Jump to content

Zwei Gesänge, Op. 1 (Schoenberg)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zwei Gesänge
Lieder by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schönberg
by Richard Gerstl, 1905
Opus1
Textpoems by Karl Michael von Levetzow
LanguageGerman
Composed1898 (1898)
DedicationAlexander von Zemlinsky
Performed1 December 1900 (1900-12-01) Vienna
Published1903 (1903)
Duration16 minutes[1]
Scoring
  • baritone
  • piano

Arnold Schoenberg's Zwei Gesänge (Two Songs), Op. 1 (1898–1903), are Lieder for baritone and piano accompaniment. Each song sets a poem of Karl Michael von Levetzow. In 1900, Eduard Gärtner and Alexander Zemlinsky (piano) premiered them at Vienna's Bösendorfer-Saal. In 1903, Max Marschalk [de]'s Berliner Verlag Dreililien published them under the full title Zwei Gesänge für eine Baritonstimme und Klavier (Two Songs for a baritone voice and piano). Schoenberg dedicated them to Zemlinsky.

History[edit]

Schoenberg composed Zwei Gesänge early in his development as a composer. He dedicated them "to my teacher and friend, Alexander von Zemlinsky".[1] Though Schoenberg was mostly self-taught, Zemlinsky had given him counterpoint lessons.[2] The work of Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner, among others, influenced Schoenberg.[3]

Schoenberg set poems from Karl Michael von Levetzow's Höhenlieder: Gedichte und Aphorismen, "Dank" ("Thanks") in the first song and "Abschied" ("Farewell") in the next. In July 1898, Levetzow had given a copy of this volume to Schoenberg, inscribed: "Dedicated kindly to Mr Arnold Schönberg with the best wishes for success". The two met that year perhaps at a Café Glattauer poetry reading. They later worked in Kabarett together at Ernst von Wolzogen's Überbrettl, where Levetzow may have helped Schoenberg get hired as a conductor in 1901. Schoenberg asked Levetzow to be his daughter Gertrude's godfather in 1902.[4]

Eduard Gärtner (baritone) and Zemlinsky (piano) first performed the songs in Vienna's Bösendorfer-Saal on 1 December 1900. Das Vaterland [de] recorded the audience's hostile reaction. David Josef Bach recalled the audience "yelling and laughing, ... jeer[ing] at the composer like a fool", in a 1905 Arbeiter-Zeitung article about Schoenberg.[4] The composer himself observed, "from that time ... the scandal has never ceased", according to Egon Wellesz's 1921 Schoenberg biography.[4][a]

In 1903, Max Marschalk [de]'s Berliner Verlag Dreililien[b] published the songs, in a new version with different keys, as Schoenberg's Opus 1.[4] The firm soon also published Schoenberg's already written Vier Lieder, Op. 2.[4]

Songs[edit]

Schoenberg reversed Levetzow's original ordering of the poems, perhaps as a nod of "thanks" and then "farewell" to Levetzow or Zemlinsky:[4]

  1. "Dank"
  2. "Abschied"

He wrote both songs in a ponderous Wagnerian declamatory idiom, with leaps down by fifth or octave at phrase or verse endings. Dennis Gerlach noted "striking motifs" as opening and closing devices. "Dank" ends somewhat expansively and very resoundingly with a third, emphatic thanks in the text. Gerlach observed the "metaphorical transformation of the lyric self" in the expressive tremolo passage of "Abschied". Both songs modulate to the parallel major key (from minor keys B and D respectively). There are constant tempo changes. Alma Mahler (then Alma Schindler) observed that the songs were

lavished with incredible pomp but without any concession to the ear that is accustomed to gentle melodies. Nightmarishly paralyzing ... disjointed. ... [without] a crescendo that reaches its climax tenderly. ... certainly not uninteresting — but beautiful.[4]

Recordings and performances[edit]

Donald Gramm and Glenn Gould recorded Zwei Gesänge on 1 May 1965 as part of Gould's collection of Schoenberg's piano music and Lieder.[5] Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Aribert Reimann recorded the songs in January 1983.[6] Liviu Holender and Lukas Rommelspacher performed them at the Oper Frankfurt on 17 April 2024 for Schoenberg's 150th anniversary.[7]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Schoenberg later corrected the biography but left this passage unchanged.[4]
  2. ^ Universal Edition later acquired Dreililien.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b IRCAM 2024.
  2. ^ Beaumont 2000.
  3. ^ Musgrave 1979.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Gerlach 2020.
  5. ^ Arnold Schönberg Center Gould 2024.
  6. ^ Arnold Schönberg Center Reimann 2024.
  7. ^ schoenberg150 2024.

Cited sources[edit]

  • Beaumont, Antony (2000). Zemlinsky. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-57-116983-2.
  • Gerlach, Dennis (2020). "Zwei Gesänge für eine Baritonstimme und Klavier [Two Songs for Baritone and piano] op. 1 (1899)". Arnold Schönberg Center. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  • 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).
  • "Zwei Gesänge für eine Baritonstimme und Klavier op. 1". Arnold Schönberg Center. 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  • "Zwei Gesänge für eine Baritonstimme und Klavier op. 1". Arnold Schönberg Center. 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  • "Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) / Zwei Gesänge op. 1 (1898)". IRCAM. 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  • "Eventarchiv". schoenberg150.at. 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zwei_Gesänge,_Op._1_(Schoenberg)&oldid=1229427136"