Schoenberg's monodrama Erwartung, op.17 (1909), appeared at the dawn of early Expressionism, a movement which profoundly affected the composer's early works. This movement dealt in part with the alienation and isolation of the self in what many artists considered a corrupt and degenerate society. The first part of this thesis examines the possible influences of the Expressionist and Symbolist traditions on Erwartung's text and, to a lesser extent, the early history of psychoanalysis, of which librettist Marie Pappenheim was certainly aware. The impact of the changes made by Schoenberg to Pappenheim's original text, as well as some of his elusive stage directions are given consideration. The composer and librettist created a text which effectively obscures the boundaries between the protagonist's conscious and unconscious thoughts, hence confusing the audience's perception of perception of reality and illusion. / Schoenberg parallels this dramatic disjunction in his music, as is discussed in the second part of the paper. Certain representational moments (for example, pitch cells and ostinati) are presented; the musical context of these moments is radically changed in subsequent appearances, preventing them from being audibly recognizable, and from retaining a stable meaning. This discussion refutes earlier analyses of Erwartung which stress so-called motivic and thematic connections. Several illustrative moments in Scene IV are highlighted. Although on a local level, certain musical connections exist, what remains most disturbing and thus most effective in Erwartung is how the separateness of these 'climactic' moments gives the work its disjunct and temporally unpredictable quality.

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Arnold Schoenberg's atonal monodrama, Erwartune. Op. 17 (1909). has been viewed as an unanalyzable athematic aberration, without any discernible form. Recognizing Erwartune's forward-looking aspect, this dissertation also explores the melodrama and the Lied, a connection with the past which forges a new understanding of its form and structure.