Viennese Modernism. A New Musical Era, Exhibition, Haus der Musik, The Museum of Sound, Vienna: 22 February-7 October 2018

This is archived material. It is for reference purposes only.

Special exhibition dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg, the Godfather of Viennese musical modernism.

The era around 1900 was a time of social change, often stimulated by changes in aesthetical and philosophical values. The principal motive of modernism was to break away from tradition and to cause a longstanding change.

Arnold Schoenberg (1974-1951) was an Austrian composer, musical theorist and painter of Jewish origin from the Viennese modernist period, who broke the seemingly unbreakable Western rules of tonality that had prevailed for centuries. He reinvented harmony and developed the ‘twelve-tone’ technique, in which there was no tonic key and therefore no hierarchy of notes and chords, making all tones of equal importance. His two pupils, Alban Berg (1995-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945) followed his lead and developed his ideas further.

These three composers rejected conventional tonality and decided instead to approach composition in a schematic, almost mathematical manner, often producing atonal music (music with no tonic key). These innovations provoked a reevaluation of standard composition techniques which were inextricably linked to classical harmony and tonality, giving way to a new wave of expression without any restrictions and permanently altering the course of classical music.

This exhibition is the Haus der Musik in Vienna recaps the most importants pieces of this musical era and employs visual presentations to help us to understand and visualise the how the twelve-tone system works. On the centenary of the deaths of these three pioneers of Viennese modernism, this exhibition endeavours to honour and appraise the enormous impact and achievements of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

Haus der Musik

Seilerstätte 30, A-1010 Vienna

Opening hours

Monday-Sunday, 10.00-22.00

Exhibition Viennese Modernism © The Museum of Sound
Exhibition Viennese Modernism © The Museum of Sound

Opening Hours

Monday:
10:00 - 22:00
Tuesday:
10:00 - 22:00
Wednesday:
10:00 - 22:00
Thursday:
10:00 - 22:00
Friday:
10:00 - 22:00
Saturday:
10:00 - 22:00
Sunday:
10:00 - 22:00