The Viennese Schools

[Serial_Apologist]

The things you discover at Art Galleries!!!

The about-to-close Viennese Portrait exhibition at the National Gallery has some paintings by Arnold Schoenberg, one of his son whose bouffant hair conceals his ears and a self-portrait in a bluish tinge (tone?) in which he leaves out one of his own ears (aspirational, eh?!). There is also a painting of his wife by Richard Gerstl hence the following two excerpts from Wiki and apologies if you know this already.

" During the summer of 1908, his (Schoenberg's) wife Mathilde left him for several months for a young Austrian painter, Richard Gerstl. This period marked a distinct change in Schoenberg's work. It was during the absence of his wife that he composed "You lean against a silver-willow" (German: Du lehnest wider eine Silberweide), the thirteenth song in the cycle Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten, Op. 15, based on the collection of the same name by the German mystical poet Stefan George. This was the first composition without any reference at all to a key (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 96). Also in this year, he completed one of his most revolutionary compositions, the String Quartet No. 2, whose first two movements, though chromatic in color, use traditional key signatures, yet whose final two movements, also settings of George, daringly weaken the links with traditional tonality. Both movements end on tonic chords, and the work is not fully non-tonal. Breaking with previous string-quartet practice, it incorporates a soprano vocal line."

"Gerstl and Mathilde became extremely close and, in the summer of 1908, she left her husband and children to travel to Vienna with Gerstl. Schoenberg was in the midst of composing his Second String Quartet, which he dedicated to her. Mathilde rejoined her husband in October.
Distraught by the loss of Mathilde, his isolation from his associates, and his lack of artistic acceptance, Gerstl entered his studio during the night of 4 November 1908 and apparently burned every letter and piece of paper he could find. Although many paintings survived the fire, it is believed that a great deal of his artwork as well as personal papers and letters were destroyed. Other than his paintings, only eight drawings are known to have survived unscathed. Following the burning of his papers, Gerstl hanged himself in front of the studio mirror and somehow managed to stab himself as well.

The incident had a significant impact on Arnold Schoenberg and his "drama with music" (i.e., opera) Die Glückliche Hand is based on these events."

The show also mentions that Gustav Klimt died in 1918 following a stroke brought on by the Spanish Flu epidemic which accounted for between 50 and 100 million people worldwide.
I'd forgotten about that.


p.s. Great Ad in previous post!

Great message, Clive - many thanks, perhaps I should get along there! It fits in very nicely with this morning's COTW dealing with the circles around Mahler and Schoenberg around that same time.

[clive heath]

The show also has both Beethoven and Mahler's death masks which I never realised were actually impressed on the dead faces with plaster like taking a mould for a dental plate.

[amateur51]

i must have been at the Vienna exhibition at around the same time as you were, clive heath.

I found it a fascinating exhibition, some of the curation text was pedalling a particular line on psychology of dispossession and traumatic change influencing painting style and content but I chose to ignore that & make up my own mind. The curation does resonate with London today, with the arrival of refugees, initial liberal acceptance, then some assiminlation and refugees making their mark, to be followed by repression and persecution. Let's hope we've learned some lessons.

Beethoven's death mask showed me that his face was quite different to how it's portrayed in paintings, with a rather narrow upper dental arch and a protruding upper jaw.

[MrGongGong]

Although not Viennese, its good to listen to Stravinsky's late serial works. these are masterpieces and are compltely different to Schoenberg, Webern etc. Although Webern was a starting point for him.

P.S. 3rd Viennese school is just my stage name. I'm not Lachenmann or anything!
3Vs

This was very interesting

The Third Viennese School

Examining parallels between the works of the two Austrian composers Roman Haubenstock-Ramati (1919 - 1994) and Anestis Logothetis (1921 - 1994), one becomes aware of a common ground – an intense investigative aesthetic dealing with issues of writing and identity in the composed musical work.

14th March 2007 ICCMR, University of Plymouth

[amateur51]

This was very interesting

I do miss 3VS and his pub crawls with his ipod. All the best for 2014 if you're lurking, 3VS!

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm falling in love all over again with the Berg Op 1 piano sonata, from listening to Glen Gould's performance right now on COTW, which I hadn't heard previously, and where every step along the way seems the right one, compared with others who seem to take the piece as some sort of exercise in how to play it faster, riding roughshod over detail that cries out for lingering over.

It was on the basis of hearing this piece performed at a school concert that I persuaded my teacher to get it for me; it isn't as difficult to play from a Grade 5 attainment pov as it may sound. The ending is one of the most perfect of any work I know, where a phrase in chords in the treble register is repeated unchanged as another repeated phrase in the bass register descends through successive modulations to a suspended minor resolution.

This is a terrific COTW week!

[Gordon]

The show also mentions that Gustav Klimt died in 1918 following a stroke brought on by the Spanish Flu epidemic which accounted for between 50 and 100 million people worldwide.
I'd forgotten about that.

A timely reminder in this year of WW1 that the vulnerability of human kind on this planet has much to deal with from nature without any self inflicted bloodletting.

Back to topic though, I've had many of those works from Rattle for some while from their first release and although getting into that sound world is sometimes quite a challenge it is worth the effort. What is astounding but also illustrative of the period, is the sheer variety produced in a short time.

[amateur51]

I'm falling in love all over again with the Berg Op 1 piano sonata, from listening to Glen Gould's performance right now on COTW, which I hadn't heard previously, and where every step along the way seems the right one, compared with others who seem to take the piece as some sort of exercise in how to play it faster, riding roughshod over detail that cries out for lingering over.

It was on the basis of hearing this piece performed at a school concert that I persuaded my teacher to get it for me; it isn't as difficult to play from a Grade 5 attainment pov as it may sound. The ending is one of the most perfect of any work I know, where a phrase in chords in the treble register is repeated unchanged as another repeated phrase in the bass register descends through successive modulations to a suspended minor resolution.

This is a terrific COTW week!

I recall Cherkassky playing Berg Op 1 piano sonata at Wigmore Hall and the ending was so magical and the Hall was absolutely silent and Shura held it still for several seconds. And in thosec days there may well have been those in the audiences who were around in Vienna as children in these times.

Do get to the National Gallery if you can, S_A. The sheer volume of paining and the evolving styles seems to mirrow your remarks abouyt the music - Kokoschka couldn't wait long enough to finish one portrait before trying something new, it seems.

[rauschwerk]

These rather journalistic labels applied to groups of artists often amuse me. 'Les Six' should have been 'Les Cinq' as Honegger had nothing artistically in common with the the others. As for the 'Mighty Handful' - well, was Cui mighty? I don't think so.

However, your CD box certainly contains an excellent selection of pieces.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I do miss 3VS and his pub crawls with his ipod. All the best for 2014 if you're lurking, 3VS!

Hope the twelve-tone pop tunes are flowing out, 3VS.