Schoenberg

On this date in the year 1874, Austrian composer, Arnold Schoenberg was born in Vienna. Schoenberg was a pioneer in atonal composition and the father of the Twelve-tone Technique. Schoenberg famously accepted John Cage as an apprentice for free when he promised to devote his life to music. Later Cage related in an interview:

After I had been studying with him for two years, Schoenberg said, "In order to write music, you must have a feeling for harmony." I explained to him that I had no feeling for harmony. He then said that I would always encounter an obstacle, that it would be as though I came to a wall through which I could not pass. I said, "In that case I will devote my life to beating my head against that wall."


Below is a portion of String Quartet #3, recorded in 1937 by the Kolisch Quartet under Schoenberg's supervision.