Quote of the Day: The Multiorgasmic Side of Arnold Schoenberg

Disclaimer

This post will induce a mental image in you, the unsuspecting reader, which you will never, ever be able to unremember, no matter how hard you try.

And believe me, you will try.

If you consent to be thus traumatized, follow the jump. Don't say you weren't warned, etc.

No visit to Vienna would be complete without a stop by the Arnold Schoenberg Center (g), a modest museum containing exhibits about the cantankerous father of the twelve-tone compositional technique. It contains a replica of his Los Angeles study, a collection of original sound recordings by him, and a wealth of books and scores. 

I bought a back-issue of the June 1984 Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute for a few euros, on the strength of an interesting article about Schopenhauer's influence on Schoenberg. The journal also contains the transcription of a March 2, 1974 conference on Schoenberg held at Oberlin College. One of the participants is the composer Richard Hoffmann (g).

In the middle of a rather odd discussion of which composers among Stravinsky, Webern, and Schoenberg would be the North Pole, South Pole, and equator of modern music, Hoffman delivers himself of the following, er, ejaculation:

R.H.: The North and South Pole are somewhat cold-blooded, objective, reptilian while Schoenberg, the equator, was the giant, whose semen literally spurted when he composed. (p. 68)

Comments

[cohu]

I wish my job was that much fun...

[Andrew]

A facebook friend of mine commented: 'Maybe he was using "literally" in its modern sense (of meaning "figuratively").'

[Rebecca]

Literally?