Vienna (OTS) – September 13, 2024 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Austrian composer and founder of twelve-tone technique Arnold Schönberg. Ö1 is taking this as an opportunity to look back in detail on Schönberg’s work and life in an annual focus in 2024. Furthermore, the new ORF-TV co-production “Arnold Schönberg – The Restless Visionary” is currently being created.
To kick off the Ö1 annual focus, a recording from the Vienna Musikverein from 2012 can be heard in the “Ö1 Concert” on Tuesday, January 2nd from 7:30 p.m. The ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna – violinist: Hilary Hahn – plays Schönberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, his Violin Concerto and Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, arranged for orchestra by Arnold Schönberg, under the musical direction of Peter Eötvös.
On Friday, January 5th, “Intrada” (10:05 a.m.) will present new publications on Arnold Schönberg. On Saturday, January 6th, “Opus – the Music Colloquium” (3:05 p.m.) follows in the footsteps of “Arnold Schönberg and his patrons”. Schönberg’s works have long since entered the concert repertoire. Rarely mentioned are the women who financially supported Schönberg’s work – such as the Sisters Fröhlich Foundation, Lilly Lieser, who was murdered in Auschwitz, or Gertrude Clarke Whittall in exile in the USA.
“Research gap: Schönberg’s students” is the topic of “Zeit-Ton” on Wednesday, January 17th from 11:03 p.m. What does Natalia Pravossudovich have in common with Henriette Bosmans or with Jean Coulthard? They all attended Schönberg’s seminars for a while. The Graz musicologist Elisabeth Kappel has identified around 700 students over years of research, including 300 students, including prominent ones such as Dika Newlin, Olga Novakovic and the Viennese Vilma von Webenau. And yet: Hardly any of these composers have had a CD recording released, hardly any music has been edited, and if so, then only thanks to individual private initiatives. Schönberg himself was of the opinion that of his several hundred students, only six to eight could compose. Does the lack of research reflect Schönberg’s devaluation of his students, as is often described?
From Monday, January 29th to Thursday, February 1st at 9:45 a.m., the “Radiokolleg” will be dealing with “Arnold Schönberg’s pursuit of truthfulness”. On January 29th the focus will be on “Schönberg’s Theory of Harmony”. The other programs: “Schönberg’s 12-tone technique” (January 30th), “The Schönberg Circle” (January 31st) and “Effects and Reactions to Schönberg” (February 1st). The “Ö1 Klassik-Treffpunkt” on February 17th is all about Arnold Schönberg and his environment. The guests are the director of the Schönberg Center, Ulrike Anton, and the new chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony, Petr Popelka – Ö1 will broadcast live from the RadioCafe from 10:05 a.m. The program for Ö1’s Schönberg annual focus is constantly updated and available at https://oe1.orf.at/schoenberg.
New ORF-TV co-production “Arnold Schönberg – The Restless Visionary”
The new ORF co-production “Arnold Schönberg – The Restless Visionary” is currently being created for broadcast in September 2024 on the occasion of the composer’s 150th birthday. Based on interviews, some previously unpublished archive material and animated sequences, Andreas Morell’s film draws the long overdue, comprehensive portrait of one of the most important, at the same time most original and versatile artistic personalities in music history – embodied here by Dominique Horowitz. The documentary also provides surprising insights into lesser-known aspects of Schönberg’s life and personality: the almost compulsive need to create something new, his religious conflict, his family environment, setbacks, the painful emigration to America and his enigmatic fear of the number 13. The Excitingly told production about the father of twelve-tone music, who shaped modern music like no other, and also promises insights into an important cultural period of upheaval and its artistic and intellectual circles.
Questions & Contact:
ORF Radio public relations
Isabella Henke
(01) 87 878/18050
isabella.henke@orf.at