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Arnold Schoenberg’s take of Warsaw
Arnold Schoenberg composed works for all settings, including chamber, choral, and symphonic works. Schoenberg composed in three major compositional styles, one of these being serial or twelve-tone style, which was used in his composition A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46. The setting for A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46 is composed for full orchestra, chorus, and narrator, which aids Schoenberg in developing the story by use each group to depict certain characters or situations. Because of Schoenberg’s utilization of the ensemble and compositional technique to portray the torments that the survivor experienced, I believe that A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46 should be introduced into the modern Canon.
A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46 portrays a man, set as the narrator, in the Warsaw ghetto. Schoenberg originally composed this work setting the text in both his native German and also in English. The man discusses the torments that the German Third Reich had done to the Jewish inmates. He describes when the Jews are called to attention for roll call how the elderly could not get there fast enough they were beaten. The music that Schoenberg uses to portray the harshness of the Jews treatment is done so in a twelve-tone row.
Schoenberg’s use of the narrator is the most important part about this composition. The narrator is composed with a technique referred to as Sprechstimme. Schoenberg has been known for using such a technique in many of his other composition with Pierrot Lunaire op. 21 being his most famous use of this technique. Throughout A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46, the narrator uses this technique, and because Schoenberg chose to set the narrator in this style it causes the listener that much more anguish and confusion, which Schoenberg was most likely going for. The narrator is in a constant state of stress and one can tell this because of the lyrics that Schoenberg has chosen for the narrator. His use of the narrator allows the listener to eye witness what is going on during this time in Warsaw. This allows the listener to become even that much more involved with the composition.
Throughout A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46, Schoenberg uses the orchestra to accompany the narrator, usually with some sort of dissonant harmony. This technique of using the orchestration as accompaniment reminds the listener of a poetry reading but instead of the mellow accompaniment of a poetry reading the listener experiences the harsh accompaniment of the orchestra. Although the orchestra is continuously playing through the narration, it aids in setting the text like the drumming in a poetry reading. The narrator slowly describes his experience while the orchestra lurks behind him, setting the aural stage with various dissonances.
Schoenberg’s use of the tone row is an effective setting for this work. Because Schoenberg was not concerned with composing this work with traditional harmony, tone rows were used causing harshness the in tone color and extreme dissonance. The intense dissonance demonstrates to the listener what the narrator must have gone through when dealing with the torments of the Third Reich. An example of this can be heard when the narrator is discussing what is happening during the roll call. Elderly people are being beaten to death and the listener can feel the pain because of the tremendous dissonance. The use of serialism during this composition allows the listener to imagine the pain. The setting of the orchestra during this scene also aids in the listeners ability to tell what is going on.
Schoenberg uses the chorus to demonstrate the chaos of the crowd, which the narrator describes as “a stampede of wild horses.” Instead of Schoenberg orchestrating the crowd to sound like a stampede of wild horses, he instead orchestrates them as a large chorus singing a Jewish prayer. This is an effective use of his knowledge of orchestration because it demonstrates what power a chorus can have on portraying a scene of mass chaos, and Schoenberg does so in a manner that reemphasizes tragedy even more to the listener. This happens because at the beginning of the work the narrator explains how all he can remember is the crowd that began to sing, and the foreshadowing that Schoenberg uses in the beginning of this makes it that much more dramatic toward the end of the composition.
Throughout A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46, Schoenberg made numerous orchestration choices that were relatively innovative for the time. His decision to compose for this setting of various ensembles has made this work not only innovative for the time, but effective at portraying the tragedy at Warsaw. With the chorus symbolizing the chaotic crowd, the orchestra setting the aural background, and while the narrator gives an eye-witness account to what he has seen, the overall composition has achieved Schoenberg’s goal at accurately accounting the tragedy at Warsaw. Because of Schoenberg’s innovative use of orchestration and the overall effectiveness at enabling the listener to envision what the narrator when through, A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46 should be introduced into the Canon.


Zorn’s Cat O’ Nine Tails
John Zorn is a man of many talents. As a free lance musician in New York, Zorn has been noted for his different look on classical music today. He is one of today’s avant-garde composers, composing such works as Kristallnacht in 2002, and Redbird in 2005. Zorn not only pushes the boundaries with in the traditional classical medium, but he also ventures into composition for film and cartoon scores, and even in to the jazz realm. The Kronos Quartet is known world-wide for their productions of avant-garde music. For over thirty years, the Kronos Quartet has been commissioning and premiering works by modern composers such as John Cage, Steve Reich, and George Crumb. Cat O’ Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade) was composed for the Kronos Quartet in 1988 and is a demonstration of Zorn’s many different talents. This work unites Zorn’s knowledge of various types of jazz, such as free jazz, avant-garde music, and the scoring for various cartoons. Zorn’s composition style can be heard as a compilation of his various techniques. Throughout this work, one can hear all of the elements of Zorn’s musical life by paying attention to his unique use of harmony and extended string technique.
In the work chamber work Cat O’ Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade) the title reflects the work. “Tex” Avery was a well-known cartoon producer, and this work portrays the sounds of cartoons but with a sadistic outlook. Marquis de Sade’s unique habits are the theme of this cartoon-like chamber work. If one has ever listened to or watched Saturday morning cartoons, it is easy to hear the Tom and Jerry-like moments that Zorn inserts into Cat O’ Nine Tails. One of the most cartoon-like moments is when he uses a technique called col lengno (the use of the stick on the stings rather than the hair) about three minutes in to the work, to demonstrate the sound of a small mouse or other small rodent scurrying around a room or dungeon.
One way that Zorn portrays the cartoon-like sadist is with his use of various string techniques. Zorn does not stop at the traditional use of the string quartet, but instead he pushes each of the player’s techniques to the limit. The most out of the ordinary effect for which he calls is for the players to make various noises with their mouths. An example of this can be heard about one minute in, where he asks the players to bark like dogs. At this moment, it brings to mind a pack of rabid dogs chasing Tom the cat, but he underlines it with the use of minor second, which puts a twisted feeling in one’s gut. Another technique that Zorn calls for is the use of scratch tones. In this type of technique, a string player bows across the string in a very slow manner with a great amount of pressure. When this is done, it causes one to think of something ripping or nails going across a chalkboard. Scratch tones are very abrasive sounds and not only does he use them sparingly, but he also uses them in cluster chords, causing the listener even that much more anguish bringing to mind the sadist. Zorn experiments with various string techniques and his use of file-card structure (the method of writing various compositional styles on various note card and then passing them out randomly to the performers, resulting in sudden shifts of style) because he is trying to widen the listener’s palette. Many moments in this quartet sound like the group is improvising the string techniques. This is most likely because of the heavy influence of jazz, especially in his knowledge of free jazz, which affects many of Zorn’s compositions. Zorn’s experiences with the avant-garde genre and his close work with the Kronos Quartet enabled him to compose Cat O’ Nine Tails with the various extended string techniques and seemingly improvised technique moments.
Zorn uses harmony in unconventional ways. It seems that Zorn composes his harmonies not to lead one through a harmonic progression but to give one something with which the listener is familiar. His knowledge of composition for cartoons and film scores is evident in his use of harmonic relations throughout Cat O’ Nine Tails. His use of harmony allows the listener to relate back to those Saturday morning cartoons. Whether the listeners can tell what the harmonic progression is or not, they can picture “Tex” Avery’s characters and what they might or might not be doing. An example of this is roughly six minutes into Cat O’ Nine Tails when it sounds like out of nowhere the character of the music shifts to Aaron Copland’s Hoedown. Harmony throughout Cat O’ Nine Tails paints different pictures, whether it is a country western theme of a “hoedown” or the middle of a Viennese waltz, Zorn sounds like he composes with settings in mind, and his knowledge of what listeners can recognize is vast. Because of his knowledge, listeners have very little trouble recognizing what Zorn is trying to demonstrate, which allows him to portray various situations, throughout his compositions, easily.
Cat O’ Nine Tails demonstrates Zorn’s variety of compositional styles. Through his use of interesting and familiar harmonic progressions and his use of advanced string technique, Zorn identifies with his listeners. Zorn’s knowledge and experience allows him great success in his compositional technique. It is because of this knowledge and his ability to connect with his listeners that Zorn should be considered for the musical Canon. He uses many techniques that would dub him innovative, including his ability to change styles so suddenly. For example, he changes from the instrumentalists barking like dogs going directly into a tango-like section, and then from the tango-like section to a Viennese waltz, yet he also uses traditional harmonies for the average listener. Such styles include his. Cat O’ Nine Tails is an accurate demonstration of both Zorn’s compositional style and because of his use of variety of compositional styles; Zorn should be in the Canon.