Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern: A Companion to the Second Viennese School

A study of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern, modern composers living in Vienna near the turn of the 20th century, in a broad artistic context. It illustrates how their works grew from earlier Viennese musical developments. Presenting an analysis of a central school of modern musical composition, the essays compare the artists’ music to that of the non-musical arts in Vienna at that time. A prominent musical phenomenon during the period, the Second Viennese School of Music exerted a profound impact on European and American composers in the decades following World War II. The discoveries and critical perspectives on the composers discussed in these essays detail information on central aspects of their work, including the origins of atonal composition, the 12-tone method, and the literary models that often inspired their works. The text also seeks to contribute to the fascination with the modern culture produced in Vienna and other European cities near the turn of the 20th century. Each chapter, written by a different specialist, focuses on the artistic milieu of these three composers, avoiding a particular hypothesis and offering instead a broad discussion.