52 countries, 809 towns and cities, 3953 addresses, 1260 companies, 2655 senders and recipients of letters, 21783 catalog numbers: Arnold Schönberg’s correspondence from the years between 1891 and 1951 contains a wealth of background information on his works and biography, and also on his life in Europe and the USA.
The letters shed light on performances, plans for compositions, and work in connection with printing processes, revisions and new editions; they document Schönberg’s pedagogical and non-musical activities, and deliver an insight into the composer’s family life; they preserve the exchange of ideas with other composers, and also with writers, architects and painters; they trace Schönberg’s eclectic interests, and bear witness to the political, social and economic upheaval before, between and after the two world wars.
The majority of the letters written to Schönberg are stored in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The letters written by the composer himself are located in many different places around the world. The Arnold Schönberg Center correspondence database brings together information on all the written documents whose whereabouts are currently known, lists details on locations and publications, supplies occasional transcriptions and – where available – digitized copies.
This and other databases at the Arnold Schönberg Center that provide information on internal and external documents (writings, books/printed materials, photos) have now undergone a comprehensive relaunch. The technical adaptations enable easier use, increase the amount of information available, and contribute to improving the look of the material provided.
It is still possible to search the entire database in the same way; biographical information on the people who exchanged letters with Arnold Schönberg has been added to the correspondence database wherever possible. New additions to the correspondence and also to the books/printed writings appear at the top of the landing page in each database.
Links:
Correspondence
Writings
Image Archive
Music Manuscripts
Books/Printed Material