The Listening Service Extra 5 of 12 - Boiling Water
Schoenbergβs experience in the new atonal world...
Tom looks at Schoenbergβs own experience in the new atonal world that he entered, which Schoenberg likened to being dropped in boiling water.
βPersonally I had the feeling as if I had fallen into an ocean of boiling water, and not knowing how to swim or to get out in another manner, I tried with my legs and arms as best as I could. I do not know what saved me; why I was not drowned or cooked alive. I have perhaps only one merit: I never gave up! I had fallen into an ocean, into an ocean of overheated water and it burned not only my skin, it burned also internally. And I could not swim.
β¦At least: I could not swim with the tide, all I could do was to swim against the tide--whether it saved me or notβ¦' - Arnold Schoenberg 1947
Archive audio and photos with kind permission of Arnold SchΓΆnberg Center, Wien
Featured in...
![]()
12 ways of listening to Schoenberg's journey to serial music—The Listening Service
The Listening Service meets the Second Viennese School.
Why do we call it 'classical' music?
Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?
How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
When does noise become music?
We like to think we can separate βnoiseβ from βmusicβ, but is it that simple?
Podcast
-
![]()
The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service
