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Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School.
The Second Viennese School was the group of composers consisting of Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th century Vienna. Their music was initially characterized by late-Romantic expanded tonality and later, a totally chromatic expressionism without firm tonal centre, often referred to as atonality; and later still, Schoenberg's serial twelve-tone technique.
Schoenberg's approach, both in terms of harmony and development, has shaped much of 20th century musical thought. Many composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whereas others have passionately reacted against it.
As a Jewish composer, Schoenberg was targeted by the Nazi Party, which labeled his works as degenerate music and forbade them from being published. He emigrated to the United States in 1933, becoming an American citizen in 1941.
While revered by experts and taught to generations of students in academic courses, Schoenberg's music is not understood or appreciated by many music lovers. In 2018, the musicologist Stephen Walsh wrote, "Schoenberg may be the first 'great' composer in modern history whose music has not entered the repertoire almost a century and a half after his birth.”
Portrait by Florence Homolka
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