3rd chapter EXPRESSIONISM AND SCANDAL CONCERTS
Expressionism
Expressionism first originated in the visual arts and was later applied to music and other arts in the early 20th century. Following impressionism in art and music, the harsh, bold expressionism era can be considered a counterpoint to impressionism’s exotic sweetness.
Instead of ethereal impressions of beauty in nature, expressionism focuses on the inner angst and fear lurking within the subconscious mind. Expressionism in music embraces jarring dissonance and radical distortion.
And World War I took place firmly in the center of the expressionist era...
Expressionism: 10 Iconic Paintings & Their Artists (thecollector.com)
2.1 Scandal Concert N.2 the ''slap concert''
The Skandalkonzert ("scandal concert") was a concert conducted by Arnold Schoenberg, held on 31 March 1913.
The concert was held by the Vienna Concert Society in the Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna.
The concert consisted of music by composers of the Second Viennese School.
During the concert, the audience, shocked by the Expressionism and experimentalism of the music, began rioting, and the concert ended prematurely.
Amid the unrest, concert organizer Erhard Buschbeck was said to have slapped a concertgoer in the face; this would eventually lead to a lawsuit against Buschbeck. The event also led to an alternate name for the Skandalkonzert: Watschenkonzert, from the Austrian German for "slap concert".
Operetta composer Oscar Straus, a witness to the alleged assault, testified that the slap had been "the most harmonious sound of the evening."
Programme
- Anton Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6.
- Alexander von Zemlinsky: Four Orchestral Songs on poems by Maeterlinck
- Arnold Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9.
- Alban Berg: Two of the Five Orchestral Songs on Picture-Postcard Texts by Peter Altenberg, Op. 4 Nos. 2 and 3. Both the lyrical and musical side of this premiere were seen as provocative.
- The concert was ended before the scheduled performance of Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder could begin.
History and contemporary echo
His students Alban Berg and Anton Webern developed this approach, which is sometimes referred to as serialism, and the three Austrian composers are collectively known as the Second Viennese School (with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven being the First Viennese School).
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PINA BAUSCH
