Works for voice and piano by Marc Blitzstein and Ned Rorem performed by New York Festival of Song on November 3, 2013. Work for string orchestra by Schoenberg performed by A Far Cry on March 6, 2011.

• Blitzstein: Emily, from The Airborne Symphony
• Rorem: A specimen case, from War Scenes
• Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht, Op. 4

The 20th century was an eclectic one for classical music. Today’s podcast traces just a few of the many strands.

The piece written first is actually the final one we’ll hear: Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklaerte Nacht. Many of us closely associate Schoenberg with serialism, the formalized system of atonal music composition that he developed with his protégés Berg and Webern. But Verklaerte Nacht embraces dissonance and extended harmonies, and it is luscious and rich music, overtly late-Romantic in language, inspired by a poem about the profound depths of love.

The podcast begins with a piece that comes several decades later, by the American composer Marc Blitzstein. A Philadelphia native, Blitzstein studied locally at the Curtis Institute of Music and then set off for Europe, where he worked briefly with Schoenberg himself. The brief and touching song depicts a young soldier’s note home to his sweetheart, Emily.

After the Blitzstein, we have a piece from the next generation of 20th century American composers: Ned Rorem, who just celebrated his 90th birthday in 2013. Rorem also takes up war as his subject in this, a movement from his cycle War Scenes, based on Whitman poems.