ABSTRACT
In the Gedanke manuscript Schoenberg provided us with his most detailed attempt to explain and systematize his views of a thematic basis for the presentation of the musical Idea. This theory has its core in the concepts of Grundgestalt and developing variation. This chapter focuses on these two concepts and the related notions that provide the means to connect the various segments of music. Schoenberg's approach to thematic development represents an analytical concept derived from his compositional practice. This empirical approach delineates a challenging tool for music analysis, one which has an enormous potential for development and interpretation. Developing variation and extended tonality seem to be the perfect pair of concepts for encouraging a varied expression of the musical structure. Schoenberg's organicist notion of musical form is greatly influenced by A. B. Marx who in 'Die Form in der Musik' (1856) spoke of Urgestalt in a direct reference to Goethe's Metamorphose der Pflanzen.
