(Email, University of Oregon)
Behind the Structure of the Music: Adorno’s Analysis of Schönberg’s Moses and Aron
Theodor Adorno argues in his essay „Sakrales Fragment: Über Schoenbergs Moses und Aron“ that there can no longer be sacred works of art in a modern age, but that a work “must of necessity extend a hand to the sacred if it is not entirely to fail its own intention.” While Adorno does highlight important elements of Schoenberg’s opera, he does not include or recognize some of the important details pertinent to Schoenberg’s Idea behind the work. The opera remains “unfinished,” a “Sacred Fragment,” as there is only music composed for the first two acts and not the third. There are several theories as to why the opera was never completed musically.
The purpose of this paper is to examine first, what influenced Schoenberg’s ideas behind the opera, second, how Adorno’s analysis grasps the central issues, but misrepresents some of Schoenberg’s ideas, and third, why the opera remains unfinished (or if it is unfinished at all). In doing this I will examine the historical conflict regarding atonality and the twelve-tone system. Schoenberg explained his use of this style in many publications and defended it symbolically in his opera. While Schoenberg did in fact base his libretto on a religious text, he in no way intended to have the “Absolute” present in the work, as Adorno argues at length in his essay. Instead, the opera is not primarily an expression of the struggle of God and Moses to communicate the Word to the people, but mainly an expression of Schoenberg’s struggle to communicate his “idea” through music to the public. There have been several theories and a few written explanations as to why Schoenberg never finished his opera, and this final section of the paper will determine to what extent the opera is unfinished.
