Love and War: The Sound World of Othmar Schoeck’s Penthesilea

Tegan Ridge

Penthesilea there, with haughty Grace,

Leads to the War an Amazonian race:

In their right Hands a pointed Dart they wield;

Their left, for Ward1, sustains the Lunar Shield.

Athwart her Breast a golden Belt she throws;

Amidst the Press, alone, provokes a thousand Foes,

And dares her maiden Arms to manly Force oppose.

- Virgil, The Aeneid, translated by John Dryden2

Over the past two millennia, the Amazonian Queen, Penthesilea, has been a point of

intrigue, her dualistic femininity and battle prowess depicted by near countless writers,

composers, painters, and craftspersons. Virgil’s The Aeneid introduces Penthesilea and the

Amazons’ imposing army as battle-ready with spear and shield wielded by “maiden arms”,

capable of combating “manly forces”, juxtaposing their womanhood with their daunting military

presence.3 Their skills in war are necessary; in order to maintain a healthy-sized population, the

Amazons periodically invade neighbouring lands and abduct men for the purpose of procreation.

Defeat could mean a shrinking tribe. Theirs is thus a myth of sexualized combat; one which blurs

boundaries between love and war. Today, the Amazon stands as a figure of a proud, sometimes

violent femininity: a ferocious warrior’s spirit housed in flowing robes, grace and fury in a

single, wondrous being. The story of Penthesilea embodies the tragedy of attempting to house

such competing desires.

First told in the now-lost Aethiopis, an epic work ascribed to Arctinus of Miletus,

Penthesilea’s myth tells of her arrival at Troy and encounter with the near-invincible Greek

warrior, Achilles. In the extant fragments of the Aethiopis, a mere two sentences describe the

1 Here, “ward” means protection. 2 Virgil, trans. John Dryden, “Amazon,” A Collection of the Most Natural and Sublime Thoughts, viz. Allusions,

Similes, Descriptions of Characters, of Persons, and Things; That Are in the Best English Poets, (London: S.

Buckley, 1710), 7. Digitized by Google. 3 Virgil, Amazon.

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tragedy: “The Amazon Penthesileia, the daughter of Ares and of Thracian race, comes to aid the

Trojans, and after showing great prowess, is killed by Achilles and buried by the Trojans.

Achilles then slays Thersites for abusing and reviling him for his supposed love for

Penthesileia.”4 In this fragment, Penthesilea is secondary to Achilles. The story is structured

about his killing of her and “supposed love” for her. However, due to the text’s brevity, artists

and writers have been able to interpret and re-imagine the tale as they saw fit. Heinrich von

Kleist’s 1808 play, Penthesilea, does just that. In Kleist’s version of the myth, the warrior Queen

steps into the narrative spotlight. It is a love-mad Penthesilea who, besotted with the demigod

Achilles, relentlessly pursues and kills him, then devours him alongside her war-dogs. It is this

telling that Othmar Schoeck employed as source material for his 1927 opera, Penthesilea.

Literary scholars and musicologists discussing Schoeck’s Penthesilea have generally

concerned themselves with the setting of Kleist’s text rather than an examination of the music.

This is understandable; Schoeck was adamant about using material only from Kleist; the libretto

was created by editing Kleist’s text down to a manageable number of lines.5 Only one attempt at

describing the sound world of Penthesilea exists: Richard Eidenbenz’ 1929 Ueber Harmonik und

tonale Einheit in Othmar Schoecks ‚Penthesilea‘, to which musicologists and biographers

frequently refer. While his Riemannian approach is arguably outdated, Eidenbenz’ analysis has

proven instrumental for later scholars, particularly Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen, in parsing the

piano reduction. Other academics, such as Chris Walton, offer a historical and biographical

account of Schoeck’s music drama. Despite differences in their respective approaches, all three

4Arctinus of Miletus, in Homer and Hesiod, Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-

White, July 5, 2008. Online version: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/348/348-h/348-h.htm 5 Chris Walton, Othmar Schoeck: Life and Works. (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2009), 131.

Walton’s biography evinces that this was a strenuous endeavour. Three individuals – Hans Corrodi, Schoeck, and

Schoeck’s cousin Leon Oswald all contributed to the generation of the libretto.

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academics convincingly demonstrate that Schoeck thought of the contrast between pitches and

tonal areas while constructing his music drama.6 Specifically, the three discuss the usage of the

tritone, F#-C, and their association with the characters of Penthesilea and Achilles, respectively.

Other scholars, such as Amy Emm, do not address pitch content, preferring instead to

relate the libretto’s text to more general musical impressions. While many note the aural

presence of a “love duet” between rehearsals 97-105 (R97-105), Emm’s close reading of Kleist

leads her to further identify Penthesilea’s dying aria (R219-222).7 She argues that the purpose of

the original text mirrors that of a simile aria. In this passage, Penthesilea sings about the

fashioning her misery into a knife, with which we can assume she ‘kills’ herself.8 I further

suggest that Schoeck was thinking of an aria-like text setting during the aria. For the most part,

Schoeck’s Penthesilea avoids clear cut delineations between spoken sections, recitative, and

sung sections, often switching between different vocal styles within the span of a few lines. The

love duet and aria, by contrast, are two uninterrupted ‘songs’, arguably the only two in the opera.

Though Emm’s suggestion is based on a close reading of the libretto, it is undeniable that these

two passages aurally stand out from much of the sound world of the opera. Emm thus argues that

it is the aural effect of contrasting styles, of juxtaposing the sentimentality of the duet and aria

6 This association of pitches C and F# with Achilles and Penthesilea is further discussed below in the section “I:

Overall Structure & Harmonic Materials.” See also: Walton, Schoeck, 152; Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen, „Das

"Wesentliche des Kleist'schen Dramas"? Zur musikdramatischen Konzeption von Othmar Schoecks Operneinakter

"Penthesilea", “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 59. Jahrg., H. 4. (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2002), 267-297.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/930940 7 Othmar Schoeck, “Penthesilea“, Klavierauszug von Karl Krebs (Baerenreiter, 1984), 86-92, 225-230. 8 This is confirmed examining the relationship between stage directions and text at R219, p. 225. Before Penthesilea

begins to sing, stage directions specify that she positions herself “als ob sie Dolche hielten” (“as if she were holding

[a] dagger”). At the high point of the aria, Penthesilea sings “und diesem Dolch jetzt reich ich in meine Brust” (“and

now I will [stab myself in the chest]”). Schoeck does not include any direction regarding the acting out of sung line,

however. This is left to be interpreted by the performers.

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with the brash sounds of war, that defines the work and generates tension.9 I share this reading.

Substantiating Emm’s claim, I suggest that two competing compositional styles are at play in

Schoeck’s Penthesilea, reflective of the duality of the Amazon and, notably, Kleist’s unstable

protagonist. The more modern of the two styles, which I dub the “war style”, employs twentieth-

century instrumentation and post-tonal compositional techniques, specifically, polychords and

disjunct melodies; its complement, the “love style”, makes use of late Romantic string-based

instrumentation and more familiar tertian chords.

I. Comments on Overall Structure & Harmonic Materials

Schoeck’s opera opens on the Amazons at Troy embroiled in battle with the Greek army.

Penthesilea, in violent, passionate pursuit of Achilles, recklessly engages in combat with the

demigod, falls from her horse, and loses consciousness. The Amazons return her to their camp,

Achilles follows. In order to appease Amazonian law which states one must defeat their ‘lover’

in battle, Penthesilea’s companion Prothoe convinces Achilles to deceive the Queen into

believing that she has defeated him. Achilles consents, the ruse is maintained, and the two

profess their love – that is, until the horns and shouts of the Greek army are heard. Pressured by

the approaching troops, Penthesilea and Achilles urge each other to follow them to their

respective homes. Attempting to control the fearsome Queen, Achilles tells her that she is, in

fact, his prisoner. Penthesilea is enraged. After Achilles has departed with the Greek troops,

Penthesilea curses the miserable situation. Shortly thereafter, a Greek messenger arrives at the

9 Amy Emm, “‘Jetzt trösten, jetzt verletzen seine Klänge‘: Kleist’s Agonism in Music,“ Heinrich von Kleist: Style

and Concept : Explorations of Literary Dissonance. Edited by Dieter Sevin and Christoph Zeller (Berlin; Boston:

De Gruyter, 2013), 320. Emm’s identification of the aria is not built on musical elements, but by comparing the

function of the passage to the function of simile arias. Both employ similes to express emotional content. This is

further discussed on p. 5.

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Amazon camp: Achilles wishes to challenge Penthesilea to battle. In her frenzied state,

Penthesilea decides to absolutely annihilate Achilles. She over-prepares, calling for dogs and

elephants and the ‘horrible pomp of war’, and departs to meet an unarmed Achilles. Penthesilea

kills him and devours him alongside her dogs. The body is brought back to the Amazon camp.

Due to her psychosis, Penthesilea is largely unaware of her own actions; she only has vague

recollections of ‘overcoming Achilles’. After Penthesilea realizes that she has killed Achilles, the

warrior Queen, overcome with emotion, dies and falls onto his body.

As shown in the form chart, Penthesilea refuses a traditional dramatic and musical arc;

the work begins and ends with combat and dissonant music, the war style; the love style is heard

primarily in the middle during the sequence between Penthesilea and Achilles.10 I suggest that

due to the dissonant-calm-dissonant structure, the war style aurally becomes the norm; the love

style consequently stands out. This explains why Emm noted the duet and Penthesilea’s dying

aria. Against the backdrop of the war style, the ‘norm’, the duet stands out and the aria is imbued

with tension.

Before continuing, it is necessary to define further the sound-world’s ‘norm’, the war

style. Despite appearing complex in the piano reduction, Schoeck’s approach was remarkably

simple. When speaking of his compositional process, Schoeck stated that “[i]ch verwende den

Akkord, mische ihn aber mit andern Elementen, wie ich das mit dem Dominantseptakkord in der

Penthesilea getan habe [...]" (“I use the chord but mix it with other elements, like I have done

with the dominant seventh chord in Penthesilea,”).11 This evinces that Schoeck approached

10 Schoeck, Penthesilea, 86-92, R97-105. 11 Hinrichsen, Einakter, 277. My translation

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Penthesilea from a tonal understanding, though he certainly tries to hide this fact.12 Schoeck

obfuscates tertian chords through the addition of elements such as added notes, extensions, or

even entirely new chords. Anecdotal evidence in Walton’s biography suggests that “[t]he music

of Penthesilea [was] probably […] conceived ‘manually’ – in other words, its textures and

spacings reflect the lie of the hands, fingers, and thumbs on the keyboard.” 13 Several passages in

Walton’s biography describe Schoeck playing selections from the work for his friends and

colleagues, for example, the story of friend and possible drinking buddy Hermann Hubacher’s

piano “perishing under the Penthesilea motive” as Schoeck played excerpts from his work.14 It

appears that the manual “fitting” of chords under the hands was of importance to Schoeck. In

approaching the sound world of Penthesilea, it is therefore helpful to think of the stacked

verticalities as Schoeck did, as a combination of two chords that fit under the hands conveniently

at the keyboard. In Chart 2, I have related frequently occurring verticalities to prime form

notation. This reduces an innumerable number of possible sets to combinations of merely nine:

three trichords and six related tetrads.

Schoeck asserts that “the entirety of the opera can be found in the first two chords,”

shown in Example 1.15 Applying our “stacked tertian” theory, dominant seventh chords become

visually apparent in the bass. The first chord employs an Eb7, the second a D7, both in 4/3

position. The treble part is more difficult to define because of the seemingly missing third. As

Hinrichsen clarifies, the seventh of the lower chord can be enharmonically re-spelled to “fill in”

12 In Schoeck’s own words, „Nie habe ich auch nur einen Takt atonale Musik geschrieben!" („I have never written a

measure of atonal music!”). Hinrichsen, Einakter, 276. 13 Walton, Schoeck, 152. 14 Walton, Schoeck, 132. Walton’s account claims that Schoeck would frequently visit his friend and the two would

stay up late into the night, drinking and talking; Schoeck played him parts of Penthesilea and evidently broke his

piano. 15 Schoeck in Hinrichsen, Einakter, 283.

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this missing pitch and create a polychord of an E-flat 7 and A7.16 Putting both possibilities in

normal form, we can consider the verticalities to be either two stacked [037]s or two [0258]s

related by T6. The shared pitch classes link the two chords and create unity and blur aurally

perceptible boundaries between the two chords. Similarly, the trumpets adopt pitches from the

polychord; the first trumpet plays pc 3, the third trumpet pc 4. These are derived from the root of

Eb7, {Eb, G, Bb, Db} and the fifth of the A7, {A, Db, E, G}. If we think of pc 0 in the 2nd

trumpet part as the root, we can hear a C major/minor sonority. Recall that C is also the pitch

associated with Achilles. Consequently, the trumpet call can be read as heralding the

approaching Greek army. Schoeck thus represents conflict by pitting tonal centres against each

other.

As noted above, the two roots of the first polychord are a tritone apart (Eb/A), which

echoes the pitch relationship associated Penthesilea and Achilles. However, constitutive chords

in a polychord do not need to be related by a tritone. Continuing into the next system on p. 3,

shown in Example 2, Schoeck introduces a new verticality comprised of C#ø7 and D#o7. The

high voices, sopranos and altos, sing pitches from the D#o7; basses adopt the outer voices of the

C#ø7, pcs e and 1. The resultant pitch collection, {0,1,3,4,6,7,9,e} is very nearly octatonic and

accounts for the melodic line of the tenors. I assert that Schoeck often employs the pitch

collection he generates as the basis for a type of ‘scale’, from which he derives melodic lines.

This technique occurs throughout the opera and allows us to explain some of the more

idiosyncratic chords and melodies occurring in Schoeck’s music drama.

16 Hinrichsen, Einakter, 283.

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Adding to our discussion of aural uniformity, we should consider the three verticalities

associated with Penthesilea, Prothoe, and Achilles, respectively, as shown in Example 3. These

chords were first identified in Eidenbenz’ analysis and later validated in Walton’s biography

from the composer’s working sketches.17 Puffett noted that Penthesilea’s and Prothoe’s motives

employ the same interval content.18 Building on Puffet’s claim, I determined that the two

motives are both [0247]s related by T01, that is to say, they are inversionally related around the

invariant pitch 6. Due to the invariance, Prothoe’s chord sounds much more ‘in sync’ with

Penthesilea’s than does Achilles’. Further to this, while not identified as a motive by the above

scholars, the Oberpriesterin’s first line – the first line sung by a main character – is based on an

F# minor scale; the orchestra accompanies with an ostinato built on F#m(add b5), as shown in

Example 4.19 By employing F# as an invariant pitch in such a manner, I suggest that Schoeck

unites the three female leads, Oberpriesterin with Penthesilea and Prothoe.

Additionally, the opera as a whole concludes with an F#m triad, demonstrated in

Example 5.20 If we understand the opening chorus as an introduction, the argument can be made

that pc 6, spelled as F#, functions as the overall tonal centre.21 Such an interpretation of the form

is supported by Schoeck’s staging directions – the opening material, the chorus and trumpets are

heard off-stage; the curtains do not open until R1 on p. 4. This makes for thrilling drama: the

sounds of war are heard; the Amazon warriors are distant, the Greeks encroaching on their

17 Walton, Schoeck, 129. 18 Derrick Puffett, “Schoeck’s Operas,” in Derrick Puffett on Music, ed. Kathryn Puffett. (Aldershot, Hampshire,

England: Ashgate, 2001), 305. 19 This F#m is preceded by a C#M; hinting at a tonal sectional division. 20 Hinrichsen notes that the bold F#m gesture was not the original conclusion. See Hinrichsen, Einakter, Example

12, 298. 21 This interpretation is shared by Hinrichsen and Eidenbenz.

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defensive lines.22 The curtains open to reveal the Oberpriesterin alone on stage. The effect is that

we essentially zoom in from the generalized chaos of the battle of the sexes to the actual battle of

Troy. The Oberpriesterin’s first line thus sets the “tone” of the work; she establishes the aural

“home”. As demonstrated by the two examples above, “home” is anchored by F#.

A brief comment on Achilles: we can understand his chord (and the character himself,

frankly) as an intrusion on the otherwise united Amazon tribe. He appears roughly half-way

through the opera laying claim to Penthesilea with his bold C11 motif and static, aggressive

recitative; his first line is included in Example 6. Note that his vocal line is very ‘C-oriented’; he

sings on the same pitch for 7 measures before speaking the words “she is mine, what are you

doing here?” (my translation). Despite his dominating speech, Achilles is accompanied by a

familiar tertian chord; compared to the sounds of war heard at the opening, Achilles’ C11 hardly

sounds dissonant.23 Consequently, it becomes clear that Schoeck does not generate musical

tension via dissonance, but by interrupting the “norm” of the Amazons’ sound world.

II. Pitch Collection Generation

As previously mentioned, Schoeck generates his pitch collections by stacking tertian

chords. This warrants further demonstration. In Example 7, Penthesilea calls for her army to

“maehet seine uepp’gen Glieder ab” (tear [Achilles] limb from limb’, my translation). Prothoe,

her friend and fellow warrior, concerned by Penthesilea, questions her decision with the other

Amazons. There is a palpable sense of dread as Penthesilea speaks with the Amazons; the

22 Schoeck includes distance as an affective instruction. For example, in the introductory material, the Amazons are

“far [away]” (“fern”), the Greeks “very far [away]” (“sehr fern”) (R0, p. 3). This technique is employed throughout

the opera to reinforce ideas of approach and retreat by both armies. 23 Walton, Schoeck, 131. Walton states that Schoeck had perfect pitch; the united F#-world being broken by a C

would have been the furthest pitch relationship possible.

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ominous sounds of war are invoked by the orchestra. Their highly rhythmic accompaniment is

reminiscent of war drums; trumpets calls echo from a distant battlefield. This sequence features

two musical ideas that are associated with Penthesilea and her army, reflective of the

conversational nature of the passage. As shown in Chart 3 and Example 7, for Penthesilea’s

accompaniment, Schoeck manipulates an Fm7 chord. He takes the third and seventh degrees,

pitches {8,3}, and slides them up a semitone to {9,4}. By combining the pitches in the two

chords, Schoeck creates the collection {0,3,4,5,8,9}. This effectively mixes modes, creating a

hybrid Fm7/FM7, as shown in column 3 of the chart, “Chords”. Penthesilea’s line employs only

two of these pitches, {0,9}, until she sings the words “ueppi’gen Glieder ab”, which are set to a

descending chromatic gesture comprised of {0,e,t,9,8}, as in column 5. Three pitches of this

short gesture, referred to in the chart as the “chromatic tail”, are imitated by the clarinet and

function as a means of smoothly transitioning away from {0,3,4,5,8,9}, toward a new verticality

which accompanies Prothoe.24 Including pitches played by the clarinet, the verticalities that

accompany Prothoe can be thought of as two tertian chords, an Ab9 and Am. The lowest notes of

the Ab9 sonority, {t,3,0}, transform into {9,4,0}, an Am triad; the music oscillates between the

two. While certainly non-functional, the part writing in the example underscores how nicely this

fits “manually” under the hand at the piano – pitch 0 remains constant, played by the thumb, the

bottom two pitches move by semitone, 3->4, t->9. Physically, the first stack feels as if it resolves

to Am.

These two ideas, the modal mixture verticality and semitone slide, are treated as a pair

and repeated three times between R11-14, as shown in Chart 3. In Chart 3, the pitches played by

24 Note that Schoeck re-spells pitches between the two lines; {8} is written as G# in Penthesilea’s line but an Ab in

the orchestral part, likely in an attempt to appear modern. This obfuscation occurs frequently and is mentioned by

Walton in Schoeck’s biography, for example, the comparison of “written as” and “sounds as”, featured on p. 151.

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the orchestra are listed first; these form the foundation that Schoeck builds his melodic lines on

and, I would suggest, were constructed “manually”, as discussed in I. Comments on Overall

Structure & Harmonic Materials. One can very easily visualize Schoeck at the piano while

constructing these chords; he would search not only for aural pleasantness but physical

convenience at the keyboard. Schoeck then expands on this foundation in the clarinet line;

pitches introduced in the clarinet line are indicated in purple italics. Finally, Schoeck sets

Kleist’s demanding prose in consideration of the collection he has generated. Melody was not

Schoeck’s priority, who claimed that “[…] the real melody is formed by Kleist’s words. The

music gives them no more than harmony and rhythm.”25 Schoeck thinks more in terms of overall

affect rather than generating singable melodies. Calmer passages involve the voice directly

doubling the orchestra, tension is evoked in this passage by increasing chromaticism. Note that

Schoeck begins this passage with only two pitches in the vocal line for the first statement of the

modal mixture, while the vocal line in the final modal mixture is much more strongly with the

orchestra’s collection. Reflective of the increasing panic of the Amazons, their pitch collection

becomes more and more chromatic and resembles less and less the orchestral collection.

I suggest that this compositional process generates musical ‘areas’ of tightly related pitch

materials that coincide with narrative content. For example, these two ideas are repeated until

Penthesilea has a sudden change of heart at R14 and becomes despondent, the Amazons

25 Schoeck in Walton, Schoeck, 132.

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concerned, and at this point these musical ideas are abandoned, never to be heard again in the

opera.

III. A Nod to Tonality

Thus far, we have focussed our discussion on the materials of the war style. It is time to

turn our attention toward the contrasting love style. In this approach, Schoeck features softer

instrumentation, often chamber-like in sound, and extended chords, rather than bi/polytonality.

In Example 8, the orchestra very clearly employs tertian chords and the overall harmonic motion

is suggestive of I-V, Bb to F7, indicated in green and blue. Between them, boxed in red, we very

clearly see a C7, Db7, D7, Gm, Eb, and Cb7. Schoeck slides through closely related chords

rather than jump from I directly to V – for example, the first three chords are [0258]s related by

T1; Gm and Eb are [037]s related by T5I and share pitches{7, t}. More importantly, this passage

again fits very neatly under the hands. By using tertian chords in such a manner, the resultant

sound is fluid, almost ethereal, and successfully obfuscates the underlying I-V motion (i.e., Bb to

F7). Additionally, this is the only instance of two characters singing at the same time.

Consequently, here, Penthesilea and Achilles are not in combat; they exist peacefully within the

same ‘chordal’ realm and move toward the same tonal goal.

IV. Motivic Connections

In addition to the vertical motives mentioned in section I, there is an overarching melodic idea

that unifies the work. The motive, comprised of seven-pitches, appears as a direct statement at

several instances, shown in Examples 9-12. The characteristic so-do-so arpeggio in the middle of

the motive evokes ideas of tonality; the melody consequently stands out when played during the

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war style. Palmer places the first appearance of the motive shortly after the duet proper and

further notes its recurrence at the end of the opera, just before the Oberpriesterin explains to

Penthesilea that “he [Achilles] loved her”.26 This is likely how the motive inherited its nickname.

I, however, feel that this associates the melody too strongly with Achilles and love; I thus

propose that the motif be considered “Penthesilea’s motif”.

I suggest this for two reasons. Firstly, I have found an earlier statement of the motif at

R88, shown in Example 9. In the sequence, Penthesilea has just awoken, and is deceived into

believing that she has captured Achilles. Triumphant, she asks Achilles if he fears her, his

conqueror. Eyes downcast, he responds “wie Blumen Sonnenschein” (“like flowers [fear] the

sun”, my translation). In the libretto, Achilles delivers the line “zu ihren Fusse” (to her feet);

there is a disjunct between his physical action and the words he speaks. He speaks boldly but will

not look at her. Whether this is out of shyness or shame that he’s deceiving her is unclear.

Regardless, the affect is certain: The melody is much more ambivalently associated with love

than musicologists have previously understood it.

Secondly, the theme occurs much more frequently than scholars have noted, and in

addition, is parodied as the Amazons bring the corpse of Achilles on stage. During this death

march sequence, Schoeck cycles through a ten-pitch series, {3,2,t,0,5,4,8,6,4,5}, accompanied by

a repeated [0358] comprised of {0,2,5,9}, as demonstrated in Example 13. The winding melody

feels like a distortion and expansion of the above motif; specifically, the boxed section {0,5,4,9}

resembles the last four pitches of Penthesilea’s theme. I have thus placed Penthesilea’s name

26 Peter Palmer, “Schoeck's "Penthesilea",” The Musical Times 150, no. 1906 (Spring, 2009), 31.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25597599 Accessed: 07-01-2020 23:24 UTC

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underneath the melody in the example. We can see how syllables would be distributed over the

line. Specifically, I assert that the leap on “-si-lea-“, {C,F,E,A}, boxed in the example, harkens

back to early statements of Penthesilea’s motif. Note that the first two pitches are set to the same

rhythm as the statements of Penthesilea’s name during the love duet, for example, {C,G,F,G}

from Example 9. Determining the interval content of the two tetrads sections yields <5,e,5>

during the death march and <7,e,2> during Penthesilea’s motive. The tetrads are not identical, of

course, but they are structurally close. As demonstrated, the first intervals are complementary,

and additionally, the prime forms are related by fuzzy inversion, more specifically, *T10I with an

offset of 4. I suggest that aurally, this is close enough to be familiar, while distant enough to be

disturbing. The effect is something like that of a children’s toy running low at batteries:

previously joyful sounds melodies and “I love you”s become disturbing as they fall out of tune.

By distorting a motive heard multiple times throughout the opera, Schoeck creates an eerie,

mournful atmosphere.

V. Blending Styles

The discussion thus far may give the impression that Schoeck’s use of competing

compositional styles is highly sectional. This is not so, and I would like to take a moment to

clarify that Schoeck weaves in and out of the two styles quite fluidly and does so to reflect

narrative content. In the Example 14, Achilles awaits the arrival of Penthesilea after having

challenged her to battle. Diomedes tells the warrior that she approaches with dogs and elephants;

he is unsure why she has armed herself so strongly.27 Achilles, cocky, assures him that

Penthesilea will do him no harm and throws his weapons aside, describing her as “Halb Furie,

27 Schoeck, Penthesilea, 187.

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halb Grazie,”, and stating that “sie liebt mich!” (“Half Fury, half Grace, she loves me!” My

translation.). Following the voicing indicated in the first chord in Example 14, i.e., considering

two sets comprised of {4,6,t,2} and {t,2,5}, the first is comprised of a [0248] and [037]. Pitches t

and 2 are invariant between the two sets, creating unity between the two chords. As

demonstrated, Schoeck exploits pitch class invariance to blur aural and structural boundaries

between chords. Returning to the example, the polychord verticality transitions into a much more

visually peculiar chord – almost secundal in appearance - and yet consonant in sound. Listing the

pitches reveals {4,6,8,t,2,1}, which can be divided into [048] and [037] from {2,6,t} and {1,4,8},

respectively. This chord can also be considered an F#9 + D, underscoring Penthesilea’s theme as

described in IV. Motivic Connections. Schoeck directly bonds his harmonic approaches to the

text and the dualistic character of Penthesilea, connecting his war style to her fury, the love style

to her grace.

VI. Conclusion

From this last example, we can see that Schoeck very carefully employs the ‘love’ and

‘war’ style to reflect narrative content, not just during sequences but almost as word painting.

The ‘love’ style makes use of less adventurous harmonic materials and employs tonal motion. By

comparison, the war style, denotative of Penthesilea’s warrior prowess, features significant

dissonance, chromaticism, and modern instrumentation. In this style, harmonically-speaking,

Schoeck generates pitch collections by combining a tertian chord with other elements. Schoeck

then manipulates this collection, adding and removing notes, and then fits Kleist’s difficult prose

to this collection. As a final step, this collection or collections are frequently transposed to create

a kind of musical ‘scene’.

Love and War

16

Scholars have historically been divided on the best way to approach an understanding of

the opera’s form.28 Aside from the love sequence and dying aria, the work is rather ‘slippery’; it

is near-continuous and difficult to divide into sections. Employing this suggested approach will

ultimately solve the problem of form by allowing analysts to relate pitch collections to textual

materials and narrative events. I suggest my proposed pitch generation process will elucidate

how Schoeck generates areas of musical/textual unity, reflective of scenic structure. Walton

suggested that Schoeck exploits a kind of “primitive tone row” to create musical areas.29 Walton

was referring to Schoeck’s use of ostinato and the influence of Berg’s Wozzeck, claiming that

Schoeck would create a pattern or figure which he would cycle through as a kind of aural

backdrop, for example, the 34-page piano arpeggios between R144– R164.30 While I agree, I

believe that this approach is too broad to be of any particular analytical value. While

conceptually helpful, applying the idea of a “row” has proven helpful. A more specific

examination of musical materials is required to definitively determine the form of Penthesilea.

Penthesilea is a work worthy of academic investigation, but its difficult to define sound world

has stumped analysts. I suggest that my approach will help pave the way forward for future

work.

Bibliography

Arctinus of Miletus, in Homer and Hesiod, Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, ed.

Hugh G. Evelyn-White, July 5, 2008. Online version:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/348/348-h/348-h.htm

28 Palmer’s form chart is based on broad narrative strokes, whereas Eidenbenz works page by page. Palmer’s chart is

thus too general, Eidenbenz’ potentially redundantly specific. See Palmer, 25; Richard Eidenbenz, “Ueber Harmonik

und tonale Einheit in Othmar Schoecks ‚Penthesilea‘,“ Schweizer Jahrbuch fuer Musikwissenschaft 4, 3rd Band, ed.

Ortsgruppe Bern-Freiburg-Solothurn der neuen Schweizerischen Musikgesellschaft H.R. (Sauerländer & Co, 1929):

124-130.29 Walton, 131.30 Schoeck, Penthesilea, 134 – 168.

Love and War

17

Eidenbenz, Richard. “Ueber Harmonik und tonale Einheit in Othmar Schoecks ‚Penthesilea‘.“

Schweizer Jahrbuch fuer Musikwissenschaft 4, 3rd Band, edited by Ortsgruppe Bern-

Freiburg-Solothurn der neuen Schweizerischen Musikgesellschaft, 94-130. H.R.

Sauerländer & Co, 1929.

Emm, Amy. “‘Jetzt trösten, jetzt verletzen seine Klänge‘: Kleist’s Agonism in Music.“ In

Heinrich von Kleist: Style and Concept: Explorations of Literary Dissonance, edited by

Dieter Sevin and Christoph Zeller, 313-324. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2013.

Hinrichsen, Hans-Joachim. “Das "Wesentliche des Kleist'schen Dramas"? Zur

musikdramatischen Konzeption von Othmar Schoecks Operneinakter "Penthesilea". “

Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, Jahrgang 59, Heft 4 (2002): 267-297.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/930940 Accessed: 07-01-2020 23:32 UTC

Palmer, Peter. “Schoeck's "Penthesilea".” The Musical Times 150, no. 1906 (Spring, 2009): 19-

32. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25597599 Accessed: 07-01-2020 23:24 UTC

Puffett, Derrick. “Schoeck’s Operas.” In Derrick Puffett on Music, edited by Kathryn Puffett,

298-310. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2001.

Schoeck, Othmar. Penthesilea. Klavierauszug von Karl Krebs. Baerenreiter, 1984.

Virgil, translated by John Dryden. “Amazon.” In A Collection of the Most Natural and Sublime

Thoughts, viz. Allusions, Similes, Descriptions of Characters, of Persons, and Things;

That Are in the Best English Poets, compiled by Edward Bysshe. London: S. Buckley,

1710. Digitized by Google. https://books.google.ca/books?id=HKHxq0ks-

78C&pg=PA7&dq=Leads+to+the+War+an+Amazonian+race&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahU

KEwidr5X_48XoAhWUVs0KHQo1CR8Q6AEIOTAC#v=onepage&q=Leads%20to%20

the%20War%20an%20Amazonian%20race&f=false

Walton, Chris. Othmar Schoeck: Life and Works. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press,

2009.

Walton, Chris. „Othmar Schoecks Penthesilea: Zur Entstehung seiner Kleist-Oper.“ In

Auseinandersetzung mit Othmar Schoeck, edited by Stefan Kunze and Hans Jürg Lüthi,

92-102. Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1987.

Charts

1

Rehearsal & Page

Numbers

Plot Dominant Style Operatic Numbers

0

p. 3-4

N/A - Introduction War -

1-34

p. 5-41

Penthesilea rants

about Achilles battles

him. She loses

consciousness and is

returned to the

Amazon camp.

War -

35-121

p. 42-102

The Greek army

arrives at the Amazon

camp. Achilles and

Penthesilea confirm

their love for each

other.

Love Love Duet

R98-105

p. 86-92

122-143

p. 103-132

The Greek army

begins to approach.

Penthesilea learns

that she was Achilles’

captive. The

Amazons chase

Achilles away.

War -

144-172

p. 133-186

Penthesilea is

enraged. A

messenger tells her

that Achilles wants a

re-match. Penthesilea

accepts and over-

prepares.

War Aria-like Prayer?1,

R164-168

p. 168-175

173-195

p. 186-207

At the Greek camp,

Diomedes and

Achilles speak.

Penthesilea arrives

and kills Achilles.

War -

1 I suggest this based on Emm’s discussion of the libretto. Emm identifies the text of the prayer as being musical, but

is disappointed by Schoeck’s depiction of the passage. I, however, find the music-text relationships incredibly

convincing. This warrants further investigation.

Charts

2

196-222

p. 208-230

The corpse of

Achilles is returned

to the Amazon camp.

Penthesilea realizes

the horror of her

actions and dies.

War Dying Aria

R219-223

p. 225-230.

223

p. 231

Coda/’outro’ as the

curtains close.

Love -

Chart 1: Overall form chart of Penthesilea, featuring operatic numbers and compositional style.

Chart 2: Harmonic materials. Inversionally related sets are color-coded.

Trichord Tetrads

Augmented [048] Augmented major

7

[0148]

Augmented minor

7

[0248]

Major [037] Major-major 7 [0158]

Major-minor 7 [0258]

Minor [037] Minor-major 7 [0148]

Minor-minor 7 [0358]

Diminished [036] Half-diminished 7 [0258]

Diminished 7 [0369]

Charts

3

Repetition Gesture &

Characters

Chords

(Orchestra)

Clarinet Line Vocal Line

-

(R10-11)

Modal

Mixture

Penthesilea

{5,8,9,0,3,4}

Fm7/FM7

This content is

also in

repetition 1

- {0,9} +

chromatic

tail

{e,t,9,8}

1

(R11)

Semitone

Prothoe

{t,3,0},

{9,4,0}

*Ab9, Am

{t,9,8,6,4,9,0,6,3,t,9,8,6,5} {6,3,2,4}

Modal

Mixture

Penthesilea

{5,8,9,0,3,4}

Fm7/FM7

- {0,9} +

chromatic

tail {4,3,2}

2

(R11-12)

Semitone

Prothoe,

Meroe

{4,9,6},

{3,t,6}

*D9, D#m

{4,3,2,0,t,3,6,0,9,4,3,2,0,e?}

Note that after 0, Schoeck

indicates a descending “sound”

via a downward pointing

diagonal arrow, which may

point to either e to t. For the

purposes of this chart, I have

selected pitch e and written it in

italics for clarity.

{2,9,0}

Modal

Mixture

Penthesilea

{e,2,3,6,9,t}

Bm7/BM7

- {3,t,6,0,e,9,

1} +

chromatic

tail {6,5,4}

3

(R13)

Semitone

Prothoe,

Meroe,

Ober-

priesterin

{6,e,8},

{5,0,8}

* E9, Fm

{6,5,4,2,0,5,8,2,e,6,5,4,2,?}

The piano reduction is unclear,

the clarinet line appears to stop

at pitch 2 but may continue into

the next chord as either {0} or

{4,0,e,5,t,9,

2,1,8}

T2

T6

Charts

4

Chart 3: This chart demonstrates how Schoeck generates and manipulates pitch collections.

Colour coding corresponds to that of example 7. The modal mixture gesture is in red; the

semitone slide is in blue, the chromatic tail in green. The asterisked chord in the semitone slide

gestures indicates that only the lowest three pitches are played by the orchestra; the chord can

be spelled by including pitches from the clarinet line. Transpositional relationships between

each repetition are indicated on the left side of the chart. Note that vocal collections are not

transposed. Considering Walton’s suggestion that the music was likely “conceived manually”, I

believe that Schoeck starts with a collection generated at the piano, which he then transfers to

the orchestra (column 3, “Chords”). Schoeck then adds pitches this to collection, indicated in

purple italics, to create a clarinet line (column 4, “Clarinet Line”). As a final step, Schoeck then

sets the text in consideration of the generated harmony.

{1}. The overall effect of a

chromatic line is maintained.

Modal

Mixture

Prothoe,

Meroe

{1,3,5,8,e,0}

C#m7/C#M7

- {4,5,7,t,6,3,

e}

Examples

1

Example 1: The opening two chords, R0, p. 3. This gesture is repeated and manipulated five

times between R0, p. 3 and R10, p. 12.

Examples

2

Example 2: The warring chorus, R0, p. 4.-5. The chorus is split between high and low voices, the

Amazons in the distance, the Greek army further away. Note recurrence of the first chord of

Example 1 in the final measure.

Examples

3

Example 3: (L-R) Vertical motives for Penthesilea, Prothoe, and Achilles as described by

Eidenbenz, Hinrichsen, and Puffett. In prime form, these are [0247] for Penthesilea and Prothoe

and [0257] for Achilles. The closeness of the two forms suggests that instead of thinking of

interval content, Schoeck wanted to unite characters via pitch invariance. I have spelled the

chords in such a manner so as to highlight inversional relationships and highlight the F#-C

relationship that Schoeck likely intended to exploit.

Example 4: The Oberpriesterin’s first line, R1-2, p. 5. As above, the Oberpriesterin’s

accompaniment can be thought of an F#m(add b5) or [0147]. This is, again, very close to the

prime form of Penthesilea and Prothoe’s motives. Considering a tertian spelling of the chord

reveals a root of F#, which suggests Schoeck intended to connect the Oberpriesterin with the

motives from the other main Amazon characters. Due to its placement in the opera, its

coinciding with the first sung line by a major character, this also has the function of introducing

F# as the ‘home world’ of the Amazons.

Examples

4

Example 5: The closing cadential idea, R223, p. 231. The stage directions read “The curtains

slowly begin to close,” “with this beat [attack?] the curtains have closed” (my translation). In

combination with Example 4, this suggests that Schoeck established F#, the pitch associated with

the Amazons, as the aural home of the opera. Musically, this suggests Penthesilea’s dominance

over Achilles. The root of his pitch, C, is subsumed by F#. Hinrichsen’s discussion of the

relationship between the two is well worth reading. Included is a copy of an early draft, which

demonstrates that Schoeck initially had a more ambiguous final chord, an F#m (add b5), marked

ppp.1 Recall that this is the chord that accompanies the Oberpriesterin’s first lines. This would

have created a lovely musical symmetry. One has to wonder why Schoeck decided to change the

final chord for a much more bold gesture.

1 Hinrichsen, Einakter, examples 11-12, 295-296.

Examples

5

Example 6: Achilles’ first line, R39, p. 44. Notice that he is accompanied by his motivic chord,

as demonstrated in Example 3. He sings on a rather static C; the delivery is “strong and

threatening” (“stark und drohend”). Achilles’ motivic chord is transposed by T5 at “Königin” to

an F11, suggesting a kind of tonal motion reminiscent of a plagal cadence. Hinrichsen also

includes this in his discussion; he mentions that the sound is less dissonant but does not attempt

to qualify this in musical terms. 2 Rather, Hinrichsen simply identifies Achilles’ motif.

2 Hinrichsen, Einakter, example 6, 287.

Examples

6

Example 7: The modal mixture (red) and semitone slide (blue, note that the clarinet line is), R10-

11, p. 14. This example corresponds to chart 2; repetition 1 begins with the semitone slide boxed

in blue. The chromatic “tail” which connects the two ideas is boxed in green. Note the chromatic

tail in the clarinet imitates the last three pitches of the vocal line.

Examples

7

Examples

8

Example 8: A nod to tonality, R98-98, p. 87. Schoeck clearly builds from a Bb (green) to an F7

chord (blue) over top of a Db pedal, which he takes from the Bbm arpeggio in the piano. Bbm

comprises half of the polychord at R. 98; with our understanding of Schoeck’s approach to pitch

collection generation, this is unsurprising. Regardless, the aural effect of the pedal obfuscates

the I-V motion. Curiously, Walton identifies the “actual” duet (“das eigentliche Duett”) at the

words “geöffnet stehn die Pforten…”, and thus implies a beginning of a section. 3 I, however,

believe that the duet begins earlier, on “O Du”, p. 86. I hear the passage shown above as an

unclear I-V from Bb to F7. This passage sounds like an arrival at a point of tension; musically, it

makes little sense to consider this to be the beginning of a duet.

3 Chris Walton, „Othmar Schoecks Penthesilea: Zur Entstehung seiner Kleist-Oper,“ in Auseinandersetzung mit

Othmar Schoeck, eds, Stefan Kunze and Hans Juerg Luethi (Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1987): 97.

Examples

9

Example 9: The first statement of Penthesilea’s motif, R88, p. 79. Notice the F9 – C11 motion,

reminiscent of the orchestral accompaniment in Achilles’ first line, shown in Example 6. Pitches

in the blue box relate to Example 13.

Example 10: Two statements of the motif related by T3, R109, p. 95. Note that Penthesilea’s

name is accompanied by her characteristic chord at 109 (boxed in blue). Further, when Achilles

sings her name, he employs the pitches from her characteristic motive, as described in Example

3. The richness of motivic content in this passage is also discussed by Hinrichsen.

Examples

10

Example 11: Final direct statement of the motif at R212, p. 219. Note that Schoeck distorts the

ending of the theme by employing a nervous tremolo. After hearing the motif three times without

such a technique, the sound is surprising and generates significant tension. The four boxed

pitches relate to Example 13.

Examples

11

Example 12: Orchestral statement of Penthesilea’s theme in the boxed notes, R178, p. 190. This

is, to my knowledge, undiscussed by scholars. I suggest that such instances contribute to the

cohesiveness of the opera’s sound world.

Examples

12

Example 13: The death march sequence, R196, p. 208. “Night has fallen. The corpse of Achilles,

covered with a flowing purple [shroud], is slowly brought in by the Amazons, who surround and

follow [it],”my translation. Notice the repeated set played by flutes and violas, highlighted in

yellow. Schoeck cycles through this 10-note series throughout this sequence. The pitches boxed

in red, in particular, are reminiscent of Penthesilea’s motive.

Examples

13

Example 14: Achilles’ description of Penthesilea as “half Fury, half Grace”, R174, p. 188. Note

the change in instrumentation between the war style (blue) and love style (red). The war style

employs a bass-heavy, aggressive instrumentation: trumpets, viola, clarinet, two pianos, Bb-

clarinet, bassoon, trombone, tuba, cello, and bassoon. By comparison, the love style employs a

reduced texture: flute, clarinet, horn, viola, cello. The dramatic change softens the aural effect of

the stacked chords and further reinforces ideas of sensitivity as Achilles sings “sie liebt mich”

(she loves me).