Arnold Schoenberg establishes himself as one of the leading radical composers of the 20th century by establishing a novel approach to harmony and composition development (Schoenberg: Biography). He extended the style that was demonstrated by preceding German composers of the Romantic period: Brahms and Wagner. Notably, Wagner and Brahms worked in styles that were polar, meaning that Schoenberg was able to combine and work with opposing styles. One of the most well-known contributions he made was atonality, which is characterized by not using the traditional tonal hierarchies (Schoenberg: Biography). This type of music does not have a key or a tonal center.
Additionally, Schoenberg was a unique and influential composer of the 20th century because of his unique style. Schoenberg is an expressionist composer, which means that his music is characterized by a plethora is dissonance and disturbance (Kamien). Traditionally, this approach would mean that compositions should not sound good, but Schoenberg mastered atonality to a point where his works are cohesive and excellent in sound.
The stylistic innovation of the “Three Places in New England” by Ives is the use of polyphony or several melodies at once, which one can hear in “British Grenadiers,” for example. Next, the innovation of Schoenberg’s “A Survivor from Warsaw” is atonality. Cage wrote “Sonatas and Interludes – Sonata II” for a prepared piano, an instrument with various objects in between piano strings, which creates a sound different from a traditional piano. Varèse’s innovation in his 8-minute “Poeme Electronique” is the use of noises that traditionally are not viewed as musical. Finally, in “Einstein on the Beach,” Glass wrote a piece that lasts for five hours without intermissions, creating a new and less formalist approach to writing an opera.
Works Cited
Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. 12th ed. MgGraw-Hill, 2018.
“Schoenberg: Biography.” Lumen, Web.