Musical Exchange and Interaction between Eisler and Schoenberg, Evidenced by their Serial Music

This study demonstrates that Hanns Eisler's serial music composed in the early 1920s and his cantatas created in the 1930s are interrelated with Arnold Schoenberg's serial music. The specific purpose is to reveal the musical interactions between the two composers, such as how Eisler was influenced by Schoenberg, and how Eisler himself influenced Schoenberg. The former aspect is highlighted by the analysis of Schoenberg's Suite für Klavier (1923) and Eisler's Zweite Sonate für Klavier (1925). The latter is shown while Eisler's Deutsche Symphonie from the 1930s and Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) are subjected to a comparative analysis. Eisler was not simply a pupil who renounced Schoenberg's teachings, but a “true disciple” who succeeded Schoenberg's serial technique in a manner comparable to that of Webern and Berg and who, in addition, was a musical companion of Schoenberg, influencing Schoenberg's later music.