Start of filming for new Schönberg documentary

Filming for the new Accentus Music documentary "Arnold Schönberg, The Restless Visionary" in celebration of the composer's 150th birthday has commenced.

He was the founder of a new musical age and the overpowering father figure of musical modernism. With his departure from tonality and the invention of twelve-tone music, Arnold Schönberg left his mark on the music of the 20th century more momentously than any other composer. The founder of the Second Viennese School, whose concerts in the first decade of the 20th century provoked notorious scandals among audiences, did not see himself as a radical subversive but rather as a staunch upholder of the great GermanAustrian musical tradition. On his way into new musical territory, he was guided by an uncompromising desire for the integrity of musical expression.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth, the film "Arnold Schönberg, The Restless Visionary" (WT) uses previously unpublished archival material to paint a long overdue, comprehensive portrait of one of the most important, yet also most original and versatile artistic personalities in history. The film also provides surprising insights into lesser-known aspects of his life and personality: the almost compulsive need to create something new, his religious conflicts, his family environment, setbacks such as the disastrous affair of his wife Mathilde with the painter Richard Gerstl, his painful emigration to America, and Schönberg's enigmatic fear of the number 13.

Arnold Schönberg, The Restless Visionary
A film by Andreas Morell

A production of Accentus Music in co-production with WDR/Arte and ORF, supported by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung.

Production Company Accentus Music GmbH
Co-Production Company WDR/Arte
Co-Production Company ORF
Director Andreas Morell
Composer Arnold Schönberg
English title Arnold Schönberg, The Restless Visionary