Visual and Performing Arts

Music Criticism and Music Critics

Document Type

Book Chapter

Abstract

Schoenberg’s music has always attracted the avid attention of critics. Some ridiculed his music, especially at first, while others came to respond favourably to its modernist demands. This chapter explores trends in the critical reception of Schoenberg as they have varied across time and place, from his initial entry into the Viennese music world in the early 1900s, through the increasingly harsh, often antisemitic rejections he endured in the 1920s and 1930s, to his re-evaluation in the post-war years, particularly in the United States. In addition, it highlights the composer’s reactions to some of the harsher criticism he received. ©Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2025.

Publication Title

Schoenberg in Context

Publication Date

2025

First Page

276

Last Page

283

ISBN

9781009075114

DOI

10.1017/9781009075114.029

Keywords

Arnold Schoenberg, modernism, composers

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