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A Survivor of the Vienna Schoenberg Circle: an Interview With Paul A. Pisk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Elliott Antokoletz
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Extract

The Passage of Time naturally removes us from first-hand personal experience with significant historical events and/or important persons that were part of those developments. Since the musical aesthetics and techniques of Arnold Schoenberg and his circle originated and began to develop in Vienna over 75 years ago, future students will have to rely on written rather than direct personal sources of information to gain insight into the music of that era. Our loss of primary contact with the Vienna Schoenberg circle is further complicated in that its members generally met and worked in intimate and esoteric situations. These conditions were in large part due to the conservative tastes of the Viennese public, so that new works in all the arts were generally not able to find public support.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 154 , September 1985 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

* Hauer, and Schoenberg, were in fact in contact during the early 1920's, as the letters published in Arnold Schoenberg Letters ed. Stein, Erwin (London: Faber, 1964) showGoogle Scholar; Schoenberg suggested that they should collaborate on a series of pamphlets. (Ed.)

* Presumably the Five Pieces for string quartet, op.5, which were played on 8 August 1922 in Salzburg by the Amar Quartet, giving rise to disturbances in the audience. (Ed.)

* However, Bartók did participate extensively in performances at the ISCM (Ed.)

1 Pisk, Paul A., ‘Boiled-Down Music for Schoenberg's Private Audience’, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11 12, 1983)Google Scholar

2 Pisk was Professor at the University of Texas at Austin from 1951 to 1963, and after his retirement was named Professor Emeritus.

3 Through Karen Munson, who was enrolled in my class in 20th century music at the University of Texas, Dr. Pisk learned of my interest in receiving personal information from him on these issues. He kindly informed me, in a letter dated 21 July, 1983, that he would be glad to respond to my questions in a taped interview. My written questions were then read to him by Frances Farrell during the recording. Several appropriate elaborations of the questions were made by her during this session.

4 Beitrage zur Modulalionslehre (Leipzig, 1903, 24/1952)Google Scholar

5 In 1920, Hauer formulated a system to distinguish one 12-note collection from another. This earliest systematic attempt is based on the principle of partitioning the 12 notes into hexachordal subcollections, in which the content but not the order of the notes in each hexachord is maintained. This is called a ‘hexachordal twelve-tone trope’.

6 Primary source materials of Dr. Pisk are also held at the Library of Congress and at the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.