Online exhibition in 50 objects
Prelude for Genesis op. 44
Arnold Schönberg
Prelude for Genesis op. 44
Record cover Artist JS 10
The composer, arranger and conductor Nathaniel Shilkret was awarding commissions to six American composers – including, in addition to Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky, Ernst Toch, Alexandre Tansman, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Darius Milhaud – to compose one part of a large-scale Genesis Suite for speaker, choir, and orchestra; the piece would appear on record immediately after the premiere. He sought with this “Bible Album” to reach out to the wider public: “My idea is strictly one for the masses – I wanted to appeal to all record buyers. […] not only music lovers of the ultra modern type but to all buyers and lovers of music and the bible.” Schönberg agreed to compose a short Prelude for choir and orchestra that would appear at the beginning of the Suite. Despite the concise and formally straightforward structure of the work, Nathaniel Shilkret expressed concerns about it to his wife: “Schoenberg’s music is so ultramodern and in the 12 tone scale that even you with all your experience will think that the cat is just jumping all over the piano – It is a great piece of music but oh – so new in sound.” He was similarly concerned about Igor Stravinsky’s composition Babel. In order not to frighten his public, Shilkret decided to place both works at the end of the pastiche, thereby somewhat arbitrarily transforming Schönberg’s Prelude into a Postlude.
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1
Object 1
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Theory of Harmony
Object 2
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Chamber Symphony, op. 9
Object 3
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
String Quartet No. 2, op. 10/iv. Rapture
Object 4
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Der Blaue Reiter. Almanac
Object 5
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Pierrot lunaire, op. 21
Object 6
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Arnold Schönberg in military uniform
Object 7
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Symphony
Object 8
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Jacob’s Ladder
Object 9
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Five Piano Pieces, op. 23/i
Object 10
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Serenade, op. 24/iii. Variations
Object 11
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Autograph Card with Quote from Gurre-Lieder
Object 12
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Suite for Piano, op. 25/i. Prelude
Object 13
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Suite for Piano, op. 25/iv. Intermezzo
Object 14
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Letter to Alma Mahler
Object 15
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Self-Portrait
Object 16
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
On the Essence of Music
Object 17
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Sketch for Serenade, op. 24/v. Dance Scene
Object 18
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Ruler
Object 19
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Claude Debussy: Sonate pour Violoncelle et Piano
Object 20
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Suite for Piano, op. 25/iii. Musette
Object 21
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Analysis (in the form of Program notes) of the four String Quartets
Object 22
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Twelve-tone selection dial
Object 23
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Letter to Arnold Schönberg
Object 24
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Four Pieces for Mixed Chorus, op. 27/iv
Object 25
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Presentation of the Idea
Object 26
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Suite, op. 29
Object 27
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Suite, op. 29
Object 28
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Inversions and (superfluous) devices, Twelve tone dice
Object 29
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
String Quartet No. 3, op. 30
Object 30
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Letter to Rudolf Kolisch
Object 31
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, op. 34
Object 32
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
From Today till Tomorrow, op. 32
Object 33
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Analysis of Variations for Orchestra, op. 31
Object 34
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Piano Piece, op. 33a
Object 35
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Moses and Aron
Object 36
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Enigma of Modern Music
Object 37
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Lecture in Princeton
Object 38
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
String Quartet No. 4, op. 37
Object 39
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Variations on a Recitative for Organ, op. 40
Object 40
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, op. 42
Object 41
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, op. 41
Object 42
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Prelude for Genesis op. 44
Object 43
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46
Object 44
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Doktor Faustus
Object 45
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
String Trio, op. 45
Object 46
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Phantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment, op. 47
Object 47
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Thrice A Thousand Years, op. 50A
Object 48
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Modern Psalm, op. 50C
Object 49
![](https://ggrb.schoenberg.at/components/com_bagallery/assets/images/default-lazy-load.webp)
Fragment for Voice, Cello, and Piano
Object 50