This article focuses on a comparison of Schönberg's 'Die glückliche Hand' and Kandinsky's 'Der gelbe Klang' - two seemingly most courageous attempts at putting into effect a Utopian idea of a total synthesis of artistic languages within the expressionist movement. The fact that both artists were convinced of a deep relationship among the techniques of all the arts allows us to broaden the analysis of Schönberg's opera by including a synaesthetic aspect of colours in painting and in music as expressed in Kandinsky's theory. Such an analytical perspective allows us to pin down in a musical work a network of direct and logical connections between the theatrical play of colours and lights and the compositional means, and it enriches the interpretation of meaning of the often enigmatic theatrical events. The comparison of both works against a background of revolutionary change of the concept of expressionist drama enables us to grasp not only clear affinities, but also differences in the conception and realisation of the idea of a monumental theatrical art.
