That Eureka Moment: A Suite
The rules of the old status quo
Were stretched to the limits, and so
The tonal foundations
Of such modulations
Were harder and harder to know.
Like waves on an unsteady sea,
He constantly strayed from the key;
And if he got queasy
In conditions like these he
Set the tonality free.
At last with no further to go
He stood up and shouted, “I know!
To ensure I won’t enter
A new tonal center
I’m hereby inventing the row!”
Works
Pierrot Lunaire
When performing the sprechstimme role
She felt she was losing control.
“I feel like I’m broken,
Half sung and half spoken --
I’m torn between body and soul.”
Op. 37
As he started his Fourth String Quartet,
Which he thought his most beautiful yet,
He worked with material
Both thorny and serial,
Leaving poor Mrs. Coolidge upset.
Leaving poor Mrs. Coolidge upset.
Moses und Aron
A printed libretto in prose is
What’s left of the third act of Moses.
So even if you
Can get through act two,
You’ll never find out out it closes.
(i)
When invited for drinks in LA,
I suppose that they asked him to play,
But then got a start
When his Rodgers and Hart
Was arranged in an atonal way.
(ii)
Said Schoenberg, at home with his Gertie,
“I think I’ll compose something purtie.”
And Gertrude replied
As she went to his side,
“You naughty boy, don’t talk so dirty.”
Afterlife
(i)
When Boulez said,"Schoenberg is dead,"
He couldn't quite mean what he said:
Though sisters and brothers
Spurn fathers and mothers,
They can’t keep them out of their head.
(ii)
When Boulez wrote, "Schoenberg is dead
Go listen to Webern instead."
It came as a shock
To the serial flock
Who could hardly believe what they read.
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