Sally Burgess, Pierrot Lunaire, 7.Der kranke Mond (The Sick Moon)

[@scottttbutcher]

Schoenberg wrote, "[be] acutely aware of the difference between singing tone and speaking tone. Singing tone unalterably stays on the pitch, whereas speaking tone gives the pitch but immediately leaves it again by falling or rising. Maintain the rhythm as accurately as singing [but] it must never be reminiscent of singing." Almost all (if not all) the videos of this song on KZbin maintain the pitch, especially on sustained notes. I have yet to hear a truly authentic performance.

[@marinapardocontralto]

Hear mine

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

I still don't know what possessed Schoenberg to write atonal music, let alone take on two students (Berg and Webern)

[@willtowers1532]

I think he just wanted to do something truly different and subversive, which he did. whether it's good or not is another question

[@FlorenceOfArabia1993]

I really hope this doesn't come up in the exam, I think my whole music set would go insane! No comparison question so that's a little better :/

[@Tennisisreallyfun]

I mean, this is a piece of music that could represent the pinnacle of sophistication, or the type of sophistication that no one can comprehend😂Kind of an oxymoron, eh? Beauty that no one cares about😉 And that’s okay! Not everyone is supposed to connect with music in the same way! Some people see this as a load of nonsense, a bag of notes irresponsibly heaped upon one another. As for me tho, I see something different. I purposefully did not see a translation of the lyrics, so I don’t understand a word of this song. But if I checked, I imagine they would go something like this: This is a moon that is absolutely moaning, not in agony, but in self-pity. A celestial object forced to rise and set above people below who care nothing about her, pitying her sick self up in her sorry state, with full knowledge that no one gives a damn. Am I right? Probably not, but I find it incredibly beautiful anyways. The soprano’s dreadful moaning connects in no way musically with the almost Egyptian feel of the flute below it, and yet meshed together, they create such a poignant, powerful sound!!! Just stunning…

[@Tennisisreallyfun]

Turns out my lyrical analysis is so off base it’s almost embarrassing. But I will not delete my comment. That’s the point of music, how it affects you individually, and in the unique moment in which you hear it once, or twice, or many times. It affected me, it invoked feelings of self-pity within me, and the agony that comes with it and I cannot explain why. Now that I know what the lyrics mean, I may think of my feelings in a different way. And that is okay too. It doesn’t mean I’m wrong and deserve to be shamed, it just means I’ve learned something new! What doesn’t change is the fact that I find this to be a very powerful type of music that I love deeply. While I love it, you may not love it, and both are equally fine.

[@theapollostudio]

9 PEOple does not know music