Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklarte Nacht” will be performed at the Classical Remix Festival’s “Music Under The Moon.” (Public domain photos)
Professional musician Alexandra Shatalova Prior guides readers through the nuances of some of the world’s best-known classical music. In this latest installment, she explores one of Schoenberg’s early works, a tone poem pre-dating his revolutionary move beyond traditional tonality. It will be performed as part of this summer’s Classical Remix Music Festival on June 8. Each embedded video below offers a clip of the passage she discusses.
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Arnold Schoenberg is well-known as the inventor of the 12-tone technique, a serialist method of composing music that dominated his later creative career. Those who have only heard his compositions in this unconventional style, such as the Variations for Orchestra, are shocked to learn how Romantic and lush his earlier works are. Schoenberg’s gorgeous 1899 string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) is his best-known pre-serialist work, which you can hear live on June 8 as part of the Classical Remix Festival, performed by musicians from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra the the Atlanta Opera.
Transfigured night takes its inspiration from a poem by Richard Dehmel with the same title. In the poem, a man and woman are taking a moonlit walk when the woman confesses to her companion that she is carrying another man’s child. The man responds with sympathy, declaring that the warmth from their love “will transfigure the strange man’s child. You will bear the child for me, as if it were mine” as the pair continue their walk “through the high, bright night.” It is an emotionally charged exchange in a dramatic setting, which Schoenberg masterfully translates to music.
As the piece is about 30 minutes long with no breaks, one might approach listening to the work as if embarking on a journey; it helps to have road marks, and Schoenberg follows the five-part ABACA structure of the poem, reflecting the mood of each section.
At the start of the work, the recurring “A” theme is introduced, quietly building from a low, resonant register, creating a mournful, moonlit atmosphere.
About halfway through the piece, when we hear this theme again, it seems to contain the weight and complexity of the woman’s confession, as instead of sonorous harmonies we hear angry dissonance from the supporting voices (watch the cellos), creating an emotional and sonic clash. Listen also to how Schoenberg inches the theme’s tonal center upward, portraying palpable anguish and anxiety.
The final statement of this theme at the end of the work is an exquisite completion of the transformation, utilizing the sweet higher register of the instruments with underlying harmony that feels complex yet lush, as if the angst has been let out of the theme and we are left with only good feelings and the beauty of sparkling moonlight.
There are other, more focused examples of transfiguration that can be heard throughout the work — for instance, in this pivotal moment when we hear and feel a shift from minor to major. It’s followed by a gorgeous cello melody, an unmistakable expression of the goodness and acceptance the poem’s female protagonist receives from her walking companion:
Fans of Wagner and Mahler will also hear echoes of these larger-than-life composers in Verklärte Nacht, and the effusive way they translate emotions into music. At the beginning of this particular clip, you can hear Schoenberg breaking the bounds of traditional tonality and instead letting the music’s passion reign. Notice the intimate conversation between the violin and cello as well.
Transfiguration is defined as a change leading to a more beautiful state, and, for Schoenberg, this meant breaking with convention in the pursuit of creating greater art. Because of the poem’s subject matter and the composer’s harmonic experimentations, Verklärte Nacht was met with controversy and rejection at its premiere, yet the music’s ability to transcend words and communicate emotion endures to this day.
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Where & When
Classical Remix Music Festival’s Music Under the Moon happens at 7:30 p.m. June 8. $20-$45. Leafmore-Creek Park Club, 1373 Altamont Drive, Decatur. classicalremixmusicfestival.com.
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