Arnold Schoenberg

AKA:
Arnold Schönberg
Birth Name:
Arnold Schoenberg
Birth Date:
September 13, 1874
Birth Place:
Obere Donaustraße 5, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria
Death Date:
July 13, 1951
Place of Death:
116 N Rockingham Avenue, Los Angeles, California
Age:
76
Cause of Death:
Myocardial infarction
Cemetery Name:
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof
Claim to Fame:
Music
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. Schoenberg's approach, both in terms of harmony and development, has shaped much of 20th-century musical thought. Many composers from at least three generations have consciously extended his thinking, whereas others have passionately reacted against it. Schoenberg was known early in his career for simultaneously extending the traditionally opposed German Romantic styles of Brahms and Wagner. Later, his name would come to personify innovations in atonality (although Schoenberg himself detested that term) that would become the most polemical feature of 20th-century classical music. In the 1920s, Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone technique, an influential compositional method of manipulating an ordered series of all twelve notes in the chromatic scale. He also coined the term developing variation and was the first modern composer to embrace ways of developing motifs without resorting to the dominance of a centralized melodic idea. Schoenberg's archival legacy is held at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna.

Interesting to Know

Schoenberg was also an influential teacher of composition; his students included Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Hanns Eisler, Egon Wellesz, Nikos Skalkottas and later John Cage, Lou Harrison, Earl Kim, Robert Gerhard, Leon Kirchner, Dika Newlin, Oscar Levant, and other prominent musicians. Many of Schoenberg’s practices, including the formalization of compositional method and his habit of openly inviting audiences to think analytically, are echoed in avant-garde musical thought throughout the 20th century.

The composer’s final days are documented in handwritten notes by his wife Gertrud, who meticulously recorded the progression of his illness and the daily routines, along with house visits by his physician Dr Orren Lloyd-Jones. On July 13, 1951 Schönberg did not eat at all and he received a sedative a few hours before his death. At 6 p.m. his pulse was 90, at 7:30 p.m. it was 72. At 11:45 p.m. Arnold Schönberg died with his wife beside him. His final word was “harmony.” On July 14 Anna Mahler took an impression of his face for the death mask.

Over the years since his passing, there has been made much about his anxiety due to triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). Interesting to note that he died on Friday the 13th at the age of 76 (7+6=13).

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof

1110 Wien

Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, Vienna,

Austria

Europe

Map:

Map of Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof in Vienna Austria
Map of Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof in Vienna Austria

Grave Location:

Gruppa 32 C, Grab Nr. 21A

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery through Tor 2 (Gate 2) drive straight ahead towards The St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery Church in the middle of the Vienna Central Cemetery. As you approach the church take the last soft left turn and look to your left into Gruppa 32 C and you will find the large angled cube that marks the grave of Arnold Schoenberg.

Grave Location GPS

48.15135047185499, 16.43914433457052

Photos:

[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]

FAQ's

Arnold Schoenberg was born on September 13, 1874 .

Arnold Schoenberg was born in Obere Donaustraße 5, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria.

Arnold Schoenberg died on July 13, 1951.

Arnold Schoenberg died in 116 N Rockingham Avenue, Los Angeles, California.

Arnold Schoenberg was 76.

The cause of death was Myocardial infarction.

Arnold Schoenberg's grave is in Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof

Read More About Arnold Schoenberg:

Videos Featuring Arnold Schoenberg:

See More:

Cass Elliot

popular name: Cass Elliot

date_of_death: July 29, 1974

age: 32

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Her unmistakable voice as a founding member of The Mamas and The Papas in songs like California Dreamin’, Monday Monday and Dream a Little Dream of Me, catapulted her into the iconography of the 1960’s.

Illinois Jacquet

popular name: Illinois Jacquet

date_of_death: July 22, 2004

age: 81

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Although Illinois Jacquet may be best remembered as the tenor saxophonist who defined the screeching style of playing the instrument, his warm and sensitive tone may also be heard on countless jazz ballads and medium groove-tempo numbers since the mid 1940s. Jacquet was widely recognized as the king of the tenor saxophone and during a career spanning more than 60 years, Jacquet played with everyone from Count Basie to Cab Calloway to Lionel Hampton, and gained notoriety for his illustrious saxophone solo in the hit "Flying Home." He also doubled on the bassoon, and was one of only a few jazz musicians to play the instrument.

Bill Black

popular name: Bill Black

date_of_death: October 21, 1965

age: 39

cause_of_death: Brain tumor

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: When Elvis Presley cut his first ground-breaking single "That's All Right, Mama" he was backed by Sun Studio musicians Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass. With D. J. Fontana later added as drummer, the four hit the road and played every dancehall, fairground and club that manager Tom Parker could book. Black and Moore became Presley's backup group and were paid 25% of his earnings with the group billed as "Elvis Presley and the Blue Moon Boys." Black played on early Presley recordings including "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Baby Let's Play House", "Mystery Train", "That's All Right", and "Hound Dog", and eventually became one of the first bass players to use the Fender Precision Bass (bass guitar) in popular music, on "Jailhouse Rock", in the late 1950s. But what could have been the first great rock 'n' roll band fell apart when Parker paid and treated the other musicians as just the hired help. In 1959, Black joined a group of musicians which became Bill Black's Combo. The original lineup was Black (bass), Joe Lewis Hall (piano), Reggie Young (guitar), Martin Willis (saxophone), and Jerry Arnold (drums) although there were several personnel changes over the years. The band released blues instrumental "Smokie" for Hi Records in December 1959 and the follow-up "Smokie, Part 2" became a No. 17 U.S. pop hit, and made number one on the "black" music charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. During his brief career the Bill Black Combo released 22 singles, 14 albums, and sold over 5 million records before Bill succumbing to brain cancer.

Back to Top