Introduction

Schoenberg's generation inherits its fascination with things uncanny from the Romantics. One need not look far to find examples in German literature from the nineteenth century: the poetry of Goethe, Hölderlin, and Heine, and the prose of E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Grimm brothers provide the most conspicuous and celebrated examples, as do August Schlegel's German translations of Shakespeare (Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest all feed into Romantic visions of the uncanny). Within Schoenberg's generation, Freud becomes the supreme analyst of the uncanny, while Kafka invents its most profound examples, so much so that his name becomes synonymous with the uncanny. Schubert and Wagner must top the list of musical precursors to Schoenberg's depictions of things uncanny, but examples also can be found in Mozart, Don Giovanni in particular, Beethoven, and others.

The principal focus of this chapter will be on one particular development of Schoenberg's rhythmic practice. It involves the use of a steady pulse-stream, set in contrast to its immediate musical environment, and expressing a sense of altered, “uncanny” time. The practice has antecedents in Schoenberg's tonal music, in Wagner before him, and even earlier, in the music of Schubert.