Re: Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer as Jew

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

"Moses und Aron" is at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC in February.
Anyone going?

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: JeffSchan (at) aol(dot)com <JeffSchan (at) aol(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Thursday, December 31, 1998 2:54 AM
Subject: Arnold Schoenberg: The Composer as Jew


>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
>