"There is still much good music to be written in C major."
—Arnold Schoenberg
Of all who pen, that Arnold Schoenberg, he—
Composite stern of biting rigor pinned
With insurrection in a gath’ring wind—
Would spur his peers to pen a tune in C
—A sign of all quotidian and gray,
Such paltry flats and sharps upon the stave,
So plain a key the signature to waive—
Much more this admonition means to say.
One notes that C’s bare staff is just the same
As those atonal clangs that moderns score.
And thus that Schoenberg claims our honor for
Our plain selves in our art, whate’er it came.
The honest must be key to treasured craft;
Our signature must grace the truly staffed.
Andy Oram
May 4, 2021