Pierrot lunaire
Atonal melodrama for reciter and chamber ensemble.
Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg, setting 21 selected poems from Albert Giraud's cycle as translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben. The work is among Schoenberg's most celebrated and frequently performed compositions, and its instrumentation—flute (doubling piccolo), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), violin (doubling viola), cello, and piano—became a standard ensemble in 20th- and 21st-century classical music, known as a Pierrot ensemble.
- composer
- Arnold Schoenberg
- opus
- 21
- premiere_venue
- Berlin Choralion-Saal
- typical_duration
- 35 to 40 minutes
- number_of_poems
- 21
Lore & Background
The work originated in a commission by Albertine Zehme, a former actress, for a cycle for voice and piano setting poems by Albert Giraud. Reaction was mixed. According to Anton Webern, some in the audience were whistling and laughing, but in the end "it was an unqualified success." Eyewitness Salka Viertel reported that Zehme appeared in a Pierrot costume, her painted, frightened face framed by a ruff, and was greeted by an ominous murmur. She continued despite hissing, booing, and insulting invective; there were also fanatical ovations from the young generation. A well-known virtuoso shouted, "Shoot him. Shoot him," meaning Schoenberg. There was criticism of blasphemy in the texts, to which Schoenberg responded, "If they were musical, not a single one would give a damn about the words. Instead, they would go away whistling the tunes."
Reader's Guide
The work uses a variety of classical forms including canon, fugue, rondo, passacaglia, and free counterpoint, all within a freely atonal style. The vocal part employs Sprechstimme, a style in which the vocalist uses specified rhythms and pitches but does not sustain the pitches, allowing them to drop or rise in the manner of speech. Schoenberg's foreword instructs the performer to derive mood and character solely from the music, not from the words. The piece consists of three groups of seven poems. In the first group, Pierrot sings of love, sex and religion; in the second, of violence, crime, and blasphemy; and in the third of his return home to Bergamo, with his past haunting him. Schoenberg, fascinated by numerology, uses seven-note motifs throughout, while the ensemble (with conductor) comprises seven people. Each poem consists of 13 lines, and the first line occurs three times. Other groups have continued to use this instrumentation professionally.
More in Classical Music Compositions 1-24
Elsewhere in the Classical Music Compositions universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record