Die Jakobsleiter

Die Jakobsleiter (Jacob's Ladder) is an oratorio by Arnold Schoenberg that marks his transition from a contextual or free atonality to the twelve-tone technique anticipated in the oratorio's use of hexachords.

Schoenberg began the libretto in 1914-15, which he published as a stand-alone text in 1917.

He began the music in 1915, finishing most of his work on it in 1926,[2] and finished a small amount of orchestration in 1944, leaving 700 measures at his death.

[2] All performances before 1968 were concert performances; the American premiere took place in 1968 at the Santa Fe Opera using a staging by director Bodo Igesz.

[2] Notable recordings include one for Columbia records with Robert Craft conducting, and one for CBS conducted by Pierre Boulez, featuring Siegmund Nimsgern as Gabriel, and with Ian Partridge, Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Mady Mesplé in other singing roles, released in 1982.