SCHOENBERG, Arnold

An essentially self-taught composer, he produced in his native Vienna his first major work, the popular Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) (1899) for string sextet, which is more commonly performed in an arrangement for string orchestra. Moving to Berlin in 1901, he worked at orchestrating operettas and directing a cabaret orchestra. Returning home in 1903 to teach, he befriended not only Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), the prominent Viennese composer and conductor who supported Schoenberg's activities,...