The Book of the Hanging Gardens

*The Book of the Hanging Gardens*
The Book of the Hanging Gardens
by Arnold Schoenberg
	Portrait of Arnold Schoenberg by Man Ray, 1927
Native name	Das Buch der hängenden Gärten
Opus	15
Genre	Song cycle
Style	Free atonality
Text	The Book of the Hanging Gardens by Stefan George
Language	German
Composed	1908–1909
Duration	about 30 minutes
Movements	15 songs
Scoring	Soprano and piano
Premiere
Date	14 January 1910
Location	Vienna
Performers	Martha Winternitz-Dorda (soprano); Etta Werndorf (piano)

The Book of the Hanging Gardens (German: Das Buch der hängenden Gärten), Op. 15, is a fifteen-part song cycle composed by Arnold Schoenberg between 1908 and 1909, setting poems of Stefan George. George's poems, also under the same title, track the failed love affair of two adolescent youths in a garden, ending with the woman's departure and the disintegration of the garden. The song cycle is set for solo voice and piano. The Book of the Hanging Gardens breaks away from conventional musical order through its usage of atonality.

The piece was premiered by Austrian singer Martha Winternitz-Dorda and pianist Etta Werndorf on January 14, 1910, in Vienna.