The Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major, Op. 9 (also known by its title in German Kammersymphonie, für 15 soloinstrumente, or simply as Kammersymphonie) is a composition by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg's first chamber symphony was finished in 1906 and premiered on 8 February 1907 in Vienna by the

Rosé Quartet The Rosé Quartet was a string quartet formed by Arnold Rosé in 1882. It was active for 55 years, until 1938. Members Its members changed over time. Rosé was first violin throughout. Julius Egghard Jr. played the second violin at first; t ...

together with a wind ensemble from the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

, under the composer's baton. In 1913, Schoenberg again conducted the piece, as part of the famed Skandalkonzert, in which the heterodox tonalities of Schoenberg's Symphony and, more so, of his student Alban Berg's works incited the attendees to riot in protest and prematurely end the concert.

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

gave the work its US premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra on 5 November 1915. The first British performance was on 6 May (or possibly on 16 April) 1921, at the

Aeolian Hall, London Aeolian Hall, at 135–137 New Bond Street, London, began life as the Grosvenor Gallery, being built by Coutts Lindsay in 1876, an accomplished amateur artist with a predeliction for the aesthetic movement, for which he was held up to some ridicu ...

, conducted by Edward Clark, Schoenberg's champion and former student. The players included Charles Woodhouse (violin),

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...

(cello),

Léon Goossens Léon Jean Goossens, CBE, FRCM (12 June 1897 – 13 February 1988) was an English oboist. Career Goossens was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and studied at Liverpool College of Music and the Royal College of Music. His father was violinist and ...

(oboe), Aubrey Brain and Alfred Brain (horns). The piece is a well-known example of the use of

quartal harmony In music, quartal harmony is the building of harmonic structures built from the intervals of the perfect fourth, the augmented fourth and the diminished fourth. For instance, a three-note quartal chord on C can be built by stacking perfect fourt ...

Structure

The Chamber Symphony is a single- movement work which lasts approximately 20 minutes. Even though it is listed as one movement, the form can be considered as subdivided into as many as five continuous movements. Schoenberg himself outlined the following form using the rehearsal numbers as reference points: Schoenberg claimed in later years that the work "was a first attempt to create a chamber orchestra." Schoenberg makes use of a "motto" theme constructed of fourths. The "motto" theme helps delineate the structural articulation points in the piece. : \relative c The "motto" theme first appears in measure 5 and is framed by two cadences which introduce the two main key areas. Cadence 1 in F major: : Cadence 2 in E major: : Schoenberg's concept of

developing variation In musical composition, developing variation is a formal technique in which the concepts of development and variation are united in that variations are produced through the development of existing material. The term was coined by Arnold Schoen ...

can be observed in the relationship of the Scherzo theme to the rising chromatic line in the 2nd Violin part in Cadence 1, : \relative c'' as well as in the relationship of the slow movement theme to Cadence 2. : \relative c

Instrumentation

It is scored for the following instruments: :1 flute (doubling piccolo) :1

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

:1 English horn :1 E clarinet :1 clarinet :1 bass clarinet :1 bassoon :1 contrabassoon :2

Vienna horn The Vienna horn (german: Wiener Horn) is a type of musical horn used primarily in Vienna, Austria, for playing orchestral or classical music. It is used throughout Vienna, including the Vienna Philharmonic and '' Wiener Staatsoper''. History D ...

s :1

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

I :1 violin II :1

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

Schoenberg respected the classical arrangement of the musicians on stage, instructing that all strings should be seated in the front row, the winds in the second row, and all the bass sounds should be grouped together. Although this composition is commonly called a chamber work, its performance requires a conductor. Some critics have claimed that an ensemble formed of ten winds and only five strings is inherently unbalanced; however, some of the voices are doubled so that no instrument is playing one-on-one against another.

Arrangements

* The composer himself arranged this piece for piano four hands in 1906. He also revised the composition for large orchestra in 1923 and again in 1935, which was catalogued as Op. 9b. The latter was premiered in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

by Schoenberg himself. * Fellow composer Alban Berg also arranged the composition for two pianos in 1914. * Between 1922 and 1923, at Schoenberg's suggestion his disciple

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stead ...

made an arrangement for this composition scored for violin, flute (or second violin), clarinet (or viola), cello, and piano;This arrangement was intended to be played alongside ''

Pierrot lunaire ''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a m ...

'', which is similarly scored.

Notable recordings

Chamber Symphony No. 1 is one of the most recorded of Schoenberg's works and has received attention from conductors including Pierre Boulez, Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly,

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

Giuseppe Sinopoli Giuseppe Sinopoli (; 2 November 1946 – 21 April 2001) was an Italian conductor and composer. Biography Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervi ...

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

, and chamber groups such as the Hyperion Ensemble,

Hagen Quartet The Hagen Quartet is an Austrian string quartet founded in 1981 by four siblings, Lukas, Angelika (first replaced by Annette Bik, who was then replaced by Rainer Schmidt in 1987), Veronika and Clemens, in Salzburg. The quartet members are teach ...

t and

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

. A 1998 performance conducted by

Robert Craft Robert Lawson Craft (October 20, 1923 – November 10, 2015) was an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate professional relationship with Igor Stravinsky, on which Craft drew in producing numerous recordings and books. ...

on the

Koch International Classics Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...

label and reissued in 2007 on

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

received a positive critical response. "4 stars out of 5"

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1906 compositions Chamber music by Arnold Schoenberg Compositions for chamber orchestra Compositions in E major