They [the critics] deal with Schoenberg’s early works and all their wealth by classifying them, with the music-historical cliché, as late romantic post- Wagnerian. One might just as well dispose of Beethoven as a late-classicist post- Haydnerian.

Theodor W. Adorno
About This Quote

In his essay, “Schoenberg and the Critics,” Leonard Steinhorn confronts the critics of Arnold Schoenberg and their tendency to ignore or devalue his early works. This is a very interesting essay in which Steinhorn brings up a number of issues concerning the relationship between the music of Arnold Schoenberg and other composers at the time. He discusses how critics tended to mention Schoenberg’s early works in relation to later works, rather than focusing on his early achievements.

Source: Essays On Music

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