Immanence and transcendence in Moses und Aron

Abstract

Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron dramatizes – along philosophical, theological, and psychological lines – the predicament of the prophet, who grasps the essential unrepresentability (Unvorstellbarkeit) of the Divine, but cannot communicate an understanding that supersedes language and concepts. Although Schoenberg may resemble his protagonist Moses in some respects, the opera cannot be reduced to an allegory on the modern artist's intractable position. Rather, it examines the human condition from multiple perspectives, by exploring the distinct spiritual and psychological experiences of Moses, Aron, and the Jewish Volk, through their diverse capacities for awareness, insight, expression, an..