Arnold Schönberg’s birthday will be 150 years old on September 13, 2024. The cultural world has been celebrating since the beginning of the year and the coming week in particular will be a “Schönberg Week” for this occasion: symposium “Arnold Schönberg, Karl Kraus and their Viennese circles” (September 11-13) and presentation of the special stamp (11. September) at the Arnold Schönberg Center, Vienna lecture »Arnold Schönberg. Departure into Modernity” with Ingo Metzmacher in the Vienna Museum (September 11th, cooperation with the Vienna Library in the City Hall, Arnold Schönberg Center and Vienna Museum) and the birthday concert “Gurre-Lieder” in the Musikverein Wien with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Petr Popelka (13. September, repeat: September 14th).
Nuria Schoenberg Nono, daughter of the celebrant and president of the Arnold Schönberg Center, sends the following message from Venice on his birthday: »It is with great joy that I see how many artists in many places around the world are engaging with my father’s work on his 150th birthday . He was always able to express his emotions through his music. I am convinced that curious people can be trusted to listen to my father’s music and decide for themselves whether it is touching. Music needs no explanation, it always lives through open ears.«
With its second exhibition in the anniversary year, “Hearing Love with Schönberg,” the Arnold Schönberg Center traces the great feeling that is echoed in Schönberg’s work in surprisingly diverse ways (until February 14th). There are also exhibitions curated by the center in autumn, including in Vienna (cabinet exhibition “Arnold Schönberg”, Haus der Musik Vienna, until January 6th), in Gmunden (“Idyll for Modernity. Arnold Schönberg am Traunsee”, Villa Toscana, until January 7th). October), and “Arnold Schönberg – 150 Years” can be seen at the Austrian Cultural Forums in London (from September 12th) and New York (from September 19th).
On the occasion of the Schönberg anniversary, there are numerous new publications that were created with the expertise and scientific advice of the Arnold Schönberg Center: New Urtext editions and the magnificent autograph facsimile of Schönberg’s Piano Concerto op. 42 (Henle Verlag, Munich); the “Schönberg Handbook” promises ultimate insights into life and work (JB Metzler, Berlin and Bärenreiter, Kassel) and “The Schönberg Challenge” takes ears into spheres of unexpected accessibility (Wolke Verlag, Hofheim).
Therese Muxeneder, collection manager at the Arnold Schönberg Center, and her team will be providing initial insights into an edition project funded by the Austrian FWF on the correspondence between Schönberg and the Universal Edition in Vienna and the Dreililien-Verlag in Berlin on a new web portal from mid-September. Schönberg goes Digital Humanities! 1,600 letters in detail.
As part of Culture Monday, the new film portrait “Arnold Schönberg – The Restless Visionary” (September 9th, ORF 2, long version: October 6th on arte.tv) will be broadcast; Schönberg’s “Gurre-Lieder” will be broadcast live on Kulturradio Ö1 and on September 15th on ORF III. Before this broadcast, the film “The clock strikes thirteen – Schönberg, Mödling and the twelve-tone revolution” can be seen. As part of the Schönberg focus, Ö1 is presenting “Schönberg explorations” in the “Selected” series from September 9th to 12th and an “Ö1 Klassik-Treffpunkt” on September 14th. A few days after Arnold Schönberg’s birthday, ORF Topos is publishing a report on “The Schönberg Games” by Dominik Nostitz.
Schönberg across the continents (selection autumn 2024): Performances of the “Gurre-Lieder” in Vienna, Milan, Lucerne, Hamburg, Montréal, Los Angeles, among others; »Transfigured Night« op. 4 in Vienna, Verona, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Essen, Stockholm, Montréal, New York, Sydney, Oslo, Dresden, Melbourne, Toulouse, among others; »Pelleas and Melisande« op. 5 in Milan, Berlin, New York, San Diego, Amsterdam, Brno, Tokyo, Vienna, Paris, among others; “Peace on Earth” op. 13 in Berkeley and Osaka, among others; Five orchestral pieces op. 16 in Mannheim, Cologne, Tokyo, Vienna, Amsterdam, Essen, Graz, Lyon, Stockholm, among others; “Expectation” op. 17 in Venice, Vienna, Amsterdam, Leipzig, among others; »Pierrot lunaire« op. 21 in São Paolo, London, Toulouse, Lévis (Canada); Serenade op. 24 in Vienna, Rimini, London, among others; Orchestral Variations op. 31 in Valencia, among others; Violin Concerto op. 36 in Bremen, Zagreb, Hamburg, Tokyo, among others; “Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte” op. 41 in Leipzig, Oxford, London, among others; Piano Concerto op. 42 in New York and Hamburg, among others; »A Survivor from Warsaw« op. 46 in Millstatt, Munich, London, among others; “Jacob’s Ladder” in Hamburg.
A complete overview of all Schönberg activities worldwide is available on the website schoenberg150.at available.
After the birthday celebrations, director Ulrike Anton is looking forward to a diverse autumn program Arnold Schönberg Center: »In addition to exemplary interpretations of Schönberg’s works, the Quatuor Diotima concert with a new string quartet by Tanja Elisa Glinsner, winner of the BMKÖS Arnold Schönberg Scholarship for Composition 2023, as well as the serenade concerts in Vienna and Mödling with premieres by Viola Falb, Lukas Haselböck and Rainer Bischof should be mentioned. The symposium >Digging SchönbergChristmas Music