I find above all that the expression, atonal music, is most unfortunate — it is on a par with calling flying the art of not falling, or swimming the art of not drowning.
Interpretation
Schoenberg critiques the label 'atonal music' by comparing it to negative definitions of other art forms.
In this quote, Arnold Schoenberg expresses his discontent with the term 'atonal music,' suggesting that such a label reduces a complex and rich art form to a mere absence or avoidance of conventional elements. By likening it to describing flying as simply not falling, Schoenberg emphasizes that true art transcends simple definitions based on what it lacks and instead should be appreciated for its unique qualities and expressions.
In practice
In a lecture on modern music, this quote can illustrate the complexity of art definitions.
I never was very capable of expressing my feelings or emotions in words. I don't know whether this is the cause why I did it in music and also why I did it in painting. Or vice versa: That I had this way as an outlet. I could renounce expressing something in words.
I owe very, very much to Mozart; and if one studies, for instance, the way in which I write for string quartet, then one cannot deny that I have learned this directly from Mozart. And I am proud of it!
There is still plenty of good music to be written in C major.
I am the slave of an internal power more powerful than my education.
My music is not modern, it is merely badly played
Out in the world not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather anything might happen, always did.
If your choice enters into it, then taste is involved - bad taste, good taste, uninteresting taste. Taste is the enemy of art, A-R-T.
I'm absolutely removed from the world at such times...The hours go by without my knowing it. Sitting there I'm wandering in countries I can see every detail of - I'm playing a role in the story I'm reading. I actually feel I'm the characters - I live and breath with them.
There are things that I refuse to deal with except through my music... because I don't trust humanity that much, and I don't know if I trust me that much. But I trust the songs.
It is always fatal to have music or poetry interrupted.
Sometimes I wish I could walk up to my music for the first time, as if I had never heard it before.
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