Arnold Schönberg's «Moses und Aron» Staged in Basel During Composer's 150th Anniversary Year

Arnold Schönberg remains a contested figure in his 150th anniversary year, as a Basel production of his opera «Moses und Aron» demonstrates. The composer, described as perpetually inconvenient, developed the twelve-tone technique that redirected music into new paths and helped modernism break through. The staging in Basel places Schönberg in a position between all stools, reflecting his enduring status as an uncomfortable outsider. The opera «Moses und Aron» is the vehicle for this reassessment, with the production suggesting that the prophet now requires a loudspeaker. The anniversary year has not resolved the debates surrounding Schönberg's legacy; he remains as controversial as ever. The Basel event forms part of the wider commemoration of the composer's 150th birthday, using one of his central works to examine his relationship to modernism and to audiences today.