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Expressions of faith, spirituality, and religion in Schoenberg's Op. 50

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EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH, SPIRITUALITY, AND RELIGION IN SCHOENBERG’S OP. 50

by

SZE WING HO

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS IN SACRED MUSIC

August 2021

Copyright 2021 Sze Wing Ho
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Nick Strimple for
his continuous support in the course of working on my degree. His profession and passion in
music have enlightened me to become a better musician. My appreciation also goes to Dr. Tram
Sparks and Dr. Chris Roze. Their input and advice are a great help for me to finish the
dissertation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my organ teacher, Dr. Ladd Thomas. I
would not have been able to break through on my own to give an organ recital without his
continuous support and encouragement.
Looking back in my music career, there are a few people that I am truly thankful for. My
heartfelt gratitude goes to my music theory teacher, Dr. Stefan Au. I may not have challenged
myself to leave my comfort zone to study music in the United States if I had not had his
guidance and support along the way since my college age. Another person that I would like to
acknowledge is my childhood piano teacher, Miss Maggie Chan. Her words made me choose
music as my life calling ever since I was a teenager.
I can never give enough thanks for my parents’ support especially in the past ten years.
Their unconditional love is my strongest motivation to pursue my dream in studying music. Last
but not least, I would like to thank my husband Kenny and my little Esther, for they have made
my life complete. They have been my source of courage when I needed it most.
My deepest gratitude goes to my Heavenly Father. “Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto
me.”
iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... ii
List of Tables....................................................................................................................................v
List of Musical Examples................................................................................................................vi
Abstract........................................................................................................................................... ix
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Part I—About the Composer
Chapter 1: Schoenberg’s Religious Odyssey and His Jewish Identity................................ 6
Early Period (1848-1914) ........................................................................................7
Middle Adulthood (1915-1933) ............................................................................ 11
American Period (1933-1944) .............................................................................. 15
Last Period (1946-1951) ....................................................................................... 23
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 27
Chapter 2: An Overview of Schoenberg’s Religious Compositions................................. 30
List of Schoenberg’s Religious Compositions....................................................... 31
Religious Works Composed Between 1907 and 1925........................................... 32
Religious Works Composed Between 1938 and 1950........................................... 43
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 48
Chapter 3: Schoenberg’s Religious Ideology and Its Musical Representations................ 53
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 65

Part II—Analyses of Schoenberg’s Op. 50

Chapter 4: The Analysis of Op. 50a................................................................................... 67
Musical Idea of Op. 50a......................................................................................... 67
Presentation of Musical Idea.................................................................................. 69
Structure of Op. 50a............................................................................................... 73
Religious Meaning of Op. 50a............................................................................... 86
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 92
Chapter 5: The Analysis of Op. 50b.................................................................................. 93
Background Information of Psalm 130.................................................................. 94
Structure of Schoenberg’s Setting of Psalm 130................................................... 97
Chiastic Pattern.................................................................................................... 100
iv
Chiasm in the Bible.............................................................................................. 101
Chiasm in Psalm….............................................................................................. 102
Chiasm in Psalm 130........................................................................................... 104
Chiastic Pattern and the Expression of Schoenberg’s Religious Thoughts in
Op. 50b.....................................................................................................107
Chiastic Structure and Schoenberg’s Developing Variation............................... 110
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 123
Chapter 6: The Analysis of Op. 50c................................................................................. 126
Die Jakobsleiter and Modern Psalm.................................................................... 128
Moses und Aron and Modern Psalm.................................................................... 140
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 145
Conclusion........................................................................................................................146
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................150

v
LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: List of religious compositions by Arnold Schoenberg in chronological order………. 31

Table 2.2: Chronology of Schoenberg’s life and religious works from 1898-1951………...........49
Table 4.1: The three set classes and their equivalent pitch-class contents in P0 and I5 of
Op. 50a............................................................................................................................... 72

Table 4.2: The text and the corresponding measures in Op. 50a................................................... 74
Table 5.1: The three-part structure of Psalm 130...........................................................................96
Table 5.2: The four-part subdivision of Psalm 130....................................................................... 97
Table 5.3: The structure of Schoenberg’s Setting of the De Profundis......................................... 98
Table 5.4: A verse-by-verse chiastic pattern in Psalm 130 (verses 3-8) ..................................... 106
Table 5.5: The chiastic form of Schoenberg’s Op. 50b............................................................... 111
Table 5.6: Comparison of pitches between m. 13 and the soprano part at mm. 42-45................ 115
Table 5.7: Comparison of pitches between m. 18 and the bass part at mm. 35-37......................119
Table 5.8: The details of the three climaxes in Schoenberg’s Op. 50b........................................124
Table 6.1: Summary of the textual content of Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm.............................. 133

vi
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Example 2.1: Schoenberg’s use of hexachords at the opening of Die Jakobsleiter...................... 39
Example 3.1: Schoenberg’s use of partitioning technique and the vertical presentation of
segments at mm. 8-10 of Moses und Aron......................................................................... 59

Example 3.2: The primary row and its five transformations used in A Survivor From
Warsaw...............................................................................................................................60

Example 3.3: The linear statement of P10 in Schoenberg’s A Survivor From Warsaw
(mm. 80-86)........................................................................................................................ 61

Example 3.4: Interval palindrome of the English horn melody in mm. 8-11 of Moses und
Aron....................................................................................................................................63

Example 3.5: Inversionally related tetrachords from mm. 8-11 of Moses und Aron..................... 64

Example 4.1: Transcription of Schoenberg’s compositional sketch of Op. 50a............................ 68
Example 4.2: The relationship between the dyads and the linear basic set…………................... 69
Example 4.3: The hexachords of P0 and I5 in Op. 50a................................................................. 70
Example 4.4: Mm. 1-2 of Op. 50a..................................................................................................70
Example 4.5: The three significant trichords from P0 of Op. 50a................................................. 71
Example 4.6: Mm. 5-6 of Op. 50a................................................................................................. 72
Example 4.7: The hexachord and dyad partitioning at mm. 18-19 of Op. 50a.............................. 73
Example 4.8: Mm. 1-4 of Op. 50a................................................................................................. 75
Example 4.9: Rhythmic Articulation in section 1 (mm. 1-4) of Op. 50a...................................... 76
Example 4.10: The first phrase of section 2 (mm. 5-6) of Op. 50a .............................................. 77
Example 4.11: The use of tone row at mm. 5-8 of Op. 50a........................................................... 78
Example 4.12: The trichordal set classes at mm. 10-12 of Op. 50a...............................................79
Example 4.13: Rhythmic articulation in section 2 (mm. 5-12) of Op. 50a.................................... 80
vii
Example 4.14: M. 13 of Op. 50a................................................................................................... 80
Example 4.15: Mm. 14-15 of Op. 50a............................................................................................81
Example 4.16: The homorhythmic texture of alto and tenor parts at mm. 18-19.......................... 82
Example 4.17: The lower two parts at mm. 13-14 of Op. 50a....................................................... 82
Example 4.18: Hexachord/dyad partitioning of P0-H1 and I5-H1 at mm. 18-20......................... 83
Example 4.19a: Rhythmic articulation at mm. 18-19 of Op. 50a.................................................. 84
Example 4.19b: Mm. 18-19 of Op. 50a......................................................................................... 85
Example 4.20: The ´≈ meter in m. 18 of Op. 50a......................................................................... 86
Example 4.21: The manuscript of Dreimal tausend Jahre from mm. 10-15................................ 88
Example 4.22: The presentation of P0 in m. 18 of Op. 50a.......................................................... 90
Example 4.23: The comparison of mm. 1 and 18 of Op. 50a....................................................... 91
Example 4.24: The origin of the G-A-Bb-D harmony................................................................. 91
Example 5.1a. Tempo Change at m. 7 of Op. 50b....................................................................... 99
Example 5.1b. Tempo Change at m. 18 of Op. 50b..................................................................... 100
Example 5.2: Chiastic structure of Psalm 1................................................................................. 104
Example 5.3: Chiastic structure of Psalm 130............................................................................. 105
Example 5.4a: Mm. 13-14 of Schoenberg’s Op. 50b.................................................................. 112
Example 5.4b: Mm. 42-45 of Schoenberg’s Op. 50b.................................................................. 114
Example 5.5a: Tenor Haupstimme at m. 17 of Op. 50b...............................................................116
Example 5.5b: Haupstimme at the soprano part at mm. 49-50 of Op. 50b.................................. 116
Example 5.6a: Bass and Tenor Haupstimme at m. 17 of Op. 50b............................................... 117
Example 5.6b: Soprano Haupstimme at mm. 50-51 of Op. 50b.................................................. 117
Example 5.7a: Opening of verse 4 at m. 18 of Op. 50b............................................................... 118
viii
Example 5.7b: Bass Haupstimme at mm. 34-37 of Op. 50b........................................................ 118
Example 5.8a: Alto and baritone Haupstimme at mm. 19-21 of Op. 50b.................................... 119
Example 5.8b: Soprano and bass Haupstimme at mm. 36-37 of Op. 50b....................................120
Example 5.8c: Soprano solo Haupstimme at mm. 38-41 of Op. 50b........................................... 121
Example 5.9: The overlap of verses 5 and 6 in m. 29 of Op. 50b................................................122
Example 5.10: Rhythmic articulation at mm. 22-23 of Op. 50b.................................................. 123
Example 5.11: The boundary between verses 6 and 7 of Op. 50b............................................... 123
Example 6.1: Chiastic Structure in Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm (with English translation) .... 131

Example 6.2: Mm. 1-2 of Modern Psalm, Op. 50c (choir only) ................................................. 139
Example 6.3: The opening lines of Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm, Op. 50c (mm. 1-8,
speaker and choir only) ................................................................................................... 144

ix
ABSTRACT

Part I (Chapters 1-3) of this document provides evidence of how Schoenberg’s religious odyssey
impacted his religious works. The study revealed that Schoenberg’s spiritual journey has a
pivotal position in his compositional career, especially in his American years from 1933-51.
Chapter one summarizes several important historical moments from the end of the
nineteenth century to the composer’s death in 1951, which shaped his religious orientation and
hence, his career goal. Chapter two provides an overview of Schoenberg’s religious
compositions. The discussions revealed that many of the religious works correlate with the
composer’s spiritual status as well as his notable life events in a certain time period. Chapter
three examines Schoenberg’s religious ideology and its musical representations in the
composer’s two iconic religious works that were composed prior to Op. 50—Moses und Aron
and A Survivor From Warsaw.
Part II (Chapters 4-6) of this dissertation investigates the relationship between
Schoenberg’s religious orientations and his compositional practices in Op. 50. Instead of
providing a detailed twelve-tone analysis, the current study is focused on the identification of
possible expressions of Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality in Op. 50.
Chapter four provides the analysis of Dreimal tausend Jahre, Op. 50a. It reveals that
number symbolism played an important role in Schoenberg’s twelve-tone constructions. Chapter
five examines the textual and musical structure of the De Profundis, Op. 50b. It reveals that the
musical construction of the work adequately reflects the chiastic structure of the Psalm text.
Chapter six contributes to the analysis of the unfinished Modern Psalm, Op. 50c. Comparisons
are made between the Modern Psalm and the two large religious works—Die Jakobsleiter and
Moses und Aron.
1
INTRODUCTION

Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874-1951) religious and philosophical thinking was an important
element in his compositions. Throughout his life, Schoenberg composed more than eight
works based on religious subjects or the composer’s Jewish heritage. They contribute
almost one-eighth of the composer’s entire compositional output. Out of these eight
religious works, six of them, including the Op. 50, are composed in Schoenberg’s
American years between 1933 and 1951. Such intensive emphasis on religious subjects in
his last fifteen years reveals the composer’s urgency to disclose his religious concern to
the audience during the latter part of his life.
Schoenberg was almost totally preoccupied with the religious subject matter in
both of his literary and musical output, especially in his final two years. This
preoccupation may be due to the political impetus since the 1940s, or it may be related to
his growing concern about identity and faith after experiencing age-related health
problems. Based on Schoenberg’s explicit sensitivity to the religious matter, to truly
understand Schoenberg’s music, it is important to examine not only with the composer’s
technical theory, but also with the basis for such technical matters.
Schoenberg always held the perspective that “music conveys a prophetic message
revealing a higher form of life towards which mankind evolves.”
1
This statement implies
that, in Schoenberg’s mind, an artist is somehow corresponds to the role of a prophet.
2

The prophetic dimension of a composer allows Schoenberg to create his music with the

1
Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea (New York: Philosophical Library, 1950), 194.

2
Charlotte M. Cross and Russell A. Berman, Schoenberg and Words: The Modernist Years (New
York: Garland Publishing, 2000), 255.
2
conviction that he is “the mouthpiece of the divine.”
3
In the article “Composition with
Twelve Tones,” Schoenberg related the concept of creator and creation with the Divine
Model and stated, “a creator has the power to bring his vision to life.”
4
However, unlike
the divine creator who can realize the vision in no time, human creators have to “travel
the long path between vision and accomplishment.”
5

The materialization of one’s vision is the core of the craft of musical composition.
Therefore, every technical matter in a musical work is consciously or subconsciously
related to the composer’s vision. In Schoenberg’s music, the advancement of
compositional technique is inseparable from the manifestation of his religious thinking
and his spiritual maturity. It is noticeable that the fundamental turning points in
Schoenberg’s life tended to coincide with his musical milestones.
6
The lifelong
correspondence between the composer’s musical quest and spiritual quest provides strong
support for the correlation between Schoenberg’s religious thinking and compositional
technique, particularly in his last years.
The primary reason for the current study has grown out of a belief that
understanding Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality is crucial for a more accurate
interpretation of the composer’s late religious twelve-tone works. Secondly, there is a
lack of written evidence concerning Schoenberg’s response to the proclamation of Israel
as an independent state. Op. 50 is Schoenberg’s last musical output composed with the
twelve-tone method. It was written in a monumental period after the establishment of the
State of Israel in May 1948. Knowledge of Schoenberg’s final opus is helpful for

3
Julie Brown, Schoenberg and Redemption (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 181.

4
Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 102.

5
Ibid.
6
Boaz Tarsi, “Manifestations of Arnold Schoenberg’s Abstract Versus Concrete Dichotomy,”
Modern Judaism 21, no. 3 (October 2001): 248.
3
understanding the destination of Schoenberg’s religious odyssey. The investigation of
Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality as revealed in Op. 50 may also shed some light on the
role of Schoenberg’s method of composing with twelve-tone in his late period.
Moreover, current literature about Schoenberg’s Op. 50 reveals a gap between its
twelve-tone technique and the composer’s religious concern. The existing research on
Schoenberg’s final opus is either too technical or too general. For example, Naomi André
and Claudio Spies have provided general analyses on op. 50a—Dreimal tausend Jahre
and address the compositional background of the work.
7
Timothy Jackson’s article on
Schoenberg’s op. 50a has a greater concern for the relationship between Moses und Aron
and Dreimal tausend Jahre.
8
There is a lack of discussion on the technical aspects of Op.
50a. Martha Hyde and Mark Shapiro give a detailed technical explanation on
Schoenberg’s twelve-tone sketch pertinent to the compositional idea of Op. 50a and Op.
50b, respectively.
9
Mary-Hannah Klontz’s dissertation on Op. 50b, on the other hand, is
concerned more with the mystical aspect, performance practice, and the rehearsal
strategies of the work.
10
Due to the fact that Op. 50c—Modern Psalm is an unfinished
work, there is only a handful of literature devoted exclusively to the work. Mark
Risinger’s research is focused on the unattainable ending of the op. 50c and Joe
Argentino’s article, which examines the hexachordal structure of the work, is far more

7
Naomi André, “Returning to a Homeland.” in Political and Religious Ideas in the Works of
Arnold Schoenberg, ed. Charlotte Cross and Russell Berman (New York: Garland Publishing, 2000), 256-
88; Claudio Spies, “Dreimal Tausend Jahre, op. 50a,” in “Articles, Pictures, Texts and a Recording of
Schoenberg’s Voice,” liner notes for The Music of Schoenberg, vol. 3, Columba Records M2L 309/M25
709, 44-48.
8
Timothy Jackson, “Your Songs Proclaim God’s Return—Arnold Schoenberg, the Composer and
His Jewish Faith.” International Journal of Musicology 6 (1997): 281-317.
9
Martha Hyde, "The Format and Function of Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Sketches." Journal of
the American Musicological Society 36, no. 3 (1983): 453-80; Mark Shapiro, “Research Report: ‘Every-
Day Music’: The Tonal Sketch to Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘De Profundis.’” The Choral journal 45, no. 4
(2004): 25–32.
10
Mary-Hannah Klontz, “The Heart and Mind of Arnold Schoenberg’s De Profundis Op. 50b.”
PhD diss., George Mason University, 2015. ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global.
4
technical.
11
The purpose of the current study is to bridge the gap between Schoenberg’s
twelve-tone technique and his spiritual concern as revealed in his final opus.
Last but not least, not many have completed a comprehensive study of the entire
Op. 50. Thomas Couvillon and Robert Specht provide comprehensive analyses on the
entire op. 50.
12
However, their studies emphasize more on the relationship between the
music and text. There is a lack of existing literature that fully addresses how Schoenberg
conveys intangible religious meaning through ‘tangible’ compositional practice in the
entire Op. 50.
The goal of the current research is two-fold: 1) To evaluate the impact of
Schoenberg’s religious odyssey and his Jewish identity on his career as a composer, 2)
To identify some possible expressions of Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality in a twelve-
tone context—Op. 50. Based on the presumption that Schoenberg’s compositional
practices and his religious orientation are inextricable, the upcoming discussions will
include but are not limited to the following issues: the use of symbolism in music, the
impact of Jewish musical culture, the significance of Schoenberg’s earlier religious
compositions, and the application of biblical and philosophical concepts in music.
This study is made up of two major parts. Part One (chapters 1 to 3) provides
some background information about Schoenberg’s religious odyssey and Jewish identity.
It also includes an introduction to Schoenberg’s religious compositions and some

11
Mark Risinger, “Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm, Op. 50c and the Unattainable Ending.” In
Political and Religious Ideas in the Works of Arnold Schoenberg, edited by Charlotte Cross and Russell
Berman, 289-306. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000; Joe Argentino, "Serialism and Neo-Riemannian
Theory: Transformations and Hexatonic Cycles in Schoenberg's Modern Psalm Op. 50c." Intégral 26
(2012): 123-58.
12
Thomas Couvillon, “Text and Structure in Schoenberg's Op. 50, and an Original Composition,
Symphony #1.” PhD diss., Louisiana State University, 2002. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global;
Robert Specht, “Relationships Between Text and Music in the Choral Works of Arnold Schoenberg.” PhD
diss., Case Western Reserve University, 1976.
5
examples of his musical practices as related to the manifestation of religious ideology.
Part Two (chapters 4 to 6) focuses on the analysis of the entire op. 50. Instead of
providing a detailed twelve-tone analysis, the major goal of the analytical portion is to
highlight the expression of Schoenberg’s religious thinking in a twelve-tone medium.
Lastly, the conclusion summarizes Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality revealed in Op. 50
in the hope of providing insights for choral conductors or singers to consider not only the
text, but also the religious meaning that is hidden in the music.

6
CHAPTER I
SCHOENBERG’S RELIGIOUS ODYSSEY AND HIS JEWISH IDENTITY

This chapter’s title is an inspiration that came from Ethan Haimo’s book Schoenberg’s
Serial Odyssey: The Evolution of His Twelve-tone Method. In the book, Haimo traces the
evolution of Schoenberg’s twelve-tone idea from its rudimentary beginnings to the
refined works of the composer’s mature period.
1
The idea of evolution not only reveals
the significance and style of the compositional ‘products’ at certain periods, but also
provides hints regarding the process of formation of the ‘products.’ Likewise, this chapter
does not aim to provide a conclusive statement regarding Schoenberg’s faith at the end of
his life. Instead, this chapter traces the spiritual journey of the composer from the
perspectives of a German-Jewish historical context and a theory of Viennese-Jewish
identity.
2

The objective of this chapter is to provide a detailed historical background with
regard to Schoenberg’s religious journey and the formation of his Jewish identity. In
order to provide a better understanding in Schoenberg’s spiritual journey, this chapter is
divided into four sections according to Schoenberg’s different life stages. They are
named Early Period (1848-1914), Middle Adulthood (1915-1933), American Period
(1933-1945), and Late Period (1946-1951). Schoenberg’s writing and his personal letters
will be the primary source of evidence to unveil the composer’s spiritual odyssey.

1
Ethan Haimo, Schoenberg’s Serial Odyssey: The Evolution of His Twelve-tone Method 1914-
1928 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992), 1.
2
Steven Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience and Its
Aftermath,” in The Cambridge Companion of Arnold Schoenberg, ed. Jennifer Shaw and
Joseph Auner (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 191.
7
Early Period (1848-1914)
From the historical and social perspectives, this period highlights Schoenberg’s
dual identity as a Jew and an Austrian, as well as his conversion to Christianity.
Schoenberg was born into a lower middle-class Jewish family in Vienna during the time
of political instability in Europe. His identity as a Jew was greatly influenced by the
German-Jewish context in Europe more than two decades before his birth. During the
revolutions in 1848, there were a series of political convulsions throughout Europe. The
February uprisings in France and the subsequent revolutionary movements in southern
Germany, Austria, Prussia, Italy, and other European countries set the emancipatory
developments of Jews in motion.
3
The Jewish Emancipation could be viewed as an
extension of the French Revolution in which the general principle of equality, rather than
the particular situation of the Jews, was consistently invoked by the leaders of
emancipation.
4
As an aftermath of the revolutions of 1848, an early wave of Jewish
migration embarked all over Europe in the 1850s.
5
The European Jewry migrated to cities
where they believed they would have better opportunities to earn a living, expand
businesses, study or start a career. This resulted in rapidly increasing Jewish urbanization.
In 1852, Arnold Schoenberg’s parents Samuel Schönberg and Pauline Nachod, at
the time in late childhood, arrived in Vienna from Szécsény and Prague, respectively, to
seek better lives.
6
Due to the 1848 Revolutions, the residency restrictions for Jews in
Vienna had been relaxed, and the Vienna Jewry were even granted rights, emancipation,

3
Salo W. Baron, “The Impact of the Revolution of 1848 on Jewish Emancipation,” Jewish Social
Studies 11, no. 3 (July 1949): 195, www.jstor.org/stable/4464829.
4
Ibid., 196.
5
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 192.
6
Ibid., 192-193.
8
and freedom of religion.
7
Unfortunately, their freedom did not last long, probably
because of the long history of anti-Semitism in Europe. From 1851-1853, the rights
granted to Jews in 1848-49 were revoked.
8
The Jews in Vienna were not permitted to
own properties or receive professional opportunities. In 1867, seven years before Arnold
Schoenberg’s birth, the Austrian authorities released a new constitution to assure further
liberalization in the country.
9
The Jews were finally accorded the unrestricted right to
reside and to practice their religion freely throughout Austria. The Jewish population in
Vienna, therefore, grew rapidly in the late 1860s and throughout the1870s.
Samuel Schönberg and Pauline Nachod were married in 1872, during a hopeful
time period in Vienna’s history. Two years after their marriage, on the 13
th
of September
in 1874, their eldest son, Arnold Schoenberg was born in the Leopoldstadt district of
Vienna. In earlier times, Leopoldstadt was a Jewish ghetto but later developed into the
center of Vienna’s Jewish life in the 1870s. When compared with his parents, Schoenberg
grew up in an environment that was politically more stable, which encouraged Samuel
and Pauline’s generation to embrace assimilation as the proper direction for their
children.
10

One of the most significant impacts of assimilation is the change in the ideology
of faith and belief. Christianity in Europe shaped Judaism to become a personal identity
rather than a collective, communal identity. In fin de siècle Vienna, Jews were defined
narrowly as representing a religious belief rather than collectively as a nation without a

7
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 192.
8
Ibid., 193.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid., 195.
9
land. As a result, the assimilated Jews in Schoenberg’s generation gradually lost their
connections to the Jewish community and traditions.
Like many assimilated Jews in Vienna, Schoenberg’s parents had soon shed the
Orthodox Judaism of their youth once they migrated to Vienna.
11
Therefore, Schoenberg
was brought up in a Jewish family that was very much Europeanized. In 1898, at the age
of 24, Schoenberg converted to Lutheranism in order to strengthen his ties with Western
European culture.
12
In October 1901, the twenty-seven-year-old Schoenberg married
Mathilde Zemlinsky, who converted to Christianity on the date of her wedding to
Schoenberg.
13
For Schoenberg and his family, apostasy and Protestant conversion
appeared to be linked to family, marriage, and assimilation.
14
There is lack of evidence
showing that the composer’s conversion was due to his orientation of faith.
Despite the fact that assimilation seemed to create a vacuum in Jewish education
for the Jewish youths in fin de siècle Vienna, the young Schoenberg’s pursuit of
Bildung
15
occurred within a well-educated Jewish cohort.
16
By attending Realschule, a
junior high school designed for the majority of students, Schoenberg’s educational
environment was less than classically German.
17
In lieu of studies in Greek and Roman
civilizations, the Hebrew Bible became Schoenberg’s educational foundation. Due to the
lack of foundations in Greek and Roman “mythos” in the Realschule curriculum, Jewish

11
Robert S. Wistrich, The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph (Oxford: Littman Library,
2006), 630.
12
Ibid.
13
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 194.
14
Ibid.
15
Bildung is the German tradition of the pursuit of personal and cultural maturation. According to
Steven Cahn’s article “A German-Jewish Tradition of Bildung and Its Imprint on Composition and Music
Theory,” Bildung is the collective pursuit by all citizens in a universal spirit of an elevated sense of self and
self-worth, as well as an aspiration in cultural enrichment, which leads to personal salvation.
16
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 197.
17
Ibid., 198.
10
civilization, instead of Greek or Roman, became Schoenberg’s historical frame of
reference in his future creative output.
During the turn of the century, the Vienna Jewry hoped that their assimilation into
German culture would bring them security and stability to settle in central Europe. Yet,
the legal equality that was granted to Jews did not bring them complete social acceptance
in the modern European society. Due to the founding of Zionism in about 1897, the
increasing influence of anti-Semitism and anti-democratic parties in many European
countries destabilized Jewish existence in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Although the Jews in Vienna gained their legal status as citizens, the society did not
accept the Jews as equal. Several social practices revealed that the Jews were not fully
accepted by the European majority. The most significant social phenomenon that
reflected the discrimination toward Jews was the rejection of the conversions of Jews.
Given that there was no generalized reason regarding the individual motivations for
conversion, it was difficult to judge the Christian beliefs of the converted Jews. However,
in the light of the heightened anti-Semitism of the time, the Jews who converted to
Christianity were labeled as baptized Jews.
18
This is a term used advisedly to indicate that
despite conversion they were still seen as Jews, and would be vulnerable to a new
ideological and racist upsurge in anti-Semitism.
19
Like many baptized Jews in Vienna,
Schoenberg’s Jewish identity never faded despite his early conversion in 1898. Viennese
society kept reminding him of his ethnicity and identity as a Jew no matter how well he
adapted to the German culture.

18
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 195.
19
Ibid.
11
Middle Adulthood (1915-1933)
Schoenberg experienced a profound shift in ethnic identity in his middle
adulthood. When he was an adolescent, Schoenberg never hid his Jewish identity while
he was growing up in Austria. From 1915 to 1934, Schoenberg further affirmed his
Jewish heritage after experiencing a series of anti-Semitic oppressions. In the late
nineteenth century, Vienna was a multinational and multiethnic city. According to
Rosenblatt’s theory of Jewish identity in Habsburg Austria, Jews embraced a tripartite
identity: “retaining their attachment to Jewish ethnicity while declaring loyalty to the
Emperor and adopting the prevailing German culture.”
20
Schoenberg and his family
adapted perfectly to this model at the turn of the century.
Despite Schoenberg’s identity as an assimilated Jew from the lower middle class
who had no university education, he developed an affection for the historic Habsburg
Empire. Growing up under the rule of Franz Josef, Schoenberg was a true believer in the
house of Habsburg. His loyalty to the Emperor was reflected in his pride in becoming a
member of the military force. In one of his self-reflections, Schoenberg wrote:
“When the First World War began, I was proud to be called to arms and as a
soldier. I did my whole duty enthusiastically as a true believer in the house of
Habsburg, in its wisdom of 800 years in the art of government and in the
consistency of a monarch’s lifetime, as compared with the short lifetime of every
republic.”
21

The composer’s self-identity as an Austrian-Jew was further reflected in his
military duty in the First World War. In May 1915, Schoenberg was medically examined

20
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 197.
21
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg: His Life, World, and Work (London: Oneworld
Classics, 2011), 551.
12
in Vienna for the reserve. However, he was rejected on account of goiters.
22
Despite
physical weakness, Schoenberg underwent a second medical examination and he finally
became a volunteer reservist of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in December 1915.
Schoenberg’s one-year volunteer service in the military seemed to solidify his
identity as a Viennese. Unfortunately, such a strong sense of national belonging did not
last long. In less than a decade after the commencement of the First World War, the
composer and his family experienced a humiliating incident in 1921 during a vacation on
the Mattsee. The Schoenberg family was expelled from the hotel at Mattsee only because
they were not of Aryan heritage. Schoenberg did not write much about this anti-Semitic
injustice. He only mentioned it ironically in a note to Alban Berg:
“…it got very ugly in Mattsee. The people there seemed to despise me as much as
if they knew my music. Nothing happened to us beyond that.”
23

About one year later, a letter dated July 1922 to Wassily Kandinsky revealed that the
impact of the Mattsee incident on Schoenberg could not be ignored. Schoenberg
mentioned that he had experienced an awful famine in Vienna but it was not the worst
thing he had experienced when compared with the racial discrimination. Schoenberg
wrote:
“…perhaps the worst was after all the overturning of everything one has believed
in. That was probably the most grievous thing of all…When one’s been used,
where one’s own work was concerned, to clearing away all obstacles often by
means of one immense intellectual effort and in hose 8 years found oneself
constantly faced with new obstacles against which all thinking, all power of
invention, all energy, all ideas, proved helpless, for a man for whom ideas have
been everything it means nothing less than the total collapse of things, unless he

22
O. W. Neighbour, "Schoenberg [Schönberg], Arnold." Grove Music Online (January 2001): 4,
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-
com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-
0000025024.
23
Cahn, “Schoenberg, the Viennese-Jewish Experience,” 200.

13
has come to find support, in ever increasing measure, in belief in something
higher, beyond.”
24

Schoenberg rarely mentioned finding support from a higher power. Yet, he expressed
explicitly later in this letter that his “belief in something higher” came from his religion:
“You would, I think, see what I mean best from my libretto ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (an
oratorio)—what I mean is—even though without any organizational fetter—
religion. This was my one and only support during those years—here let this be
said for the first time.”
25

A profound shift in Schoenberg’s ideology pertinent to his racial identity was further
reflected in another letter to Wassily Kandinsky dated 1923:
“I have at last learnt the lesson that has been forced on me during this year, and I
shall never forget it. It is that I am not a German, not a European, indeed scarcely
even a human being (at least, the Europeans prefer the worst of their race to me),
but I am a Jew.”
26

As a man who was in his middle adulthood, it seemed that his racial identity was much
more significant than his religious affiliation. The increasing tension between his Jewish
identity and the racial anti-Semitic atmosphere in the society not only brought
Schoenberg disappointment, but also helped him realize that his Jewish ethnicity
outweighed his religious beliefs and cultural practices.
Schoenberg became increasingly interested in the Zionist movement probably due
to the Mattsee incident in 1921.
27
His position on Zionism was adequately revealed in his
three-act prose drama Der biblische Weg (The Biblical Way). Schoenberg finished the
play between 1926 and 1927, but the idea of the drama was conceived in 1922-23.
28

24
Arnold Schoenberg and Erwin Stein, Arnold Schoenberg Letters (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1987), 70.
25
Ibid., 71.
26
Ibid., 88.
27
Joseph Auner, A Schoenberg reader: documents of a life (New Haven CT: Yale University
Press, 2003), 202.

28
Alexander Ringer, Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer As Jew (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 57.
14
Apart from Schoenberg’s early writings on Jewish issues, the drama script is his first
comprehensive examination of Jewish politics, Judaism, and the rise of Judaism.
Der biblische Weg frequently refers directly or indirectly to the Hebrew
Scriptures, in which Schoneberg presented the history of Israel, the Exodus from Egypt,
and the covenant between God and His chosen people in a modern setting. The main
subject of the drama—the founding of the Jewish state—is portrayed through the image
of a promised land. Schoenberg attempted to relate the Exodus to the Zionist idea of
Jewish settlement in Palestine. In the drama, Schoenberg called for the exploration of the
possibility of creating a new homeland for the Jews.
29
In some sense, it may be
considered as a piece of Jewish propaganda. Schoenberg, however, believed that it was “a
propaganda for a good cause and there was nothing to be ashamed of.”
30
Although Der
biblische Weg is a spoken drama that is totally free of musical elements, it owns a special
place in Schoenberg’s oeuvre, which well represented his passion and zeal for his ethical
identity as a Jew.
The heightened anti-Semitic atmosphere all over Austro-German Europe not only
had a huge impact on Schoenberg’s self-identity, but also on his career as a music
educator. On April 7, 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
was passed. This law allowed the National Socialist leaders to force Jewish civil servants
to leave their positions.
31
As a result Schoenberg could no longer hold the teaching
position at the Prussian Academy of the Arts. In a letter to the Prussian Academy of the

29
Alexander Ringer, Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer As Jew, 58.
30
Ibid.
31
“Arnold Schönberg –Biographie,” Arnold Schönberg Center, last modified July 8, 2019,
https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/die-glueckliche-hand-multimedia/101-standard-english/1588-bio-
2.
15
Arts dated March 20, 1933, Schoenberg mentioned about his self-awareness that his
leadership in the Academy was no longer desired before the law was enacted.
“In the meeting of March 18 at the Academy, formulations were made known
from which it was evident that my remaining in a leading position here is no
longer desired. Pride and the awareness of my achievement would have moved
me to voluntary resignation long ago.”
32

In May 1933, the Schoenberg family left Berlin and spent the summer in France.
33

Due to the increase of anti-Semitism after World War I, Schoenberg chose to re-enter the
Jewish faith. Schoenberg held a ceremony in Paris to make his reconversion official and
Marc Chagall, a Russian-French artist of Jewish origin, witnessed the ceremony on July
24, 1933.
34
In an Interview at the Hotel Ansonia where Schoenberg stopped before taking
up his duties in the Malkin school in New York City, Schoenberg related in halting
English that he happened to return to Judaism after a lifetime of membership in the
Lutheran Church because of his self-awareness as a Jew:
"I was always a Jew inside," said Schoenberg. "Ten years ago I decided that I
could not do without Judaism. I was readmitted officially into the fold at Paris a
few months ago."
35

The anti-Semitic reactions to Schoenberg and his music became more prevalent and
ultimately led to the composer’s emigration to America in 1933.
American Period (1933-1944)
After travelling by ship from Le Havre, France, Schoenberg and his family
arrived in the United States on October 31, 1933. They initially settled on the east coast

32
“Arnold Schönberg –Biographie,” Arnold Schönberg Center, last modified July 8, 2019,
https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/die-glueckliche-hand-multimedia/101-standard-english/1588-bio-
2.
33
O. W. Neighbour, "Schoenberg [Schönberg], Arnold." Grove Music Online (January 2001), 6.
34
Ibid.
35
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “Always a Jew Inside Asserts Schoenberg Relating His Return,”
Arnold Schönberg Center, last modified March 27, 2017, https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/1933-
always-a-jew-inside.
16
upon their arrival. From 1933-34, Schoenberg earned a living by teaching music theory
and composition at the newly established Malkin Conservatory in New York and Boston.
After battling major health problems on the east coast, in September 1934, Schoenberg
moved to the warmer Los Angeles climate and resided there until his death in 1951.
36

Schoenberg’s early years in the United States were busy and challenging. He
continued his profession as a composer, writer, conductor, composition teacher, and guest
lecturer.
37
Schoenberg’s professional career in California officially began with giving
lectures at the University of Southern California in the academic year 1935-36.
38
Later in
1936, Schoenberg accepted a professorship at the renowned University of California at
Los Angeles.
39

Due to his infamous complaint about American conductors neglecting his atonal
works, his denigration of Aaron Copland, and disapproval of Thomas Mann’s best-selling
novel, Schoenberg had left an impression for the American society that he was a
neglected and bitter musician.
40
Musicologist Sabine Feisst, however, argued that
Schoenberg had adapted to the new life in the United States in a positive way. The
composer built a new circle of international friends in the United States as well as a new
group of disciples, who had great influence in the cultural scene in America even after
Schoenberg’s death.
While supporting a family of three with his younger second wife Gertrud and his
baby daughter Nuria in his early years in the United States, Schoenberg struggled with

36
Sabine Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World: The American Years (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2011), 44.
37
Ibid.
38
O. W. Neighbour, "Schoenberg [Schönberg], Arnold." Grove Music Online (January 2001), 7.
39
Ibid.
40
Sabine Feisst, “Schoenberg Reception in America, 1933-51,” in The Cambridge Companion of
Arnold Schoenberg, ed. Jennifer Shaw and Joseph Auner (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010),
251.
17
his complex and multiple identities as an Austrian-German, a Jew, and an American. In
his earliest years in Vienna, where he never possessed Austrian or German citizenship,
Schoenberg and his generation had to strive hard to assimilate to the German culture.
41
In
the United States, the composer used an opposite approach—dissimilation to fit himself
into the more diverse American culture.
Dissimilation is a form of acculturation, which refers to the complex cultural
changes based on the interaction of different cultures.
42
While assimilation implies a loss
of features or identities in order to adopt certain traits of the dominant group,
dissimilation refers to a poly-cultural and hybrid phenomena.
43
The concept of
dissimilation allows an individual the flexibility to choose how much he wants to adapt to
the dominant culture or how much he wants to retain his identity from the past. After
1933, dissimilation became a common practice for many European Jews, including
Schoenberg and his family.
44
Although some forms of anti-Semitism still existed in the
United States, it was less vigorous compared to that in Europe.
Schoenberg’s active social and cultural life in America proved that he embraced
his new identity as an American. In his ninth year of residency in the United States,
Schoenberg became a legal citizen in 1941 at the age of sixty-six. Following the Second
World War, anti-Jewish sentiment declined significantly in the United States. Schoenberg
then had much more freedom to claim his Jewish identity in his later years.

41
Sabine Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World: The American Years (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2011), 45.
42
Ibid.
43
Ibid., 45-46.
44
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 46.
18
Within eighteen years in America, Schoenberg’s political status changed from
refugee, to exile, to immigrant.
45
During his first three years (1933-36) in the United
States, Schoenberg was uncertain about his situation in a new country. He attempted to
flee to other alternative places, for example, Italy, the Soviet Union, and England, and
was willing to become a refugee. Until 1936, Schoenberg decided to settle in Los
Angeles, California. Many traits in his life in the 1930s and 1940s revealed that he had
confirmed his residency in America. For instance, his employment at the University of
California, Los Angeles, the ownership of his house at Brentwood Park, and the birth of
his two younger children Ronald and Lawrence in 1937 and 1941, respectively.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Schoenberg’s political status
suddenly changed to an exile. As a German Jew, people in America considered
Schoenberg’s relocation as an expulsion from his native country. Due to his connection
with his Jewish family and friends in Europe, the Holocaust aroused his tie to his Jewish
roots and his Austro-German history. Schoenberg’s Jewish consciousness was deepened
and his deliberation on his German-Jewish identity brought him a realization of his
political status as an exile. He longed for the return to his own country and he eagerly
offered assistance for his Jewish friends in Europe. As reflected in his musical and
political output, Schoenberg tended to focus more on political or religious subjects since
World War II. He started to make use of his ethnic identity to earn a position in the
cultural scene in America. Although his intentions may have included promoting his new
music, he genuinely hoped that he could restore his native country one day.
After 1945, while Schoenberg was in his seventies, he and his family had become
fairly Americanized. Schoenberg accepted himself as an immigrant and he gave up his

45
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 46.
19
wish to go back to Europe. He finally settled his political status as an American citizen.
America provided the composer with opportunities to develop his professional career and
at the same time, he enjoyed his freedom to retain some of his German-Jewish identity.
Schoenberg’s strong tie with his Jewish homeland never ceased after his
relocation to the United States. As a Jew in America, Schoenberg became a political
activist in the 1930s and early 1940s. After Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, the composer
was determined to focus on political activism, which he thought to be more important
than his art.
46
Schoenberg had composed several important works in the 1930s;
nevertheless, he showed fervent determination to dedicate himself to Jewish politics. In
the essay “Die Judenfrage” [the Jewish Question], Schoenberg wrote: “I have decided to
give up all my former activities as a composer, writer, music theorist and so forth, and to
do from now on only one thing: to work for the salvation of the Jews.”
47

To express his anguish at the events in Europe pertaining to the Holocaust, from
1933 to the early 1940s, Schoenberg wrote many commentaries on the Jewish political
crisis. He ultimately combined many of his earlier writings into a long document named
“A Four Point Program for Jewry,” which was completed shortly before Kristallnacht in
October 1938.
48
In this document, Schoenberg aimed to provide a practical program for
actions regarding a systematic approach to establish a Jewish Unity Party and an
independent Jewish state.
49
Despite the fact that Schoenberg never perceived himself as a
Zionist, his interest in Zionism since the early 1920s was fully expressed in the “Four
Point Program for Jewry.” He shared common beliefs and ambitions with several Zionist

46
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 86.
47
Ibid.
48
Severine Neff, “Schoenberg's "Kristallnacht" Fugue: Contrapuntal Exercise or Unknown
Piece?” The Musical Quarterly 86, no. 1 (April 2002): 118.
49
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 86.
20
writers such as Vladimir Jabotinsky and Jakob Klatzkin that there was an urgency to
establish a permanent Jewish state and the long historic Jewish diaspora existence should
be terminated.
50
In order to promote his Zionist goal, Schoenberg addressed four themes
in the “Four-Point Program for Jewry”, which called for the unification of the Jewish
people and the creation of a free independent Jewish state:
51

1. The fight against anti-Semitism must be stopped.
2. A united Jewish Party must be created.
3. Unanimity in Jewry must be enforced with all means.
4. Ways must be prepared to obtain a place to erect an independent Jewish state.
It is logical to see that the escalation of events in Europe, especially the
annexation of Austria, which happened in March 1938, triggered Schoenberg’s
involvement and renewed interest in Jewish matters. However, Schoenberg had no
practical political experience that allowed him to attract encouraging responses from
either the American Jews or any prominent American Zionist leaders. Although
Schoenberg gave speeches on Jewish affairs in New York and Los Angeles, the composer
was unable to express his views more publicly in a magazine or newspaper. Schoenberg
finally realized that his engagement in American Jewish politics had failed. After 1946,
Schoenberg retreated from Jewish political activism, yet continued to promote his Jewish
aspiration in other forms, such as composing music on Jewish themes.
52

Schoenberg seldom mentioned his faith during his time in the United States but it
is obvious that Schoenberg was never an observant Jew. The composer, however, held a
strong tie between his Jewish identity and his belief in Judaism throughout his life. As

50
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 86.
51
Ibid.
52
Ibid., 90.
21
mentioned in his early diary written in 1910s, Schoenberg believed that “if we [the Jews]
are not chosen to preserve the idea [of Judaism], there is no longer any reason why we
[the Jews] should continue to exist.”
53
In 1934, just a year after his reconversion to
Judaism, Schoenberg claimed that he had “never been convinced by Protestantism.”
54
He
stated that his assimilation into the German society through a change of religion was
chiefly driven by social advantages and he clearly understood that assimilation did not
prevent anti-Semitism.
55

Schoenberg’s return to Jewish faith was an internal change rather than an external
characterization. Although Schoenberg insisted on conducting a ceremony to mark the
return of the renegade to the Jewish fold, he resisted participating in Jewish communal
life and rites during his residency in the United States.
56
For instance, he was once turned
down an individual invitation to attend services at the Temple Ohabei Shalom in
Brookline.
57
Having difficulty in understanding Hebrew, Schoenberg never joined
Hasidic, Reform, or Liberal Judaism, and was never associated with any specific Zionist
group in America. In terms of personal practice, Schoenberg’s faith in Judaism was more
spiritual than religious. His music and writings completed during his American period
reflected his strong personal relationship with God; however, his religious life was never
a sign of his reconversion to Judaism.
Schoenberg was an intellectual believer in Judaism and he was never an observant
Jew. Solely the bible, not other cultural traditions, served as his spiritual nourishment
throughout his life. Early in the 1910s, Schoenberg embraced the biblically grounded

53
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 90.
54
Ibid.
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid., 91.
57
Ibid.
22
Jewish principle of one, eternal, unimaginable, and invisible God, and the idea of the
closeness of the Jewish people.
58
Due to the lack of education in the Hebrew language
and traditional Judaic teachings, Schoenberg’s idea of God was in a modern and
unorthodox sense. For example, as reflected in one of his religious works, Kol Nidre
written in 1938, Schoenberg altered its “traditional” text and considered the cancellation
of daily obligations on the Day of Atonement as an “immoral” act. A letter from the
composer to Paul Dessau written on November 22, 1941, revealed Schonberg’s
unorthodox Jewish mindset:
“I wrote "Kol Nidre" for Rabbi Dr. Jacob Sonderling [...] He will certainly also be
able to tell you about it. At my request the text of the "traditional" Kol Nidre was
altered, but the introduction was an idea of Dr. Sonderling. When I first saw the
traditional text I was horrified by the "traditional" view that all the obligations
that have been assumed during the year are supposed to be cancelled on the Day
of Atonement. Since this view is truly immoral, I consider it false. It is
diametrically opposed to the lofty morality of all the Jewish commandments.
”59

Schoenberg’s practice of Jewish faith was very much personal rather than
communal. As noted by Feisst, “formal religion was of little significance in the American
Schoenberg household.”
60
Being surrounded by American culture, the Schoenberg family
celebrated Christian holidays, such as Christmas and Easter rather than Jewish high
holidays. Moreover, Schoenberg was the only believer in Judaism in his newly formed
family in America. His wife and his three children were baptized Catholic.
61
He even
intentionally sent his children to study at Catholic schools.
In summary, Schoenberg’s American years were challenging yet rewarding.
Although his new music did not have a prompt attraction to the public in America, the

58
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 90.
59
Schoenberg and Stein, Arnold Schoenberg Letters, 212.
60
Feisst, Schoenberg’s New World, 91.
61
Ibid.
23
somewhat inclusive and diverse atmosphere in the United States allowed him to continue
his professional career as a composer. From 1933 to 1944, Schoenberg composed eight
works, of which half of them are twelve-tone works. While embracing his American
citizenship, his life in the United States reinforced his identity as a Jew. This in turn
encouraged the composer to devote his energy to Jewish political issues. Despite his
failure in political contributions, Schoenberg’s involvement in politics was obvious and
his ideas were revealed in his most famous political writing, “A Four-Point Program for
Jewry.” With regard to his faith and belief, the composer tended to keep it personal.
Though he was never an observant Jew, his identity as an American allowed him to
embrace his faith in Judaism. His Jewish identity, together with his Jewish faith,
encouraged Schoenberg to compose several compositions that were exclusively religious
in inspiration during his American years.
Last Period (1946-1951)
Since leaving Europe in 1933 until and his death in 1951, Schoenberg had one
regret: he did not have a chance to return to Israel—his ethnic root and his real homeland.
Perhaps because of his unfulfilled aspiration to literally enter the Promised Land,
Schoenberg’s intense interest in Zionism persisted and even grew stronger in his last
years. Upon the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, in the next year, Schoenberg
composed the a capella chorus Dreimal tausend Jahre (Three Times a Thousand Years)
to celebrate the return of God to His people. During the spring in the same year,
Schoenberg was working on another choral piece Israel Exists Again, which was also
pertinent to the recent establishment of the Jewish state. Although the work was left
24
unfinished, fragments of the piece share commonalities with his Modern Psalm, Op.
50c.
62

In 1951, Schoenberg accepted an invitation to lead the Rubin Academy of Music
established in Jerusalem. Due to the lifelong influence of Zionism, Schoenberg saw this
opportunity not only as an honor of his artistic achievement but also his last chance to
turn his long-term idea of aliyah—the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land
of Israel—into reality. Unfortunately, between the months of April and July in 1951, the
composer suffered a fatal physical illness. In April 1951, Schoenberg wrote, “for forty
years, it has been my most ardent desire to live as a free citizen in an independent State of
Israel.” The two eminent figures in the cultural scene in Israel, Frank Pelleg and Oedoen
Partos, had several conversations through letters with Schoenberg in 1951 concerning the
position of Honorary President of the Academy of Music in Jerusalem. In May, Pelleg
and Partos organized a ceremony in Jerusalem in which the nomination of Arnold
Schoenberg to the honorary presidency had been announced.
63

Schoenberg’s intention to accept the post was reflected in his letter to Frank
Pelleg dated April 26, 1951. He mentioned his keen willingness and desire to accept the
nomination as Honorary President of the Israel Academy of Music, and he felt obliged to
declare how important and meaningful to him to accept the post.
64
According to the letter,
being the Honorary President fulfilled Schoenberg’s desire, passion, and mission in life.
Schoenberg first expressed his desire of aliyah in the opening of the letter:

62
Thomas Michael Couvillon, “Text and Structure in Schoenberg's Op. 50, and an Original
Composition, Symphony #1,” (PhD diss., Louisiana State University, 2002), 6, ProQuest Dissertation &
Theses Global.

63
Andre Neher, They Made Their Souls Anew: Ils Ont Refait Leur Ame (Albany, N.Y.: State
University of New York Press, 1990), 163.
64
“Dankbrief für die Ernennung zum Ehrenpräsidenten der Israel Academy of Music,” Arnold
Schönberg Center, last modified March 23, 2006,
http://archive.schoenberg.at/writings/edit_view/transcription_view.php?id=1581&word_list=T32.07
25
…for more than four decades it was my deepest longing to see the erection of an
independent Jewish State. And even more: how deeply I desired to become a
citizen of this state, and to live there.
65

It is obvious that Schoenberg’s desire to return to Israel had lasted for an extended period.
Although he never lived a life of an observant Jew, his connection with his ethnic
homeland persisted ever since he had become a mature adult. Moreover, Schoenberg’s
passion for teaching drove him to contribute himself to cultivating the new generation of
musicians. He expressed his joy of accepting the position by relating his passion in
teaching:
…It is impossible for me to tell you in words how happy I would be to contribute
to the development of the new institution through my personal leadership and
teaching…I was always a passionate teacher. I had always the inner urge to
discover how best to help beginners; how to make them familiar with the spiritual,
technical and ethical demands of our art; how to convince them, that there is an
artist’s moral and why it is indispensable to nurse it constantly and to fight most
aggressively against every violator.
66

Last but not least, accepting the post was a powerful action to proclaim his faith and
belief. Schoenberg believed that he had a mission in reviving music, which promoted
“mosaic monotheism:”
From such an institution should emerge true priests of art, who approach art with
divine inspiration, analogous to the priests at the inspiration at the altar. For: God
has chosen Israel as a nation, which in spite of persecution and suffering must
fulfill the task to maintain and to represent the pure and true mosaic monotheism.
In the same manner, Israel’s musicians have to fulfill a duty: To give to the world
a model which alone is able to make our souls functioning as required for the
development of mankind.
67

In spite of his poor state of health that finally hindered Schoenberg from taking up the
position, the composer did his work to prepare for a program just as he would have done

65
“Dankbrief für die Ernennung zum Ehrenpräsidenten der Israel Academy of Music,” Arnold
Schönberg Center, last modified March 23, 2006,
http://archive.schoenberg.at/writings/edit_view/transcription_view.php?id=1581&word_list=T32.07
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid.
26
if he were effectively head of the Academy.
68
Schoenberg sent this program to Pelleg and
Partos with another letter dated June 15
th
1951, one month before his death.
69
In the letter,
Schoenberg reiterated that his passion in teaching and his mission in reviving Jewish
music sprung from his Jewish identity and his belief in Judaism:
…There could be no art, which was not inspired by ethics, and there could be no
human ethics not inspired by the spirit of Judaism.
70

It is important to note that Schoenberg’s belief was not entirely related to deity or
his Jewish identity. The composer had a strong attachment to the power of numerology,
which had a tremendous influence on his life.
71
In his last five years, the fear of the
number 13 shrouded Schoenberg’s mind with eccentric and dramatic behavior.
72
Born on
the 13
th
of September in 1874, the composer somewhat did relate his death with the
number 13. On his sixty-fifth and seventy-sixth birthdays in 1939 and 1950 respectively,
the composer was worried about his health and even his death. His worries not only came
from his physical conditions, but also from the hidden numerical meaning of his age and
the date. Schoenberg felt increasingly apprehensive as he realized that the number 13
seemed to be controlling his destiny. For example, on September 13, 1939, when his age
reached 65, which equals 5 x 13, Schoenberg was very much anxious about his death.
Moreover, the last two digits of the year, 39, is the result of 3 x 13. Schoenberg believed
that such numerical relationships might further imply the end of his life. The history tells
us that Schoenberg survived the year 1939, however, his fear of the number 13 persisted.
In 1950, one of his lifelong friends, Oskar Adler wrote him a letter and mentioned the

68
Neher, They Made Their Souls Anew,163.
69
Ibid.

70
Ibid.
71
Colin C. Sterne, Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer As Numerologist (New York: The Edwin
Mellen Press, 1993), 1.
72
Ibid.
27
hidden meaning of the composer’s age—76. For many years, Schoenberg’s sensitivity to
numbers came from the multiples of 13, regarding his age and the year. Oskar Adler
pointed out in his letter that 76 can be interpreted as 7 + 6, which is equal to 13.
Schoenberg had overlooked this fact and he became deeply depressed when he was
approaching 76. On the 13
th
of July in 1951, two months before the composer turned 77,
he spent the entire day in bed probably feeling fearful and depressed about his fate.
Schoenberg finally passed away 13 minutes to midnight at the age of 76.
Schoenberg’s musical output also revealed his superstition about numbers. In one
of the works from his last opus, the Op. 50a “Three Times a Thousand Years”,
Schoenberg intentionally skipped the measure number 13. He used the designation 12b
instead in order to avoid the ‘unlucky’ number. Although Schoenberg did not mention the
reason why he omitted the measure number 13 in Op. 50a, as a matter of fact,
Schoenberg’s sensitivity to numbers was undeniable. He even asserted that his awareness
of numbers was a belief but not superstition.
73

Conclusion
Schoenberg’s spiritual journey was closely related to the ever-changing historical
and social context in fin de siècle Europe. Growing up as an Austrian-Jew near the end of
the nineteenth century, Schoenberg embraced his dual identity through assimilation.
Unlike the orthodox Jews of his previous generation, Schoenberg and his family were not
quite concerned about their Jewish faith. It was more crucial for them to adapt to the
German culture than to proclaim their religion. The not-quite-religious young Schoenberg
even converted to Christianity at the age of twenty-four in order to strengthen his ties
with Western European culture.

73
Walter Rubsamen, “Schoenberg in America,” The Musical Quarterly 37, no. 4 (1951), 488.
28
Until the second decade of the twentieth century, a series of intimidating anti-
Semitic incidents aroused Schoenberg’s awareness of his Jewish roots. The increasing
tension between Schoenberg’s Jewish identity and the anti-Semitic atmosphere in the
society finally led to the composer’s re-entrance into the Jewish faith in 1933.
Schoenberg’s Jewish identity and his religious orientation were inseparable from
each other. The affirmation of Jewish identity solidified Schoenberg’s faith in Judaism.
He believed that the Jewish concept of a single and only God is the core of the Jewish
nation that unites the Jews who lived in different diaspora for an extended period. Despite
the fact that the composer was never a practicing Jew, his Jewish heritage drew him
closer to God through his zeal in Zionism. Significantly, his Jewish identity brought his
spiritual odyssey back towards a Jewish perspective.
During his time in the United States, especially after the Second World War,
Schoenberg enjoyed the inclusive and diverse atmosphere, which allowed him to
continue his professional career as a composer and to proclaim his Jewish identity.
Schoenberg was greatly impacted by the Holocaust and, as a result, he became
determined to focus on political activism after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. From the
1930s to the 1940s, Schoenberg’s involvement in Jewish political matters outweighed all
other issues in his life, including his religious affiliation and his professional career. His
“Four Point Program of Jewry” revealed his ambition to fight against anti-Semitism.
Although Schoenberg seldom verbally mentioned his Jewish faith during his eighteen
years in the United States, his compositional output continually proves that his belief in
Judaism was the source of inspiration.
29
In summary, Schoenberg’s national and racial self-identification evolved over
time. It can be understood as a multifaceted historical process. Schoenberg’s multiple
identities as an Austrian-German, a Jew, and an American, were constructions rather than
a destination. It is a mistake to view Schoenberg’s identities as clear-cut and fixed states.
Regarding his spiritual journey, Schoenberg tended to keep it private. From the
perspective of orthodox or traditional Judaism, Schoenberg’s Jewish faith was largely his
own idealization of biblical Judaism. The foundations of his faith were based on his
search for racial self-identity and his spiritual aspiration to know the truth.
As reflected in his music, especially in his late works, Schoenberg had a growing
interest in religious subjects, which revealed that his Jewish faith had a place in his final
years. More detailed discussion in the following chapters will examine the relationship
between Schoenberg’s religious ideology and his religious compositions.

30
CHAPTER II
AN OVERVIEW OF SCHOENBERG’S RELIGIOUS COMPOSITIONS

Schoenberg was not a typical church or synagogue musician who composed music for a
liturgical purpose. Yet, his frequent use of religious and philosophical texts in his musical
output reveals that the composer was eager to express his philosophical thinking,
spirituality, and faith through his religious compositions. The more we know his religious
works, the better we understand the composer’s spiritual status. In order to have a
complete understanding of Schoenberg’s last opus, which includes three short religious
choral works, it is fundamental to learn more about the composer’s earlier religious
compositions. Concerning the religious works of Schoenberg, existing literature mainly
focuses on the two prominent, large-scale works: Moses und Aron and Die Jakobsleiter.
There is no scholarly publication exclusively devoted to the understanding of the entire
collection of the composer’s religious compositions. This chapter intends to treat
Schoenberg’s religious works as a genre based on the subject matter. The author’s goal is
to provide an overview of all of Schoenberg’s religious works in the hope of shedding
light on the composer’s spirituality and faith that may be expressed in these religious
compositions.
To determine whether the composition is a religious work, the text and the
impetus of the compositions are examined. All the religious works listed in this chapter
are either directly related to the bible or involve explicit notions of God. This chapter
introduces all of Schoenberg’s religious works except for the last opus (op. 50) that is
reserved for discussion in Part II of the dissertation. The following discussions divide
Schoenberg’s religious works into two groups according to their time of composition: 1)
31
religious works written between 1907 and 1925, and 2) religious works written in the
composer’s American period between 1938 and 1950.
List of Schoenberg’s Religious Compositions
Schoenberg composed a total number of sixty-six works from 1907 to 1950.
1

Twelve of the sixty-six compositions explicitly relate to Jewish or Christian faith. In the
twelve religious compositions, only one of them is an instrumental work without text.
The remaining eleven religious works are either stage works or vocal music with text.
Table 2.1 lists the religious works of Schoenberg in chronological order:
Table 2.1: List of Religious Compositions by Arnold Schoenberg in Chronological Order
Year of
Composition
Opus
Number
Title Genre/
Instrumentation
Remarks
1907 13 Friede auf Erden
(Peace on Earth)
Choral
1917-22 N/A Die Jakobsleiter Oratorio Unfinished
1921 N/A Weihnachsmusik
(Christmas Music)
2 violins, cello,
harmonium, and
piano
Arrangement
1923-37 N/A Moses und Aron Opera Unfinished
1925 27 Four Pieces for Mixed
Chorus Op. 27 No. 2
Choral
1938 39 Kol nidre Choral
1945 44 Prelude to the Genesis
Suite
Choral
1947 46 A Survivor from
Warsaw
Choral
1949 N/A Israel Exists Again Choral Fragment
1949 50a Dreimal tausend Jahre Choral
1950 50b De Profundis Choral
1950 50c Modern Psalm No. 1 Choral Unfinished

1
Walter Bailey and Jerry McBride, “List of Works” in The Arnold Schoenberg Companion, ed.
Walter Bailey (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998), 43-49.
32
Religious Works Composed Between 1907 and 1925
As discussed in chapter one, at the turn of the twentieth century, Schoenberg and
his family embraced assimilation in German culture as the appropriate direction for their
life. Due to the increasing spread of anti-Semitism at the end of the nineteenth century,
Schoenberg converted to Lutheranism in 1898 in the hope of gaining acceptance for his
German-Jewish identity. Although Schoenberg never disclosed his faith explicitly,
pertinent to his conversion, two of his religious works written in his Christian period do
reflect the subject of Christology. In the 1920s, more than a decade prior to his official
reconversion to Judaism in 1933, two of Schoenberg’s major religious compositions—
Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron reveal his gradual return to the Jewish faith.
Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth), Op. 13
Schoenberg’s first religious work is Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth), Op. 13, a
choral piece completed in early 1907. Schoenberg composed Friede auf Erden in a
moment when the development of his harmonic language had become saturated with
chromaticism.
2
The composer believed that there was a need to develop entirely new
means of tonal organization in order to transform from his highly stylized late-
Romanticism toward a more rigidly structured, atonal expressionism. As one of the last
pieces of his tonal period, Friede auf Erden is written for mixed choir based on the
concept of universal harmony and peace. The piece is intended to be performed a
cappella; however, due to the challenging vocal writing that relies heavily on rich vertical
sonorities,
3
Schoenberg was obligated to add an orchestral accompaniment for the choir
for a more accurate performance in 1911. The orchestra, which is rather small in size,

2
Malcolm MacDonald, Schoenberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 164.
3
Nick Strimple, Choral Music in the Twentieth-Century (Pompton Plains, N.J.: Amadeus Press,
2005), 24.
33
includes two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, and strings. Since the only purpose of the
orchestral parts is to support the singers, Schoenberg created it to sound ‘invisible’ to the
audience.
As the first religious work written by Schoenberg, the text for Friede auf Erden
was taken from an anti-war poem by the Swiss poet Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825-
1898). The inspiration of the poem came from the Bible, in which the focus of the text is
from Isaiah 2:4 (also Micah 4:3)—"They will beat their swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they
train for war anymore."
4
The first verse of the poem is a depiction of the Nativity while
the second tells of bloodshed and imploring angels. The third verse describes “the history
of the world after the birth of Christ as a time of war, in which the hope of peace continue
to be upheld.”
5
The fourth verse gradually creates a peaceful atmosphere, representing the
peace becomes reality in future generations.
6

The piece received its premiere in 1911, by the Vienna Singverein, featuring an
enormous 240-member chorus. Ironically, the poet's dream of world peace was soon
dashed by the horrors of World War I. In a letter to the conductor Hermann Scherchen on
June 23, 1923, Schoenberg mentioned this last work written in tonal style as a musical
illusion created in his previous innocence when he still believed unity was possible: "it is
an illusion for mixed choir, an illusion, as I know today, having believed, in 1907, when I
composed it, that this pure harmony among human beings was conceivable."

4
Isaiah 2:4 (New International Version).
5
Therese Muxeneder, “Friede auf Erden für gemischten Chor a cappella ["Peace on Earth" for
mixed chorus a cappella] op. 13 (1907/11),” Arnold Schoenberg Center, May 7, 2020,
https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/joomla-license-3/friede-auf-erden-op-13-1907.
6
Ibid.
34
Weihnachsmusik (Christmas Music)
Written in 1921, the other Christian composition of Schoenberg is
Weihnachsmusik (Christmas Music). It is a tonal work based on two well-known
protestant Christmas hymns: Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
and Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night). The former is a fifteenth
century German carol based on Isaiah 11:1,
7
while the latter is one of the best known
Christmas carols written by Joseph Mohr, an Austrian priest and writer in the nineteenth
century.
8
Weihnachtmusik is a serene work for two violins, cello, harmonium, and piano.
Although no reliable information is known about the reason for its creation and the
context in which it was performed, according to its small scale and tonal nature, it is
believed that Schoenberg likely composed the Weihnachtmusik for himself and his family
to play together for Christmas celebration.
9
Schoenberg composed this chamber work at
the time when his compositional approach was moving toward serialism. It is very
unusual for the composer to quote familiar melodies in his music. To enrich the tonality
of the piece, Schoenberg added some hint of bitonality. The composer also utilized
numerous counterpoint techniques, such as diminution, reversal, and narrowing, which
coincided with his compositional technique in the 1910s.
Die Jakobsleiter (The Jacob’s Ladder)
Before Schoenberg officially set forth on his twelve-tone journey in the 1920s, he
had started to compose two significant religious works in 1917 and 1923. One of them is
the oratorio Die Jakobsleiter. The impetus of this work grew out of Schoenberg’s desire

7
LindaJo K. McKim, The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John
Knox Press, 1993), 51.
8
Ibid., 60.
9
MacDonald, Schoenberg, 266.
35
to write an oratorio to depict a man’s life journey in seeking God. Through the oratorio,
his aim is to express the aesthetic of the basic questions of human existence and the art of
religion.
10
Schoenberg wanted to emphasize in the oratorio that prayer is the solution for
an atheistic modern man to become religious. In his letter of 1912 to the poet Richard
Dehmel, the composer clearly stated his reason for composing Die Jakobsleiter:
“For a long time I have been wanting to write an oratorio on the following
subject: modern man, having passed through materialism, socialism, and anarchy
and, despite having been an atheist, still having in him some residue of ancient
faith (in the form of superstition), wrestles with God (see also Strindberg’s “Jacob
Wrestling”) and finally succeeds in finding God and becoming religious. Learning
to pray! Not through action, blows of fate, still less a love story shall this
transformation come about. Or at least these should be at most background hints,
providing impetus.”
11

Schoenberg composed Die Jakobsleiter with a mission, in which he wanted the biblical
content of the oratorio to be applicable and equivalent to the modern world. In the letter
to Dehmel, Schoenberg emphasized that his role as a modern composer was to use a
mode of communication that was relevant to modern man:
And above all: the mode of speech, the mode of thought, the mode of expression
should be that of modern man; the problems treated should be those that harass
us. For those who wrestle with God in the Bible also express themselves as men
of their own time, speaking of their own affairs, remaining within their own social
and intellectual limit. That is why, though they are artistically impressive, they do
not offer a subject for a modern composer who fulfills his obligations.
12

‘
The creation of the oratorio originated from a large-scale project—a seven-
movement choral symphony for vocal soloists, choir, and orchestra—that includes
musical settings of modern and ancient poetry as well as biblical verses.
13
Schoenberg

10
Therese Muxeneder, “Jacob’s Ladder Oratorio For Soli, Mixed Chorus and Orchestra,” Arnold
Schönberg Center, July 3, 2018, https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/typography-2/die-jakobsleiter.
11
Arnold Schoenberg to Richard Dehmel, December 13, 1912, in A Schoenberg Reader:
Documents of a Life, ed. Joseph Auner (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008), 119.
12
Ibid.
13
Caroline A. Kita, Jewish Difference and the Arts in Vienna: Composing Compassion in Music
and Biblical Theater (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2019), 69.
36
pictured the symphony to be a large-scale one that is comparable to Gustav Mahler’s
Symphony No. 2. However, due to frequent interruption in the compositional process,
Schoenberg abandoned his plans for the choral symphony by 1917 and decided to
compose the final movement as an independent work which he retitled Die Jakobsleiter.
Despite the fact that Schoenberg started to compose Die Jakobsleiter much earlier
than his reentry to the Jewish faith in 1933, the oratorio is more Jewish in nature. While
Schoenberg was composing Die Jakobsleiter, the composer’s interest was focused on
spiritualism, which overlapped with his critical reflection on the Jewish Question.
.14
The
initial creation of the oratorio also coincided with the period when Schoenberg was called
into military service during the First World War. The score was left unfinished and was
completed posthumously from his sketches by his student Winfried Zillig.
15

It is significant that Die Jakobsleiter marked the first attempt of Schoenberg to
reveal his religious thoughts in his musical output. As an allegory for modern man's
wrestling with faith, Die Jakobsleiter somewhat reflected the spirituality of Schoenberg
as he faced the crisis of self and national identity. In his letter to Wassily Kandinsky of
July 20, 1922, Schoenberg acknowledged that religion was his only support during this
hard time:
"Perhaps the worst thing indeed was the overthrowing of all that, in which one
had believed earlier. […] What I mean, could best be explained to you by "Jacob's
Ladder" (an oratorio): I mean religion - even without all its organizational
shackles. During these years, it was my only support. Let me have said it here for
the first time."
16

Schoenberg wrote the text to Die Jakobsleiter between 1915 and 1917, and

14
Caroline A. Kita, Jewish Difference and the Arts in Vienna, 69.
15
McDonald, Schoenberg, 276.
16
Arnold Schoenberg to Wassily Kandinsky, July 20, 1922, Arnold Schönberg Center,
https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/typography-2/die-jakobsleiter.
37
partially composed the music between 1917 and 1922. He worked further on the score,
albeit briefly, in 1944.
17
The oratorio was left unfinished—a manuscript of 700 measures,
yet Winfried Zillig, Schoenberg’s former pupil, produced a performing version based on
the composer’s short score.
18

Based on Genesis 28: 12-23, Schoenberg wrote his own libretto by referring and
alluding to exotic, heterodox religious ideas, including reincarnation, theosophy, and
Swedenborgian mysticism. From the Bible, Schoenberg referred to the story depicting
Jacob’s dream of a ladder joining heaven and earth. Other biblical passages such as the
Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7 are included in the oratorio
to highlight the importance of prayer.
The performing version of Die Jakobsleiter is a setting of the first part of
Schoenberg’s two-part libretto with the addition of a symphonic interlude, which was
intended to divide the two parts but now is functioning like a coda of the oratorio.
19

The opening line: “Whether right or left, forwards or backwards, upward or downward,
one has to go on, without asking what lies ahead or behind,” not only led the audience to
the heart of the drama, but also represented Schoenberg’s philosophical and religious
status at the time of composing the oratorio.
20

Part I of Schonberg’s own libretto depicts human beings at various spiritual levels
on Jacob’s ladder, which includes “choruses of the Indifferent Ones and the Submissive
Ones, and soloists representing a Called One, a Protester, a Struggling One, a Chosen

17
Mark Berry, “Arnold Schoenberg's Biblical Way: From Die Jakobsleiter to Moses Und Aron,”
Music and Letters 89, no.1 (February 2008): 86.
18
Howard E. Smither, A History of the Oratorio (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2012), 678; McDonald, Schoenberg, 276.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
38
One, a Monk, and a Dying One.”
21
The main character is the angel Gabriel who observes
and comments as various souls attempt to justify their ascent to heaven. Part II, though
never set into music, is the consequence of numerous souls transformed into new
incarnations. Schoenberg used forty-five individuals and groups to represent different
types of souls who must face different consequences according to what they have done on
earth before they died. To highlight the importance of prayer, the oratorio ends with
Gabriel giving a long sermon teaching the souls to seek unification with God through
prayer.
22

To compare with the form of a traditional oratorio, Schoenberg made no great
difference in Die Jakobsleiter, which consists of discrete sections for chorus, solo voices,
vocal ensembles, and orchestra.
23
Schoenberg made use of the contrasting character of
songs and Sprechstimme to simulate the distinction between aria and recitative in the
traditional oratorio.
24

In terms of compositional style and techniques, Die Jakobsleiter marks the
composer’s transition from free atonality to the use of the twelve-tone method. Before
setting the libretto to music, Schoenberg already had a plan in mind to include all twelve
tones in a theme:
"I had made plans for a great symphony of [which] the Jakobsleiter should be the
last movement. I have sketched many themes, among them one for a scherzo
which consisted of all the twelve tones."
25

21
Smither, A History of the Oratorio, 679.
22
Ibid.
23
Bryan R. Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2000), 169.
24
Ibid.
25
Therese Muxeneder, “Jacob’s Ladder Oratorio For Soli, Mixed Chorus and Orchestra,” Arnold
Schönberg Center, July 3, 2018, https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/typography-2/die-jakobsleiter.
39
Schoenberg’s use of the twelve-tone method in Die Jakobsleiter first appears in the two
hexachords at the very opening (mm. 1-8). As seen in Example 2.1, one of the
hexachords appears as an ostinato figure in the cello part while the other one appears
vertically in the whole notes played by woodwinds and brass. Although the twelve-tone
technique used in Die Jakobsleiter is yet to be fully established, it anticipated the musical
innovation of Schoenberg in the years after its composition.
Example 2.1: Schoenberg’s use of hexachords in the opening of Die Jakobsleiter
40
Moses und Aron (Moses and Aaron)
Another significant religious work of Schoenberg that is based on a biblical story
is Moses und Aron. Like Die Jakobsleiter, it is an unfinished work written before the
composer’s American period. With reference to the book of Exodus, Schoenberg
worked on the three-act German libretto from September 1928 to 1932 and composed
the music for the first two acts from May 1930 to March 1932.
26
After fleeing the Nazis
in May 1933, Schoenberg made a number of attempts to complete the opera,
unfortunately, he was unable to finish the work before his death in 1951. Only a few
sketches survive from the music of Act III despite Schoenberg having completed the
libretto with a single scene. The incomplete opera has a traditional structure, yet
Schoenberg created an uncommon genre of the twentieth century—sacred opera.
27

While most sacred operas are Christian based,
28
Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron is a
distinctive production that proclaims the composer’s Jewish faith through the
expressions of his longing for unity with God.
Schoenberg composed Moses und Aron in Berlin, where he was appointed a
teaching position at the Prussian Academy of Arts from 1925 to 1933. He was the
instructor of the composition master class until the anti-Semitic measures of Nazi
Germany forced him out of the school. The appointment from the Prussian Academy of
Arts offered Schoenberg financial stability, which allowed him leisure to compose and
explore the possibility of his serial procedures. Schoenberg was still officially Christian

26
Jack Boss, Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Music: Symmetry and the Musical Idea (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2014), 330.
27
McDonald, Schoenberg, 254.
28
Graham Dixon, and Richard Taruskin, "Sacred opera," Grove Music Online. 2002, https://www-
oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy1.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-
9781561592630-e-5000007307.
41
when he was composing Moses und Aron. However, before writing the opera, he had
experienced unprecedented impact on his Jewish heritage due to the surrounding political
instability. Schoenberg’s spiritual path in the 1920s up to his return to the Jewish faith in
1933 is well reflected in his three compositions: Die Jakobsleiter, Der biblische Weg, and
Moses und Aron. According to Mark Berry, these three works correspond to the
transformation of Schoenberg’s spiritual status from religious syncretism via Zionism and
finally to Judaic monotheism.
29
Thus, Moses und Aron marked a monumental creation in
Schoenberg’s compositional career as well as in his religious odyssey.
The first two acts with Schoenberg’s own libretto are based on the biblical story
of Moses and Aaron—two iconic characters in the book of Exodus who delivered the
Israelites from Egypt. Act I highlights Moses’ calling from God to become the leader of
the Israelites and his partnership with Aaron, who is the God-appointed spokesman of
Moses.
In the first scene of Act I (The Calling of Moses), Moses came across the burning bush
where God's voice speaks to him. Moses’ initial dialogue with God—‘Unique, eternal,
omnipresent, invisible, and unimaginable God!’ serves as a leitmotif that recurs
throughout the entire opera.
30
Schoenberg uses six solo voices that involve male and
female to represent the voice of God. With various combinations of singing, speaking,
and Sprechstimme, the six-part chorus suggests musically the manifold nature of the deity
and spirituality beyond human involvement.
31
To symbolize the contrasting or even

29
Berry, “Arnold Schoenberg's Biblical Way,” 85.
30
Richard Viladesau, Theological Aesthetics : God in Imagination, Beauty, and Art (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2013), 39.
31
O. W. Neighbour, "Moses und Aron," Grove Music Online, 2002, https://doi-
org.libproxy2.usc.edu/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O002086.

42
conflicting characteristics of the two protagonists, Schoenberg uses a speaking role for
Moses and a tenor for Aaron to signify their roles as a prophet and a communicator,
respectively.
Act II features the failure of Moses’ prophetic mission to proclaim the words of
God to his chosen people. The opera reaches its climax at scene three, “The golden calf
and the altar” (based on Exodus 32:2-6), depicting the people’s worship of the golden
idol due to Aaron’s accommodation to their desires to form a tangible image as their god.
The final scene of Act II presents the conflict between Moses and Aaron after Moses’
return from Mount Sinai, bearing the Tablets of the Law. Aaron defends his actions in
erecting the golden calf by stating that the image is a translation of God’s transcendence
into an understandable and attractive form, though ended in idolatry and
dehumanization.
32
Moses breaks the tablets in frustration and the scene ends with the
despair of Moses: “O word, thou that I lack!” —lamenting his failure to use words to
communicate God’s commands.
Moses und Aron is very much like a sequel to Die Jakobsleiter.
33
While Die
Jakobsleiter is about seeking God, the opera Moses und Aron is pertinent to the earthy
expression and comprehension of the transcendent God. Schoenberg did provide an
answer in Die Jackobsleiter that ‘prayer’ is the ultimate solution for humans to encounter
God. In Moses und Aron, however, the composer had difficulty in providing a solution
for men because he knew that God is incomprehensible and beyond humankind’s
imagination. Moses und Aron is, above all, an expression of the tension between divine
revelation and human interpretation of the deity. Schoenberg revealed in the opera that

32
Viladesau, Theological Aesthetics, 46.
33
Smither, A History of the Oratorio, 678.
43
human expression of God tends to fall into the trap of pursuing self-centered desire. This
desire may lead to a legitimate worldly goal but it is very easy to turn true religion into
idolatry and image.
Op. 27 No. 2, Du sollst nicht (You should not)
Du sollst nicht is Schoenberg’s first twelve-tone religious chorus, written in 1925,
when Schoenberg officially started to compose with the twelve-tone method, in which the
composer mainly used a liner approach to portray the twelve-tone row. This a capella
choral work is closely related to Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron due to its
reference to Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8. Schoenberg composed his own text that
centered on the problem of creating tangible images for worship and prohibition of idol
worship. Schoenberg biographers agree that this piece constitutes a significant step in his
return to the Jewish faith. Whereas Die Jakobsleiter still constitutes an eclectic mix of
ideas originating from Balzac, Strindberg and anthroposophy, Du sollst nicht propounds a
recapitulation of the Jewish prohibition of images as a theological certainty.
Religious Works Composed Between 1938 and 1950
Schoenberg’s remaining religious works were all written in the United States. In
response to the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the early 1930s, Schoenberg made
two life-changing decisions in 1933. The first one was his return to the Jewish faith and
the second one was his migration from Europe to the United States, where he stayed until
he died in 1951. Schonberg’s faith and spiritual status in America are adequately
reflected in his compositions. From 1938 to 1950, the composer wrote seven religious
works that are all pertinent to Judaism. Though all of his American religious
compositions were written for chorus, none were intended to be performed exclusively in
44
temple or synagogue services. To pair with his intense expressiveness, Schoenberg’s
religious output in America aimed to proclaim his Jewish identity and voice solidarity
with the European Jews facing political oppression.
Kol Nidre, Op. 39
Kol Nidre, op. 39 is a choral work for speaker, mixed chorus, and chamber
orchestra. Schoenberg wrote it in response to Rabbi Jacob Sonderling’s request to write a
new version of the Kol Nidre service for the Society for Jewish Culture-Fairfax Temple
in Los Angeles.
34
Kol Nidre is the introductory prayer for the service on the eve of the
Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the most solemn of Jewish holidays.
35
The
words ‘Kol Nidre’ are the initial words of the prayer, which means ‘all vows.’
Traditionally, the function of Kol Nidre is to proactively ask for God’s forgiveness and to
vow to do good in the coming year.
36
As noted in a letter to Paul Dessau dated November
1941, Schoenberg believed that the text is significant to him because it is intended for the
Jews who have been converted to Christianity to return to the Jewish community:
…From the very first moment I was convinced (as later proved correct, when I
read that the Kol Nidre originated in Spain) that it merely meant that all who had
either voluntarily or under pressure made believe to accept the Christian faith (and
who were therefore to be excluded from the Jewish community) might, on this
Day of Atonement, be reconciled with their God, and that all oaths (vows) were to
be cancelled. So this does not refer to businessmen's sharp practice.
37

Schoenberg wrote the op. 39 in August 1938—five months after the annexation of
Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. Its premiere in Los Angeles was only one
month before the Kristallnacht incident in Germany, when synagogues, homes, and

34
Neil W. Levin, “ Kol nidre,” Milken Archive of Jewish Music, accessed April 11, 2021,
https://www.milkenarchive.org/music/volumes/view/masterworks-of-prayer/work/kol-nidre/
35
Ethan Nash and Joshua Jacobson, Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Vol. IV:
Hebrew Texts, (Oregon: 2009), 104.
36
Ibid.
37
Arnold Schoenberg to Paul Dessau, November 22, 1941, Arnold Schönberg Center,
https://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/en/joomla-license-sp-1943310036/kol-nidre-op-39-1938
45
businesses were destroyed and thousands of Jews were persecuted. Written in the midst
of anti-Semitic oppression, Kol Nidre was Schoenberg’s first attempt to compose music
related to Jewish liturgy. Despite that the Op. 39 was declined by some for use in
synagogue services due to its altered text, it reveals Schoenberg’s determination to
proclaim his Jewish identity in response to the anti-Semitic terror in Europe. When
Schoenberg was composing the Kol Nidre, he was particularly occupied with the plight of
his close family and friends still trapped in Europe. Therefore, the Jewish subject matter
of Kol Nidre particularly affected him.
Prelude to the Genesis Suite
The Genesis Suite is a commissioned work by several leading composers. It
contains seven individual pieces for which Schoenberg wrote the opening prelude. The
Hollywood composer and arranger Nathaniel Shilkret (1895-1989) commissioned the
Suite in 1944 as part of his project to set the entire Bible.
38
The grandiose project was left
unfinished with mere selections from the first book of the bible—the book of Genesis set
to music. The Genesis Suite was first performed and recorded in Los Angeles in 1945.
Despite that the work is a collaboration between some well-known contemporaneous
composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Darius Milhaud, the Suite was quickly forgotten
after its première.
39
The work has stayed alive among music scholars is probably due to
the privately funded recording that was made at RCA in Hollywood on December 11,
1945, a few weeks after the première.
40

38
Strimple, Choral Music in the Twentieth-Century, 25.
39
James Westby, “Genesis Suite,” Milken Archive of Jewish Music, accessed April 11, 2021,
https://www.milkenarchive.org/music/volumes/view/odes-and-epics/work/genesis-suite/.
40
Ibid.
46
As the introductory piece of the entire suite, the Prelude does not refer to any
specific biblical verse but rather, imagery of the earth without form. Schoenberg
conceived the Prelude as a presentation of form emerging out of amorphousness.
41
The
opening section of the Prelude is free in form with the twelve-tone row first presented in
an ascending line.
42
The music then emerges into a double fugue with six subject entries,
which are derived from the permutation of the tone row. The entrance of the textless
chorus near the end of the piece concludes the prelude with a richness of thought out of a
latent order.
43

A Survivor From Warsaw
Schoenberg composed A Survivor From Warsaw in 1947 for a narrator, male
chorus, and orchestra. The narrator presented the concentration camp survivor, who
anxiously was recounting the experiences of the atrocities.
44
Except for the singing of
Shema Yisrael in Hebrew in the last twenty measures of the piece, the narrator recited all
the English and German text, written by the composer himself. Even though Schoenberg
was not concerned with a particular historical account of the Holocaust, he described in
detail an occasion when the Jews were on their way to the gas chamber. The most
striking scene is when the inmates find courage to sing the Shema Yisrael–the central
creed of the Jewish liturgy drawn from the book of Deuteronomy 6:4–7 when facing the
execution.
45
Schoenberg also included some fragmentary scenes of how the inmates were

41
McDonald, Schoenberg, 291.
42
Ibid., 199-200.
43
Ibid.

44
Joe Argentino, “Tripartite Structures in Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw,” Music theory
online 19, no. 1 (March 2013): 2.
45
O. W. Neighbour, "Schoenberg [Schönberg], Arnold," Grove Music Online, January, 2001,
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-
com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-
0000025024.
47
treated by the sergeant inside the concentration camp.
A Survivor From Warsaw is one of the few Schoenberg twelve-tone works that
include text. The text clearly portrays the central idea of the work: to honor and
memorize the victims of the Holocaust. Schoenberg stated in his letter to Kurt List dated
November 1948 that A Survivor From Warsaw was not only a musical reaction to the
Holocaust, but also a call for Jewish solidarity in response to this human crisis:
“… it means at first a warning to all Jews, never to forget what has been done to
us, never to forget that even people who did not do it themselves, agreed with
them and many of them found it necessary to treat us this way. We should never
forget this, even such things have not been done in the manner in which I describe
in the Survivor. This does not matter. The main thing is, that I saw it in my
imagination.”
46

The ending Shema Yisrael, sung by the unison male chorus, is an impressive display of
Schoenberg’s Jewish faith and belief. As mentioned in the letter to Kurt List, the Shema
Yisrael has a distinctive spiritual meaning to Schoenberg. It reflects the essence of the
Jewish faith, which echoed with his opera Moses und Aron:
“The Shema Yisrael at the end has a special meaning to me. I think, the Shema
Yisrael is the ‘Glaubensbekenntnis,’ the confession of the Jew. It is our thinking
of the one, eternal, God who is invisible, who forbids imitation, who forbids to
make a picture and all these things, which you perhaps have realised when you
read my Moses und Aron und Der biblische Weg [Moses and Aaron and the
Biblical Way]. The miracle is, to me, that all these people who might have
forgotten, for years, that they are Jews, suddenly facing death, remember who
they are.”
47

Israel Exists Again
Israel Exists Again is a twelve-tone a capella choral work inspired by the
establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Schoenberg started to compose the work in

46
Arnold Schoenberg to Kurt List, November 1, 1948, in Arnold Schoenberg Self-Portrait: A
Collection of Articles, Program Notes, and Letters by the Composer About His Own Works, ed. Nuria
Schoenberg Nono (Pacific Palisades: Belmont Music Publishers, 1988), 105.
47
Ibid.
48
1949—two years before his death. However, due to health problems and financial
concerns, the work was left unfinished with only the first three lines set to music.
Schoenberg's last works from 1949 on, including Israel Exists Again, mainly dealt
with his appreciation of the miracle of Israel. Set to the composer’s own text in English,
the unfinished choral work reflects Schoenberg’s sense of ethnic solidarity with the
Jewish people. To compare with the opera Moses und Aron, which belongs to the
spiritual realm of pursuing ultimate union with God, Israel Exists Again is a showcase of
Jewish nationalism. The text to some extent echoes Schoenberg’s Zionistic thinking in
the early twentieth century, portraying a picture of the final triumph of the Jews:
Israel exists again!
It has always existed
though invisibly.
And since the beginning of time,
since the creation of the world
we have always seen the Lord,
and have never ceased to see Him.
Adam saw Him.
Noah saw Him.
Abraham saw Him.
Jakob saw Him.
But Moses
saw He was our God
and we His elected people:
elected to testify
that there is only one eternal God.
Israel has returned
and will see the Lord again.

Conclusion
The religious works discussed in this chapter reveal that many of Schoenberg’s
religious compositions correlate with his spiritual state as well as his Jewish identity. To
have a better understating of the significance of Schoenberg’s religious works, Table 2.2
49
lists the notable life events of Schoenberg and his religious compositions in chronological
order:
Table 2.2: Chronology of Schoenberg’s life and religious works from 1898-1951
Year Religious Compositions Political incidents/
Schoenberg’s life events
1898 Conversion to Protestantism
1907 Friede auf Erden, Op. 13
1914-18 World War I

1915 Began text of Die
Jakobsleiter
Became a volunteer reservist of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire (first term of
military service)
1917 Began Die Jakobsleiter
(1917-22)
Second term of military service
1921 Weihnachsmusik • Began Suite for Piano, Op. 25—the
first work in which the “Method of
composing with twelve tones which are
related only with one another” was
realized
• Anti-Semitic attack—Schoenberg was
forced to leave the Salzburg summer
holiday resort of Mattsee
1922 “Religion. During these years, it was my
only support.” (Schoenberg, 1922)
1923 Began Moses und Aron
(1923-37)
Met with his students to explain the
twelve-tone method
1925 Four Pieces for Mixed
Chorus Op. 27 No. 2

1926 Began Der biblische Weg—a Zionist
spoken drama

1928 Began libretto of Moses und
Aron

1933 • Forced to leave the position at the
Prussian Academy
• Left Germany for the United States
• Re-entered the Jewish faith
• Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler (1889-
1945) became chancellor of Germany
50
1934 • Gave the lecture in Princeton on
twelve-tone composition
• Gave two speeches on the Jewish
Situation
1938 Kol nidre, Op. 39 • Wrote the essay “A Four Point Program
for Jewry”
• “Kristallnacht” incident
1939-45 World War II
1941 Became American citizen
1944 Worked on Die Jakobsleiter
1945 Prelude to the Genesis
Suite, Op. 44

1947 A Survivor From Warsaw,
Op. 46

1948 The establishment of the State of Israel
1949 Israel Exists Again,
Dreimal tausend Jahre, Op.
50a

1950 De profundis, Op. 50b
Modern Psalm No. 1, Op.
50c

1951 • Named the honorary president of Israel
Music Academy
• Died on July 13 in Los Angeles

As summarized in Table 2.2, Schoenberg’s religious works embody individual
stages of the composer’s spiritual journey. The first stage is roughly between 1921 and
1925, concerning his consolidation of Jewish identity after World War I. In 1921,
Schoenberg experienced an anti-Semitic attack at the Salzburg summer holiday resort of
Mattsee. A few years later, Schoenberg composed the opera Moses und Aron and the
choral work Du sollst nicht from Four Pieces for Mixed Chorus, Op. 27 to portray the
idea of Judaic monotheism. The second stage is Schoenberg’s preoccupation with
Zionism, which motivated him to write the play Der biblische Weg (the Biblical Way).
Schoenberg’s Zionistic thoughts were pertinent to the choosiness of Jews and their entry
51
into the Promised Land, which are also partially revealed in the libretto of Moses und
Aron written in 1928. The third stage of Schoenberg’s spiritual journey had started from
1933, which marked the commencement of his new life in the United States. It is
believed that Schoenberg’s compositions were in response to the alarming rise of anti-
Semitism in Europe, which later led to the Holocaust. The Kol nidre, written three years
after his re-entrance to the Jewish faith and immigration to the United State, is like a
proclamation of his Jewish faith and his repentance to God in the midst of Germany's
Third Reich turmoil. Composed in 1947, A Survivor from Warsaw was clearly the
composer’s response to the Holocaust. The last stage of Schoenberg’s religious odyssey
is related to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The composer wrote Israel
Exist Again and the Op. 50 to express his longing to return to his Jewish homeland. In
summary, it is notable that Schoenberg’s religious works are inseparable from his life
events and the political incidents that shaped his Jewish identity.
Some scholars even assert that Schoenberg’s evolution of musical style is a
reflection of his shifts in spirituality and faith. For example, Caroline A. Kita notes that
Schoenberg’s break with the late-Romantic style of Mahler and Wagner corresponded to
his conversion to Protestantism in 1898, while his experiments with serialism and the
twelve-tone technique emerged simultaneously with his increasing interest in Zionism in
the early 1920s and his return to the Jewish faith in 1933.
48

The current chapter highlights that Schoenberg’s spirituality and faith had a
significant influence on most of his religious compositions. The correlation between his
religious works and spiritual status suggests that further analysis of Schoenberg’s
religious compositions can provide a deeper understanding of his unspoken faith and

48
Caroline A. Kita, Jewish Difference and the Arts in Vienna, 69.
52
belief. Therefore, it is believed that the current survey of Schoenberg’s religious works
lays a promising foundation for analyzing the entire Op. 50.

53
CHAPTER III
SCHOENBERG’S RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY AND ITS
MUSICAL REPRESENTATIONS

The discussions in Chapter Two reveal that Schoenberg’s religious compositions embody
individual stages of the composer’s spiritual journey. They provide a foundation for
further investigation into the in-depth relationships between Schoenberg’s spiritual
thoughts and their expressions in his religious works. In his two well-known collections
of literary works—Harmonielehre and Style and Idea, Schoenberg did not limit the
discussions to purely musical but expounds upon philosophical issues, some of which are
closely related to his spirituality and faith.
1
For instance, in his lecture (in prose form)
entitled “Composition With Twelve Tones” presented at the University of California at
Los Angeles in 1941, Schoenberg interlaced technical issue of musical space with
philosophical discussion pertinent to Swedenborg's heaven as described in Balzac's
Seraphita.
2
Together with Schoenberg’s particular concern for the concepts of idea and its
representation, it is believed that religion is not only a subject matter in his music, but
also a philosophical ideology embedded in his compositional practices.
The concept of ‘idea’ plays an important role in Schoenberg’s religious music.
Without defining the idea as musical or extra-musical, Schoenberg believes that the
‘idea’ of a musical composition is something that the creator wants to present.
3
Due to the
intellectual nature of Schoenberg’s compositional techniques, especially his twelve-tone

1
Charlotte Cross, “Three levels of “Idea” in Schoenberg’s Thought and Writings,” Current
Musicology 30 (1980): 24.
2
Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 113.
3
Julianne Brand and Christopher Hailey, Constructive Dissonance: Arnold Schoenberg and the
Transformations of Twentieth-Century Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 148.
54
method, there is always a presumption that the ‘idea’ of Schoenberg’s serious works
belongs to the abstract realm of the ‘purely musical’.
4
One is likely to think that technical
matters are the foundations of musical idea, which are external to a work’s religious or
philosophical concerns. In a manuscript dated December 1949, Schoenberg stressed that
people failed to understand his music because they put the focus on technical issues, such
as tonality or harmonic organization, rather than the content or ideas of the music:
I have often enough explained that the method of composing with twelve tones is
only a matter of organization and what displease many listeners are the
dissonances and the absence of a constantly present tonality. It looks as if todays’
listeners are not enough afraid of such evils and are ready to accept such
meaningless noises as the murder and mystery stories of the radio use for
background illustration. That such nonsense is possible is the result of the
audiences failing to question “what did he say” but instead being satisfied of
recognizing a style, a mannerism, “how did he say it”, atonality.
5

As early as 1914, prior to Schoenberg’s preoccupation with the twelve-tone
method, the composer stated in his letter to Henri Hinrichsen that he aimed his music “to
be the expression in sound of the human soul and its desire for God.”
6
Such a notion
implies that Schoenberg has a strong desire to express the essence of human spirituality
through the very nature of music. Furthermore, Schoenberg’s goal of composition
concerning spirituality and religion provides a hint that music could, to a certain degree,
demonstrate some coordination between the technical matters and the extra-musical
expressions.
In spite of the lack of explicit evidence, Carl Dahlhaus argued that Schoenberg’s
American repertory in particular shows increasing coordination between musical and

4
Amy Wlodarski, “’An Idea Can Never Perish’: Memory, the Musical Idea, and Schoenberg’s A
Survivor from Warsaw (1947).” Journal of Musicology 24, no. 4 (2007): 583.
5
Schoenberg and Nono, Arnold Schoenberg Self-Portrait, 92.
6
Arnold Schoenberg to Henri Hinrichsen, March 20, 1912, in Contemporary Music Catalogue
(with 1976-77 Supplement), New York: C. F. Peters, 1977, 86.
55
extra musical parameters.
7
Charlotte Cross concurred with Dahlhaus, arguing that
Schoenberg’s theory of Gedanke (musical idea) also engages extra-musical contexts and
she believes that a musical idea is not sheerly musical.
8
According to Schoenberg,
composition is above all the art of inventing a musical idea and the most fitting way to
present it.
9
Regarding the term ‘idea’, Schoenberg generally used Gedanke, a concrete
thought, in contrast to Begriff, a concept.
10
In its narrowest sense the idea is a musical
relation, but in its broadest sense it is the totality of a piece.
11

Schoenberg believed that music is charged with the responsibility of
communicating the truth.
12
He is fascinated with the possibility of music’s ability to
provide a glimpse into some higher spiritual realm. It is Schoenberg’s goal to use the
musical artwork—the ‘tangible’ medium—to present an intangible idea that is related to
spirituality and faith. The current chapter aims to explore the relationship between the
abstract religious ideology of Schoenberg and its musical representation. Musical
examples from Schoenberg’s two well-known religious works that precede Op. 50—
Moses und Aron and A Survivor From Warsaw—are included to elucidate the composer’s
religious ideology and their musical expressions. Such investigation of religious or
spiritual meaning behind Schoenberg’s compositional practices will serve as supporting
evidence for the discussion of Op. 50 in Part II.
With the influence of both Christianity and Judaism, many of Schoenberg’s
religious thoughts are rooted in the Bible. According to Pamela C. White’s research on

7
Wlodarski, “’An Idea Can Never Perish,” 583.
8
Ibid.
9
Brand and Hailey, Constructive Dissonance, 148.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
John Covach, “The Sources of Schoenberg’s Aesthetic Theology,” 19th Century Music 19, no. 3
(April 1, 1996): 253.
56
Schoenberg’s opera Moses und Aron, the idea of Law is the foundation of Schoenberg’s
religious concepts.
13
White stated that “the (Mosaic) commandment to believe in an
unknowable God which cannot be portrayed in names and images” is the central law in
Schoenberg’s religious understanding.
14
Such a commandment is consistent with the first
three of the Ten Commandments listed in Exodus 20:3-5, which corresponds to the logic
implicit in monotheism. It is significant in Jewish tradition that the concept of
monotheism embraces the uniqueness or oneness of God, who should be called the Lord
over all the earth and all people should know and worship the only true God.
15

Schoenberg’s understanding of Judaic monotheism from the Bible and from Jewish
tradition is well reflected in his writings. For example, in a draft of an address that
Schoenberg was scheduled to give on 24 January 1934 to an assembly on the Jewish
question, the composer called for Jewish unity by addressing the importance of ‘one God’
as the heart of Jewish religion:
…That here in this temple priests of different religions have united themselves to
give a sign to mankind: by this action “these” priests have proved, that religion
will always, at all times and in all cases remain the guide of mankind.
Let me say: all priests of one god will lead all men.
And let us hope: All men leaded by all its priests shall be protected by the one
god. And let me say as a Jew, what I hope specially as Jew from such an action.
We Jews are a disunited and dismembered people.
But the resurrection of a Jewish unity is only possible by the Jewish religion.
16

Near the end of his life in 1950, Schoenberg once again declared his belief in mosaic
monotheism. In a letter to Frank Pelleg and Oedoen Partos in 1951 regarding his

13
Pamela White, Schoenberg and the God-Idea: The Opera Moses und Aron (Ann Arbor: UMI
Research Press, 1985), 87.
14
Ibid.
15
Robert Erlewine, Monotheism and Tolerance : Recovering a Religion of Reason (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2010), 155.
16
Arnold Schoenberg, “Reden zum Empfang,” January, 1934, T71.02, Kritische Gesamtausgabe
der Schriften Arnold Schönbergs, Arnold Schönberg Center,
http://archive.schoenberg.at/writings/edit_view/transcription_view.php?id=2499&word_list=temple%20pri
ests.
57
appointment as the Honorary President of the Israeli Academy of Music in Jerusalem,
Schoenberg stated that the institution should fulfill the mission to “represent the pure and
true mosaic monotheism:”
From such an institution should emerge true priests of art, who approach art with
divine inspiration, analogous to the priest’s inspiration at the altar. For: God has
chosen Israel as a nation, which in spite of persecution and suffering must fulfill
the task to maintain and to represent the pure and true mosaic monotheism.
17

There is no doubt that Mosaic monotheism is an important religious paradigm
throughout Schoenberg’s life. Such an important religious idea is well reflected in the
tlibretto of the opera Moses und Aron. In the initial dialogue between Moses and God,
Schoenberg explicitly reveals in his own libretto that God is the only one, infinite,
omnipresent, unperceived, and inconceivable God. To further highlight God’s oneness or
uniqueness, Schoenberg derives all musical material in the opera from the primary row,
just as everything ultimately comes from the eternal one.
18
Generally speaking,
Schoenberg intended to use the twelve-tone system to represent the sole authority of God.
He viewed the primary row as a compositional rule parallel to the Law or the
commandments.
19

Regarding the precise use of the twelve-tone method, it is worth noting that the
tone rows in Moses und Aron are not presented thematically to create a symbolic meaning
of God. In contrast to the horizontal presentation of twelve-tone row that is commonly
found in Schoenberg’s early serial works, the rows in Moses und Aron are not limited to

17
Arnold Schoenberg to Frank Pelleg, “Dankbrief für die Ernennung zum Ehrenpräsidenten der
Israel Academy of Music,” April 26, 1951, T32.07, Kritische Gesamtausgabe der Schriften Arnold
Schönbergs, Arnold Schönberg Center,
http://archive.schoenberg.at/writings/edit_view/transcription_view.php?id=1570&word_list=true%20mosai
c%20monotheism.
18
Berry, “Arnold Schoenberg's Biblical Way,” 95.
19
White, Schoenberg and the god-idea, 162.
58
linear presentations and are rarely heard in their entirety.
20
Schoenberg tends to partition
the row into segments to create more variety for structural use. This technique of
partitioning creates a division of the twelve-tone row into smaller units, which are
allowed to distribute among the various voices of the musical fabric.
21
Just like the nature
of the deity, the primary row is ever present regardless of its way of representation. Such
‘internalization’ of tone row not only strengthens the organization of the piece, but also
connects the religious ideology of monotheism with a subtle yet powerful musical
representation.
Ethan Haimo demonstrates the use of the partitioning technique and the vertical
presentation of segments in the opening measures of Act I Scene 1 from Moses und Aron
in his paper titled Schoenberg, Numerology, and Moses und Aron.
22
As shown in
Example 3.1, Moses’ first line that is performed with Sprechstimme— “Einziger, ewiger,
allegenwärtiger,” is supported by tetrachords (four-note chords) played by the orchestra.
Obviously, each tetrachord that is presented vertically is a segment from the varied forms
(RI4 and P10) of the primary row. In mm. 8 to 9, the three supporting chords come from
the tetrachordal partitioning of the row RI4 while in mm. 9-10, the three block chords
correspond to the tetrachords of P10. It is this tetrachordal partitioning that allows
Schoenberg to generate relationships from a single row, which provides variety out of a
promise of unity.

20
Berry, “Arnold Schoenberg's Biblical Way,” 95.
21
Ethan Haimo, “Schoenberg, Numerology, and Moses Und Aron,” The Opera Quarterly 23, no.
4 (2007): 387.
22
Ibid.
59
Example 3.1: Schoenberg’s use of partitioning technique and the vertical presentation of
segments at mm. 8-10 of Moses und Aron. Data from Ethan Haimo, “Schoenberg,
Numerology, and Moses Und Aron,” The Opera Quarterly 23, no. 4 (2007): 387.

The concept of monotheism not only appears in Schoenberg’s earlier works, but is
also revealed in his later works written in the American period. In The Survivor From
Warsaw, Op. 46, Schoenberg paid special attention to the structure of the twelve-tone
rows to portray the idea of a single God. To manipulate the row in a more specific
approach, Schoenberg made use of the technique of segmental invariance. Such
technique involves careful design of the primary row to produce invariant segments
between a tone row and its various transformations. The invariant sets create a musical
allusion that the only God is unchangeable despite His various form of revelation.
Timothy L. Jackson noted in his article “Your Songs Proclaim God’s Return—
Arnold Schoenberg, the Composer and His Jewish Faith” that Schoenberg represents
Judaic monotheism and the unshakable devotion of the Chosen People to the idea of one
God with an invariant, symmetrical set class.
23
As seen in Example 2, the basic set or the
primary row (P6) of A Survivor From Warsaw is: F#-G-C-G#-E-D#-A#-C#-A-D-F-B. A
symmetrical trichord C, G#, E at order positions 3, 4, and 5 forms an augmented triad,

23
Timothy Jackson, “Your Songs Proclaim God’s Return—Arnold Schoenberg, the Composer and
His Jewish Faith,” International Journal of Musicology 6 (1997): 283.
60
which is held invariant in the same order positions in the five different forms of the
primary row. The five transformations of the primary row (P6) are I2, P10, I6, P2, and
I10, as shown in Example 3.2.
Example 3.2: The primary row and its five transformations used in A Survivor From
Warsaw

Order
Number
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
P6 F# G C G# E D# A# C# A D F B
I2 D C# G# C E F A# G B F# D# A
P10 A# B E C G# G D F C# F# A D#
I6 F# F C E G# A D B D# A# G C#
P2 D D# G# E C B F# A F A# C# G
I10 A# A E G# C C# F# D# G D B F
Invariant trichord

The invariant trichords represent the perfection and immutability of the Jewish God-idea,
which echoes with the Shema Yisrael in the last twenty measures of the piece, to declare
‘the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.’ It is significant to note that the augmented triad
(i.e. the invariant trichord) appears pervasively throughout the work. Its frequent
repetition further suggests that Schoenberg considered the trichord to be the expression of
a musical idea, or in other words the religious ideology.
24

Regarding the presentation of row form in A Survivor From Warsaw, the
concluding prayer, Shema Yisrael is the most straightforward presentation of the tone row

24
Wlodarski, “’An Idea Can Never Perish,” 601.
61
on which the piece was composed.
25
The linear statement of the entire tone row in the
transformation P10 is first appears in the tenor and bass choral parts from mm. 80 to 86
as shown in Example 3.3. As stated previously that Schoenberg viewed the complete row
form as a compositional rule parallel to the Mosaic Law, it is remarkable for the
composer to combine the religious concept of Law with the Shema Yisrael, which is the
central creed of the Jewish faith proclaiming the belief in one God.
Example 3.3: Linear statement of P10 in Schoenberg’s A Survivor From Warsaw
(mm. 80-86)

P10: A# B E C G# G D F C# F# A D#

Another prominent religious thought that appears in Schoenberg’s compositions is
the idea of the holy as inconceivable.
26
According to White, the incomprehensibility of
God embodies the concepts of idea and its representation.
27
In a religious context,
conflicts do exist between the inexpressible God-idea and the possibility of revelation
through word and image.
28
An example of this ideology can be seen in Moses und Aron,

25
Camille Crittenden, “Text and Contexts of A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46,” in Political and
Religious Ideas in the Works of Arnold Schoenberg, ed. Charlotte Cross and Russell Berman (New York:
Garland Publishing, 2000), 245
26
White, Schoenberg and the god-idea, 85.
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid.
62
where Schoenberg dramatizes the conflict by outlining the predicament of Moses the
prophet, who grasps the essential inconceivability of God, but cannot communicate the
idea that supersedes language and words.
29
The same idea is also present in Op. 27 No. 2
Du Sollst Nicht and in the final speech of Der biblische Weg.
According to Richard Kurth, the opera Moses und Aron does not aim to depict
and manifest the ineffable or the Divine but to sound the limits of human
comprehension.
30
Schoenberg believed that it is crucial for composers to explore the limit
of human comprehensibility in order to stimulate listeners’ spiritual awareness.
31
In
Schoenberg’s understanding, God is somewhat comparable to an artwork in that its
abstract nature may not be fully comprehensible to everyone, yet the creator is willing to
reveal the underlying truth in his or her own way. Kurth stated that the twelve-tone idiom
of Moses und Aron is ideally suited for the exploration of religious ideology that involves
non-verbal thinking and perception because it is suspended at the boundary between
immanence ad transcendence.
32
The twelve-tone method of composing allows
Schoenberg to enact through aural experience the incomprehensibility of God without
communicating its abstract or intangible content.
Kurth’s analysis also features mm. 8-11, the first words of Moses that address the
Divine presence by listing God’s essential properties. It demonstrates the tension between
idea and its representation through musical experience that is corresponding to the
inconceivable property of God. As discussed previously in Example 3.1, Moses’ opening

29
Richard Kurth, “Immanence and Transcendence in Moses und Aron,” in The Cambridge
Companion to Schoenberg, ed. Jennifer Shaw and Joseph Auner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2010), 177.
30
Ibid, 182.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid., 186.
63
line is accompanied by the orchestral four-note block chords (tetrachords), which are
segments of the two row forms P10 and RI4. The six tetrachords involve four instruments
with the English horn playing the top notes, forming a six-note motive. According to
Kurth, it is an aurally prominent feature for the English horn to play the six-note motive,
which is a perceivable leitmotif appearing in the surrounding measures and throughout
the opera.
33
To further highlight the significant of the six-note leitmotif, Schoenberg
projected an interval palindrome, +1, -2, +6, -2, +1 merely for the English horn, creating
a figuration to reverse and suspend the flow of time (see Example 3.4).
34

Example 3.4: Interval palindrome of the English horn melody from mm. 8-11 of
Moses und Aron

The palindromic feature is not limited to the six-note leitmotif. The intervallic content of
the tetrachords also creates palindromes under the relevant inversion operation. As shown
in Example 3.5 with horizontal brackets, tetrachords 1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4 are
inversionally related, respectively.
35

33
Kurth, “Immanence and Transcendence in Moses und Aron,” 186-187.
34
Ibid., 187.
35
Ibid.
64
Example 3.5: Inversionally related tetrachords from mm. 8-11 of Moses und Aron. Data
from Richard Kurth, “Immanence and Transcendence in Moses und Aron,” in The
Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg, ed. Jennifer Shaw and Joseph Auner (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2010), 187.

While the palindrome feature seems to unify the music, on the other hand, Schoenberg
used other musical features to hinder the perception of the palindromes. For instance, the
English horn six-note motive is concealed in the dark and mysterious chords, which
contrast with the outstanding melody. Despite the inversional palindromes found in the
English horn part, the other instrumental lines are not palindromic individually. Last but
not least, the six-note motive is foreign to the two row forms that encompass the six
vertical tetrachords.
The palindromic design can be partially perceived, but not completely
comprehended. While the listeners are expecting more comprehensible horizontal
relationships, Schoenberg intends to weaken the horizontal connections. The English
horn motive may be able to draw the listeners’ attention to the palindromic melody, but
the timbre and dissonance of the chords otherwise obscure the full extent of the
palindrome. It probes the limits of perception and comprehension, which are comparable
to the revelation of the inconceivable God.
65
Kurth also suspected that Schoenberg’s use of tetrachords might refer to the
naming of God in way called Tetragrammaton, which is the Hebrew name of God
transliterated in four letters as YHWH or JHVH.
36
By omitting the vowels from the holy
name Yahweh or Jehovah, the sacred name of God is not represented graphically. This
idea echoes with Moses’ first line that God is omnipresent yet invisible and not
representable.
Conclusion
The musical examples discussed in this chapter revealed that Schoenberg’s
religious ideas are not only the subject matters or the source of artistic inspiration of his
compositions, but also the foundation for his musical constructions. As a Jewish
composer in the first half of the twentieth century, Schoenberg believed that he had a
prophetic responsibility to disclose his religious ideology to the audience through musical
means. From the organization of the tone rows to their ways of presentation, Schoenberg
intended to create a tight relationship between his spiritual thoughts and the technical
matters. By connecting the musical and extra-musical ideas, Schoenberg is able to convey
his spirituality and faith in a more tangible way. Despite the fact that the musical
representation of Schoenberg’s religious ideology is subtle and may not be generally
perceived by an audience, as a composer, Schoenberg successfully created a musical
experience that is consistent with his spirituality. His religious works challenge the
receptivity of the listeners to an extent that requires the understating of both of the
composer’s intellectual and spiritual mindset.
The two religious works discussed in the current chapter are vocal music with
text. They reveal that the expression of Schoenberg’s religious ideology is not limited to

36
Kurth, “Immanence and Transcendence in Moses und Aron,” 188.
66
a peripheral level of text painting. It is crucial for listeners or performers to consider both
the organization of tones as well as the meaning of the text in order to achieve a
comprehensive understanding of Schoenberg’s religious works.

67
CHAPTER IV
THE ANALYSIS OF OP. 50A

Schoenberg’s Dreimal tausend Jahre is four-part a cappella choral setting of Dagober
David Runes’ poem titled “Gottes Wiederkehr” (God’s Return). As the president of the
Philosophical Library of New York, Runes published “Gottes Wiederkehr” in a
collection of poetry with Jewish subjects entitled Jordan Lieder: Frühe Gedichte (Jordan
Songs: Early Poems) in 1948, the year that the state of Israel was proclaimed.
Schoenberg only did a very slight alteration on Runes’ text; however, the
composer created a new title—Dreimal tausend Jahre, which is taken from the first line
of the poem. The author assumes that Schoenberg chose to use a new title because he
wanted to save the main idea of the poem—God’s return—for the climax of the piece.
Without revealing the main idea in the title, the work appears to be more dramatic and
striking when it comes to the climax.
Musical Idea of Op. 50a
Dreimal tausend Jahre is Schoenberg’s late twelve-tone work. Like many of his
mature twelve-tone works, some characteristics such as hexachord inversional
combinatoriality and form articulated through hexachordal levels are prominent in the
Dreimal tausend Jahre.
1
As seen in the opening two measures, there is no doubt that the
six-note ‘melody’ in the soprano part plays an important role in the twenty-five-measure
choral piece. The soprano ‘melody’ in the second measure is the retrograde of the first
measure. It suggests that hexachord, instead of a twelve-tone row, is the basic idea of the

1
Walter Bailey, The Arnold Schoenberg Companion. (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1998),
157.
68
music. In the following paragraph, I will elucidate how Schoenberg uses a single
hexachordal idea to construct the two twelve-tone rows—P0 and I5—that are used
exclusively in the Dreimal tausend Jahre.
In “The Format and Function of Schoenberg’s Twelve-Tone Sketches,” Martha
Hyde reveals that in Schoenberg’s compositional sketches, the ordering of the first
hexachord (G-A-F#-E-F-B) is initially determined because order numbers 1 through 6
appear in sequence (see Example 4.1).
2
This author proposes this hexachord is the basic
idea of the Op. 50a.
Example 4.1: Transcription of Schoenberg’s compositional sketch of Op. 50a. Data from
Martha Hyde, “The Format and Function of Schoenberg’s Twelve-Tone Sketches,”
Journal of the American Musicological Society 36.3 (1983): 460.

Schoenberg then inverts and transposes the basic idea to obtain the first hexachord of the
second row form—I5. The first hexachords of both P0 and I5 combine to form
aggregates, which confirm the hexachord inversional combinatorial property of the two
rows. To determine the order of the second hexachords of P0 and I5, Schoenberg first
retains the dyads formed between the first hexachords of the two rows. As shown by
brackets A in Example 4.2, Schoenberg then reorders the dyads so that the hexachord
formed at positions 8, 9 and 10 is the transposition of the linear segment of P0 from

2
Martha Hyde, “The Format and Function of Schoenberg’s Twelve-Tone Sketches,” Journal of
the American Musicological Society 36.3 (1983): 458.
69
positions 2 to 7. Likewise, as shown by brackets B, the hexachord formed at positions 3,
4 and 5 is the transposition of the linear segment of P0 from positions 6 to 11.
Example 4.2: The relationship between the dyads and the linear basic set. Data from
Martha Hyde, “The Format and Function of Schoenberg’s Twelve-Tone Sketches,”
Journal of the American Musicological Society 36.3 (1983): 460.

We learned from Schoenberg’s sketches that the first hexachord of P0 is the origin of the
two twelve-tone rows that are used exclusively in the Dreimal tausend Jahre. The
hexachord—G-A-F#-E-F-B—acts like a primary idea, which Schoenberg used to generate
two complete twelve-tone rows. In the following section, the document will explore how
the composer presents the musical idea through the rows P0 and I5.
Presentation of Musical Idea
Schoenberg believed that the musical idea is the source of the totality of a musical
work.
3
The various forms of presentation of a musical idea allow it to carry out different
functions in a musical work. In the Dreimal tausend Jahre, Schoenberg presents his
musical idea by means of different partitioning of the twelve-tone rows. For ease of
reference, the first hexachord of P0 is named P0-H1, the second hexachord of P0 is
named P0-H2, the first hexachord of I5 is named I5-H1, and the second hexachord of I5
is named I5-H2 (see Example 4.3).

3
Brand and Hailey, Constructive Dissonance, 152.
70
Example 4.3: The hexachords of P0 and I5 in the op. 50a

Throughout the piece, the tone rows are presented as hexachords, trichords, and the
combination of tetrachords and dyads. For instance, in the opening two measures of the
music, P0-H1, P0-H2, I5-H2, and P0-H2 are presented at soprano, alto, tenor, and bass
parts respectively (see Example 4.4). In m. 2, the top three parts have the hexachords
presented as retrogrades, which suggest that hexachords are the building blocks of the
opening two measures.
Example 4.4: Mm. 1-2 of Dreimal tausend Jahre, op. 50a

71
Another form of presentation of the musical idea is based on trichordal
segmentation. There are three significant trichords that Schoenberg used to present his
ideas and all of them are derived from the primary row P0. Example 4.5 shows the
partitioning of the three trichords in the row P0. At positions 3 to 5, the pitches F#-E-F
form the set class (012). At position 7 to 9, another set class (024) is formed. Finally, at
position 10 to 12, the three pitches D%-E%-A% form the set class (027).
Example 4.5: The three significant trichords from P0 of Op. 50a

Based on the three set classes (012), (024), and (027), Schoenberg grouped together the
non-adjacent pitches from the twelve-tone row P0 and I5, forming trichords that share the
same set class but having different pitch class content. For instance, the three notes D, D%,
and E% from positions 8, 10, and 11 of P0 belong to the set class (012). Table 4.1
summarizes the three set classes and their equivalent pitch-class contents in rows P0 and
I5.

72
Table 4.1: The three set classes and their equivalent pitch-class contents in P0 and I5 of
Op. 50a

Set Class (012) (024) (027)
Position of
tone row
3,4,5 8,10,11 8,9,10 7,8,9 1,2,6 7,9,12 10,11,
12
7,11,
12
Pitch-class
content
(P0)
F#, E,
F
D, D%,
E%
D, C,
D%
B%, D,
C
G, A,
B
B%, C,
A%
D%, E%,
A%
B%,
E%, A%
Pitch-class
content (I5)
D%, E%,
D
F, F#, E F, G
F#
A, F,
G
C, B%,
G#
A, G,
B
F#, E,
B
A, E,
B

Schoenberg made use of the trichordal partitioning that are based on the type of set class.
He groups certain pitches together to form trichordal ‘harmonies’. For example, at mm.
5-6, the tenor part has the notes A%-C-B% from positions 12, 9, and 7 of P0. The three
pitches appear linearly to form the set class (024) (see Example 4.6). While in the bass
part, the notes E%-D%-D from positions 11, 10, and 8 of P0 form the set class (012).
Example 4.6: Mm. 5-6 of Op. 50a

Schoenberg not only presents the musical idea in hexachords and trichords, but
also presents it as a combination of tetrachord and dyad. At mm. 18-19, for instance, the
hexachord P0-H1 is segmented into a tetrachord G-A-F#-E and a dyad F-B. The
73
tetrachord appears as a linear melody in the soprano part at m. 18 and 19 while the dyad
is shared vertically by the alto and tenor voices on the downbeat of m. 19 (see example
4.7).
Example 4.7: The hexachord and dyad partitioning at mm. 18-19 of Op. 50a

Structure of Op. 50a
The presentation of musical idea is closely related to the structure of the music. In
Op. 50a, Schoenberg pairs the non-pitch elements with various forms of presentations of
the twelve-tone rows to outline the structure of the piece. In order to portray the meaning
of the text in a more effective way, Schoenberg’s choral setting retains the structure of
the original poem by Dagober David Runes. The three-part form in “Gottes Wiederkehr”
74
corresponds to Schoenberg’s three sections in Dreimal tausend Jahre. Table 4.2 outlines
the structure of the poem and the corresponding sections in Schoenberg’s piece.
Table 4.2: The text and the corresponding measures in Op. 50a
Section Text
[English Translation]
Measure
Number
1 Dreimal tausen Jahre seit ich dich gesehn,
Tempel in Jerusalem, Tempel meiner Wehn!

[Three times a thousand years passed since I saw you go,
Temple of Jerusalem, Temple of my woe!]
1-4
2 Und ihr Jordanwellen, silbern Wüstenband,
Gärten und Gelände grünen, neues Uferland.

[And you waves of Jordan, the desert’s silver band.
Gardens and broad meadows, richly spread across the shore land.]
5-12
3 Und man hört es klingen leise von den Bergen her,
Deine allverschollnen Lieder künden Gottes Wiederkehr.

[And one hears them sounding softly from the mountains there,
All your long-forgotten songs, announcing God’s return.]
13-25

The first section of the poem is a lamentation of the destruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem. The last phrase “Tempel meiner When!” (Temple of my woe!) reveals the
intimate relationship between the poet and the Temple. Such relationship highlights
Jerusalem is a symbol for the people of God. As described in Table 4.2, section one is
from measures 1 to 4. Schoenberg uses a polyphonic texture for the entire section.
Throughout section 1, each voice part has its own musical line, thus the four voices are
very independent to each other. There are only three occasions when all four parts are
singing the same text at the same time. They are ‘Drei’ on the downbeat of m. 1, ‘Tem’
on the downbeat of m. 3, and ‘Wehn’ at the end of m. 4 (see Example 4.8).

75
Example 4.8: Mm. 1-4 of Op. 50a.

The presentations of the twelve-tone rows reinforce the independence of the four
voices. The hexachords from P0 and I5 are presented linearly in each voice from mm. 1-
4. As mentioned previously in Example 4.4, in mm. 1-2, the soprano part presents P0-H1
and its retrograde; the alto part presents P0-H2 and its retrograde (with the Bb omitted to
avoid octave doubling); the tenor part presents I5-H2 and its retrogrades (with the B
omitted to avoid octave doubling); and the bass part first presents the outer two notes of
P0-H2 at measure one, followed by the complete presentation of P0-H2 at mm. 1-2. In
76
mm. 3-4, the pitch content reveals a greater emphasis on the row I5. The hexachord I5-
H1 and its retrograde appear in the soprano part, while the hexachord I5-H2 and its
retrograde appear in both alto and tenor parts. Merely in the bass part constitute the
pitches from P0B.
Another non-pitch element that Schoenberg uses to outline the structure is
rhythmic articulations. Rhythmic articulation refers to the final sounding rhythm that is
created by all four parts. In section one, the rhythmic articulations are fairly compact.
Example 4.9 outlines the rhythmic articulation from mm. 1 to 4. Except for the end of
mm. 2 and 4, the remaining portion of section one shows the four voices articulating the
consecutive eighth-note rhythm. The quarter note rhythm in mm. 2 and 4 marks the end
of the first and second phrase, respectively. As mentioned previously, section one is a
lamentation. The compact rhythmic articulation allows the choir to deliver the text in a
constant and steady manner, which creates an imagery of a group of people praying or
mourning.
Example 4.9: Rhythmic Articulation in section 1 (mm. 1-4) of Op. 50a

The second section is a nostalgic depiction of the natural landscape of Jerusalem.
It is a sentimental yearning for the return of God. Section two (mm. 5-12) begins with a
contrasting texture, distinct from the previous section. As shown in Example 4.10, the
lower two parts pair up and begin with the same rhythm on the first two beats of m. 5. To
77
contrast with the bottom two parts, each of the upper two parts has an individual melodic
line. At m. 5, the soprano and the alto parts enter at different times, creating a
contrapuntal texture.
Example 4.10: The first phrase of section 2 (mm. 5-6) of Op. 50a

To reinforce the texture, the row forms in section two not only appear linearly, but
are also presented harmonically. Example 4.11 shows that in mm. 5-8, the rows R0 and
RI5 form the ‘melodies’ of the upper two parts. The lower two parts work like a
harmonic support. At mm. 5-7, the pitches from P0 distribute evenly in the two male
parts, while at m. 8, the content of the lower three parts are taken from the first hexachord
of I5.

78
Example 4.11: The use of tone row at mm. 5-8 of Op. 50a

In mm. 10-12, the text “neues Uferland”(new shore land) is repeated for two
times. To further emphasize the text, Schoenberg sets the music in a homophonic texture
in the lower three parts from mm.10 to the downbeat of mm. 11. Schoenberg uses the
three types of set classes discussed previously. As shown in Example 4.12, each syllable
from the lower three parts form either the set class (024) or (027). Similar trichordal
segmentation also appears at mm. 11 to 12 on the text “neues Uferland”. This time the
79
set classes (027), (012), (012), and (024) appear linearly in the soprano, alto, tenor, and
bass parts, respectively.
Example 4.12: The trichordal set classes at mm. 10-12 of Op. 50a

Section two shows an obvious change of rhythmic articulation. Example 4.13
shows that the four voices together articulate a rhythm with both eighth notes and quarter
notes. The use of longer notes slows down the pace of the music and hence releases the
tension created in section one. According to the text, the central idea of section two is
nostalgia. The more relaxing rhythmic articulation generates a sense of broadness that
matches perfectly with the nostalgic scene in section two.

80
Example 4.13: Rhythmic Articulation in section 2 (mm. 5-12) of Op. 50a

The last section consists of the main idea of the poem: the return of God. It is
one’s aspiration for the re-establishment of the New Jerusalem. The texture becomes
more complex in section three (mm. 13-25). Similar to the opening of section two, the
four parts work in pairs in section three to create a polyphonic texture. In m. 13, the upper
two parts share the same dynamics, articulations, and rhythm, while the lower two parts
form a rhythmic canon. (See Example 4.14)
Example 4.14: M. 13 of Op. 50a

81
From the second half of m. 14 to m. 15, the soprano and alto parts form another pair of
rhythmic canon. At m. 15, the lower two parts continue in paired fashion by starting a
new rhythmic canon, which is one beat apart (see Example 4.15).
Example 4.15: Mm. 14-15 of Op. 50a

In mm. 18-19 the texture of the music has a dramatic change. Beginning at the last beat
of m. 17, the inner two parts, alto and tenor, work together, creating a homo-rhythmic
texture (see Example 4.16). This is the only occasion when the two parts are sounding
together for more than two measures. The homorhythm in the inner parts successfully
highlights the text ‘Gottes Wiederkehr’, which is the main idea of the piece.

82
Example 4.16: The homorhythmic texture of alto and tenor parts in mm. 18-19 of
Op. 50a

In Section three, the presentation of the twelve-tone row matches the texture and
the meaning of the text. As the major section that conveys the meaning of God’s return,
structurally, Schoenberg creates a ‘return’ of the first section. For example, in the lower
two parts of mm. 13-14, the use of retrograde appears again just like in section one. The
tenor part at m. 13 is the first hexachord of I5 and its retrograde comes immediately at m.
14. The bass part at mm.13-14 also shows a P0/R0 relationship as shown in Example 4.17.
Example 4.17: The lower two parts at mm. 13-14 of Op. 50a

83
The return of section one is also revealed in the melodic lines in the lower two
parts. To compare with section one, the bass melody in mm. 13-14 is equivalent to the
soprano melody in mm. 1-2. In mm. 13-14, the tenor melody is equivalent to the soprano
melody in mm. 3-4.
The most prominent spot of ‘return’ is mm. 18 and 19. As mentioned before, it is
the climax of the piece since the text ‘Gottes Wiederkehr’ (God’s return) first appeared at
m. 18. As shown in Example 4.18, the first hexachord of P0 (P0-H1) is partitioned into a
hexachord and a dyad at mm. 18 and 19. The same partitioning also appears at the lower
three parts at mm. 19-20, where the first hexachord of I5 is segmented into a tetrachord
that appears in the bass and a dyad that appears harmonically in the alto and tenor parts.
The repetition of the tetrachord G-A-F#-E in the soprano part further strengthen the sense
of return. The pitches of the tetrachord are exactly the same as the opening four notes of
the soprano part at m. 1. The tetrachords function like a recurring melody that can be
recognized by the audience.
Example 4.18: Hexachord/Dyad partitioning of P0-H1 and I5-H1 at mm. 18-20

84
Similar to its texture, the rhythmic articulation in section three is more complex. It
combines the characteristics of sections one and two. From m. 13 until the last half note
in m. 17, there is merely one pattern of rhythmic articulation: consecutive eighth notes.
The compact rhythmic articulation at the beginning of section three is clearly
distinguished from the previous section. The staccatos of the upper two parts at mm. 13-
14 and 15-16 further reinforce the eighth-note articulations, creating tension before the
climax at m. 18. The assertion of m. 18 as the climax is based on the reason that the key
words of the piece—‘Gottes Wiederkehr’—first appear at m. 18 in the inner two parts.
The sudden change of texture and rhythmic articulation at the end of m. 17 anticipates the
hope for ‘God’s return’ at m. 18. The rhythmic articulation at mm. 18 and 19 plays an
important role in emphasizing the words ‘Gottes’ and ‘Wieder’. As shown in Examples
4.19a and 4.19b, the dotted rhythm at mm. 18 and 19 falls on the word ‘Wieder’ or
‘Gottes’ in the upper three parts.
Example 4.19a: Rhythmic articulation at mm. 18-19 of Op. 50a

85
Example 4.19b: Mm. 18-19 of Op. 50a

Another non-pitch element that Schoenberg used to highlight the climax is the
meter. Schoenberg notated the meter ¥√ =´≈ at measure one and places it outside the staff.
The marking implies that the two distinct meters may appear irregularly throughout the
music. Although the note value of ¥√ and ´≈ are the same, each has different rhythmic
stress. ¥√ forms a compound duple time while ´≈ forms a simple triple time. Therefore, ´≈
creates a more compact rhythmic stress in a measure than ¥√. . In Dreimal tausend Jahre, m.
18 is the only instance when Schoenberg exceptionally uses ´≈ in all sounding parts. The
rhythmic stresses work nicely with the text, creating emphases on the syllables ‘Got’,
‘Wie’ and ‘kehr’ (see Example 4.20).

86
Example 4.20: The ´≈ meter in m. 18 of Op. 50a

Religious Meaning of Op. 50a
Since Op. 50a is a setting of a poem for a four-part chorus, the text itself gives the
audience a general understanding of the piece. However, in the discussion of text-music
relationship, Schoenberg asserts that the word only expresses the surface of the thought.
4

The composer believes that poetry and music are two different forms of art. The former is
bound to a subject matter but music can function purely and independently.
5
For music
composed to poetry, the music itself is a re-creation of the material-subject that bounded
to the poetry.
6
Therefore, the composer has the freedom to transform the outward
meaning offered by the text and creates a new personal relationship with the subject.
Dreimal tausend Jahre was composed to commemorate the establishment of the new
state of Israel, an event that occurred in May 1948. Due to the composer’s return to

4
Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 1.
5
Ibid., 3.
6
Ibid.
87
Judaism in 1933 and his preoccupation on religious subjects in his final compositions, it
is believed that the Dreimal tausend Jahre must involve deeper examination into
Schoenberg’s faith and his identity as a Jew.
Schoenberg is very sensitive to numbers not only because of his endeavor to
compose with the twelve-tone method, but also superstition. Schoenberg’s fear of the
number 13 is quite obvious. Since he was born on the 13
th
of September, he believed that
he bore the mark of that fateful number.
7
The number 13 haunted him in numerous ways
throughout his life. For example, he dreaded his sixty-fifth birthday in 1939 because his
age was a multiple of 13.
8
During the compositional process, his sensitively to 13 never
ceased. Example 4.21 shows that in the manuscript of Dreimal tausend Jahre,
Schoenberg’s numbering of the measures skip 13 entirely, using the sequence 12, 12a,
and 14.
9
Moreover, Schoenberg ends the Dreimal tausend Jahre at measure 25, omitting
the last two notes of the row P0 at the bass part. This omission may imply that the
composer intends to end the music earlier in order to avoid measure 26, which is a
multiple of 13.

7
Colin Sterne, Arnold Schoenberg, the Composer as Numberologist (New York: The Edwin
Mellen Press, 1993), 1.
8
Ibid., 2.
9
Ibid.
88
Example 4.21: The manuscript of Dreimal tausend Jahre from mm. 10-15.
(Manuscript by Arnold Schoenberg, Dreimal tausend Jahre, April 20, 1949,
Arnold Schönberg Center,
http://archive.schoenberg.at/compositions/werke_einzelansicht.php?werke_id=30
2&herkunft=allewerke.)

Schoenberg’s obsession with numbers not only applies to 13, but also to other
numbers that have specific religious meaning. In Arnold Schoenberg—The Composer as
Jew, Alexander Ringer claims that the number six occupies a very special place in the
creative world of Schoenberg.
10
Although the number six has relatively little symbolic
meaning in the Bible, it seems to have been a favored number because it is half of the so-
called good number, twelve.
11
One of the most prominent symbolic meanings of the
number six in Jewish life is the creation of God in six days.
12
Coincidentally, Schoenberg
opened his 1941 lecture at UCLA describing his twelve-tone method with a reference to

10
Ringer, Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer as Jew, 181.
11
Ronald Isaacs, The Jewish Book of Numbers (New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 1996), 59.
12
Ibid., 62.
89
God’s creation in the book of Genesis.
13
He significantly pointed out the relationship
between human creativity and the divine creation act.
14
It is possible that Schoenberg
used the number six to connect his twelve-tone compositional technique with divine
creation.
By looking into the relationship with the number six in the Dreimal tausend
Jahre, it is noticeable that Schoenberg uses hexachords pervasively to construct the
music. As mentioned before, throughout the piece, the tone rows are presented as
hexachords, trichords, and the combination of tetrachords and dyads. All three ways of
presentation are hexachordally related because two trichords combine to form a
hexachord (3+3=6) and one tetrachord and one dyad combine to form a hexachord
(4+2=6).
The relationship with number six also revels in the structure of the Dreimal
tausend Jahre. As mentioned earlier in the current chapter, the entire work can be divided
into three sections and all three sections are different in length: section one is four
measures long, section two is eight measures long, and section three is thirteen measures
long. The ratio of section one to section two to section three is approximately 1: 2: 3.
When adding the three portions (1+2+3), the total number of portions in the entire piece
is six.
Another number that Schoenberg used to portray specific religious meaning in the
Dreimal tausend Jahre is eighteen. The number eighteen has a very significant symbolic
meaning in the Jewish culture. It is universally synonymous with the Hebrew word

13
Victoria Adamenko, Neo-Mythologism in Music (New York: Pendragon Press, 2007), 174.
14
Adamenko, Neo-Mythologism in Music, 174.
90
“chai”, which means ‘life’ or ‘alive’.
15
“Chai” comprises the letter ‘chet’ and ‘yud’.
According to the Gematria, a Jewish mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value
to each Hebrew letter, the Chet has a value of 8 and the Yud has a value of 10, adding up
to the number 18.
16

In Op. 50a, m. 18 is the most significant measure of the piece. As mentioned
previously, it is the climax of the piece since the text ‘Gottes Wiederkehr’ (God’s return)
is first appears in m. 18. Moreover, m.18 contains all three types of presentation of the
twelve-tone row. As shown in Example 4.22, the alto and tenor parts combine to form the
second hexachord (P0-H2) of the prime row. To look at the alto and tenor parts
individually, each of them form the trichords (027) and (012), respectively. The soprano
‘melody’ forms the tetrachord, which is the first four notes of the row P0.
Example 4.22: The presentation of P0 at m. 18 of Op. 50a

Another significant feature in m. 18 is the vertical harmony on the downbeat. Including
the second note—A in the soprano part, the harmony consists of four notes: G, A, B%, and

15
Jorge Isaac Casariego, “Chai, Its Meaning and Significance,” shiva.com, accessed May 5, 2020,
https://www.shiva.com/learning-center/commemorate/chai/.
16
Ibid.
91
D. The same four pitch classes first appear on the downbeat of m.1 on the syllable ‘Drei’.
Example 4.23 shows the comparison between m. 1 and m. 18. The G-A-B%-D harmony is
not a random combination of pitches. The origin of the harmony comes from the first two
pitches of P0-H1 and P0-H2. As shown in Example 4.24, stacking the two hexachords
results in a tetrachord (G-A-B%-D) at positions one and two.
Example 4.23: The comparison of m. 1 and m. 18 of the op. 50a

Example 4.24: The origin of the G-A-Bb-D harmony
Position 1 2 3 4 5 6
P0-H1 G A F# E F B
P0-H2 B% D C D% E% A%

Last but not least, there is a dominant 7
th
chord (G-B-F) on the last beat of m. 17, which
precedes the arrival of measure 18. It is very unusual for Schoenberg to use such a tonal
sonority in a twelve-tone medium. It suggests that the composer uses the dominant 7
th

chord intentionally to draw the listeners’ attention. His aim is to highlight the central idea
92
of the piece—God’s return—at m. 18. In summary, the symbolic meanings of the
numbers originate from Jewish culture. There is a strong implication that Schoenberg’s
faith is rooted in his identity as a Jew. The number eighteen has the symbolic meaning of
‘coming alive’ and the ‘life’ is coming from the symbolic meaning of number six: God’s
creation. The text at m. 18 is very important. It combines with other significant features
of the twelve-tone work to portray the central idea of the piece.
Conclusion
Musical idea in Schoenberg’s twelve-tone work often considered as technical or
intellectual. The current study reveals that Schoenberg’s twelve-tone work is capable of
showing coordination between musical and extra musical parameters, such as the
composer’s Jewish belief and his identity as a Jew.
Schoenberg incorporates his religious belief in the Dreimal tausend Jahre through
number symbolism. The numbers, however, are not working alone. They coordinate with
the musical idea—the first hexachord of P0 and its various forms of presentation to
portray the intrinsic value of the music. The text and other musical parameters, such as
texture and rhythmic articulation also play important roles throughout the process. They
further consolidate the connection between the musical and extra-musical ideas.
93
CHAPTER V
THE ANALYSIS OF OP. 50B

Arnold Schoenberg began to compose his last completed work, De Profundis, op. 50b, on
June 20, 1950. The composer finished the work in only twelve days on July 2. He started
to work on his last unfinished work, the Modern Psalm, Op. 50c, immediately after he
completed the De Profundis. It was around this time that Schoenberg decided to group
his last three religious choral works—Dreimal Tausend Jahre, De Profundis, and Modern
Psalm—into a single opus, Op. 50. Unfortunately, Schoenberg died in the summer in
1951 and left the Modern Psalm unfinished.
The Los Angeles based Polish conductor and composer Chemjo Vinaver
commissioned De Profundis, Op. 50b.
1
His purpose was to seek a new piece by
Schoenberg for an anthology of Jewish liturgical music. Schoenberg was greatly
impacted by the founding of the State of Israel and intended to dedicate the De Profundis
to the country of his Jewish origin. The De Profundis is somewhat inspired by Hassidic
songs due to the fact that Vinaver had suggested Schoenberg to incorporate authentic
Hassidic melodies in his setting similar to the earlier choral work Kol Nidre.
2
Instead of
quoting Hassidic melodies directly, Schoenberg chose to retain the flavor of Hassidic
song by seeing his music as a form of contemplation into the spirit that seeks to achieve
communion with God.

1
Willi Reich, Schoenberg: a critical biography (New York: Praeger, 1971), 230.
2
Ibid.
94
In contrast with Op. 50a, in which Schoenberg highlighted the idea of the return
of God with anticipation, Op. 50b is rather turbulent and anguished.
3
Schoenberg’s De
Profundis is a Hebrew setting of Psalm 130, where the first line translates as ‘Out of the
depths have I cried to thee, O Lord.’ The central theme of this six-part a capella choral
piece is the upward striving towards God to plead for forgiveness.
4
One of the significant
features of Op. 50b is the musical tension between the sounds of singing and speaking.
5

Malcolm MacDonald describes the effect as “intensely dramatic, like the confused
response of a congregation, or giving the effect of a multitude of individual souls crying
from the depths by whatever means of expression each can command.”
6
In order to
capture the expressionistic character of the piece, it is vital to have a deeper
understanding of the origin of the text—Psalm 130.
The Background Information of Psalm 130
Psalm 130 is a traditional Hebrew psalm originally intended for religious
pilgrimage. It depicts the spiritual journey of a pilgrim from individual anguish to
national redemption.
7
Despite the unknown authorship of the psalm, ancient Jewish
history suggests that it was written shortly after the time of the Babylonian captivity—the
long exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah from Jerusalem in the late 7
th

century BCE.
8
The De Profundis is one of the fifteen psalms that begin with the
descriptive line “Songs of Ascents,” indicating that this is pilgrim psalm of the exiled
Jews who went up from captivity to the holy city of Jerusalem to worship God. The

3
MacDonald, Schoenberg, 174.
4
Ibid.
5
Mark Shapiro, “Research Report: ‘Every-Day Music’: The Tonal Sketch to Arnold Schoenberg’s
‘De Profundis,’” The Choral journal 45, no. 4 (November 1, 2004): 28.
6
MacDonald, Schoenberg, 174.
7
Ibid.
8
Ron Jeffers, Translation and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume I: Sacred Latin Texts
(Corvallis, OR: Earthsongs, 1988), 115.
95
Songs of Ascents are pilgrim odes of those who once again lift their eyes unto the
mountains, and hope for the Lord’s redemption.
De Profundis is the sixth of the seven Penitential Psalms, so called because they
express sorrow for sin and desire for pardon. History reveals that penitents have used it in
liturgies since the sixth century.
9
The medieval Pope Innocent III, for instance ordered
the recitation of De Profundis during Lent. Later in the sixteenth century, Pope Pius V
fixed the Fridays in Lent after Lauds as the time they should recite the De Profundis. The
psalm continued to be a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant liturgies
throughout the history. In the Roman Catholic Church, it was traditionally sung on every
Wednesday at Vespers.
10
In contrast, in the Jewish liturgy, Psalm 130 is inserted into the
fast days and during the ten days of repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.
11

Despite the fact that Schoenberg set the Psalm in Hebrew, he retained the Latin title—De
Profundis, which implies that the composer may have been aware of the widely liturgical
use of Psalm 130 in different religious settings.
Psalm 130 consists of eight verses and can be divided into three sections
according to the meaning of the text. Section one is from verses one to four, in which the
psalmist professes his hope through prayer. Section two is from verses five to six,
depicting the pilgrim’s patience in hope. The last section is the last two verses in which
the pilgrim exhorts Israel to trust in God. Table 5.1 shows the tripartite structure of the
psalm, the Hebrew text, and its English translation.

9
Jeffers, Translation and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume I, 115.
10
Ibid.
11
“The Ten Days of Repentance: The Aseret Yemay Teshuvah,” Chabad.org, Chabad-Lubavitch
Media Center, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1620809/jewish/The-Ten-Days-of-
Repentance-The-Aseret-Yemay-Teshuvah.htm
96
Table 5.1: The Three-part Structure of Psalm 130
12

Section Verse Hebrew English Translation
1 1 Shir hama'alot mima'amakim
keraticha adonai
A song for Ascents.
From the depths I have called
You, O Lord.
2 Adonai shimah vekoli tiyena
oznecha kashuvot lekol tachanunai
Lord, listen to my voice; let
Your ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplications.
3 Im avonot tishmor ya Adonai mi
yaamod
If You, God, would mark sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 Ki imcha haslicha lemaan tivare For with You there is
forgiveness, such that You may
be feared.
2 5 kiviti Adonai kivta nafshi velidvaro
hochalti
I wait for the Lord; my soul
waits, and I hope in His word.
6 Nafshi l’ Adonai mishomrim
laboker shomrim laboker
My soul waits for the Lord, more
than watchmen wait for the
morning; Indeed, more than
watchmen wait for the morning.

3 7 Yachel yisrael el adonai ki im
adonai hachesed veharbeh imo
fedut
Israel, hope in the Lord, for with
the Lord there is mercy and with
Him is plentiful redemption.
8 Vehu yifdeh et yisrael mikol
avonotav.
And He will redeem Israel from
all its sins.

12
English translations taken from Ethan Nash and Joshua Jacobson, Translations and Annotations
of Choral Repertoire Volume IV: Hebrew Texts (Corvallis, OR: Earthsongs, 2009), 126-27.
97
Structure of Schoenberg’s Setting of Psalm 130
As described by Couvillon in his dissertation entitled “Text and Structure in
Schoenberg’s Op. 50”, he views Psalm 130 as four two-line strophes.
13
The four-part
division is similar to the structure listed in Table 5.1, but has the first section subdivided
equally into two parts. Each of the four strophes bears a contrasting theme that highlights
the change of mood of the pilgrim. Table 5.2 summarizes the four-part division with the
corresponding themes: supplication, unworthiness, waiting, and redemption.
14

Table 5.2: The Four-part subdivision of Psalm 130
Section Verse Theme English Translation
1 1 Supplication A song for Ascents.
From the depths I have called
You, O Lord.
2 Lord, listen to my voice; let
Your ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplications.
2 3 Unworthiness If You, God, would mark sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 For with You there is
forgiveness, such that You may
be feared.
3 5 Waiting I wait for the Lord; my soul
waits, and I hope in His word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord, more
than watchmen wait for the
morning; Indeed, more than
watchmen wait for the morning.
4 7 Redemption Israel, hope in the Lord, for with
the Lord there is mercy and with
Him is plentiful redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel from
all its sins.

13
Thomas Couvillon, “Text and Structure in Schoenberg's Op. 50, and an Original Composition,
Symphony #1” (PhD diss., Louisiana State University, 2002), 41. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
14
Ibid.
98
Schoenberg’s setting of Psalm 130 generally follows the structure shown in
Tables 5.1 and 5.2. It embodies the spiritual journey of the pilgrim from despair to
salvation.
15
Table 5.3 summarizes the structure of Schoenberg’s setting of the De
Profundis.
Table 5.3: The Structure of Schoenberg’s Setting of the De Profundis
Sectio
n
Verse Measure No. No. of Measures English Translation
1 1 1-6 6 A song for Ascents.
From the depths I have called
You, O Lord.
2 7-12 6 Lord, listen to my voice; let
Your ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplications.
2 3 13-17 5 If You, God, would mark sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 18-22 5 For with You there is
forgiveness, such that You
may be feared.
3 5 23-29 7 I wait for the Lord; my soul
waits, and I hope in His word.
6 30-33 4 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen wait for
the morning; Indeed, more
than watchmen wait for the
morning.
4 7 34-41 8 Israel, hope in the Lord, for
with the Lord there is mercy
and with Him is plentiful
redemption.
8 42-55 14 And He will redeem Israel
from all its sins.

15
Couvillon, “Text and Structure in Schoenberg's Op. 50,” 42.
99
As shown in Table 5.3, the bold line between sections two and three indicates that
Schoenberg might separate the first four verses from the rest of the psalm, dividing the
psalm into two halves: mm. 1-22 mark the first half, and mm. 23-55 mark the second half.
The first half, mm. 1-22, shows a symmetrical phrase structure: verse 1 and 2 are equal in
length, where both phrases are six measures long. Verses 3 and 4 are also equal in length
and each of them is five measures long. The neat and regular phrase structure of the first
four verses contrasts with the irregular phrase structure of the second half of the psalm
and clearly divides the entire psalm into two large sections. Another evidence that
supports the two-part division comes from the change of tempo. In mm. 1-22, the tempo
of the music is gradually getting slower from q=56 to q=54 and finally to q=52. The
change of tempo takes place at the beginning of verse two and four at m. 7 and m. 18,
respectively. Examples 5.1a and 5.1b show the tempo marking at mm. 7 and 18.
Example 5.1a. Tempo change at m. 7 of Op. 50b

100
Example 5.1b. Tempo change at m. 18 of Op. 50b

The tempo reverts to the opening tempo (q=56 ) at m. 23, which marks the boundary
between the first and the second halves of the piece.
Chiastic Pattern
While the above discussion pertinent to the structure of Schoenberg’s setting
looks clear and comprehensible from a musical point of view, to have a comprehensive
understanding of the text, one should also take into account the structure of the psalm
from biblical and poetic perspectives. As poetry, the Psalm expresses its theme and
message not only through the straightforward use of words but also through the artistic
devices of form and structure.
16
Due to the prominent four-part structure of the Psalm as
listed above in Table 4.2, some inconspicuous structural features are easily overlooked.
According to Lee Roy Martin, Psalm 130 contains a chiastic pattern in which the various

16
Lee Roy Martin, “Lament and Hope in Psalm 130,” Pharos Journal of Theology 100 (January
2019), 1.
101
parts mirror each other.
17
The term ‘chiastic’ is derived from the ancient Greek word
‘chiasmus’ (or chiasm in Latin), which means ‘a placing crosswise.’
18
Such meaning
comes from the Greek letter chi that looks like English alphabet X.
19
The word ‘chiastic’
can be used to “describe a verse, a paragraph, or even a book, which exhibits the property
of introverted parallelism.”
20
From the Greek meaning ‘crosswise’, the rhetorical term
chiasmus is commonly viewed as a description of textual construction that simply
involves the repetition of words or elements in reverse order. Until the late nineteenth
century, some scholars began to see chiasmus as more than a local decorative literary
effect, which merely represents a sense of rhetorical playfulness or a lively figure.
21
It is
noteworthy that the crosswise arrangement is not limited to visible formal structure, but
also extends to semantic content that may represent certain underlying concepts.
Chiasm in the Bible
Chiasmus is a literary device that is commonly found in ancient Hebrew literature
including the Bible. In biblical studies, chiasmus has received a good deal of attention.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Bible, chiasmus is found in the psalms from
the Old Testament.
22
While in the New Testament, chiasmus is commonly used by Paul
in his epistles. For example, in Roman 10: 9-10, and in 1 Corinthians 15: 12-13, chiasmus

17
Martin, “Lament and Hope in Psalm 130,” 3.
18
Boris Wiseman and Anthony Paul, Chiasmus and Culture (New York: Berghahn Books, 2014),
23.
19
Robert L. Alden, “Chiastic Psalms (III): A Study In the Mechanics of Semitic Poetry In Psalms
101-150,” Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society 21, no. 3 (September 1978), 199.
20
Ibid.
21
Wiseman and Paul, Chiasmus and Culture, 1.
22
W. R. F. Browning, "Chiasmus" in A Dictionary of the Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2009),
www.oxfordreference.com.library.metmuseum.org/view/10.1093/acref/9780199543984.001.0001/acref-
9780199543984>.
102
appears in phrases to designate the inversion of the order of words, which follow
subsequently in the material.
23
The Bible also includes some large-scale chiastic or concentric structuring of text.
In the gospels, for instance, the form of the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew chapters
five to seven is chiastic, highlighting the Lord’s Prayer at the center of the sermon.
24
In
biblical context, chiasmus is helpful for identifying the purpose or the climax of the
chiastic unit. It is believed that the use of chiasmus is usually linked to broader cultural,
historical and anthropological considerations instead of serving for structural purpose
only. In ancient Israel, a majority of poetry or songs of celebration were circulated
amongst groups and tribes.
25
Due to the common practices of oral transmission of
traditions or knowledge, one may account for the uses of chiasmus in the Bible as a
mnemonic device.
Chiasm in Psalm
The Old Testament scholar Robert L. Alden noted that many of the psalms were
written consciously or unconsciously in chiastic pattern.
26
Structural chiasmus is a type of
parallelism that is commonly found in Hebrew literature. Robert Lowth identified three
different kinds of Hebrew parallelism, namely, synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic.
27

Chiasmus belongs to the first type—synonymous, in which the same sentiment is

23
W. R. F. Browning, "Chiasmus" in A Dictionary of the Bible (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2009),
www.oxfordreference.com.library.metmuseum.org/view/10.1093/acref/9780199543984.001.0001/acref-
9780199543984>.
24
Ulrich Luz, “Matthew 1-7,” in Hermeneia: A Critical And Historical Commentary On The
Bible, ed. Frank Cross and Helmut Koester (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002).
25
W. R. F. Browning, "Oral tradition" in A Dictionary of the Bible (Oxford University Press,
2009), https://www-oxfordreference-
com.libproxy2.usc.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199543984.001.0001/acref-9780199543984-e-1382.
26
Alden, “Chiastic Psalms (III),” 210.
27
Nils Lund, “Chiasmus in the Psalms,” The American journal of Semitic languages and
literatures 49, no. 4 (July 1, 1933): 282.
103
repeated in different, but equivalent terms.
28
Such definition of synonymous parallelism
is crucial in identifying the structure of a psalm because the chiastic patterns are often
appear as a unit through coherent ideas instead of literal repetition of words. For example,
in Psalm 1, the psalmist portrays the chiastic structure through the general contrast
between righteous and the wicked. Although the opening words, “Blessed is the man,” do
not find their counterpart anywhere within the first Psalm, the opening strophe describes
the ideal of the righteous man, which echoes with the ending of the wicked in the
concluding strophe. The righteous and the wicked are also contrasted by their parables of
being prosperous and unsuccessful in verses three and five, respectively. At the center of
the Psalm, the contrast is maintained in two general statements: “And whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. Not so the wicked.” Example 5.2 summarizes the chiastic structure of
Psalm 1, where A and A’, B and B’, C and C’ are the three chiastic pairs.

28
Lund, “Chiasmus in the Psalms,” 282.
104
Example 5.2: Chiastic structure of Psalm 1. Data from Nils Lund, “Chiasmus in the
Psalms,” The American journal of Semitic languages and literatures 49, no. 4 (July 1,
1933): 294.

Verse

Chiasm in Psalm 130
As a whole, Psalm 130 is not chiastic. In the article “Lament and Hope in Psalm
130,” Martin argued that the chiastic structure of Psalm 130 is imbedded in verses 3 to
8.
29
He observed the repetition of the two key words—hope and sins, which signify the
parallelism between the corresponding verses. More importantly, Martin identifies three
textual themes in verses 3 to 8 as iniquity, grace, and expectation. Based on the three
themes, Martin stated that “the outer elements of the chiasm point to the work of Yahweh
in forgiving iniquity, and the center of the chiasm highlights the role of the supplicant to

29
Martin, “Lament and Hope in Psalm 130,” 3.
105
wait for Yahweh and hope for an answer.”
30
Example 5.3 summarizes the chiastic
structure of Psalm 130 as proposed by Martin:
Example 5.3: Chiastic structure of Psalm 130
A Sin - If You, God, would mark sins...(v. 3)
B Grace - For with You there is forgiveness, (v. 4)
C Expectation - I wait for the Lord, and … I hope… (vv. 5 and 6)
C′ Expectation - Israel, hope in the Lord; (v. 7)
B′ Grace - …with Him is plentiful redemption. (v. 7)
A′ Sin - He will redeem Israel from all its sins. (v. 8)

To understand the chiastic structure in a way that is more relevant to
Schoenberg’s setting, the current analysis uses an approach that is slightly different from
Martin’s interpretation. As shown in Table 5.4, the identification of the chiastic elements
is based on the repetition of the exact same word or different words that share similar
meaning. For instance, the word ‘avonot’ (sins) that appears in both verses 3 and 8 forms
a chiastic pair. However, in verses 4 and 7, the words ‘haslicha’ (forgiveness),
‘hachesed’ (mercy), and ‘fedut’ (redemption) are all pointing towards God’s attribute of
omnibenevolence, thus creating coherence with each other. Finally, in verses 5 and 6,
which is the center of the chiastic structure, the word ‘hochalti’ (I awaited) first appears
at verse 5. In spite of the lack of a specific word that has a literal meaning of ‘wait’ in
verse 6, the English translation implies that verse 6 does carry the meaning of ‘await’
between the words ‘nafshi’ (my soul) and ‘l’Adonai’ (the Lord). Thus, verses 5 and 6 still
form a chiastic pair that is based on the repetition of the meaning of ‘wait’. The

30
Martin, “Lament and Hope in Psalm 130,” 3.
106
interpretation in Table 5.4 is more relevant to the current discussion because it
demonstrates a verse-by-verse mirroring pattern. In Schoenberg’s setting, most of the
individual verses are separated with rests, which suggests that the composer considers
each verse as an individual unit.
Table 5.4: A verse-by-verse Chiastic pattern in Psalm 130 (verses 3-8)
Chiastic
Section
Verse Hebrew English Translation
A 3 Im avonot tishmor ya adonai mi
yaamod
If You, God, would mark sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
B 4 Ki imcha haslicha lemaan tivare For with You there is
forgiveness, such that You
may be feared.
C 5 kiviti adonai kivta nafshi velidvaro
hochalti
I wait for the Lord; my soul
waits, and I hope in His word.
C’ 6 Nafshi ladonai mishomrim laboker
shomrim laboker
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen wait for
the morning; Indeed, more
than watchmen wait for the
morning.
B’ 7 Yachel yisrael el adonai ki im
adonai hachesed veharbeh imo
fedut
Israel, hope in the Lord, for
with the Lord there is mercy
and with Him is plentiful
redemption.
A’ 8 Vehu yifdeh et yisrael mikol
avonotav.
And He will redeem Israel
from all its sins.

107
Chiastic Pattern and the Expression of Schoenberg’s Religious Thoughts in Op. 50b

There are two recent scholarly works that touch upon the religious issues in
Schoenberg’s De Profundis. They are Thomas Couvillon’s dissertation “Text and
Structure in Schoenberg’s Op. 50” and Mary-Hannah Klontz’s dissertation “The Heart
and Mind of Arnold Schoenberg’s De Profundis Op. 50b.” Despite the fact that each of
them have different focuses on non-religious topics, some of the discussions are closely
related to Schoenberg’s expressions of religious thinking through musical means.
Couvillon argued that Schoenberg used contrasting musical elements, such as dynamics,
texture, and the use of major third and tritone dyads to signify the contrasting ideas of
God’s forgiveness and humankind’s sinfulness. For instance, Couvillon noted, “the D¯/F
dyad has been repeatedly used to set the word ‘Adonai’ (Lord), and has also been
associated with the concepts of hopefulness and prayer. The A/E¯ (in German notation
A/S) dyad, which is well known as a musical cipher for Schoenberg’s name, seems in this
piece to be symbolic of Schoenberg as psalmist and, in a larger sense, of humanity.”
31

Couvillon also addressed that Schoenberg used consonant sonorities and areas of pitch
emphasis to symbolize the religious ideas of hope and prayer. He suggested that the
major third dyads that are embedded in the tone rows are often stated as vertical
sonorities to emphasize the forgiveness of God. Couvillon’s dissertation tends to focus
more on the investigation of how Schoenberg used corresponding musical means to
portray the meaning of the text. Such analyses are useful for the readers to understand the
text-music relationship of Schoenberg’s De Profundis. However, the discussions included
in the dissertation are not adequate to reveal Schoenberg’s personal spirituality and faith.

31
Couvillon, “Text and Structure in Schoenberg's Op. 50,” 58.
108
The other dissertation by Mary-Hannah Klontz is mainly focused on
Schoenberg’s emotional and intellectual connection to the De Profundis.
32
It also served
as a guide for people to understand, prepare, and perform the work. In comparison with
Couvillon’s dissertation, Klontz is concerned more with the expressions of Schoenberg’s
personal spirituality and faith in Op. 50b. One significant topic of discussion is related to
the symbolic interpretation of religious ideas through numerology. Klontz suggested that
Schoenberg has a strong belief in the divine nature of numerical relationships. A large
portion of her analysis is devoted to the explanation of the numerical meaning that
possibly Schoenberg consciously or subconsciously hid in the work. For example, Klontz
believed that the elapsed time of the work has potential numerical and religious
symbolism. Therefore, the metronome marks that are specified on the score should be
observed carefully. Although it is insightful to understand Schoenberg’s De Profundis
from a numerological perspective, Klontz’s observations are too subtle to perceive. One
may encounter difficulties to understand the numerical relationship without any
background knowledge of numerology. Moreover, despite its close connection with
Schoenberg’s mystical belief, numerology is not directly related to the biblical meaning
of the work. Thus, it provides little information on Schoenberg’s interpretation of the
work from a religious perspective.
In comparing the two dissertations that mentioned above, the current study
intends to relate the syntax of the biblical text with Schoenberg’s musical construction.
The major argument is that Schoenberg is aware of the chiastic form of Psalm 130 and he
aims to imitate the structure of the Psalm in his musical setting. There are two possible

32
Mary-Hannah Klontz, “The Heart and Mind of Arnold Schoenberg’s De Profundis Op. 50b,”
(PhD diss., George Mason University, 2015), 2, ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global.
109
accounts regarding to Schoenberg’s awareness of the chiastic pattern. Firstly, from the
use of Hebrew text to the subtle chiastic structure, it is likely that the biblical origin of the
text is an issue of major concern to Schoenberg. His faithfulness to the Hebrew bible may
be his motivation to incorporate the biblical syntax of chiasmus into his twelve-tone
setting. Secondly, Schoenberg’s approach of formal design aligns with the function of
structural chiasmus in Psalm 130. Schoenberg believed that the goal of musical form is to
convey musical or even extra musical ideas in a comprehensible way. In the realm of
literature or poetry, chiastic structure shares the same approach to enhance the
comprehensibility of certain ideas. Chiastic form is effective to elucidate the poet’s
central concern. Moreover, the chiastic repetition of key words always gives insight into
the structure and meaning of Hebrew poetic passages.
33
It also provides emphatic
function for the writer to highlight the parallel word pairs, which are helpful in unifying
the Psalm. The following discussions will focus on the correlation between the biblical
structure of Psalm 130 and the structure of Schoenberg’s setting. The goal is to examine
how Schoenberg uses the compositional principle of developing variations to create a
musical structure that matches with the chiastic pattern of the Psalm.
As stated by John Covach, “Schoenberg tends to value thematic relationships that
reside beneath the surface of a work and to appreciate these all the more for their hidden
quality.”
34
Such subtle yet profound relationships are somewhat comparable to the
chiastic structure of a poem. According to Anthony Paul and Boris Wiseman, “chiasmus
is a thread, generally hidden from view but at a moment emerging as an explicit

33
Anthony Ceresko, “Function of Chiasmus in Hebrew Poetry,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
40, no. 1 (January 1978): 1.
34
Covach, “Schoenberg’s Artistic Theology, “ 253.
110
conceptualization.”
35
In Schoenberg’s setting of Psalm 130, the chiastic pattern is more or
less a subtle realization of the principle of developing variations. Although the chiastic
structure may not be easily perceived by a general audience, the organization of the
music materials and its meaning behind is a showcase of Schoenberg’s mature
compositional technique and his understanding of the biblical text.
Chiastic Structure and Schoenberg’s Developing Variation
When juxtaposing structural chiasmus with Schoenberg’s compositional principle
of developing variations, it is crucial to note that chiasmus is not only a pattern or a
structure, but also a process of change. Chiastic pattern is commonly expressed with an
alphabetical ‘formula’ to highlight the parallel sections, such as ‘ABBA.’ One may be
easy to overlook that this ‘formula’ is actually describing a process of change.
36
In order
words, chiastic pattern is an organizational description that indicates the recurrence of
certain sections over time. Although Schoenberg never mentioned the term chiasmus in
his literary output, his principle of developing variations works well with chiastic
parallelism that found in Op. 50b.
As mentioned previously, the chiastic pattern of the De Profundis is embedded in
verses 3 to 8, which correspond to mm. 13-55 of Schoenberg’s setting. Table 5.5
summarizes the chiastic form of Op. 50b.

35
Wiseman and Paul, Chiasmus and Culture, 5.
36
Ibid., 4-5.
111
Table 5.5: The Chiastic form of Schoenberg’s Op. 50b
Chiastic
Section
Verse Measure Number Text in English Translation
A 3 13-17 If You, God, would mark sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
B 4 18-22 For with You there is forgiveness, such that
You may be feared.
C 5 23-29 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and I hope
in His word.
C’ 6 30-33 My soul waits for the Lord, more than
watchmen wait for the morning; Indeed, more
than watchmen wait for the morning.
B’ 7 34-41 Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there
is mercy and with Him is plentiful redemption.
A’ 8 42-55 And He will redeem Israel from all its sins.

Ethan Haimo noted that developing variations is one of the essential
compositional methods that Schoenberg used to create structural relationship in his
mature twelve-tone music.
37
In Schoenberg’s eyes, unvaried repetition is aesthetically
inferior.
38
One way to promote thematic coherence without literal repetition is to create a
certain number of common tones in structurally relevant spots. The common tones are
crucial to maintain coherence when the varied notes play their roles to create a sense of

37
Ethan Haimo, “The Mature Twelve-tone Method,” in The Arnold Schoenberg Companion, ed.
Walter Bailey (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998), 139-140.
38
Ethan Haimo, “Developing Variation and Schoenberg’s Serial Music,” Music Analysis 16, no. 3
(October 1997): 363.
112
development. Due to the sequential nature of twelve-tone rows, Haimo suggested that it
is effective to generate common tones through twelve-tone partitioning, in which the
composer can distribute the notes in different voices without strictly following the serial
order of a tone row.
According to Table 5.5, there are three chiastic pairs in Psalm 130: verses 3 and 8,
verses 4 and 7, and verses 5 and 6. In the first two pairs, Schoenberg uses the same
technique—developing variations—to create coherence. In verses 3 and 8, one of the
parallelisms occurs at the opening of both verses at mm. 13-14 and mm. 42-45. As shown
in Example 5.4a, there are two canonic pairs that begin at m. 13. The first pair is the
Haupstimme (primary voice) that appear at the mezzo-soprano part and the baritone part.
They share the same rhythm while the baritone melody is the inversion of the mezzo-
soprano melody. The second canonic pair appears at the alto and the soprano parts, where
both of them are the subordinate melodies with the dynamic markings π. Similar to the
Haupstimme pair, the melodies of the subordinate pair are inversions of each other and
share similar rhythm.
Example 5.4a: Mm. 13-14 of Schoenberg’s Op. 50b

113
As shown in Example 5.4b, at mm. 42-45, the longest and most prominent
Haupstimme appears at the soprano part, which lasts for almost four entire measures. The
soprano Haupstimme appears as four segments that are separated with rests, where each
segment contains four distinct notes. If studying the linear Haupstimme alone, there
would be no sign that showing that the melody is taken from the two primary rows P0
and I3 (and their retrogrades) that Schoenberg used exclusively in Op. 50b. Therefore, the
soprano Haupstimme is a result of twelve-tone partitioning.

114
Example 5.4b: Mm. 42-45 of Schoenberg’s Op. 50b

115
Starting at m. 13, the first four non-repeating notes of each sounding parts are
later developed to become the Haupstimme of the soprano part from mm. 42-45. By
comparing the soprano melody at mm. 42-45 with the canonic materials at m. 13, one can
discover many similarities between them. Table 5.6 shows the comparison of notes
between m. 13 and the soprano part at mm. 42-45.
Table 5.6: Comparison of pitches between m. 13 and the soprano part at mm. 42-45
M. 13
Mm. 42-45 (Soprano) Common tones
Part Notes
Mezzo Soprano B≤ D E G≥ A G≥ D B≤ (m. 42) G≥ D B≤
Baritone B G F D≤ B C F D≤ (m. 43) B F D≤
Alto E≤ A G≥ E E E≤ A B≤ (m. 44) E E≤ A
Soprano F≥ C D≤ F G F D≤ D C (m. 45) F D≤ C

As shown in Table 5.6, from mm. 42-45, each measure corresponds to one voice
part at m. 13. It is significant to note that the level of importance and the order of
appearance of the canonic figures at m. 13 determine the sequence of the four melodic
segments of the soprano Haupstimme at m. 42-45. Obviously, Schoenberg considered the
Haupstimme pair to be more important than the subordinate pair at m. 13. Therefore, the
mezzo-soprano part and the baritone part develop to form the first two melodic segments
at mm. 42 and 43, respectively. Subsequently, the alto and soprano canonic pair at m. 13
contributes to the second half of the soprano Haupstimme at mm. 44 and 45. Table 5.6
also reveals that each of the four melodic segments at the soprano part at mm. 42-45
share three common tones with the corresponding opening notes at m. 13. The common
116
tones serve as a chiastic connection between the two verses, while the distinctive note
added a sense of development to the soprano melody.
At the end of verses 3 and 8, another parallelism creates structural relationship
through developing variations at m. 17 and mm. 49-51. At m. 17, the Haupstimme
appears at the tenor part, which contains the notes F, G≤, C, B, and G (see Example 5.5a).
To compare with mm. 49-50 as shown in Example 5.5b, the initial four notes of the
Haupstimme at the soprano part—C≥ F F≥ G—share three common tones (F, F≥, G) with
the Haupstimme at the tenor part at m. 17.
Example 5.5a: Tenor Haupstimme at m. 17 of Op. 50b

Example 5.5b: Haupstimme at the soprano part at mm. 49-50 of Op. 50b

117
At m. 17, there is another Haupstimme at the bottom two parts, which appears in
unison in the second half of the measure (see Example 5.6a). As shown in Example 5.6b,
the bass Haupstimme contains the notes F≤, E≤, A, B≤ and D, which correspond to the
fifth to eighth notes (E, G≥, A, E≤) of the Soprano Haupstimme at mm. 50-51. The two
corresponding fragments share three common tones E, E≤, and A, which again promote
chiastic connections between verses 3 and 8.

Example 5.6a: Bass and tenor Haupstimme at m. 17 of Op. 50b

Example 5.6b: Soprano Haupstimme at mm. 50-51 of op. 50b

In verses 4 and 7, Schoenberg used the similar technique of developing variations
to create coherence. As shown in Example 5.7a, verse 4 opens with two two-part figures
after the eighth-note rest on the downbeat at m. 18. The first two-part figure appears at
118
alto and tenor parts is labeled as AT, while the second two-part figure at soprano and
mezzo-soprano parts is labeled as SS. Comparing m. 18 with the bass Haupstimme at mm.
34 to 37 (see Example 5.7b), several common tones exist to create chiastic connections.
Example 5.7a: The opening of verse 4 at m. 18 of Op. 50b

Example 5.7b: The bass Haupstimme at mm. 34 to 37 of Op. 50b

Verse 7 begins with the solo Haupstimme at the bass part at m. 34, which contains the
notes E≤, E, D, and B≤. These opening four notes of verse 7 shares three common tones—
119
E, D, B≤—with the two-part figure SS, which appears in the last two beats of m. 18 (see
the first row of Table 5.7).
Table 5.7: Comparison of pitches between m. 18 and the bass part at mm. 35-37
m. 18
mm. 34-37 (Bass) Common tones
Figure Notes
SS D, E, B≤, A≤ E≤, E, D, B≤ (m. 34) E, D, B≤
AT G, F, B, C≥ G, B, C, D≤ (mm. 35-37) G, B, D≤

The bass Haupstimme continues at mm. 35-37, where the remaining notes of the
Haupstimme include four different pitches: G, B, C and D≤. Schoenberg again uses the
approach of developing variations to connect the material at m. 18 with that of mm. 35-
37. As summarized in the second row of Table 5.7, the bass Haupstimme at mm. 35-37
shares the common notes G, B, and D≤ with the two-part figure AT in m. 18.
Schoenberg further creates coherence between verses 4 and 7 at the Haupstimme
at mm. 19-21 and mm. 36-41, respectively. Example 5.8a shows that one of the
Haupstimme appears at the alto part from the pick up to m. 20 to the downbeat of m. 21.
This alto Haupstimme is equivalent to the first hexachord of the row I3. The other
Haupstimme at verse 4 appears in the Baritone part from mm. 20-21, where all of its
pitches are taken from the first hexachord of the row P0.
Example 5.8a: Alto and baritone Haupstimme at mm. 19-21 of Op. 50b
120
In verse 7, the second Haupstimme begins at m. 36, and is sung by the soprano
solo. The opening two measures of the soprano Haupstimme overlap with the bass
Haupstimme at mm. 36-37. The pitch content of the two overlapping Haupstimme is the
same as the alto Haupstimme at mm. 20-21, in that both of them are taken from the first
hexachord of the row I3 but in a different order (see Example 5.8b). This time
Schoenberg alters the presentation of the principle of developing variations by retaining
the pitch content to create coherence. At the same time, the composer rearranges the
order of the pitches to create a sense of variation.
Example 5.8b: Soprano and bass Haupstimme at mm. 36-37 of Op. 50b

In mm. 38-41, the soprano solo is the only Haupstimme, where the pitches are
equivalent to the first hexachord of the row P0, which are the same as the baritone
Haupstimme at verse 4 from mm. 20-21 but presented in a different order (see Example
5.8c).

121
Example 5.8c: The soprano solo Haupstimme at mm. 38-41 of Op. 50b

Finally, in verses 5 and 6, instead of portraying a development like the outer
verses, Schoenberg chose to present the central two verses as a single unit. Several traits
reveal that Schoenberg intended to highlight the center of the chiastic structure. First of
all, the texts of verses 5 and 6 overlap. It is one of the two occasions that the texts of two
different verses overlap. The first overlap occurs at m. 22-23 between verses 4 and 5 is
less obvious because it only involves two parts: tenor and baritone. Compared with the
overlap at m. 29 between verses 5 and 6, the second one is more intense, since it involves
all six voice parts. (See Example 5.9). Such an overlap successfully creates a sense of
continuity between verses 5 and 6.

122
Example 5.9: The overlap of verses 5 and 6 in m. 29 of Op. 50b

In addition to the overlap at m. 29, Schoenberg presents verses 5 and 6 as a single
unit by creating boundaries between their neighboring verses. At verse 5, Schoenberg
introduced a change of rhythmic articulation to highlight the boundary. According to
Wallace Berry, who states in his article “Metric and Rhythmic Articulation in Music” that
rhythmic articulation could be understood as the “ultimate rhythmic composite of all
events in all operable elements.”
39
As shown in Example 5.10, at the beginning of verse 5
at m. 23, the rhythmic articulation is exclusively eighth notes. Compared with the
previous measure, the rhythmic articulation is relatively more compressed. It includes a
combination of eighth and sixteenth notes. Such significant change of rhythmic density
between mm. 22 and 23 sets up a clear boundary between verses 4 and 5.

39
Wallace Berry, "Metric and Rhythmic Articulation in Music," Music Theory Spectrum 7 (1985):
7.
123
Example 5.10: Rhythmic Articulation at mm. 22-23
C qr qr qr qr | qsr q;rt q;rt qr |
At the end of verse 6, the boundary between verse 7 is clear. Schoenberg inserted an
eighth note rest after the last word of verse 6 (“laboker”) at m. 34, and on the other hand,
verse 7 begins at the same measure with a brand new texture, in which Schoenberg puts
the emphasis on the bass solo (see Example 5.11).
Example 5.11: The boundary between verses 6 and 7

Conclusion
The above discussion reveals that the chiastic pattern in verses 3 to 8 not only
highlights the connections in the text, but also provides a solid foundation for Schoenberg
to create subtle musical coherence. Being a significant organizational framework for both
text and music, in Schoenberg’s setting, the chiastic structure is crucial to emphasize the
124
major ideas of the text. Throughout the entire piece, there are three spots that Schoenberg
included all six voices to sing with the dynamics of mf or above: mm. 27, 38, and 54-55.
Due to their significance in texture and intensity, it is fair to say that these three spots are
the climaxes of the piece. Table 5.8 summarizes the details of these three climaxes.
Table 5.8: The details of the three climaxes in Schoenberg’s Op. 50b
Climax Verse Measure No. Text [English Translation] Dynamics
1 5 27 Nafshi [soul],
Hochalti [wait]
Forte and
mezzo forte
2 7 38-39 Hachesed [mercy] Fortissimo
3 8 54-55 Vehu Yifde Et Yisrael [He will
redeem Israel]
Fortissimo

It is significant to note that each of the climaxes corresponds to the three chiastic pairs at
verses 5, 7, and 8, respectively. The text that falls on the climaxes reveals the central idea
of the piece: my soul waits for the Lord for He has mercy, and He will redeem Israel. The
textual idea ‘wait’ falls on verses 5 and 6, which is the center of the chiastic pattern. It is
possible to assume that Schoenberg is using the chiastic pattern to further emphasize the
idea of ‘wait’, which also echoes with the text of Schoenberg’s Dreimal tausend Jahre,
op. 50a.
Despite the fact that the chiastic structure in Schoenberg’s De Profundis is subtle
to perceive or even foreign to the musical structure described earlier in this chapter in
Tables 5.1 and 5.2, Schoenberg successfully uses musical means to accentuate the
poetical structure. Schoenberg’s awareness of the chiastic pattern in the Hebrew psalm
reveals that he is faithful to the Bible as well as the Jewish culture.
Being a Jewish composer who is sensitive to spiritual and religious matters,
Schoenberg always believed that music must cut to the heart of the matter and it should
125
be responsible for conveying the truth.
40
The chiastic structure—both musically and
poetically—in the De Profundis is a crucial element to communicate Schoenberg’s vision.
Since the text of Op. 50b came entirely from the Hebrew Bible, the vision that the
composer is conveying is indeed inseparable from the biblical truth. It is clear that the
chiastic structure rooted in the psalm is the result of a vision that is not strictly musical. It
appears musically in Schoenberg’s setting but functions more as a mean to express
something that is ultimately of a spiritual and religious nature.

40
Covach, “Schoenberg’s Artistic Theology,” 253.
126
CHAPTER VI

THE ANALYSIS OF OP. 50C

During the last two years of Schoenberg’s life between September 29, 1950 and July 3,
1951, the composer paid much of his attention on writing a series of psalm texts.
Schoenberg had completed eighteen psalms, which he named collectively as “Modern
Psalms.” To be more precise, Schoenberg described his collection of psalm texts as
“Psalms, prayers and other conversations with and about God.” Schoenberg’s psalm texts
are paraphrases of the Old Testament psalms, aiming to address his deeply religious
thoughts in his late years. The Modern Psalm, Op. 50c is the setting of Schoenberg’s first
psalm text (Der Erste Psalm) for speaker, chorus, and orchestra. It also marks the
composer’s last composition, which was left unfinished at the time of Schoenberg’s death
on July 13, 1951. Schoenberg intended to set all of his psalm texts into music, yet sadly,
Op. 50c is the only setting that has partly fulfilled his plan.
As the last composition of Schoenberg, the Modern Psalm, Op. 50c is like a
summary of the composer’s previous religious works. Several compositional approaches
in Op. 50c recall Schoenberg’s earlier religious music. For example, the prominent role
of Sprechstimme in Modern Psalm coincides with the opera Moses und Aron and the
other short choral work A Survivor From Warsaw. Regarding the subject matter, the text
of Op. 50c adequately reveals that Schoenberg is earnestly seeking the meaning of
prayer, which he considers as the only way to unite with an intangible God. Similarly, the
composer’s only oratorio—Die Jakobsleiter is also concerned with the subject of prayer.
Schoenberg’s preoccupation with the subject of prayer is also reflected in A Survivor
127
From Warsaw, as the work ends with the Sh’ma—a traditional Jewish credo in a form of
prayer, depicting people’s last cry to God at the end of their lives.
Despite the fact that the Modern Psalm is part of Schoenberg’s last opus, due to
the addition of the orchestra, Op. 50c sounds like a miniature stage work, making it stand
out from the other two works. Compared with the first two works of Op. 50, which are
individually presented as short choral pieces, the Modern Psalm creates a richer sound
and a more dramatic atmosphere in spite of its incompleteness. It recalls the composer’s
two earlier large religious works: Die Jaskobsleiter and Moses und Aron.
In the article “Faith and Symbol,” Alexander Ringer notes the continuity between
Die Jakobsleiter, Moses und Aron, and Op. 50c, and he calls them a monumental triptych
that portrays a special philosophical meaning due to their incompleteness.
1
Boza Tarsi
asserted that Die Jakobsleiter, Moses und Aron, and Modern Psalm are comparable with
each other not only because of their common subject matters, but also their capability to
offer the most important insights into Schoenberg’s internal religious struggle.
2

Schoenberg started to compose Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron some time around
the 1920s, yet neither of them reached completion. Schoenberg did plan to return to the
two unfinished religious works and complete them. However, he stated in 1948 that his
plan only stayed in his mind without any presentable outcomes: “If I could work I should
like best to finish Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron.”
3
It is significant to note that
Schoenberg remained preoccupied with the two unfinished religious works while he was

1
Ringer, Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer As Jew, 186.
2
Boza Tarsi, “Moses and Aaron As a Reflection of Arnold Schoenberg’s Spiritual Quest,” Musica
Judaica 12 (1991): 57.
3
Ibid.
128
working on his last composition—the Modern Psalms.
4
His attempt to finish the two
earlier religious works reveals that Schoenberg is aware of the relationship between the
“monumental triptych.” In Schonberg’s mind, all three held the same sense of urgency
and importance for him to express his spiritual struggles.
5

Although a significant number of articles are focused on the incompleteness of the
three religious works and their relationships to Schoenberg’s unresolved spiritual struggle,
it is difficult to determine “to what extent the ostensible unfinishedness corresponds to
the cabbalistic notion of the infinite God.”
6
Instead of focusing on Schoenberg’s religious
wrestling and its musical expression, the current chapter chooses to put the emphasis on
the composer’s spiritual development. In order to have a better understanding of
Schoenberg’s spirituality and faith at the end of his life, the major goal of the following
discussions is to compare and contrast Op. 50c with Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und
Aron. By comparing the musical manipulation of Modern Psalm with that of the earlier
religious works, one can gain some insight of Schoenberg’s religious maturity especially
at the end of his life. The major argument is that the composer did express his religious
idea in Op. 50c through conscious reference to Die Jaskobsleiter and Moses und Aron.
Die Jakobsleiter and Modern Psalm
At a first glance, the most obvious thing that Die Jakobsleiter and Modern Psalm
have in common is the subject about prayer. Schoenberg wrote not only the music but
also the texts of both works all by himself. In looking closer at the texts of the two
distinct works, one can discover that Schoenberg wrote about prayer from two
completely different perspectives. As mentioned earlier in chapter two, Die Jakobsleiter

4
Tarsi, “Moses and Aaron As a Reflection,” 58.
5
Ibid.
6
Ringer, Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer As Jew, 186.
129
is a depiction of a man’s life journey in seeking God. Schoenberg wanted to emphasize in
the oratorio that prayer is the most important and effective way for an atheistic modern
man to become religious. Despite the fact that the storyline of Die Jakobsleiter is based
on the biblical story of Jacob’s dream of a ladder joining heaven and earth (from Genesis
28: 12-23), the religious ideas that Schoenberg aims to express is rather exotic in nature.
In Part I of the oratorio, Schoenberg reveals in his own libretto that there are different
types of atheist who are facing the same spiritual struggle—the unpredictable destination
of life. Interestingly, Schoenberg used a non-biblical character, the angel Gabriel to
convey the meaning of prayer, which is a tool to unite with God. Such a non-biblical
reference revealed that Schoenberg is somewhat superstitious. His God is more like a
divine existence rather than the Judaic nomothetic God. What Schoenberg conveyed in
Die Jakobsleiter is that prayer is merely a solution for an atheistic man to fulfill his
spiritual quest. It hardly discloses any of Schoenberg’s concern for the foundation of his
faith. Moreover, Schoenberg never mentions what kind of God the people are seeking for.
In contrast to Die Jakobsleiter, Schoenberg’s understanding on prayer in the
Modern Psalm has shifted from superstitious to religious. Schoenberg opens Modern
Psalm with the text “O du mein Gott (O, my God)” to emphasize that his God is personal.
Such notion is significant in Schoenberg’s spiritual maturity because it reveals that
Modern Psalm is a prayer of a believer who cries out to the Lord from the bottom of his
or her heart. The direct address to God in the opening of Op. 50c corresponds to the first
sentence of De Profundis—“Out of the depth I pray,” which expresses the psalmist’s
genuine longing to pray to God.
130
Schoenberg wrote the text of Modern Psalm from a first-person point of view,
which aligns with the writing style of most biblical psalms. It is very likely that
Schoenberg intends to write his own psalm text as a continuation of the biblical series of
150 psalms because the composer initially named the first psalm ‘Der 151 Psalm.’
7

The textual structure of Modern Psalm further reinforces its biblical foundation.
As shown in Example 6.1, texts of Modern Psalm form a chiastic pattern, which recalls
the textual structure of Schoenberg’s previous work—De Profundis, Op. 50b. The
structure A-B-C-D-C’-B’-A’ indicate that the last three verses of Schoenberg’s first
psalm correspond to the first three verses, yet are arranged in a reversed order. Chiastic
structure is commonly found in biblical passages such as the well known biblical prayer,
the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:6-13. Schoenberg’s use of chiasmus in Modern Psalm
suggests that the composer may have used Scripture as a reference to write his own text.

7
McDonald, Schoenberg, 287.
131
Example 6.1: The chiastic structure in Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm (with English
translation)

A O, du mein Gott: alle Völker preisen dich und versichern dich ihrer Ergebenheit.
(O, my God, all the peoples praise you and assure you of their devotion.)

B Was aber kann es dir bedeuten, ob, ich das auch tue oder nicht?
(But what can it mean to you whether, I do that too or not?)

C Wer bin ich, daß ich glauben soll, mein Gebet sei eine
Notwendigkeit?
(Who am I to believe that my prayer is a necessity?)

D Wenn ich Gott sage, weiß ich, daß ich damit von dem
Einzigen, Ewigen, Allmächtigen, All-wissenden und
Unvorstellbaren spreche, von dem ich mir ein Bild weder
machen kann noch soll.
(When I say God, I know that I am speaking of the only,
Eternal, Almighty, All-Knowing and Unimaginable, of which I
can neither nor should I form an image.)

C’ An den ich keinen Anspruch erheben darf oder kann, der mein
heißestes Gebet erfüllen oder nicht beachten wird.
(To whom I may or cannot make any claim, who will fulfill or ignore
my hottest prayer.)

B’ Und trotzdem bete ich, wie alles Lebende betet; trotzdem erbitte ich
Gnaden und Wunder;Erfüllungen. Trotzdem bete ich, denn ich will nicht
des beseligenden Gefühls der Einigkeit, der Ver-einigung mit dir, verlustig
werden.
(And yet I pray as all living prays; nevertheless I ask for graces and
miracles; Accomplishments. Nevertheless I pray, because I don't want to
lose the blissful feeling of unity, of union with you.)

A’ O du mein Gott, deine Gnade hat uns das Gebet gelassen, als eine Verbindung,
Eine beseligende Verbindung mit Dir. Als eine Seligkeit, die uns mehr gibt, als
jede Erfüllung.
(O my God, your grace has left prayer for us as a connection, a blissful connection
with you. As a bliss that gives us more than any fulfillment.)

132
When comparing the textual content of Die Jakobsleiter with the Modern Psalm,
it is noteworthy that the latter shows a much stronger conviction about prayer. Although
prayer is the central topic of Die Jakobsleiter, Schoenberg treated it more or less as a
philosophical issue rather than his own religious belief. The underlying model for the text
of Die Jaskobsleiter is Balzac’s Seraphita—a nineteenth-century mystical novel
originally written in French. It was an important source of creative inspiration for
Schoenberg for nearly a decade from the 1910s to 1920s.
8
The concept of prayer in Die
Jakobsleiter is very similar to that of Balzac’s novel, which deals with metaphysical
subjects such as spirit, matter, free will, infinity, space, and time.
The text of Die Jakobsleiter sweeps across diverse religious traditions through the
concept of prayer.
9
It is believed that Schoenberg intentionally wrote his own text to
reveal his highly eclectic and nondoctrinaire personal religious orientation.
10
Despite the
fact that Die Jakobsleiter is seemingly based on the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder found
in the book of Genesis, the title of the oratorio is Schoenberg’s afterthought that denotes
the connection between earth and heaven. Neither the libretto of the oratorio nor Balzac’s
novel contains direct allusion to the story of Jacob’s ladder.
11
According to the libretto of
Die Jakobsleiter, prayer is expression, meditation, and action all in one. It is also a way to
expiate sin and reach directly to God. Such ideas may implicitly come from the Bible and
other illuminist writings, to which Schoenberg added original material to relate the
concept of prayer with the role of the artist.
12

8
Bryan R. Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 1908-1923 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2000), 165.

9
Ibid., 153.

10
Ibid.

11
Ibid.

12
Ibid.
133
The text of the oratorio that Schoenberg began to write in the 1910s reflects his
personal religious history at that time. The libretto of the oratorio suggests a connection
between Schoenberg’s growing religiosity and his preliminary experiments with twelve-
tone composition.
13
Such correlation coincides with Schoenberg’s encounters with anti-
Semitic oppressions in the 1910s to 1920s. To contrast with Die Jakobsleiter, Modern
Psalm was written in Schoenberg’s last years, when his spirituality and beliefs had been
firmly settled on the Jewish faith. The text of Modern Psalm reveals that Schoenberg
treats prayer as a serious religious conviction. As summarized in Table 6.1, the textual
content of the Modern Psalm includes direct address to God, a believer’s struggles about
prayer, acknowledgements of God, and a believer’s submission through prayer. All of
them represent the fundamental stages of a believer’s spiritual journey.
Table 6.1: Summary of the textual content of Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm
Textual Content Summary German Text English Translations
Direct address to God

O, du mein Gott: alle
Völker preisen dich und
versichern dich ihrer
Ergebenheit.
O, my God, all the
peoples praise you and
assure you of their
devotion
A believer’s struggles on
prayer
Was aber kann es dir
bedeuten, ob, ich das auch
tue oder nicht?
But what can it mean to
you whether, I do that too
or not?
Wer bin ich, daß ich
glauben soll, mein Gebet sei
eine Notwendigkeit?
Who am I to believe that
my prayer is a necessity?
Acknowledgements of
God
Wenn ich Gott sage, weiß
ich, daß ich damit von dem
Einzigen, Ewigen,
Allmächtigen, All-
wissenden und
Unvorstellbaren spreche,
von dem ich mir ein Bild
weder machen kann noch
soll.
When I say God, I know
that I am speaking of the
only, Eternal, Almighty,
All-Knowing and
Unimaginable, of which I
can neither nor should I
form an image

13
Bryan R. Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 153.
134
A believer’s struggles
about prayer
An den ich keinen Anspruch
erheben darf oder kann, der
mein heißestes Gebet
erfüllen oder nicht beachten
wird.

To whom I may or cannot
make any claim, who will
fulfill or ignore my
hottest prayer
Und trotzdem bete ich, wie
alles Lebende betet;
trotzdem erbitte ich Gnaden
und Wunder;Erfüllungen.
Trotzdem bete ich, denn ich
will nicht des beseligenden
Gefühls der Einigkeit, der
Ver-einigung mit dir,
verlustig werden.

And yet I pray as all
living prays; nevertheless
I ask for graces and
miracles;
Accomplishments.
Nevertheless I pray,
because I don't want to
lose the blissful feeling of
unity, of union with you.
Direct address to God

O du mein Gott, deine
Gnade hat uns das Gebet
gelassen, als eine
Verbindung, eine
beseligende Verbindung mit
Dir. Als eine Seligkeit, die
uns mehr gibt, als jede
Erfüllung
O my God, your grace has
left prayer for us as a
connection, a blissful
connection with you. As a
bliss that gives us more
than any fulfillment

Another worthwhile comparison between Die Jakobsleiter and Modern Psalm is
regarding the use of serial technique. Prior to the discussion of technical matters, one
must understand that Schoenberg’s philosophy of composition is based on the principal
of totality.
14
As noted in Schoenberg’s lecture “Composition with Twelve Tones,” every
artistic creation originates from the composer’s vision. It is that vision that motivates the
creator of an artwork to realize a single idea that encompasses the wholeness of the
work.
15
According to Tarsi, the musical idea of a work is the amalgamation of
“Schoenberg total,” which includes the composer’s personality, philosophy, spirituality,
writings (essays, and text for his music), creativity, religion, beliefs, life story, and

14
Brand and Hailey, Constructive Dissonance, 151.

15
Ibid.
135
music.
16
Therefore, the attempt to examine the technical matters of a work is beneficial
for the understanding of Schonberg’s personal aspects such as his religion, spirituality,
and beliefs.
The concept of “Schoenberg total” is a useful foundation that equates
Schoenberg’s musical quest with his spiritual quest.
17
In the 1920s, Schoenberg’s musical
advancement and his spiritual breakthrough coincide when he started to compose the
music of Die Jakobsleiter. To free himself from composing with free atonality, the
composer made his initial attempt to write Die Jakobsleiter with his newly developed
twelve-tone system. Just like the developing twelve-tone technique in the early 1920s,
Schoenberg’s spirituality and beliefs had undergone a huge evolution during his return to
Judaism. As summarized by Tarsi, Schoenberg wrote Die Jakobsleiter in a time when he
was establishing a completely new musical method and at the same time, clarifying his
religious orientation.
18

While the philosophical content of Die Jakobsleiter portrays Schoenberg’s search
for a religious path, the oratorio also functions as the composer’s search for a new
compositional method that grew out of necessity. In the opening line of archangel Gabriel,
one of the main characters added to the oratorio and one who acts as a moderator,
Schoenberg reveals the abstract representation of his new serial technique as well as his
philosophical and religious motto in the early twentieth century:
“Whether right or left,
Forward or backward,
Uphill or downhill,
You must go on,

16
Boaz Tarsi, “Manifestations of Arnold Schoenberg’s Abstract Versus Concrete Dichotomy,”
246-247.

17
Ibid., 248.

18
Ibid., 249.
136
Without asking what lies
Before or behind you.
It shall be hidden,
You may, you shall forget it,
To accomplish your task.”

Schoenberg mentions in the libretto the multi-dimensional directions, which are the
subtle representations of the possible permutations of a tone row. In the essay
“Composition with Twelve Tones,” Schoenberg used the concept of musical space to
legitimate the derivation of mirror forms from a single tone row—the so-called basic set.
The three permutations: retrograde (R), inversion (I), and retrograde-inversion (RI) are all
rooted in the same basic set that provides the music with unity. Such transformation of a
single idea is comparable to Schoenberg’s spiritual struggle in the early twentieth century.
The composer was a Christian when he began to write the libretto and the music of Die
Jakobsleiter. Although he did not officially return to Judaism until 1933, it is believed
that the impact of his Jewish identity had already occupied his belief and his music after
the World War I. On the religious and spiritual path, Schoenberg was finding his way to
transform from chaos to order. His search for a return to Judaism allowed him to settle on
a temporary solution in the midst of identity confusion.
The development of the twelve-tone method echoes Schoenberg’s search of order
out of chaos in his religious path. Prior to his extensive use of twelve-tone technique,
Schoenberg composed with a freer use of dissonances, namely free atonality. The
composer stated that the twelve-tone method was growing out of necessity because,
through the development of chromaticism, the freer use of dissonances had weakened the
structural function of harmonies.
19
The main goal of the twelve-tone method is to present
the dissonances in a way that is equivalent to the consonance’s comprehensibility as tonal

19
Schoenberg, “Style and Idea,” 103-104.
137
music.
20
Schoenberg used the term “emancipation of the dissonance” to highlight his
innovative yet reactionary approach to treat dissonances like consonances. He believed
that free atonality must move one step forward to connect to a new set of rules. The
emergence of the twelve-tone method revealed the composer’s conviction that order,
logic, comprehensibility, and form cannot be present without obedience to some kind of
laws or rules to justify the existence of the dissonant harmonies and their successions.
21

Schoenberg claimed that the main advantage of the method of composing with twelve
tones is its unifying effect.
22
Yet, it provided great challenges for the composer to
maintain comprehensibility while avoiding any tonal implications.
Although Schoenberg wrote the first compositions of this new style around 1908,
the serial technique of Die Jakobsleiter was still a work-in-progress. Simms noted, “the
oratorio was a major step forward in Schoenberg’s great quest for new variational and
developmental resources in music.”
23
Instead of outlining the order of all twelve tones,
the composer chose to focus more on using the new serial technique to achieve a deep
integration and organic coherence among pitch structures.
24
Throughout the oratorio,
Schoenberg used the idea of embedding permutations and variations of a six-note set of
tones in themes and chords to achieve multidimensional unity.
25
It can clearly be seen
that the aim of the new serial technique is to bring the dissonances back to order and
make them comprehensible to the musicians who study his music seriously and carefully.

20
Schoenberg, “Style and Idea,” 105.

21
Ibid.

22
Ibid.

23
Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 177.

24
Ibid.

25
Ibid., 176.
138
For example, in the opening of the oratorio, the six-note cello ostinato is later developed
into a vertical hexachord. Simms stressed that Schoenberg usually used the basic
hexachord at the beginnings and endings of structural units, which act like a replacement
of the tonic harmony in his earlier music.
26
Such manipulation of hexachords proves that
Schoenberg held a strong desire for a conscious control of the new means and forms.
In contrast with Die Jakobsleiter, the serial technique used in the Modern Psalm
aims to free the music from strict adherence to the serial order. The relatively flexible use
of tone row allows Schoenberg to explore more possibilities to organize the music
without sacrificing the overall unity. Schoenberg’s compositional approach stayed quite
consistent after 1928. This consistency implies that Schoenberg had found his way to
organize music in the non-tonal context. As noted by Haimo, the characteristics of
Schoenberg’s mature twelve-tone works are also prominent in his late twelve-tone works,
such as hexachord inversional combinatoriality, form articulated through hexachordal
levels, limited use of linear set statements, and so forth.
27
In addition to those prominent
features, Haimo also pointed out a stylistic feature that is quite significant in Schoenberg
late twelve-tone works: the growing treatment of the hexachord as a harmonic unit, with
the concomitant diminishing of the importance of a single serial ordering.
28
The de-
emphasis of the serial order provides more freedom for the composer to arrange the notes
yet maintain the unity of the music by referring to a single series—the only source of the
entire composition. As shown in Example 6.2, the opening two measures of Modern
Psalm include all six notes from the first hexachord of the row P0. Schoenberg uses the

26
Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg, 175.

27
Ethan Haimo, “The Late Twelve-tone Compositions,” in The Arnold Schoenberg Companion,
ed. Walter Bailey (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998): 157.

28
Ibid., 158.
139
bar line as the boundary to separate the hexachord into two trichords. Although the
composer followed the order of the series to group the three-note sets from order numbers
1 to 3 and 4 to 6 in mm. 1 and 2, respectively, the trichords are presented vertically as
two harmonic units. Schoenberg further isolated the two trichords by arranging them in
two different registers, in which the sopranos and altos are exclusively written for the
first trichord in measure one while the tenors and basses contribute to the second trichord.
Example 6.2: Mm. 1-2 of Modern Psalm, Op. 50c (Choir Only)

The serial technique used in Modern Psalm reflects Schoenberg’s spirituality and
faith in his last period. Tarsi notes that the Modern Psalm connects both to the time of
Schoenberg’s death and to Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron. Schoenberg was still
preoccupied with the two larger religious works while working on the Modern Psalm.
29

Although both works were left unfinished, Schoenberg chose to work on the Modern
Psalm more than any other works. Thus, it is more likely that the twelve-tone
compositional approach of op. 50c has a closer relationship to the composer’s spiritual
status at the end of his life. As stated in chapter one, due to Schoenberg’s multiple

29
Tarsi, “Manifestations of Arnold Schoenberg’s Abstract Versus Concrete Dichotomy,” 248.
140
identities as an Austrian-German, a Jew, and an American, he has his own idealization of
religion. The foundations of Schoenberg’s faith are based on his personal quest of racial
self-identity and his spiritual aspiration to know the truth. From a traditional religious
perspective, one may consider Schoenberg’s faith as unorthodox. Nonetheless, the
composer’s preoccupation on religious subjects in his late works reveal that he is faithful
to his own Jewish faith until the end of his life.
The flexible use of twelve-tone row echoes perfectly with Schoenberg’s
personalized faith in his late years. As a non-practicing Jew, Schoenberg never affiliated
to any religious groups or organizations. He always uses his own way to proclaim his
Jewish faith. For instance, in less than three months before his death, he wrote to the
Israel Academy of Music that Israeli musicians should give the world an example to
elevate people’s souls just like God chose Israel to be the people whose task is to
maintain the pure, true, Mosaic monotheism.
30
Schoenberg’s affirmation of his own
mission of being a Jewish musician in his last period reveals great contrast with his
spiritual quest in the 1920s. Schoenberg finally freed himself from any religious
boundary and chooses to express his spirituality freely through composing. In summary,
the serial technique that Schoenberg uses in Die Jakobsleiter and Modern Psalm matches
with Schoenberg’s spiritual development, which gradually shifted from chaos to order,
and finally from order to freedom.
Moses und Aron and Modern Psalm
Another large religious work that is comparable to Modern Psalm is the
composer’s only opera—Moses und Aron. One prominent feature that the two works

30
Mark DeVoto, “Arnold Schoenberg and Judaism: The Harder Road” (paper presented at Arnold
Schoenberg Institute, Los Angeles, CA, 1990),
https://sites.tufts.edu/markdevoto/files/2015/10/Schoenberg.pdf.
141
have in common is the use of Sprechstimme. Sprechstimme is a vocal style that combines
elements of singing and speaking. It is an effective tool to enhance the expressiveness in
music. It is also a signature device that Schoenberg used to dramatize his atonal as well
as his twelve-tone works. Written in two different time periods, Schoenberg’s use of
Sprechstimme in Moses und Aron and Modern Psalm are quite distinct from each other.
Such differences between the two works not only came from Schoenberg’s mutuality in
composition skills, but also a reflection of his spiritual development. In the following
paragraphs, the use of Sprechstimme in Moses und Aron and Modern Psalm will be
examined in detail.
Tarsi notes in the article “Arnold Schoenberg’s Spiritual Quest” that the conflict
between the abstract God idea and the concrete representation by man forms the core of
Moses und Aron.
31
The two protagonists—Moses and Aaron are the dramatic
characterization of the abstract and concrete dichotomy. Schoenberg intentionally uses
Sprechstimme as a musical device to highlight the contradictions between the two
characters. Moses, who belongs to the abstract realm, is the representative of the divine
truth in its pure form.
32
Throughout the opera, the recitation of Moses in Sprechstimme
creates a brilliant effect to portray the inconceivable, inexpressible, and intangible nature
of God. In addition, the use of Sprechstimme also represents Moses’ speech impediment,
and implies his limitation of speech in expressing the abstract God idea. While Moses
exclusively recites in Sprechstimme, the bel canto-like singing voice of Aaron creates
great contrast with the abstract representation of the divine truth. Tarsi notes that Aaron’s
singing is a concrete representation of popular appeal and the illusion of

31
Tarsi, “Moses and Aaron As a Reflection,” 58.

32
Ibid., 59.
142
comprehensibility.
33
Schoenberg successfully uses contrasting vocal styles to highlight
the contradiction between the two characters, hence, the conflicting nature of spiritual
ideal and material needs.
On several occasions, the dialogue between Moses and Aaron reveals the
incongruity of the abstract divinity and concrete human practice. For example, at the
beginning of Act II, Scene 5, Moses confronts Aaron, who led the Israelites to make the
golden calf when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In one of the dialogues, Moses asserted,
“God’s eternity opposes idols’ transience!”
34
Therefore, no images are comparable to
God and nothing tangible should be allowed. In opposition to Moses, Aaron defended
that the people need some form of protection that they can see. He even justified his act
of making the golden calf as a way to sustain the Israelites. Schoenberg’s use of a singing
voice for Aaron matches perfectly with his role as the executor of the Divine Truth’s
tangible expression.
35
Aaron’s singing shaped his role to become more attractive and
appealing to general audience. The use of Sprechstimme, on the other hand, is like an
opposition to the tenor vocal line. The style of speech-song is made to appear less
immediately attractive and less accessible to the audience.
36
Schoenberg’s use of
Sprechstimme is extremely effective in such a dramatic context, as Moses’ character is
shaped to be the only person who have encountered God and known the abstract
experience.

33
Tarsi, “Moses and Aaron As a Reflection,” 61.

34
Hartmut Lück, “Scene 5—Moses and Aron,” Liner notes for Moses und Aron, by Arnold
Schoenberg. Hänssler Classic SCM, 2012, compact disc.
https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/HA3314.pdf

35
Tarsi, “Moses and Aaron As a Reflection,” 59.

36
Ibid., 61.
143
The use of Sprechstimme in Modern Psalm is completely different from that in
Moses und Aron. Instead of being an opposition of the singing voice, the Sprechstimme in
Modern Psalm works together with the choral singing voices to deliver the text. There are
three performing agents in the Modern Psalms: a male speaker, a SATB choir, and an
orchestra. While the orchestral lines are frequently written in unison with the vocal lines,
the speaker and the choir are supplementing each other. Schoenberg uses Sprechstimme
in Modern Psalm in a significant way, which includes an individual line written
exclusively for a male speaker.
37
In contrast to the Sprechstimme found in De Profundis,
in Modern Psalm, Schoenberg employs choral Sprechstimme simultaneously with choral
singing, As a result, the same voices alternate between singing and speaking throughout
the work.
38

Significantly, the Sprechstimme in Modern Psalm always has a leading role to
deliver the text. The same text always appears first in the male speaker part in the style of
Sprechstimme, followed by the choir delivering the text through singing voices. The
opening lines “O, Du mein Gott! Alle Vöker preisen Dich” is the only spot where the
choir sings the same text before the speaker comes in. (see Example 6.3).

37
Mark Risinger, “Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm, Op. 50c and the Unattainable Ending,” in
Political and Religious Ideas in the Works of Arnold Schoenberg, ed. Charlotte Cross and Russell Berman
(New York: Garland Publishing, 2000), 301.

38
Ibid.
144
Example 6.3: The opening lines of Schoenberg’s Modern Psalm, Op. 50c
(Mm. 1-8, speaker and choir only)

The repetition of text appears in the Modern Psalm in two different ways: 1) The
male speaker part overlaps with the choral parts while delivering the same text. 2) The
male speaker delivers the texts first in an extended passage and the choir repeats the same
text subsequently in another passage. The delivery of the same text by the speaker and
choir alternatively is effective in retaining the unity while providing a certain degree of
contrast between two different performing mediums.
By comparing the use of Sprechstimme in Moses und Aron and the Modern Psalm,
one can notice that the relationship between the singing voices and the recitation of
145
speech-song achieves reconciliation in Schoenberg’s last composition. While Schoenberg
intentionally used the Sprechstimme to highlight the contrasting characters of Moses and
Aron in the opera, in the Modern Psalm, the composer chose to let the two contrasting
vocal styles deliver the same text through overlapping with each other or alternative
passages. The use of Sprechstimme in Modern Psalm reveals that Schoenberg has
resolved the conflicts that appear in Moses und Aron. Although the contrasting nature of
the two performing agents still exists, their coexistence in the Modern Psalm suggests
that Schoenberg no longer treats the Sprechstimme as an opposing idea. As noted in the
Moses und Aron, if the Sprechstimme is a representation of the abstract god-idea and the
singing voice is a form of concrete human practice, the Modern Psalm is a like spiritual
reflections of the divine truth, which finally reconciles with the earthly representation and
leads to a state of equilibrium.
Conclusion
The comparison between the Modern Psalm and the two large religious works
reveals Schoenberg’s spiritual maturity and belief in his last years. The state of being
spiritually mature implies that Schoenberg struggles less with the conflicts between the
unattainable God and the tangible human practices. In some sense, Schoenberg has
accepted the incongruity between the abstract god-idea and its musical expression.
However, it does not mean that Schoenberg no longer struggled over the issue of uniting
with God through artistic means. Apparently, as revealed in the Modern Psalm, prayer
seems like the ultimate solution for Schoenberg to unite with God. Yet, the unattainable
ending of the op. 50c implies that the journey of Schoenberg’s spiritual quest still
continues despite his life coming to an end.
146

CONCLUSION

The current study reveals that Schoenberg’s spiritual journey has a pivotal position in his
compositional career, especially in his American years from 1933-51. Part I (Chapters 1-
3) of the dissertation provided the evidence of how Schoenberg’s religious odyssey
impacted his religious works. Chapter One summarized several important historical
moments from the end of the nineteenth century up to the composer’s death in 1951,
which have shaped his religious orientation and hence, his career goal. For instance, at
the turn of the century, the German-Jewish history in Vienna laid the foundation for
Schoenberg to embrace his Viennese-Jewish identity through assimilation. His
conversion to Christianity in 1898 revealed his intention to connect to the Western
European cultural traditions. After World War I, Schoenberg chose to re-enter the Jewish
faith in response to the heightened anti-Semitic atmosphere all over Austro-Germany.
From then on, the Jewish concept of monotheism became the core of his creative
inspiration. In Schoenberg’s American years, the decline of anti-Jewish sentiment
allowed him to have more freedom to claim his Jewish identity. As a result, the composer
tended to focus more on political or religious subjects in his late compositions.
Chapter Two provided an overview of Schoenberg’s religious compositions. The
discussions revealed that many of the religious works correlate with the composer’s
spiritual status as well as his notable life events in certain time periods. For example,
Schoenberg composed his only Jewish liturgical work Kol nidre, op. 39 in 1938, during
which time he also wrote his well-known essay “A Four Point Program for Jewry” to
declare his concern for Jewish affairs.
147
Chapter Three examined Schoenberg’s religious ideology and its musical
representations in the composer’s two iconic religious works that are prior to Op. 50—
Moses und Aron and A Survivor From Warsaw. The musical examples discussed in this
chapter revealed that Schoenberg’s religious ideas are not only the subject matters or the
source of artistic inspiration of his compositions, but also the foundation for his musical
constructions. It is believed that the expression of Schoenberg’s religious ideology is not
limited to a peripheral level of text painting. It is crucial for listeners or performers to
consider both the organization of tones as well as the meaning of the text in order to
achieve a comprehensive understanding of Schoenberg’s religious works.
Another contribution of this dissertation is the investigation of the relationship
between Schoenberg’s religious orientations and his compositional practices in Op. 50.
As revealed in Part II (Chapters 4-6), the entire Op. 50 is a significant manifestation of
Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality in the twelve-tone context. Chapter Four provided the
analysis of Dreimal tausend Jahre, Op. 50a. It reveales that number symbolism played an
important role in Schoenberg’s twelve-tone constructions. For instance, Schoenberg
made use of hexachords to emphasize the symbolic meaning of the number six. Due to
the fact that the symbolic meaning of numbers originated from Jewish culture, there is a
strong implication that Schoenberg’s belief is rooted in his identity as a Jew.
Chapter Five examined the textual and musical structure of the De Profundis, op.
50b. It revealed that the musical construction of the work adequately reflects the chiastic
structure of the text. Since the text of Op. 50b is comes entirely from the Hebrew Bible,
the use of chiasmus—both musically and poetically—in the piece is crucial in the
communication of Schoenberg’s vision, which is to convey biblical truth through music.
148
Chapter Six contributes to the analysis of the unfinished Modern Psalm, Op. 50c.
Comparisons are made between the Modern Psalm and the two large religious works—
Die Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron. Schoenberg’s interpretation of the subject of
prayer and his use of Sprechstimme revealed that the composer was becoming spiritually
mature in his last years because he struggled less with the conflicts between the
unattainable God and the tangible human practices.
Instead of providing a detailed twelve-tone analysis, the current study is focused
on the identification of possible expressions of Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality in Op.
50. There are limitations to elucidate all the technical matters of the work due to its
musical complexity. However, as suggested in this dissertation, the connections between
Schoenberg’s religious orientation and its corresponding twelve-tone compositional
techniques provide insights for the performers to interpret the works with an intellectual
approach.
Another limitation of the current study is pertinent to the individualistic approach
of analysis. The discussions in individual chapters in Part II are independent of each
other. Although they provided analytical suggestions for the readers from diverse
perspectives, such as the subtle use of number symbolism in Op. 50a, the musical
correlation with the poetic structure in Op. 50b, and the comparison with earlier religious
works in Op. 50c, the individualistic approach has its limitation to draw connections
between the three works within the same opus. One suggestion for future study is to
consider the three individual pieces in Op. 50 as a single collection. It is logical and
beneficial to compare the interpretation of the three choral pieces under specific analytic
149
systems. By mapping one set of musical events in one piece to another set of musical
events in another piece, the entirety of Op. 50 can be portrayed in a more systematic way.
Based on the current analysis of Op. 50, it is recommended that, to study
Schoenberg’s vocal works with text, one should not only focus on the textual meaning of
the work, but also the underlying musical constructions. As seen in the individual works
in Op. 50, Schoenberg is capable of conveying abstract religious ideas and belief through
technical means. While it is challenging for conductors and singers to understand the
twelve-tone technique that Schoenberg used to compose Op. 50, for the sake of more
compelling performance, it is suggested that parts of rehearsals be devoted to the analysis
of the work. Collaborations with analytical experts are strongly encouraged if needed.

150
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract Part I (Chapters 1-3) of this document provides evidence of how Schoenberg’s religious odyssey impacted his religious works. The study revealed that Schoenberg’s spiritual journey has a pivotal position in his compositional career, especially in his American years from 1933-51. ❧ Chapter one summarizes several important historical moments from the end of the nineteenth century to the composer’s death in 1951, which shaped his religious orientation and hence, his career goal. Chapter two provides an overview of Schoenberg’s religious compositions. The discussions revealed that many of the religious works correlate with the composer’s spiritual status as well as his notable life events in a certain time period. Chapter three examines Schoenberg’s religious ideology and its musical representations in the composer’s two iconic religious works that were composed prior to Op. 50ㅡMoses und Aron and A Survivor From Warsaw. ❧ Part II (Chapters 4-6) of this dissertation investigates the relationship between Schoenberg’s religious orientations and his compositional practices in Op. 50. Instead of providing a detailed twelve-tone analysis, the current study is focused on the identification of possible expressions of Schoenberg’s faith and spirituality in Op. 50. ❧ Chapter four provides the analysis of Dreimal tausend Jahre, Op. 50a. It reveals that number symbolism played an important role in Schoenberg’s twelve-tone constructions. Chapter five examines the textual and musical structure of the De Profundis, Op. 50b. It reveals that the musical construction of the work adequately reflects the chiastic structure of the Psalm text. Chapter six contributes to the analysis of the unfinished Modern Psalm, Op. 50c. Comparisons are made between the Modern Psalm and the two large religious worksㅡDie Jakobsleiter and Moses und Aron.

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Creator Ho, Sze Wing (author)

Core Title Expressions of faith, spirituality, and religion in Schoenberg's Op. 50

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Musical Arts

Degree Program Sacred Music

Degree Conferral Date 2021-08

Publication Date 07/14/2021

Defense Date 07/13/2021

Publisher Los Angeles (original), University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Arnold Schoenberg,De Profundis,Dreimal tausend Jahre,Modern Psalm,OAI-PMH Harvest,Schoenberg's Jewish identity,Schoenberg's Op. 50,Schoenberg's religious compositions

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Advisor Strimple, Nick (committee chair), Roze, Chris (committee member), Sparks, Tram (committee member)

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