Moses und Aron
Jul 7, 2014 13:14:57 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2014 13:14:57 GMT -5
How can we love what we cannot imagine? According to Rachel Beaumont, here are 5 things you need to know about Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron. The Voice of God commands Moses to lead the people of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. Moses, reluctant, argues that he is old and inarticulate. He is assured that his brother Aron will speak on his behalf. But as Aron speaks to the Israelites, he distorts Moses's message of an imperceptible, inconceivable God, using spectacular miracles that win the people round but in fact distance them from God. How can they be made to understand God when He cannot be described?
Royal Opera House - Moses und Aron
One of Schoenberg's many musical innovations was serialism, which he first used in 1922. In the 12-tone serialism favoured by Schoenberg and his pupil Anton Webern, the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are arranged into a specific order, called the 'tone row'. The row provides a framework for the music – an equivalent to the more traditional 'diatonic' (e.g. major or minor) scale but allowing the regular use of more of the notes, which Schoenberg termed 'the emancipation of the dissonance'. All of the music of 'Moses und Aron' is related to a single row, either in straightforward use or through a set of specific permutations. Through his mastery of the technique Schoenberg produces an astonishingly rich and diverse sound world, but one that is entirely holistic.
The Daily Telegraph - Moses und Aron, Welsh National Opera/Wales Millennium Centre, review: 'never falters'
Royal Opera House - Moses und Aron
One of Schoenberg's many musical innovations was serialism, which he first used in 1922. In the 12-tone serialism favoured by Schoenberg and his pupil Anton Webern, the 12 notes of the chromatic scale are arranged into a specific order, called the 'tone row'. The row provides a framework for the music – an equivalent to the more traditional 'diatonic' (e.g. major or minor) scale but allowing the regular use of more of the notes, which Schoenberg termed 'the emancipation of the dissonance'. All of the music of 'Moses und Aron' is related to a single row, either in straightforward use or through a set of specific permutations. Through his mastery of the technique Schoenberg produces an astonishingly rich and diverse sound world, but one that is entirely holistic.
The Daily Telegraph - Moses und Aron, Welsh National Opera/Wales Millennium Centre, review: 'never falters'