Nacht, from Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire: a perspective from the ArtSong Theory on the text-music relationships and its unfoldings

The cycle of melodramas Pierrot Lunaire op. 21 was written and premiered in 1912 and is one of the capital works of Schoenberg’s output as well as of the vocal music in the twentieth-century music. In this article we examine Nacht, the eighth melodrama, first of the second part, due to its relationships on text-music as a factor of influence in the perception and performance of the work. And we also examine the numerical relations that were so dear to the composer.

TIM EWERS (b. 1958)Moondrunk (2000)

This chapter discusses English composer Tim Ewers’s Moondrunk (2000). This short piece is a confident and clearly imagined setting of an English translation of the first poem of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1912 masterpiece for voice and ensemble, Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21. Though brief, it should prove a useful and characterful item for a recital programme, especially one containing lengthier pieces, perhaps based around other works from the Second Viennese School or, alternatively, a collection of songs about the moon. The tessitura is wide-ranging, but within the reach of most voices, although a female voice was originally envisaged, in direct reference to Schoenberg’s seminal work. The musical idiom is pleasingly logical in its chromaticism, with frequent use of tritones. As always, when singing unaccompanied, the vocalist will need to be scrupulous about tuning intervals, avoiding microtonal slippage. Despite moments of freedom and rubato, rhythmic discipline is an important factor, and a sense of pulse needs to be preserved. Within this modest time span, the singer has to create and sustain a welter of shifting nocturnal moods, both threatening and intoxicating.

Schoenberg as Sound Student: Pierrot’s Klang

Schoenberg expended enormous energies on rethinking what sound could be and what it could mean in ways that anticipate and can be illuminated by sound studies. Focusing on Schoenberg’s understanding of the word Klang, this chapter explores the creative process and reception of Pierrot lunaire in the context of his writings on “sound,” one of the many possible translations of the term. Approaching Schoenberg’s music and his writings in Style and Idea and elsewhere from the vantage point of sound studies can attune us to his interests in destabilizing the boundaries not only between timbre, melody, and harmony, but also between music, sound, and noise, and between sound and our lived experience. The wide-ranging ramifications of his conception of Klang are evident in the ways that he engages with many aspects of music and its technologies and media while also going beyond specifically musical contexts to understand sound as a fundamental dimension of our thought and creativity, our experience, and our ways of relating with each other and our world.

Claude Debussy, Géza Vilmos Zágon's Pierrot lunaire, and the Question of Prosodic Accent

During a tour of Austria-Hungary in December 1910, Debussy met a young Hungarian Francophile composer, Géza Vilmos Zágon (1889–1918). The latter sent him the manuscript of the Pierrot lunaire, a cycle of six melodies from the collection of the Belgian poet Albert Giraud. Debussy reviews the vocal line, emphasizing that the corrections he has made almost all concern “prosodic accents.” This rereading of a work by a young composer is a unique case for Debussy and testifies not only to his openness to young composers, but also to his interest in Giraud's poems, as André Schaeffner had so rightly anticipated in 1953 in his article “Variations Schoenberg.” It also reveals Debussy's deep sensitivity to the French language verse and rhythm.

Zum Thema "Schönberg und Bach"

Es ist kein Zufall, dass Bach in Schönbergs "Harmonielehre" (1911) der am häufigsten zitierte Komponist ist. In dieser Frühzeit Schönbergs ist ein herausragender Bach-Einfluss deutlich zu spüren, wie das Beispiel eines typischen Bach-Satzes im Pierrot lunaire (1912) zeigt. Des Weiteren werden Schönbergs Orchestrierung des Orgelchorals BWV 654 (1921) und seine Anmerkungen zu H. Schenkers Analyse des Präludiums in Es-Moll BWV 853 diskutiert, die darauf hinweisen, dass musikalische Logik ohne motivischen Bezug nicht möglich ist. (Übertragung des englischen Resümees am Ende des Bandes)