“Credible tones,” by M. P. Kennedy

“Credible tones,” by M. P. Kennedy

Arnold Schoenberg’s string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) has everything one could wish for in a work of fin de siècle Europe: haunted groves with black branches reaching into the moon, illicit sex, an illegitimate pregnancy, and a luminous reconciliation. The program is from Richard Dehmel’s 1896 poem, which inspired the sextet. The New Hollywood String Quartet advertised Verklärte Nacht as part of their Summer of Angels Concerts a…