"Indispensable for understanding one of the central compositions of the twentieth century." --Walter Frisch, Columbia University. Arnold Schoenberg's Second String Quartet revolutionized western art music. For nearly a century, it has inspired composers, scholars, critics, performers, and visual artists. Severine Neff re-creates for her readers the quartet's historical, cultural, and musical background-its introduction of the human voice, its genesis during a personal crisis in the composer's life, the scandal at its premiere, and its endlessly controversial reception, both critical and analytic. This volume includes a newly edited, authoritative score of the quartet, as well as previously unavailable and newly translated texts by Grant Chorley. About the Series: Norton Critical Scores are authoritative study-sized editions of major musical works, each accompanied by carefully selected supplementary material-primary sources; a wide range of historical, critical, and analytical interpretations; and a bibliography-to enhance the reader's understanding of this work, its origin, and its reception.