Schoenberg’s New World

The first full-length study dedicated to Schoenberg’s life and music in the United States, Schoenberg’s New World dispels many myths and fills significant gaps in the existing literature on Schoenberg. Drawing on much new information, the book traces early Schoenberg pioneers in America, who set the stage for Schoenberg’s arrival in 1933. The volume addresses in detail how Schoenberg while coming to terms with his German and Jewish identities, thoroughly adapted to American society both privately and professionally. New light is cast on Schoenberg’s relations with Americans, his interest in American culture, and changes in his religious and political thinking and lifestyle. As Schoenberg was committed to the advancement of American music and composed music inspired by and composed for American musicians, his American works are examined anew with regard to their contexts and the history of their performance and publication. Schoenberg’s many interactions with performers and publishers in the United States are explored as well. Illustrating how Schoenberg adjusted to the American educational system, the book delves into Schoenberg’s American teaching career, teaching methods and materials and features some of the many remarkable students he taught in Boston and Los Angeles. Finally the impact of Schoenberg’s music and ideas on American performers, composers and scholars after World War II is gauged in the light of major political and cultural changes during the Cold War era. Schoenberg’s New World contributes to a new understanding of one of the most important pioneers of musical modernism and most polarizing figures in twentieth-century music.