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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 melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg. It is a setting of 21 selected poems from Albert Giraud's cycle of the same name as translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben. The work is written for reciter (voice-type unspecified in the score, but traditionally performed by a soprano) who delivers the poems in the Sprechgesang style Accompaniment by a small instrumental Musical ensemble. Schoenberg had previously used a combination of spoken text with instrumental accompaniment, called "melodrama", in the summer-wind narrative of the Gurre-Lieder,Neighbour 2001. which was a fashionable musical style popular at the end of the nineteenth century.Dunsby 1992, 2. Though the music is Atonality, it does not employ Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, which he did not use until 1921.
Pierrot lunaire is among Schoenberg's most celebrated and frequently performed works. Its instrumentation – flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano with standard doublings and in this case with the addition of a vocalist – is an important ensemble in 20th- and 21st-century classical music and is referred to as a Pierrot ensemble.
The piece was premiered at the Berlin Choralion-Saal on October 16, 1912, with Albertine Zehme as the vocalist. A typical performance lasts about 35 to 40 minutes. The American premiere took place at the Klaw Theatre, on Broadway theatre, New York, on 4 February 1923 as part of a series of concerts organised by the International Composers' Guild.
Schoenberg began work on March 12 and completed the piece on July 9, 1912, having expanded the forces to an Musical ensemble consisting of flute (doubling on piccolo), clarinet in A (doubling on bass clarinet and clarinet in B), violin (doubling on viola), cello, and piano.
After forty rehearsals, Schoenberg and Zehme (in Columbina dress) gave the premiere at the Berlin Choralion-Saal on October 16, 1912. Reaction was mixed. According to Anton Webern, some in the audience were whistling and laughing, but in the end "it was an unqualified success".Quoted in Winiarz. According to eyewitness Salka Viertel, the sister of the premiere's pianist Eduard Steuermann,
There was some 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."Quoted in Hazlewood.
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Schoenberg, who was fascinated by numerology, also makes great use of seven-note motifs throughout the work, while the ensemble (with conductor) comprises seven people. The piece is his opus 21, contains 21 poems, and was begun on March 12, 1912. Other key numbers in the work are 3 and 13: each poem consists of 13 lines (two four-line verses followed by a five-line verse), while the first line of each poem occurs three times (being repeated as lines 7 and 13).
The instrumental combinations (including doublings) vary between most movements. The entire ensemble is used only in Nos. 6, 11, 14, 15 (end), 16, 18, 19 (end), 20, and 21.Dunsby 1992, 23. Musicologist Alan Lessem states about the work that "on the whole instrumental textures tend to become fuller as the work progresses" and that, in general, "the piano is the leading instrumental protagonist of the melodramas."Dunsby 1992, 24.
The poetry is a German version of a rondeau of the old French type with a double refrain. Each poem consists of three of 4 + 4 + 5 lines, with the first two lines of the first stanza (1,2) repeated as the last two lines of the second stanza (7,8), and line 1 additionally repeated (13) to close the third stanza and the poem. The first poem is shown below.
| 1. Mondestrunken (Drunk with Moonlight) | ||
Gelüste schauerlich und süss, Durchschwimmen ohne Zahl die Fluten! Den Wein, den man mit Augen trinkt, Giesst Nachts der Mond in Wogen nieder. Der Dichter, den die Andacht treibt, Berauscht sich an dem heilgen Tranke, Gen Himmel wendet er verzückt Das Haupt und taumelnd saugt und schlürft er Den Wein, den man mit Augen trinkt. | Lusts, thrilling and sweet Float numberless through the waters! The wine that one drinks with one's eyes Is poured down in waves by the moon at night. The poet, urged on by his devotions, Becomes intoxicated with the sacred beverage; Enraptured, he turns toward heaven His head, and, staggering, sucks and sips The wine that one drinks with one's eyes.Schoenberg 1994, 56. | |
In the score, Sprechstimme is indicated with small x's through the stems of notes. Though Sprechstimme is used throughout the piece, Schoenberg also occasionally indicates that certain passages are to be sung ( gesungen).
| Erika Stiedry-Wagner | Rudolf Kolisch, violin and viola; Stefan Auber, cello; Edward Steuermann, piano; Leonard Posella, flute and piccolo; and Kalman Bloch, clarinet and bass clarinet | Arnold Schoenberg | Columbia Records | 1940 | LP |
| Helga Pilarczyk | Members of the Conservatory Society Concert Orchestra | Pierre Boulez | Ades | 1961 | LP, CD |
| Bethany Beardslee | Columbia Chamber Ensemble | Robert Craft | Columbia Records / CBS | 1963 | LP |
| Jan DeGaetani | Contemporary Chamber Ensemble | Arthur Weisberg | Nonesuch Records | 1970 | LP, CD |
| Cleo Laine | Nash Ensemble | Elgar Howarth | RCA Red Seal | 1974 | LP |
| Yvonne Minton | Ensemble InterContemporain | Pierre Boulez | Columbia | 1977 | LP, CD |
| Barbara Sukowa | Schoenberg Ensemble | Reinbert de Leeuw | Koch-Schwann | 1988 | CD |
| Maria Höglind | Sonanza Ensemble | Jan Risberg | Caprice records | 1990 | CD |
| Jane Manning | Nash Ensemble | Simon Rattle | Chandos Records | 1991 | CD |
| Phyllis Bryn-Julson | New York New Music Ensemble | Robert Black | GM Recordings | 1992 | CD |
| Phyllis Bryn-Julson | Ensemble Modern | Peter Eötvös | RCA Victor Red Seal | 1993 | CD |
| Karin Ott | Cremona Musica Insieme | Pietro Antonini | Nuova Era | 1994 | CD |
| Christine Schäfer | Ensemble InterContemporain | Pierre Boulez | Deutsche Grammophon | 1997 | CD |
| Anja Silja | Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble | Robert Craft | Naxos Records | 1999 | CD |
Arnold Schoenberg himself made test recordings of the music with a group of Los Angeles musicians, nearly all European immigrants, from September 24 to 26, 1940. These recordings were eventually released on LP by Columbia Records in 1949, and reissued in 1974 on the Odyssey label.
The jazz singer Cleo Laine recorded Pierrot lunaire in 1974. Her version was nominated for a classical Grammy Award. Another jazz singer who has performed the piece is Sofia Jernberg, who sang it with Norrbotten NEO.
The Popular music star Björk, known for her interest in avant-garde music, performed Pierrot lunaire at the 1996 Verbier Festival with Kent Nagano conducting. According to the singer in a 2004 interview, "Kent Nagano wanted to make a recording of it, but I really felt that I would be invading the territory of people who sing this for a lifetime ."Björk is Icelandic. "For a lifetime" is probably a second-language error for "all their lives." Only small recorded excerpts (possibly bootlegs) of her performance have become available.
The American mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger has performed Pierrot lunaire extensively with organizations such as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and Sequitur at venues including Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
In March 2011, Bruce LaBruce directed a performance at the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin. This interpretation of the work included gender diversity, castration scenes and dildos, as well as a female to male transgender Pierrot. LaBruce subsequently filmed this adaptation as the 2014 theatrical film Pierrot lunaire. Pierrot lunaire at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Over the years, other groups have continued to use this instrumentation professionally (current groups include Da Capo Chamber Players,Kozinn, Allan. "World Premieres, Sure, but Room for Older New Music Too," The New York Times, November 23, 2006. eighth blackbirdRiley, Paul. "High-flying Quality," BBC Magazine, September 1, 2007. and the Finland contemporary group Uusinta ) and have built a large repertoire for the ensemble.
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