At an auction in Vienna, we were able to acquire six letters from Arnold Schönberg to the Danish conductor and composer Paul von Klenau dating from 1923 and 1924 for our archive.
Paul von Klenau (1883–1946) founded the Danish Philharmonic Society in Copenhagen in 1920 to promote contemporary music. As the Society’s first musical director, he conducted several works by Arnold Schönberg in 1921, including “Pelleas und Melisande,” op. 5, “Verklärte Nacht,” op. 4, and “Pierrot lunaire,” op. 21. In 1922, Klenau contacted Schönberg and invited him to conduct his Kammersymphonie, op. 9 in Copenhagen. The concert took place in January 1923, and also included four Lieder from Schönberg’s opus 6 as well as his arrangement for chamber orchestra of the “Song of the Wood Dove” from the “Gurre-Lieder.”
Parallel to his activities in Copenhagen, Klenau was also engaged as a conductor by the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft in 1922. From 1924 to 1930, he held the position of musical director there. During this time, he worked with Hugo Botstiber, the Society’s general secretary, to promote contemporary music. Klenau conducted performances of Schönberg’s “Gurre-Lieder” in 1923 and 1929 with great success.
At the center of the new acquisitions is a letter from Schönberg dated November 3, 1923, which refers to Klenau’s conducting of the “Gurre-Lieder” at the Vienna Konzerthaus (October 31, November 1 and 2). Schönberg effusively expresses his thanks for a letter – deeply sympathetic and appreciative of his music – Klenau had sent him after one of the performances.
Dear esteemed Mr. von Klenau, thank you very much for your kind letter. Everything you say I had felt immediately in Traunkirchen when we discussed the work. And all my friends’ reports about the performance say one thing: “it was musical.” I would have already gathered what I felt from that. And now your wonderful letter arrives and expresses it in such an extremely warm and friendly way that my joy is multiplied. I am also grateful to you for that! I would have loved to have heard your performance at another time. This time I preferred to stay at home. It would have been impossible for me to listen to this work right now. I hear that, unfortunately, you are leaving today, but I hope you will be back soon. I am urgently considering moving to Vienna if possible, and then I hope to be able to see you more often.
Warmest greetings and heartfelt thanks for your truly kind words. Yours, Arnold Schönberg
The composer had withdrawn from the performances due to bereavement: after a long and serious illness, his wife Mathilde had died on October 18, 1923 at the age of 46. Her funeral took place a week before the series of performances. Schönberg could not (yet) engage with a work that was linked to so many memories of the deceased.
