A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46

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Catalog slip

Title	A Survivor from Warsaw op. 46
Playing time	00:11:43
Authors	Schönberg, Arnold [Komponist/in] [GND]
Contributors	Mitropoulos, Dimitri [Dirigent] [GND]
Date	1950.04.13 [Aufnahmedatum]
Place	Warschau, Denkmal / Monument [Ortsbezug] New York City, Carnegie Hall [Aufnahmeort]
Keywords	Musik ; E-Musik ; Unveröffentlichte Aufnahme
	20. Jahrhundert - 40er Jahre
Type	audio
Format	SCS [Schallplatte, Schellack]
Language	Englisch
Signature	Österreichische Mediathek, e11-00732_b01_k02
Media type	Mp3-Audiodatei

Monument to the Warsaw Uprising, Marcin Białek, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Content

With his cantata “A Survivor from Warsaw,” Schönberg created “the aesthetic, musical manifest of our epoch” (Luigi Nono). According to the details in the autograph, the text (which Schönberg wrote himself) of op. 46, composed in Los Angeles in 1947, is based “partly upon reports which I have received directly or indirectly.” Later, the composer explained that the text constituted “most chokingly, a scene from the Warsaw ghetto” (Arnold Schönberg to Peter Gradenwitz, January016010, 1948) and that the title was deliberately chosen “because it was my inspiration and the geographical meaning includes the ghetto and all what happened there.” (Arnold Schönberg to Kurt List, February 18, 1949)

Arnold Schönberg was never to hear his cantata in the concert hall. In May 1950 he received a live recording of the US premiere conducted by Dmitri Mitropoulos; the concert had been held the previous month in Carnegie Hall, New York. Jerry Newman from Esoteric Records wrote to the composer: “I would like to explain please, that although we have put the label of our Recording Studio on this disc, the recording was made at Carnegie Hall by another firm. All we did was copy, so please do not lower your opinion of the quality of our usual work.” (Letter dated May01603, 1950) It seems the recording started a moment after the beginning of the piece. However, a fragmentary recording of a remark by the conductor suggests that the performance was repeated following rapturous applause, and this time the work was recorded in full.
(Text: Arnold Schönberg Center)

Collection history

Sammlung Schönberg

Im Rahmen einer Kooperation mit dem Arnold Schönberg Center sichert die Österreichische Mediathek seit April 2019 die Schallplattensammlung des Komponisten digital. Der Nachlass Arnold Schönbergs steht seit 1998 im Arnold Schönberg Center in Wien zur Verfügung.

Die Sammlung umfasst über 400 Schallplatten mit eigenen Kompositionen, fremden Werken sowie vereinzelten Sprachaufnahmen. Professionelle Produktionen stehen neben dokumentarischen Mitschnitten. Schönberg war technischen Neuerungen aufgeschlossen und nutzte Medien zur Tonaufzeichnung auf vielfältige Weise. Die frühesten Audio-Dokumente gehen auf Arnold Schönbergs Zeit in Berlin und sein zunehmendes Engagement für den Rundfunk zurück, dessen Potenzial zur Verbreitung aktueller Musik er bereits früh erkannte. Frühe Tonträger der Sammlung entstanden oft als Versuchsaufnahmen im Kontext von Radioübertragungen. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wurden seine Schallplatten wichtiges Kommunikationsmittel im Kontakt mit Europa.

2011 wurde der Schönberg-Nachlass von der UNESCO in das Weltdokumentenerbe-Register (Memory of the World) aufgenommen.

Zur Sammlungsgeschichte siehe auch <link>https://www.schoenberg.at/images/stories/bilder_statische_artikel/archiv/ethikbewahrens.pdf<link>

In cooperation with the Arnold Schönberg Center, the Österreichische Mediathek digitally preserved the composer's record collection in April 2019. Arnold Schönberg’s Estate was made available at the Arnold Schönberg in 1998, after the collection had been moved from Los Angeles.

The composer owned over 400 phonograph discs with his own compositions, works by other composers, and also the occasional voice recording. Professional productions are found alongside documentative recordings. Schönberg was open to technical innovations and used sound recording media in various ways. The earliest audio documents stem from the composer’s time spent in Berlin and his increasing commitment to the radio, whose potential for broadcasting contemporary music to a larger audience was recognized by Schönberg at a very early stage. Early sound storage media from Schönberg’s collection often contain test recordings for radio broadcasts and only excerpts of the compositions played. And after the war, phonograph discs were an important means of communication with Europe.

In 2011 Schönberg’s Estate was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

For the history of the collection see also <link>https://www.schoenberg.at/images/stories/bilder_statische_artikel/archiv/ethikbewahrens.pdf<link>

Location in the digital collection

Keywords

Musik ; E-Musik , Unveröffentlichte Aufnahme

Part of the collection

Sammlung Schönberg

The medium in online exhibitions

This medium is used on these pages:

This medium is used on this page:
Arnold Schönberg – Biography