Janos Gereben writes:

>"Gurre Lieder" (or "Gurrelieder" or "Gurre-Lieder," let musicologists
>decide)...

It's not a musicological thing but a matter of correct German.  Correct
me if I am wrong but I think even the sticklers to the Rechtschreibreforme
(German spelling reforms) would probably accept writing 'Gurrelieder'
just as Schoenberg and Berg wrote it in their writings.  This is similar
to Schubert in which you normally write Schwanengesang instead of
Schwanen-Gesang.  However we do write 'Tannhaeuser' today using modern
spelling instead of 'Thannhaeuser', never mind that that's how Wagner spelt
his character's name, and so in fact you could make an case for writing
'Gurre-Lieder' on the grounds that the Rechtschreibreforme state that you
should write 'Johannes-Passion', 'Altenberg-Lieder' or 'Rueckert-Lieder' on
the basis that 'Johannes' and 'Rueckert' are proper names - 'Gurre' too is
a proper name of a place in Denmark.  That said the reform rules also state
it's fine to write 'Goethegedicht', so why not write 'Gurrelieder' (see
page 37 '3 Substantiv' of link below).  Perhaps it matters little if half
of Germany is ignoring the new reforms anyway!  Whatever the case, writing
'Gurre Lieder' however is certainly not usual in German whether you follow
the new rules or not.

See http://www.ids-mannheim.de/grammis/reform/regel.pdf for more my source
for the Rechtschreibreforme rules (in German).

Moving on to another little matter:

>Deaf as I am to most of Serial Schoenberg, I have always reveled
>in the "anti-Schoenbergian" glory of his 1900 "Gurre Lieder"

I see nothing anti-Schoenbergian about any Schoenberg - especially
Gurrelieder which is definitely Schoenbergian through and through.  It goes
without saying of course that you quite obviously refer to the glaring fact
that this earlier work is mercifully lacking in the gross emotional
excesses of his serialist maturity.

Although it might come as a great shock to you if you don't, you most
probably already know that there also used to be that most bizarre idea
amongst some early listeners last century that Schoenberg's later music was
merely 'mathematical' (don't laugh it's true!), a reaction not dissimilar
perhaps to that of the members of the London Philharmonic in Beethoven's
day, who on their first encounter with the 5th Symphony thought that the
opening theme should be played humorously on account of its brevity, but
it clearly goes without saying that such a seasoned Schoenberg listener
as yourself couldn't possibly be suggesting similar such utter drivel:)

Perhaps if you relaxed more you might feel more comfortable with
the emotional torrents unleashed in the late works without having to
shut yourself of to them by forcibly concentrating on their 'technical
complexities'.  In being so deeply disturbed in by the emotional excesses
of late Schoenberg I certainly sympathize strongly but must disagree
vehemently that such powerful emotional impact somehow detracts from the
quality of a composer's output.

Satoshi Akima
Sydney, Australia
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