Did I get the spelling right? I find his music tobe incredibly discordant and annoying…can’t decide yet why it is called music. Anyway, is he at all popular these days? I don’t seem to see a lot of him at local concerts, but’s that probably where I live (Boston)-too much 18th century stuff (Bach)!
In a similar vein, what do people today think of George Ionesco? There seems to be a whole raft of composers from the early 20th century that hardly ever get played!
I’m no musicologist but I’ll give you my thoughts:
Close, “Arnold Schoenberg”.
He was pretty damn controversial back at the turn of the 20th century. His early works are examples of romaticism but his later stuff was heavy criticized as “atonal”. It was based on a 12 tone system that rejected contemporary concepts of melody and tonality that was more theoretically pleasing than aesthetically (IMHO).
Very occasionally I’ll hear some his stuff on CBC2 (Canadian classical music station) but I don’t think he’s widely popular. I got to see a production of his Erwartung on a double bill with Bela Bartok’s Bluebeard in Toronto ~five years ago and greatly enjoyed it. But, because the music was so difficult, I’m primarily left with memories of the stunning expressionist production design (by the multi-talented Robert LePage). You definitely don’t leave the theatre humming any of the music.
You’re right, it is very challenging, but there really is some beautiful writing in his music.
First, try Verklarkt Nacht (Transfigured Night), which is one of his early expressionistic works. (There’s three versions - a string sextet, 1899 and an orchestration from 1917, which was again revised in 1943). If you’re acustomed to late-romantic music, then you may be able to get into this fairly readily. It’s not atonal, but really pushes the boundaries.
Another good piece is 5 Orchester-Stucke (5 Orchestral Pieces) from 1909 which is a Klangfarbenmelodie (tone-colour melody) where it’s the movement of timbres or tones that is the focus rather than the movement of notes or chords.
The most moving piece of his that I’ve ever heard, though, is Survivor from Warsaw, from 1947, which is an example of Sprechstimme (speech-song). His compositional style is perfectly suited to the subject matter.
Well, it depends on what you mean by “popular” I suppose. As far as public performances and the audience is concerned, he’s rather unpopular.
Academia places a huge amount of importance on him however, and some believe (myself included) that he was the most influential figure in 20th century classical music.
I do think that Schoenberg will be one of the few modernist composers that history will remember- as his music is often more romantic than some give it credit for- and Schoenberg certainly wasn’t one of the practitioners of the stertile, scientific music that in my opinion plagued much of the modernist movement.
So he’s not terribly popular, but history will likely be kind to him