FIVE ORCHESTRAL PIECES AND PELLEAS UND MELISANDE IN FULL SCORE
BY: ARNOLD SCHOENBERG

DESCRIPTION:
-PERHAPS MORE THAN ANY OTHER COMPOSER OF HIS TIME, ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874–1951) INFLUENCED THE COURSE OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSIC. HIS COMPOSITIONAL STYLE MOVED PROGRESSIVELY FROM LUSH, LATE WAGNERIAN CHROMATICISM TO A COMPLETE BREAK WITH TRADITIONAL TONALITY, LATER ORGANIZED THEORETICALLY AS 'COMPOSITION WITH TWELVE TONES.' THIS SYSTEMATIC CONTROL OF ALL PITCHES EVOLVED INTO A SIMILAR SERIALIZATION OF ALL OF MUSIC`S ELEMENTS — A REVOLUTIONARY ADVANCE THAT DOMINATED INTERNATIONAL COMPOSITION THROUGH MOST OF THIS CENTURY.

-THIS EDITION OF TWO OF SCHOENBERG`S MOST IMPORTANT ORCHESTRAL WORKS INVITES MUSIC LOVERS INTO THE FIRST STEPS OF THE REVOLUTION HE HELPED BRING ABOUT. THE SYMPHONIC POEM PELLEAS UND MELISANDE (1902), BASED ON MAURICE MAETERLINCK`S PLAY, REVEALS SCHOENBERG`S EXPANDING CHROMATIC LANGUAGE. THE FIVE ORCHESTRAL PIECES (1909) DEMONSTRATES THE COMPOSER`S DARING EXPLORATION OF A MUSIC THAT RENOUNCES MOTIVIC CONNECTIONS AS WELL AS TONALITY. BOTH OF THESE GROUNDBREAKING WORKS ARE PRESENTED HERE IN AUTHORITATIVE EDITIONS.

-REPRINT OF FIVE ORCHESTRAL PIECES, C. F. PETERS, LEIPZIG, 1912, AND PELLEAS UND MELISANDE, UNIVERSAL EDITION, VIENNA, 1912.