There was a time in American academia when, if you wanted to attain a bachelor’s degree in musical composition, you had to display a basic competence in the music of the Second Viennese School—of the ...

I always considered Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone, atonal music pretentious noise. But I’ve been forced to change my mind after reading Mark Swed’s enlightening analysis (“Driven to Express Himself,” ...

Editor’s note: Arnold Schoenberg was born on this day in 1874. 145 years later, we look back at the genius of the Austrian Jewish composer. What happens in the mind of a genius? Mozart’s mind was ...

The spikey, angular music sometimes called "12-tone music" invented by Arnold Schoenberg remains a challenge to the ears of many listeners today. But before Schoenberg turned away from traditional ...

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What happens in the mind of a genius? Mozart’s mind was puerile; if his extraordinary sophistication with music extended to other aspects of his psyche, he didn’t show it. Van Gogh was subject to ...