Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire (1912) was composed at a critical point in time, both in terms of the composer’s output as well as the state of musical composition in general. The thesis was written from the perspective of a musician seeking more in-depth insights to the work than previous published analytical approaches. Consequently, the process I used to structure and widen
sources for a (staged) performance of Pierrot lunaire, is more formalised here as a “functional tripartition.” The comparative model was loosely inspired by the semiological tripartition proposed by Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990). The model, however, significantly differs from the latter as the tripartition I propose takes the viewpoint of study/preparation of the score and its sources as a vertical process as well as topical and contextual investigations, where each layer hierarchically depends and potentially impacts the next layer below. On the other hand Nattiez’s model (1990) regards the work’s composition and performance as a linear process based on a perceptive and communicative structure.
The thesis, thus, is structured in four chapters, underlining the fundamental research questions of how to enhance insights of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire; given the significant shifts in the musical language at the time of the work’s composition, formal analytical models have limited relevance. The “Introduction” outlines the general background to Pierrot lunaire. Therefore, Chapters 1 to 3 introduce extensive explorations into each investigative layer.
Chapter 1, which I describe as a foundational “chronological layer,” explores all primary sources connected with the compositional process and publication of Pierrot lunaire. Specific answers are sought on the coherence of the overall musical structure and the concept of the term atonal music. Both aspects significantly impact the investigative viewpoint. Chapter 2, which I describe
as the “topical layer;” it is dependent on the chronological findings but expands on the “topical” connection of the poetry set and the mode of interpretation, the controversial Sprechstimme. This chapter contextualises Schoenberg’s writing at the time, which enlightens us on how the musical text was inspired by the words of Giraud’s/Hartleben’s Pierrot-poetry. Findings in this chapter, therefore, might well alter traditional conceptions of a performance of Pierrot lunaire. Chapter 3,
finally, which represents the “contextual layer,” is the furthest away from Layer 1, and thus explores conceptual ideas that correlate in time with the work’s composition, but are not immediately connected through sources. In other words, they are aspects in either the composer’s life and work, or correlative events that Schoenberg might have been aware of and thus suggest influence or an implied connection.
I have chosen Schoenberg’s visual art, especially portraiture, as well as the connection of the composer with the Russian-born painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). Kandinsky had contacted the composer following a concert of Schoenberg’s music in Munich of January 1911 with regard to what the artist perceived as parallel concepts and developments in both, visual art and
music. While this aspect is less tangibly present in the primary sources or the compositional process of Pierrot lunaire, it should be noted that these artistic activities by Schoenberg play a conceptual role in the creation of the work, just like explorations of the compositional chronology.
The final chapter, thus, looks at a specific melodrama of Pierrot lunaire as a case study: “Mondestrunken,” the work’s opening movement. I have condensed some of the findings of the “functional tripartition” outlined in the previous chapters, and combined them with a variety of published analytical approaches. The thesis, therefore, concludes that the “functional tripartition” does offer deeper insights into how to approach Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire specifically, or music
written post-1900 more generally, as findings of formal analytical models may be more limited to a performer of such works.