Schoenberg, Arnold

an early manuscript containing readings diverging from the published editions, especially tempo- and dynamic markings, including some words and music, notated in black ink on three systems per page, of up to four staves each, frequently extended into the right-hand margins by the composer, with alterations and erasures, including to phrasing, including time signatures, with stage directions written by him over the music, sometimes in the upper margin, with some details of orchestrations, a few additional markings in blue and orange crayon and pencil, probably by a singer, and a few annotations in violet ink, apparently in another hand

57 pages, folio (32.8 x 25.5cm), 12-stave paper ("J.E. & Co...No.2..."), cloth-backed blue wrappers, modern green morocco folding case, no place or date [c.1909-1916], first page remargined, cropped by the binder in places, sometimes affecting music and inscriptions in the lower margin, some staining, including cigarette-burns, otherwise in good condition

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Erwartung is arguably Schoenberg's most complete example of musical expressionism, and is one of the most highly regarded of his pre-twelve-tone works. It is a monodrama for soprano and large orchestra, lasting for about half an hour, during which the unnamed heroine wanders through a moonlit forest in search of her beloved, only to fall over his blood-soaked corpse; the final part is an extended psychological Liebestod. Schoenberg composed the work in 1909, but it was not staged until 1924. A full score was publisehd in 1916 and an arrangemement of the vocal score was made by Eduard Steuermann in 1922.

This is an important manuscript apparently predating the published editions and represents an early version of Schoenberg's text for the monodrama. Schoenberg's arrangement of his orchestral textures is more like a short score than a practical version for piano and is frequently notated on three staves. It is very different from Steuermann's 1922 vocal score, and includes far more notes of the original score. Steuermann's version uses consistently thinner textures and is generally notated on two staves. Schoenberg was unhappy with this aspect of Steuermann's vocal score and ensured that the vocal score for Die glückliche Hand was arranged for piano four-hands.

There are many early readings by the composer here which diverge from the published scores. The very first chord on the first beat of bar one has a G-natural in the bass, whereas the note is F-sharp or G-flat in the published versions. At the start of the second scene, Schoenberg's manuscript has the tempo marking "rascher" [instead of viel bewegter (doppelt so rasch)"] at figure 35 [in the edition], a single "p" and "molto rit wieder langsamer" at the Woman's words "Ist das noch der Weg?" and, significantly, contains a prominent upward arpeggio (at figure 40) which is not in either published score. At figure 25 the Woman sings "Wie druckend die Stille ist" rather than "Wie drohend die Stille ist..." as in the editions. Such differences in tempo- and dynamic markings are found throughout the manuscript. There are also some later annotations, in pencil and crayon, marking out the beats in the singer's part;  possibly it was prepared for a projected performance of the work. The performance was presumably cancelled: the latter part of the manuscript is largly free of extraneous markings.

Schoenberg's hand in this manuscript is a good example of his calligraphic style. Among the more striking features are the large treble clefs and the dynamic markings, particularly the "p" and "fff" signs, the wide variatioin in the crotchet rests and the characteristic hand-writing in markings such as "sehr rasch" and "langsam".