Pierrot Lunaire: the Eerie Melodrama that Revolutionized 20th Century Music

a hub for adventurous music seekers near downtown Silver Spring, Maryland

Along with Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire revolutionized music in the early 20th century. Igor Stravinsky called it "the solar plexus as well as the mind of early 20th-century music."

The eerie, hyper-expressive Pierrot Lunaire (translated as Moonstruck Pierrot) is performed in the other-worldly Sprechstimme style that mixes speech and song. The vocalist sings precisely notated rhythms and pitches while also swooping and falling in exaggerated speech and whispers.

• Jennifer Piazza-Pick, voice
• ​Angel Gil-Ordóñez, conductor
• Elizabeth Hill, piano
• Carrie Rose, flute / piccolo
• Cheryl Hill, clarinet / bass clarinet
• Sandy Choi, violin / viola
• Tobias Werner, cello

• Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg

Meet the artists at a reception following the show!

Suggested Donation: $15 Adults | $10 Youth 18 and under
(1) on Eventbrite
(2) at the door (cash, venmo, zelle)

Additional donations are welcome as we put together this monumental performance!

THANK YOU!

Pierrot, the Renaissance theater ‘sad clown’ character, is at the center of the melodrama. The three sets of seven lush poems by Albert Giraud outline Pierrot's emotional trajectory from love to crime to a return home. Translation of 1st poem:

​1. Mondestrunken (Drunk with Moonlight)

​The wine that one drinks with one's eyes

Is poured down in waves by the moon at night,

And a spring tide overflows

The silent horizon.

Lusts, thrilling and sweet

Float numberless through the waters!

The wine that one drinks with one's eyes

Is poured down in waves by the moon at night.

The poet, urged on by his devotions,

Becomes intoxicated with the sacred beverage;

Enraptured, he turns toward heaven

His head, and, staggering, sucks and sips

The wine that one drinks with one's eyes.

Origins Concert Series is supported in part by funding from the Montgomery County Government and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County

Host or Publisher Carrie Rose