Intervallic and Motivic Connections in the Last Song of Schoenberg’s Vocal Cycle Das Buch von den Hängenden Gärten

Abstract

One of the most significant works of Schoenberg’s atonal period is the vocal cycle set to poems by Stefan George, Das Buch von den Hangenden Garten. It is often thought that Schoenberg’s atonal language is amorphous and leads practically to a total departure from traditional form, structure and thematicism. There are two approaches towards examining the composer’s music from that period. One of them was best elaborated by German music theorist Theodor Adorno, who extolled Schoenberg’s atonal music for its bold break with all the formal constraints of the previous traditions. The other one is represented by set theory, developed by American music theorists. This theory emphasizes the structural organization inherent in Schoenberg’s music from that period, in which a lot of symmetrical elements of intervallic structure may be found despite the seeming complete stylistic freedom. This article presents an analysis of form, thematicism and intervallic correspondences in the last song of the vocal cycle, in which intervallic structure is analyzed with the use of set theory, while the free development of the composition, unfettered by traditional form, is examined from the perspectives of Adorno. Keywords: Arnold Schoenberg, atonality, Das Buch von den Hangenden Garten, Theodor Adorno, set theory.