Pierrot Lunaire - wikipedia Pierrot Lunaire For other uses, see Pierrot Lunaire ( disambiguation ). Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds `` Pierrot lunaire '' ( `` Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud 's ' Pierrot lunaire ' '' ), commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 ( `` Moonstruck Pierrot '' or `` Pierrot in the Moonlight '' ), is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg. It is a setting of 21 selected poems from Otto Erich Hartleben 's German translation of the Belgian poet Albert Giraud 's cycle of French poems of the same name. The première of the work, which is between 35 and 40 minutes in length, was at the Berlin Choralion - Saal on October 16, 1912, with Albertine Zehme as the vocalist. Davids Steaks The narrator ( voice - type unspecified in the score, but traditionally performed by a soprano ) delivers the poems in the Sprechstimme style. Schoenberg had previously used a combination of spoken text with instrumental accompaniment, called `` melodrama '', in the summer - wind narrative of the Gurre - Lieder, which was a fashionable musical style popular at the end of the nineteenth century. The melodrama is in atonal form, yet does not use Schoenberg 's twelve - tone technique. The composition is among Schoenberg 's most celebrated and frequently performed works. The instrumentation of the piece, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano ( with standard doublings and in this case with the addition of a vocalist ), has subsequently been named after Schoenberg 's composition and is now referred to as a Pierrot ensemble. Contents 1 History 2 Structure 3 Music 4 2.1 Nacht 4.1 Pitch structures 4.2 Formal structure 4.3 Musical structure to extramusical elements 5 Notable recordings 6 Legacy as a standard ensemble 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links History External video Two Clowns : Pierrot Meets Petrushka, 3 : 50, IsraeliChambrProject, Morgan Library The work originated in a commission by Zehme for a cycle for voice and piano, setting a series of poems by the Belgian writer Albert Giraud. The verses had been first published in 1884, and later translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben. Schoenberg began on March 12 and completed the work on July 9, 1912, having expanded the forces to an ensemble consisting of flute ( doubling on a piccolo ), clarinet ( doubling on bass clarinet ), violin ( doubling on viola ), cello, and piano. After forty rehearsals, Schoenberg and Zehme ( in Columbine dress ) gave the premiere at the Berlin Choralion - Saal on October 16, 1912. Reaction was mixed. According to Anton Webern, some in the audience were whistling and laughing, but in the end `` it was an unqualified success ''. There was some criticism of blasphemy in the texts, to which Schoenberg responded, `` If they were musical, not a single one would give a damn about the words. Instead, they would go away whistling the tunes ''. The show took to the road throughout Germany and Austria later in 1912. It was performed for the first time in America at the Klaw Theatre in New York City on February 4, 1923, with George Gershwin and Carl Ruggles in attendance. Structure `` Pierrot Lunaire '' consists of three groups of seven poems. In the first group, Pierrot sings of love, sex and religion ; in the second, of violence, crime, and blasphemy ; and in the third of his return home to Bergamo, with his past haunting him. Part One Mondestrunken ( Moondrunk ) Columbine Der Dandy ( The Dandy ) Eine blasse Wäscherin ( An Ethereal Washerwoman ) Valse de Chopin ( Chopin Waltz ) Madonna Der kranke Mond ( The Sick Moon ) Part Two Nacht ( Passacaglia ) ( Night ) Gebet an Pierrot ( Prayer to Pierrot ) Raub ( Theft ) Rote Messe ( Red Mass ) Galgenlied ( Gallows Song ) Enthauptung ( Beheading ) Die Kreuze ( The Crosses ) Part Three Heimweh ( Homesickness ) Gemeinheit ! ( Vulgarity ) Parodie ( Parody ) Der Mondfleck ( The Moonspot ) Serenade Heimfahrt ( Barcarole ) ( Homeward Bound ) O Alter Duft ( O Ancient Fragrance ) Schoenberg, who was fascinated by numerology, also makes great use of seven - note motifs throughout the work, while the ensemble ( with conductor ) comprises seven people. The piece is his opus 21, contains 21 poems, and was begun on March 12, 1912. Other key numbers in the work are three and 13 : each poem consists of 13 lines ( two four - line verses followed by a five - line verse ), while the first line of each poem occurs three times ( being repeated as lines seven and 13 ). Music Pierrot Lunaire uses a variety of classical forms and techniques, including canon, fugue, rondo, passacaglia and free counterpoint. The poetry is a German version of a rondeau of the old French type with a double refrain. Each poem consists of three stanzas of 4 + 4 + 5 lines, with line 1 a Refrain ( A ) repeated as line 7 and line 13, and line 2 a second Refrain ( B ) repeated for line 8. The instrumental combinations ( including doublings ) vary between most movements. The entire ensemble plays together only in the 11th, 14th and final 4 settings. The atonal, expressionistic settings of the text, with their echoes of German cabaret, bring the poems vividly to life. Sprechgesang, literally `` speech - singing '' in German, is a style in which the vocalist uses the specified rhythms and pitches, but does not sustain the pitches, allowing them to drop or rise, in the manner of speech. 21 Nacht Pitch structures This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2015 ) Everything in `` Nacht '' is generated from a ten - note motif, introduced in canon starting in the fourth bar. This piece predominantly uses the pitch collection ( 014 ). This collection gets introduced in the very first measure with the piano. If you take into account every note the piano plays in the first three measures you get an octatonic scale ( 0134679T ). This is just four groups of ( 014 ) transposed by T3. In measure 4, we see one set of ( 014 ) in the bass clarinet line. Whenever we see this pitch collection it is usually in one of two rhythms. The first, as illustrated by the bass clarinet in measure 4, is three half notes. Later it shows up as three quarter notes, simply a compressed version of the original. The other rhythm is three eighth notes, usually this comes in groups of three. For example, in measure 8 the bass clarinet has the collection three times, each time as an eighth note rest followed by three eighth notes. If you look at that measure as a whole, and any other time this pattern shows up, we see that the second group is transposed from the first by T4. The third group of notes is transposed from the first group by T1. Thus, the entire measure is actually using ( 014 ), not just in each group, but within each group. In other words, if you take the first note of each three you get ( 014 ), if you take the second note of each you get ( 014 ), and if you take the third note you also get ( 014 ). For the first two stanzas of text, we only ever see ( 014 ) transposed by various Tx. Starting in the third stanza, we begin to see inversions of ( 014 ). In measure 19, the right hand in the piano starts off with an inversion of ( 014 ) and then goes to a transposition of ( 014 ). This continues on for the entirety of the run in both hands of the piano. Formal structure This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2015 ) Following a brief introduction, the movement falls into three strophes of seven, six, and seven bars, with section breaks occurring at measures 11 and 17, articulated by a change of tempo to etwas rascher for the second strophe, and back again to the initial tempo for the third. These follow the stanzas of the poem, and are followed by a coda. The first strophe is canonic in four voices ; the second is also canonic, but in just three voices ; the third strophe consists of a rapid succession of ambiguous canonic fragments. Although the pitch - class sets are virtually the same throughout the whole movement, each section has distinct musical elements that differentiate them from each other. When looking at the transition from the first section to the second section, a couple important changes take place. First, the tempo marking `` Etwas rascher '' marks an increase in speed and rhythmic energy. This is further exaggerated by the increased rhythmic density in the piano, clarinet, and cello parts. In addition to the rhythmic changes, the registers of the cello, piano, and vocal lines are notably higher in the second section. The third section returns to the original tempo, and the register and rhythmic density change again to closely resemble the first section. This analysis provides evidence for organizing the piece into an ABA ' form, as the first and last sections have many similar elements while the middle section differs substantially. However, because of the pitch - class set similarities, the argument could be made for a quasi theme - and - variation organization, with A, A ', and A sections. Musical structure to extramusical elements This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2015 ) Expressionism is a modernist movement that began in Germany and Austria in the early twentieth century. Schoenberg, Austrian in descent, was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art. Being from Austria at this time, his music was often labeled as degenerate music since Schoenberg is Jewish. Expressionistic music is dominated by dissonance rather than consonance, and can create an `` unsettling '' feeling among its listeners For many, expressionistic music meant a rejection of the past and an acceptance of the innovative, unfamiliar future. The text of `` Nacht '' can be described as ominous, and depicts the wings of black moths covering the sun. These views are characteristic of expressionistic poetry. `` Nacht '' also employs the occasional use of word painting through his music where he uses the music to illustrate the literal meaning of a particular word ( 4 ). These text expressions make general associations between the text and musical setting. This can be seen with the word `` duft '' translating to `` scent '' in measure 12. The full poetic phrase `` Steigt ein Duft '' means `` arises a scent, '' and this is depicted by a leap upwards in voice from A to G ♭. Likewise, the word `` verschwiegen '' loosely translates to `` mutely '' or `` hushed '', and is performed by conventional singing rather than Sprechstimme, along with prolonged silence with a fermata, though the word more precisely means `` discreetly '' or `` closed - mouthed ''. Notable recordings Notable recordings of this composition include : Sprechstimme Ensemble Conductor Record Company Year of Recording Format Erika Stiedry - Wagner Arnold Schoenberg Columbia Records 1940 LP Helga Pilarczyk Members of the Conservatory Society Concert Orchestra Pierre Boulez Ades 1961 CD Bethany Beardslee Columbia Chamber Ensemble Robert Craft Columbia / CBS 1963 LP Jan DeGaetani Contemporary Chamber Ensemble Arthur Weisberg Nonesuch 1970 LP Cleo Laine Nash Ensemble Elgar Howarth RCA Red Seal Records LP Yvonne Minton Ensemble InterContemporain Pierre Boulez Sony Music 1977 LP Barbara Sukowa Schoenberg Ensemble Reinbert de Leeuw Koch Schwann CD Jane Manning Nash Ensemble Simon Rattle Chandos 1991 CD Phyllis Bryn - Julson New York New Music Ensemble Robert Black GM Recordings CD Phyllis Bryn - Julson Ensemble Modern Peter Eötvös BMG CD Karin Ott Cremona Musica Insieme Pietro Antonini Nuova Era CD Christine Schäfer Ensemble InterContemporain Pierre Boulez Deutsche Grammophon CD Anja Silja Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble Robert Craft Naxos 1999 CD Arnold Schoenberg himself made test recordings of the music with a group of Los Angeles musicians from September 24 to 26, 1940. These recordings were eventually released on LP by Columbia Records in 1949, and reissued in 1974 on the Odyssey label. The avant - pop star Björk, known for her interest in avant - garde music, performed Pierrot Lunaire at the 1996 Verbier Festival with Kent Nagano conducting. According to the singer in a 2004 interview, `` Kent Nagano wanted to make a recording of it, but I really felt that I would be invading the territory of people who sing this for a lifetime. '' Only small recorded excerpts ( possibly bootlegs ) of her performance have become available. The jazz singer Cleo Laine recorded Pierrot Lunaire in 1974. Her version was nominated for a classical Grammy Award. Another jazz singer who has performed the piece is Sofia Jernberg, who sang it with Norrbotten NEO. In March 2011, Bruce LaBruce directed a performance at the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin. This interpretation of the work included gender diversity, castration scenes and dildos, as well as a female to male transgender Pierrot. LaBruce subsequently filmed this adaptation as the 2014 theatrical film Pierrot Lunaire. Legacy as a standard ensemble Main article : Pierrot ensemble The quintet of instruments used in Pierrot Lunaire became the core ensemble for The Fires of London, who formed in 1965 as `` The Pierrot Players '' to perform Pierrot Lunaire, and continued to concertize with a varied classical and contemporary repertory. This group performed works arranged for these instruments and commissioned new works especially to take advantage of this ensemble 's instrumental colors, up until it disbanded in 1987. Over the years, other groups have continued to use this instrumentation professionally ( current groups include Da Capo Chamber Players, eighth blackbird ) and the Finnish contemporary group Uusinta Lunaire, and have built a large repertoire for the ensemble. Notes Jump up ^ Neighbour 2001. Jump up ^ Dunsby 1992, 2. Jump up ^ Quoted in Winiarz. Jump up ^ Quoted in Hazlewood. Jump up ^ Rosen 1996, 51 -- 52. Jump up ^ Puffett 2006, 5 ^ Jump up to : Luis Simmonds ( 2014 ). `` Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21, No. 8 `` Nacht '' ( 1912 ) ``. https://prezi.com/w0hqwtt0xv50/pierrot-lunaire-op-21-no-8-nacht-1912/. Listening to Expressionist music might be unsettling. External link in website = ( help ) ; Missing or empty url = ( help ) ^ Jump up to : Byron, Avior ( February 2006 ). `` The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot lunaire : Sprechstimme Reconsidered ''. Music Theory Online. Society for Music Theory. Retrieved August 16, 2011. Jump up ^ http://lostsongs.bjorkish.net/pierrotlunaire/ Jump up ^ Pierrot Lunaire at the Berlin International Film Festival. Jump up ^ Goodwin, Noël. `` Fires of London ''. In L. Root, Deane. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Kozinn, Allan. `` World Premieres, Sure, but Room for Older New Music Too, '' The New York Times, November 23, 2006. Jump up ^ Riley, Paul. `` High - flying Quality, '' BBC Magazine, September 1, 2007. Jump up ^ http://www.uusinta.com/uusintalunaireE.html References Bryn - Julson, Phyllis, and Paul Mathews. 2009. Inside Pierrot lunaire : Performing the Sprechstimme in Schoenberg 's Masterpiece. Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8108 - 6205 - 0 ( pbk ) ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 8108 - 6225 - 8 ( ebook ). Byron, Avior. `` The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot Lunaire ''. accessed May 1, 2008. Byron, Avior. 2006 -- 07. `` Pierrot Lunaire in Studio and in Broadcast : Sprechstimme, Tempo and Character ''. Journal of the Society of Musicology in Ireland 2 : 69 -- 91. ( accessed October 29, 2008 ). Dunsby, Jonathan. 1992. Schoenberg : Pierrot Lunaire. Cambridge University Press. Goodwin, Noël. `` Fires of London ''. In L. Root, Deane. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. ( subscription required ) Hazlewood, Charles. 2006. Discovering Music. BBC Radio 3 ( June 24 ). Neighbour, Oliver W. 2001. `` Schoenberg, Arnold ( Franz Walter ) ''. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London : Macmillan Publishers. Puffett, Kathryn. 2006. `` Structural Imagery : Pierrot Lunaire Revisited ''. Tempo 60, no. 237 ( July ) : 2 -- 22. Rosen, Charles. 1996. Arnold Schoenberg, with a new preface. Chicago : university of Chicago Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 72643 - 4. Winiarz, John. Schoenberg -- Pierrot Lunaire : an Atonal Landmark April 1, 2000 accessed July 23, 2006. Further reading Argentino, Joe. 2012. `` Serialism and Neo-Riemannian Theory : Transformations and Hexatonic Cycles in Schoenberg 's Modern Psalm Op. 50c ''. Intégral 26 : 123 -- 58. Gillespie, Jeffrey L. 1992. `` Motivic Transformations and Networks in Schoenberg 's ' Nacht ' from Pierrot Lunaire ''. Intégral 6 : 34 -- 65. Gingerich, Katrina ( 2012 ). `` The Journey of the Song Cycle : From ' The Iliad ' to ' American Idiot ' '', Musical Offerings : Vol. 1 : No. 2, Article 3. Available at http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol1/iss2/3. Lambert, Philip. 2000. `` On Contextual Transformations ''. Perspectives of New Music 38, no. 1 ( Winter ) : 45 -- 76. Metzer, David. 1994. `` The New York Reception of Pierrot Lunaire : The 1923 Premiere and Its Aftermath ''. The Musical Quarterly 78, no. 4 ( Winter ) : 669 -- 99. Roig - Francolí, Miguel A. 2001. `` A Theory of Pitch - Class - Set Extension in Atonal Music ''. College Music Symposium 41 : 57 -- 90. External links Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project ( IMSLP ) Manuscript of the score at the Arnold Schönberg center Luna Nova New Music Ensemble : Arnold Schoenberg 's Pierrot Lunaire A Study Guide featuring a complete performance Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien Austrian ensemble for contemporary music The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive Created and maintained by Emily Ezust : the original text and translations in English and other languages. Arnold Schoenberg Orchestral Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5 Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38 Concertante Violin Concerto, Op. 36 Piano Concerto, Op. 42 Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra ( 1933 ) Chamber String quartets ( 1897, Opp. 7, 10, 30, 37 ) Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 Wind Quintet, Op. 26 Instrumental Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11 Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19 Suite for Piano, Op. 25 Zwei Klavierstücke, Op. 33 Opera Erwartung, Op. 17 Die glückliche Hand, Op. 18 Moses und Aron ( 1930 - 32 ) Von heute auf morgen, Op. 32 Oratorio Gurre - Lieder ( 1900 - 1911 ) Die Jakobsleiter ( 1917 - 22 ) Prelude to Genesis Suite, Op. 44 A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46 Vocal Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, Op. 15 ( 1908 / 09 ) Herzgewächse, Op. 20 Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 Four Orchestral Songs, Op. 22 Other pages Expressionist music Sprechstimme Students Neoclassicism 6 - 20 6 - Z44 List of compositions by Arnold Schoenberg BNF : cb13918857f ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pierrot_Lunaire&oldid=809570378 '' Categories : 1912 compositions Atonal compositions by Arnold Schoenberg Compositions with a narrator Hidden categories : CS1 errors : external links Pages using web citations with no URL Pages containing links to subscription - only content All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2013 Articles needing additional references from April 2015 All articles needing additional references All articles that may contain original research Articles that may contain original research from April 2015 All articles lacking reliable references Articles lacking reliable references from April 2015 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2011 Works with IMSLP links Articles with International Music Score Library Project links Articles containing German - language text Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Español Français 한국어 Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Português Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 9 November 2017, at 23 : 45. 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Question: pierrot lunaire is based on a cycle of poems written by
Answer: Albert Giraud