Erwartung (Expectation),
Op. 17, is a one-act
monodrama in four scenes by
Arnold Schoenberg to a
libretto by
Marie Pappenheim [
de]. Composed in 1909, it was not premiered until 6 June 1924 in Prague conducted by
Alexander Zemlinsky with
Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the
soprano. The opera takes the unusual form of a monologue for solo soprano accompanied by a large orchestra. In performance, it lasts for about half an hour. It is sometimes paired with
Béla Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle (1911), as the two works were roughly contemporary and share similar psychological themes.[citation needed] Schoenberg described Erwartung, saying "the aim is to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour."[1]
Philip Friedheim has described Erwartung as Schoenberg's "only lengthy work in an
athematic style", where no musical material returns once stated over the course of 426
measures. In his analysis of the structure, one indication of the complexity of the music is that the first scene of over 30 bars contains 9
meter changes and 16
tempo changes.[2] Herbert Buchanan has countered this description of the work as "athematic", and the general impression of it as "
atonal", in his own analysis.[3]
Erwartung had its British premiere on 9 January 1931, with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.[5]
It was the first live opera shown on
Times Square in New York City in a production by
Robin Rhode in November 2015 (2 performances).[6][7]
Roles
The Woman (soprano)
Synopsis
Time: Night
Place: A forest
A woman is in an apprehensive state as she searches for her lover. In the darkness, she comes across what she first thinks is a body, but then realises is a tree-trunk. She is frightened and becomes more anxious as she cannot find the man she is looking for. She then finds a dead body, and sees that it is her lover. She calls out for assistance, but there is no response. She tries to revive him, and addresses him as if he were still alive, angrily charging him with being unfaithful to her. She then asks herself what she is to do with her life, as her lover is now dead. Finally, she wanders off alone into the night.
Instrumentation
Erwartung's score calls for an
orchestra with the following instrumentation.
Wickes, Lewis (1989). "Schoenberg, Erwartung, and the Reception of Psychoanalysis in Musical Circles in Vienna until 1910/11". Studies in Music. 23: 88–106.