As a 2014 Obermann Fellow, Arndt will work on his book project, which looks at the works of Heinrich Schenker and Arnold Schoenberg, two of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. These composers spar with one another over various musical issues, and for the past 50 years, scholars have presented their ideas and music as diametrically opposed. His book argues that their conflict reflects tensions within their ideas rather than between them. By elucidating the commonality of these musical giants, his book sheds light on an imperfectly understood juncture in music history and the birth of modernism.