Schoenberg’s Sprechstimme vocal technique was extremely influential on many composers. It has invited not only a large variety of performative interpretations, but also very different responses by listeners. The origin of this technique has been traced to Engelbert Humperdinck in his 1897 melodrama Königskinder, as well as to the "old" Austrian theater speaking, yet Schoenberg’s Sprechstimme is a fresh and new conception. It has been described as posing "an enduring and perhaps insoluble interpretive enigma for the performer."[1] Both Darius Milhaud and Pierre Boulez, who conducted the piece, described it as creating "insoluble problems."[2] If you wish to read more about the history of Sprechstimme you are welcome to read my article ‘The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot lunaire: Sprechstimme Reconsidered’, Music Theory Online (MTO), 12/1 (February 2006). Pierrot lunaire is one of the most performed pieces by Schoenberg (even Bjork performed Pierrot lunaire!).

Here are several examples of performance of Sprechstimme that might give you an idea about the variety and differences between the performances:

The first historical recording of the Piece is by Schoenberg’s conduting, Erika Stiedry-von Wagner, Sprechstimme; Rudolf Kolisch, violin; Stefan Auber, cello; Eduard Steuermann, piano; Leonard Posella, flute & piccolo; Kalman Bloch, clarinet & bass clarinet. For more information about Stiedry’s Sprechstimme see my article with Matthias Pasdzierny, ‘Sprechstimme Reconsidered Once Again: "… though Mrs. Stiedry is never in pitch"’, Music Theory Online (MTO), 13/2 (June 2007). Note that this is a studio performance. There is a very big difference between Schoenberg’s studio and live performance of Pierrot lunaire. You can listen to all of this historical recording here.

This video shows some of the paintings of Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg painted self portraits, portraits of other people (some very famous such as Mahler), caricatures, nature, etc. I found especially impressive the paintings of “gazes” and some of the portraits. The video is very good: the choice of paintings, the way some of the paintings are presented side by side with photos of people, and the quotations by Schoenberg and others. The Arnold Schoenberg Center recently made a catalogue of Schoenberg’s paintings which can be obtained via their website www.schoenberg.at

When I used to be a student in the Tel-Aviv University, Leon Schidlowsky said that Schoenberg was a bad painter. Looking at this video I feel far from this opinion. What is clear to me is that these paintings a extremely valuable for anyone who wishes to understand the period and cultural surroundings of Schoenberg.  

In 1921 Schoenberg drew two caricatures of performers in embarrassing Positions (you can see them in the video). In one you can see the pianist’s body twisting in an absurd manner while playing the piano. The pianist is smiling with closed eyes while the head is in a position reaching upwards. Note that the pianist is playing without a score. It seems as if Schoenberg is mocking exaggerated romantic expressive movements, which he might  have seen as belonging to a past era.

In the other caricature Schoenberg drew a pianist in an opposite manner: inactive, sitting loosely on the piano chair and staring at the keyboard. The performer, who sits like a sack of potatoes while starring at the score, seems musically impotent. One might suspect that the lines that Schoenberg drew near the legs of the pianist imply an obscene gesture. In this period Schoenberg felt threatened by the possibility that his will would be overridden by performers expressing themselves.

On the other hand, Schoenberg wrote elsewhere that the interpretation of the performer is extremely important. After he immigrated to USA he wrote several documents that show an increasing awareness to the importance of performers as creative artists.  

Schoenberg had a complex and at times contradictory attitude towards performers and performance. In the book I am currently writing I analyze these contradicting aspects.

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Arnold Schoenberg videos

The Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna had uploaded many interesting videos to Youtube.com

You can find the videos at the following link: http://youtube.com/user/ascvideo

Here are three videos so that you can have an impression of what you can find there. It is recommended to see all of them at the same time

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Arnold Schoenberg as painter