Schoenberg and His World

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Edited by Walter Frisch

Princeton University Press

Due/Published September 1999, 350 pages, paper

ISBN 0691048614

This collection explores the richness of Schoenberg's genius. Marilyn McCoy opens the volume with a concise chronology, based on the latest scholarship, of Schoenberg's life and works. Essays by Joseph Auner, Leon Botstein, Reinhold Brinkmann, J. Peter Burkholder, Severine Neff, and Rudolf Stephan examine aspects of his creative output, theoretical writings, relation to earlier music, and the socio-cultural contexts in which he worked.

The documentary portions of this book capture Schoenberg at critical periods of his career: during the first decades of the century, primarily in his native Vienna; from 1926 to 1933, in Berlin; and from 1933 on, in the U.S. Included here is the first complete translation into English of the Festschrift prepared for the 38-year-old Schoenberg by his pupils in 1912; it explored the many talents as a composer, teacher, painter, and theorist for which he was later to be recognized. The Berlin years, when he held one of the most prestigious teaching positions in Europe, are represented by interviews with him and articles about his public lectures.

The final portion of the volume, devoted to the theme of Schoenberg and America, focuses on how the composer viewed--and was viewed by--the country where he spent his final eighteen years. Sabine Feisst brings together and comments upon sources which, contrary to much received opinion, attest to both the considerable impact that Schoenberg had upon his newly adopted land and his own deep involvement in its musical life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Preface and Acknowledgments ix
A Schoenberg Chronology MARILYN MCCOY
PART I ESSAYS
Schoenberg and the Audience: Modernism, Music, and Politics in the Twentieth Century LEON BOTSTEIN
Schoenberg as Theorist: Three Forms of Presentation SEVERINE NEFF
Schoenberg and His Public in 1930: The Six Pieces for Male Chorus, Op. 35 JOSEPH H. AUNER
Schoenberg and Bach RUDOLF STEPHAN TRANSLATED BY WALTER FRISCH
The Compressed Symphony: On the Historical Content of Schoenberg's Op. 9 REINHOLD BRINKMANN TRANSLATED BY IRENE ZEDLACHER
Schoenberg the Reactionary J. PETER BURKHOLDER
PART II ARNOLD SCHONBERG (1912) Translated by Barbara Z. Schoenberg Introduced by Walter Frisch
Editor's Introduction
Biographical 202
The Works
As Introduction KARL LINKE
Schoenberg's Music ANTON VON WEBERN
The Harmomelehre HEINRICH JALOWETZ
The Paintings WASSILY KANDINSKY
Schoenberg the Painter PARIS VON GUTERSLOH (TRANSLATED WITH JEREMY BRETT)
The Teacher (Collected Contributions by His Students)
KARL LINKE
DR. EGON WELLESZ
DR. ROBERT NEUMANN
ERWIN STEIN
DR. HEINRICH JALOWETZ
DR. KARL HORWITZ 256
DR. ANTON VON WEBERN
PAUL KONIGER 258
ALBAN BERG
PART III ARNOLD SCHOENBERG SPEAKS
Newspaper Accounts of His Lectures and Interviews, 1927-1933 SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY JOSEPH H. AUNER TRANSLATED BY IRENE ZEDLACHER
Arnold Schoenberg Speaks
Where is German Music Headed?
A. Schoenberg, Die gluckliche Hand
Arnold Schoenberg Holds Forth
A Musician Offers a Glimpse into His Workshop
Arnold Schoenberg's Idea 279
Music-Ideas from Yesterday
PART IV SCHOENBERG AND AMERICA Selected and Introduced by Sabine Feisst
SCHOENBERG ON AMERICA: ARTICLES, SPEECHES, COMMENTARY
Arnold Schonberg: Foremost Representative of Modernistic School in Europe
Comment on jazz
Crisis of Taste
For New York
First American Radio Broadcast
Driven into Paradise
First California Broadcast
Oscar Speech
"Wien, Wien, nur du allein"
Music and Morality
Protest on Trademark
The Transplanted Composer
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ON SCHOENBERG
This Man Schonberg A. WALTER KRAMER
Who is the Greatest Living Composer? HENRY COWELL
Welcome for the Incoming Modern Master NICOLAS SLONIMSKY
Homage to Schoenberg: The Late Works LOU HARRISON
Schoenberg in the United States ROGER SESSIONS
Index
Notes on the Contributors