Explore the Artistic Works of Influential, Austrian Composer Arnold Schönberg
Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg was a prominent artistic figure in the history of western culture, and one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.
Arnold Schönberg - Franz Xaver Setzer’s photo studio (1922) by Franz Xaver SetzerUNESCO Memory of the World
Introducing Arnold Schönberg
Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) was an Austrian composer, painter, teacher, theoretician, and innovator. He's ranked amongst prominent artistic figures in the history of western culture and as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.
Peace on Earth, op. 13 (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Two Groundbreaking Musical Innovations
Schönberg is associated with two compositional techniques: the renunciation of tonal composition in the wake of the “emancipation of the dissonance,” and the twelve-tone method or dodecaphony.
Music Typewriter (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Pioneer in Conceptual Musical Processes
Schönberg developed a visionary plan for construction of future compositional order, which laid the cornerstone of what was to be the emancipation of traditional hierarchical organizing principles for contemporary music up to now.
Wind Quintet op. 26 - Twelve-tone slide rule (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Modernist Compositional Procedures - Logical and Generative
Schönberg artistic development, surprisingly logical and generative, marked fundamental paradigms of modernist compositional procedures: progress from tradition, freedom of expression, and classical modernism.
Moses and Aron (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Schönberg’s Compositions
Some of Schönberg’s most-important compositions include operas, songs, string trios, etc.: Expectation, Op. 17; Moses und Aron, Pelleas und Melisande, op. 5; Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47; A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46.; The Book of the Hanging Garden, Op. 15; Variations for Orchestra, op. 31; Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9; and Suite for Piano op. 25 (which is the first complete twelve-tone work in music history.)
Structural Functions of Harmony - Chart of the Regions (1939) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Music and the Arts in Vienna in 1900
Arnold Schönberg was a leading figure in the rapid development of music and the arts in Vienna, from where many groundbreaking artistic changes went out to the world after 1900, when Vienna was considered the musical capital of Europe.
Staffliner for drawing staves (1940) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Artist Exile in Los Angeles
In the span between 1925 and 1933, Schönberg taught in Berlin during a time of incomparable artistic intenseness and then in Los Angeles, where many key figures from European Arts had found exile.
Möbelentwurf (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Viennese Fin de Siècle
During the Viennese Fin de siècle (end of the century), Jugendstil, expressionism, and psychoanalysis all developed contemporaneously as progressive tendencies. Schönberg is considered being the father of the Viennese School.
Arnold Schönberg, the Teacher (20th century) by Richard FishUNESCO Memory of the World
Students of the Viennese School
Schönberg, father of the Viennese School, taught eminent European and American composers, such as Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Hanns Eisler, Nikos Skalkottas, Roberto Gerhard, and John Cage. Schönberg and his pupils stood out for their stylistic confidence and uncompromising interrogation of the self.
Schematic representation of European Jewry (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Exile Studies and Jewish Affairs
Schönberg's writings regarding exile studies are evidence of the varied interests of the eminent artistic personality and also address questions of aesthetics, Jewish affairs, politics, and religion.
Blue Self-Portrait (20th century) by Arnold SchönbergUNESCO Memory of the World
Blue Rider Group of Painters
Schönberg had an important impact on the Blue Rider group of painters such as Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky.
Arnold Schönberg - Eric Schaal pictures of Schönberg at Pierrot lunaire (20th century) by Eric SchaalUNESCO Memory of the World
Arnold Schönberg Estate
The Arnold Schönberg Estate is one of the most important and largest collections of the Austrian composer as well as of a 20th century composer. It attests to cultural and intellectual history of the first half of the 20th century, one of the most challenging eras of western classical music.
