Schoenberg’s “Weihnachtsmusik” (“Christmas Music”): A Chamber Fantasia
As dean of the Second Viennese School, Arnold Schoenberg was one of the twentieth century’s greatest exponents of atonal music. Yet, Schoenberg resisted dogma. Long after developing his twelve-tone system, he asserted that “there is still much good music to be written in C major.” Weihnachtsmusik (“Christmas Music”) is one of the rare pieces in which Schoenberg embraces the tonal consonance of C major. Composed in 1921, the brief fantasia is scored for …