Arnold Schönberg’s Mödling residence (1918–25) is often referred to as the ‘birthplace of twelve-tone composition’. This influential method, however, was not an invention of the moment, but emerged in a protracted development process, many of the stages of which can be traced back to this place on the outskirts of Vienna. At Schönberg’s longest continuous residence in Europe, the influential Society for Private Musical Performances was founded, numerous students were taught and renowned composer-colleagues were received. Mödling was Schoenberg’s launching point for travels that accompanied his growing international recognition. He left the small town in 1925, when he was appointed professor of a master class in composition at the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

The chapter specifically explores the Futurist aesthetics of noise as manifested in Luigi Russolo’s ‘noise machines,’ or ‘intonarumori.’ Noise, and composition with noises, folds in with the Futurists’ general affirmation of technological modernity and with their related aesthetic practices extolling the virtues of speed, violence and war. The chapter also ponders Futurist noise and its relationship to twelve-tone dissonance, and discovers a common spiritualist thread linking these musical formal practices. For Russolo, at least, the technical and spiritualist connections relate to Leonardo da Vinci’s own plans for music machines, and his general view art’s ‘spirituality.’