Schoenberg - Friede auf Erden, Op. 13

Composed in 1907 (a cappella) ; 1911 (with orchestra). Text : Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825-1898).

Schoenberg wrote Friede auf Erden in 1907, at a moment in his life when his highly stylized late-Romanticism was agitating toward transformation into a more rigidly structured, atonal Expressionism. The piece did not receive its premiere until 1911 and though he had indicated in the earliest sketches that the music was meant to be performed a capella, Schoenberg was obliged to create an orchestral accompaniment for the concert to support the incredibly challenging vocal writing. The text for Peace on Earth was taken from an 1886 poem by the Swiss writer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. The first verse is a depiction of the Nativity while the second tells of bloodshed and imploring angels. The third and fourth verses gradually deliver the peace of the title but the comfort supplied by this beautiful conclusion in the music has an air of caution to it. Schoenberg eventually became disillusioned on the concept of universal harmony among men and his choral evocation, one of the last pieces of his early “tonal” period, would later elicit a somber remembrance from the composer. He wrote in 1923 that Friede auf Erden was merely an “illusion,” one created when he still believed such a unity was possible. With one World War just ended and another little more than a decade away, it is no surprise that he lost the faith of that more innocent time. He was surely not alone. (utahsymphony)

Performers : Rundfunkchor Berlin, Kent Nagano