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
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:

Alan Freed

popular name: Alan Freed

date_of_death: January 20, 1965

age: 43

cause_of_death: Kidney failure and cirrhosis of the liver

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Alan Freed was an American disc jockey and Rock and Roll’s first great evangelist and martyr. Freed became associated with the genre on July 11, 1951, when he started hosting a radio show with the purpose of exposing white teenagers to the music. Sponsored by record retailer Leo Mintz, the show was originally called “Freeditorium,” but its host soon adopted the goofy on-air nickname “Moondog” and the show was re-titled “Moondog House.” The playlist featured what was known as “race music” before Billboard magazine renamed it “rhythm and blues” in 1949. The tunes had a heavy beat conducive to dancing but were rarely enjoyed by white audiences prior to Freed. It was not just the music that Freed introduced to the wider world. Freed also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts including Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Bill Haley and the Burnette Brothers helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout North America. Sadly in the early 1960s, Freed's career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry (even thought his fine was a mere $300). A downward spiral began with the legal fees from the scandal that forced him into bankruptcy, chain smoking, heavy drinking, unemployment, tax evasion charges and internal injuries from a car accident in 1953. Moving to Palm Springs, California Freed died alone at the young age of 43.

Johann Strauss ll

popular name: Johann Strauss ll

date_of_death: June 3, 1899

age: 73

cause_of_death: Pleuropneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Johann Strauss II (also referred to as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger) was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a renown violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, Strauss ll was known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer" (Emperor Waltz), "Tales from the Vienna Woods", "Frühlingsstimmen", and the "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka". Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron are the best known. Strauss was the son of Johann Strauss I and his first wife Maria Anna Streim. Two younger brothers, Josef and Eduard Strauss, also became composers of light music, although they were never as well known as their brother.

Jim Morrison

popular name: Jim Morrison

date_of_death: July 3, 1971

age: 27

cause_of_death: Heart failure due to chronic alcohol abuse (disputed)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jim Morrison was a legendary American singer, songwriter and poet, and best known for being the lead singer for the popular rock band The Doors. Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. He was known for his wild personality, distinctive voice, and erratic performances. Of course the Doors were never part of the peace and free love movement exemplified by the Jefferson Airplane or Donavon. They really didn't fit the mold of acid rock, electric folk music or that of the Grateful Dead. And they certainly wouldn't be confused with the pop stylings of the Beatles. No the Doors were an anomaly in the world of sixties rock. Raw and powerful, dark and explosive, Jim Morrison's Dionysian lyrics and vocal energy were not an act and Jim Morrison was no rock star. Jim Morrison is now and will always be remembered as The Lizard King. Sadly at age 27, he was found dead in his bathtub by his girlfriend Pamela Courson. It was official listed as heart failure, but no autopsy was performed. It is suspected that his death might have been the result of an accidental heroin overdose. He was laid to rest at Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris France.

Back to Top