Arnold Schoenberg amidst the Struggle between Scientific Materialism and Spiritual Revival

Abstract

Post-war historiography has downplayed the spiritual dimension of modernist artists in order to present their work more favorably in a culture overshadowed by scientific materialism. Drawing from several sources, this paper reconstructs an interpretation of the context with which Schoenberg as an individual artist had to contend with. The first section sets the stage for understanding the struggle between scientific materialism and movements of spiritual revival. The second section deals directly with Schoenberg's case and addresses not only the criticisms directed against his music, but also tries to shed light on his problematic relation to Adorno and Thomas Mann. The concluding section argues that although Schoenberg’s public perception is strongly technical, as a composer he was pursuing aims that can only be made sense of if one is sensitive to his religious and spiritual context.