Program Notes and Episode Extras—Episode Two

Schoenberg—Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night)

Saturday, May 15 at 7 pm

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Program

Schoenberg—Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night)

Donato Cabrera, Music Director


Inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem, which explores a confession between two lovers.

Music Director Donato Cabrera says, “Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht attempts something rather unique and entirely different from what had gone before. He attempts to depict through musical phrases every stanza of Dehmel’s eponymous poem without one word being sung or narrated. That’s not to say that Schoenberg set to music each and every word in the poem and then at the last minute, erased the words so that just the rhythms and melodies remain. Rather, he wrote melodic and rhythmic content that reflected the meaning of each stanza. In this sense, Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is purely an abstract representation of Dehmel’s poem. And in this act, Schoenberg created something wholly original and independent.”

Ways to Watch

For tips on viewing the video series, see our handy guide.

View Online

This episode is free to watch anywhere in the world at www.californiasymphony.org. For the best experience, watch the live premiere and join Music Director Donato Cabrera and special guests in the chat window during the show. No account or registration is required.

Watch on TV

In Walnut Creek on Walnut Creek TV

    • Comcast Channel 28 (Channel 26 in Rossmoor)
    • Astound Channel 29
    • AT&T U-verse Channel 99 under the menu option Walnut Creek Television

In Contra Costa County on CCTV

    • Comcast Channel 27
    • AT&T U-Verse Channel 99
    • WAVE Channel 32

Program Notes

It opens with a cliché: your basic dark and stormy night. A couple is walking through the forest. The woman has a secret to impart to her new lover: she is pregnant, and not by him. He is, not surprisingly, taken aback by this news; she wonders if she has just destroyed their relationship with an indiscretion that happened before they had met.

Read Scott’s program notes for Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).

Further Reading

       

       

       

 

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