AMD 2

In my humanities class, we're studying modern classical music in Germany. One well-known composer that we studied was Arnold Schoenberg. He was considered an expressionist and invented serialism, a system of composition where all twelve notes in an octave are equally used throughout the piece. One of his most famous compositions was String Quartet No. 2 in F# Minor (1908). I really didn't like it the first time I listened. I just was not satisfied with the endings of each line in the music. When you finish a scale or a piece, the ending is supposed to end on the "right" or with a nice harmony. However, that's not the case with Schoenberg. He went against that tradition of Western music. It's as if the notes keep going on and on with no certain ending. There's no real pattern of melody that exists or at least it's hard to single it out in his music. Anyways, he also wrote music that would accompany poetry.

Though Schoenberg was born Austrian, there was still German influence incorporated into his life. In class, we read through Stefan George's volume of poems called Der siebente Ring which was written with Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2. My instructor gave us an excerpt in German as well as the translation. I tried reading the original German copy and attempted to translate myself, but I burnt my brain out before I could finish reading the first line. But there were definitely some words and phrases that I understood, and that made me feel pretty good about myself. I also tried practicing my pronunciation since I am so so horribly challenged at it. At least I enjoy practicing pronunciation. I find it to be so fun and silly at the same time.

"Ich fühle luft von anderem planeten.
Mir blassen durch das dunkel die gesichter
Die freundlich eben noch sich zu mir drehten."

                                       -- Rapture, Stefan George