Schoenberg And His School: The Contemporary Stage Of The Language Of Music

by René Leibowitz

English, French (translation)

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

305 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

René Leibowitz (French: [ʁəne lɛbɔwits]; 17 February 1913 – 29 August 1972) was a Polish, later naturalised French, composer, conductor, music theorist and teacher. He was historically significant in promoting the music of the Second Viennese School in Paris after the Second World War, and teaching a new generation of serialist composers.

Leibowitz remained firmly committed to the musical aesthetic of Arnold Schoenberg, and was to some extent sidelined among the French avant-garde in the 1950s, when, under the influence of Leibowitz's former student, Pierre Boulez and others, the music of Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern was adopted as the orthodox model by younger composers.

Although his compositional ideas remained strictly serialist, as a conductor Leibowitz had broad sympathies, performing works by composers as diverse as Gluck, Beethoven, Brahms, Offenbach and Ravel, and his repertory extended to include pieces by Gershwin, Puccini, Sullivan and Johann Strauss.

Reviews

[Aaron]

Leibowitz's work is an excellent, albeit dense introduction to the evolution of 20th century music with emphasis on the music and theory of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. It encompasses a wide array of topics which serves as an effective springboard into more specific study.

[Bill FromPA]

Leibowitz' introductory chapters, in which he shows how continuous stylistic evolution is inherent in Western polyphony, are a brilliant foundation for his analysis of the Second Viennese School. The discussion of the individual pieces are insightful and informative, covering a good deal of the composers' oeuvres. He is equally illuminating in defining the distinct musical personalities of the three figures.

[Robin Boudreaux]

good overview of Berg-Schoenberg-Webern in context!