PROGRAM NOTES TO VERKLÄRTE NACHT

At the end of the 19th century the foremost representatives of the "Zeitgeist" in poetry have been Detlev von Liliencron, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Dehmel. But in music, after Brahms' death, many young composers followed the model of Richard Strauss, by composing program music. This explains the origin of Verklärte Nacht: it is program music, illustrating and expressing the poem of Richard Dehmel.

My composition was perhaps somehow different from other illustrative compositions, firstly by not being for orchestra, but for a chamber group; secondly because it does not illustrate any action or drama, but was restricted to portray nature and to express human feelings. It seems that due to this attitude my composition has gained qualities which can also satisfy if one does not know what it illustrates, or in other words, it offers the possibility to be appreciated as "pure ” music. Thus it can perhaps make you forget the poem which many a person today might call rather repulsive.

Nevertheless, much of the poem deserves appreciation because of its highly poetic presentation of the emotions provoked by the beauty of nature, and for the distinguished moral attitude in dealing with a staggeringly difficult human problem.

Promenading in a park,

in a clear, cold moonlight night,

the wife confesses a tragedy to the man in a dramatic outburst.

She had married a man whom she did not love. She was unhappy and lonely in this marriage,

but forced herself to remain faithful,

and finally obeying the maternal instinct, she is now with child from a man she does not love. She even had considered herself praisworthy for fulfilling her duty toward the demands of nature.

A climactic ascension, elaborating the motif,

expresses her selfaccusation of her great sin. In desperation she walks now beside the man,

with whom she has fallen in love, fearing his sentence will destroy her. But " the voice of a man speaks, a man whose generosity is as sublime as his love.

The preceding first half of the composition ends in E-flat minor, a), of which, as a transition, only B-flat (b) remains, in order to connect with the extreme contrast in D-Major, (c).
Harmonics,

adorned by muted runs, b, express the beauty of the moonlight and introduce above, a glittering accompaniment,

a secondary theme,

which soon changes into a duet between Violin and Cello.

This section reflects the mood of a man whose love, in harmony with the splendor and radiancy of nature, is capable of ignoring the tragic situation: "The child you bear must not be a burden to your soul. "
Having, reached a climax, this duet is connected by a transition with a new theme.

Its melody, expressing the "warmth that flows from one of us into the other", the warmth of love, is followed by repetitions and elaborations of preceding themes. It leads finally to another new theme,

which corresponds to the man's dignified resolution: this warmth "will transfigure your child, '' so as to become "my own ". An ascension leads to the climax, a repetition of the man 's theme,

of the second part.

A long coda section concludes the work. Its material consists of themes of the preceding parts, all of them modified anew, so as to glorify the miracles of nature, that have changed this night of tragedy into a transfigured night.

It shall not be forgotten that this work, at its first performance in Vienna, was hissed and caused riots and fist fights. But very soon it became very successful.

Copyright by Arnold Schoenberg,
August 26, 1950

from: Arnold Schönberg : Self-Portrait. A collection of articles programe notes and letters by the composer about his own works. Edited by Nuria Schoenberg Nono. Pacific Palisades 1988, p. 119-123