Schoenberg was a victim of Nazi Germany's antisemitic policies, forced to resign his professorship in Berlin due to the 1933 Aryanization law and later moving to the United States.
Historical Context
Nazi Germany organized the 'Entartete Musik' (Degenerate Music) exhibition in 1938, which stigmatized avant-garde works and associated music with race, specifically targeting Jewish and progressive composers.
Composer Biography
Arnold Schoenberg, an Austrian-born American composer, revolutionized music in the first half of the 20th century and was also a celebrated theorist, painter, and author of various works and arrangements.
Album & Artwork
The album's cover art features Arnold Schoenberg's 'Blue Self-Portrait' from 1910, with permission from the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna.
Compositional Technique
Schoenberg abolished academic rules of counterpoint, harmony, and melody to establish musical writing based on a series of twelve tones from the chromatic scale, a revolutionary compositional technique.
Performer Biography
Amaury du Closel, the conductor, is considered a second-generation disciple of Schoenberg, having studied composition with Max Deutsch, who was one of Schoenberg's last European pupils.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Schoenberg's graphic works, including his 'Blue Self-Portrait' from 1910, are considered a parallel artistic research to his musical experiments and reflect his quest for a 'total work of art'.
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