Event in german language

Christoph Becher: Die Schönberg Challenge
Wolke Verlag, Hofheim, 2024

Christoph Becher in conversation with Markus Böggemann

Free admission

Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) is considered the most influential composer of the 20^th century. Not only because of the twelve-tone method he developed, but also because his compositions and writings touch on central issues of our time: musical, social, religious. Despite this, he is rarely played. It is said that his music is difficult to understand. The musicologist, dramaturge and orchestra manager Christoph Becher wants to remedy this.

Take up the Schönberg challenge, Becher calls out to his readers and listens to twelve Schönberg works with them. Sound samples from an accompanying Spotify playlist, including precise time indications, make it easier to get an overview. From the popular “Verklärte Nacht” to the unfinished main work “Die Jakobsleiter”, from the complex First String Quartet to the disturbing “A Survivor from Warsaw”, from the bizarre “Pierrot lunaire” to the twelve-tone orchestral variations.

The Challenge traverses the work of half a century, characterized by the big cities of Vienna and Berlin, by courageous music and visionary paintings, tangible concert scandals, furious opponents and eloquent supporters, successful teaching, anti-Semitism and emigration to the USA. Becher puts the composer Schönberg in the spotlight, but also the teacher, the reader, the seeker. But above all the restless one. For Schönberg feared no process of transformation, he was alert and always on the move. This challenge makes it clear: Schönberg can be heard – and liked.

The event will be streamed live on facebook and YouTube and will be available for seven days afterwards.