First day of the commemorative stamp for the 150th birthday of Arnold Schönberg

Radical innovator

Arnold Schönberg, the inventor of the twelve-tone technique, was born 150 years ago. The stamp features his portrait from the Wien Museum, which Richard Gerstl created around 1907.

Arnold Schönberg was born in 1874 to a Jewish family in Vienna. As a child, he learned to play the violin and composed his first works. After his father's death, he worked in a bank for several years. In an amateur orchestra, he met the composer Alexander von Zemlinsky, who gave him composition lessons; in addition, Schönberg also studied the works of great composers independently. From 1895 onwards, he worked as a choirmaster, conductor, and composer; he taught in Berlin and Vienna and also engaged in painting. In 1911, he wrote the music theory book “Harmonielehre” (Theory of Harmony). In the following years, he developed his method of “composition with twelve tones related only to one another”, the twelve-tone technique. In 1933, he had to emigrate to the USA, where he continued to compose and teach. He became an American citizen and died in Los Angeles in 1951.

Schönberg's early works, such as the Gurre lieder, still belong to the late Romantic style. After a period of atonality, from around 1921 he composed predominantly using the twelve-tone technique, which stands in contrast to major-minor tonality. It is of great importance for modern and avant-garde music and is considered one of the most influential developments in music history of the 20th century. Arnold Schönberg wrote a variety of works, including lieder and operas.

When? 

11.09.2024, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

Wo: 

Arnold Schönberg Center, shop, Schwarzenbergplatz 6 (entrance: Zaunergasse 1-3), 1030 Vienna

Group pictures: 

Picture of presentation: © Österreichische Post AG

Group picture, left to right: Picture 1

Ulrike Anton (director, Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna), Arnie and Randy Schönberg, (grandsons of Arnold Schönberg), Susanna Hiegesberger (curators of the Austrian Post stamp archive)