The Suite op.

25 in Context

"The very first [compositions] were some movements of the Suite for Piano which I
composed in the fall of 1921. Here I became suddenly conscious of the real meaning
of my aim: unity and regularity, which unconsciously had led me this way."
(Schoenberg to Nicholas Slonimsky, 3 June 1937)
The Suite for Piano op. 25 (1921-3) came as a final breakthrough for Schoenberg,
who was striving for an order and a method to organize his new ideas. With the
creation of the Suite he could convince the world and himself that his new 12-tone
theory is working, and that it is possible to use a single dodecaphonic row for an
entire piece of music, finding in it an almost infinite variety.
Schoenberg was using his piano pieces to introduce and polish his own style at the
time. There are only six compositions for solo piano (or five, if you treat op. 33a and
33b as one piece), all were pivotal in his musical development- The Three Piano
Pieces op.11 (1908), Six Little Pieces op. 19 (1911), Five Piano Pieces op. 23 (19203), the Suite op. 25 (1921-3), and Two Piano Pieces op. 33a (1928-9) and 33b (1931).
The three piano pieces op. 11 was his first completed atonal work, using his
expressionistic style in a non-tonal context.
In the six little pieces op. 19, one can feel Schoenbergs drive for perfection in the
most concise and minimalist manner possible. It is also the piece by Schoenberg that
is the closest to Weberns pointillist textures. After this work, Schoenberg waits nine
years to approach again the piano, and when he does, he composes the Five Piano
Pieces, in which he explores his new means of composition.
The creation of the Five Piano Pieces op. 23 and the Piano Suite op. 25 occurred
almost at the same time: a sketch of the fifth movement from op. 23, the Waltz which is considered the first twelve-tone work - is dated 26 July 1921, and sketches
and initial drafts outlining parts of op. 25 - the Prelude and the Intermezzo - also
originate from the summer of 1921.

The Two Pieces op. 33a and 33b show a return in some way to the earlier,
expressionistic gestures of younger Schoenberg, and from these pieces on his
compositions show more synthesis between the old and the new, rather than just bold
innovation.
The Suite was first performed in Viennas Konzerhaus, on 25th of February, 1924, by
Eduard Steuermann, and drew immediate responses in the works of Berg and Webern,
who both took Schoenbergs serial composition to their own way.
Yet, if one want to look at the Suite in context one should examine what the other
great composers were doing at the same time: In 1922 Berg has completed Wozzeckone of his greatest masterpieces. Webern was writing only vocal music between 1914
and 1927. As the Suite is one of Schoenbergs only approaches toward neo-classicism,
he must have been influenced, even in a superficial way, by Stravinskys many neoclassical pieces of this time- such as Puncinella (1920) and the Octet (1923). Another
composer who took a big leap forward at this time was Bla Bartk, who wrote the
daring, very atonal two Violin Sonatas (1921-2).
In the way the Suite goes forward but looks back at the same time, we can see this
tendency also in the arts of the period.
Bauhaus was an important architectural movement that has started in 1919 with
Walter Gropius, who thought that no distinction should be made between fine arts and
practical crafts. The movement was also depended on the more forward-looking
principles that modern art and architecture must be responsive to the needs and
influences of the modern industrial world and that good designs must pass the test of
both aesthetic standards and sound engineering.
Another movement that started in that time was the Art Deco.
Art Deco was a classical, symmetrical, rectilinear style that reached its high point
between 1925-1935, but was already a dominant art form in the early 20s in Paris,
drew its inspiration from such art movements as Cubism, Futurism, and the influence
of the Bauhaus.