1. »Es gingen zwei Gespielen gut« (vor 1540) >>> sources


2. »Herzlieblich Lieb, durch Scheiden« (15. Jahrhundert) >>> sources


3. »Schein uns, du liebe Sonne« (16. Jahrhundert) >>> sources

DURATION: ca. 8 Min.

PUBLISHER: Edition Peters

Schönbergs Haltung zur Synthese aus Kunst– und Volksmusik ist ambivalent. Zum einen meint er: »Sind diese [die Unterschiede] vielleicht nicht so groß wie die zwischen Petroleum und Olivenöl oder zwischen Waschwasser und Weihwasser, so mischen sich diese beiden so schlecht wie Öl und Wasser.« (Symphonien aus Volksliedern) Die Verwendung von Volksliedern in der Kunstmusik berge die Gefahr einer allzu simplen Faktur, ein Vorwurf, von dem Schönberg auch Beethoven und Brahms nicht ausnahm. (In der kompositorischen Praxis fügt sich jedoch das »Ännchen von Tharau« in die Suite op. 29 ein, wenn auch verborgen im ‚Reihendickicht‘. ) Auf der anderen Seite rühmt er die »überwältigende Tiefe des Ausdrucks«, autochthone Musiken seien »höchst interessant in ihren Melodieschritten. Sie sind wahrhaft schön, und man kann sie nur bewundern.« (Symphonien aus Volksliedern). An das Vorbild Brahms schließen die Volksliedbearbeitungen von 1928 an, hinzu kommen die Vier Volkslieder in der Bearbeitung für Gesang und Klavier. Es scheint, als hätte der Komponist Schönberg den Theoretiker stillschweigend korrigiert.
Der Impuls für die Bearbeitungen ging von der »Staatlichen Kommission für das Volksliederbuch für die Jugend« in Berlin aus. Die Kommission war es auch, die Schönberg die Vorlagen – Cantus firmi und Texte – zur Verfügung stellte. In der Besetzung und in stilistischer Hinsicht war Schönberg nicht gebunden. Die Cantus firmi lassen sich wie folgt nachweisen: Schein uns du liebe Sonne stammt von Antonio Scandello und wurde in Nawe Weltliche Deudsche Liedlein 1570 zum ersten Mal publiziert. Der Mai tritt ein mit Freuden befindet sich im ersten Teil der bicinia von Georg Rhaw 1545, Mein Herz in steten Treuen und Hercz liplich lip sind anonyme Sätze aus einer Münchener Handschrift, »Es gingen zwei Gespielen gut« dürfte mit dem Lied »Zu Wirtzburg steht ein hohes Haus« in Egenolffs Graszliedlin 1535 ident sein. Anscheinend wurden ihm mehr Vorlagen zugesandt, als er für die Kommission für Gesang und Klavier bearbeitete, da er die ‚überzähligen‘ Vorlagen zu Volksliedbearbeitungen für gemischten Chorverwendete. Es gingen zwei Gespielen gut wurde aus den Bearbeitungen für Gesang und Klavier in die Chorfassung aufgenommen. Bei den Volksliedbearbeitungen kämpfte Schönberg mit zwei speziellen kompositorischen Problemen. Zum einen schienen ihm die Takteinteilungen der zugesandten Vorlagen nicht original zu sein. Das zweite Problem betraf die Kirchentonarten. Schönberg bestand auf einer Notation, die die Vorzeichen nicht den modernen Tonarten anglich. »Ich habe allerdings keine reinen Kirchentonarten angestrebt, sondern das Spiel mit den verschiedenen Akzidentien nur als färbend angewendet.« Diese Lösung, die keine historisch korrekte Lösung sein wollte, konnte er als Komponist vertreten. In Es gingen zwei Gespielen gut kommt ein Verfahren zum Einsatz, für das Schönberg den Begriff der »entwickelnden Variation« prägte. Die sechs Strophen werden als »symphonische Einheit« behandelt, Zäsuren zwischen den Strophen werden kunstvoll überspielt, auch der Cantus firmus ist in die Veränderungen involviert. Die Fassung für Gesang und Klavier ist (wie von der Kommission verlangt) ein Strophenlied mit einfacher Klavierbegleitung. Die Bearbeitung von Herzlieblich Lieb durch Scheiden ist geprägt von den Erfahrungen, die Schönberg an Werken von Mozart, Schubert und Brahms gemacht hatte. Die Entdeckung der rhythmisch–metrischen Unregelmäßigkeiten, die diese Musik durchziehen, erlaubte Schönberg, das zu entwickeln, was Adorno »Musikalische Prosa« genannt hatte. Der schnelle Drei–Viertel–Takt wird oft durch Vier–Viertel–Takt unterbrochen und mündet in Drei–Halbe–Takte, was die hemiolische Wirkung zum Strukturfaktor erhebt. Der Satz von Schein uns du liebe Sonne erscheint trotz aller motivischer Verschränkung und des wandernden Cantus firmus als der konventionellste. Von den Liedsätzen des 16. Jahrhunderts übernimmt er den diatonischen Aufbau der Melodik, was sich auch in der Harmonik niederschlägt. Von den Vier deutschen Volksliedern, die Schönberg 1928/29 für Gesang und Klavier bearbeitete, griff er drei 1948 nochmals auf, um sie einer Bearbeitung für gemischten Chor zu unterziehen. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Chorsätzen hielt er sie einer Opuszahl für würdig: die drei Chorsätze rangieren heute unter op. 49.

The Arnold Schönberg Center, established in 1998 in Vienna, is an unique repository of Arnold Schönberg’s archival legacy and a cultural center that is open to the public.

Arnold Schönberg – composer, painter, teacher, theoretician and innovator – was born in Vienna in 1874 and died in Los Angeles in 1951. He also resided in Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Boston. In music history Schönberg’s name is associated with an epoch-making innovation: the “Method of composing with twelve tones which are related only with one another.”

Exhibitions on Schönberg’s life and work, a gallery of his paintings, a replica of his Los Angeles study, a library on topics relating to the Viennese School, as well as concerts, lectures, workshops and symposia all contribute to a comprehensive experience that will enable the visitor to better understand Schönberg’s contributions to music and the arts.

Activities at the Center are geared not only to the dedicated scholar but also to the general public. Professional assistance is granted for examining and studying Schönberg’s music manuscripts, writings and his correspondence. Scholarly results of the Center’s symposia are being published through the periodical “Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center.” A museum shop includes publications in various languages, scores and both current and historic recordings of Schönberg’s works.

Arnold Schönberg’s legacy remained in the possession of his heirs after his death in 1951 and was administered by his widow Gertrud Schönberg until 1967. In the 70s, Schönberg’s heirs decided to make the collection available to the Arnold Schönberg Institute of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where a modern archive was established along with a concert hall and an exhibition hall. That archive was open to the public until 1997. Leonard Stein, who had studied with Schönberg, was the director of the Institute. During its 25-year history, the Institute was consulted by thousands of researchers, artists, students and music-lovers. Between 1975 and 1993, the “Friends of the Arnold Schönberg Institute” organized numerous activities at the Institute.

Towards the end of this period, the University of Southern California felt it could no longer fulfill the condition of Schönberg’s heirs that the Institute and archive be limited exclusively to research and studies about Arnold Schönberg, triggering off a legal battle between them and the University in 1996. Many cities, universities and private people were interested in giving the orphaned collection a new home: New York, Vienna, Berlin, Den Haag, Basel, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Arizona and even in Los Angeles, the Getty Center and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Vienna, as the city that Schönberg was born in and the birthplace and namesake of the Viennese School, was chosen: in early 1997, the Arnold Schönberg Center Privatstiftung was founded by the City of Vienna together with the Internationale Schönberg Gesellschaft. The purposes of the Foundation include establishing the Arnold Schönberg Archives (legacy) in Vienna, its maintenance and preservation, the education of the public with regard to Schönberg's interdisciplinary artistic influence, as well as teaching and publicizing Schönberg's contributions to music and other achievements. The purposes of the Foundation shall be achieved by making the Schönberg legacy accessible and available for scholarly study and research by scholars, composers, musicians, and the general public; regularly organizing exhibitions, concerts, and other events; holding symposia and conferences devoted to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg; exhibiting paintings and drawings by Arnold Schönberg, which have been made available to the Foundation by their owners as a long-term loan.

After the collection had been moved from Los Angeles and the Schönberg Center had been opened in March 1998, the archive was made available to researchers, composers, musicians and the general public. The collection contains approximately 9.000 pages of musical manuscripts, 6.000 pages of text manuscripts, 3.500 historical photos as well as personal documents, diaries, concert programmes, his entire library (music, books and recordings) and a replica of Schönberg’s study in Los Angeles. Almost all of the original manuscripts and other Schönbergiana that are not a part of the collection are nevertheless available in copies or on microfilm at the Center. The Center’s reference library also offers visitors one of the most complete collections of literature concerning the (Second) Viennese School in the world.

In March 1997, as one of its founders, the International Schönberg Society deeds Arnold Schönberg’s residence in Mödling (1918-1925) to the newly founded Arnold Schönberg Center Private Foundation. The house, which is a living monument for the intellectual activity of Schönberg’s Viennese circle, contains a museum (open to the public since September 1999).

The purposes of the Foundation shall be achieved by:

Transferring the Arnold Schönberg Institute and the complete contents thereof from the University of Southern California to the premises of the Foundation (in Vienna) and the use thereof for the purposes set forth herein, as well as the acquisition and preservation of other materials that relate to Arnold Schönberg;

Making the Schönberg estate accessible and available for scholarly study and research by scholars, composers, musicians, and the general public;

Encouraging public understanding of music theory, particularly the style and methods of Arnold Schönberg;

Teaching, researching, and further educating musicians, scholars, and the public at large, in cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, as well as with other research and teaching institutions, insofar as these educational activities are related to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg;

Distributing, providing access to, and furthering understanding of interdisciplinary works of Schönberg for the public at large as well as the scholarly and musical communities;

Cataloguing and scholarly application of the archival and research materials relating to Arnold Schönberg, and the making available of finding aids in written, electronic and other forms by means of the latest technologies (especially in cooperation with the Vienna Stadt- und Landesbibliothek, the Vienna Stadt- und Landesarchiv, the Austrian National Library, as well as other archives and libraries);

Regular organization of exhibitions, concerts, and other events, without respect to geographical location, so long as these events are related to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg;

Holding symposia and conferences that are devoted to the life and to the work of Arnold Schönberg;

Analyzing the most recent artistic trends that relate to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg; Regularly awarding an international Arnold Schönberg prize;

Regularly awarding Arnold Schönberg scholarships for research projects that relate to the life and to the work of Arnold Schönberg;

Cooperating with the Arnold Schönberg Gesamtausgabe, as well as with the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift; Cooperating internationally with orchestras, museums, schools, universities, publishing houses, festivals, and similar organizations, so long as such cooperation is related to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg;

Exhibiting the paintings and drawings by Arnold Schönberg, which may be made available to the Foundation by other owners as long-term loan.

Board of Trustees
Nuria Schoenberg Nono, Dr. h.c., president
Mag. Daniel Löcker, vice president
Lawrence A. Schoenberg
E. Randol Schoenberg
Prof. Dr. Marion Diederichs-Lafite
Dr. Barbara Fränzen
em. o. Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. Hartmut Krones
Ao. Univ. Prof. Dr. Cornelia Szabo-Knotik
Mag. Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz

Advisory Board
MR Dr. Helga Dostal, chairwoman
MR Mag. Hildegard Siess, vice chairwoman
MR Dr. Elisabeth Freismuth
Mag. Christian Kircher
Mag. Astrid Koblanck
Dr. Peter Marboe
Mag. Sabine Reiter
MMag. Ilse Schneider
em. Univ. Prof. Dr.
Manfred Wagner

“Art in its most primitive state is a simple imitation of nature. [...] In its most cultured state, however, art is exclusively concerned with the reproduction of inner nature.”
(Arnold Schönberg, Harmonielehre, 1911)

As an echo chamber for the soul, nature is capable of evoking aspirations and dreams as well as delusions and deceptions as metaphors in art. For the artist, nature occasionally serves as symbolization of the most extreme stirrings of emotion: it embodies love, hope and joy to the same extent as fear, sorrow and pain.

Arnold Schönberg’s music, as a mirror of profound humanity, bears witness to a manner of experiencing nature whose symbolism is still heavily influenced by German Romanticism. In his youth he professed that he was still able to “empathize” with “the Romantic interpretations of nature”, although the mission of the artist must amount to more than just “sympathizing”.

Nature opens up a variety of spaces for him to explore new means of compositional expression, which are reproduced by way of example in the exhibition.

Music manuscripts, paintings and drawings, letters, diaries, calendars and photographs form a circuit of exhibit items that indicate not only the perception of nature in Arnold Schönberg’s artistic and intellectual world, but also facets of his inner nature.
What does nature sound like in the composer’s mind? Using digitally animated scores in the exhibition, and therefore with synchronous tracking of image and sound, items from the archives are played. The written nature imagery is unveiled in music, or quite generally the density of interpretation in musical notation is revealed in a visualization of sound concepts.

Curator: Therese Muxeneder
Architecture: Jochen Koppensteiner
Digital realisation: Christoph Edtmayr

Opening Hours
Monday – Friday 10 am to 5 pm
closed on holidays

Tickets
Adults: € 6,00
Students 26 and under, senior citizens, visitors with a disability card/assistance: € 3,00
Children and young people 19 and under: free admission
Visitors with Vienna City Card: € 4,80
ICOM-Members: free admission

Selected items are available as an Online Exhibtion (100 objects)

Press photos:

			Photos: © Hertha Hurnaus