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How did Oskar Adler influence Arnold Schoenbergâs early musical development?
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Arnold Schoenberg
Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg was one of the most influential teachers of music composition of the 20th century. He also was known for his creation of new methods of musical composition involving atonality, namely serialism and the 12-tone row.
Oskar Adler played a pivotal role in the early musical development of Arnold Schoenberg. Their meeting was a decisive moment for the young composer, as Adler encouraged him to learn the cello so that their circle of friends could perform string quartets together.1
This encouragement prompted Schoenberg to begin composing quartets himself. At this stage in his development, Schoenberg was so eager to learn the proper structure for these works that he consulted the "S" volume of an encyclopedia his family was purchasing to understand how to construct the sonata-form first movement.1