Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte op. 41. Verses 1–5

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Title	Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte op. 41. Verses 1–5
Title addition	First West Coast Performance 75th Birthday Concert
Playing time	00:04:36
Authors	Schönberg, Arnold [Komponist/in] [GND] Byron, George Gordon Noel [Librettist/in] [GND]
Contributors	Schallert, William [Rezitator/in] [GND] Koldofsky, Adolph [Violine] [GND] Selmont, David [Violine] Figelski, Cecil [Viola] [GND] Reher, Kurt [Violoncello] [GND] Stein, Leonard [Klavier] [GND] Fraenkel, Wolfgang [Dirigent] [GND] Magnadisc [Label] Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik [Veranstalter]
Date	1949.09.13 [Aufnahmedatum]
Place	Los Angeles, Assistance League Playhouse [Ortsbezug]
Keywords	Musik ; E-Musik ; Publizierte und vervielfältigte Aufnahme
	20. Jahrhundert - 40er Jahre
Type	audio
Format	SCS [Schallplatte, Schellack]
Language	Englisch
Signature	Österreichische Mediathek, e11-00357_b01_k02
Media type	Mp3-Audiodatei

Score Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Arnold Schönberg Center, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT

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Content

Amid the acute threat of National Socialist tyranny, Arnold Schönberg’s “Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte” op. 41 is both bitter satire and an energetic testimony to the will for resistance. Seeking to convey the powerful message of the poem by Lord Byron used for the composition, Schönberg employed Sprechstimme with precise rhythmic notation. His assistant Leonard Stein remembers: “Arnold Schönberg himself heard the ‘Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte’ played live in its original form only at a rehearsal preceding the concert in honor of his 75th birthday (September 13, 1949) in Los Angeles. […] In a special coaching session with the speaker, Schönberg, his dark eyes flashing expressively while he recited lines from the work, emphasized, above all, their dramatic and expressive values. The inflections of pitch, marked so carefully in the score, were treated in a secondary manner. The main impression of the ‘Ode’ was, and remains, one of powerful dramatic expression.” (Leonard Stein, 1977)

The concert in the Assistance League Playhouse, Los Angeles, was recorded in full and sent to the composer in an elaborately designed set. Side One of the recording of his “Ode to Napoleon” finishes in the middle of the fifth verse of the poem. Shortly beforehand, in the fourth verse, the words “The earthquake voice of Victory” are accompanied by a reference to the “fate” motif from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, subtly woven into the musical scoring.
(Text: Arnold Schönberg Center)

Collection history

Sammlung Schönberg

Im Rahmen einer Kooperation mit dem Arnold Schönberg Center sichert die Österreichische Mediathek seit April 2019 die Schallplattensammlung des Komponisten digital. Der Nachlass Arnold Schönbergs steht seit 1998 im Arnold Schönberg Center in Wien zur Verfügung.

Die Sammlung umfasst über 400 Schallplatten mit eigenen Kompositionen, fremden Werken sowie vereinzelten Sprachaufnahmen. Professionelle Produktionen stehen neben dokumentarischen Mitschnitten. Schönberg war technischen Neuerungen aufgeschlossen und nutzte Medien zur Tonaufzeichnung auf vielfältige Weise. Die frühesten Audio-Dokumente gehen auf Arnold Schönbergs Zeit in Berlin und sein zunehmendes Engagement für den Rundfunk zurück, dessen Potenzial zur Verbreitung aktueller Musik er bereits früh erkannte. Frühe Tonträger der Sammlung entstanden oft als Versuchsaufnahmen im Kontext von Radioübertragungen. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wurden seine Schallplatten wichtiges Kommunikationsmittel im Kontakt mit Europa.

2011 wurde der Schönberg-Nachlass von der UNESCO in das Weltdokumentenerbe-Register (Memory of the World) aufgenommen.

Zur Sammlungsgeschichte siehe auch <link>https://www.schoenberg.at/images/stories/bilder_statische_artikel/archiv/ethikbewahrens.pdf<link>

In cooperation with the Arnold Schönberg Center, the Österreichische Mediathek digitally preserved the composer's record collection in April 2019. Arnold Schönberg’s Estate was made available at the Arnold Schönberg in 1998, after the collection had been moved from Los Angeles.

The composer owned over 400 phonograph discs with his own compositions, works by other composers, and also the occasional voice recording. Professional productions are found alongside documentative recordings. Schönberg was open to technical innovations and used sound recording media in various ways. The earliest audio documents stem from the composer’s time spent in Berlin and his increasing commitment to the radio, whose potential for broadcasting contemporary music to a larger audience was recognized by Schönberg at a very early stage. Early sound storage media from Schönberg’s collection often contain test recordings for radio broadcasts and only excerpts of the compositions played. And after the war, phonograph discs were an important means of communication with Europe.

In 2011 Schönberg’s Estate was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

For the history of the collection see also <link>https://www.schoenberg.at/images/stories/bilder_statische_artikel/archiv/ethikbewahrens.pdf<link>

Location in the digital collection

Keywords

Musik ; E-Musik , Publizierte und vervielfältigte Aufnahme

Part of the collection

Sammlung Schönberg

The medium in online exhibitions

This medium is used on these pages:

This medium is used on this page:
Arnold Schönberg – Biography