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Early in his career, the composer Arnold Schoenberg maintained correspondence with many notable figures: Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Schenker, Guido Adler, Arnold Rosé, Richard Strauss, Alexander Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, to name a few. In this volume of Oxford's Schoenberg in Words series, Ethan Haimo and Sabine Feisst present English translations of the entirety of Arnold Schoenberg's early correspondence, from the earliest extant letters in 1891 to those written in the aftermath of the controversial premieres of his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7, and the Kammersymphonie, Op. 9. The letters provide a wealth of information on many of the crucial stages in Schoenberg's early career, offering invaluable insights into his daily life and working habits. New details emerge about his activities at Wolzogen's Buntes Theater in Berlin, his frequently confrontational interactions with his first publisher (Dreililien Verlag), the reactions of friends and critics to the premieres of his works, his role in the founding of the Vereinigung schaffender Tonkünstler, his activities as a teacher, and his (all too often unsuccessful) attempts to convince musicians to perform his music. Presented alongside the editors' extensive running commentary, the more than 300 letters in this volume create a vivid picture of the young Schoenberg and his times.
This volume investigates the formative years of composer Arnold Schoenberg through his personal correspondence, documenting his professional development and social interactions between 1891 and the early 1900s. Ethan Haimo and Sabine Feisst, both established scholars in musicology, curate and translate over 300 letters to provide a comprehensive primary source record. Their editorial framework contextualizes these documents within the broader cultural and musical landscape of fin-de-siècle Vienna and Berlin, arguing that these exchanges are critical to understanding the evolution of Schoenberg's compositional philosophy and his struggle for professional recognition.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and music historians regard this volume as a foundational resource for understanding the early twentieth-century musical climate. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the meticulous nature of the editorial annotations provided by Haimo and Feisst.
Page Count:
448
Publication Date:
2016-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190623233
ISBN-13:
9780190623234
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