Erwartung, op. 17

Arnold Schönberg created his monodrama Erwartung, op. 17 (Expectation) in Steinakirchen (Lower Austria) in two weeks during the late summer of 1909. As with sketches for several other works of the time, only a few for Erwartung have survived. Schönberg later wrote out the so-called first written copy in short score; for the most part, the orchestra voices are notated on 4, 5 or 6 staves. Whereas pitches, rhythm and orchestration are largely given in full (if occasionally deviating from the final version), much of the dynamics and phrasing is still missing. Eventually he prepared the fair copy of the full score; it was also used as the basis for engraving the first printed edition. Schönberg’s letter to the poet Hermann Bahr in September 1909 is very revealing in its mention of the composer’s intent and work aesthetic with regard to Erwartung: “I have written something for the theatre: a monodrama. By that I mean a piece in which only one person appears, one at the explosive stage of emotional high-tension – or else immediately before or after that. And the type of stylistic presentation is supposed to solve that problem in the briefest way attainable by our powers of expression, to reproduce what happens in a few such seconds. That was my idea.”