ABSTRACT
Heinrich Schenker's re-compositions and Arnold Schoenberg's compositions put the genius's love to the test and show it to be false, despite what they claim. And while Schoenberg's music bears witness to an unwitting discord with himself, Schenker's music bears witness to an unwitting concord with Schoenberg. Music is more than the recording of a perception, even when it merely sounds a tone. Music offers "an experience of an 'other' where prejudices are challenged, leading to change". This experience of an "other" is its connection with the spirit. Schenker and Schoenberg are right that God cannot be reduced to words, but as Schoenberg's music understands, neither can God be reduced to an idea. Schoenberg writes a set of "Psalms, Prayers and other Discourses with and about God"—they both remark with apprehension on the autonomy of God, a notion that is consistent with many forms of Judaism but not with the religion of genius.
