Schoenberg's Correspondence with American Composers
"Schoenberg's Correspondence with American Composers" is the first edition of all known and available letters between Arnold Schoenberg and over 70 American composers written between 1915 and 1951 in English and English translation and with commentary. In six chapters, the correspondence first casts new light on Schoenberg’s contacts with American composers before 1933, including correspondence with students and champions of his music (Israel Amter, James Francis Cooke, Henry Cowell, Edgar Varèse and Adolph Weiss among others). The letters after 1933 show how Schoenberg gradually built a network of composer colleagues and friends, among them Mark Brunswick, Oscar Levant, Roger Sessions, Nicolas Slonimsky and Gerald Strang, with whom he discussed compositional ideas, specific musical works and writings, performances and the publication of his compositions. These letters also provide insight into his ideas about teaching in private settings, at the Malkin Conservatory and the University of California.
The correspondence of his last years illuminates how the reception of Schoenberg’s music in the United States was flourishing and how he attracted a growing number of disciples exploring 12-tone composition, including Dika Newlin, who also collaborated with him on translation and book projects and Lou Harrison who wrote about Schoenberg’s music and Gunther Schuller who performed his works. The volume not only demonstrates what an avid and tireless communicator Schoenberg was and what far-reaching connections he had in the American music world, but it also illuminates his varied and vivid epistolary style and his idiosyncratic use of the English language. The book also qualifies the concept of and Schoenberg’s association with the Second Viennese School.
Bio
Sabine Feisst is a professor of musicology at ASU. A 20th and 21st century music scholar, she published the monographs "Der Begriff 'Improvisation' in der neuen Musik" and the award-winning "Schoenberg’s New World: The American Years." With Ethan Haimo she published "Schoenberg’s Early Correspondence" and "Schoenberg's Correspondence with American Composers."
Praise for this book
An essential follow-up to Sabine Feisst's Schoenberg's New World: The American Years, this expertly edited and annotated collection of letters between Arnold Schoenberg and a wide range of both émigré and native-born American composers, from Edgard Varèse to Oscar Levant, sheds further light on Schoenberg's later years and his involvement in the American music scene.
Howard Pollack John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Music, University of Houston
Feisst's meticulously edited and translated collection of letters challenges the myth that Schoenberg was a musical outcast with limited connections beyond a small cadre of acolytes. It vividly documents that after fleeing Europe in 1933, he interacted with a diverse network of American composers and students, who helped shape the development of music long after his death in 1951. A major contribution to Schoenberg scholarship, this book will also attract the attention of a broader audience of readers interested in American cultural history during the first half of the 20th century.
David W. Bernstein Professor of Music, Mills College
