Browsing by Author "Heidebrecht, Jennifer Leslie"

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    12 Degrees of Alienation: A Socio-Political Exploration of Hanns Eisler's Use of the Twelve-Tone Method during Exile (1938-1948)
    (2020-07-07) Heidebrecht, Jennifer Leslie; Wagner, Martin; Süselbeck, Jan; Stark, Trevor
    Hanns Eisler, one of Arnold Schoenberg’s prominent students and a master of his twelve-tone technique, is arguably one of the most important composers of the twentieth century. However, Eisler’s contribution to modern music in both Germany and North America has been, until recently, overshadowed by political controversy. It is especially the period of Eisler’s American exile (1938-1948) that provides an area of research ripe for investigation with a fresh perspective. This thesis will utilize Eisler’s writings about music, politics, and his experience as an exile, in selections from two volumes of collected essays (Musik und Politik Schriften), (1924-1962) and Composing for the Films (1947). These works incorporate Eisler’s theories regarding the relationship between music and the socio-political climate during this time and will be used in order to examine and qualify previously made theses that the twelve-tone method of composition is the musical language of émigrés. I seek to provide a more nuanced understanding that moves away from score analysis alone, synthesizing both of Eisler’s creative and political worlds in order to illuminate not only the composer, but also the exile and the unique role that the exile experience has played in the development of twelve-tone music.