The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923 [Hardcover]

Between 1908 and 1923, Arnold Schoenberg began writing music that went against many of the accepted concepts and practices of this art. Largely following his intuition during these years, he composed some of the masterpieces of the modern repertoire--includingPierrot lunaireandErwartung--works that have since provoked a large, though fragmented, body of critical and analytical writing. In this book, Bryan Simms combines a historical study with a close analytical reading of the music to give us a new and richer understanding of Schoenberg's seminal work during this period.

[T]he work of a scholar who not only knows the music he is writing about very well but has strong ideas about it historical position....mastery of source materials. --Music & Letters

[A] significant amount of information about Schoenberg's atonal compositions-their historical background, choice of texts, relationship to the composer's biography and much else besides. Any subsequent scholar who wishes to examine any of these pieces will shorten his or her work considerably by beginning with Simms's discussions. Indeed, anyone wishing a good general introduction to the compositions and their historical background should start here. --Current Musicology

...exhibits the rarest insight that only an author with intimate understanding and sympathy toward both Schoenberg's life and work could bring together...this study assesses Schoenberg's creative impulse and makes it understandable for perhaps the first time. Simms's seamless blend of an awareness of the composer's life with concise abstractions of his theories...makes this book a true achievement, one worthy of not only the scholar and student, but the lover of modern music as well. --Choice

[T]he work of a scholar who not only knows the music he is writing about very well but has strong ideas about its historical position....mastery of source materials. --Mul6