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SCHOENBERG: Verklärte Nacht and Pierrot Lunaire |
In a number of his early compositions, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) expressed the strong emotions stirred in him by the poetry of Richard Dehmel. Among these seminal works, Verklärte Nacht (1899) stands out for the beauty and strength of its chromatic language, drawing on Wagner’s advances in Tristan und Isolde for its emotional impact.
The program of Verklärte Nacht is a love story. Yet, in both its content and psychology, the work clearly anticipates the innovative 20th-century music Schoenberg himself helped to forge.
Pierrot Lunaire, one of Schoenberg’s best-known and most striking works, was composed in 1912. It is a musical setting for solo voice and chamber ensemble of twenty-one poems by Albert Giraud, translated into German by the Expressionist poet Otto Erich Hartleben. In this satiric work - evoking moods that are by turns ironic, melodramatic and sinister, Schoenberg incorporates a highly specialized use of the speaking voice, the singing-speech delivery called Sprechstimme, within an instrumental framework of jolting atonality.
Both Verklärte Nacht and Pierrot Lunaire deeply influenced the development of the Second Viennese School and, in time, the course of 20th-century music. They are reprinted here from authoritative editions.
Unabridged Dover (1994) republication of the scores published by Universal Edition, 1899 (Verklärte Nacht) and 1914 (Pierrot Lunaire). New English transla- tions of the original German texts by Stanley Appelbaum. 144pp. 8 1/8 x 11. Paperbound.
Free Dover Complete Music Catalog available upon request.Copyright © 1998 MIDI Classics®. Revised January 16, 1998