The Americanization of Arnold Schoenberg?. Theory, Analysis, and Reception

Abstract

This article surveys the reception of Arnold Schoenberg's theoretical ideas in English-language music theory, with a primary (though not exclusive) focus on their reception in the United States. William Rothstein has chronicled how Heinrich Schenker's ideas were modified to conform to the American music-theoretical discourse ("Americanization"). The question then arises: Were Schoenberg's theoretical ideas also similarly modified? After a preliminary overview of the availability of Schoenberg's theoretical writing in English translation, four topics in Schoenberg's thought are traced, with a focus on the postwar era: 1) harmony; 2) form; 3) thematic and motivic transformation; and 4) aesthetics. The American reception of Schoenberg's theoretical ideas has tended to focus on the music-technical dimension of his theoretical texts and has, to a significant extent, ignored the more philosophical and aesthetic aspects of his thought. It has tended to place emphasis on how music is structured and how that structure is unified; there has been less concern with why such unity is important in a broader sense.

The Reception and Dissemination of European Music Theories in Brazil. Riemann, Schenker, and Schoenberg

“…61 In this book, Dudeque extends the scope of his previous study to encompass all major aspects of Schoenberg's theories and analytical methodologies. 62 The concepts most thoroughly treated in Dudeque's book are the principles of Grundgestalt and developing variation. Both certainly represent the essence of Schoenberg's contribution to the theory of musical composition and emerge from a conception of organic musical creation.…”