Schoenberg and His School: The Contemporary Stage of the Language of Music

by René Leibowitz

The noted music theorist presents a brilliant and sweeping study of Schoenberg's compositions and his influence on the generations that followed.

A pioneering composer and leader of the Second Viennese School, Arthur Schoenberg was one of the most important figures in twentieth-century classical music. In Schoenberg and His School, composer, conductor, and music theorist René Leibowitz offers an authoritative analysis of Schoenberg's groundbreaking contributions to composition theory and Western polyphony.

In addition to detailing his subject's major works, Leibowitz also explores Schoenberg's influence on the works of his two great disciples, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Leibowitz considers how the influences of all three men have, in turn, created new movements within contemporary music today.

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

good overview of Berg-Schoenberg-Webern in context!