Schönberg's approach, both in terms of harmony and development, has been one of the most influential of 20th-century musical thought. Many European and American composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whereas others have passionately reacted against it. During the rise of the Nazi Party in Austria, Schönberg's works were labelled as degenerate music.
Schönberg was known early in his career for simultaneously extending the traditionally opposed German Romantic styles of Brahms and Wagner. Later, his name would come to personify innovations in atonality (although Schönberg himself detested that term) that would become the most polemical feature of 20th-century art music. In the 1920s, Schönberg developed the twelve-tone technique, an influential compositional method of manipulating an ordered series of all twelve notes in the chromatic scale. He also coined the term developing variation, and was the first modern composer to embrace ways of developing motifs without resorting to the dominance of a centralized melodic idea.
Schönberg was also a painter, an important music theorist, and an influential teacher of composition; his students included Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Hanns Eisler, Egon Wellesz, and later John Cage, Lou Harrison, Earl Kim, Leon Kirchner, and other prominent musicians.
Many of Schönberg's practices, including the formalization of compositional method, and his habit of openly inviting audiences to think analytically, are echoed in avant-garde musical thought throughout the 20th century. His often polemical views of music history and aesthetics were crucial to many significant 20th-century musicologists and critics, including Theodor W. Adorno, Charles Rosen and Carl Dahlhaus, as well as the pianists Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin, Eduard Steuermann and Glenn Gould.
Waldemar "So tanzen die Engel vor Gottes Thron nicht"
Arnold Schönberg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wie die Welt nun tanzt vor mir.
So lieblich klingt ihrer Harfen Ton nicht
Wie Waldemars Seele dir.
Aber stolzer auch saß neben Gott nicht Christ
Nach dem harten Erlösungsstreite,
Als Waldemar stolz nun und königlich ist
An Tovelilles Seite.
Den Weg zu der Seligen Bund,
Als ich deinen Kuss, da ich Gurres Zinnen
Sah leuchten vom Oeresund.
Und ich tausch' auch nicht ihren Mauerwall
Und den Schatz, den treu sie bewahren,
Für Himmelreichs Glanz und betäubenden Schall
Und alle der Heiligen Scharen!
The lyrics of Arnold Schönberg's song "Waldemar" speak of the singer's admiration for the dancer, Waldemar. He says that even the angels around God's throne cannot dance as beautifully as Waldemar dances before him. The harp sounds of the angels do not sound as sweet as Waldemar's soul to him. Waldemar, who is proud and regal, is compared to Christ who sat beside God after the "hard battle of redemption". The spirits long to reach God, but the singer desires Waldemar's kiss, which he saw from Gurres Zinnen glowing from Oeresund. He would not trade the wall and treasure that they faithfully keep for heaven's beauty and the overwhelming sound of the Holy Hosts.
The song speaks of the intense desire and longing of the singer for Waldemar. The comparison to Christ shows how highly the singer holds Waldemar, elevating him to a higher realm. The singer's intense desire for Waldemar's kiss can be interpreted in many ways, perhaps a symbol of unrequited love or forbidden love. The song is highly romantic and passionate, with its use of religious imagery and allusions adding to its intensity.
Line by Line Meaning
So tanzen die Engel vor Gottes Thron nicht,
The angels do not dance in front of God's throne like the world dances before me.
Wie die Welt nun tanzt vor mir.
The way the world dances before me.
So lieblich klingt ihrer Harfen Ton nicht
Their harp's tone is not as lovely as Waldemar's soul to you.
Wie Waldemars Seele dir.
As lovely as Waldemar's soul to you.
Aber stolzer auch saß neben Gott nicht Christ
Christ did not sit as proudly next to God after the difficult struggle for redemption as Waldemar sits proudly and royally beside Tovelille.
Nach dem harten Erlösungsstreite,
After the difficult struggle for redemption.
Als Waldemar stolz nun und königlich ist
As proud and regal as Waldemar is now.
An Tovelilles Seite.
Beside Tovelille.
Nicht sehnlicher möchten die Seelen gewinnen
The souls do not desire anything more passionately than to gain entrance to the blessed community.
Den Weg zu der Seligen Bund,
The way to the blessed community.
Als ich deinen Kuss, da ich Gurres Zinnen
When I saw the light from Oeresund shining upon Gurres Zinnen and kissed you, I did not want anything more passionately.
Sah leuchten vom Oeresund.
Saw shining from Oeresund.
Und ich tausch' auch nicht ihren Mauerwall
I would not exchange their protective wall and the treasure they honestly keep for the dazzling splendor of the kingdom of heaven, the deafening sound, and all the hosts of saints!
Und den Schatz, den treu sie bewahren,
And the treasure they honestly keep.
Für Himmelreichs Glanz und betäubenden Schall
For the dazzling splendor of the kingdom of heaven and the deafening sound.
Und alle der Heiligen Scharen!
And all the hosts of saints!
Contributed by Penelope Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.