When on this day, one hundred years later, the violinist transforms into 'Pierrot Lunaire'

The Barcelona of a hundred years ago, as (or more) cultured and musically advanced as today's, welcomed Arnold Schoenberg with genuine devotion. The Associació de Música Da Camera organized a festival featuring his music, and the Viennese composer didn't hesitate to attend to conduct it himself. He premiered Pierrot Lunaire on April 29, 1925, at the Palau de la Música Catalana, ten years after its Berlin premiere. And today (8 p.m.), exactly a century later, the passionate and thrilling violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will toast it in the same hall, within BCN Clàssics, with it transformed into Pierrot.

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“It's the most absurd piece I've ever seen,” comments the Moldovan artist, who this time puts down her violin to step into Pierrot's shoes and sing... or rather, recite, sprechgesang -style, the 21 poems or melodramas that comprise it. “We've performed it 18 times [since 2017], and I always discover new mistakes, fascinating motifs, incredible structures, alive like a fountain that dances with the wind. It's a living piece!” she adds.

"It's the most absurd work I've ever seen. It's alive; I'm always discovering new mistakes and other reasons for fascination."

“For Schoenberg, it's always Pierrot, never 'he' or 'she.' Interesting, or maybe it doesn't matter, but in a way, he's a clown who experiences different constellations in his life or in his fantasy. It's also not clear, because some are so grotesque and surreal that you don't know what's really going on: he kills someone, makes a hole in their skull, and smokes through it... Suddenly he plays the viola, we don't know why, and then he throws it away. You don't know if he's friendly, if he's dangerous, if he's making jokes or not really. In one piece, he hangs himself, but he likes it so much that we don't know how to approach that scene. In another, he talks to a sick moon. Or he falls in love with a columbine. The Harlequin never appears here, which is interesting, coming from Commedia dell'arte. I would expect something diabolical, but Harlequin isn't here. Neither is Pantaleon nor the Doctor.”

Kopatchinskaja performs the work with five musicians: Meesun Hong, violin and viola; Júlia Gállego, piccolo and flute; Reto Bieri, clarinet; Thomas Kaufmann, dello; and Joonas Ahonen, piano. In fact, it was Gállego who came up with the idea. And Llorenç Caballero, the promoter who's staging it in Barcelona. "Performing it here on the same day gives you goosebumps; we'll become part of history," says the artist.

The work leads this group of artists to reflect on the power of authentic art, without seeking public approval, and on how Pierrot and the Kammer Symphonie represent the evolution of music while respecting its roots. The entire project is described as a celebration of free, profound, and committed art.

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“We're serious musicians,” they say, “we play on important stages with great orchestras and conductors. But we do this purely for our souls, like a circus, like being children again and figuring out what our next game will be. It keeps our imaginations alive. It's also interesting to draw parallels with what's happening today. I remember playing it in Gothenburg, with shadow puppetry: Stalin and Putin danced together in the Kaiser-Walzer .”

“Schönberg had so much fun with this work,” Kopatchinskaja continues, “that he couldn't limit himself to just one, two, or three instruments. He always wanted to expand; he needed more colors here and there. The clarinet, for example, must have three different versions. He said it was like living with three wives. Pierrot must transform into many figures; it's a crazy journey that will never cease to fascinate us.”

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The work will be accompanied, as it was then, by Schoenberg's own Chamber Symphony. The audience at the Palau will receive a replica of the original program from 1925, with commentary by Alban Berg on the Symphony and commentary by Robert Gerhard, with whom Schoenberg met in Vienna, on the text and music of Pierrot Lunaire .

That was a golden age for Barcelona. It was very well connected and up to date with everything that was happening. Mercedes Conde, deputy artistic director of the Palau de la Música

That was a golden age for Barcelona. It was on its way to becoming a center of projection, looking out towards Europe. “It was very well connected and up to date with everything that was happening,” says the Palau's deputy artistic director, Mercedes Conde. “Stravinsky, Ravel... came as composers, conductors, or performers. And there was a constant discovery of new works, as contemporary works were the norm. And this program notes that the Associació Da Camera was advertising this concert and, in smaller print, indicated that there would also be works by Mozart and Schubert.”

I hope that concerts like this will help break down prejudices and show how extraordinary and fascinating Schoenberg's music is." Joan Magrané composer and Schönberg expert

That same year, 1925, Alban Berg's Violin Concerto premiered at the Palau, an example of the interest in music at the time and also indicative of the caliber of audiences at the time. However, the war put a stop to everything. Composer Joan Magrané, a Schoenberg expert, will introduce both pieces in today's concert, which belong to the final stage of emancipated atonality and the arrival of free atonality. "I hope that concerts like this will help break down prejudices and show how extraordinary and fascinating Schoenberg's music is," he concludes.