The Modernist Kaleidoscope: Schoenberg's Reception History in England, America, Germany and Austria 1908-1924 by Sarah Elain
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The Modernist Kaleidoscope: Schoenberg’s Reception History in England, America, Germany and Austria 1908-1924 by Sarah Elaine Neill Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ R. Larry Todd, Supervisor ___________________________ Severine Neff ___________________________ Philip Rupprecht ___________________________ John Supko ___________________________ Jacqueline Waeber Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 ABSTRACT The Modernist Kaleidoscope: Schoenberg’s Reception History in England, America, Germany and Austria 1908-1924 by Sarah Elaine Neill Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ R. Larry Todd, Supervisor ___________________________ Severine Neff ___________________________ Philip Rupprecht ___________________________ John Supko ___________________________ Jacqueline Waeber An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 Copyright by Sarah Elaine Neill 2014 Abstract Much of our understanding of Schoenberg and his music today is colored by early responses to his so-called free-atonal work from the first part of the twentieth century, especially in his birthplace, Vienna. This early, crucial reception history has been incredibly significant and subversive; the details of the personal and political motivations behind deeply negative or manically positive responses to Schoenberg’s music have not been preserved with the same fidelity as the scandalous reactions themselves. We know that Schoenberg was feared, despised, lauded, and imitated early in his career, but much of the explanation as to why has been forgotten or overlooked. As a result our own reception of Schoenberg’s music is built upon inherited fears, hopes, and insecurities that are now nearly a century old. In order to more fully approach these musical works and their composer it is necessary to attempt to separate his reputation from the sound of the music. This dissertation, which studies Schoenberg’s reception from 1908 through 1924 in the United States, Britain, and Austria and German through select works (Opp. 10, 15, 16, 17), contributes to the field by uncovering additional primary sources, including previously unknown performances and reviews. My work interacts with larger trends in musicology, including questioning the narrative of atonality, assessing the value of social and artistic movements (e.g. expressionism) as applied to music, and examining how the reception of a work is the combination of many factors – from the aural to the political – which intertwine to form our idea of a musical text. Ultimately, through a study based on close musical analysis employing elements of set-class theory, the methodology of Rezeptionsästhetik, and a iv focus on historical context, I present an interpretation in which Schoenberg’s reception is strongly determined by early critical responses from Vienna, where conservative views of music’s role in society combined with undercurrents of anti-Semitic thought to brand Schoenberg as mentally unstable and his music as socially detrimental. v Dedication To my husband, Adam Michael Neill vi Table of Contents ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... IV LIST OF EXAMPLES ....................................................................................................... IX LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... XII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ XIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... XIV INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE STAGE FOR A DIFFICULT RECEPTION HISTORY ........... 1 Reception History and Rezeptionsästhetik ................................................................ 6 The Modernist Kaleidoscope, the Modernist Crisis ................................................ 13 CHAPTER 1: SECOND STRING QUARTET, OP. 10 .......................................................... 22 The State of the String Quartet ca. 1908 .................................................................. 26 Op. 10 Premieres in Vienna ..................................................................................... 34 Analysis .................................................................................................................... 44 The “Second Premiere,” Pre-war Vienna and Germany ......................................... 64 Pre-war London ....................................................................................................... 70 Post-war Reception: Vienna and New York City .................................................... 74 CHAPTER 2: DAS BUCH DER HÄNGENDEN GÄRTEN, OP. 15 ..................................... 80 Novelty, Authenticity, Conversion .......................................................................... 83 Composing the George-Lieder ................................................................................ 87 Spring 1908 – Op. 15, Nos. 3-8 ............................................................................................... 88 Spring 1909 – Op. 15, No. 15 .................................................................................................. 98 Text Setting and Expressionism ............................................................................ 101 Stefan George .......................................................................................................... 107 Reception of Early Performances ........................................................................... 114 Vienna ........................................................................................................................................ 115 Berlin .......................................................................................................................................... 119 Other Early Performances (Paris, Buenos Aires, US, UK) ............................................... 122 vii CHAPTER 3: FIVE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA, OP. 16 ................................................... 128 London and the World Premiere ............................................................................ 131 Boston and Chicago and the American Audience ................................................. 146 Germany Hears Five Pieces ................................................................................... 157 Vienna’s Cold Shoulder .......................................................................................... 168 Mengelberg and the Netherlands ........................................................................... 169 Early Twentieth-Century Analysis of Five Pieces ................................................... 171 Form .......................................................................................................................................... 173 Rhythm ...................................................................................................................................... 182 Harmony and Melody ............................................................................................................. 185 Instrumentation ........................................................................................................................ 192 CHAPTER 4: ERWARTUNG, OP. 17 ................................................................................ 195 A Long-Awaited Success: Op. 17 Premieres in Prague .......................................... 196 Analysis .................................................................................................................. 208 Expressionism ....................................................................................................... 222 Freud and Psychoanalysis ..................................................................................... 233 CONCLUSION: CONSIDERING SCHOENBERG’S RECEPTION HISTORY POST-1924 ....... 236 APPENDIX 1: EARLY PERFORMANCES OF OP. 10 ......................................................... 239 APPENDIX 2: TRANSLATIONS OF GEORGE’S TEXTS, “LITANEI” AND “ENTRÜCKUNG” .................................................................................................................................... 241 APPENDIX 3: EARLY PERFORMANCES OF DAS BUCH DER HÄNGENDEN GÄRTEN, OP. 15 ................................................................................................................................ 243 APPENDIX 4: PERFORMANCES OF OTHER WORKS BY SCHOENBERG IN ARGENTINA ... 244 APPENDIX 5: EARLY PERFORMANCES OF FIVE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA, OP. 16 .... 245 APPENDIX 6: PROGRAM FOR WORLD PREMIERE OF OP. 16 IN LONDON ..................... 247 APPENDIX 7: PROMENADE PERFORMANCES OF SCHOENBERG’S WORKS .................... 249 APPENDIX 8: ERWARTUNG EARLY PERFORMANCES .................................................. 252 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 253 BIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................................