Arnold Schoenberg completed the Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 in July of 1906, a year after Mahler finished his Seventh Symphony.
Both works can be heard as daring glimpses into a disquieting modernist future. Nineteenth century Romanticism was crumbling under its own weight, and an over-waltzed Vienna was entering the turbulent twilight years of the Habsburg Empire.
Mahler delayed the Seventh Symphony’s premiere until 1908, anxiously anticipating the audience’s bewildered response. Scored for vast forces, this strange and enigmatic journey into the night unfolds in five symmetrically arranged movements. Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony is cast in a single movement, divided into five sections. Originally scored for an intimate ensemble of 15 players, it ventures into a new pared down musical landscape. (Later in 1935, during his early years in Los Angeles, Schoenberg arranged the Chamber Symphony for full orchestra). Mahler’s Seventh and Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony, Op. 9 are both built on the interval of the perfect fourth.
Schoenberg considered the Chamber Symphony, Op. 9 to be “a true turning point.” Amid the chromatic harmonies of Mahler and Strauss, the music takes a step towards Schoenberg’s ultimate “emancipation of dissonance.” The home key of E major hangs tenuously by a thread. The five sections (Exposition – Scherzo – Development – Adagio – Recapitulation) give us a sense of sonata form. Schoenberg built on earlier examples of single-movement forms which superimposed elements of sonata form, including Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue, Schubert’s “Wanderer” Fantasy, and Liszt’s Sonata in B minor. (Schoenberg at 150)
In the opening bars, galloping ascending fourths, played by the horn, launch the music into a brisk march. This forms one of the work’s principal motifs. What follows is an exhilarating and highly compressed drama of conversing instrumental voices.
Five Great Recordings
- Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, Zubin Mehta, Los Angeles Philharmonic Amazon
- Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra (February 11, 2018 performance)
- Matthias Pintscher and the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker (September 20, 2021 performance)
- Pierre Boulez and Ensemble Intercontemporain
- Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Featured Image: “Brickworks” (1907), Erich Heckel