Synopses & Reviews
Two major chamber works by influential modern composer. String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7, displays Wagnerian influence and advanced chromaticism. String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10, pushes music to the brink of atonality and points toward composer's revolutionary "composition with twelve tones." New English translations of Stefan George poems in String Quartet No. 2.
Synopsis
One of the most influential and important composers of the twentieth century, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) brought remarkable new elements to modern music. His compositional style moved progressively from lush, late Wagnerian chromaticism to a complete break with traditional tonality, later organized theoretically as composition with twelve hours. This systematic control of all pitches evolved into a similar serialization of all of music's elements -- a revolutionary advance that dominated international compositions through most of this century.
This new volume presents two major early chamber works in an attractive study-score edition. The String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7, while still showing the Wagnerian influence evident in such early masterpieces as Verkl rte Nacht, displays an advanced chromaticism that is developed even further in the String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10. More radical in its structure and harmonic design, this work pushes music to the brink of atonality, pointing the way to Schoenberg's radical innovations. Even more striking in its design is the unexpected addition of a soprano in the second quartet's third and fourth movements -- settings of two poems by Stefan George (Litanei and Entr cking).
All students of twentieth-century music will want to add this attractive, authoritative edition to their library of music scores.
Synopsis
Two major chamber works by influential modern composer. String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7, and String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10. Reproduced from authoritative editions. New English translations of Stefan George poems in String Quartet No. 2.