And, curiously enough,
throughout the group the old romantic allegiance of the earliest
Schoenberg reaffirms itself. Wotan with his spear stalks through the
conclusion of the first of the "Three Pieces for Pianoforte." And the
second of the series, a composition not without its incisiveness, as
well as several of the tiny "Six Piano Pieces," Op. 19, recall at
moments Brahms, at others Chopin, a Chopin of course cadaverous and
turned slightly green.
It may be that by means of these experiments Schoenberg will gird
himself for a new period of creativity just as once indubitably by the
aid of experiments which he did not publish he girded himself for the
period represented by the D-minor Quartet. It may be that after the
cloud of the war has completely lifted from the field of art, and a
normal interchange is re-established it will be seen that the monodrama,
Op. 20, "Die Lieder des 'Pierrot Lunaire,'" which was the latest of his
works to obtain a hearing, was in truth an earnest of a new loosing of
the old lyrical impulse so long incarcerated. But, for the present,
Schoenberg, the composer, is almost completely obscured by Schoenberg,
the experimenter. For the present, he is the great theoretician
combating other theoreticians, the Doctor of Music annihilating
doctor-made laws.
Pages:
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248