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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.23331 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Feilotter, Melanie |
| Contributors | Cherney, Brian (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Faculty of Music.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001484850, proquestno: MM12024, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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