Schoenberg's inverted counterpoint is the antithesis of that old world Germanic culture -- and it is no surprise that Schoenberg settled in America -- all things being equal, and, in a sense, equally meaningless.
In conclusion, what was once considered light and understood, orthodox, hierarchical, and whole -- in terms of both Western culture and Western classical music in the time of Bach -- had, by the time of Ives and Schoenberg, drifted into a kind of relativistic self-importance/self-worthlessness that had no moorings whatsoever. Notes and attitudes shifted without purpose -- only so as to be heard, or vented, in a sense. The discipline and exacting technique of Brahms -- who represented the apex of classical Romanticism in music -- found relief in the melodic and harmonic counterpoint of Bach and the elevated rhythms of Beethoven....
Yet, to the distress of Dvorak, Brahms' unbelief was a sad sign of what was to come for all Europe -- with war on the horizon and unanswered questions to follow.
Works Cited
Barker, Dan. "Brahms the Freethinker." Works Without Faith. 17 May 2007. Web. 25
March 2011.
Heiner, Stephen. Interview with Bp. Williamson. 1 October 2006. Web. 25 March
2011.
Ives, Charles. Essays before a Sonata. Kessinger Publishing, 2004. Print.
Rahn, John. Music Inside Out. Amsterdam, Netherlands: G+B Arts International, 2000.
Print.
Simon, Henry. A Treasury of Grand Opera. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1946.
Print.
White, David Allen. Lecture on Music Theory. St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. July 2000. Recording.
