A MOMENT I WILL REMEMBER
The Jewish Historical museum looked easy to find from where I was at the Hermitage. Even so I asked for directions and when I came to the forked street which had been indicated - took the wrong one. A very nice man put me back on track and there I was in front of the institute. Saturday and open. More than I can saw for the French one, as it is closed for Shabbat.
How many years ago could it be when my Mother introduced me to Arnold Schoenberg’s music? Half a life time ago I would think. It took me close to ten years to really appreciate modern music. If she could persuade me to go, Mother took me to every concert she went to. Later I subscribed for a year of concerts, first with Mother, then with Gianni and now alone. However, my tastes are changing again so perhaps next year the subscription will be limited. Bartok, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Eisler and others are still on my list, but are they « modern » today?
Schoenberg (1874-1951) was one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Many European and American composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whereas others have passionately reacted against it. During the rise of the Nazi Party in Austria, Schoenberg's works were labelled as degenerate music. Perhaps one thinks more about degenerate painting rather than music. I know a lot of my friends would still describe modern music in this way, even today!
A concert of Schoenberg's music in Munich in 1911 inspired Kandinsky to paint the near-abstract composition Impression III that same evening. This concert also led Kandinsky to invite Schoenberg to participate in the first exhibition of the artists' group Der Blaue Reiter. Schoenberg is relatively unknown for his painting. He was a self-taught draughtsman and designer and, influenced by his friendship with the artist Richard Gerstl. He created an extensive body of visual art that deserves to be better known. I could add that Gerstl was his wife’s lover and when this came out into the open, he shot himself.
I knew that the relationship between Schoenberg and Kandinsky was fiery, passionate and came to the end before the 2nd world war when Schoenberg escaped to America - but it wasn’t his departure which caused the break up but the anti-Semitic feelings which were growing. What was so important for me was that musical evening in 1911 which inspired Kandinsky to move away from realistic paintings to pure abstract - and he never went back. His work has always been « musical » for me and the many books I have read on his life make him an artist who is top of my list. Some of Schoenberg’s work is interesting. His portraits which calls «visions » have penetrating eyes which could make one feel quite uncomfortable. He said he « saw right into the person » - somehow it looks like it.
The photos were taken from the few I found on Internet as once again, no photography was allowed.
How many years ago could it be when my Mother introduced me to Arnold Schoenberg’s music? Half a life time ago I would think. It took me close to ten years to really appreciate modern music. If she could persuade me to go, Mother took me to every concert she went to. Later I subscribed for a year of concerts, first with Mother, then with Gianni and now alone. However, my tastes are changing again so perhaps next year the subscription will be limited. Bartok, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Eisler and others are still on my list, but are they « modern » today?
Schoenberg (1874-1951) was one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Many European and American composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whereas others have passionately reacted against it. During the rise of the Nazi Party in Austria, Schoenberg's works were labelled as degenerate music. Perhaps one thinks more about degenerate painting rather than music. I know a lot of my friends would still describe modern music in this way, even today!
A concert of Schoenberg's music in Munich in 1911 inspired Kandinsky to paint the near-abstract composition Impression III that same evening. This concert also led Kandinsky to invite Schoenberg to participate in the first exhibition of the artists' group Der Blaue Reiter. Schoenberg is relatively unknown for his painting. He was a self-taught draughtsman and designer and, influenced by his friendship with the artist Richard Gerstl. He created an extensive body of visual art that deserves to be better known. I could add that Gerstl was his wife’s lover and when this came out into the open, he shot himself.
I knew that the relationship between Schoenberg and Kandinsky was fiery, passionate and came to the end before the 2nd world war when Schoenberg escaped to America - but it wasn’t his departure which caused the break up but the anti-Semitic feelings which were growing. What was so important for me was that musical evening in 1911 which inspired Kandinsky to move away from realistic paintings to pure abstract - and he never went back. His work has always been « musical » for me and the many books I have read on his life make him an artist who is top of my list. Some of Schoenberg’s work is interesting. His portraits which calls «visions » have penetrating eyes which could make one feel quite uncomfortable. He said he « saw right into the person » - somehow it looks like it.
The photos were taken from the few I found on Internet as once again, no photography was allowed.
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| Kandinsky 1926 |
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| Kandinsky - Composition lV - 1911 |
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| Self Portrait Schoenberg 1926-30 |
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| SCHOENBERG 1910 AND KANDINSKY AS ABOVE |
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