schoenberg is dead
mccurdy schoenberg is dead boulez makes the assertion that—in the hands of schoenberg (or any other composer for that matter)—serial theory was an impotent experiment. ... ” at the heart of this is his supposition that through schoenberg’s confused ultrathematization, serialism was merely a “regulating instrument,” devoid of emotional content, whose existence only served as a tool to control chromatic writing. furthermore, the serial phenomenon was less of a discovery than an evolution of post-wagnerian vocabulary; boulez briefly traces schoenberg’s early works leading up to the serial classic pierrot lunaire.