Parables of the old men and the young: The multifarious modernisms of Erwin Schulhoff's string quartets

The traumatic experiences of the First World War forced Erwin Schulhoff and many artists of his generation to re-evaluate their relationship with the culture of the past. Focusing on his works for string quartet, I discuss the means through which Schulhoff's works are preoccupied with artistic renewal and the way his goals are expressed in his reception. I establish that two methods of rejection stand out among creative artists of Schulhoff's generation, and that the appreciation of these contributes significantly to understanding Schulhoff's music and its reception. The one involves the use of age-related metaphorical dichotomies and the other involves references to leading figures of the past manipulated through distance-creating techniques. Viewed in this light, Schulhoff's multiple styles emerge as part of a process leading from anger and rejection through irony to renewal through reconciliatory nostalgia.