Pierrot Lunaire (1912) – “Ugly yet beautiful”?
After hearing this unique music piece for some time, it is hard not to notice that every single musical note was highly thought of. Though not a pleasant or easy-to-listen to composition, it will certainly make most people react in some way or another. What really made me react to these piece though was the score. It is a piece written on no apparent key, with extremely complex note inflections that seem not to resolve unto anything. This leaves me anxious, waiting for the piece to resolve, but yet it never does. As a musician I try to resolve this music in my head, but yet I find it extremely difficult. It is something that my traditional musical education does not allow me to comprehend, but that is the whole purpose of this. This strenuous musical composition is written in such a way that it does not allow anyone to resolve this in anyway. Moreover, this is what has lead Arnold Schoenberg to be identified as an “Expressionist”. The main reason for this is the fact that most of his musical compositions abruptly refuse to adhere to the implicitly pre-imposed traditional music norms. It is Schoenberg’s heart and intellect in its purest form, presented and transmitted by music. Strongly dissonant and yet beautiful in its own way. One of many “acquired tastes” people can get in life. Paradoxically, what makes this music “ugly” is also what makes it beautiful, and worthy of attention.
All in all, I can say that Albright was right. This is indeed as complicated as Einstein’s equation E = mc^2 or his relativity theory. Something so complex that could only be proved 100 years after its prediction. But yet this music piece is still a puzzle for most people that could perhaps be deciphered (or accepted) in the future?