Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer as Jew

[JeffSchan <JeffSchan...>]

I was always a bit dubious about Schoenberg's "Jewish content" until I heard
his opera "Moses und Aron."  Although the 12-tone style doesn't exactly lend
itself to traditional Jewish music, there was something deeply Jewish about
that work, something that I can't really describe in words.

And let's not forget that the Nazis denounced the entire 12-tone system as
"Jewish degenerate art."  Certainly, we should not use the Nazis as a criteria
for what is Jewish music or not, but to me there is something very Jewish
about being radically innovative.

Jeffrey Schanzer