Gurrelieder

Gurrelieder is a large-scale cantata by Arnold Schoenberg, begun in 1900 and first performed in 1913. It is considered a peak of the post-Romantic monumental style, calling for exceptionally large vocal and orchestral forces. The work is based on a poem by Jens Peter Jacobsen and tells a story of love, death, and resurrection.1

The first performance of Gurrelieder in Vienna was met with wild enthusiasm, though Schoenberg, by then moving away from traditional tonality, could no longer fully appreciate such a response. The piece is notable for its immense scale and its rich, complex harmonies, representing a culmination of the late Romantic musical tradition before Schoenberg's later innovations with atonality and the twelve-tone method.12