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In two lecture series presented in 1955 and 1956 at the Internationale Ferienkurse fu¨ rNeueMusik inDarmstadt, entitledDer junge Scho¨nberg and Scho¨nbergs Kontrapunkt, Th.W. Adorno claimed that in Schoenberg’s early works one can already find the structural principles that the composer later established in his twelve-tone method, as well as all the elements that characterize his mature compositional thought (though they were still hidden under a layer of traditional material). Some of the concepts presented in those lectures had already been set out in two articles written in 1934, while others were later reworked for a lecture in 1957 and a radio broadcast in 1958.However, the detailed analyses provided by Adorno, which are the subject of this paper, have never been published. According to Adorno, the search for a means of formal cohesion which is different fromtonality led Schoenberg to abandon pre-established schemata and the overarching principle of tonal harmony. Counterpoint becomes the new formal nexus, melody acquires structural importance and the sequence of harmonic steps is produced through the superimposition of newmelodic lines,which are simple, unadorned, independent of each other, formed through the juxtaposition of fragments which are themselves generated through the reorganization of a small number of intervals. The unusual chords that are thereby produced create dissonances and juxtapositions of units that are complementary to each other: they are projected onto the overall formal structure generating contrasting forces. The sections created in this way are ‘‘dissonant’’ on account of their compositional modality and display a density that determines both their duration and their size and reciprocal balance. Verkla¨rteNacht occupies a key position in Adorno’s analytical trajectory. It is in this work rather than in the Lieder of the same period that the new formal principles find complete expression. This composition, which is important for Adorno’s argument, is well suited to exemplify both lecture series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]