Schoenberg’s Metronome Markings: A Study of His Music Manuscripts and Early Editions

While Schoenberg had consistently indicated tempo using words exclusively in his early tonal music, metronome markings became a common practice in his twelve-tone music. Situated within a historical context, this study demonstrates the process by which Schoenberg employed metronome markings as an indispensable means to create his music. The first section of this article discusses Schoenberg’s writings regarding his ideas on tempo indications and speculates on the motivation behind the switch to metronome markings. The second section examines the source documents of Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet, Op. 10, Erwartung, Op. 17, and the Four Orchestral Songs, Op. 22. Exploring Schoenberg’s method of tempo indication in these works, I suggest that his approach towards tempo indications started to change around the fall of 1913 when he composed the first song of Op. 22. Here, the metronome marking became a tool to indicate the basic tempo of the music. Finally, I argue that the composer’s instruction to performers that “the metronome marks must not be taken literally,” which is usually found in the prefaces of his scores published after 1914, was due to the highly expressive nature of his music.