What is music for? Music communicates emotion, promotes healing and happiness, provides an escape from reality, and so much more. So, what happens when composers push musical “rules” beyond their limits? We can see the consequences of this through observing some works from Arnold Schoenberg.
Schoenberg’s earliest atonal pieces seemed very dull and unorganized. In this way, the music did not convey any type of meaning or memorability, but as Schoenberg continued to push the boundaries of tonality, his ability to be expressive through his music grew substantially. This can be seen in his piece “Moses und Aron.” This piece explores the infinite quality of God, which cannot be fully comprehended by the human mind, through the wondering characteristic of the music. The music itself seems to be grasping for something that is out of reach. This part of the music is symbolic of the character Moses. In contrast with this, Aron is represented by a more ordered and organized part of the music, which is also symbolic of human nature rather than the idea of the infinite. This composition shows the abstract way of conveying meaning through musical storytelling that was eventually developed by Schoenberg. Schoenberg’s music may not exactly be emotional, but the abstract quality of the music does prompt us to observe the symbolism within the music, conveying a certain amount of meaning.
Schoenberg certainly pushed musical boundaries, and in doing so he pushes the boundaries of listeners like us. Schoenberg revolutionized musical expression as well as the ways that composers think of musical “rules” or boundaries, and he produced a new way of thinking about atonality.