Verklärte Nacht

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Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 ("Transfigured Night", 1899), a string sextet in one movement, is regarded as the earliest important work of Arnold Schoenberg. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's poem of the same name, about a man and a woman walking through a forest on a moonlit night. It is often referred to by its French translation, La Nuit transfigurée.

Schoenberg, a leader in the early 20th-century movement towards atonality and father of the twelve tone technique, is perhaps better known for the impenetrability of his later works. Many listeners are therefore surprised by the plain beauty and sonority of Verklärte Nacht. The piece derives its lineage from German post-Romanticism. Schoenberg, writing in Vienna, was heavily influenced by Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner. This is evidenced, for example, by the work's use of chromaticism (compare to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde) and in the disconnection of phrases from measure boundaries (a Brahms influence). Schoenberg maintains a rich musicality throughout the work, with just a few hints at his future atonal endeavors.

The single movement comprises five sections that correspond to the structure of the poem on which it is based, with themes in each section being direct musical metaphors for the narrative and discourse found in the poem. As such, the piece is one of the first examples of program music written for a chamber ensemble.

The original score called for two violins, two violas and two cellos. In 1917, Schoenberg produced an arrangement for string orchestra (which was popular for composers to do at the time), and further revised in 1943. The string orchestra version is the most often recorded and performed. The work also served as the basis for several ballets.

Verklärte Nacht was controversial when it premiered in 1902. This may have been due to the modern (for that time) sound of chromaticism flirting with atonality, as well as Dehmel's explicit (for that time) references to sexual themes in his poem. The piece is also notable because much of the work lacks a true tonal key center even though it is clearly a tonal work using traditional chords built in thirds.

[edit] Related works

Erwin Schulhoff, Sextet for Two Violins, Two Violas and Two Cellos, 1923 (classical)
Antony Tudor, Pillar of Fire, 1942 (ballet)
Milton Babbitt Transfigured Notes, 1986 (string orchestra)
Gary Lucas, Verklarte Kristallnacht, 1988 (alternative rock/pop)
John Zorn, Kristallnacht, 1993 (alternative rock/pop)
Raffaella Giordano, Transfigured Night, 1998 (contemporary dance)
Björk, "Hidden Place" from the album Vespertine, 2001 (electronica)
Tero Saarinen, Transfigured Night, 2002 (ballet)

[edit] References

Grout, Donald J. and Palisca, Claude V., A History of Western Music, 4th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1988)
Randel, Don Michael, ed., The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986)
Schoenberg Voice Recording: My evolution (transcript). USC Archives. Retrieved on 09 November 2005.
Symphony program features Viennese Music at its Finest. The Pensacola News Journal. Retrieved on 09 November 2005.
Why We're Still Afraid of Schoenberg. The Lebrecht Weekly. Retrieved on 09 November 2005.