Formal Functions in the Music of Arnold Schoenberg

Musical form has undergone a significant revival in the past twenty years, largely due to Caplin’s Classical Form. However, most of this attention has focused on tonal forms in the Classical and Romantic eras. This project establishes a form-functional approach for analyzing the music of Arnold Schoenberg. Drawing on Schoenberg’s own theoretical writings throughout his career, I show how his concept of form can be applied to without relying on the traditional harmonic signs. This project expands form-functional analysis into the 20th century while finding its roots in Schoenberg’s thought. I begin by climbing up the formal hierarchy, beginning with smaller formal units and combining them into larger sections and movements. I do this by identifying prototypical functions in Schoenberg’s tonal sextet Verklärte Nacht Op. 4 and the twelve-tone Suite for Piano Op. 25. From there, I show how themes can be combined into ternary movements and larger sonata forms using Op. 25 as well as the Klavierstück Op. 33b. Chapter 6 examines the Third String Quartet Op. 30, which shows how Schoenberg expands the prototypical forms into much larger pieces. Chapter 7 demonstrates the analytical technique with the first two movements of Op. 11, showing how less typical forms still convey temporality and formal functions