The Five Pieces further develop the notion of "total chromaticism" that Schoenberg introduced in his Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11 (composed earlier that year) and were composed during a time of intense personal and artistic crisis for the composer, this being reflected in the tensions and, at times, extreme violence of the score, mirroring the expressionist movement of the time, in particular its preoccupation with the subconscious and burgeoning madness.

Date of composition 1909
Premiered 1912, September 3rd in London, United Kingdom
First published 1912 by Peters
Catalogue Op. 16
Approx. duration 16 minutes
Instruments Orchestra
Autotranslations beta Arnold Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16
Arnold Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16
Arnold Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16