The Bible and Music

For the following class on Wednesday, we were asked to listen to some of Arnold Schoenberg’s work that is titled “Moses und Aron.” Before listening to this piece of music, I wanted to do some background research to become more familiar with the setting and history of the song. Moses and Aaron, being the modern music name, is a three-act opera that fails to finish the third opera. In 2010, a Hungarian composer finished the third act and performed it with permission from Schoenberg. However, the majority of this opera when it is played is missing the third act.

The opera was never finished before the end of Schoenberg’s lifetime. The first performance of this music was set in Darmstadt and occurred on July 2, 1951. An interesting fact that I found was that the entire music is based entirely on a single tone row. Some of the instruments that are used throughout the three acts are flute, clarinet, English horn, celesta, and trombone. The last note that I made about this piece is that it is known to be extremely difficult for audience to follow and listen to. When I listen to this music, I hope to learn from it and try to sort out some of the confusion that most audiences have.