Newsletter
Edition 4, February – June 1999
Contents
Editorial
Exhibition “Arnold Schönberg's
Viennese Circle”
From the Archive
Press
Arnold Schönberg's Viennese
Residences
Editorial
Dear Friends of the Arnold Schönberg Center,
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:
The year 1999 is a year of jubilees and anniversaries, chief among them
Schönberg’s 125th birthday (1874) and the centennial of his "Verklärte
Nacht." The 50 years that Schönberg spent primarily in Vienna and Mödling,
and that clearly ended both personally and professionally with his 50th
birthday and marriage to Gertrud Kolisch in 1924 and his appointment to
the Berlin Academy in 1925, are the inspiration for our theme of 1999:
"Schönberg’s Viennese Circle." This subject is the point of departure
not only for our exhibition that begins on 13 April, but also for a variety
of topical events in March/April and September/October, that will culminate
in a symposium on the composer’s birthday on 13 September 1999. The first
half of the year will feature concerts and lectures devoted to the general
topic "Revolutions," that will treat various aspects of the transition
from the romantic to the modern. The two subscription series with the
Ensemble Wiener Collage and the Aron Quartett will be continued, and in
mid April the Jeunesse will likewise offer a number of concerts in the
Schönberg Center, focusing on the theme of this year’s spring festival
of the Musikverein, "Music for Survival – Composers from Theresienstadt."
– Details are provided in the newly designed brochure of events in the
middle fold.
Even as we busy ourselves in March with the topic of "Revolutions" during
Schönberg’s earlier years in Vienna, we will also be celebrating the first
birthdays: the second of the Schönberg Foundation and the first of the
Schönberg Center are surely a reason to reflect on attained goals: the
brief path from the founding of the Center to its opening, the cultural
accompaniment of this phase with events such as "Schönberg at the Building
Site," which – emerging from the rubble of renovation – already offered
in scenic collages twelve "Intermediate Tones" on Schönberg; and then
the opening festival that was filled, despite an almost exclusively Schönberg
program, to 97% of capacity and that was extraordinarily well received
even by the international media. Finally, the numerous concerts up through
the Center’s own first subscription concert, the spectacular evenings
with members of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics and the Schönberg
cabaret of Maddalena Crippa and Peter Stein at the beginning of this season
proved that in Europe one had looked forward to Arnold Schönberg. So let
the variety of offerings in the first half of 1999 entice you to visit
the Schönberg Center, be it for the new exhibition, a concert or other
events – or for the research library which is open to both scholars and
the curious public many hours a day.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Christian Meyer
Secretary General
Arnold Schönberg's Viennese Circle
Special Exhibition in the Schönberg Center
from 13 April 1999 to 7 January 2000
In the jubilee year the special exhibition of the Schönberg Center is
devoted to the Viennese circle of the master and to its development from
the last years of the 19th century up to 1925. Those young vanguards of
Schönberg took instruction from him, managed (first in Vienna and then
in Prague) the "Society for Private Musical Performances" he founded,
and ultimately bore witness to his development of the twelve-tone method,
which several themselves then adopted. Through Schönberg’s circle the
observer receives a range of impressions of the composer’s life and work
in the city of his birth; through the influence of his students and musical
friends one catches a glimpse of the important facets of the founder of
the Viennese School. Proceeding from the triumverate "Schönberg – Berg
– Webern," the visitor encounters composers such as Hanns Eisler, Viktor
Ullmann and Hans Erich Apostel, performers such as the pianist Eduard
Steuermann and the young violinist Rudolf Kolisch, the music engraver
Felix Greissle (who married Schönberg’s daughter Gertrude), Erwin Ratz,
Josef Polnauer, Karl Rankl, Heinrich Jalowetz and other important personalities
who were creatively active representatives of musical life in our own
century, and among whom several – superb teachers – passed on this tradition
to the "Pupils of the Viennese School," right up to the present generation.
The special exhibition "Arnold Schönberg’s Viennese Circle" displays the
most important original manuscripts of the compositions of Schönberg and
his pupils, biographical documents, as well as memorabilia, materials
concerning the conception and activities of the "Society for Private Musical
Performances" and, finally, samples of the first twelve-tone works. Also
displayed are a cross-section of paintings and drawings from the hand
of this composer of such versatile interests, self-developed and self-constructed
games, documentary videos and recordings made accessible through electronic
media and relating, for instance, to the important works of this circle
or to Kolisch’s legendary classes in Mödling. Finally, for the first time
on public view at the Center, are sketches to Schönberg’s "Transfigured
Night," op. 4, which was completed on 1 December 1899 and which celebrates
its 100th anniversary this year.
From the Archive
In 1951 Arnold Schönberg arranged to have his entire correspondence –
including both original letters to him and carbon copies of his own letters
– preserved in the Library of Congress in Washington after his death.
Thus among the autograph documents in the deceased’s estate are nothing
but drafts or letters that were never sent, like-wise correspondence that,
as a result of a gift either by the addressee or by someone else, is accessible
as part of the "Satellite Collections" in the Arnold Schönberg Center.
A comprehensive catalogue of approximately 8,000 letters from and 12,500
letters to Arnold Schönberg was published in the "Journal of the Arnold
Schoenberg Institute" (vol. XVIII/XIX, June & November 1996–June & November
1997) and is also available in an abridged version in Internet (http://www.schoenberg.at/archiv/archiv11.html).
A rarity, then, is a heretofore uncatalogued autograph letter from Arnold
Schönberg to the renowned pianist Eduard Steuermann written on 8 November
1916, which our foundation was able to acquire at Sotheby’s London auction
of 4 December 1998.
Schönberg met Steuermann through Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin and began
instructing him in composition in 1912. At the encouragement of Schönberg,
the young pianist (who was primarily known as an interpreter of works
of the Viennese School and who premiered several works of his teacher)
made piano reductions of Schönberg’s stage works "Erwartung" and "Die
glückliche Hand," and subsequently of the Chamber Symphony for 15 Solo
Instruments, op. 9. Steuermann furthermore arranged "Verklärte Nacht"
for piano trio. Later in America he made piano reductions of Schönberg’s
"Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte" and the piano concerto.
Since during the first World War Eduard Steuermann was declared unfit
for military duty at the front, he was assigned to the medical staff and
in 1916 stationed in Przemysl as corporal. A music-loving medical chief
made it possible for him to practice and concertize without restraint
(partly in military establishments). In Przemysl, in addition to composing
songs, Steuermann worked on a piano transcription of Schönberg’s First
Chamber Symphony: "I had already begun such a transcription earlier. But
I don’t yet have a complete grasp of the difficulties […]." (letter of
24 October 1916) For a concert in which both Steuermann and Schönberg
were to participate, organized by the Heller agency in Vienna and arranged
by one or the other of Steuermann’s sisters, Rosa or Salka, Steuermann
asked his teacher’s advice: Schönberg replied on 8 November 1916:
"Dear Steuermann, the announced visit of your sister did not materialize;
thus I waited in vain with the answer to your letter. Briefly, then the
concert: which 2 piano concertos do you want to play? I must also study
them. The solo works: my Piano Pieces, perhaps both series, would suit
me. Even better, however, would be the Chamber Symphony for piano. That
is a very good idea. Are you already quite far with the reduction? Of
course, you must proceed with great liberty and, in particular, try to
throw into relief one or two of the principal voices. In any case, I am
very eager to read through it and hear it. Has a decision already been
reached about the concert? You probably already know that about three
weeks ago I was relieved of duty? At last; it took long enough. Let me
hear from you soon. Hearty greetings Schönberg"
In reply to Schönberg (who, as his letter documents, had shortly before
been discharged from military service), Steuermann reported on 13 November
1916 that together with the Piano Pieces, op. 11, Johannes Brahms’ piano
concerto in B-flat and Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano concerto in E-flat
were to be performed, and that the Chamber Symphony was all but finished:
"It is difficult for me, without your express permission, to take certain
liberties; as soon as I am finished, I will definitely try to come to
Vienna for a brief visit, to hear your opinion and suggestions for improvement.
What is most difficult, of course, is the development and several passages
in the repeat and the close." Eduard Steuermann played his piano transcription
of the Chamber Symphony for the first time on 3 January 1921 for the "Society
for Private Musical Performances." Josef Rufer reported to Schönberg,
who was then in Holland: "Fabulous Steuermann with the ‘Chamber Symphony’!!
It is said to have been one of the finest evenings ever." In 1922 on the
Hohe Warte, in the presence of the composer, there followed a private
performance at a reception given by Alma Mahler for Francis Poulenc and
Darius Milhaud of Les Six. That same year the transcription was published
by Universal Edition in a superficially revised version that did not find
favor with Schönberg. On 4 February 1923 Steuermann responded: "Of course,
I did not know that there were still so many errors in the manuscript
and I find it dreadful that it upset you so and that you had to spend
so much of your time revising my work."
Press
In Aron’s Name: Magnificent debut of a new string quartet.
The new young string quartet who played Arnold Schönberg’s Third Quartet
at its debut concert did not lack confidence. And after a few warm-up
rounds it was also obvious that a sovereign ensemble and one to be taken
seriously had emerged at the Arnold Schönberg Center. …
Wolfgang Fuhrmann, Der Standard, 2 November, 1998
The regularly scheduled concert series at the Arnold Schönberg Center
opened with the Third Quartet of the composer. … clearly structured classicism
as the true test for a new group of musicians who will no doubt find success.
Wilhelm Sinkovicz, Die Presse, 31 October, 1998
Before the 12 tone technique were the Cabaret Songs.
The "other Schönberg," performed by Maddalena Crippa and Peter Stein One
performing just like it had been originally conceived, in numerous revue
costumes; the other, whose understated charm as the reciter of Schönberg
texts helped to make the time for Crippa’s changes of costume seem short
… It was an intimate, momentary (but especially momentous) evening that
not only afforded the opportunity to hear the Cabaret Songs but also Schönberg’s
great wit: as heard in narrations of tales … The texts, a large portion
of which are still unpublished, selected from the vast collection housed
in the Schönberg Center, aphorisms, reflections on audiences, and a text
to the dance of death of principles (texts of a symphony from the First
World War which remained a fragment) made one curious as to what else
might lie buried in the archive of the Institute. …
Derek Weber, Salzburger Nachrichten, 20 November, 1998
Searching the path of genius …
On Wednesday two grandees of the Theater took part in a homage to Arnold
Schönberg. At the Schönberg Center where every last seat was occupied,
Peter Stein and Maddalena Crippa followed the verbal, atonal and emotional
tracks of the composer just lately returned home. … Crippa, constantly
appearing in a new costume, created perfect miniatures and always found
the right mode of expression which one might expect from an actress of
her calibre. Just how much Schönberg rejected all expectations and demanded
openness, tolerance and curiosity was made manifest thanks to Peter Stein.
The director developed a personal, very intimate psychogramm of Schönberg
by reading articles, sketches, essays and autobiographical writings of
the composer; a recitation that presented a portrait of the private individual,
and unerringly revealed little-known facets of his personality.
Peter Jarolin, Kurier, 20 November, 1998
Arnold Schönberg Center: Peter Stein and Maddalena Crippa
Coquetry at the "Überbrettl" Vienna’s new Arnold Schönberg Center has
become the focal point for international stars. Schönberg’s Brettl-Lieder
… are mini-pieces to texts by Wedekind, Schikaneder, Bierbaum. Maddalena
Crippa … slipping into various colorful costumes and skillfully changing
roles. Peter Stein filled in the pauses during the changes of costume
with a reading from Schönberg’s private writings: Aphorisms, reports about
disputes in the upper-balcony between Schönberg fans and opponents, fairy
tales. In all cases Stein made the humor of the texts sparkle. The crown
jewel of the program!
Oliver Lang, Neue Kronen Zeitung, 20 November, 1998
Arnold Schönberg’s Viennese Residences
September 1874 to ca. 1880: 2nd district–Obere Donaustraße 5, Theresiengasse
5
"The Jews migrating to Vienna from the east settle in the Leopoldstadt,
the second of the twenty districts. There they are near the Prater and
the north train terminal […] The Leopoldstadt is of its own free will
a ghetto." (Joseph Roth) After their marriage on 17 March 1872 Arnold
Schönberg’s parents – natives of Bratislava and Prague, respectively –
moved to the Leopoldstadt, Jewish by tradition. The 2nd Viennese borough
between the Danube and the Danube canal, in which virtually half of the
Jewish population of Vienna lived, was popularly known as "Matzos Island."
The heterogenous "Israelite Community" (a term coined by Emperor Franz
Joseph I) consisted of orthodox, emancipated, assimilated Jews who were
also closely bound to the eastern European "Shtetl" culture and who had
migrated from Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary and Galicia to the metropolis
of the Habsburg monarchy. On 13 September 1874 Arnold Schönberg was born
in the house at Obere Donaustraße 5 (prior to the incorporation of the
Viennese suburbs in 1861: Brigittenau 393), which had been built in 1871
by the architect and municipal building contractor Heinrich Ritter von
Förster. After the family’s move to the Theresiengasse 5 (formerly Leopoldstadt
894), Schönberg’s sister Ottilie was born (9 June 1876).
1880–1894: 2nd district–Taborstraße 48, Kleine Pfarrgasse 31, Taborstraße
32, Große Stadtgutstraße 10, Adambergergasse 5
From 1880 – in that year’s census the Schönberg’s were registered at the
address Taborstraße 48 – Arnold Schönberg attended the grade school at
Kleine Pfarrgasse 33, and from 1885 the I. & R. secondary school at Vereinsgasse.
On 29 April 1882 Schönberg’s brother Heinrich was born. The blossoming
economical liberalism that placed no working or housing restrictions upon
Jewish citizens brought with it in the second half of the 19th century
new perspectives for small businesses in Vienna. In the "Trade and Advertising
Registry" Schönberg’s father Samuel was initially listed as a "Maker of
Shoe Products;" from 1886 he ran a commission and bill-collecting agency
at Kleine Pfarrgasse 31. After the death of his father on 31 December
1890 Schönberg worked as an underling at the private bank of Werner &
Co. For a while he continued to live at Taborstraße 32 with his mother.
In the following years the family frequently sought new quarters, moving
in 1892 to Große Stadtgutstraße 10 and in 1893 to Theresiengasse 5 (the
following year renamed Adambergergasse).
1894 to 7 July 1901: 2nd district–Leopoldgasse 9
In 1894 the Schönbergs moved to Leopoldgasse 9. The following year Schönberg
quit his job at Werner & Co. Later that same year, as member of the amateur
orchestra "Polyhymnia" (which rehearsed in the wine cellar of the Augustine
brewery, "At the Tobacco Pipe," at Graben 29), he would meet his artistic
mentor and future brother-in-law, Alexander von Zemlinsky. In the mid
90s Schönberg took over conductorship of the singing society "Freisinn"
in Mödling, the men’s vocal society in Meidling and the position of choirmaster
of the Metal Workers’ Singing Club at Stockerau. On 25 March 1898 Schönberg
gave up his Jewish faith to become a protestant and was baptised as a
member of the Dorothea religious community (Dorotheergasse 18, Vienna
I). In 1898/99, at Leopoldgasse, he taught one of his first pupils, Wilma
Weber von Webenau.
8 July 1901 to 27 November 1901: 9th district–Porzellangasse 53
On 18 October 1901, in the Lutheran parish in the inner city, Arnold Schönberg
married his first wife, Mathilde von Zemlinsky (the church ceremony followed
the municipal wedding of 7 October in Bratislava). The first residence
of the young married couple up to the time of Schönberg’s first stay in
Berlin was Porzellangasse 53.
13 October 1903 to 24 January 1910: 9th district–Liechtensteinstraße 68/70
"Now I must tell you something: I am remaining once again in Vienna."
(Letter to Richard Strauss from 10 September 1903) In the summer of 1903,
after a compositionally productive but professionally somewhat disappointing
year-and-a-half in Berlin, Schönberg returned to Austria with his wife
and daughter Gertrude (born on 1 August 1902). In October 1903, having
spent the summer holidays in Payerbach at Semmering, Schönberg moved with
his family to an apartment neighboring Zemlinsky’s at Liechtensteinstraße
68/70. In a "Questionnaire for the Purpose of Establishing Lack of Means"
from 21 March 1904 Arnold Schönberg described his quarters thus: "The
apartment consists of: 3 rooms, 1 antechamber, 1 kitchen/The rent amounts
to: 250 Kr quarterly/The household help consists of: 1 servant girl/paid:
24 Kronen monthly." In the winter semester of 1904/1905 Schönberg taught
harmony and counterpoint classes at the "Schwarzwald Schools" at Wallnerstraße.
From the fall of 1904 Alban Berg and Anton Webern were among his pupils.
On 22 June 1906 Schönberg’s son Georg was born.
For Arnold Schönberg the years on Liechtensteinstraße proved to be a period
of fundamental artistic change, yet they were marred by serious personal
crisis. His family life was grievously disturbed by Mathilde’s intimate
relationship with the painter Richard Gerstl. Gerstl had set up his atelier
in the same house, where he not only instructed both of the Schönbergs,
but also painted their portraits. In 1907 Schönberg himself took an active
interest in painting, and through the following year compensated for his
private misery (accentuated by Gustav Mahler’s departure for America)
by revolting against musical-historical tradition, in turn igniting the
compositional development of our century. In January 1909 Paul Wilhelm
published a description of the Schönbergian setting in the magazine "Neues
Wiener Journal": "Friendly rooms of unpretentious simplicity distinguished
by taste […] In the corner a characteristic bust of Schönberg by the master
Josef Scheu. Above his desk hang two pictures of Gustav Mahler, dedicated
with sincerest wishes, and a portrait of Zemlinsky greets one from the
middle door-post. That is the modest, unobtrusive decor of his room, his
small world shaped of his own sensibility."
January 1910–August 1911: 13th district–Hietzinger Hauptstraße 113
At New Year’s 1909/1910 Schönberg moved with his family and two servants
to a larger apartment in Hietzing, where he payed an annual rent of 2600
Kronen: "Second floor, 6th door, five rooms, lavatory, bath, servant’s
room, pantry, balcony, garden privileges." (Schönberg’s letter to Josef
Polnauer on 14 August 1911) On Hietzinger Hauptstraße he supposedly busily
occupied himself with painting, to which photographs of his apartment
convincingly testify. Numerous "visions," portraits and self-portraits
were created.
"If I lay my hands on Schönberg or his wife or his mother-in-law, blood
will flow." – As a result of a quarrel with his landlord, Philip Josef
von Wouvermans, allegedly arising from a sexual to-do between Schönberg’s
nine-year-old daughter and Wouverman’s younger son, Schönberg was run
out of the apartment in Hietzing in mid 1911 and settled again in Berlin.
In a letter of 29 August 1911 to Ferruccio Busoni, written from his Bavarian
"exile" in Berg on the Lake of Starnberg, Schönberg reported the reasons
for his "flight": "A monster living in the same house with me in Vienna,
who is obviously insane (but which for the moment cannot be medically
proven), imagines that he must kill me. The reason for his fury is founded
upon lies, but even these are of too little consequence to justify this
rage that threatens my life. Because of the danger either of being killed
or of being imprisoned for exceeding the bounds of self-defense, with
its accompanying agitations, and following various futile attempts to
achieve peace and security either by appealing to the authorities or by
resorting to the revolver, I was forced on 4 August temporarily to flee
with my family. Which is why I am here. Now I had hoped to bring an end
to the matter through my lawyer, but after much writing back and forth,
I see little chance of getting this raving madman, who meanwhile is still
raving!!!, off my back. And thus I cannot return to Vienna!! Thus the
question of resettling as a result of this unfortunate situation, the
‘force majeure,’ is not a question of what I want to do, but rather of
what I must do." Schönberg – to the surprise of all interested parties
– entrusted the organization of his move to his pupils Alban Berg and
Josef Polnauer.
June–September 1910/July 1911: 13th district–Ober St. Veit
In the summer months of 1910 and 1911 Schönberg rented an apartment in
a quiet villa in Hietzing, in order to concentrate better on his work,
and here in September of 1910 he completed his Theory of Harmony. The
following year he wrote the foreword and the dedication to Gustav Mahler,
who had died in May 1911.
October 1915–September 1917: 13th district–Gloriettegasse 43; 9th district–Alser
Straße 32; 3rd district–Rechte Bahngasse 10
"As early as next week (around 9 September) we are moving to the 13th
district in Vienna, Gloriettegasse 43, where Mrs. Lieser has provided
us with an apartment. We made the decision quite suddenly, as usual."
(Schönberg to Zemlinsky, 3 September 1915) Upon Schönberg’s return from
Berlin, where he had given a series of lectures on "Aesthetics and the
Teaching of Musical Elocution" at the Stern Conservatory and also taught
privately, a friend of Alma Mahler, Silvia "Lilly" Lieser, provided him
an apartment at no expense in her villa at Gloriettegasse 43. Disagreements
with her finally encouraged Schönberg’s relocation to Pension Astra, Alser
Straße 32, where the family lodged from 1 October to 10 November 1917.
"In the first place there is nothing to be done concerning Mrs. Lieser
because what she does for me (we felt, we have even known it for a long
time) is too much, although she has 20 million and I am probably her only
charity case of this sort. She is enormously stingy and dirty. But then:
we would want nothing more to do with this person at any price […] Nothing
happened. She simply behaved so offensively the entire time that one could
not endure it. She worked long and hard to force us to give notice." (letter
to Zemlinsky from 29 August 1917) "I have decided, when looking for an
apartment to let, not to mention my profession, but rather to call myself
a ‘theory professor at the Schwarzwald School’." (letter to Webern from
29 August 1917) In the fall of 1917 Schönberg again offered a "Seminar
in Composition" at the Schwarzwald Schools – newly designed by Adolf Loos
– at Wallnerstraße 9, temporarily letting an apartment at Rechte Bahngasse
10 (November 1917–March 1918). The move to the house in Mödling, where
Schönberg would reside until his third and last stay in Berlin, had first
been planned at the beginning of 1918: on 6 January of that year Lilly
Lieser requested Schönberg to vacate the apartment by the 20th of the
month, as she wished to sell the house. Schönberg replied: "Most revered
Madam, it was planned to vacate the apartment by 10 January, but snow
has held up the movers […]." On 5 February 1918 Schönberg reported to
Alma Mahler: "We arrived from Mödling yesterday, where we got the apartment
halfway in order in just about four days. Now we are completely rid of
Gloriettegasse."
