Fin de Siècle#

Fritz Heinrich Klein: The Machine#

titlepage to the manuscript of Berg's Kammerkonzert (Chamber Concerto)

Aside from Hauer's rows, there were other precursors of Dodecaphony (1914/15) which Schoenberg only grudgingly recognized. Berg confronted his teacher with the composition Maschine (1914) by his student, Fritz Heinrich Klein (1892 Budapest/Hungary -1977 Linz/Upper Austria), a work that combines twelve-tone themes and chords as an impressive tonal experience without shocking the listener. Klein's foremost principle was the acceptance by listeners without any special knowledge of the compositional techniques. Schoenberg was unimpressed by the work, as he admitted himself. Klein worked together with Alban Berg for years: he prepared piano reductions of various works by Berg. (M. Saary)

Sound Clip#