Perhaps the most influential composer of the 20th century, Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) legally changed his last name to Schoenberg after emigrating to America, citing the fact that few American typewriters possessed the ability to type an umlaut.

The Austrian composer started composing post-Romantic works much in the vein of Richard Strauss. However, he eventually developed his own system of atonal music, laid out in his book Harmonielehre, which gained important followers in Alban Berg and Anton Webern and influenced much of the music composed in the Western world in the latter 20th century.

He had not been an observant Jew before Hitler’s rise to power, but he reclaimed his place in the religion in the wake of that event and brought his family to America. Among his famous works are his tone poem Verklärte Nacht, his song cycles Pierrot Lunaire and Gurre-Lieder, his Five Orchestral Pieces, and his Piano Concerto.