Vier Lieder (Schoenberg)

Vier Lieder, Op. 2 (1899) is a song cycle composed by Arnold Schoenberg in his early era of development. Many of Schoenberg's compositions at this point in his career were reminiscent of the Romantic Era and, had heavy influences from Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms.[1] Additionally, in many of Schoenberg's didactic writings he has made claims of being inspired by Brahms in his early works.[2] To contrast, Vier Lieder, Op. 2 uses a fair amount of dissonance and atonality that Schoenberg is known for.

Composition

Tonality and structure

Vier Lieder is also known to be a composition that was written at the beginning of Schoenberg's break from tonality. In the piece there is much less use of typical cadential movement. Less use of dominant or sub-dominant chords as cadential precursors to a resolution can be observed.[3] Another piece of information to note is the fact that Schoenberg made use of mediants and sub-mediants of the home keys that were written. This would in most cases be used to prolong harmonies or provide surface harmonies.[3] In terms of structure and form, Vier Lieder, Op. 2 mostly remains in a ternary form with slight modifications. For example in the second song of the cycle, Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm, the form can be considered ternary since it has a very small recapitulation.[4] This is unlike the typical expectations of ternary form which has sections that are more equal in length.

Compositional influences

In Vier Lieder, Op. 2 there is direct evidence of Wagnerian influence in the first song of the cycle named Erwartung. This is especially evident in the middle section of Erwartung. The key center happens to modulate several times around the circle of 5ths and ends on the home key. This same form of harmonic progression can be found in the second act of Tannhäuser, which was an opera composed by Wagner.[4] There is also evidence of Brahms having an influence on Schoenberg's development. In 1934 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a note on Schoenberg's development stressing that his early works, including his early song cycles, had obvious influences from Brahms.[2]

Poet

Poet Richard Dehmel wrote the poems that Vier Lieder, Op. 2 was set to. He was known for his naturalistic and expressionist writing. An important piece of context for this song cycle is that the poems chosen were from a collection of poems by Dehmel called "Weib un Welt" which translates to "Woman and World." Additionally, it is necessary to acknowledge the fact that Dehmel was convicted of obscenity and blasphemy based on this collection of poems.[5] Mainly, the convictions were based on a single poem from the selection called "Venus Consolatrix" which compared Mary Magdalene to the Roman goddess Aphrodite, who was the symbol of beauty, life, and sexuality.[5] It is also relevant to mention that Schoenberg was inspired by much of Dehmel's poetry, thus pushing him to explore new forms of tonality.[5]

References
  1. Roy, Adam (2021). Motivic Metamorphosis: Modelling Intervallic Transformations in Schoenberg's Early Works (Thesis).
  2. Musgrave, M. G. (1979). Schoenberg and Brahms: a study of Schoenberg's response to Brahm's music as revealed in his didactic writings and selected early compositions (Thesis).
  3. Ballan, Harry Reuben (1986). Schoenberg's expansion of tonality, 1899–1908 (Thesis). OCLC 18600410. ProQuest 303521938.
  4. Fridheim, Philip Alan (1963). Tonality and structure in the early works of Schoenberg (Thesis). OCLC 55203502. ProQuest 288289502.
  5. Hoeppner-Ryan, Anke (2022). Ambiguity in Richard Dehmel's Poem 'Erwartung' and Its Influence on the Interpretation of Arnold Schoenberg’s Vier Lieder, op 2. doi:10.25910/7WWT-SH14. hdl:2123/31061.
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