Erwartung

"Erwartung" (translation: "Expectation") is a one-act opera, with music by Arnold Schoenberg, composed in 1909 to a libretto by Marie Pappenheim. It was not premiered until June 6, 1924, in Prague, conducted by Alexander Zemlinsky with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the soprano. The work takes the unusual form of a monologue for solo soprano, backed up by a large orchestra. In performance, it lasts for about half an hour. It is often paired with Béla Bartók's opera "Duke Bluebeard's Castle", as the two works are generally thought to be similar in character and psychological themes. Schoenberg's succinct description of the work was:

"In "Erwartung" the aim is to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour." [Schoenberg, Arnold. "Style and Idea". University of California Press (Los Angeles, 1984), p. 105 (ISBN 0-520-05294-3)]

Philip Friedheim has described "Erwartung" as Schoenberg's "only lengthy work in an athematic style", where no musical material returns once stated over the course of 426 measures. In his analysis of the structure, one indication of the complexity of the music is that the first scene of over 30 bars contains 9 meter changes and 16 tempo changes. [cite journal | url=http://www.jstor.org/view/00030139/ap030051/03a00040/0 | last=Friedheim | first=Philip | title=Rhythmic Structure in Schoenberg's Atonal Compositions | journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society | volume=16 | issue=1 | pages=59–72 | date=Spring 1966 | accessdate=2008-01-13 | format=Dead link|date=May 2008 – ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3A+intitle%3ARhythmic+Structure+in+Schoenberg%27s+Atonal+Compositions&as_publication=Journal+of+the+American+Musicological+Society&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=Search Scholar search]} ] Herbert Buchanan has countered this description of the work as "athematic", and the general impression of it as "atonal", in his own analysis. [cite journal | url=http://www.jstor.org/view/00030139/ap030056/03a00040/ | last=Buchanan | first=Herbert H. | title=A Key to Schoenberg's "Erwartung" (Op. 17) | journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society | volume=20 | issue=3 | pages=434–449 | date=Autumn 1967 | accessdate=2008-01-13 | doi=10.1525/jams.1967.20.3.03a00040 | format=Dead link|date=May 2008 – ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3A+intitle%3AA+Key+to+Schoenberg%27s+%22Erwartung%22+%28Op.+17%29&as_publication=Journal+of+the+American+Musicological+Society&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=Search Scholar search]} ]

Among the sopranos noted for their performances of this work are Karan Armstrong, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Susan Davenny Wyner, Wendy Dixon, Dorothy Dorow, Dorothy Dow, Dame Heather Harper, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Virginia Kerr, Magda László, Evelyn Lear, Alessandra Marc, Janis Martin, Éva Marton, Patricia Neway, Jessye Norman, Helga Pilarczyk, Renata Scotto, Nancy Shade, Rita Shane, Anja Silja and Dunja Vejzovic.

Instrumentation

"Erwartung's" score calls for::Woodwind: :: 3 flutes (3rd doubling on 2nd piccolo) :: 2 piccolos:: 4 oboes (4th doubling on English horn):: 4 clarinets: in D, in B, 2 in A:: bass clarinet in B:: 3 bassoons :: contrabassoon"':Brass::: 4 French horns in F:: 3 trumpets in B flat:: 4 trombones:: bass tuba

:Percussion (3 players):: timpani:: xylophone:: glockenspiel

: Harp, celesta, strings: violins 1, violins 2, violas, cellos, double basses

ynopsis

In a forest, a woman is in an apprehensive state as she waits for her lover. In the darkness, she comes across what she first thinks is a body, but then determines to be a tree-trunk. She is frightened and becomes more anxious, as she cannot find the man she is looking for anywhere. She then finds a dead body, and sees that it is her lover, the man she has been waiting for. She calls out for assistance, but there is no response. She tries to revive him, and addresses him as if he were living, angrily charging him with being unfaithful to her. She then asks herself what she is to do with her life, as her lover is dead.

elected recordings

* Columbia ML 4524 (original LP issue): Dorothy Dow; New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra; Dimitris Mitropoulos, conductor [cite journal | url=http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/XXXVIII/4/671 | last=Goldman | first=Richard F. | title=Reviews of Records | journal=The Musical Quarterly | volume=XXXVIII | issue=4 | pages=671–673 | date=1952 | accessdate=2007-10-28 | doi=10.1093/mq/XXXVIII.4.671]
* CBS 79349: Janis Martin; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor [MacDonald, Calum, Review of recordings of Arnold Schoenberg (September 1984). "Tempo" (New Ser.), 150: pp. 52-56.]
* Orfeo: Magda László; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Hermann Scherchen, conductor
* Decca: Anja Silja; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor
* Philips: Jessye Norman; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; James Levine, conductor
* Teldec: Alessandra Marc; Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden; Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor
* KOCH International Classics: Anja Silja; Philharmonia Orchestra; Robert Craft, conductor

References

External links

* [http://www.schoenberg.org/6_archiv/music/works/op/compositions_op17_e.htm Erwartung at Schoenberg.org]