It's noticeable that the music of the twelve-note school which has become most acceptable to the general public is that in which the note-row is so constructed as to be fairly close to traditional tonality and/or mixes elements of traditional music into the composition. Berg inclined to adopt a free approach towards the (initial) strictures of Schoenberg's composing method. His Violin Concerto which is based on a fairly euphonious tone-row and includes a quotation from a Bach chorale has become almost popular.
It's interesting that Berg was , of 20th century composers, the one who was most admired by Britten (who had hoped to study with him ) and, rather surprisingly, Gershwin who, when he met Berg, became diffident and uncharachteristically reluctant to dash to the piano and play his own compositions for hours on end !
Pre his 12-tone phase, all Schoenberg to me sounds like an overdose of whipped cream. His later music makes my skin crawl - I've said for a long time that there's more music in a page of Rachmaninov than in all of Scoenberg's output. Then again, it's all 'Taste' and 'Sensibility'. My best friend adores Arnie baby, and hates my second favourite composer after Bach, namely, Herr Bruckner. My wife loves Proust and Murnane: I can't read more than half a page of either - give me JOhn Cheever, Alice Munro or Raymond Carver any day, Not to mention Dostoevsky. Which one, you ask - Fyodor, of course.
I'm not sure if your "Well, I certainly do" refers to the appreciation of Messrs. Birtwistle et al., or the whistling of Schoenberg's "tunes" in the bathroom, Eric.
As for the Havergal Brian paraphrase , I take from it that a composer who doesn't have a large audience cannot claim, with any conviction, that his day has arrived. Havergal Brian's music created a bit of a stir around forty years ago but I can't see that it has held a place in the repertoire. (A concert performance of his opera "The Cenci" which I attended I remember as being one of the most tedious evenings of my whole life).
I can't comment on how often Moses und Aron is staged as - and the reasons for this can be ascertained by referring to other recent threads - I take little interest in the staging of opera these days.
I do know, however, that when it was presented at Covent Garden back in the 1960s it probably smashed box-office records but this was largely due to the orgy scene where the participants appeared on stage in various states of undress.
It wasn't long before other opera-houses jumped onto the money-spinning bandwagon, especially when the repertoire being presented was one that might not, otherwise, guarantee sufficient audience attendance.
I recall seeing Ginastera's Bomarzo at ENO presented in such a way; from what I observed I would guess there must have been record use of the opera -glasses that used to be (maybe still are ) found on the backs of seats available for a few shillings' rent. Although Ginastera was capable of writing a good tune when he was in the mood not one such, as far as I recall, found its way into the score of Bomarzo.
When I've listened to my discs of Moses und Aron I suppose I've been surprised that I have found it more engaging than I'd expected. The Serenade is , as you'd expect from the title, lighter in character and I quite like it - just a matter of opinion.
I have been familiar with Schoenberg's music for around sixty years - an early "Prom" I attended had the Piano Concerto with Katharina Wolpe as soloist and Basil Cameron as conductor - but I've never really empathised with his music after he gave up on tonality. The fault is probably mine as I can't follow the convuluted working-out of note-rows in a piece as well as I can follow the progression of traditional harmony, melody and counterpoint.
As for singing his tunes in the bath, I'll stick to Oklahoma.
Well, I certainly do (and I'm not an accredited music theorist)- the clarinet melody from his (Schoenberg's) Serenade, the opening of his 3rd string quartet, parts of the violin concerto, large parts of the first chamber symphony, among them. To paraphrase an author who died a few years back, a composer (Havergal Brian was the referent at the time) doesn't necessarily need a -large- audience but that doesn't mean they don't have an audience.
And the "rarely performed" (not quoting you, quoting Welsh National Opera's website's archived promotional for their 2013/4 season performances) "Moses und Aron" seems actually to be staged rather often, though since I go to too few concerts, I have no way of knowing whether the seats are nearly-empty, or otherwise...
"All very interesting, Jeffrey - except the examples you mention are of contemporary opinions to new music. It does not need me to remind people of the words of Mahler, who effectively said ‘my time will come’ regarding his music. Perhaps one day people will laugh at how so few people appreciated the music of Birtwistle, Ades and Boulez during their lifetimes - however I am not sure I would"
That's true about Mahler, Ned but maybe people should be reminded that Schoenberg was of the opinion that, "One day", people would be singing his music in their bathrooms. It could well have been the case if you'd passed by the bathrooms of the late Hans Keller or Sir William Glock you might have caught the strains of Moses und Aron issuing forth but, generally speaking, what Schoenberg predicted hasn't happened and people still prefer Carmen.
As for Messrs. Birtwistle, Ades and Boulez there could come a time when their output gains a widespread appeal but I'm inclined to think that they will be numbered among those thousands of other composers in music history (maybe like Cecil Gray or Mason) who thought their own works of significance but whose day quickly passed and who are now hardly remembered at all.
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