The music and theme of Erwartung (Expectation), a one act monodrama for soprano and large orchestra composed by Arnold Schoenberg is the inspiration for my current series of paintings.
The music written in 1906 and based on a libretto by Marie Pappenheim, is highly expressionistic and represents Schoenberg's "free atonal" period between 1908 and 1921. The drama takes place between twilight and dawn in and around a forest. A woman is searching for her lover who it transpires she has murdered. In Scene 1, the subject of the painting shown here, the woman overcomes her fears and enters the forest on a path. Painted in acrylics on canvas, the larger square format is new to me (120cm x 120cm). I am planning to complete the next two scenes in the same format with the final scene possibly in a much larger rectangular format. I very much look forward to launching and exhibiting the whole new series soon.
For those who wish to hear the music, the Naxos Series of Classical CDs includes a great performance of Erwartung with Robert Craft conducting and the wonderful Berlin born Anja Silja as soprano. Another exciting piece of expressionist music by Schoenberg is his Five Pieces for Orchestra also from 1909. Is this another possible series - we'll see!
