7 Arnold Schoenberg 7textbooks include Harmonielehre (“Theory of Harmony”;
1911), Models for Beginners in Composition (1942), Structural
Functions of Harmony (1954), Preliminary Exercises in Counter-
point (1963), and Fundamentals of Musical Composition (1967).
Evolution from Tonality
Until this period all of Schoenberg’s works had been
strictly tonal; that is, each of them had been in a specific
key, centred upon a specific tone. However, as his harmonies
and melodies became more complex, tonality became of
lesser importance. The process of “transcending” tonality
can be observed at the beginning of the last movement of
his Second String Quartet (1907–08).
On Feb. 19, 1909, Schoenberg finished his piano piece
Opus 11, No. 1, the first composition ever to dispense
completely with “tonal” means of organization. Such
pieces, in which no one tonal centre exists and in which
any harmonic or melodic combination of tones may be
sounded without restrictions of any kind, are usually called
atonal, although Schoenberg preferred “pantonal.”
Schoenberg’s most important atonal compositions include
Five Orchestral Pieces, Opus 16 (1909); the monodrama
Erwartung (Expectation), a stage work for soprano and
orchestra, Opus 17 (1924); Pierrot Lunaire, 21 recitations
(“melodramas”) with chamber accompaniment, Opus 21
(1912); Die glückliche Hand (The Hand of Fate), drama with
music, Opus 18 (1924); and the unfinished oratorio Die
Jakobsleiter (begun 1917).
Schoenberg’s earlier music was by this time beginning
to find recognition. On Feb. 23, 1913, his Gurrelieder (begun
in 1900) was first performed in Vienna. This gigantic can-
tata, which calls for unusually large vocal and orchestral
forces, represents a peak of the post-Romantic monumental