"If it is art, it is not for all, and if it is for all, it is not art."
In this sharp, uncompromising essay, Schoenberg defends the music composer's duty: not to entertain, not to soothe, but to translate meaning with precision and depth. Music, he argues, must obey something higher than taste: something as exacting, and as rare, as truth itself.
Originally published as an essay titled "New Music, Outmoded Music, Style and Idea" in 1946, this classic polemic is a defence of art and music that is undimmed, undiminished and subject of much debate today. From dancefloors to auditoriums, classrooms to afterparties, anyone concerned with the purpose of art and music should have this classic short essay close at hand!