Musical Examples

n     Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951): Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, Part 1 – I. Mondestrunken

Schoenberg and Berg are the chief representatives in music of expressionism. Schoenberg had contact with, and a great deal of admiration for, the expressionist painters and writers.  Schoenberg himself painted in an Expressionist style.  These ideals can be seen in the dark and dreamlike atmosphere conveyed in Pierrot lunaire.  The kinds of internal conflicts are played out in exquisite musical detail.

n     Alban Berg (1885-1935): Wozzeck (1922), Act II, Scene 4 – Er! Sie! Teufel!

Another example of subjectivity is found in Act II scene 4 when Wozzeck wanders into a local tavern where people are drinking, singing, and dancing a bizarre polka. It is not a normal dance, but one highly distorted by atonal harmonies.  It is reminiscent of the distorted waltz when Wozzeck discovered Marie dancing lustfully with the Drum Major.  Although diatonic, it is surrounded by atonal harmonies, which function to distort any resemblance of key.

n     Alban Berg (1885-1935): Wozzeck (1922), Act III, Scene 4 – Das Messer?Wo ist das Messer?

Berg’s Wozzeck is considered as the outstanding example of expressionist opera.  The greatest example occurs in the drowning scene of Act III, scene 4.  He exclaims in Sprechstimme, "All is still and dead.  Marie! What is that crimson necklace you're wearing?”  At the top of his range, at fortissimo, he screams, "Murder! Murder!"  And suddenly he notices the moon rising bloody red.  This scene seems to be a direct parallel with Munch's The Scream, complete with blood red sky, the anguished face, and the screaming visual expression.