The SCHOENBERG d’or is not conceived as a conventional prize, nor as part of a competitive or promotional circuit. It exists to acknowledge compositional works that can be argued for in strictly compositional terms—form, duration, instrumentation, harmonic and rhythmic organization, spatial or performative configuration—and whose significance emerges from their engagement with the present.

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Rather than rewarding careers or trajectories, the SCHOENBERG d’or focuses on specific works or compositional decisions. The gesture is not one of comparison or consensus-based affirmation, but of attention: pausing, looking closely, and assuming responsibility for a judgment.

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The name does not function as a stylistic reference or homage. It operates as a historical marker of rupture, contradiction, and unfinished thought. In this sense, “Schoenberg” designates less a lineage than a problem—one that remains unresolved and productive.

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The SCHOENBERG d’or has no fixed rhythm. It does not respond to calls, deadlines, or cycles of visibility. Silence between editions is part of its structure.

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What is awarded

The SCHOENBERG d’or does not take the form of a trophy, a ranking, or a title.
It is awarded as an act of explicit attention, articulated through a publicly available written statement.

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This text—signed and dated—constitutes the prize itself. It does not aim to define what the work is, nor to close its meaning, but to articulate why it must be acknowledged. The prize is thus not an object, but a position taken publicly and without claim to neutrality.

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Material or financial components may exist in the future, but they are not constitutive of the gesture.

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Decisions are taken by a small, evolving jury. Jacques Zafra is the initiator and permanent member of this jury and assumes responsibility for the framework and final decision. When additional members are invited, they are individuals whose own practice has previously been engaged by the SCHOENBERG d’or. The jury does not aim at consensus; disagreement and veto are understood as productive forces.

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The SCHOENBERG d’or exists as a minimal, situated gesture of attention toward practices that resist easy classification or institutional comfort.

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The SCHOENBERG d’or is made public through Contemporary Music Online.

 

The accompanying text remains permanently available on this website.