Sam Pawlett relays a fine note by Louis Proyect on Schoenberg's Moses und
Aron.  Since I know nothing of Marxism, I'll confine myself to what I do
know.  I have only a few nits to pick:

>Most people are probably familiar with the basic outline of the opera's
>plot from the film "Ten Commandments" which starred right-winger Charlton
>Heston as Moses and ex-blacklistee Edward G. Robinson as his brother
>Aaron.

Actually, at the time Heston was a liberal, very committed to the Civil
Rights movement, and Edward G.  Robinson, IIRC, did not play Aaron, but
some other non-Biblical character.

{stuff deleted}

>Schoenberg never wrote for the masses.

A half-truth.  Schoenberg never could understand why what he wrote wasn't
popular.  There are pieces like the Theme and Variations, the German
folksongs, and the Suite in G, all written well after his first serial
pieces, which are deliberate attempts to cultivate a popular style.

>Even his experimentalism was tempered by a desire to be part of the
>classical mainstream.  He hoped that the rigor of the 12 tone style would
>be seen as in the spirit of Germanic compositions going back to Bach, which
>all shared a common belief in the importance of the intellectual, if not
>mathematical, nature of composition.

He also said, "Of course, a soul you have to have."

>Schoenberg's refusal to sell out to the film industry is recounted by
>Anthony Heilbut in "Exiles in Paradise":

It is far more accurate to say that the studios didn't want Schoenberg,
than the other way around.

Steve Schwartz