The "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte" is Arnold Schoenberg's "in tyrannos". Lord Byron's disparaging poem on the despot deprived of his power on which the work is based goes beyond the bounds of the concrete motivation for writing it, however, and becomes a passionate indictment of every kind of despotism.

With its ambiguities and bold insights into the relationship between word and tone, as Pierre Boulez says, "Pierrot lunaire" contains inexhaustible material to ferment future works.

Schoenberg characterized his "Five Orchestral Pieces" in a letter to R. Strauss in the words: "Absolutely not symphonic, exactly the opposite, no architecture, no structure. Just a colourful, uninterrupted succession of hues, rhythms and moods."