Arnold Schönberg - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Roberto Gerhard


In the Hans Keller BBC radio series on Schoenberg (1965), Roberto Gerhard (one of Schoenberg’s students) spoke very briefly about Schoenberg’s composing environment and how little it affected his work. Gerhard reported that Schoenberg said: “I can tell you, a back room in a back yard in Berlin is sufficient for me to write good music.” But Gerhard continued:
"Nonetheless, this might make you think that he was quite insensititve to this sort of impression. It’s not true! He loved his window. And the thing to remember is that it’s the room where he worked. He had his table right against the window. And he lifted his eyes up from the score Moses and Aron, which, as you know, he finished the second act in Barcelona in that room—this signed at the end “Barcelona, 10th of March, 1932.” When he lifted his eyes from the score, what he saw was that fantastic panorama. It was a smallish room. It had a small upright piano, a table perhaps, a sofa, and a few armchairs and that was all. And Mrs. Schoenberg and my wife sat at the back of the room chatting lustily, you know, with quite without the slightest regard for that man composing there on the window because Schoenberg insisted. He wanted them to talk loud. He hated to hear somebody whispering. I’m sure he listened with a kind of a... with a quarter of his ear, and when something came up that was gossipy, you know, he joined the ladies. He jumped up and joined the ladies and mixed in the conversation. When he had enough, he went back to his table, sat down, and was concentrated the next instant, deeply concentrated, completely oblivious, deaf to the latest conversation."