The violence and suddenness of this emancipation from tradition was influenced by turbulent events in Schoenberg's life at the time: his wife Mathilde had recently eloped with the painter Richard Gerstl (who committed suicide when Mathilde returned to her husband), and in the professional sphere, his work was increasingly being met with hostility or incomprehension, as at the premiere of the Second String Quartet in 1908.
The intensity and suddenness of this departure from convention were influenced by tumultuous events in Schoenberg's life at the time: his wife Mathilde had recently run off with the painter Richard Gerstl (who took his own life when Mathilde returned to her husband), and in the professional sphere, his work was increasingly being met with hostility or incomprehension, as at the premiere of the Second String Quartet in 1908.