A man and a woman walk side by side in a cold, moonlit forest. There are no clouds to obscure the light above. After a time, the woman speaks, telling her companion that she is pregnant, and not by him.
Is this a trailer for the latest gripping, prestige TV drama on your favorite streaming service? No. (Note to self… develop TV show based on Dehmel/Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night.)
Where was I? No, it’s not the setup for some TV show (yet). It is the subject of Arnold Schoenberg’s chamber tone poem Verklärte Nacht. This sonic journey ravishes, transforming player and listener alike, even as the characters walking through the cold forest are transformed. In Verklärte Nacht, we encounter the apex of post-Romantic expression, fittingly penned at the dawn of a new century.
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4 (1899)
For string sextet
Artists: Timothy Christie, viola; Mara Gearman, viola; David Requiro, cello; Svend Rønning, violin; Maria Sampen, violin; Meta Weiss, cello