September 13 - Arnold Schoenberg (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for September 13th are here: Arnold Schoenberg (2019), Clara Schumann; Yma Sumac (2020), Arnold Schoenberg (2021). Arnold Schoenberg (2022). and Maurice Jarre; Arnold Schoenberg (2023)

 

Arnold Schoenberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was a towering figure in the musical life of the twentieth century.

[NB:  Two of the limericks gathered here are new ("Dedication at 150" and "String Quartet #2, Op. 10 - 'Ich fühle luft von anderem planeten'"), the remaining twenty-one verses have appeared on previous occasions. They are arranged as "Dedication" (1), Works (8), Life (6), Style and Criticism (8)]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dedication at 150

Since Schoenberg’s one hundred and fifty,

I tried to imagine what gift he

Would like to receive

And I’ve come to believe,

That he’d think silly verses were nifty.

+++++++++++++++++

 

WORKS

Overboard

Believe me, if you are the type,

Who likes things effulgent and ripe,

You’ll find Gurrelieder,

When you hear it, dear Reader,

A thing that lives up to the hype.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

  

String Quartet #2, Op. 10 - “Ich fühle luft von anderem planeten”

“No matter how critics might sneer.

I have reach the atonal frontier,

And the “luft” that I feel

From new planets is real:

Persevere, Persevere, Persevere!”

 

 +++++++++++++++++

Over the Edge

Here is some guidance for you

If Opus 11 is new:

The first movements go

Rather thoughtfully slow,

While the third one is all derring-do.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

  

 

One Page Marvels

The audience sighed with relief

That Opus 19 was so brief.

The six little pieces

Are merely caprices

Exploring a single motif.

 

+++++++++++++++++

  

 

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.”

 

+++++++++++++++++ 

 

Warnung

Said Schoenberg to Berg, “C’est la guerre!

Use caution, and buyer beware!

My score won’t be cheery,

It’s scary and eerie,

And I’m calling it Pierrot Lunaire.”

 

+++++++++++++++++

 

String Quartet #4, 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.

+++++++++++++++++

 

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.

+++++++++++++++++

 

LIFE

Contra Expressionism 

When Schoenberg was learning to paint,

The neighborhood lodged a complaint,

“The turpentine smell

Is annoying as hell,

And he thinks that he’s good, but he ain’t.”

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

Rah, Rah, Row

When teaching at UCLA,

He tried to fit in in his way,

But his atonal fight song

Just wasn’t the right song

For the troglodyte fans of the day.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

At Home with the Schoenbergs

Said Gertrude to Arnold, “I know

You’ve committed yourself to ‘the row,’

But maybe for me

You could write in a key

Every half dozen pieces or so.”

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

New Viennese School Letter Jackets?

Has it ever been noticed that they

Have names that begin with an “A”?

Does it put a new slant on

Young Alban or Anton

That Arnold took charge in this way?

+++++++++++++++++

 

Life
(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.”

 

+++++++++++++++++

 

STYLE AND CRITICISM

 

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!”

+++++++++++++++++

 

Ear Worm

A man who thought Schoenberg was numbing,

And resisted the thought of succumbing,

Discovered one day

With a touch of dismay

It was Schoenberg he found himself humming.

 

+++++++++++++++++ 

Two Limericks for Schoenberg With a Shared Second Line

(1)

The series is not a mnemonic

When the music is dodecaphonic;

That the row in control

Is unheard in its role

Is a fact that is strangely ironic.

(2)

The row is, of course, embryonic

When the music is dodecaphonic,

And the rigor with which

It controls every pitch

Is what makes the whole thing so Teutonic.

 

+++++++++++++++++

 

  

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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