Who was Arnold Schoenberg and what were some of his famous musical compositions and innovations?

Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, music theorist, and painter. He was a pivotal figure in the development of atonal and twelve-tone music, which revolutionized Western classical music. Born on September 13, 1874, in Vienna, Schoenberg began his career as a traditional composer before gradually breaking away from tonality and exploring new musical structures.

One of Schoenberg's most famous compositions is his Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), a string sextet inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel. Other well-known compositions include his Pierrot Lunaire, a melodrama for voice and small ensemble, and his Five Pieces for Orchestra, which marked the beginning of his use of atonality. Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, also known as serialism, was a system of composition that used all twelve notes of the chromatic scale in a particular order, and it became a major force in the development of avant-garde music in the 20th century.

Schoenberg's innovations in music theory and composition have had a lasting impact on Western classical music. He taught many prominent composers, including Anton Webern and Alban Berg, who went on to further develop and expand upon his ideas.