Arnold Schönberg

Pierrot lunaire

Pierrot lunaire marks the high point of Schoenberg's expressionistic period, the essence of which he described as renouncing tonal centers and systematic relationships, replacing them with the twelve-tone method he was later to develop, with its dodecaphonic principles. Dethroning tonality and 'emancipating the dissonance' led to a radical change in his understanding of form and the intensity of musical expression beginning in 1907/1908: 'And I am unconditionally approaching a new kind of expression - I can sense it. The sounds now are virtually becoming a bestially direct expression of sensual and intellectual feelings - almost as if everything had been directly propagated.' (Diary entry, March 1912.)