Arnold Schoenberg: Jakobsleiter (Excerpt)

World premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's (1874-1951) oratorio "Die Jakobsleiter" in Vienna, 1961.

[@wesleyan97]

It's posts like this that keep me coming back to youtube.

[@blumedersahara]

Ich kannte zwar schon einiges von Schönberg, aber dieses Stück mit dieser einmaligen besetzung ist echt super! Sorry for all the people who can't understand what they are singing/saying! If you like this is can say: see,/hear "A Survivor from Warsaw" it is creepy but great an in englisch(most of it)! Thanks for that video!

[@SeadogDriftwood]

I really wish I could have heard more of this, or better still, seen the libretto. From what I've heard, I'm immensely impressed by Schoenberg's reconciliation of his natural sense of unyielding logic, the deeply intuitive soul-searching of Late Romanticism, and his sense of drama, which can be heard in the sharply ironic "Ohne zu frage?" ("No Questions?"), spoken just like a lecturer or teacher. Sure, the first 2 are in his other works from before this period, but paired with the drama here…!

[@lloydarriola3481]

What a fascinating work--and a treasure indeed to see Kubelik at the helm. And yes--where is the rest of the work?

[@Ericstlaurent]

thanks so much for this. you just made my day.

[@intervalkid]

It's true too. "Verklarte Nacht" is very reminiscent of some of Beethovens later string quartets. Of course he got more and more dissonant and atonal as he progressed. I would consider "Verklarte Nacht" (one of my favorite pieces of all time) to be more of a trans-tonal piece as it does employ keys, they just are constantly in flux so that they change every 2-8 beats or so. Schonberg is definitely the most important composer of the 20th century.

[@Ygnr22]

No.

[@henrygingercat]

Marvellous. Where's the rest of it?

[@TassiloDavid]

The real source of Verklaerte Nacht is not so much the late Beethoven quartets as the prelude to the third act of Parsifal.

[@katherinegoforth5903]

The cast is unbelievable, then add Kubelik??!!

[@h.harrison5841]

Thank you. Let's hear the the whole thing.

[@cnmaster01]

@DannyDaWriter Berg is one of my all time favorites. The only one on that list that I am not intimately familiar with is Lulu and not for lack for trying. Wozzeck was one of the best opera going experiences I've ever had, and between that and my copy of the score, I must Imagine Lulu could only be even greater.

[@cnmaster01]

@akeefe Alban Berg deserves alot more respect than he gets. standing as the last true romantics and one of the first serialists, he is snubbed by serialists for his loyalty to tonality and snubbed by the tonal school for being a serialist. And so, while his work should be winning over skeptics in the public eye, instead few people know him as anything other than "that guy who wrote Wozzeck"

[@clapton1958]

@Chicklo11 Well to be fair the man died 39 years before I was born, but part of my degree involves looking very closely at Schoenberg's work, so I'd say his memory will last for a fair while yet.

[@NavinJohnson90]

What an innovator! Ich wünsche daß ich ihn verstehen kann.

[@MrJeffParks]

Mir wurde gesagt, dass "Jakobsleiter" ein gutes Beispiel für Schönbergs Nicht-Tonalitätsarbeit sei, aber ich finde es sehr atonal. (I was told that "Jakobsleiter" was a good example of Schönberg non-atonality works, but I find it to be very atonal. )

[@Elfenohr]

actually schönberg again and again stressed the point that his music is not as different or new as people always see it. at least, that's what you can find in his theoretical writings. and also, before he invented the 12-tone method, he composed atonally. just like many other composers around the world redefined tonality (e.g. scriabin's mystical chord which is basically a dominant chord which he just never dissolves). and really, besides harmony the music of schönberg is following tradition.

[@Elfenohr]

i would translate it for you if i had the text (or could actually understand what they are singing oO )

[@joznick1]

"pan-tonality" ?

[@cnmaster01]

@witness124 amen bother

[@chrisfactoryboi]

Its very organised and is written to very strict rules.

[@pu4124]

2:35

[@NavinJohnson90]

teach me.

[@Chicklo11]

@TintedReasoning not all music relies on shock, look at all this new rubbish, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry... Predictable, boring and unmemorable, while music like this piece shall last forever..

[@neger1872]

irgendwie schaurig... ich finde an sowas keinen gefallen.

[@altopark8372]

2:27

[@김재원-n8e]

2:30