Alan Lessem Schoenberg Stravinsky and Neo-Classicism - The Issues Reexamined

Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Neo-Classicism: The Issues Reexamined Author(s): Alan Lessem Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol.
68, No. 4 (Oct., 1982), pp. 527-542 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/742156 . Accessed: 20/06/2013 00:01
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and NeoSchoenberg, Stravinsky, Classicism:The Issues Reexamined

ALAN LESSEM thepositionstakenby Schoenberg their and contemporaries, had seemedopposed and irreconcilable. Stravinsky Allegianceto was tobe decisivein shapingthemusicaldirections of one or theother of composers, both European and American. a youngergeneration and the Yet today,thesetwomen have becomeculturalmonuments, critical morerecent viewpointis to end thequarrel.Hence it is being argued that issues which once appeared so divisivewere only the of partypropagandistsand fellowtravelers,' fabrication while less forthe trees. could not see the forest biased observers Accordingto more historical ofthetwo CharlesRosen,today's objective perspective differences no longer is that"their seemsignificant."2 What composers we must see as uniting them,in Donald Mitchell'swords,is "the to extendand above all to maintainthegreattradition determination wereborn."' In particular, insofar which as bothcomposers into they in theso-calledNeo-Classicalmovement, appear to haveparticipated ifnot identical, as havinghad similar, should be regarded aims. they Yet to insist hastilyon reconciliationforthis reason would leave severalquestions unanswered:thosethatpertainto the originsand aims of the Neo-Classical programand those thathave to do with and Stravinsky's to it. A reexamination of Schoenberg's relationship theissues mayshow thatthedifferences betweenthetwo composers and thatNeo-Classicism,farfromservingas an remainsignificant of is useful ofsuch onlyas a keytotheunderstanding agent mediation, differences.
and Stravinsky, and Stravinskyans," Music "Sch6nberg Sch6nbergians I See Hans Keller, Review,XV (1954),307-10. 2 Schoenberg (London, 1976),p. 81. 3 The Language of ModernMusic (London, 1963),p. 163.
TO
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The Musical Quarterly
oftheEuropean economyaround 1924brought The stabilization todefine theguidingprinciples withitattempts ofwhatwas described theemphasiswas on thereconstruction as "New Music." As expected, musical culture: olderEuropean traditions ofa devastated wereto be from thecorrosive effects ofmorerecent events. In rebelling protected the youngergenerationmade a against the world of theirfathers, Romanticismto taskforhaving point of takingnineteenth-century thatled to theartistic confusion(as they bredattitudes saw it) of the of the itself a symptom social and culturaldegeneration years, prewar the Frenchand thathad made the war possible. Not surprisingly, in thelightof their Italians wereinclined to see such developments anti-German bias. Accordingly, Alfredo nationalistic, Casella, one of a "liquidationofthe called for architects ofNeo-Classicism, thechief and forliberationfromGermandominationin atonal intermezzo" to Italian instrumental music of theearly music by way of a return The link between brand of cultural Casella's century.4 eighteenth and nascentItalian Fascismwas no secret, and itscall for restoration ofa joyfuland optimistic collective was takenup theexpression spirit ofourera.5Notevery to "call toorder," regimes byseveraltotalitarian views. What be sure,was thustaintedby reactionary political many American did agreeupon was the counterparts Europeans and their from oflawfulness a history thathad all but need to rescueprinciples them.Roger Sessions,forinstance, called fora reprise de destroyed anew of certainlaws which had been lost contact,"an experiencing fromview in an increasingsubjectivism. .. ."6 Essentially,Neoevolution and fellbackon notions Classical polemicdeniedhistorical human condition, notunlikea stateofnature, and one ofa universal been realizedin theeighteenth thatin music had mostcompletely century. Clearly,then,Neo-Classicismhad littleto do with Classicism whichhas alwaysbeenunderstood to evolvefrom properly speaking, once it. As Paul thatwhich historically suggested, Valery preceded Romanticismand Classicism are the names we give to two phases
des Anbruch, XI/1 (1929),26-28. "Scarlattiana," Musikbliitter 5 T. Wiesengrund Adornowas among severalto respondto Casella and to pointout the sinisterpolitical implicationsof his reactionary posture.See T. W. Adorno,"Atonal Interthereafter Adornoalso took H. H. Stuckenmezzo?,"Anbruch,XI/5 (1929), 187-93.Shortly schmidtto task for his nalvet&in calling German musicians to embracea life-affirming, See H. H. Stuckenschmidt, "Kontroverse anti-intellectual Heiterkeit(joyfulness). fiberdie 19-21. Heiterkeit," Anbruch,XII/1 (1930), 18-19,withAdorno'sresponse, 6 "Music in Crisis,"in Schoenberg, ed. MerleArmitage (New York,1937),p. 19.
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ofthearts, essentialtothedevelopment "theromantic phase beingthe colonizationofnew territory, theclassicbeingitseconomicdevelopmentand perfect It is in thislightthatthepre-and organization."'7 music of and be Schoenberg postwar Stravinsky might profitably evaluatedand compared.Yet in thecase of bothcomposerstheissue has been thatofhistorical reversion. It has been givenmostattention said ofStravinsky, for that "re-instated he certain example, principles, everwere, whichwe associatewiththeeighteenth as valid now as they becauseitbestunderstood and ofSchoenberg that his them,"8 century thesecurity duringthe1920swere"designedtorecapture experiments ofa vanishedclassicism."9 The confusion, in Schoenberg's case,ofa with Neo-Classicism has "classicizing"tendency (in Valery'ssense) the clouded for as the of either only picture; Stravinsky, attribution can be misleadingifit is not qualifiedby one or theothertendency severalotherconsiderations. Beginningin 1923Schoenberg gave a good deal of timeto noting in "New Music" and his relationship down his thoughts on trends to he does notcommandthepositionofleadership them. in Findingthat he believestobe his due,he attributes musicalmatters thecause ofhis weakenedinfluence to "a corrupt attitude thearts," towards in evident the way composerspander to changing fashions,Neo-Classicism included.'0He looks forresponsible concern withproblems of musibut findsonly a chattering cal form, eclecticism.which elevatesthe toa principleofconstruction," while themodefor potpourri stylistic of Classicism'smoresuperficial imitations features providesfurther evidencefora declinein musical culture.'2 While CentralEuropeans (among them Krenekand Hindemith) must share the blame, the deflection of evolutionary can also be explained by the momentum assertiveness of other European nationswith musical culgrowing thathave notdevelopedat thesame pace as his own. An unpubtures lished"Polemic againstCasella" (probably drawnup shortly after his to Americain an attempt to takestockofthepoliticaland emigration
7 Valeryis quoted in Cecil Gray,Predicaments (London, 1936),p. 214. "Music fortheBallet,"in Stravinsky in theTheatre, Berger, ed. Minna Lederman 8 Arthur (New York, 1975),p. 41. 9 Rosen, p. 88. and Idea: SelectedWritings 10 "How One BecomesLonely,"in Style ofArnoldSchoenberg, ed. Leonard Stein(London, 1975),p. 52. 1 "Glosses on theTheoriesof Others," Styleand Idea, p. 314. 12 "New Music, OutmodedMusic,Styleand Idea," Styleand Idea, p. 123.
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he left theItaliancomposer musicalsituation for behind)reprimands the direction abandoned having progressive represented byatonality, in orderto advocate "a return to artistic which has never normality his own view is been the norm of any time."'3 Not surprisingly, to establish"normality" as a backward inclined to see any attempt man can for the historical forward, truly only go using the step, of thepast and reachingforthefuture: "One accumulatedheritage to theend."'4 through They have not yetbeen thought While Schoenberg does not allow thelargerideological implicaits connectionwith Fastionsof Casella's Neo-Classicism(notably, the case is broughtagainst him on the cism) to go unremarked, For Schoenberg thanpoliticalarguments. groundsofmusical rather on a composer'srelationshipto his musical believed,in reflecting determined forhim; materials,thatsuch materialsare historically will be found to certain henceat anymoment tendencies they embody as demands which mustnot only be acknowledgedbut interpreted thedynamic will constitute ofmusical(and human) whosefulfillment Thus thehistorically consciouscomposer does notattempt progress.5 thepast or imitateitsoutwardstylistic but to restore characteristics, theseedsoflater examinesitfor Bach,for developments. example,will chromaticism as well as forthehidden be valued forhis far-reaching whichSchoenberg ofhis counterpoint, motivic made resourcefulness in his severalBach orchestrations. manifest withsuch It is therefore rather thanwithBach'scontrapuntal textures elements, "progressive" Forin at large,thattoday's and forms composershouldbe concerned. he cannotsimplyignoremusical of theevolutionist terms argument theemergence of"developing sinceBach: in particular, developments variation"in VienneseClassicism,a techniquewhich in a sense is to counterpoint.16 antithetical Casella's irresponsibility towardhisis all too clearly revealedin his way of using fugueand sonata, tory whichis such thatthetwoopposing principlesare not mediated but
13 Throughout this article,unpublishedwritings by Schoenbergare identified by their trans.Dika Newlin (London, 1962). Rufer'sThe Works ofArnoldSchoenberg, listingin Josef to theArnoldSchoenberg in Institute "Polemic againstCasella" is listedas C. 175.I am grateful to use thesesources. Los Angelesforpermission Institute 14 "New Music/MyMusic,"Journalof theArnoldSchoenberg I/2 (1977), 105. in Zwischen MartinSchmidt, 15 See Christian Geschichtsbewusstsein," "UIber Sch6nbergs ed. R. Stefan Traditionund Fortschritt, (Mainz, 1973). notedescribed is briefly and untitled outlinedin an unpublished 16 The argument byRufer of writing," D.18. as "Thoughtson thepolyphonicstyle Rufer,
must ... have past epochs 'in one,' ... forone must continue theideas.
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to have thebestofbothworlds,the simplyjuxtaposed.In attempting to Neo-Classicist fails recognize the critical nature of the is juncture,one with which Schoenberg contrapuntal-homophonic return. The repeatedly deeplyconcernedand to which his thoughts problem as he sees it can be statedas follows:while contrapuntal motivic-thematic music resists development, homophonicmusicentextural balanceand couragesit,butin doing so is inclinedto-sacrifice comes about when the one Change in music history integration. principle, taken to its apparent limit, gives way to the other,as evidently happened in the early eighteenth century.Interestingly answers,in this enough, however,Schoenberggives contradictory cause: in some instances case at least,to thequestion of historical he as being determined by therealizationand speaks of thealternation in others musical tendencies; he saysthatthe completionofinherent of was "not a natural emergence eighteenth-century homophony ofundisturbed historical buta development [i.e.,theresult evolution], man-maderevolution,"the resultof "an aesthetic of popular comproplaisance."'7 Could it be thattheview of an abruptturnabout ofpublic taste reflects a perception ofevents in vokedbytheintrusion his own time,which also appears to him to be influenced by ideologues and the propagandistsof fashion?Neo-Classicismthenapthatshould moreproperly be usurpingtherights pearsas theinvader those who travel the true historical conferred his upon path,namely, own.18 and homophonic principlesare considAlthoughcontrapuntal thegreatmasters are notprevented eredantagonistic, from to striving into a fruitful with them one in another: this relationship bring connection Schoenbergmakes particularreference to Bach, Beetand Brahms. The at of his predehoven, genuineattempts synthesis however area far from cessors Neo-Classicism's cry mixingofhistorical styles,which in reaching for a synthesis presentsit only in The examplethatshouldbe followed is that ofBeethoven's caricature. in and "working-out breadth,length, height depth," recast in
Schoenberg's own words as "the technique of filling .
. .
all the
17Styleand Idea, pp. 115-16,408-9. 18 A shortnote technical drawnup in 1923underthetitle"HistoricalParallels" suggests similarities between"primitive" eighteenth-century homophonyand the "New Music" of his own day. Schoenbergpoints,in particular, to thelack of textural between integration melody and harmony. See Rufer, D.31.
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directionsin which the music expands."'9 That such a tendency cannot but in turnunderminethe essentialaestheticpostulateof a problemto whichwe shall return Classicismconstitutes shortly. forwearing"a wig just like Papa Bach," In deridingStravinsky failedto see thatStravinsky's Neo-Classicismbore little Schoenberg to that resemblance proposedby composerssuch as Casella or MilLatin counterparts haud. For while Stravinsky's werecalling forthe of theircultural traditions, the uprootedRussian comrestoration his own beingsweptaway,never toreturn. True, poserhad towitness what has said allowed of others to say on his much Stravinsky (or him as a leaderof the Neo-Classical crubehalf)seems to represent and order,thepronouncesade: one recallstheappeals to authority a about decadence indiments brought bynineteenth-century against on the not on attacks German music but cherished vidualism, only thecalls fortheliberation ofmusicfrom in historical beliefs progress, fortherestoration ofautonomousmusical an Expressionist aesthetic, of the Romanticallyinflated forthe replacement artist form, by the it sober and the like. Nevertheless is erroneous to artisan, Classically the same traitsof reactionary to Stravinsky or nostalgic attribute as appearedin Neo-Classicism He mayseem elsewhere. traditionalism butwhatis far moresignificant totakeup thecause ofculturalrevival, to have his statusas an outsiderto Europe's is his determination servea creative musical heritage purpose.This explains his cultivaof sense of the tion a "special 'past,'" whichDonald Mitchellrightly "20 fromSchoenberg's "sense of 'immediatetradition.' distinguishes withouttakingsides,other While Mitchelldiscussesthis attribute have seen fit to condemnhim forit. T. Wiesengrund Adorno critics in particular, have depictedStravinsky and ErnestAnsermet, as the rolein thepast,changing culturalintruder, takingonlya spectator's his pointofviewas he pleases,and occupyinghimself withonly the of stylistic What is borrowed from mostsuperficial hisphenomena. the is behave without "styles" whimsically, tory merely playedwith; functions orfor therequirements for ofcohesionand embedded regard in history, unity.Unable to participate Stravinsky stripsthemusical contents and meaning.In doing so, he becomes past of its historical whichhis invocationof authority theadvocateof merecontingency,
19 Thayer's 2 vols.(Princeton, and rev.and ed. Elliot Forbes, 1964);Style LifeofBeethoven, Idea, p. 116. 20 Mitchell, p. 105.
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to in relation and infallible. In short, us toacceptas authentic requires a he dresses as a defender but acts as nihilist.2' up European values, is notwithout This condemnation, It thoughextreme, pertinence. on whatStravinsky has at leasthelps to put some criticalperspective about his use ofthe"constructive asserted principles"ofClassicism,22 admirers haveclaimedfor and whathis principally Anglo-American a "re-instatement" or "renovation" ofClashis musicas constituting It mustalso be used againstthosewho have rightly sical form.23 seen music cannotbe evaluatedby thecriteria, thatStravinsky's however of Classicism,but who nevertheless modified, beg the question by a for his music transformation of the Classical claiming language so thoroughthatits relationshipto thatlanguage is no longerof real As Adornoand Ansermet have pointedout, thisrelasignificance.24 their essential. But view of itas perversely remains destructive tionship a historicalbias thatcan no longerpass unquestionedin a reflects world whose traditionally humanisticvalues have been profoundly A rounder within and without. from viewoftheStravinsky challenged it would be into line withconceptsand gained bybringing problem thatwe knowto be characteristic modesoffeeling ofmodernism, and attention to some modernist by givingparticular approaches to the Whilethere would be moretosuchan investigation historical donn&e. withinthelimits ofthisessay, thancan be provided a fewpointers may be suggested. There is a certaincoherenceto the followingfactsabout Strahis "overt"use ofhistorical forms (while thatof Schoenberg, vinsky: as he has himself remains"elaborately observed, Berg,and Webern, his insistence on our attention tohow a thing is disguised"25); drawing
21 See T. W. Adorno, AnneG. Mitchell and Wesley V. PhilosophyofModernMusic,trans. Les Fondamentsde la Blomster(New York, 1973),pp. 181-87,204-8, and ErnestAnsermet, musique dans la consciencehumaine,2 vols. (Neuchitel, 1961),pp. 266-84,490-96.For someto Stravinsky: A New what similarviews,see also Paul HenryLang's editorialIntroduction and theCentury: or Boulez,"Stravinsky Style (New York,1963)and Pierre Appraisalofhis Work Review,May 29, 1971. Idea?," Saturday 22 "I attempted to build a new musicon eighteenth-century classicismusing theconstrucin Conversations with RobertCraft(London, tive principlesof thatclassicism."Stravinsky 1962),p. 35. 23 Reference maybe made to thefollowing:RogerSessions,"On Oedipus Rex," Modern ofStravinsky," Music and Letters, XXXII/2 Music,V/3(1928),14-15;Herbert Murrill, "Aspects "Music for theBallet,"Stravinsky in theTheatre, (1951),120;Arthur Berger, p. 41; EricSalzman, Music: An Introduction Twentieth-Century 1967),p. 46. (EnglewoodCliffs, and his 24 See, in particular,Edward T. Cone, "The Uses of Convention:Stravinsky A New Appraisalof his Work,p. 32. Models,"in Stravinsky: 25 Stravinsky in Conversation, p. 139.
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done rather than what is being said, to theformalplay of elements hisconsideration rather thanemotionalnuanceand interpretation; of as "objects"and his use ofconventions musicalresources as formulas; in setting his inclination, their words,to isolatethemfrom ordinary conin his harmonic and to do something similar semanticcontext Reflected in such attitudesis an aestheticposture less structions. of European Neo-Classicists than of the Russian Forcharacteristic malists,whose principal work was done in the 1920s but whose in theWest on literature and literary came to be felt influence theory somewhat later. The Formalistsconsideredart to be a means of fromthedeadeninghabitsof conceptualization, rerescuingreality it in and novel contexts. The "esunsuspected necessary presenting of phenomena fromeveryday associationstakesplace trangement" materials throughtheformalprocess:a manipulationof artistic by meansoftechniques deliberately applied and devices openlyexposed. showed littleconcern,when dealing withart,forlarger Formalists ViktorShklovsky, one of the moveconsiderations. socio-cultural of modes as irrelevant, dismissed humanistic ment's founders, enquiry theartfulness ofan object;theobjectis for"artis a wayofexperiencing theFormalist not important."26 today'sNew Criticism, Anticipating ofform, content the medium considered for it onlythrough approach or perceived, from artistic its embodiment. cannotbe described, apart ofanalysis,riot To be sure,Formalismis onlya method a philosofcomposition.Moreover, is no evidence there ophyofartor method on Stravinsky or even his forits having had any directinfluence it can be regarded as constituting Parisian milieu. Nevertheless, part drift toward some newaesthetic orientations characteristic ofa larger in writers and reflected suchas JeanCocteau,who was ofmodernism For Cocteau,poetry intellectual reof Stravinsky's community. part and veals "all the surprisingthingsby which we are surrounded, butthemerehunting whichour sensesregister out of mechanically," novel sensationsis theworkofa bad poet; thereadermustbe shown whichhis mindand eyepass overevery "thethings such day,butfrom an angle, and such a speed that he seems to be seeing themand forthefirst thememotionally Cocteau shared experiencing time."27
26 Viktor "Artas Technique," in Russian FormalistCriticism, trans.Lee T. Shklovsky, of NebraskaPress,1965),12. Lemon and MarionJ. Reis (University 27 Cocteau's World:An Anthology Crosland of Writings byJean Cocteau, ed. Margaret (New York,1972),pp. 368-69.
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in for and surrealistic a preference withtheFormalists parodistic styles accumulated and objectsmade familiarthrough which conventions experiencemaintain their identitywhile being subjected to farMore particureaching,oftenwhimsical,formaltransformations. and, as larly, the method of montage,adopted by the surrealists has himself indicated, assumingconsiderable prominence Stravinsky ofelements in his own work, 28 was well suitedto the"estrangement" in an antistands the Formalists. Montage,significantly, requiredby itsvery toClassicism, for the thetical purposeis todestroy relationship thepersistent and "nonlogiillusion of aesthetic autonomythrough oftheunanticipated the cal" intrusion objectorevent.ForStravinsky achievedbydrawingcapriciously musiis partly effect upon everyday withelements Such materialopenlyconsorts drawn cal bric-a-brac. thecomposer's"historical"sources;there is no attempt at intefrom wishes the familiarto be Stravinsky gration.Like the surrealists, one thatis to be reasonably as a sign,but not necessarily interpreted are attempts its that context. Questionable,therefore, explained by to him methodsof compositionwhose have been made to attribute remainthoseofcohesion,balance,and unity. criteria This can formal T. of E. the Cone as be done, show, clearly analyses byabstracting only phrasing,and articulapitchelementsfromthecontextof rhythm, that so meticulously in contrives tion,thevery Stravinsky components and closure.29 thatwill relentlessly disruptcontinuity patterns of thepast do not merely conventions WithStravinsky, reemerge as is thecase in Neo-Classicismat touchedup to suit moderntaste, areprovocatively withthedevices exposed,together large.Ratherthey so thattheir in a modare elaborated, "estrangedness" bywhichthey context can be morepointedly ernist revealed.This purposeis most in themusicis made to happen achievedwheneverything strikingly tonal planes do not integrate Thus Stravinsky's but on the surface. and rhythmic insteadoverlap,while his metric groupingsare rigorratherthan pulse which is mechanically, ously tied to a governing or slowed. Such methods stand in clear quickened "interpretively," contrastto those of Schoenberg,forwhom (as Carl Dahlhaus has
28 RegardingOedipus Rex, Stravinsky "Much of themusic is a Merzbild,put admitted; fromwhatever came to hand." Dialogues and a Diary (New York, 1963),p. 27. A together of how the fuguein Orpheus was assembled,montage-fashion, is given by Stradescription in Stravinsky, ed. Edwin Corle (New York,1949),p. 146. vinsky The Progress ofa Method,"in Perspectives on Schoenberg 29 See E. T. Cone, "Stravinsky: and EdwardT. Cone (New York,1972),pp. 155-64. ed. Benjamin Boretz and Stravinsky,
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alreadynoted)it is essentialthattechniqueremainhiddenand that and textural"depth" be maintained." Moreover,while rhythmic to concrete almostexclusively his attention turns particuStravinsky conversalars (an inclinationwhich shows itself clearlyin theCraft to speak of the "idea" which is not to be tions),Schoenbergprefers withthetotality detailsbutrather associated of its with identified any thatmakeup thework.If,then, ofrelationships Schoenberg's posture for structural is themore"Classical," itis so becauseofa respect logic the principle of ratherthan for conventionin itself.In stressing and itssurface convention meanstoelevate "versification," Stravinsky convention is For form. Schoenberg, manipulationto a principleof of "musical prose"; only thatwhich is to be dissolvedin thestream remainsofit is onlya shadowagainstwhichis illuminated whatever thepersonalvision. twelve-tone The case fora Neo-Classicaloutlookin Schoenberg's basedon his apparent thewarsis generally workscomposedbetween returnto traditionalformtypesas well as some of the structural processesassociated with them. Rosen, in his Schoenbergbook, to be "ideal shapes" such types claims thatthecomposerconsidered which "could be realizedat any timein any style;theywereabsocontradicdecisiontooverlook lute."3'He is puzzledbySchoenberg's and hisown personallanguage,since"more suchforms tionsbetween he understood how the than any othermusician of his generation, classicalforms, especiallythesonata,werebound up withtonality.''32 first ofall, thata morecareful of thisproblemrequires, Clarification academicism(and its distinctionbe made betweena traditionalist and its of which Neo-Classicaloffshoots) would, course, givetonality and Schoenberg's an "absolute" status, relatedforms opposed view and culture. that bothbe tiedtohistory insists whichprecisely Second, it should be recalled thatin theHarmonielehreand elsewherethe thatevenwithClassicismtonality his conviction composerexpressed of form:"we shall findin theclassics, was not thesole determinant besides the unityof tonal relations,that at least the same end of coherenceis attainedwith at least the same amount of carefulness, ofideas."' theunity ofconfigurations, theunity 33Admittedly, through
in Sch6nbergund andere:Gesam30 Carl Dahlhaus, "Musikalischer Funktionalismus," zur Neuen Musik (Mainz, 1978),p. 61. melteAufsatze 31 Rosen,p. 96.
32 Ibid.
33 "Problemsof Harmony,"Styleand Idea, p. 279.
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to insist in this way on the equally significant form-determining theClassical and themes is perhapsto interpret of motives functions oflater thus would be thelater sonatain terms justified developments; for and motives themes take to on an tendency nineteenth-century of a and share work, weakeningtonality's finally increasing (in the century)the whole burdenas tonalitydrops away early twentieth From thisperspective it is not difficult forSchoenberg to altogether. In as a historical consummation. his see twelve-tone composition ofform and language (ofwhichhe is accused view,thecontradiction determined by Rosen) only ariseswhen thedemandsof historically materialsare not met. This would obviously be the case, notes with the polytonalNeo-Classicists:theirsimplertheSchoenberg, are such as should actuallybe maticmaterials and phrasestructures tonaltreatment, whereas his,by givenno morethana straightforward theirverynature,will "inevitably bringabout the creationof new forms."34 The twelve-tone methodseeksto avertthedilemmawhichovertook Neo-Classicismby ensuringthat composersusing it will be fromslipping back to formulas and idioms belongingto prevented earlier a historically stages.Yetin doingso itdoesnot,in turn, provide the for indicative observation on perhaps really replacement tonality; in 1923,when,in responding thisquestionwas made bySchoenberg of a replacement to Hauer, he declaredthatthefinding fortonality would be thetaskofa theory oftwelve-tone one in which composition, he ofcoursewas neverto show anypersonalinterest." Rosen's comthat serialism those facets of the Schoenbergian ignoresjust plaint motivewhichare themostsignificant for expression-namely, shape -echoes charges and texture6 madebynota fewtheorists in regard to thenonsystem's All suchcriticism insufficiencies. fallswide systematic ofthemarkin notrecognizing as thecreator who believes Schoenberg it thathe can entrust as to the deedbecause he himself, were, blindly on his side; thatwhich constitutes has history musical expression does not requiresystematic controlbe(Rosen's shape and texture) cause it will be taken care of by man's historicalbeing. Thus a "A hand thatdarestorenounce so paradox is illuminated: significant
by Schoenberg," Perspectives of New Music, XIV/1 34 Leonard Stein,"Five Statements (1975), 167. 35 "Hauer's Theories,"Styleand Idea, p. 209. 36 Rosen, p. 112.
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of our forefathers has to be exercised much of the achievements the be in that are to replaced by the new thoroughly techniques at rooted is one and thesametime The creator historically methods.'"" be confused the he is not to with to renounce who is he past; prepared traditional models.Schoenberg theone who imitates that, emphasizes who seeksolutions unlikemanyofhis Neo-Classicalcontemporaries, parallels,he needonlyfollowhis(historical) byholdingup historical form." for feeling If Schoenbergdoes call into serviceolder formtypes-sonata, and variations-itis notbecauseheconsiders themtobe rondo,theme he or because attributes to them "innate "ideal," expressive qualibut because he sees in them usages which should not be ties,""39 withuntilthenoveland more difficult ofhismusical dispensed aspects understood. Similar in purpose is his allegedly language are better and sequentialconstrucNeo-Classicaldispositionforphrase types oftonalmusic(and evensupported tionsreminiscent byanaloguesfor some tonalfunctions). They are used toapply thebrakesto thespeed at whichthemusicalprocessis likelyto takeplace; they contribute to that the tactful of listener consideration which "comprehensibility," ofthecomposer hiscritics' was alwaysa majorconcern accusadespite "If comprehensibility is made difficult in one tions to thecontrary. "it must be made easier in some otherrespect. respect,"he writes, to comprehendin new music are the chords,the melodic Difficult a form and theirprogression. Therefore should be chosen intervals hand a familiar the other reducedifficulties thatwill on byproviding It is unlikely, thatbythisSchoenberg of unfolding."40 however, type thepast meantto suggestthathe would simplytakehis modelsfrom and he allow their he them that would as found problematic just ofthenewlanguagetogo unquestioned. toelements For relationship he simplyabanthiswould requireus to assume thatwithserialism which had been so of expressive doned his aesthetic "truthfulness," decisivein shaping his musical visionduringtheprewaryearsand
38 "An important me and thepolytonalists, thefolklorists difference between and all the otherswho elaborateupon folktunes, dances,and thelike in a homophonicstyle (Stravinsky, Milhaud, the English, Americansand the rest)is thattheyseek the solution by means of a at thestart historicalparallel,whereasI had foundthatsolutionright simplybyheedingthe for form." This unpublished noteof and feeling at handand goingalong withmyfantasy matter is listedbyRufer as D.34, withthetitle"Polytonalists." Schoenberg's 39 Rosen,p. 98. 40 "Old Formsin New Music," unpublished, D.64 (author'stranslation). Rufer,
37 "A Self-Analysis," Styleand Idea, p. 76.
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whose essence is its radicallycriticalrelationshipwith respectto inherited conventions. Such an assumptionseemstohave beenmade thewarSchoenberg turned his back byRosen,who believesthatafter in order to on his immediate the of past recapture "security" ClassiRosen finds in the music's of surface" evidencefor "smoothness cism; thisNeo-Classicalorientation. Here again, however, disimportant are overlooked. The purposeof smoothsurfaces tinctions in Classiboththeform cismis torender and thestructural transparent process; in Stravinsky, forreasonsalreadydescribed, thischaracteristic is very muchexaggerated: construction and musicalresult are madeequivaholds: forall thatan lent.In regardto Schoenberg, just thecontrary is revivedin twelve-tone elementof construction composition,the audible musical surface is one thatwill disguiseor runcounterto it. in the under-articulation This can be felteverywhere: of phrasebeginningsand endings,theobscuringof sharp rhythmic profiles (by meansofcomplementary all thevoices),the rhythms spreadthrough avoidance of metric-harmonic of moemphasis,and a presentation tives and themes that remains elusive. Even the convenintervallically tionalseparation of themusic'sthematic moments from thosewhich should be consideredmorestrictly formalis overridden. A rigorous applicationof theprincipleofAusgleich("equalizing-out")ensures momentwill be of substance:"a transition, thatevery a codetta, an should not be considered a as thing in itsown end."4' elaboration, etc., Werethisto be permitted, themusic'sconstruction would come too In thisrespect, close to thesurface. notethecontrast withStravinsky, forwhom it is important to revealtheformal functions thatSchoenwishes to will call a of musical berg disguise. Stravinsky variety resources into play to articulatesuch functions and underlinetheir gestural quality.42 The Neo-Classicalstriving for formal and closure,the completion cadence thatcomes in spite of everything, hopes to securemusic's It was an effort muchdiscredited emancipationfrom subjectivism. by WhatFrankKermode, in his The Senseofan Ending,has Schoenberg. describedas a consonance of ends with beginnings,thatessential "fiction"by which is assertedthe aesthetic autonomyof the work,
42 Forexample: theribbons ofscalesand thetrilled chordswhich,in theOctet,prepare the introduction's cadenceon thedominant(between cues 4 and 6); or, in thePiano Concerto, the hushedchordswithwhichthepiano submits to thefinal oftheopening march suddenly reprise theme(at cue 86).
41 "BrahmstheProgressive," Styleand Idea, p. 407.
540
could no longer be taken for grantedby the progressive musical of our age. In theabsenceof any othersolution,one could thinker thepast:as thecantataDer neueKlassizismus borrow itfrom certainly No. so "the main thingis theresoluobserves, 3) derisively (Op. 28, in the of face a musical substancewhich no longer tion," flung it.Yetitis evident, inclinestoward had difficulty too,thatSchoenberg and theearliertwelve-tone withtheproblemof completion, works, to be mostpatently no thosethought offer more than Neo-Classical, solutions. For example, the Overture of Suite, Opus 29, tentative itself withblatant contents the parodiesofI-IV-V-Icadentialpatterns, Wind Quintet,Opus 26, witha revivalof the FirstChamberSymand conjoinedfourths patterns gathered up into phony'swhole-tone the Third with a and StringQuartet closing formulas, nostalgic Ifan overalldrivetoward compleclosingallusion toC major-minor. of melodic and rhythmic tion is not absent fromthe patterning in manyinstances formal is showntobe problematic closure elements, or else thatwhichcan onlybe hintedat in thebackward look. While "in all thedirections ofsubstantive filling-out Schoenberg's principle theintegrity ofevery musical in whichthemusicexpands"guarantees be made at thesame timeensuringthatharmonictonality moment, it is also thatwhichwill inevitably to theform, rob irrelevant totally the music of purelyformalpurpose and hence of the unequivocal which makesultimate endingspossible. IrvingHowe directionality writer whatcan also be said ofSchoenberg: not has said ofthemodern can he will whether answers be us found, present anylongerknowing with them "he offers his as the struggle only with his dilemmas; his workpossesses... and whatever ofhis testimony, substance unity thethrust toward of theemotionalrhythm, comesfrom completion, Kafka it becomes hard to believe not only in that struggle.After answersbutevenin endings."43 as one who vainlysoughtto Stravinsky appeared to Schoenberg had alreadyleft which history emulate Classical Formvollendung hisapparentNeo-Classicalconversion, behind.Yetdespite Stravinsky in reviving theformal interest showedlittle developedby procedures all he Haydn and Beethoven.As he admitsin his Autobiography, which or in foundusefulin thepast wereits form categories genres
and theArts(New York, to The Idea oftheModernin Literature 43 EditorialIntroduction 1967),p. 30.
Neo-Classicism
541
whichcould serve had accumulateda collectionofidiomsand effects him as concretematerial.Thus he has no compunctionin saying, thatitis "in thequalityofhis musicalmaterial about Beethoven, and ofhis ideas that his true It notin thenature should be greatness lies.'44" that the third for movement of his Piano instance, quite evident, of Beethoven'sF-major Sonata, Sonata uses the second movement Opus 54, as "material"in exactlythatsense,quite dissociatedfrom "ideas" of formal elaboration. Beethoven's From Schoenberg's have position thisapproach would certainly toseethehistorical little tocommendit,butwe arerequired outsider's manners did little senseofthepast (one thattheadoptionofFrench to whole from a different if the is not angle change) quite phenomenon A recent toappearwithout anymeaningwhatsoever. analysisbyErnst oftheOctetfor WindInstruments45 is helpfulin thisregard, Waeltner contrivedto apply the rhythmic forit shows how Stravinsky and harmonicprinciplesdevelopedin his earlier"Russian" worksto the contexthe adopted. Waeltnerdoes not go so faras to new stylistic the effect to such principlesthevarious describe gained byattaching had pulled out ofhis historical isolatedmaterials Stravinsky forages. is one ofwitnessing a processbywhichtheformal The effect, namely, ofClassicismare deliberately insideout. Classicism's turned precepts varied but and coordinated texturally harmonically proportionately flowis now replacedby one thatremainsobstinately uniform while of itsseveraltextural and harmoniclevelsis pulled thecoordination Tonal tendencies out ofphase or otherwise inherent in the disrupted. elementsmay certainly be given some scope fordevelopborrowed butthelargemusicalstructure ment orreinterpretation, is determined than by imposed timeframes, less by thesetendencies whose meaare meticulously calculated fromwithout, surements and to which aremade tosubmit. such tendencies ofwhatwe Stravinsky's discovery as an essentially cinematic method can now recognize makesitspoint in beingapplied to familiar-sounding In thiscontext, materials. the forformalcompletionneed no longerbe traditional requirements relevant. considered insists Indeed,whatStravinsky upon in speaking
An Autobiography (New York,1962),p. 117. 44Igor Stravinsky: Schluss-Rhythmus, 45 Ernst Waeltner, "Aspekte zum Neoklassizismus Strawinskys: im Finale des Bliiser-Oktetts iiberdenInternationalen Thema und Grundriss 1923,"in Bericht Bonn, 1970,ed. Carl Dahlhaus (Kassel, 1973),265-74. Musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress
542
moreoften towards of "convergence is realized repose"46 byan exquior end of the "fade-out" (the Octet), by a more sitelygraduated ofthetime flow ritualistic a magnifinear-arrest affirmativeand through oftheSymphocationofitsunderlying pulse (the"coda-apotheosis" of Psalms). nies of Wind Instruments, Apollo, and the Symphony motion of accelerating have much to do withtheresolution Neither of work. the a Classical thatcharacterizes ending it is questionablewhether, as E. T. Cone All thingsconsidered, in to we are meant discover an Stravinsky's procedures suggests, Rather do we find of for those ourselves Classicism.47 "analogue" offamiliar elements now transposed on thefate toa stylistic reflecting Theirconsequent"estrangement" in common, has little newcontext. with what Brechtmeantby "alienation," a device whose however, of whatwe already purposeit is to help us gain a criticalviewpoint ofold masters thinkwe know.Stravinsky's compulsive recomposing to the a new has as itspurposenot reveal pastin lightbutto subjectit In sum, while refusing to thedemandsof thepresent. Schoenberg's rooted also bypassed the historically opennessto thefuture, Stravinsky stilled Like the disturbingly Neo-Classical programof restoration. in thepaintantique columnsand Renaissancearchitectural fagades to tothepastin Stravinsky serve ingsofDe Chirico,musicalreferences remindus ofour immediate predicaments.
46 Poeticsof Music in theFormof Six Lessons (New York,1956), pp. 37-38. 47 E. T. Cone, "The Uses of Convention,"p. 29.

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Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Neo-Classicism: The Issues Reexamined Author(s): Alan Lessem Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol.

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33 "Problemsof Harmony,"Styleand Idea, p. 279.

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41 "BrahmstheProgressive," Styleand Idea, p. 407.

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