Schoenberg

Master Musicians Series

by Malcolm MacDonald

In this completely rewritten and updated edition of his long-indispensable study, Malcolm MacDonald takes advantage of 30 years of recent scholarship, new biographical information, and deeper understanding of Schoenberg's aims and significance to produce a superb guide to Schoenberg's life and work. MacDonald demonstrates the indissoluble links among Schoenberg's musical language (particularly the enigmatic and influential twelve-tone method), his personal character, and his creative ideas, as well as the deep connection between his genius as a teacher and as a revolutionary composer.
Exploring newly considered influences on the composer's early life, MacDonald offers a fresh perspective on Schoenberg's creative process and the emotional content of his music. For example, as a previously unsuspected source of childhood trauma, the author points to the Vienna Ringtheater disaster of 1881, in which hundreds of people were burned to death, including Schoenberg's uncle and aunt-whose orphaned children were then adopted by Schoenberg's parents. MacDonald brings such experiences to bear on the music itself, examining virtually every work in the oeuvre to demonstrate its vitality and many-sidedness. A chronology of Schoenberg's life, a work-list, an updated bibliography, and a greatly expanded list of personal allusions and references round out the study, and enhance this new edition.

Genres: Music, Biography

366 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Also under the names:
Malcolm Ross-MacDonald
Malcolm Ross
M.R. O'Donnell

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an old edition of this book, one I snatched off a library sale table, so maybe someone who read the new edition can say whether my evaluation still holds. Anyway, the book is structured with a synopsis of Schoenberg's life in the first part, with the rest of the book dedicated to evaluating the theories and techniques of his music. I'm sure this is what a music student would be looking for if s/he read this book, but I'd picked it up out of curiosity about Schoenberg's life and the philosophies that drove him to create his music. Tidbits on those points, aside from the first section, are only interspersed throughout what otherwise felt to me like a desert of theory and technique analysis. I've had no shortage of lessons in music theory, so I wasn't lost, but I wasn't really interested and realized about 120 pages in I was quite bored. Nonetheless, if you're looking for a comprehensive survey of Schoenberg's music, this is the book for you. If you're looking for a biography, you may want to skip it.