Schoenberg and Das Unheimliche: Spectres of Tonality

Author(s): Michael Cherlin

Source: The Journal of Musicology , Summer, 1993, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer, 1993), pp.
357-373
Published by: University of California Press

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 Schoenberg and
Das Unheimliche:

Spectres of Tonality
MICHAEL CHERLIN

W begin by recalling part of Roger Sessions'

1966 conversation with Edward T. Cone.'

CONE: I remember before you were writing twelve-tone, you often

used to say that not only did you hear all of your own music as tonal
in a certain sense but also that you heard even Schoenberg's twelve-
tone music as tonal in a certain sense.
357
SESSIONS: Yes, if I could extend that remark a little, I'd say it
still-you've got to remember-in a certain sense. I had this out with
Schoenberg once, too. Well, I can't say I had it out, exactly. I told
him that the first movement of the Fourth Quartet suggested to me
at moments the key of D minor. He said, "Yes, but it's not D minor
at all. What you are hearing are relationships between the notes and
you associate that with tonality, but that isn't all tonality is-it's a
great deal more than that." I got his point immediately. Of course he
was right . . ., I think really the point is, is tonality the basis of the
structure of the piece? But I object to the absolute distinction that
some people make between tonal music and nontonal music. I don't
think that there is a clear distinction.

There is some significant equivocating going on here, both on

Sessions' part and on Schoenberg's, and we need to unpack the am-
biguities and ambivalences in the discussion to become sensitive to its
profound aporias. When Schoenberg insists "that isn't all tonality is-
it's a great deal more than that" he might just as well insist "that isn't
all a twelve-tone composition is-it's a great deal more than that."

Volume XI * Number 3 * Summer 1993

The Journal of Musicology ? 1993 by the Regents of the University of California

Edward T. Cone, "Conversation with Roger Sessions," Perspectives on American

Composers, Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone, editors (New York: W. W. Norton &
Co., 1971), pp. 102-03.

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

This is to say that the assumptions and procedures of tonality ext

beyond the range of those operative in twelve-tone composition a
likewise the assumptions and procedures of twelve-tone compositi
extend beyond the range of tonality. In current theoretical metaph
neither maps into the other. In the language of poetic tropes,
relationship is not synecdochic. The antecedent part of the same s
tence, "What you are hearing are relationships between the notes
you associate that with tonality," equivocates even more. First, Scho
berg says "you associate," not "we associate," or "I associate."2
though Schoenberg does not, at least in this context, explicitly di
claim a similar hearing for himself, such a possibility is not incom
patible with the reading I have just argued, the implicit claim tha
neither musical language contains the other. When Schoenberg re
to "relationships between the notes," I read "between" to be equiv
lent to "among"; that is, I assume that Schoenberg is not restricting
comment to relations between pairs of notes, but rather includes m
complex relations among notes in a field. Of course it is not just
relationships among the notes that Schoenberg refers to. Rather,
refers to specific relationships that correlate with the specific relat
358 ships of tonality. Schoenberg in saying "you associate," equivocates
at least the possibility that "we can recognize." To recognize, by on
its meanings, is "to know again; to perceive, to be identical with so
thing previously known." [Oxford English Dictionary, definition 5]
thing previously known is tonality, and post-tonality is built upon
ruins. Schoenberg's grounding in a larger tradition is self-proclaim
throughout his prose works, and of course it is immanent through
his musical works. When we recognize wisps, or more, of tonality
post-tonal Schoenberg it is as though distanced voices from his pa
emerges.
Sessions continues, "I think really the point is, is tonality the basis
of the structure of the piece?" The normative answer implied is that
in twelve-tone compositions, the twelve-tone row, not the tonal sys-
tem, assumes the function of grounding the work. We can extend this
axiom to the larger field of Schoenberg's post-tonal works, including
those that are not twelve-tone, by saying that a network of motivic
transformations assumes the function for structural basis. Yet Ses-
sions equivocates once again, by avoiding a "yes-or-no" answer alto-
gether. Instead he goes on, "But I object to the absolute distinctio
that some people make between tonal music and nontonal music.

Whether or not Sessions correctly remembers what Schoenberg had to say is not
quite to the point, and the argument still stands even if Sessions is arguing with himself
That is, the problems at stake still obtain even if this "Schoenberg" is a straw man.

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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

don't think that there is a clear distinction." The equ

back to Sessions' initial claim: tonality is present "in
while in another sense tonality is not the basis of th
That the row, or motivic workings in a more inc
mimic or imply tonal gestures must be double edged
to phrasing, articulation, surface rhythms and so f
hand, the intervallic content within the row and amo
within the motives and among their transformation
"relationships between the notes" that remind the l
members tonality of tonality. In this sense row or
takes priority. On the other hand, tonality is antec
Schoenberg's experience, and if we grow out of our p
it be otherwise), we are derivative. Schoenberg's gen
rooted in tonality. Indeed, in that Schoenberg alway
ognizing his musical fathers, his music can be heard
overcoming of their potentially oppressive bequest.3
twelve-tone rows, and post-tonal compositions more
tonality, to that degree they are grounded in tonali
ship is circular and dialectical and cannot be reduced
359
tonal, for to say that Schoenberg's post-tonal wo
perversely reductive in one sense (that all functions
tonal functions), and over-inclusive in another (that
not there must be implied), while to say that Schoe
incorrectly heard when we bring our tonal memories
it reflects those back to us is to impoverish his music in
the loss of its grounding in a larger tradition.4

For better insight into the phenomena we have b

I turn to Schoenberg's approximate contemporary
mund Freud. Freud, it must be remembered, was an
increasingly toward the end of his life recognized hi

3 In formulating this thought, my indebtedness to the literary

Bloom should be obvious to any reader who knows Bloom's work
tion to Bloom that I know of is the collection Poetics of Influenc
introduction by John Hollander (Henry R. Schwab: New Haven
4 Schoenberg, in Harmonielehre is fond of a political metapho
involving kings and vassals. We can adopt this type of imagery to
present day metaphors such as "isomorphic mappings" being su
ment). Schoenberg's twelve-tone music usurps and integrates ton
new idiom. Tonality informs the row without usurping its functi
usurper. But the usurper remembers and in certain ways takes on th
who no longer is king, for his memory is cherished. The evocati
constantly undermined, for the new king must everywhere asse
what it is to be king was already established and the new king r

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

so much among physicians but rather among philosophers and

ets.s Although Freud has little insight into music per se, he does h
great insight into the culture to which both he and Schoenberg c
tributed so immensely.6
Among the papers of Sigmund Freud there is one that has
peculiar distinction of being about the meanings of a word, as
posed to, for example, a psychic function/dysfunction, a case study
even an analysis of art or culture from a psychoanalytic point of v
To be sure, analysis of art and culture come into play, but the cent
focus remains an analysis of the meanings of a word. The paper, in
English translation is titled "The 'Uncanny'." It was first publishe
Imago, Bd. V, 1919.7 The German word, unsatisfactorily translate
"uncanny" is "unheimlich."
"Unheimlich" cannot be successfully translated into English be
cause of the spectrum of meanings that merge "unheimlich" with
sometimes opposite and sometimes equivalent "heimlich." In Engli
we have no analogue. Central to Freud's paper, in which he copiou
cites dictionary entries, is a tracing of this spectrum of meanings.
At one end of the spectrum, "heimlich" denotes a range of mea
360
ings that are tied in with the safety, tranquility and intimacy of h
and family. The intimate, private aspect of "heimlich" gives rise
another range of meanings that tend toward its opposite, the
cealed, secret, untrustworthy. Thus "heimlich" merges with "unhei
lich." "Unheimlich" then extends to meanings such as eerie, ghost
uncanny, horrifying. Among the dictionary entries, one that esp
cially intrigues Freud quotes the Romantic German philosop
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. "'Unheimlich is the name
everything that ought to have remained..,. hidden and secret and
become visible." (p. 375) Freud's analysis leads to this conclusion:

5 A particularly striking example of this is Freud's recognition of Empedocle

a primary precursor. See "Die endliche und die unendliche Analyse," (1937) transla
as "Analysis Terminable and Interminable," Collected Papers, (New York: Basic Boo
1959) vol. 5, PP- 348-49.
6 Freud is sensitive to the dynamics between society and the individual all thro
his analytic work. The topic is the center of focus in his book Das Unbehagen in der Ku
(1930), translated as Civilization and its Discontents, (New York: W. W. Norton & C
1961).
In considering Freud's insights into culture as a valuable resource for Schoenberg
studies, it is not my intention to underestimate the vast differences in perspective
between Freud and Schoenberg. However, neither should the common ground be
underestimated. The not quite intersecting social circles of Freud and Schoenberg are
noted in Edward Timms, Karl Kraus: Apocalyptic Satirist, (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1986), pp. 8-9.
7 The English version is found in Collected Papers, vol. 4, pp. 368-407.

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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

This is the place now to put forward two consider

think, contain the gist of this short study. In the first
analytic theory is correct in maintaining that every em
whatever its quality is transformed by repression int
ety, then among such cases of anxiety there must be
the anxiety can be shown to come from something
recurs. This class of morbid anxiety would then be n
what is uncanny, irrespective of whether it originall
or some other affect. In the second place, if this is in
nature of the uncanny, we can understand why the u
has extended das Heimliche into its opposite das Unhei
uncanny is in reality nothing new or foreign, but som
and old established in the mind that has been estrang
process of repression. This reference to the factor o
enables us furthermore, to understand Schelling's def
uncanny as something which ought to have been kept
which has nevertheless come to light. (p. 394)

In addition to repression, Freud speaks of cultural

overcoming of more primitive beliefs. For examp
liefs of primitive man have been overcome, more
361

When we consider that primitive beliefs are most in

nected with infantile complexes, we shall not be great
find the distinction [between repression and surmou
rather hazy one. (p. 403)

Freud is especially interested in the "unheimlich

Indeed, the most prolonged segment of analysis
voted to E.T.A. Hoffmann's story, "The Sandm
Hoffmann "the unrivaled master of conjuring u
386).8 An interesting omission in Freud's paper is
as to why both Hoffmann and Schelling, both in t
century, should have particularly compelling insigh
liche. I would suggest that Freud's omitting a consi
ical context is tied in with his assumption that
dysfunctions although not quite ahistorical, are
kind's pre-historical genetic memory.9 In Romant

s In this respect, it is interesting to note that Harold Bloom considers Freud

himself, along with Franz Kafka as latter-day masters of the uncanny. Bloom develops
these thoughts in various places, most recently in Ruin the Sacred Truths: Poetry and Belief
from the Bible to the Present (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), Chapter 6,
"Freud and Beyond," pp. 143-204.
9 J. H. van den Berg argues against Freud's ahistorical models in The Changing
Nature of Man: Introduction to a Historical Psyvchology (New York: W. W. Norton & Co.,
1961).

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

Enlightenment-derived categories become displaced and estran

In terms of Freud's schema we can say that the Romantics internal
and simultaneously attempt to surmount their Enlightenment pr
cursors. The internalized languages of the past, "something famil
and old established in the mind that has been estranged only by t
process of repression," come back to haunt the new emerging
guage. This process is particularly vivid in music.1o "The ghosts of
past become particularly haunting if we live with them on a day to
basis. Transposing Freud's thoughts onto a musical sphere, I w
say that tonality, the most "heimlich" of musical groundings, beco
increasingly estranged and repressed as Schoenberg and others str
gle to surmount it. The glimmerings of tonality that emerge here
there, in varying degrees and in varying intensities throughout Sch
berg's compositional life can well be understood as "unheimlich." T
sonorities of tonality have not fully disappeared, they have becom
estranged, evanescent spectres."

I want to consider unheimlich evocations of tonality, not in the firs

movement of Schoenberg's Fourth String Quartet, but in the stunn
362
presentation of the row at the opening of the slow movement. Bef
doing that, however, I would like to discuss two remarkable obser
tions concerning other Schoenberg compositions that have alre
been made in the literature. My argument will be that both obser
tions discover Schoenberg das Unheimliche. Thomas Christensen,
"Schoenberg's Opus 11, No. 1: A Parody of Pitch Cells from Trista
recognizes a redeployment of pitch cells, clearly derivable from W
ner's opera, that become the pool from which Schoenberg generat
his own motivic network.2 Although the word "parody" appears i
Christensen's subtitle, within the body of the paper he does not d
cuss parody technique, either with or without "implication of car
ture."13 Parody assumes conscious imitation. In contrast Christen
wants to hedge:

1o No doubt, the establishment of a musical canon in the 19th century is a co

tributing factor. The significance of the newly emerging canon in the 1gth centur
discussed by Joseph Kerman in Contemplating Music (Cambridge: Harvard Univer
Press, 1985), p. 70 and following.
" It is worth emphasizing that unheimlich, as I am using the word, and as it is of
used, is not restricted to the bizarre or horrifying. Of course, the Schoenberg of
wartung, Die Gliickliche Hand, Pierrot Lunaire and Moses und Aron is capable of b
unheimlich in that sense as well.
1 Thomas Christensen, "Schoenberg's Opus 11 No. 1: A Parody of Pitch Cells
from Tristan," Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute X/1 (June 1987), 38-44.
'3 I borrow the quoted phrase from the article on parody in Willi Apel, Harvard
Dictionary of Music, (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969).

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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

I don't think it is pushing things too far to suggest that

may have been at least subliminally influenced by Wag
here.... Is it not possible that the Tristan sonorities whi
doubt firmly embedded in Schoenberg's musical subcon
could have bubbled to the surface in some kind of alchemic reaction
unleashed during the writing of Opus 11? (p. 42)

I would say that the emergence of Wagner's ghost is unheimlich. Schoen-

berg is triumphant in making the materials his own and he does this
by repressing their origins. Yet that which was concealed becomes
revealed as we recognize the return of the suppressed. Schoenberg
does not quote Wagner, he usurps Wagner's language and makes it
his own. Yet the spectre of Tristan remains.
A second example of das Unheimliche involves Schoenberg over-
coming not an earlier precursor other than himself, but rather that
precursor that was himself.'4 The appearance of fragments, both
musical and textual, from Schoenberg's song "Am Wegrand," Op.
6/6, in his Erwartung, Op. 17, is noted in a 1967 paper by Herbert
Buchanan, "A Key to Schoenberg's Erwartung."1s In this case, Schoen-
berg is clearly remembering his earlier tonal song in a new context. 363
The melody and text of Am Wegrand give rise to the Hauptstimme and
text of Erwartung, mm. 41o and following. It is as though, through
free association, the earlier, repressed melody has returned to con-
sciousness; as (and if) the earlier song is recognized, the later music
becomes uncanny indeed.
Considering the implications of the musical self-quotation, Bu-
chanan makes the following observation:

As the "athematicism" of Erwartung has required reappraisal, so also

must the description of Erwartung as "atonal" be qualified. That
tonal material from Am Wegrand appears in Erwartung without dis-
turbance to the stylistic consistency of the work suggests that Erwar-
tung is more tonal than heretofore believed.

I would counter-argue that remembering shadowy fragments from a

tonal song in another context does not make that later context tonal
any more than moments of lucidity make the psychotic sane. "That

'4 Harold Bloom develops a similar idea with regard to Freud's own self-
overcomings in Agon, Ch. 4, "Freud and the Sublime: A Catastrophe Theory of Cre-
ativity," (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 91-118. The chapter is also
available as a separate essay entitled "Freud and the Poetic Sublime" in Poetics of Influ-
ence, edited by John Hollander (New Haven: Henry R. Schwab, Inc., 1988.
5 Herbert Buchanan, "A Key to Schoenberg's Erwartung," Journal of the American
Musicological Society XX/3 (1967), 434-49.

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

isn't all tonality is-it's a great deal more than that." I would a
argue, on the other hand, that gestures both rhythmic and interva
permeate the textures of Erwartung with evanescent recollections
tonality. The important qualifier is "evanescent," for Schoenberg
dermines tonality as quickly as it begins to rise to the surface. If
quotation from Am Wegrand had not been elusive, others bef
Buchanan would have noted it (which is not to rule out that others
so). The motives derived from the earlier song fit comfortabl
if comfortable is a word one can use in reference to anything
Erwartung!--inside their new context. Only the recognition of a s
arate context, Am Wegrand, reveals the tonal grounding. Without
recognition, there is not enough confirmation, that is stability an
recurrence, for us to say that mm. 4o10 and following are in D mi
The passage is uncanny because, recalling Schelling's definition
"ought to have remained ... hidden and secret and has become
ible."
I have several times referred to "evanescent recollections of to-
nality." I turn now to the opening of the slow movement from Schoen
berg's Fourth Quartet, Op. 37 to show what I mean (Example 1). To
364
appreciate the role of tonal spectres, I will place those observations in
a slightly larger context.'6
The rhetoric is that of an instrumental recitative, and the precur-
sor is late Beethoven, among whose instrumental recitatives I wil
single out the one toward the beginning of the last movement of his
Ninth Symphony (Example 2).
I will argue that overlapping and conflicting segments in the
Schoenberg energize the tone row and give rise, through a number of
means, to evanescent tonal centers. To begin with, we should notice
the significant diminished sonority, or (o 3 6 9) tetrachord if you
prefer, that forms a backbone for Schoenberg's melody.'7 This is
projected by the initial C, the Eb downbeat of m. 2, the GI's of mm.
616-17 and finally A, the last note of the initial tone row. s To my ear,

i6 This opening of the slow movement is a particularly celebrated passage and it

has received extensive commentary in print. Milton Babbitt, as for so much of our
understanding of Schoenberg, provides a locus classicus in "Set Structure as a Compo-
sitional Determinant," Journal of Music Theory V (1961), 72-94. Bruce Samet presents
an extended, insightful analysis in Hearing Aggregates: Case Studies in the Definition of
Progression in Twelve-tone Music (Penn State University Press, 1987).
'7 I do not wish to underemphasize the distinction between the two labels, dimin-
ished 7th chord and (o 3 6 9) tetrachord. "Diminished 7th" implies a tonal reading, or
at least a reading that understands the chord to be borrowed from a pre-existent tonal
vocabulary. (o 3 6 9) does not recognize a tonal derivation. (o 3 6 9) therefore conceives
of the set as being independent of tonal implications.
18 The significance of (o 3 6 9) sets in the Fourth Quartet was pointed out by
Milton Babbitt in his 1981 address to the Society of Music Theory at the Schoenberg

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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

EXAMPLE 1. Schoenberg, String Quartet No. 4

ing. Copyright ? 1939 (Renewed) by G. Sc
(ASCAP). International Copyright Secured
Reserved. Used by Permission.

Largo =f 78 poco accel, a tempo

614 AAA 615 3 616 (G) 3

(G) ? 3-
A(G)) 3

-qf .,v-v--< --]-=---- , -

A

S -" - - ". ." 'dolce

L4T poco tit. - ..
) 617
6 61
618 619
619
365
f qf ===-
o 4f 10 dolce

..,, ,., _ _

luA ,,ct - lp i- , .

the Hauptstimme continues beyond the initial twelve notes into the
'cello Ab-Db (mm. 618-19). By this reading, the over-all vector is
directed from the opening C, expanded by a diminished arpeggio,
toward the closing Db, a semitone ascent displaced by two octaves.
The strategy in Beethoven's recitative is somewhat similar. The
diminished arpeggiation begins with E on the downbeat of m. 9, the
"wrong" fifth in relation to the upbeat A. The arpeggiation continues

Institute in Los Angeles, California. Babbitt discussed how the (o 3 6 9) set predicts later
moves among combinatorial row quartets associated by transposition of three semi-
tones.

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 ONJ

EXAMPLE 2. Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, last movement.

10

Fl. -.
Ob.

c. Cl. -_ . i "L L . .

Fg.

Cfg.

(D) --
Cor.

(B)

(D)
Tr. _-______J__
Timp.

Vc.
Cb.llccrdnctemitm
f Selon le caractere d'un recitati

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 EXAMPLE 2. (continued)
zu 2

Fg. -. z

Cl.

ces. ;% - - ,,,, .r ,"r

zu 2

Vc.
(D)
(B) _ _, .. _ I. l J I ; ~zNif

(D)
Cb.

2 : I,-.' p I!! I ! - ONJ

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

with the move through C#-E, then G-BI, and so forth, until
closing circle around F, thus resolving E upwards by a semit
displaced by an octave. In both recitatives the diminished arpeggi
tion energizes the line and leads eventually to a momentary resolu
tion. Beethoven will eventually give us a stable tonal reference. Scho
berg will not.
The projection of (o 3 6 9) in the Schoenberg works in conjunc-
tion with a projection of overlapping segments of the tone row. I
read these as follows: <C B G Ab E,>, <E, DI D>, <D BI GI>,
<Gb F GI F E>, and finally <E A> to <Ab Db > which I prefer to
understand in the present context as a unified segment that binds
together two row forms <E A Ab Dr >. The first four segments begin
and end on metric downbeats. Moreover, if <E A Ab DI > is consid-
ered as the final segment then it too begins and ends with a metric
downbeat. In addition to rhythmic articulation, each segment is pro-
jected by establishing and/or undermining pitch symmetries.
The first segment <C B G Ab Eb,> is defined rhythmically (by
agogic accent) and also by the pitch content which disrupts the initial
symmetry about BI/A (the space circled by the first four notes) with
368 the metric accent on Eb.
The second segment <EI DI D> articulates a pitch symmetry
that circles around the goal tone D. D is in conflict with the projected
diminished arpeggiation, and it contradicts that reading while it is in
force.

The third segment, like the second, articulates a symmetry about

D, which is now circled by an augmented triad (a <2 t 6> segment).
The final note of this segment reasserts the priority of the diminished
arpeggio.
The fourth segment, <G' F GI F E>, comprises a three-note
descent in semitones whose third member (E) is delayed by the reit-
eration of the first two. Like D before it, E contradicts the unfolding
diminished arpeggio, but it leads to A which re-establishes and com-
pletes that arpeggio.
As we have noted, the fifth segment can be heard to comprise two
notes or four. The larger pattern forms a symmetry (with octave
displacement) of descending P5, descending semitone, descending
P5; in real semitone count: <-7, -14, -7>.
Another reading, in contention with that above, emphasizes the
importance of the initial gap in the opening chromatic four-note sub-
segment <C B G Ab >. This second reading finds a chromatic descent
<C B Bb A Ab> that works in coordination with the larger motion
<C DI >, the first and last notes in the fourteen-note series. The gap
comprising Bb and A is filled in by specially articulated events across
the row presentation. The BI arrives in m. 616 and its rhythmic,
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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

registral and dynamic context make it sound like

This contradicts the symmetrical segment <D
asserts <El Dl D Bb >. The final note of the initial
completes the space left empty by the opening symm
articulated by its long duration, by the P5 descent
note of the unison quartet, and of course in that i
the twelve-tone row. The segment <Gl F Gl F
contradicts our earlier reading. The structurally
by semitones <C B ... Bl ... A> continues with
ment to Ab. We have already described the move
semitone above the initial note. In summary, a
contends against the diminished arpeggiation
"middleground" status in the row presentation
structure to have priority over the other. Rather
we shall see--fluctuate in priority as each is surmo
I find this type of fluctuation to be ubiquitous in
emplifies what I mean by "evanescent" structural
Another nexus of evanescent centers is derived from the tonal
implications of gestures within the tone row. Tonal associations
among the notes contribute to a series of evanescent centers,369 some-
thing like momentary tonics that are undermined as the row contin-
ues. 19 While the opening note gives initial emphasis to C, the continua-
tion of the first segment suggests Ab as "tonic." That is after the
strong move Ab to Eb (m. 615), tonal gravity tugs toward a move back
to Ab.Po The centrality of Al is partially vitiated by Dl which could
lead back to C or possibly to Gl, or could establish itself as tonic. Then
the status of Al is undermined more fully by the arrival of D. This
effectively, at least for the moment, cancels out any "tonic" status that
Ab has asserted.

As we continue, D is subsumed into the D-Bl-Gl augmented

chord. The augmented chord suggests three possible tonal resolu-
tions: to G (g) B (b) or El (el). The F that follows Gl intensifies a
move toward Eb and this coordinates nicely with the initial sense of
Ab as "tonic" moving to Eb as "dominant." Next, the arrival of E
vitiates the move toward El and this is confirmed by the following A.
Finally, the move to Ab then Dl restores balance, momentarily as
least, by shifting the weight to Db. This gives the disruptive Dl in

19 My approach here is indebted to that developed by David Lewin, "Music The-

ory, Phenomenology, and Modes of Perception," Music Perception III/4 (Summer 1986),
327-92.
2o An alternative hearing suggested to me by Brian Campbell interprets the open-
ing five notes as an embellished dominant leading to Db in m. 615. By this hearing, the
final D, (cello, m. 619) reasserts the status of this Db which is undermined in the
intervening music.

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

m. 2 a new sense and articulates, in a third sense, the ascend

semitone motion from initial C to final Db. By this reading, and at
moment in the context, Ab is the uncanny dominant and DI is
uncanny tonic.
I place this final reading in conflict with the former readings.
three are strong forces in contention. No one reading is the "corr
one." (My critics will surely agree on that!) Each reading establish
and subsequently undermines implications within its own sph
And at the same time each asserts itself to undermine the others j
as the others assert themselves to undermine it. Schoenberg's mu
exemplifies the kind of art that gains density of meaning throug
conflicting forces. Some, but by no means all of these forces are
canny shadows of the musical language that Schoenberg had s
mounted.

I realize that I have transgressed several taboos in most current

thought on twelve-tone music. Not only have I suggested that ghostly
tonal forces are among those that give the music its energy, while
insisting at the same time that the music cannot be reduced to "ex-
370
tended tonality," but I have also suggested that structural determi-
nants include more than can be pointed to on the page. "Implication"
is a word that has always been in our vocabulary for tonal music, but
is too often avoided in discussions of post-tonal music. It is as though
Schoenberg, and others, suddenly lose the ability to imply and then
deny.
Students of Schoenberg's music have long observed the density of
information that his music expresses. A "condensed music" implies
more than a quick rate of information and more than a density of
explicit relations. That this is so is made clear in Schoenberg's often-
quoted comments regarding Webern's bagatelles.

You can stretch every glance out into a poem, every sigh into a novel.
But to express a novel in a single gesture, a joy in a breath-such
concentration can only be present in proportion to the absence of
self-pity.2

Schoenberg emphasizes here the significance of that which is not lit-

erally said in contributing to the power and concision of the work. His
observation, as the analysis above suggests, has strong implications for
musical analysis, implications that are brilliantly addressed in the pas-
sage cited below. (The emphases are in the original.)

" Note missing

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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

If in any particular instance we compare the numbe

elements or the space taken up in writing them dow
position and the compositional ideas to which analys
of which traces are to be found in the music itself, we
no doubt that the work of composition has carried
compression or condensation on a large scale. It is impos
form any judgment of the degree of this conden
deeper we plunge into a music-analysis the more impr
From every element in a composition's content asso
branch out in two or more directions; every situatio
tion seems to be put together out of two or more i
experiences.
The material in the musical thoughts which is pa
for the purpose of constructing a compositional-sit
course in itself be adaptable for that purpose. There
more common elements in all the components. .. . Basin
discovery, musical interpretation should lay down the
in analysing a work, if an uncertainty can be resolved i
or," we must replace it for purposes of interpretatio
and take each of the apparent alternatives as an
starting-point for a series of associations.
If a common element of this kind between the musical ideas is
371
not present, the work of composition sets about creating one, so that
it may be possible for the thoughts to be given a common represen-
tation in the composition. The most convenient way of bringing
together two musical thoughts which, to start with, have nothing in
common, is to alter the structure of one of them, and thus bring it
half-way to meet the other, which may be similarly clothed in a new
form.22

22 The original passage is taken from Sigmund Freud, "On Dreams," included in
The Freud Reader, edited by Peter Gay (W. W. Norton & Co., 1989), pp. 151-52. The
actual text is given below.
If in any particular instance we compare the number of ideational elements or the
space taken up in writing them down in the case of the dream and of the dream-
thoughts to which the analysis leads us and of which traces are to be found in the
dream itself, we shall be left in no doubt that the dream-work has carried out a
work of compression or condensation on a large scale. It is impossible at first to form
any judgment of the degree of this condensation; but the deeper we plunge into
a dream-analysis the more impressive it seems. From every element in a dream's
content associative threads branch out in two or more locations; every situation in
a dream seems to be put together out of two or more impressions or experiences.
The material in the dream-thoughts which is packed together for the pur-
pose of constructing a dream-situation must of course in itself be adaptable for
that purpose. There must be one or more common elements in all the com-
ponents.... Basing itself on this discovery, dream-interpretation has laid down
the following rule: in analysing a dream, if an uncertainty can be resolved into an
'either-or', we must replace it for purposes of interpretation by an 'and', and take
each of the apparent alternatives as an independent starting-point for a series of
associations.

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 THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY

The citation given above is not from Schoenberg, nor is it deriv

from the writings of any of his students. If it has a familiar ring,
through the reader's acquaintance with Freud's essay "On Dream
itself a condensation of his earlier masterpiece The Interpretation
Dreams (Die Traumdeutung, first edition, 1900oo). The citation is a searc
and-replace version of Freud where occurrences of the word "drea
are replaced with "music" or "composition." The passage, tran
formed through search-and-replace, perfectly describes musical c
densation and perfectly describes the task of musical analysis in u
covering polyvalent associations in that music. The injunction agai
"either-or" in favor of "and" is therefore particularly cogent. In
dream, a visual or spoken image often is a condensation of sev
levels of meaning. In addition to the work of defense mechanisms
censor impulses from the unconscious so that they must become d
placed in order to be dealt with, Freudian dream theory is aware
the intensification of information that ociurs through condensati
It should not be surprising that dream-work and composition sha
attributes, both are examples of human poesis. And, of course
should not be surprising that the composer of Erwartung should fi
372
his thought compatible with Freud's.
Here is an actual citation from Schoenberg (no search-and
replace this time, I promise, though it is tempting to turn this one
Freud). 23

I am sure musical theorists of the future will have to adapt them-

selves to new ways of research. Music is the emanation of the soul
and its governing forces are the same that govern all manifestations
of the soul. Thus psychology might succeed in analyzing: why what
follows what; why what has such consequences; why that is long and
this short; when everything has been told, or what is missing; why
that subject was spoken too often or with too much emphasis; why a
more concise language should be used here, a more loose one there.
However, whether it will be possible to formulate this in such a
straightforward manner as our rules of harmony and counterpoint
were formulated-this is difficult to predict.

If a common element of this kind between the dream-thoughts is not present,

the dream-work sets about creating one, so that it may be possible for the thoughts
to be given a common representation in the dream. The most convenient way of
bringing together two dream-thoughts which, to start with, have nothing in com-
mon, is to alter the verbal force of one of them, and thus bring it half-way to meet
the other, which may be similarly clothed in a new form of words.
23 Arnold Schoenberg, "The Third and Fourth Quartets," included in The String
Quartets: A Documentary Study, edited by Ursula v. Rauchhaupt (Deutsche Grammophon
Gesellschaft Mbh., 1971), p. 51.

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 SCHOENBERG AND DAS UNHEIMLICHE

It is easy to read much of what Schoenberg h

evaluative criteria: "when everything has been tol
ing; why that subject was spoken too often or wit
sis; why a more concise language should be used
one there." I think another reading is more valu
choanalysis is not interested in making value judgm
uncovering what has been concealed. Finding "w
therefore not finding fault, but finding something
formed or something that has become part of a c
through condensation. "Too much emphasis" o
dream or "screen memory" is designed to distract
something more difficult to face. Thus "too much
fault but rather a defense alerting the analyst
important that is implied through avoidance.24
The compactness of Webern is more than ma
Schoenberg, and Schoenberg's more expansive wor
beyond are more concise, more innovative and mo
those who misappraise those works realize. Of cou
the concision, hence density of information, in th
is obtained through polyvalent twelve-tone 373 functio

associations among the partitioned row forms. Am

ory, extending and transforming the ways first po
Babbitt, has made and continues to make profoun
this vast area of research (not limited, of course to
tice). Much less, however has been done in other a
circles comments like those that Sessions makes, ci
of this paper, are considered hopelessly old-fashio
tively irrelevant. Here, we argue otherwise.

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

24 Compare Harold Bloom, "The Breaking of Form," Deconst

(New York: Continuum, 1979), pp. 13-15. On page 15: "N
alludes to another, and what looks like overt allusions and even
are disguises for darker relationships. A strong authentic al
poem can be only by and in what the later poem does not say

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