This piece interested me initially because of the lack of tone or pitch in the singer who is seen throughout the piece. Its interesting to see the unconventional and unrythmic tones that are at use. Its quite jarring to listen and at times it was intense and scary. It really peaked my interest because of its intense and emotional context.
The context behind this peice is that Schoenberg wanted to portray a story told from a concentration camp in Warsaw in the second world war from the perspective of the prisoners that where being held there. He wanted the singer not to use and type of pitch and the german officers where represnted by the jarring orchestral sound pallet. Which explains the jarring and sharp tones that are used in the piece.
Arnold Schoenberg started the serialism movement and his work A Survivor from Warsaw is a great example of the change in the tonal centre in the twentieth century which was seen in the modernism movement at this time.
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