The Holocaust Experience in Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘A Survivor from Warsaw’ Op. 46: Origins, Work, Interpretation Cover Image

Doświadczenie Zagłady w "Ocalałym z Warszawy" op. 46 Arnolda Schönberga: geneza, dzieło, interpretacja
The Holocaust Experience in Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘A Survivor from Warsaw’ Op. 46: Origins, Work, Interpretation

Author(s): Iwona Sowińska-Fruhtrunk
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Cultural history, Jewish studies, Music, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Special Branches of Philosophy, Political Theory, Sociology, History of ideas, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Security and defense, Political psychology, Politics and society, Social psychology and group interaction, Studies in violence and power, Nationalism Studies, Sociology of Culture, Sociology of the arts, business, education, Fascism, Nazism and WW II, History of the Holocaust, History of Antisemitism, Sociology of Art
Published by: Koło Naukowe Studentów Muzykologii UJ
Keywords: Arnold Schoenberg; A Survivor from Warsaw; Holocaust experience; representation

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which the experience of the Holocaust can be represented, embodied and even relived in or through music. The category of experience thus serves as a main methodological tool in this survey, helping to reconstitute the process of expressing it through music, specifically in Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46. A related point to consider is the composer’s engagement in the fight for human rights just before the World War II, a fact that is not yet widely recognized. A brief overview of Schoenberg’s religious, social, and political environment is followed by the history of the Survivor’s… origins, analysis of its literary text, and, finally, interpretation. While discussing the ethical limits of the Holocaust representation, the opinions of Theodor W. Adorno, Ernst van Alphen, Berel Lang, and Giorgio Agamben are consulted.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 02 (29)
  • Page Range: 4-30
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Polish