Vol. 22 No. 2 (2024): Rethinking Schoenberg

This Special Issue, with Jun Kai Pow as guest editor, celebrates the 150^th birthday of Arnold Schoenberg, but it also celebrates the variety of approaches, views, and methodologies to music and music-making. This is what Wolfgang Marx has called for in our last issue 22 (2023), and it is a signpost into the European Journal of Musicology’s future.

'Rethinking Schoenberg', the theme for this issue, refers both to the authors' idea of approaching Schoenberg's familiar music from a fresh perspective and to exploring his lesser-known works. Emphasising 'rethinking' aligns with EJM's goal of collecting and publishing insights that artistic research (the performer as researcher) provides for understanding music. Here, the artist as knower comes to light in Schoenberg's strong belief in the interpreters' knowledge. This trust in and empowerment of the interpreter hints at what would later be seen as collaborative music creation (albeit with a temporal gap). Furthermore, in harmony with the aspirations of EJM's editors, this special issue presents the composer within the broader scope of socio-political aspects, such as the evolution of democracy and antisemitism, and the emergence of fascism; it portrays a life shaped by Jewish, Viennese, and Californian influences. We also value the opportunity to discover Schoenberg as an inspirational educator who takes educating future generations at a foundational level extremely seriously.

This Special Issue also comes with a new appearance. Our gratitude goes to the team of masterminds behind Bern Online Publishing, Jan Stutzmann and Andrea Hacker. Together with Arthur Höring from SciFlow, they have brought the publishing process to a new level. Our new colleague, Angela Wohleser, has taken over Hannah Plüess’s position as a copy editor and worked cheerfully through the maze of new systems in an incredibly effective and attentive way. We are blessed to be part of a team that is always constructive and enthusiastic to find new paths, even if the directions are new or unknown. Our intention to invite various forms of publications is only possible because of this supportive and creative team, making us eager to explore the possibilities even further.

As you may have noticed, the EJM presents a fresh appearance. Heike Jane Zimmermann thoughtfully designed the new journal logo: It encourages us to view music not only as a written text or its performance but also to discuss sound that extends through space. The colour clouds that puff up evoke this imagination. For the letters of our acronym, some may perceive a musical note with and without a stem; others may interpret the same symbol as a record player and its tonearm. These diverse interpretations of the written text or performed music, their technologies, media, materials, or the plenitude of sounds in and around us – in brief, the array of perspectives on music and sound – and the rethinking of methodologies is what the European Journal of Musicology's editors aim to embrace.

Journal editors:

Katrin Losleben, Britta Sweers

Issue editorial team:

Katrin Losleben, Hannah Plüess, Britta Sweers, Angela Wohleser