdmtliche

Werke, IV, Series B, xi/2, ed. Schmidt, 156, 165.

(a)

=^r

r r

r

rr

(b)

h



TI1K SKLIJ- .TON IN SCK OFN BKR GS MU SICAL CLOSKT'

87

Example 11 (cont.)

( c )

(d )

j ^

L

_

t > r -

-

of original compositions in a tonal idiom, such as the Suite for String

Orchestra (1934) and

Kol Nidre

(1938), and it was within the context of

this mo re con son ant style that Schoen berg tu rne d, now for the last time,

to the incom plete tonal beginnings of the Second Cham ber Symphony.

Indeed, he had often expressed regret at not being able to spend longer

exp loring the exp and ed tonal style of the First Ch am ber Symp hony, and

in a letter to Rene Leibowitz he noted the 'many unused possibil i t ies '

i t contained.

2 0

The opportunity came for Schoenberg to return to the sketches of the

Second C ham ber Symp hony when he received a comm ission from th e

conductor Fritz Stiedry for a work for the Orchestra of the New Friends

of Music he directed in New York. In spite of his initial enthusiasm for

the project, the task of returning to a work whose beginnings were in

a style that had long since become irrelevant to him appears to have been

a more daunting one than he had originally anticipated, and the dif-

ficulties he experienced in reconciling this earlier language with his pre-

sent stylist ic concerns are documented in an undated letter to Stiedry:

For the past month I have been working on the Second Chamber Symphony.

I spend most of my time trying to find out: 'What did the au thor mean h ere?'

After all, in the meantime my style has become much more profound and

I have much difficulty in making the ideas which I wrote down years ago

without too much thought (rightly trusting to my feeling for design) conform

to my present demand for a high degree of 'visible' logic. This is now one

of my greatest difficulties, for it also affects the material of the piece. However,

M

S cho enb erg, let ter 216 to Ren e Leibowitz dat ed 4 July 1947, Arnold Schoenberg Letters, 248



QQ CATHKRINK DALK

o o

this ma terial is very good; expressive, rich an d interesting But it is me ant

to be carried out in the manner which I was capable of at the time of the

Second Quartet.

21

Schoenberg's musical language had indeed changed so radically in the

interven ing years that the bars he had drafted in 19 06-8 require d exten-

sive and far-reaching revision. The projected chamber scoring of the in-

itial version was expanded in accordance with the constitution of Stiedry's

orchestra: 28 strings, 8 woodw inds, 2 hor ns and 2 trum pets; the resulting

modifications were by no means simply an expansion of the original

scoring by instrumental doublings, however, but were evidence rather

of a whole new conception of orchestration that clearly reflected the

experience of the serial works and the concertante writing of the Monn

and Handel arrangements .

The 1939 version reveals a far greater tendency to contrast the string,

wind and brass sections in distinct instrumental groupings rather than

the heterogeneous groupings of the earlier draft which in virtually every

instance combined the first violins with the flutes, first oboe and first

clarinet, and the second violins with the second clarinet and lower strings.

The final version also tends to avoid octave doublings in favour of more

sharply defined, single instrumental lines, and to extract chamber group-

ings from the enlarged orchestral ensemble. The first significant exam-

ple of Schoenberg's modification of his initial conception occurs in bars

32ff.,

in which the woodwind section play a repeated chromatic rising

motive in octaves and thirds against the bar 1

Hauptstimme

in the horns

and repeated octave

c'/c s

and cb'/cb"s in violins I and II (see Example

12). Sketch 1244 (see Figure 2) shows that the violins were originally

doubled by oboes and cor anglais, however, and this doubling was main-

tained through bar 35 with the entry of the second theme which, in the

final version, is in violins I and II and violas only, thus creating a distinct

separation between woodwind and string material. Similarly, in bar 78

(see Ex am ple 13) the Hauptstimme is t ransferred from the heterog eneo us

string/wind combination of violin I and clarinet I in sketch 1249 (see

Figure 3) to a solo trumpet line, creating a sharper contrast and a more

clearly defined line. The point at which Schoenberg broke off work on

the second movement (bar 251) in the 1906-8 draft is illustrated in sketch

1269 (see Figure 4). It reveals a number of additions, deletions and a

da te (15/11) in a different ink from the re st of the sketch . The cello

doubling of the clarinet and bassoon is crossed out in bars 245-8, and

in bar 249 a semiquaver countermelody is inserted into violin II with

an indica tion that it should be do ub led in viola and cello an octave lower.

This semiquaver motive is inserted into flute II in bar 250 also. In the

1939 version (see Example 14), however, the passage is rescored to reveal

a distinct separation between the two ideas and the two instrumental

sonorities: the Hauptstimme, which occurred initially in violin I, viola I,

oboe an d clarinet II, is now given ex clusivelyto the u pp er strings, whilst

the semiquaver countermelody is t ransferredtothe oboes, clarinets and

bassoons.

" Schoenberg, letter to Fritz Stiedry (undated), cited in Rufer,

The Works of Arnold

Schoenberg, 64



TH1. 'SKELETON IN SCHOENBERGS MUSICAL CLOSET'

89

Example

12.

Schoenberg, Second Cham ber Symphony,

op.

38/1, bar s

31-5 .

31

3

FTs-

O b s .

ds.

Fgs.

1

Hrns

2

Vlnl

VlnH

Via

Vc.

Cb.

£^

fe

a

g

u J

a2

r r r

r r

#

H

M

„

L

, .

eet

-_

B • b

r

i >

^

;



90

CATHERINK DALE

Example 12_ (cont.)

Fls.

Obs.

Cls.

Fgs.

1

Hrns

Vlnl

VlnO

V ia

V c .

Cb.

i

V

a 2

a 2

fp

H

ff



THK SKFLLTON

IN

SCIIOKNBKRG'S MUSICAL CLOSET

91

Figure

2

Schoenb erg , Second Ch am ber Symph ony,

op

38/1, sketc h 1244, ba rs

30-7

It was not only the orch estra t ion of the w ork that was revised wh en

Schoenberg re turned

to his

earlier sketches

in

1939, how ever,

but

also

its overall structure. An un da ted letter to Stiedry indicates that Sch oen berg

had

not

only con sidered writ ing

a

third mo vem ent (Adagio),

but

that

a fourth and fifth were not entirely out of the question. Scho enberg 's

solution was

to

abandon

the

projected third m ovem ent

and to

replace

it with the return of first-movement material to form an epi logue at the

end

of

the second.

The

cyclic return

of

first-movem ent m aterial

in

this

way thus connects the work with the one-mo vemen t double-function forms

of its imm ediate predecessors, the First String Q uartet a nd First C ham ber

Symphony. In an oth er letter to Stiedry dated

2

April (?), Schoenberg notes:

The last movement is an 'epilogue', which does bring thematically new m aterial

(developed from preceding material) but which, nevertheless,

is not

uncon-

ditionally necessary. The musical and 'psychic' problems are presented ex-

haustively

in the two

completed movements;

the

final movement merely

appends,

so to

speak, certain 'observations'.

22

There nevertheless exist

a

n u m b e r

of

sketches

for the

rejected thir d

movem ent and a draft which consists of 127 bars in sho rt score, the first

page

of

which

in

sketch 1284

(see

Figure

5)

bears

the

note 'XI/5.1939.

"

Schoenberg, letter to Fritz Stiedry dated 2 April

Q),

cited in Rufer,

The Works of Arnold

Schoenberg, 65.



92

CATHKRINK DALL

Exam ple 13. Scho enberg, Second Cha m ber Symphony , op 38/1, bars

78-81 .

79

FTs.

O b . 1

VlnO

V c.

C b.



THE 'SKELETON IN SCHOKNBKRG'S MUSICAL CLOSET

93

Ex am ple 13 (cont.)

V l n l l

Vc.

Cb.



94

CATHKR1NK DAU-

Figure 3 Schoenberg, Second Cham ber Symphony, op 38fl, sketch 1249, bars 73-80

After 536 pause of more tha n 10 weeks - ch ang ed a nd sta rted an ew

January 27 1940'.

2

'

1

Th e har m on ic languag e of this draft reflects the

principal co ncerns of movem ents I and II in its juxtapo sition of unre lated

triads,

voice-leading by step and converging and diverging chrom atic p ro-

gressions. Sketch 1293 (see Example 15) presents a harmonic reduction

of the sequence of triads that harm onize the open ing motive in bars 490 -5

of the first draft; it progresses from B major thro ug h G major, B major,

G major, C major, A m ino r an d Eb m ino r back to B major. In the Janu ary

revision (sketch 1294; see Exam ple 16), however, Sc hoe nbe rg progresse s

directly from the G major chord in bar 494 to A minor in bar 495, thus

replacing the functional dominant-tonic progression G-C with voice-

leading by step. This final phase of com position reveals a gre ater deg ree

of dissonance through tntone progressions in the bass and of timbral

variation through the use of pizzicatos, string tremolandos, violin har-

monics and flutter-tonguing in the flute. The experience of the serial

period is reflected in Sch oenb erg's expe rim en tation with different

permutations of motive forms and their contrapuntal combinations,

demonstrated in sketch 1293 (see Example 17), in which inversions

Five sketch-sheets, one of which bears the date 5 November 1939, and the draft written

in short score on loose sheets were originally contained in the legacy and are cu rrently housed

at the Arnold Sch onberg Center In the draft-the composition is completely carried out, on

three or four staves, to bar 542 From bar 542 the principal voice continues to bar 618 but

countermelodies and harmonization are only partially carried out. There also exists a separate

sheet containing another version of bars 534-5



TIIK SKKLKTON IN SCIIOhNBKRG'S M USICAL CLOSK T

95

Figure 4 Schoenberg, Second Cham ber Symphony, op 38/11, sketch 1269, bars 244-51

appear in imitation of the 'original', and in which in particular these

motive forms are notated as abstract groups of notes in the manner of

note rows. In sketch 1298d a sequence of 12 notes is stated in which the

only two no tes to be rep eate d, F and Eb, are ste m m ed (see Exam ple 18).

The stylistic changes that occurred between Schoenberg's early and

late periods becom e most app are nt if the ha rm on ic language of the first

movement drafted in 1906-8 is compared with that of the 1939 version,

particularly that of the Eb m ino r epilog ue in which first-movement

material returns. Although the tonal tr iads of the first period reappear

in this final phase, they are no longe r gove rned by traditio nal tonal hier-

archies. Connections between adjacent tr iadic forms are created rather

by means of voice-leading by step, and a single tonal triad becomes suf-

ficient to suggest tonal associations. Schoenberg's harmonic vocabulary

in both the late neotonal and the serial works of the 1930s and 1940s

thus became one of tr iadic harmony that existed independently of the

hierarchical structure of key-centred tonality, and he wrote in the essay

'Opinion or Insight?' (1926) of the 'paralysing' of the traditional formal

claims of the tonal triad:

My formal sense .. tells me that to introduce even a single tonal triad would

lead to consequences, and would demand space which is not available within

my form. A tonal triad makes claims on what follows, and, retrospectively,

on all that has gone before; nobody can ask me to overthrow everything that



96

CATHERINK DALK

Example 14. Scho enberg, Second Cham ber Symp hony, op . 38/11, bars

244-51.

Pice.

n. I

Obs.

Vlnn

TigTTTTTITri

Vlnl

VlnH

Via



T H E ' SK E L E T O N I N SCH O E N BE RG ' S M U SI CA L CL O SE T

97

Ex am ple 14 (cont.)

Fls.

Obs.

VlnH

Cb.



98

CATHKRINh DAIJ-

K « J

••Lfc

t .

T T l ^ M i r ,r . W

O ,

r

L

r7t--^—a=T

f . - • • • — " V i * i . i

. f

1

, .. — ... 4,i

• . . .

-• —+- >

^

^to

Figure 5. Schoe nberg, Second Cham ber Sym phony, op .

38/111,

sketch 1284, bars

490-505

Example 15. Schoenberg, Second Ch am ber Sym phony, op 38/111; trans-

cription of sketch 1293,

Sdmtliche Werke,

IV, Series B, xi/2, ed. Schm idt, 189

ilg

a

a

' O

Example 16. Schoenberg, Second Cha m ber Symphony, op.

38/111;

trans-

cription of sketch 1294,

Sdmtliche

Werke,

TV ,

Series

B,

xi/2, ed. Schmidt, 188.

3 -



Til l - SKhl . l -TON IN SCHOl-NBl-RG'S MUSICAL CLO ShT

9 9

Exam ple 17. Schoe nberg, Second Ch am ber Symphony, op .

38/111;

trans-

cription of sketch 1293, Sdmthche Werke, IV, Series B, xi/2, ed. Schmidt,

189-90.

f c * =

V T

[

J

14—1

J

*— p—

J J

J i j •

-V ^ J

9

- ^ — j —

— p

'

I,J J

-j—pj

r—*i

9 1

- ^

»

has gone before, just because a triad has hap pe ne d by accident and has to

be given its du e On this po int I prefer if possible to start right and co ntin ue

in the same way, so far as error is avoidable. Every tone tends to become a

tonic. Every triad to become a tonic triad. If I were to draw even this one

conclusion from the appearance of

a

triad, then the idea could inadvertently

be forced aside on to a wrong track; but sense of form and logic have so far

saved me . . . I believe that to use the co nso na nt c hord s, too, is not ou t of

the question, as soon as someone has found a technical means of either satis-

fying or paralysing their formal claims.

24

In the later period the motion by step becomes more uncompromising-

ly dissona nt and the texture m ore fragmentary; a com parison between

the har m on iza tion of the motive in bar 1 with its re tu rn in the coda in

bar s 1 41 -4 (see Ex am ple 19), for ex am ple , reveals that in the latte r in-

stance each note is harmonized with a distinct chord which progresses

to the next by means of movement of the parts by step, and the motive

is reworked in imitation both with itself and with the initial two notes

of the second theme. The more fragmentary texture in the later portion

of the work is illustrated by the harm on ization in bar 467 (see Example 20).

In the 1939 revisions fourth c hord s contin ue to function as do m ina nt

substitutes resolving on to ton al triads ; in ba r 149 of the first-movement

coda, for example, a five-part fourth chord resolves onto an

E\>

minor

triad in second inversion as a means of articulatin g the stateme nt of the

Schoenberg , Style and Idea, 258 -64 (p 263)



100

CATHERINE DALE

Example 18. Schoenb erg, Second Cha m ber Symphony, op. 38/111; trans-

cription of sketch 1298d,

Samtliche

Werke,

IV, Series B, xi/2, ed. Sc hm idt,

192-3.

m

op enin g motive (see Example 21). Co nso nan t resolutions nevertheless

become much less frequent and the fourth chords occur as dissonant

entities in their own right, progressing directly from one to another

without tonal resolution. At the end of the first-movement coda a sequen ce

of fourth chord s begin ning in b ar 159 proc eed s by m eans of voice-leading

by step from an A m ino r cho rd in bar 159 to a four-part fo urth cho rd

on

B \>

and a five-part fourth c hord on

jBj

back to

A

m inor throu gh a restate-

ment of the same four-part fourth chord on B\> (see Example 22). This

movement establishes semitone voice-leading as the rule of progression

and creates 'unity of musical space' through the horizontal and vertical

equivalence of the melodic an d ha rm on ic fourths. In the more fragmen-

tary epilogue, the fourths occur not so much as chords but as pointillist

motivic gestures that alternate between trumpets and flutes.

In all Schoenberg's works dating from this final period, serial and tonal

modes of thought freely inform and enrich one another: the ' tonal '

K ol

Nidre,

o p. 39 (1938), an d

Variations on a Recitative for

Organ,

op . 40 (1940),

exploit aspects of serial organization whilst the 12-note

Ode to Napoleon

Buonaparte,

o p : 41 (1942), an d P ian o Co nce rto, op . 42 (1942), assimilate

features of triadic tonality. In these works in which the return to tonal-

ity is either overt or in which it plays a constructive if strictly delimited



THK 'SKELETON IN SCHOKNBKRG'S MUSICAL CLOSLT

101

Exa mp le 19. Sch oenb erg, Second Cha m ber Symp hony, op . 38/1, bars

1-3 and 141-3.

(b)

14 1

role within the serial language, there occurs a synthesis of styles which

creates an entirely new one and is not simply a return to a 'bygone

aesthetic '.

25

If the First Chamber Symphony may be held to be prophetic of the

'emancipation of the dissonance ' , the Second may be regarded as an

'em anc ipation of the con son anc e'. Inde ed, it was only with this work that

Scho enberg o nce again becam e p repa red to ascribe to a tonal composi-

tion the status of a major work by assigning it an opus number. How

else is one to explain the fact that it was not until after the composition

of the Cham ber Sym phony that K olNidre, written a year earlier, received

the opus number 39? In the essay 'On Revient Toujours' Schoenberg com-

pared his own returns to tonality with the way in which the 'classic com-

posers - Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann,

Brahms and even Wagner . . . so often interpolate str ict counterpoint '

into their essentially ho m op ho nic style, an d argue d that the combina-

tion of

styles

- a nd , by im plication, his own co m bina tion of tonality with

serialism - increased the expressive range of the music, for

these great masters possessed such an eminent sense of the ethical and

aesthetical requirements of their art that the problem whether this is wrong

can simply be disregarded. I had not foreseen that my explanation of this

stylistic deviation might also explain my own deviations.

26

Schoenberg, cited in Wilh Reich,

Schoenberg

A

Critical Biography,

trans Leo Black

(London, 1971), 49

* Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 108-10 (pp 108-9).



1 0 2 CAT IttRIN* DAL?

For, as Sc hoe nbe rg ex plaine d to his advance d c om pos ition class at UCLA

around 1940: 'There is still plenty of good music to be written in C

major.'

27

University of Hull

*' Schoenbe rg, cited in Dika Newhn, 'Secret Tonality in Schoenberg's P iano C once rto',

Perspectives

of New Music, 13 (1974), 137 -9 (p 137)




103

Exam ple 20. Schoen berg, Second Ch am ber Symphony, op. 38/11, bars

467-8 .

M olto adagio (J>=69)

46 7

Fls.

Obs.

Cls.

Fg. 1

Tpts

VTnsI 2

V l n s n

Vlas 2

Cbs.

1

468

P

f f e f e

i

467

^ S

M olto adagio (j> =69)

r

' V

=

= =

i

it?

t I

1

M

^

pp

(m.D.)



104

CATHKRINK DALK

Example 21 . Schoenberg, Second Cham ber Symphony, op . 38/1, bars

149-50.

149

P IS

Example 22. Schoenberg, Second Cham ber Symphony, op. 38/1, bars

158-65.

158

L 7

_ _ _

15 9

m ^

Analysis - Schoenberg - Chamber Symphony

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