Musical Functionalism: The Musical Thoughts of Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith (Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue)

In this book the concept of functionalism, well-known in 20th-century architecture and design, is used to investigate the musical thoughts of two of the leading composers at the time of the Bauhaus, the time of Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier. Functionalism may be characterized by the functional treatment of the chosen material, by functional design, and by a focus on the work s intended function. This tripartite requirement also defines the concept of musical functionalism as developed in this study, and it serves as the foundation for a presentation of Schoenberg s and Hindemith s thoughts on the subject. Examined through the lens of musical functionalism, common traits between the two composers become evident, despite all their individual characteristics as artists of noticeable integrity. Discussions of the musical material, of musical form, and of the function of music allow the author to reveal a shared epistemological base underlying the external dissimilarities of the two composers' style and language.