Music as a Representational Medium: Representation in Arnold Schoenberg's "A Survivor from Warsaw"

Author

Lucy S. Terrell, University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleFollow

Date of Award

5-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Music

Major

Music

Major Professor

Brendan McConville

Committee Members

Brendan McConville, Barbara Murphy, Nathan Fleshner

Abstract

In 1976, Roger Scruton, and English conservative philosopher and writer, dubbed music a non-representation medium. This assertion has resulted in debate among many prominent scholars, and, despite numerous dissenting opinions, Scruton’s premise has persisted as an accepted premise for some scholars in Western music study. In this paper, I survey and analyze prominent writings debating the topic of music as a representational medium, compiling arguments for and against his five criteria for representational art. I then discuss Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw in its context as a piece of representational music. In Schoenberg’s work, I use twelve-tone theory, contour theory, and a syllabic analysis of Schoenberg’s version of the Shema Yisrael to show that Schoenberg uses mimesis, performance directions, and combinatoriality to represent the titular subject: the experience of a survivor from Warsaw.

Recommended Citation

Terrell, Lucy S., "Music as a Representational Medium: Representation in Arnold Schoenberg's "A Survivor from Warsaw". " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2022.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/6380