Verklarte Nacht, Op. 4

Arnold Schoenberg composed his most popular work, a one movement string sextet tone poem, Transfigured Night, in 1899. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem of the same name, and apparently, by his strong feelings towards meeting his future wife, Mathilde Zemlinsky, who was the sister of his teacher, Alexander von Zemlinsky. Verklarte Nacht premiered on 18 March 1902 at the Vienna Musikverein by the Rose Quartet. The poem describes a man and a woman walking through a dark forest on a moonlit night. She shares a dark secret with her new lover; she bears the child of another man.

The four albums are:

Transfigured Night. Alisa Weilerstein (cello) and Trondheim Soloists. Release Date: 17 Aug 2018. Label: Pentatone

Round Midnight. Quatuor Ebene. Release Date: 15 Oct 2021. Label: Erato.

​Arnold Schoenberg, Violin Concerto & Verklarte Nacht. Isabelle Faust (violin) and Daniel Harding with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 28 Feb 2020. Label: Harmonia Mundi.

Verklarte Nacht, Schoenberg, Fried,Lehar, Korngold. Christine Rice (mezzo), Stuart Stelton (tenor), and Edward Gardner with BBC Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 8 Jan 2021. Label: Chandos.

Reference: (2024). Verklarte Nacht. Wikipedia. USA: Authors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verkl%C3%A4rte_Nacht