DURATION: ca 2 Min.
PUBLISHER: Belmont Music Publishers
The conductor Leopold Stokowski was one of Schönberg’s notable supporters in the United States. On June 26, 1945, he wrote a letter to the composer asking for a short fanfare to open one of his summer concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. Fanfares were very popular at the time. A few years earlier, Aaron Copland had experienced public success with his “Fanfare for the Common Man,” written at the suggestion of conductor Eugène Goossens, who wanted it to raise the morale of a nation at war. Stokowski suggested that Schönberg could dedicate the composition to the “Army, Navy, Air Force, one of the United Nations, or some other patriotic concept.” When Schönberg replied to Stokowski a week later, he first had to clarify the dedication issue: “Just as it was becoming clear to me how I could write a fanfare for you, I discovered on your stationery that the Hollywood Bowl committee still includes the same people who systematically exclude me from public musical life in Los Angeles. I don’t want to get involved in any way with these people, and that’s why I can’t write anything for them. But I have decided that I will write the piece for you and dedicate it to you as a testimony to our friendship.” Schönberg presented Stokowski with two variants: in the “Dance around the Golden Calf” from his opera “Moses und Aron,” there would be two or three fanfares, which were relatively short, but composed in his latest twelve-tone style; and he had already sketched a fanfare based on three motives from the “Gurre-Lieder,” ending with the “Sunrise” in C major.
Stokowski was honored by the suggestions, and trusted Schönberg’s judgment in choosing the appropriate variant. The latter decided to continue working on the draft he had already begun. On July 18, 1945, Schönberg reported to Stokowski that he had finished composing the fanfare and had already orchestrated two-thirds of it. However, due to “eye problems,” he was unable to finish the score: “I can hardly write for ten minutes and then have to rest for an hour or more. On Monday I have an appointment with the eye doctor, and if the new glasses are satisfactory, the score will be ready in 3 to 4 hours.” Schönberg’s ailment, however, could not be cured. A few weeks later, his assistant Leonard Stein sent the unfinished score to Stokowski along with a letter of apology. It remained a fragment and was completed after Schönberg’s death by Leonard Stein, who had become the director of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute. Stein also premiered it at the opening of the Institute on February 13, 1977.
Sebastian Slameczka | © Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien
