Arnold Schoenberg: biography and creativity in brief, photo

Arnold Schoenberg, whose work, briefly which can be characterized as innovative, has lived an interesting and rich life. He went down in the history of world music as a revolutionary, made a revolution in composition, created his own school in music, left an interesting heritage and a whole galaxy of pupils. Arnold Schoenberg is one of the most outstanding composers of the 20th century.

Childhood and family

September 13, 1874 in Vienna was born Arnold Schoenberg, whose biography will be difficult, but always connected with music. The Schoenberg family lived in the Jewish ghetto. Father - Samuel Schoenberg - was originally from Presburg, had his own small shoe store. Mother - Paulina Nachod is a native of Prague, she was a teacher of piano playing. Arnold had an ordinary childhood, nothing foreshadowed his great future.

Gaining the vocation

From an early age, his mother began to teach Arnold music, he gave hope. But the family did not have the means to continue education. He independently comprehended the science of composition. Several lessons on the counterpoint were given to him by the brother-in-law, a well-known Austrian composer and conductor, for whom the sister of Schoenberg Matilda married - Alexander von Zemlinsky. Musicians are very friendly, all their lives remained like-minded and often helped each other with advice, arguing about art. It was Zemlinsky who urged his colleague to become a professional music writer. The future composer Arnold Schoenberg, already in his teens, was keenly aware of his calling, and although the circumstances were not in his favor, he gave all his spare time to the music.

The beginning of a professional career

The family lived poorly, and when his father died, Arnold was at that time 15, it became quite difficult. The boy had to take up any work. Arnold Schoenberg worked as a bank clerk, peddler of purchases, directed the workers' choirs, wrote orchestrations for operettas. But he did not leave his studies with music, wrote his own works in his spare time. Already in 1898 in Vienna, Schoenberg's works were first performed from the stage. In 1901 he left for Berlin, where he earns music lessons, at the Stern Conservatory he even conducts a course of composition.

At this time he met with Gustav Mahler, who had a significant influence on the worldview of Schoenberg. In 1903 he returned to Vienna and began to work in a music school. At the same time he manages to write music, during this period it is sustained in the traditions of the German composer school of the late 19th century. The most significant work of this stage was the stringed sextet "Enlightened Night", the poem "Pelleas and Mélisande" (1902-1903), the cantata "Songs of Gurré" (1900-1911). Arnold Schoenberg was noted for his great capacity for work, at the beginning of the journey he simultaneously taught, wrote music, gave concerts.

Biography and music

In the work of the composer Schoenberg, three periods are singled out: tonal (from 1898 to 1908), atonal (1909-1922) and dodecaphonic (since 1923). The evolution of the musician is connected with his search for a new path and new expressiveness. His fate is connected first with expressionism, on the basis of which he later makes his revolutionary discoveries. Until 1907 Schoenberg moves in the traditional channel of classical music. But this year there is a radical change in his artistic worldview, he thinks a lot about music, writes theoretical work. There is a complication of his musical language, the craving for dissonance increases, but so far traditional harmony is preserved.

And in 1909 a new round of his life begins. In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg, whose biography is gaining momentum in the music world, again travels to Berlin, where for 4 years he has toured as a conductor. By this time he was already a well-known musician in Europe. In 1915, the composer was drafted into the army for two years. This atonal period is characterized by a rejection of the tonal center of the work, Schoenberg tries equitably to apply 12 tones of the chromatic scale. In 1923 he received the title of professor of music and an invitation to work at the Berlin School of Music. With the coming to power of the Nazis in 1933 Schoenberg was dismissed from the conservatory, and he, for fear of further persecution as a representative of the Jewish nation, emigrated. First he goes to France, and later to the USA.

The third period of the composer's work is marked by his main discoveries. He begins to gravitate toward the rational organization of the musical series, the compositions are built of twelve tones that do not repeat in the same row. So there is dodecaphonic music. In the work of Shengberg, the era full of changes, as well as its subjective and emotional experiences, was fully reflected.

Theory of Music

The composer has always tried to control the forms and expressive means of his music, which often come unconsciously. Therefore, all his stage experiences and reflections were set forth in serious scientific works. In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg wrote his first great theoretical work, The Teaching of Harmony. Already in it he outlined his ideas about tonal harmony, which were his main all his life. This book was the only fully completed work of the composer. Later he undertakes to write several works at the same time, constantly fixes them and adds them, they were not published during life.

Only in 1994 did the works, combined into one volume, "Interconnection, counterpoint, instrumentation, the doctrine of form". These reflections on musical logic and thought, on orchestration, on preparatory exercises in counterpoint and on composition were not completed by the author, but show the direction in which his studies were going. "Fundamentals of musical composition" were published at the end of the 20th century by the master's pupils. Arnold Schoenberg made a significant contribution to the theory of music, he was able to see the evolution of musical thought and to anticipate its development for years to come. In his writings Schoenberg reflects on the integrity of the work, the development of musical thought and comes to the idea of monotony.

Pedagogical activity

The composer throughout his life was engaged in teaching - first in school, then at the conservatory in Berlin. In exile, he worked at the universities of Boston, Southern California, Los Angeles, teaching music theory and composition. Arnold Schoenberg created an entire composer school, which was named "The New Viennese School." He brought up students in the spirit of serving music, he categorically did not advise him to follow his example, but to seek only his own way in art. His best students are A. Berg and A. Webern, who remained faithful to his ideas until the end of the day and grew up as independent composers worthy of their teacher. Schoenberg led all the musical subjects, paying special attention to polyphony, which he considered the basis of skill. With his pupils the composer continued to closely communicate and after their release, he was for them an indisputable authority. This is what allowed him to form a whole galaxy of like-minded people.

Dodecaphony of Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg, whose brief biography can be described by one word "dodecaphony", became an ideologist and propagandist of a new direction in music. In his search for the most economical musical letter, the composer comes to the idea of a 12-ton system of composition. This discovery makes the composer learn how to compose music again, he experimented with the form a lot, looking for new possibilities of his sound frequency method.

He tests the basics of the new technique on piano pieces, which he writes very much. Later he goes on to create large works (suites, quartets, orchestras) in a new style. His discoveries radically influenced the development of music in the 20th century. His ideas, which he did not fully develop, were followed by followers, developed, perfected, sometimes to exhaustion. His contribution to music was manifested in the desire to streamline the musical form.

Basic works

Arnold Schoenberg left a huge musical heritage. But his most important work is the unfinished opera "Moses and Aaron", the idea of which appeared in the 20s of the 20th century and embodied the entire evolution and search for the composer. In the opera, Schoenberg embodied his philosophical world view, his whole soul. Also to the significant works of the composer are: "Chamber Symphony", op. 9, opera "The Happy Hand", 5 piano pieces, op. 23, "The Ode to Napoleon."

Personal life

Arnold Schoenberg, whose photo can be seen today in all textbooks on the history of music, lived a busy life. In addition to music, he did a lot of painting, his works were exhibited in major galleries in Europe. He was friends with Kokoshka, Kandinsky, was a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. For his life he wrote about 300 works.

Arnold Schoenberg married for the first time quite early, for this he moved to Protestantism in 1898. His wife cheated on him, went to her lover, but then returned to the family, and her lover committed suicide. His wife Matilda died in 1923, and this ended the turbulent period of the composer's personal life. A year later he married the violinist's sister and happily lived with her the rest of his life. In 1933, he decided to return to Judaism and passed the appropriate rite in the synagogue in Paris.

Fears of Arnold Schoenberg

The composer had a high intellect, mathematical abilities, but the irrational beginning was also not alien to him. All his life he was haunted by strange fears and forebodings. What was panicky about the composer Arnold Schoenberg? He had a rare phobia - he was panic-stricken with the number 13. He was born this number, all his life he avoided houses and hotel rooms under such a figure. So what was Arnold Schoenberg afraid at the end? Figures? No, of course, he was afraid of death. He was sure that he would die on the 13th, that the figure 76 - in the amount of 13 - would bring him death. The whole year of his upcoming 76th birthday he lived in suspense until in one day he went to bed with the certainty that today death will come after him. He spent the whole day in bed, waiting for the last hour. By night, his wife could not stand it and made him stop stupid and get out of bed. But 13 minutes before midnight he uttered the word "harmony" and left this world. Thus, on July 13, 1951, the world lost its great composer.