On Pierrot Lunaire, No. 21, “O alter Duft” ("O redolence of Old”) by Arnold Schoenberg
This is the last song of the atonal song cycle by Schoenberg; likewise, it is the most terrifying and chilling of the entire work. Pierrot, a character who stems from the Italian commedia dell’arte genre, tells the tale of a melancholy, moon-struck clown who lives in a state of everlasting longing. The lack of tonality, acceptable harmonic progressions and melodic content leaves the listener in an unstable psychotic state throughout the work. In the last song, Schoenberg provides, for the first time, faint hints to tonality accompanying the text, “O redolence from fairytale times,” which, instead of giving the audience a breath of relief, acts as a more cringing moment than the entire atonal work combined. Through analysis, Schoenberg seems to be telling the audience that from this point on, the future is in atonality and the tonality of the past is but a faint memory.

--Larry Denman