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Catherine Dale: Schoenberg's Chamber Symphonies: the crystallization and rediscovery of a style.
Aldershot, Burlington: Ashgate, 2000
ISBN 1-85928-257-1


Inhalt

List of Plates / Preface and Acknowledgements
1 The Schoenbergian Inheritance
2 Towards the Emancipation of the Dissonance
3 Tonal Expansion in the First Chamber Symphony op. 9
4 Formal Compression in the First Chamber Symphony op. 9
5 Thematic Processes in the First Chamber Symphony op. 9
6 The Second Chamber Symphony op. 38: Tonal Beginnings
7 A Three-Year Interlude in the Compositional Process: 'the First Step on a New Path'
8 Resumption and 'Turning Point'
9 'On revient toujours'
Appendix A. The Programme of Schoenberg's String Quartet no. 1 op. 7 / Appendix B. Ticket for the ten open rehearsals of the Chamber Symphony op. 9 held by Schoenberg from 4-12 June 1918 / Appendix C. Thematic index from Berg's analysis of the Chamber Symphony op. 9 (1921) / Bibliography / Index


Abstrakt

Thirty-three years separate the completion of Schoenberg's two chamber symphonies, yet the works are related stylistically, not least because the sketches for the second symphony were begun only a month after the completion of the first. In this detailed study, Catherine Dale identifies the two works as pivotal moments in Schoenberg's musical development. The first (op. 9) is shown to mark the transitional period in which Schoenberg began to move towards atonality, whilst the second (op. 38) is representative of that final period in which tonality again became relevant to the composer. The book demonstrates the way in which the second chamber symphony seeks a reconsiliation of the two languages. In addition to in-depth analyses of the two chamber symphonies, Dale examines those works which preceded op. 9 and indicate Schoenberg's progression towards atonality. A similar exploration of pieces surrounding the second chamber symphony provides an assessment of the triadic language that became available to the composer in his late tonal and serial works. Close reference is made to Schoenberg's sketches, several examples of which are reproduced in the book.