Of Spiritual Connections: I Stood Alone Against a World of Enemies

Arnold Schoenberg's early work, Gurrelieder met with critical acclaim. But the first performance of the piece took place years after the composer had abandoned a late romantic style, in which Gurrelieder is written, in favor of atonality.

Here is an excerpt of Gurrelieder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQYWDEPfFNg&feature=related

Schoenberg wrote the following about the success of Gurrelieder:  "I was rather indifferent, if not even a little angry. I foresaw that this success would have no influence on the fate of my later works. I had, during these thirteen years, developed my style in such a manner that to the ordinary concertgoer, it would seem to bear no relation to all preceding music. I had to fight for every new work; I had been offended in the most outrageous manner by criticism; I had lost friends and I had completely lost any belief in the judgment of friends. And I stood alone against a world of enemies."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egmZxK4OhuE&feature=related

Schoenberg's sentiments about individualism are echoed by Sigmund Freud in a letter he wrote late in life.  In 1926, when Freud's lodge brothers celebrated his seventieth birthday, illness kept him from attending the celebration, but he wrote to them:

"What bound me to Judaism was, I must confess, not belief and not national pride . . . Other considerations . . .  made the attractiveness of Judaism and Jews irresistible . . . Because I was a Jew I found myself free from many prejudices which limited others in the use of their intellect, and being a Jew, I was prepared to enter opposition and to renounce agreement with the 'compact majority.'"

Do I seek a spiritual connection?  My answer? I find my spiritual connection in standing alone.