Somewhere between the first and second decade of the "short" 20th century, the great Viennese musical tradition of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler supposedly crashed into the limits of tonality and came to a halt. Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg composed anew, now according to what was supposed to be the "historically inevitable" system of atonality. Karl Weigl went on to write marvelously traditional music. Schoenberg wrote in 1938 that "I always considered Dr. Weigl one of the best composers of the old school; one of those who continued the glittering Viennese tradition." And that is what we hear in abundance in Weigl's output throughout the genres: His symphonies, his songs, his concertos, his string quartets, and the chamber works for piano, cello, and violin in various combinations.