Frases de Arnold Schönberg

„Soy esclavo de un poder interior más poderoso que mi educación.“

Fuente: El estilo y la idea, p. 124.

„Encuentro que la expresión "música atonal" es de lo más desafortunada —es como llamar a volar "el arte de no caer" o nadar "el arte de no ahogarse"—.“

Fuente: [Schönberg] (2017), p. 210.

„Mi trabajo debería ser juzgado según como entra en los oidos y cabezas de los auditores, y no como describen los ojos de los lectores.“

Sin fuentes

„Hay todavía mucha buena música que puede escribirse en do mayor.“

„Si la música es una arquitectura congelada, entonces el popurrí es un chisme de cafetería congelado… El popurrí es el arte de añadir manzanas a peras…“

Sin fuentes

„La belleza es una necesidad de los mediocres.“

Fuente: «Glosses on the Theories of Others» (1929), en El estilo y la idea (1985), pp. 313-314.

„Mi convencimiento personal es que la música lleva consigo un mensaje profético que revela una forma de vida más elevada respecto a la cual se desarrolla la humanidad, y es en virtud de este mensaje que la música se dirige a los hombres de cualquier raza y de cualquier cultura.“

Fuente: Tratado de armonía, p. 410.

„La adopción de mi método de composición con doce notas no facilita la composición: al contrario, la hace más difícil… Las restricciones impuestas a un compositor por la obligación de usar una sola serie para cada composición son tan rígidas que solo una fantasía que ha superado victosiosamente muchas dificultades puede superarlas. Este método no regala nada; al contrario, priva de muchas cosas.“

«Criteri de valutazione della musica.» En Stile e idea, Milán, Feltrinelli, 1975, p. 190.
Citado en [Fubini]: El siglo XX: entre música y filosofía (2015)

„…if it is art, it is not for all, and if it is for all, it is not art.“

Citado en [Fubini]: El siglo XX: entre música y filosofía (2015)
Fuente: [Fubini], Enrico. El siglo XX: entre música y filosofía. Universitat de València, 2015. https://books.google.es/books?id=deoRCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT62&dq=Sch%C3%B6nberg+belleza+necesidad&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRqOmMwJniAhXrDmMBHRMiAAQQ6AEINDAC#v=onepage&q=Sch%C3%B6nberg%20belleza%20necesidad&f=false En Google Books. Consultado el 13 de mayo de 2019.

„I was never revolutionary. The only revolutionary in our time was Strauss!“

— Arnold Schoenberg, libro Style and Idea

from New Music, Outmoded Music, Style and Idea (1946); as quoted in Style and Idea (1985), p. 124
1940s

„Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value. … Unqualified judgment can at most claim to decide the market-value — a value that can be in inverse proportion to the intrinsic value.“

Schoenberg, Arnold. 1975, in Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg. Edited by Leonard Stein, with translations by Leo Black. p. 137
after 1930

„I see the work as a whole first. Then I compose the details.“

"An Artistic Impression" (1909) in Style and Idea (1985), p. 190
before 1930

„I believe that he (Strauss) will remain one of the characteristic and outstanding figures in musical history. Works like Salome, Elektra and Intermezzo, and others will not perish.“

As quoted in an interview with José Rodriguez (c. 1936) in Schoenberg‎ (1971) by Merle Armitage, p. 149
after 1930
Contexto: I see the work as a whole first. Then I compose the details. In working out, I always lose something. This cannot be avoided. There is always some loss when we materialize. But there is compensating gain in vitality.

„My work should be judged as it enters the ears and heads of listeners, not as it is described to the eyes of readers.“

Arnold Schoenberg, (1946); as quoted in A Schoenberg reader - Documents of a life, edited by Joseph Auner, Yale University Press 2003, page 316-17
1940s

„Although our "gentle air" cannot improve the way hate and envy look, it does seem not to encourage firmness and decision. All is compromise; caution and refinement are everywhere. Everything has to "make a good impression" — whether or not it is any good: the impression is the main thing.“

As quoted in an interview with José Rodriguez (c. 1936) in Schoenberg‎ (1971) by Merle Armitage, p. 143
1930s

„There is a great Man living in this country — a composer. He has solved the problem how to preserve one's self and to learn. He responds to negligence by contempt. He is not forced to accept praise or blame. His name is Ives.“

"About Music Criticism" (1909), in Style and Idea (1985), p. 196
1900s

„My works are 12-tone compositions, not 12-tone compositions“

Note of 1944; as quoted in the Charles Ives profile at Decca Classics http://www.deccaclassics.com/music/composers/ives.html
1940s

„My music is not modern, it is merely badly played“

Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz. 1977, in Schoenberg: His Life, World and Work; translated from the German by Humphrey Searle. p. 349.
after 1930

„I have just read your book [On the Spiritual in Art] from cover to cover, and I will read it once more. I find it pleasing to an extraordinary degree, because we agree on nearly all of the main issues..“

Genette, Gérard. 1997. Immanence and Transcendence, translated by G. M. Goshgarian. p. 102
Undated