Die Jakobsleiter
Encyclopedia
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
that marks his transition from a contextual or free atonality
Atonality
Atonality in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used, and the notes of the chromatic scale...
to the twelve-tone technique
Twelve-tone technique
Twelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
anticipated in the oratorio's use of hexachords
Hexachord
In music, a hexachord is a collection of six pitch classes including six-note segments of a scale or tone row. The term was adopted in the Middle Ages and adapted in the twentieth-century in Milton Babbitt's serial theory.-Middle Ages:...
. Though ultimately unfinished by Schoenberg the piece was prepared for performance by Schoenberg student Winfried Zillig
Winfried Zillig
Winfried Zillig was a German composer, music theorist, and conductor.Zillig was born in Würzburg. After leaving school, Zillig studied law and music. One of his teachers there was Hermann Zilcher. In Vienna he was a private pupil of Arnold Schönberg, later following him to Berlin...
at the request of Gertrude Schoenberg
Gertrude Schoenberg
Gertrud Schoenberg was Arnold Schoenberg's wife , sister of violinist Rudolf Kolisch and founder of Belmont Music Publishers. Though ultimately unfinished by Schoenberg, the piece Die Jakobsleiter was prepared for performance by Schoenberg student Winfried Zillig at the request of Gertrude...
.
The piece is also notable for its use of developing variation
Developing variation
In music composition, developing variation is a formal technique in which the concepts of development and variation are united in that variations are produced through the development of existing material....
.
Notable recordings include one with Ian Partridge
Ian Partridge
Ian Partridge CBE is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to contemporary works. He formed a renowned vocal-piano duo with his sister...
, conducted by Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
.