Composer and painter Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) had a huge impact on the atonal movement of music. He pushed for the emancipation of dissonance, wanting to free himself and other composers from all rules of tonality. One of his collections of musical works is Pierrot Lunaire, op. 21 (1912). Pierrot Lunaire contains twenty-one pieces, each written for a set of twenty-one poems by Albert Giraud also titled Pierrot Lunaire. One of the pieces in Schoenberg’s collection, no. 14, is called “Die Kreuze” or, translated, “The Crosses”. The words of the corresponding poem are translated: Poems are poets’ holy crosses On which they bleed in silence, Struck blind by phantom swarms Of fluttering vultures.

Swords have feasted on their bodies. Reveling in the scarlet blood! Poems are poets’ holy crosses On which they bleed in silence.

Dead the head, the tresses stiffened, Far away the noisy rabble, Slowly the sun sinks, A red royal crown.-- Poems are poets’ holy crosses.
As one can tell by the words of the poem, this is not a “happy” piece. It is one of depression and sadness, and the atonal music aids in displaying that emotion. “Die Kreuze” is a form of expressionistic music, which attempted to express one’s internal states and emotions. “Die Kreuze” was recorded by many artists, two of which were Lucy Shelton with Da Capo Chamber Players in 1992 and Christine Schäfer with Ensemble Intercontemporain in 1997. Their recordings are the same in their instrumentation and are similar in dynamics and interpretation, but they differ in many ways as well. Schoenberg wrote Pierrot Lunaire with x’s through the vocalists’ notes. This notation meant that the piece was to be recited using sprechstimme, which is literally translated “speech-voice”. This gave the vocalists liberty to do whatever they wanted with the notes, usually resulting in glissandos between notes and hitting notes in the middle of those notated. The notated line was just a guide for the vocalists. A characteristic of sprechstimme was to glissando down in pitch, especially on long notes, which is the way Lucy Shelton does it. In the recording by Schäfer, she does not use as much sprechstimme, especially at the beginning. It is somewhat shocking to hear her begin the piece after having just listened to Shelton’s recording, in which she immediately starts out with sprechstimme. Throughout the piece, though, Schäfer does use it a lot. She certainly does not sing only the exact notes notated, but the fact that she does not use sprechstimme to the degree that Shelton does gives the piece a less eerie and depressing effect. Another characteristic of sprechstimme is that although the vocalist takes liberty with the notes, the rhythm is strictly adhered to. In Shelton’s recording, she follows the rhythms very closely, but in the recording by Schäfer, she takes some time at certain places. For example, in measure 3, she takes time before “blind-” on the f#, and before “flatter-” and “-spen-” in measure 4. The first two notes of the piece, played by the piano, are faster in the Shelton recording, and the piece continues to be played at a quicker tempo than Schäfer’s recording until measure 10. In that measure, the fermata is held out much longer in the Shelton recording. Holding the fermata out for a long time is interesting, because the note being held out is at the end of the phrase “on which they bleed in silence”. Therefore, it is very effective to hold out that note and diminuendo to almost silence. Starting in measure 11, the phrase is “Dead the head, the tresses stiffened, far away the noisy rabble. Slowly the sun sinks…” Both vocalists sing this portion of the piece very quietly and somewhat breathily, which matches the theme of the words. Also, the music playing with the words, “slowly the sun sinks”, is descending to create the image of sinking. In measure 15, the music is marked molto crescendo, but Schäfer herself does not crescendo. Only the instruments playing with her follow the crescendo, and they only do so at the very end of the measure at the ffp. On the other hand, Shelton does crescendo with her voice in that measure, and the instruments also crescendo starting from the beginning of the measure. This is more dramatic and “royal”, going along with the words, “a red royal crown”. The two recordings differ in the way the vocalists end some of the notes. One strong example of this is measure 17. Shelton ends the second syllable of “Kreuze” very dramatically and abruptly, whereas Schäfer holds out the note a little bit. Then, in measure 18, the second syllable of “Verse” is very loud and harsh sounding in Shelton’s recording. The sound is similar in Schäfer’s recording, but not quite as harsh as Shelton. Also, a pitch can somewhat be discerned when listening to Schäfer, but Shelton seems to be just making a strange sound with her voice as opposed to singing an exact pitch. Shelton is also more forceful and loud throughout that whole phrase, starting in measure 17. Both vocalists crescendo to the second syllable of “Verse”, though. Another example of the difference in note length and sharpness is measures 3 and 4. Shelton’s recording is faster here, which has an effect on the sound, but she also makes the notes, such as those of “Gespensterschwarme”, very short and marked. Schäfer, on the other hand, holds the notes out more closely to their full length, so they do not have the same sharp, marked sound. The last two notes in the piano part are very loud and forceful. In Schäfer’s recording, the pianist plays the last note very short, while the instrumentalists continue to hold out the notes their full value. In Shelton’s recording, it sounds like the pianist and the instrumentalists all hold their notes the same length. Shelton and Schäfer both do an excellent job with this difficult piece. The Shelton recording seems more exciting and capturing due to the quicker tempos, Shelton’s sprechstimme, and her way of singing some particular notes very short and marked. Perhaps Schäfer’s recording, though, is more suiting in relation to the poem in that it is slightly more subdued, the notes are held their full length, and the tempo is slower, giving the music more of a sense of depression and sadness. Regardless, the piece is performed well by both vocalists, and Schoenberg would have been pleased!