Arnold Schoenberg: Chronology of his Life

Although Arnold Schönberg is one of the best studied composers of the 20th century, the divergence between the high academic interest and a striking lack of knowledge of biographic chronological details is conspicuous. Even facts that may seem banal, like the dates of origin of compositions, were often not verified clearly or could not be verified exactly despite excellent sources. Therefore numerous fundamental chronological connections have still not been completely documented. During the studies for the projects supported by the FWF, namely the preparation of the "Critical Complete Edition" of Schönberg`s writings and the "Commentated Catalogue of Works" (compositions, writings and pictures) it became clear that an extensive calendar of Arnold Schönberg`s life and works is still badly missed. In addition such a calendar (which would also include the numerous non-compositional activities of A. Schönberg in a chronological-biographic fashion) could also provide a systematic survey of the musically historically relevant chronology of this time. Furthermore all analytic, philological and stylistic-historical studies would gain important support. The sources, which are necessary to work out this chronology, have been preserved to a very large extent in the Arnold Schönberg Center Wien. These documents are located within the estate of A. Schönberg, as well as within further estates from artists associated with the Viennese School. Beside Schönberg`s life and work, they illustrate the dense network of relations of the intellectual and cultural history of the first half of the 20th century. The plans for the "Commentated Schönberg Calendar" call for the inclusion of all dates found in the course of reviewing sources concerning all finished and unfinished works (compositions, writings and pictures), as well as all further dates and facts concerning the life and work of the composer which are brought to light through correspondence (only parts of which have been published) and through a look at friends, companions, political occurrences or the history of the main compositions (the most important of which developed their own histories independent of the composer). The volume of sources is enormous, some of the material has already been reviewed, but not under respect to the concrete purpose of the research: the compilation of an extensively commentated calendar of Arnold Schönberg`s life and work. Nevertheless, several preliminary works can be used, especially if it is possible to employ the same team of collaborators, who are presently working on the project "Arnold Schönberg: Commentated Catalogue of Works". This team, including a music scientist (Dr.), working full time on the job, as well as two further academic collaborators (Mag.), has gained several years experience on dating Schönberg`s handwritings, whereas new collaborators would have to make themselves familiar with the tasks for months because of the complexity and the difficult legibility of many handwritings. Therefore, the scientific project is scheduled for only 12 months. Should a short extension be necessary, this could be financed through other means or guaranteed within other Schönberg research projects over the next years.

Although Arnold Schönberg has been researched more than almost any other 20th century composer, the divergence between great academic interest and striking lack of knowledge of chronological details in his biography is remarkable. Even many basic facts (such as the dates of his compositions` origins), have often not been verified clearly or exactly, despite excellent sources. Therefore, numerous fundamental chronological connections have still not been completely documented. In addition, such a calendar (which would also include Schönberg`s multifarious non-compositional activities presented chronologically-biographically) could also provide a systematic survey of the musically relevant chronology of his time. Furthermore, all analytical, philological and stylistic-historical studies would benefit greatly from such substantiation. The Arnold Schoenberg: Chronology of his Life project now comprises all dates found in the course of reviewing sources concerning all finished and unfinished works (compositions, writings and images), as well as all other dates and facts regarding the composer`s life and work having come to light in correspondence (only parts of which have been published) and through investigating friends, companions, political events and the history of his major compositions (some of which gained their historical importance without Schönberg`s assistance). In the course of newly transferring all of the composer`s more than 1,500 writings (carried out as part of another FWF project) and their verified/newly discovered dates of origin, we also immediately entered data in our catalogue of writings discovered in musical sketches and fair copies, letters, documents, concert programmes, newspaper articles, dated teaching materials and photographs, calendars and diaries; the catalogue is included in digitized form with this report. Likewise, we also adopted data found in documents from the estates of family members and friends, recording them in the catalogue of writings and placing them on the special computer user interfaces; thus the calendar of Schönberg`s life will ultimately be available on the Schönberg Centre`s web site.