Schönberg was the first to break definitively all bonds with tonality. And from that day on – which was a long time ago (the Three Pieces for Orchestra) – this man has constantly moved forward along the same path – in a heroic struggle with the cruel lack of comprehension of his contemporaries and even with misery – he has erected a musical edifice which, today, presents one of the greatest achievements in the entire history of music. Works such as Pierrot and the Pieces for Orchestra may be exciting or annoying from case to case, but they are works about which there is no further discussion, to the extent that they are never valuated anymore as more or less successful attempts in a new tonal technique, but that they are the marvelous expression of a very special sensibility, its musical language incomparable in its wonderful perfection – on the same lofty plateau as that of Bach, Mozart and Chopin.
Arnold Schönberg zum 50. Geburtstage, 13. September 1924. Sonderheft der Musikblätter des Anbruch, 6. Jg., August-September-Heft 1924, 285
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