Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklarte Nacht” might be carried out on the Classical Remix Competition’s “Music Underneath The Moon.” (Public area pictures)
Skilled musician Alexandra Shatalova Prior guides readers by the nuances of a few of the world’s best-known classical music. On this newest installment, she explores one among Schoenberg’s early works, a tone poem pre-dating his revolutionary transfer past conventional tonality. It will likely be carried out as a part of this summer season’s Classical Remix Music Competition on June 8. Every embedded video beneath affords a clip of the passage she discusses.
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Arnold Schoenberg is well-known because the inventor of the 12-tone approach, a serialist methodology of composing music that dominated his later inventive profession. Those that have solely heard his compositions on this unconventional type, such because the Variations for Orchestra, are shocked to find out how Romantic and luxurious his earlier works are. Schoenberg’s attractive 1899 string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night time) is his best-known pre-serialist work, which you’ll be able to hear stay on June 8 as a part of the Classical Remix Competition, carried out by musicians from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra the the Atlanta Opera.
Verklärte Nacht takes its inspiration from a poem by Richard Dehmel with the identical title. Within the poem, a person and lady are taking a moonlit stroll when the girl confesses to her companion that she is carrying one other man’s little one. The person responds with sympathy, declaring that the heat from their love “will transfigure the unusual man’s little one. You’ll bear the kid for me, as if it have been mine” because the pair proceed their stroll “by the excessive, shiny night time.” It’s an emotionally charged change in a dramatic setting, which Schoenberg masterfully interprets to music.
Because the piece is about half-hour lengthy with no breaks, one may method listening to the work as if embarking on a journey; it helps to have street marks, and Schoenberg follows the five-part ABACA construction of the poem, reflecting the temper of every part.
Initially of the work, the recurring “A” theme is launched, quietly constructing from a low, resonant register, making a mournful, moonlit environment.
About midway by the piece, once we hear this theme once more, it appears to comprise the load and complexity of the girl’s confession, as as an alternative of sonorous harmonies we hear indignant dissonance from the supporting voices (watch the cellos), creating an emotional and sonic conflict. Hear additionally to how Schoenberg inches the theme’s tonal middle upward, portraying palpable anguish and nervousness.
The ultimate assertion of this theme on the finish of the work is an beautiful completion of the transformation, using the candy increased register of the devices with underlying concord that feels advanced but lush, as if the angst has been let loose of the theme and we’re left with solely good emotions and the fantastic thing about glowing moonlight.
There are different, extra targeted examples of transfiguration that may be heard all through the work — for example, on this pivotal second once we hear and really feel a shift from minor to main. It’s adopted by a stunning cello melody, an unmistakable expression of the goodness and acceptance the poem’s feminine protagonist receives from her strolling companion:
Followers of Wagner and Mahler may even hear echoes of those larger-than-life composers in Verklärte Nacht, and the effusive means they translate feelings into music. At first of this explicit clip, you’ll be able to hear Schoenberg breaking the bounds of conventional tonality and as an alternative letting the music’s ardour reign. Discover the intimate dialog between the violin and cello as properly.
Transfiguration is outlined as a change resulting in a extra lovely state, and, for Schoenberg, this meant breaking with conference within the pursuit of making better artwork. Due to the poem’s material and the composer’s harmonic experimentations, Verklärte Nacht was met with controversy and rejection at its premiere, but the music’s capacity to transcend phrases and talk emotion endures to at the present time.
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The place & When
Classical Remix Music Competition’s Music Underneath the Moon occurs at 7:30 p.m. June 8. $20-$45. Leafmore-Creek Park Membership, 1373 Altamont Drive, Decatur. classicalremixmusicfestival.com.