SOURCE: "Towards Schoenberg," in Current Convictions: Views and Reviews, Alfred A. Knopf, 1975, pp. 195-210.

In the following essay Craft evaluates and edition of Style and Idea, then reviews Charles Rosen's Arnold Schoenberg.

The best of Arnold Schoenberg's occasional writings on music [Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold Schoenberg,] are as richly instructive as his theoretical and didactic ones. Like them, too, many of the essays depend on examples printed in music type, which sets Schoenberg apart from other composer-writers, such as Berlioz, whose many verbal talents the creator of Pierrot Lunaire lacks, or Schumann or Debussy, who are simply more enjoyable to read. But the substance of the musical journalism of these three is less profound than that of Style and Idea, and the rewards of Schoenberg's book warrant the greater effort it requires, especially in the chapters "Twelve-Tone Composition" and "Theory and Composition." Yet even these...