The book explores in detail Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 15, Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, from the perspective of the singer. Schoenberg’s essay Relationship to the Text is examined in light of the extant sketches and drafts of Opus 15 in the Schoenberg Center in Vienna, fin de siècle performance practice, and psychologist Julius Bahle’s interview with Schoenberg regarding his compositional process. The author presents Schoenberg’s evolving view of the singer through existing correspondence and comparison to entries in his Berliner Tagebuch and considers reviews of the first public performances in Germany, Vienna and the USA. An interpretive pedagogical survey of the work is conducted, Stefan George’s poetry analysed and five recordings by major artists are reviewed and critically compared.
