Schoenberg in Context

Breathes new life into the study of Schoenberg's worlds and work, exploring his multi-faceted environments and showcasing his centrality to the understanding of musical modernism. Providing fresh, multi-disciplinary perspectives, the book will be essential reading for those interested in the intersections of music, modernity, society and culture.

Contradictory and paradoxical, Schoenberg was responsible for explosively radical innovations in composition - including atonality and the twelve-tone method - that changed the face of music in the twentieth century. This volume explores Schoenberg''s life, work and world, offering contributions from internationally recognized musicologists, music theorists, cultural historians, literary scholars and more. Chapters examine the different places where Schoenberg lived, his various approaches to composition, the people and institutions that shaped his life and work, and the big issues and ideas that informed his worldview, including religion, gender, technology and politics. This book is essential for students and educators but also accessible to a general audience interested in the intersections of music, modernity, society and culture, offering a variety of fresh, multi-disciplinary perspectives on Schoenberg and his richly variegated world.