The!Emancipation!of!Memory:!! ! Arnold!Schoenberg!and!the!Creation!of! A"Survivor"from"Warsaw" ! ! ! ! ! ! Jeremy!Adam!Eichler! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Submitted!in!partial!fulfillment!of!the!! requirements!for!the!degree!of!! Doctor!of!Philosophy! in!the!Graduate!School!of!Arts!and!Sciences! ! ! COLUMBIA!UNIVERSITY! ! 2015! !

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ©!2015! Jeremy!Adam!Eichler! All!rights!reserved! ! ABSTRACT! ! The!Emancipation!of!Memory:!! Arnold!Schoenberg!and!the!Creation!of!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw! ! ! Jeremy!Eichler!! ! ! This!is!a!study!of!the!ways!in!which!the!past!is!inscribed!in!sound.!It!is!also!an! examination!of!the!role!of!concert!music!in!the!invention!of!cultural!memory!in!the!wake!of! the!Second!World!War.!And!finally,!it!is!a!study!of!the!creation!and!early!American!reception! of!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw,!a!cantata!written!in!1947!that!became!the!first!major!musical! memorial!to!the!Holocaust.!It!remains"uniquely!significant!and!controversial!within!the! larger!oeuvre"of!its!composer,!Arnold!Schoenberg!(1874]1951).!!

Historians!interested!in!the!chronologies!and!modalities!of!Holocaust!memory!have! tended!to!overlook!music’s!role!as!a!carrier!of!meaning!about!the!past,!while!other!media!of! commemoration!have!received!far!greater!scrutiny,!be!they!literary,!cinematic,!or! architectural.!And!yet,!!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw"predated!almost!all!of!its!sibling!memorials,! crystallizing!and!anticipating!the!range!of!aesthetic!and!ethical!concerns!that!would!define! the!study!of!postwar!memory!and!representation!for!decades!to!come.!It!also!constituted!a! uniquely!personal!memorial!that!may!be!read!not!only!as!a!work!of!Holocaust!art!but!also!as! a!profoundly!autobiographical!document,!one!that!sheds!light!on!constellations!of! particularist!identities!often!hidden!beneath!the!“universalist”!veil!of!one!of!the!twentieth] century’s!most!iconic!musical!figures.!Ultimately,!this!study!seeks!to!articulate!an!under] examined!linkage!between!modernism!and!memory,!while!arguing!methodologically!for!the! importance!of!sound!in!the!contemporary!practice!of!cultural!history.! !

TABLE!OF!CONTENTS! ! LIST!OF!ILLUSTRATIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………...iii! ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………………………………………..iv! ! CHAPTER!ONE!!! Introduction:!Pasts!Resonant,!Resonances!Past…………………………………………………………1! ! Prelude:!Music!and!Goethe’s!Oak....……………………………………………………………………….1! Modernism,!Memory!and!Memorialization...………………………………………………………....5! Schoenberg’s!‘Convolutions’……………………………………………………………………………….12! The!Measure!of!a!Monument……...……………………………………………………………………….18! Memory]Art!and!Reception………………………………………………………………………………...22! Narratives!of!Revolution,!Horizons!of!Memory…………………………………………………….26! ! ! CHAPTER!TWO! Memorials!in!Sound………………………………………………………………………………………………....31! ! ! Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………31! Sound!and!‘the!Memory!Landscape’…………………………………………………………………….34! Five!Properties!of!the!Musical!Memorial……………………………………….……...…………..…38! American!Holocaust!Remembrance:!Chronologies!and!Forms……………………………...50! Memorialization!and!the!Politics!of!Aesthetic!Style…………………………...... 59! ! ! ! CHAPTER!THREE! Arnold!Schoenberg:!Between!Emancipation!and!Memory...... …………………….66! ! ! Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………66! Part!One:!‘Redemption!from!the!Disgrace’:!Becoming!a!German!Modernist…...... 71! ! !!!Setting!the!Framework…………………………………………………………………………………….71! ! !!!Roots!and!Reroutes………………………………………………………………………………………….77! ! Part!Two:!Deutschtum!and!its!Discontents:!the!Path!toward!Moses"und"Aron…..…….89! ! Part!Three:!From!Schönberg!to!Schoenberg:!The!Composer!in!Migration……………102! ! !!!The!War!Years………………………………………………………………………………………………!115!! ! ! CHAPTER!FOUR! Night!Transfigured:!A!Survivor!from!Warsaw!in!Focus……………………………………………125! ! ! Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………….125! ! The!full!text!of!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw………….…………………………………………………130! ! Origins!of!a!Commission……………………..…………………………………………………………….132! ! Survivor!as!Testimony………………………………………………………………………………………139!! ! A!Survivor"as!Double………………………………………………………………………………………..144! ! History!and!Memory!in!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw………………………………………………..152! ! Resisting!Closure:!Schoenberg!and!Benjamin…………………………………………………….158!! !

! i! !

! CHAPTER!FIVE! Monument!Unveiled:!Two!Premieres!for!A!Survivor!from!Warsaw…………………………164! ! ! Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………….164! ‘A!real!Viennese!musician!of!the!best!tradition’….………………………………………………170! Memory!Unsung:!Serge!Koussevitzky!and!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw…………………....174! Mr.!Frederick’s!‘Miracle’…………………………………………………………………………………...179! A"Survivor"in!New!York……………..………………………………………………………………………192! Beyond!the!premieres……………..………………………………………………………………………..199! ! ! CONCLUSION! ‘Art!as!its!unconscious!chronicle’!….……………………………………………………………………….204! ! ! BIBLIOGRAPHY! Archival!Collections!Consulted!and!Works!Cited……………………………………………….……210! !

! ii! !

List!of!Illustrations!

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Figure!1:!Manuscript!page!from!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw"with!dedication………………………129!

Figure!2:!The!conductor!Kurt!Frederick,!in!a!photo!from!1951………………………………………170!

Figure!3:!Program!page!from!the!Albuquerque!premiere!of!A"Survivor"from"Warsaw……...185!

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! iii! !

Acknowledgments!

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I!am!deeply!grateful!to!many!people!who!not!only!helped!me!bring!this!dissertation! to!fruition!but!also!provided!guidance!and!mentorship!over!my!years!of!graduate!study.!At!

Columbia!University,!Volker!Berghahn!set!me!on!my!course!with!both!high!standards!and! preternatural!kindness.!His!deep!knowledge!of!modern!German!history!was!a!source!of! inspiration,!and!I’m!profoundly!grateful!for!his!unwavering!support!and!for!his!belief!in!my! future!work.!Michael!Stanislawski!offered!incisive!and!elegant!guidance!to!new!paradigms! in!the!study!of!Jewish!history,!and!helped!sharpen!my!critical!approaches!to!texts,!including! my!own.!At!numerous!points!he!offered!advice!and!support!leavened!with!wit!both!sharp! and!salutatory.!And!Walter!Frisch!was!deeply!generous!with!his!musicological!expertise,!his! collegiality,!and!his!vast!understanding!of!both!German!modernism!and!Arnold!Schoenberg! in!particular.!I!also!appreciated!that!a!conversation!we!began!on!campus!might!be! continued!over!the!din!of!a!concert!intermission!at!Lincoln!Center!or!Carnegie!Hall.!!!

Elisheva!Carlebach!and!Marion!Kaplan!both!kindly!agreed!to!serve!on!my!committee! and!provided!detailed!and!insightful!criticism!that!will!undoubtedly!strengthen!this!project! as!it!continues!to!develop.!Christopher!Hailey!was!one!of!the!earliest!formal!respondents!to! this!work,!and!one!of!the!most!steadfast!supporters!of!this!project!from!long!before!it!took! its!present!shape.!And!Joseph!Auner!generously!shared!his!own!deep!knowledge!of!

Schoenberg,!offered!detailed!and!essential!comments!on!my!work,!and!suggested!many! fruitful!points!of!entry!into!the!broader!interdisciplinary!field!of!sound!studies.!!

Among!the!faculty!with!whom!I!worked!during!my!years!of!graduate!study,!I!also! owe!particular!debts!of!gratitude!to!Samuel!Moyn,!Andreas!Huyssen,!Lydia!Goehr,!Jay!

Winter,!and!Istvan!Deak,!for!the!examples!of!their!scholarship!and!the!gift!of!their!teaching.!

I!also!felt!extremely!fortunate!to!learn!informally!from!Peter!Gay!after!discovering!we!

! iv! ! shared!interests!in!both!German!modernism!and!the!apple!crumb!cake!of!our!neighborhood! diner.!And!I!might!never!have!embarked!on!this!journey!in!the!first!place!if!not!for!the! profound!generosity,!encouragement!and!friendship!of!André!Aciman.!!

A!special!note!of!deep!thanks!is!due!to!James!Loeffler,!who!not!only!read!and!offered! incisive!comments!on!each!chapter!of!this!dissertation!but!also!elevated!the!process!of!its! creation!through!the!generosity!of!his!friendship!and!through!his!kindred!commitment,! over!many!years,!to!an!exploration!of!that!strange!intellectual!landscape!at!the!border!of! history!and!music.!I!am!truly!grateful!to!him.!I!am!also!grateful!to!a!number!of!friends!and! professional!colleagues!for!support!along!the!way,!among!them!Sebastian!Ruth,!Minna!Choi,!

Nahanni!Rous,!Noah!Reinhardt,!Karthick!Ramakrishnan,!Sarah!Gershman,!Daniel!Silverberg,!

Jeff!Miller,!Justin!Davidson,!Elena!Park,!Nadine!Kreisberger,!Sebastian!Smee,!Anthony!

Tommasini,!James!Oestreich,!Alex!Ross,!Anne!Midgette,!Allan!Kozinn,!Jack!Schwartz,!Philip!

Kennicott,!Jonathan!Tepperman,!Michael!Kimmage,!Blake!Eskin,!Jonathan!Rosen,!Ra’anan!

Boustan,!Moshik!Temkin,!Daniel!Schwartz,!Noam!Pianko,!James!Parker,!Mark!Feeney,!Marty!

Baron,!Rebecca!Ostriker,!Steve!Smith,!Lloyd!Schwartz!and!David!Weininger.!!

If!this!project!was!begun!while!living!in!New!York,!it!was!completed!while!living!in!

Boston,!where!my!spirits!and!my!work!also!benefited!from!many!stimulating!and!helpful! conversations!with!Anne!Shreffler,!Judith!Tick,!Alexander!Rehding,!Carol!Oja,!James!

Schmidt,!Michael!P.!Steinberg,!William!Keach,!Jonathan!Decter,!Dorothy!Lamb!Crawford,! and!Simon!Rabinovitch.!I!was!also!grateful!to!both!Professor!Schmidt!and!Professor!Auner! for!inviting!me!to!share!some!early!fruits!of!my!research!at!Boston!University!and!Tufts!

University,!respectively.!And!when!return!trips!to!New!York!were!required,!my!uncle!Jeffrey!

Steingarten!and!aunt!Caron!Smith!sustained!me!so!generously!with!a!warm!home,!excellent! company,!and!nourishment!nonpareil.!!!

! v! !

This!project!would!not!have!been!possible!without!the!expert!assistance!of!several! archivists.!I’m!especially!grateful!to!Eike!Fess!and!Therese!Muxeneder!of!the!Arnold!

Schönberg!Institute!as!well!as!to!the!staffs!of!the!music!division!of!the!Library!of!Congress,! the!New!York!Philharmonic!archive,!Harvard!University’s!Houghton!Memorial!Library,!and! the!University!of!Southern!California’s!Feuchtwanger!Memorial!Library.!I!wish!to!thank!

Lawrence!Schoenberg!for!permission!to!include!images!from!the!manuscript!score!of!A"

Survivor"from"Warsaw."And!I!also!wish!to!thank!the!family!of!Kurt!Frederick!–!and! specifically!Elizabeth!Young!and!Byron!Derringer!–!for!so!generously!entrusting!me!with! documents,!images!and!recordings!collected!over!the!course!of!Mr.!Frederick’s!remarkable! life!in!music.!!!!

A!number!of!institutions!have!supported!both!this!project!and!my!development!as!a! scholar!more!broadly.!The!bulk!of!my!years!at!Columbia!were!made!possible!through!a!

Richard!Hofstadter!Fellowship!from!the!History!Department,!for!which!I’m!deeply!grateful.!

A!Center!for!Jewish!History!Dissertation!Fellowship!also!provided!financial!support,!access! to!archival!sources,!and,!under!Hasia!Diner’s!leadership,!engaging!intellectual!community.!

Columbia’s!Institute!for!Israel!and!Jewish!Studies!also!provided!key!support,!as!did!the! advice!and!friendship!of!its!director,!Jeremy!Dauber.!I!am!also!grateful!to!the!German!

Academic!Exchange!Service,!for!funding!that!made!possible!a!summer!of!study!in!Berlin.!

And!to!Avaloch!Farm!Music!Institute!and!Michael!and!Anne!Spalter,!for!providing!the! welcome!refuge!required!to!bring!this!project!to!its!completion.!

Final!thanks!and!deepest!gratitude!goes!to!my!family:!to!my!loving!and!endlessly! supportive!parents,!Lois!and!Joel;!my!brother!and!sister]in]law,!Gabriel!and!Chiara;!my! young!children,!Jonah!and!Ezra,!who!do!not!yet!understand!this!project!but!offered! boundless!patience,!encouragement!and!enthusiasm!right!up!to!the!moment!of!submission;! and!to!my!wife!Karen,!who!inspired!and!challenged!me,!and!who!believed!in!this!work!and!

! vi! ! supported!me!so!selflessly!in!the!vicissitudes!of!its!birth.!She!has!imbued!this!project,!and! everything!else,!with!not!just!a!sense!of!possibility!but!also!a!sense!of!meaning.!It’s!to!my! family!that!I!dedicate!this!dissertation.!

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! vii! !

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For"my"family!

! viii! Chapter(1( ( Introduction:((Pasts(Resonant,(Resonances(Past( !

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Prelude:(Music(and(Goethe’s(Oak(

(

In!the!climactic!sequence!at!the!heart!of!Mieczslaw!Weinberg’s!1968!

Holocaust!opera,!The$Passenger,!a!Polish!prisoner!of!Auschwitz!named!Tadeusz!is! discovered!to!be!a!violinist.!He!is!immediately!ordered!to!deliver!a!performance! before!the!camp!commandant,!who!is!in!the!mood!to!hear!his!favorite!tune,!a!tawdry! waltz!of!presumably!low!origins.!Tadeusz!is!ceremoniously!brought!before!the! commandant!and!an!array!of!camp!officials,!violin!in!hand.!With!audience!tensely! silent,!he!sets!bow!to!string!and!begins!his!performance—but!to!everyone’s!shock!it! is!not!the!waltz!that!emerges!from!his!violin!but!the!piercing!DJminor!chord!that! opens!Bach’s!Chaconne,!one!of!the!spiritual!pinnacles!of!German!music.!!

The!commandant,!in!a!recent!staging!of!this!opera,!looks!stunned!and! confused.!As!Tadeusz!plays!on,!one!by!one!the!members!of!the!opera!orchestra!join! in!from!offJstage,!playing!the!Chaconne!in!unison.!This,!as!the!audience!is! presumably!meant!to!believe,!is!a!mutiny—an!act!of!highJminded!cultural!rebellion.!

Tadeusz!has!ambushed!his!oppressors!with!an!emblematic!masterpiece!of!German! high!culture.!The!implicit!statement!is!that!simply!revealing!the!vertiginous!beauty! of!Bach!–!uncorrupted!and!pure!–!in!the!darkness!of!Auschwitz!constitutes!the! bearing!of!a!spiritual!weapon!against!those!in!power,!a!regime!that!had!so!

! 1! barbarously!betrayed!the!Enlightenment!promise!at!the!heart!of!German!high! culture.!!

Seen!today,!this!scene!may!momentarily!seduce!a!viewer!with!the!simplicity! of!its!fantasy.!Yet!just!as!quickly!it!collapses!beneath!the!weight!of!history.!The!

Nazis,!too,!of!course!fully!embraced!Bach!and!the!other!great!German!composers,! from!Mozart!and!Beethoven!to!Wagner!and!Bruckner.1!They!attempted!to!purge!this! tradition!of!“alien”!elements,!at!the!same!time!as!they!appropriated!its!prestige! while!surrounding!it!with!their!own!ideological!infrastructure—a!kind!of!musical! analogue!of!Goethe’s!oak,!the!poet’s!tree!around!which!the!camp!of!Buchenwald!was! constructed.!!

After!the!war,!it!was!in!fact!precisely!this!German!high!culture,!and!its! underlying!assumptions,!to!which!many!of!the!most!penetrating!analysts!of!Nazism! turned.2!In!their!Dialectic$of$Enlightenment,$Theodor!Adorno!and!Max!Horkheimer! discovered!the!roots!for!the!modern!age!of!catastrophe!in!the!basic!structural! organization!of!Western!society.!Elsewhere,!Adorno!took!aim!directly!at!the!grand! culture!this!society!had!spawned.!As!he!summarized:!

Auschwitz!demonstrates!irrefutably!that!culture!has!failed.!That!this! could!happen!in!the!midst!of!the!traditions!of!philosophy,!of!art,!and!of! the!enlightening!sciences!says!more!than!that!these!traditions!and!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!These!connections!have!been!thoroughly!explored!in,!for!instance:!Erik!Levi,!Mozart$and$ the$Nazis:$How$the$Third$Reich$Abused$a$Cultural$Icon!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,! 2010);!Michael!H.!Kater!and!Albrecht!Riethmüller,!eds.,!Music$and$Nazism:$Art$under$ Tyranny,$1933F1945!(Laaber:!Laaber,!2003).!! 2!For!a!thoughtful!survey!of!how!German!high!culture!and!the!Holocaust!have!been!“coJ implicated”!by!postwar!analysts!of!Nazism,!including!some!of!those!mentioned!in!this! introduction,!see!the!title!essay!in!Steven!E.!Aschheim,!Culture$and$Catastrophe:$German$and$ Jewish$Confrontations$of$National$Socialism$and$Other$Crises!(New!York:!New!York! University!Press,!1996),!1J30.!See!also!Celia!Applegate,!"Saving!Music:!Enduring! Experiences!of!Culture,"!History$and$Memory!17,!no.!1J2!(2005).!

! 2! their!spirit!lacked!the!power!to!take!hold!of!men!and!work!a!change!in! them.!There$is$untruth$in$those$fields$themselves,!in!the!autarky!that!is! emphatically!claimed!for!them.”3!! !

!Discerning!the!nature!of!that!“untruth”!was!a!task!taken!up!not!only!by!

Adorno!but!also!by!Thomas!Mann!during!his!American!exile,!a!period!largely!spent! as!a!resident!of!southern!California.!In!his!writing!and!his!speeches!at!the!Library!of!

Congress,!Mann!chose!music$as!the!central!metaphor!through!which!to!explain!his! own!country’s!romance!with!the!demonic,!its!obsession!with!depth,!with!the!flight! inward!and!away!from!the!civilizing!reach!of!a!pragmatic!democratic!politics.!Most! notably,!in!his!novel!Doctor$Faustus,!the!major!fictional!work!of!his!American!exile,!

Mann!placed!at!its!center!the!character!of!Adrian!Leverkühn,!a!fearless!modern! composer!who!sought!to!“take!back”!or!rescind!Beethoven’s!Ninth!Symphony— because!it!was!a!lie.!!

In!Mann’s!complex!novel,!music!has!more!than!one!metaphorical!meaning.!It! is!a!site!of!demonic!seduction!but!it!is!also—in!its!modernist!reinvention—a! medium!for!critical!engagement!with!the!“untruths”!of!bourgeois!culture!that,!in!

Mann’s!telling,!led!to!the!Third!Reich!in!the!first!place.!(We!may!note!here!that!

Mann’s!“privy!counselor”!in!the!writing!of!Doctor$Faustus$was!Adorno!himself,!also!a! resident!of!southern!California!at!that!time.)!But!perhaps!most!saliently!for!the! purposes!of!this!study,!music!has!yet!a!third!role!in!Doctor$Faustus:!as!a!medium!of! mourning!and!of!memory.!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3!Theodor!W.!Adorno,!Negative$Dialectics,!trans.!E.B.!Ashton!(New!York:!Continuum,!1983),! 366J7.!Italics!added.!!

! 3! In!the!novel,!Leverkühn’s!life!owes!many!of!its!details!to!the!biography!of!

Friedrich!Nietzsche,!but!the!descriptions!of!his!fiercely!independent!and!critically! engaged!music!were!inspired!by!another!source.!Leverkühn,!in!this!fictional!tale,! writes!music!according!to!the!stringent!rules!of!“the!method!of!12!tones!related!only! with!one!another.”!The!actual!inventor!of!that!12Jtone!method,!as!it!turns!out,!also! lived!in!Los!Angeles!at!the!time.!Indeed,!having!glimpsed!some!of!the!thematic! landscape!surrounding!this!study,!we!have!now!arrived!at!the!figure!at!its!center.!!

“Arnold!Schönberg,!dem!Eigentlichen”—”To!Arnold!Schoenberg,!the!true! one”—is!how!Mann!inscribed!the!copy!of!his!novel!he!presented!to!the!composer.!

Whether!Mann’s!lofty!phrase!was!meant!as!a!gesture!of!tribute!or!as!a!kind!of! anticipatory!placation,!it!did!not!work.!Problems!with!Schoenberg’s!eyesight! prevented!him!from!reading!Doctor$Faustus!himself,!but!he!learned!enough!through! intermediaries!to!become!furious!that!his!12Jtone!method!had!been!appropriated! and!placed!in!the!hands!of!Mann’s!syphilitic!musician!aligned!with!the!devil.!A!war! of!letters!spilled!onto!the!pages!of!the!Saturday$Review$of$Literature,!with!Mann! ultimately!consenting!to!place!an!explanatory!note!at!the!back!of!all!future!additions! of!Doctor$Faustus,!attributing!the!12Jtone!method!to!Schoenberg,!its!rightful!creator.!!!

And!yet,!despite!their!disagreements!over!the!liberal!use!of!intellectual! property,!Mann!and!Schoenberg!had!been!engaged!in!surprisingly!parallel!pursuits! from!the!disorienting!comfort!of!their!California!exile:!Both!were!memorializing!the! war!in!art.!Both!were!addressing!the!failures!of!a!vaunted!German!cultural!tradition! by!creating!works!cast!from!its!own!materials!that!would!at!the!same!time!reshape! them!toward!newly!critical!purposes.!Mann’s!narrator,!in!Doctor$Faustus,!describes!

! 4! Leverkühn’s!final!composition!as!an!“ode!to!sorrow.”!Schoenberg’s!own!memorial!in! sound—the!first!work!by!a!major!composer!to!address!the!Holocaust!in!music—was! entitled!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw.$!

!

Modernism,(Memory(and(Memorialization((

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On!its!most!basic!level,!this!is!a!study!of!the!ways!in!which!the!past!is! inscribed!in!sound.!The!first!natural!question!may!be:!whose!past?!In!the!case!of!A$

Survivor$from$Warsaw,$the!answer!begins!with!Schoenberg!but!does!not!end!there.!I! take!pains!in!my!reading!of!the!composer’s!biography!to!attend!to!both!his!radical! individualism!but!also!the!profound!ways!in!which!he!was!very!deeply!enmeshed!in! the!culture!of!his!times,!a!figure!whose!life!and!art!emblematize!the!productive! tensions!and!the!actual!fruit!of!that!cultural!flowering!that!goes!today!by!many! names:!German!modernism,!GermanJJewish!modernism,!or!simply!modernism.!

It!is!curious,!the!art!historian!T.J.!Clark!has!observed,!that!historians!of!

Romanticism!or!the!Scientific!Revolution!seldom!feel!obliged!to!define!their!terms! but!those!who!study!modernism!must!continuously!do!so.4!Clark!himself,!in!a!highly! suggestive!description,!casts!modernism!as!a!set!of!ruins!whose!architecture!we!can! no!longer!truly!understand.!The!issue,!says!Clark,!is!not$that!we!are!today!living!in! another!age!altogether,!but!that!are!we!are!living!precisely!in!the!age!that! modernism!predicted.!Clark’s!insight!is!that!the!movement!in!the!arts!that!today!we! call!modernism!was!coeval!with!modernization!itself—it!was!art’s!response!to!the! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4!T.!J.!Clark,!Farewell$to$an$Idea:$Episodes$from$a$History$of$Modernism!(New!Haven:!Yale! University!Press,!1999),!7.!

! 5! modern!world!during!the!seminal!period!of!that!world’s!emergence.!Modernism!in!

Clark’s!view!is!on!some!level!“unreadable”!today!because!the!modernists! themselves,!he!writes,!“had!a!truck!with!a!modernity!that!was!not!yet!fully!in! place.”5!In!this!sense,!modernism!contained!within!it!a!kind!of!liminality,!a!residue!of! the!old!concealed!by!its!fevered!attention!to!the!new.!And!yet,!when!we!look!back!at! modernist!art!today,!we!have!no!choice!but!to!do!so!from!the!vantage!point!of!our! own!postJindustrial,!postJsecularized,!postJAuschwitz!world,!one!that!represents,!in! this!view,!the!victory!and!the!tragedy!of!the!forces!of!modernization!itself.6!!!

Clark’s!reading!may!be!best!known!for!his!metaphor!of!modernism!as!“our! antiquity,”!an!endlessly!perplexing!yet!endlessly!usable!past,!one!we!may!turn!to!in! the!way!that!the!Romantics!turned!to!the!ruins!of!Rome.7!Such!a!positioning!helps! explain!why!some!earlyJmodernist!art!retains!its!unique!charisma!today,!why!we! return!to!it!seeking!inspiration!from!an!earlier!time!that!“had!not!yet!lost!its!power! to!imagine!other!futures.”8!In!this!art,!it!seems,!there!remained!the!glimmer!of!the! hope!that!secularization!had!denied!from!religion.!The!Frankfurt!school!thinkers! described!this!hope!simply,!with!a!phrase!borrowed!from!Stendhal:!la$promesse$du$ bonheur.!!

But!what!if!Clark’s!thesis!is!not!so!much!wrong!as!rather!incomplete?!We! may!add!that!the!very!modernist!art!in!which!Clark!finds!the!evidence!of!our!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5!Ibid.,!3.! 6!Ibid.! 7!Ibid.! 8!The!phrase!comes!from!Andreas!Huyssen,!writing!on!the!phenomenon!of!contemporary! nostalgia!for!ruins,!which!he!views!as!“part!of!a!much!broader!discourse!about!memory!and! trauma,!genocide!and!war.”!See!Andreas!Huyssen,!"Nostalgia!for!Ruins,"!Grey$Room!23! (2006).!

! 6! contemporary!estrangement!from!the!past!also!contains!within!its!repertoire!of! gestures,!a!way!of!making!the!past!manifest!in!the!present,!a!sense!of—to!use! another!word!for!the!same!phenomenon—memory.!!!

Memory!of!course!sits!uneasily!with!modernism,!an!artistic!phenomenon! that!so!often!defined!itself!by!virtue!of!its!revolutionary!impulse,!its!inclination!to! break!with!the!past,!to!imagine!itself!free!of!history,!to!insist!on!its!own!newness.!

Tonality,!in!Anton!Webern’s!elegantly!scornful!metaphor,!had!been!an!overripe!fruit! ready!to!drop!from!the!tree.!For!Adolf!Loos,!ornament!was!crime.!!

Yet!we!might!say,!extending!Clark’s!thesis,!that!modernism!needed!memory! precisely!because!of!how!acutely!it!came!to!understand!the!pernicious!sides!of! modernization!itself:!the!industrialization!of!war,!the!destruction!of!organic! community,!the!crisis!even!in!the!very!nature!of!experience!itself.!Here!is!Walter!

Benjamin’s!succinct!and!poignant!summary!of!that!dislocation,!a!description!of!what! we!might!call!the!cultural!shell!shock!of!everyday!life!for!soldiers!on!the!battlefields! of!World!War!I:!!

A!generation!that!had!gone!to!school!on!a!horseJdrawn!streetcar!now!stood! under!the!open!sky!in!a!countryside!in!which!nothing!remained!unchanged! but!the!clouds,!and!beneath!these!clouds,!in!a!field!of!force!of!destructive! torrents!and!explosions,!was!the!tiny,!fragile!human!body.9! !

Even!at!the!time,!modernism’s!wiser!figures!saw!through!the!era’s!fantasies! of!new!beginnings.!Toward!the!end!of!his!life,!the!composer!Ferruccio!Busoni,!who! cast!himself!as!guru!to!the!brash!young!musical!moderns!of!interwar!Berlin,! observed!that!“the!newcomers!deceive!themselves,!too,!in!thinking!they!can!break,! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9!“The!Storyteller,”!as!translated!and!published!in!Walter!Benjamin,!Illuminations,!ed.! Hannah!Arendt,!trans.!Harry!Zorn!(New!York:!Schocken!Books,!1986),!84.!

! 7! or!have!broken,!with!all!their!predecessors.!This!is!not!the!case,!in!spite!of!their! unshakable!conviction,!for!every!child!has!a!mother!to!whom!it!is!still!attached!by! the!navel!even!after!birth.”10!

Busoni!was!of!course!speaking!about!musical!reinvention,!but!the!modernist! fantasy!of!the!erasure!of!origins!was!not!confined!to!the!domain!of!music.!It! extended!to!the!inner!sanctum!of!identity!itself.!!As!a!young!WagnerJbesotted! composer!at!the!turn!of!the!twentiethJcentury,!Schoenberg,!a!child!of!the!1867! emancipation!of!AustroJHungarian!Jews,!converted!to!Protestantism,!strove!to! modify!his!own!speech!and!personal!mannerisms,!and!threw!the!full!and! considerable!weight!of!his!own!spiritual!beliefs!into!the!cause!of!both!German! culture!and!German!cultural!nationalism.!

Until!roughly!1921,!Schoenberg!was!apparently!confident!enough!in!his!own! emancipation!that!he!was!ready!to!repurpose!the!word!itself!as!a!metaphor!for!his! musical!revolution:!the!leap!into!atonality,!and!with!it!the!casting!aside!of!the! system!of!tonal!relationships!that!had!governed!music!since!the!era!of!the!Baroque.!

He!described!his!move!as!“the!emancipation!of!dissonance,”!a!phrase!that!has!ever! since!remained!indelibly!linked!to!his!own!musical!estate.!!

The!title!of!this!dissertation,!in!adapting!the!iconic!phrase!to!acknowledge! this!retrospective!impulse,!seeks!to!open!up!a!set!of!questions!about!the! revolutionary!cast!of!modernism!more!broadly,!its!purported!distance!from!the! past,!and!its!ability!to!erase!particularist!footprints!with!the!trailing!cloak!of!its!own! universalism.!And!of!course!we!are!focused!here!not!just!on!modernism!in!general!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10!Ferruccio!Busoni,!The$Essence$of$Music,$and$Other$Papers!(London:!Rockliff,!1957),!43.!

! 8! but!musical$modernism!as!such,!a!genre!that!has!remained!largely!unexamined!by! the!broader!field!of!memory!studies.!Indeed,!presentJday!historians!have!built!up!an! extensive!literature!examining!modes!of!public!and!personal!commemoration!in!the! wake!of!the!Great!War,!and!in!the!years!following!World!War!II!and!the!Holocaust.11!

What!is!readily!apparent,!however,!is!that!this!historiographic!literature!on!postwar! memory!and!commemoration!has!largely!excluded!music!from!its!field!of! consideration.!It!is!one!goal!of!this!dissertation!to!contribute,!as!a!cultural!historian,! to!a!newer!wave!of!musicological!efforts!to!write!music$into!the!history!of!postwar! memory.12!!

Music’s!place!in!this!history—and!more!broadly,!its!status!as!a!carrier!of! meaning!about!the!past—is!the!subject!of!Chapter!2.!In!that!chapter!I!develop!an! original!framework!for!approaching!what!I!call!“memorials!in!sound.”!This!involves! both!sketching!a!modern!genealogy!of!this!genre,!and!identifying!its!own! proprietary!properties;!that!is,!ways!in!which!musical!memorials!differ!from!other! types!of!memoryJart.!My!approach!seeks!to!both!build!on,!and!depart!from,!the!ways! that!scholars!of!memory!have!approached!sculptural!or!architectural!monuments.!I! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 11!Both!classic!and!more!recent!accounts!are!referenced!at!greater!length!in!Chapter!2,!but! see,!for!instance!Paul!Fussell,!The$Great$War$and$Modern$Memory!(New!York:!Oxford! University!Press,!1975).!J.!M.!Winter,!Sites$of$Memory,$Sites$of$Mourning:$The$Great$War$in$ European$Cultural$History!(Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,!1998).!Peter!Novick,! The$Holocaust$in$American$Life!(Boston:!Houghton!Mifflin,!2000).!Hasia!R.!Diner,!We$ Remember$with$Reverence$and$Love:$American$Jews$and$the$Myth$of$Silence$after$the$ Holocaust,$1945F1962!(New!York:!New!York!University!Press,!2009).! 12!For!examples!of!this!newer!wave!of!musicological!scholarship,!see!Joy!Haslam!Calico,! Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor!from!Warsaw!in$Postwar$Europe!(Berkeley:!University!of! California!Press,!2014);!Tina!!Frühauf!and!Lily!E.!Hirsch,!eds.,!Dislocated$Memories:$Jews,$ Music,$and$Postwar$German$Culture!(2014);!Amy!Lynn!Wlodarski,!"The!Sounds!of!Memory:! German!Musical!Representations!of!the!Holocaust,!1945JJ1965"!(Ph.D.!Dissertation,! University!of!Rochester,!Eastman!School!of!Music,!2006);!and!Martha!Anne!Sprigge,! "Abilities!to!Mourn:!Musical!Commemoration!in!the!German!Democratic!Republic!(1945J 1989)"!(Ph.D.!Dissertation,!The!University!of!Chicago,!2013).!

! 9! also!argue!for!the!pertinence!of!a!separate!literature!emerging!from!the!newer!field! of!sound!studies.!Part!of!the!experiential!uniqueness!of!the!musical!memorial!in!live! performance,!I!suggest,!emerges!both!from!the!properties!of!sound!as!such,!and! from!the!confluence!of!multiple!temporalities!as!framed!within!a!musical! composition!in!a!moment!of!live!performance.!!

Chapter!2!also!sets!the!stage!for!analyzing!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$by! locating!the!year!of!its!composition!–!1947!–!against!the!backdrop!of!recent! historiographic!debates!on!the!chronology!of!postwar!memory!in!the!United!States! and!abroad.!!And!this!chapter!concludes!with!a!section!on!the!shifting!cultural!and! political!meanings!of!dissonance.!Recent!years!have!indeed!seen!new!attention! being!directed!toward!the!history!of!the!senses,!one!that!acknowledges!the! profound!ways!that,!as!Martin!Jay!has!stated,!they!stand!“at!the!unstable!crossroads! of!nature!and!culture.13!The!visual,!auditory,!or!olfactory!inputs!of!individuals!and! societies!may!not!have!evolved,!but!how!we!perceive!the!information!they!transmit! has!changed!profoundly.!Within!this!new!interest!in!the!history!of!the!senses,!we! may!locate!a!“sonic!turn,”!that!is,!a!focus!by!historians!on!the!way!hearing!itself!is! culturally!determined.14!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 13!See!Martin!Jay,!"In!the!Realm!of!the!Senses:!An!Introduction,"!The$American$Historical$ Review!116,!no.!2!(2011):!309.! 14!Historians!working!in!this!field!have!taken!on!subjects!as!varied!as!the!soundscapes!of! rural!nineteenthJcentury!France,!habits!of!concert!listening!in!Paris,!and!music’s!role!in! international!relations.!See,!respectively,!Alain!Corbin,!Village$Bells:$Sound$and$Meaning$in$ the$NineteenthFCentury$French$Countryside,!trans.!Martin!Thom!(New!York:!Columbia! University!Press,!1998);!James!H.!Johnson,!Listening$in$Paris:$A$Cultural$History!(Berkeley:! University!of!California!Press,!1995);!Jessica!C.!E.!GienowJHecht,!Sound$Diplomacy:$Music$ and$Emotions$in$Transatlantic$Relations,$1850F1920!(Chicago:!University!of!Chicago!Press,! 2009).!For!a!review!article!and!an!anthology!surveying!a!far!wider!swath!of!this! historiography,!see,!respectively:!Sophia!Rosenfeld,!"On!Being!Heard:!A!Case!for!Paying! Attention!to!the!Historical!Ear,"!The$American$Historical$Review!116,!no.!2!(2011);!and!Mark!

! 10! This!sonic!turn!has!included!reflections!on!shifting!cultural!attitudes!toward! the!ideas!of!silence!and!noise,!respectively,!and!even!toward!the!question!of! precisely!where!we!mark!the!boundary!between!noise!and!its!presumed! sublimation:!music.!This!subject!becomes!particularly!germane!in!the!case!of!Arnold!

Schoenberg's!decisive!break!with!tonality,!a!move!may!be!dated!to!the!final! movement!of!his!second!string!quartet,!which!features!a!soprano!setting!of!a!poem! by!Stefan!George,!one!whose!opening!line!is:!Ich$fühle$luft$von$anderen$planeten.15!

Schoenberg’s!move!of!course!proved!famously!controversial!as!many! listeners,!weaned!on!the!musical!grammar!of!the!nineteenth!century,!found!no! sympathy!for!the!atmosphere!on!Schoenberg’s!new!planet.!Even!Mahler!himself! confessed!that!his!own!comprehension!had!been!stretched!beyond!its!limits.16!This! is!not!the!place!to!rehearse!the!subsequent!history!of!antipathy!to!Schoenberg’s! atonal!or,!later,!12Jtone!music.!It!is!my!contention,!however,!that!A$Survivor$from$

Warsaw,!by!putting!Schoenberg's!12Jtone!language!to!the!service!of!illustrating!a! scene!in!a!concentration!camp,!heralded!what!may!be!considered!a!breakthrough!in! the!audience!perception!of!his!music.!It!did!so!in!part!by,!for!the!first!time,!providing!

Schoenberg's!emancipated!musical!dissonance!with!a!historical!referent:!that!is,!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! M.!Smith,!ed.!Hearing$History:$A$Reader!(Athens:!University!of!Georgia!Press,!2004).!For! evidence!of!the!“sonic!turn”!as!regards!memory!studies!with!reference!to!the!Holocaust!in! particular,!see!Leslie!Morris,!"The!Sound!of!Memory,"!The$German$Quarterly!74,!no.!4! (2001).! 15!“I!feel!air!of!another!planet.”!See!also!Chapter!3,!footnote!41.!! 16!According!to!Schoenberg,!Mahler!responded!to!his!First$Quartet!by!stating,!“I!have! conducted!the!most!difficult!scores!of!Wagner;!I!have!written!complicated!music!myself!in! scores!of!up!to!thirty!staves!and!more;!yet!here!is!a!score!of!not!more!than!four!staves,!and!I! am!unable!to!read!them.”!See!Schoenberg’s!essay!“How!One!Becomes!Lonely,”!reprinted!in! Arnold!Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea:$Selected$Writings$of$Arnold$Schoenberg,!ed.!Leonard! Stein,!trans.!Leo!Black!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!1984),!42.!!!

! 11! paroxysm!of!social!dissonance!represented!by!the!Holocaust!itself.!By!marking!this! new!breakthrough!in!what!we!might!call!the!public!legibility!of!12Jtone!music—a! moment!in!which!this!idiom!went!from!being!coded!by!lay!listeners!as!“noise”!to! being!perceived!as!a!communicative!“music”—this!dissertation!hopes!to!contribute! to!the!work!of!scholars!focused!on!the!history!of!listening,!and!more!broadly!to! those!historians!seeking!to!map!the!precise!contours!of!what!has!been!called!“the! audible!past.”17!

!

Schoenberg’s(‘Convolutions’(

Yosef!Yerushalmi!once!aptly!described!Schoenberg’s!life!as!“a!particularly! fascinating!exemplar!of!the!convolutions!of!Jewish!modernity.”18!Chapter!3!presents! my!own!reading!of!Schoenberg’s!biography!and!the!evolution!of!his!identity.!This! entails!an!account!of!Schoenberg’s!highly!vexed!and!vicissitudinous!relationship!to!

Judentum$and!Deutschtum!as!such,$a!pairing!he!could!ultimately!neither!disentangle! nor!dissolve,!despite!his!best!efforts.!As!we!will!see,!Schoenberg!through!the! decades!was!prone!to!grandly!sweeping!declarations!of!allegiance!to,!first,!the! supremacy!of!German!culture!and,!later,!the!transcendent!peoplehood!of!the!Jews.!

The!first!challenge!for!historians!is!to!resist!Schoenberg’s!own!penchant!for!the! essentializing!gesture,!a!tendency!which!may!itself!be!seen!as!a!kind!of! internalization!of!the!racialist!categories!of!thinking!so!common!in!the!intellectual! and!cultural!milieus!in!which!he!came!of!age.!As!we!will!see,!despite!his!fervid! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 17!This!is!the!title!of!Jonathan!Sterne’s!insightful!study.!See!Jonathan!Sterne,!The$Audible$ Past:$Cultural$Origins$of$Sound$Reproduction!(Durham:!Duke!University!Press,!2003).! 18!Yosef!Hayim!Yerushalmi,!"The!Moses!of!Freud!and!the!Moses!of!Schoenberg:!On!Words,! Idolatry,!and!Psychoanalysis,"!The$Psychoanalytic$study$of$the$child!47!(1992).!

! 12! declarations!of!intent,!the!components!of!his!complex!cultural!identity!were!not! something!that!Schoenberg!could!simply!trade!in,!or!swap!out!wholesale,!even!with! the!steadily!mounting!external!pressures!of!the!1920s.!!

In!examining!the!evolution!of!Schoenberg’s!identity,!I!therefore!turn!to! newer!models!of!“situational!ethnicity”!that!emphasize!the!porous!and!protean! nature!of!identity!formation!and!expression!over!time.19!My!reading!also! emphasizes!the!fluid!nature!of!not!just!identity!as!such!but!of!the!tropes!used!in!its! own!selfJnarrations.!Specifically,!I!draw!attention!to!ways!in!which!Schoenberg,! after!being!confronted!by!rising!levels!of!antiJSemitism!in!the!1920s,!repurposed! toward!new!ends!some!of!his!own!musical!concepts!and!his!notion!of!his!destiny!as! a!leader!of!German!music.!His!early!conviction!that!antiJSemitic!attitudes!would!lead! to!actual!violence!against!the!Jews!prompted!an!intense!process!of!politicization! from!the!midJ1920s!onward.!He!came!to!see!himself!as!a!MosesJlike!political!figure! who!could!lead!European!Jewry!to!safety!in!its!hour!of!need.!And!yet,!at!the!same! time!as!he!pursued!his!fantasy!of!disentangling!Jews!(and!himself)!from!European! culture!(as!expressed!for!instance!in!his!Zionist!propaganda!play!Der$Biblische$Weg! and!later!writings),!he!continued!his!ascent!to!one!of!the!most!prestigious!academic! posts!in!the!German!musical!establishment,!succeeding!Busoni!as!leader!of!a!master! class!at!the!Prussian!Academy!of!the!Arts.!It!was!during!this!period!that!he!penned! his!biblical!opera!Moses$und$Aron,$also!treated!in!Chapter!3.!$$

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 19!For!more!on!situational!ethnicity!see!Till!van!Rahden,!Jews$and$Other$Germans:$Civil$ Society,$Religious$Diversity,$and$Urban$Politics$in$Breslau,$1860F1925!(Madison:!University!of! Wisconsin!Press,!2008).!

! 13! Schoenberg’s!involvement!as!a!modernist!composer!and!chief!exponent!of!a! contested!idiom—one!perceived!as!a!threat!to!the!single!art!form!most!essential!to!

German!culture’s!own!selfJunderstanding20—left!him!particularly!vulnerable!to! attack!by!reactionary!German!forces.!It!is!hardly!a!surprise,!given!these!factors,!that! he!became!one!of!the!very!first!Jewish!artists!to!leave!Germany!after!Hitler’s! ascension!to!power.!!

The!prominent!mention!in!most!biographic!accounts!given!to!Schoenberg’s! own!reconversion!to!Judaism!(in!an!adJhoc!ceremony!in!Paris!immediately!after!his! expulsion!from!Germany),!has!led!to!an!overly!neat!biographic!periodization,!and!a! larger!myth!around!Schoenberg’s!Jewish!“return.”!But!identity!was!never!linear!for!

Schoenberg,!nor!was!religious!affiliation.!Even!after!embracing!Judaism,!fervidly!and! militaristically,!in!his!political!writing!of!the!1920s!and!1930s,!the!composer’s!own! religious!sentiments!remained!strikingly!protean!and!unassigned.!!

An!early!obsession!with!the!figure!of!Christ,!for!instance,!continued!into!his! old!age,!and!figures!prominently!in!his!final!choral!work,!the!Modern$Psalms.!In!this! sense,!as!I!argue!in!Chapter!3,!Schoenberg’s!boldly!declared!engagement!with!

Judentum!from!the!1920s!onward!should!be!viewed!not!as!a!kind!of!embrace!or!

“return”!to!some!transhistorical!religious!essence!but!rather!as!a!new!and!in!many! ways!political!identity!fashioned!to!address!the!political!reality!of!what!he!called!his!

“ejection”!from!Deutschtum,!as!well!as!his!own!apparent!need!to!place!his!radically!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20!For!reflections!on!this!notion!of!music’s!centrality!to!a!German!cultural!Sonderweg,!see! Thomas!Mann,!"Germany!and!the!Germans,"!(Washington:!Library!of!Congress,!1945);! Pamela!Maxine!Potter,!Most$German$of$the$Arts:$Musicology$and$Society$from$the$Weimar$ Republic$to$the$End$of$Hitler's$Reich!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!1998);!and! Applegate,!"Saving!Music."!

! 14! individualistic!artistic!project!in!dialogue!with!a!national!collective,!whether!

German!or!Jewish.!Further!complicating!the!trail!for!later!historians,!Schoenberg! also!at!times!directed!the!thrust!of!his!own!intense!spiritual!life!into!the!vessel!of!his! identity!as!a!Jew.!But!as!we!have!noted,!that!investment!seems!completely! independent!of!sustained!interest!in!traditional!religious!praxis,!and!did!not!exclude,! even!in!his!old!age,!a!return!of!the!spiritual!vocabulary!from!earlier!chapters!of!his! religious!journey.!!

My!reading!in!Chapter!3!seeks!to!contribute!to!the!new!interpretive! directions!and!recent!novel!readings!of!the!cultural!forces!that!both!framed!

Schoenberg’s!evolving!identity!and!drove!his!musical!innovations.21!Julie!Brown,!for! instance,!has!recently!drawn!attention!to!the!importance!of!Wagnerian!thought!in!

Schoenberg’s!musical!development.!Yet!whereas!Brown!focuses!on!Schoenberg’s! early!years!and!the!leap!into!atonality,!this!project!is!angled!toward!a!deeper! understanding!of!the!immediate!postwar!years,!and!specifically,!the!full!field!of! biographic!resonances!that!can!be!found!in—but!do!not!delimit!the!range!of! interpretations!of—A!Survivor$from$Warsaw.$$

To!that!end,!Chapter!3!also!includes!a!section!devoted!to!Schoenberg’s!life! after!his!migration!to!America!in!1933,22!on!the!leading!edge!of!a!wave!of!cultural!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!See!Julie!Brown,!Schoenberg$and$Redemption!(New!York:!Cambridge!University!Press,! 2014).!Brown!devotes!a!full!chapter!to!“Schoenberg!as!Christ.”!See!also!Ruth!HaCohen,!The$ Music$Libel$against$the$Jews!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!2011),!286J339.! 22!How!should!one!refer!to!Schoenberg!during!his!time!in!America?!This!is!perhaps!an! appropriate!juncture!to!comment!briefly!on!the!terminology!of!displacement.!Terms!such!as! émigré,!exile,!refugee,!and!immigrant!are!often!used!interchangeably,!but!their!unspoken! and!sometimes!unintended!assumptions!should!be!acknowledged!from!the!outset.!Reinhold! Brinkmann!has!lucidly!sketched!the!issues,!pointing!out!that!“emigration”!may!be!too! neutral!a!term!for!the!forced!expulsion!of!Jewish!musicians!from!Austria!and!Germany,!and!

! 15! migration!that!would!deposit!so!many!of!Europe’s!leading!cultural!and!intellectual! figures!on!American!shores.!In!recent!years,!a!substantial!scholarly!literature!has! emerged!on!various!aspects!of!this!migration,!though!attention!has!been!focused! disproportionately!on!its!academic!and!literary!dimensions,23!which!has!led!in!turn! to!a!tendency!to!view!the!migration!in!largely!pessimistic!terms.!Reinforcing!this! perception!are!the!articulate!essays!and!memoirs!of!émigré!writers,!which!often! forcefully!convey!the!pain!of!displacement.!Paradigmatic!in!this!regard!is!Theodor!

Adorno's!statement!from!Minima$Moralia!that!“every!intellectual!in!emigration!is,!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! threatens!to!push!to!the!background!the!impact!of!the!rise!of!Nazism!and!the!Shoah!itself.! Brinkmann!also!points!out,!however,!that!the!alternative!term—exile—while!making!clear! the!nature!of!the!expulsion,!is!also!not!without!its!problems,!as!it!paints!a!monochromatic! picture!of!the!composer!in!steadfast!opposition!to!his!adoptive!home,!seeking!only!to!return! to!his!homeland.!In!the!case!of!Schoenberg,!however,!his!American!sojourn,!if!initially! involuntary,!was!not!temporary!or!superficial.!The!composer!took!American!citizenship,! taught!at!two!major!California!universities,!and!surrounded!himself!with!a!rising!generation! of!American!composers.!Sabine!Feisst,!following!Bruno!Nettl,!suggests!that!Schoenberg’s! time!in!America!constituted!an!evolution!“from!refugee!to!exile!to!immigrant.”!This! however,!may!suggest!an!overly!linear!model!of!acculturation.!In!keeping!with!my!attempt! to!recover!some!of!the!nonJlinear!and!“situational”!qualities!of!Schoenberg’s!German!and! Jewish!identities,!I!treat!the!terminology!of!his!American!period!fluidly,!using!all!three!of! Feisst’s!suggested!terms!as!they!seem!appropriate!to!the!context.!See!Brinkmann’s!“Reading! a!Letter”!in!Reinhold!Brinkmann!and!Christoph!Wolff,!eds.,!Driven$into$Paradise:$The$Musical$ Migration$from$Nazi$Germany$to$the$United$States!(Berkeley,!Calif.:!University!of!California! Press,!1999),!5J6.!See!also!Sabine!Feisst,!Schoenberg's$New$World:$The$American$Years!(New! York:!Oxford!University!Press,!2011),!46.!! 23!See!Brinkmann!and!Wolff,!Driven$into$Paradise,!7.!Major!EnglishJlanguage!studies!of!the! literary!and!intellectual!migration!include!Laura!Fermi,!Illustrious$Immigrants:$The$ Intellectual$Migration$from$Europe,$1930F41!(Chicago,:!University!of!Chicago!Press,!1971);! Donald!Fleming!and!Bernard!Bailyn,!eds.,!The$Intellectual$Migration:$Europe$and$America,$ 1930F1960!(Cambridge:!Harvard!University!Press,!1969);!Lewis!A.!Coser,!Refugee$Scholars$in$ America:$Their$Impact$and$Their$Experiences!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!1984);! Martin!Jay,!Permanent$Exiles:$Essays$on$the$Intellectual$Migration$from$Germany$to$America! (New!York:!Columbia!University!Press,!1985);!and!Anthony!Heilbut,!Exiled$in$Paradise:$ German$Refugee$Artists$and$Intellectuals$in$America!(New!York:!Viking!Press,!1983).!Jay!has! elsewhere!discerned!patterns!of!politicization!in!the!writings!on!the!history!of!refugee! intellectuals,!both!in!the!Exilforschung!of!the!two!Germanies!and!in!the!United!States.!See! “The!German!Migration:!Is!there!a!Figure!in!the!Carpet?”!in!Stephanie!Barron,!ed.!Exiles$+$ Emigrés:$The$Flight$of$European$Artists$from$Hitler!(Los!Angeles:!Los!Angeles!County! Museum!of!Art,!1997),!326J40.!!

! 16! without!exception,!mutilated….!His!language!has!been!expropriated,!and!the! historical!dimension!that!nourished!his!knowledge,!sapped.”24!!

Closer!examination!in!recent!years,!however,!has!revealed!that!the!musical! migration!was!simply!too!complex!and!variegated!to!be!subsumed!by!Adorno's! bleak!description.25!Exiled!musicians!after!all!had!certain!advantages!unique!to!their! profession.!Chief!among!them!was!the!fact!that,!unlike!the!case!with!writers,!the! musicians'!art!did!not!require!wordJbyJword!translation,!and!in!that!sense!a! composer!or!a!performer!could!still!at!least!potentially!work!effectively!in!a!foreign! country.!Indeed,!as!we!will!see,!Schoenberg’s!case!does!not!fit!neatly!into!the! traditional!attempts!to!summarize!émigré!careers!by!virtue!of!their!degrees!of! rupture!or!continuity!with!their!European!experiences,!or!correspondingly,!in!terms! of!“resistance”!or!“adaptation”!to!American!life.!Indeed!it!may!be!time!to!retire!this! binary!terminology!altogether.26!In!a!concluding!section!of!Chapter!3!devoted!to!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24!Theodor!W.!Adorno,!Minima$Moralia:$Reflections$from$Damaged$Life,!trans.!E.F.N.!Jephcott! (London:!Verso,!2002),!33.!Quoted,!in!part,!in!Brinkmann!and!Wolff,!Driven$into$Paradise,!7.! It’s!worth!noting!that!Adorno’s!first!impressions!of!American!society!were!themselves!not! as!uniformly!bleak!as!this!quotation!might!suggest.!He!had!high!praise!for!the!extent!to! which!democratic!ideals!had!permeated!so!many!aspects!of!American!society.!Perhaps!less! persuasively,!he!also!attempted!to!find!a!silver!lining!in!what!he!saw!as!the!marginalization! of!intellectual!thought!in!American!society!relative!to!the!Central!European!milieu!he!knew! so!well.!See!Adorno’s!“Scientific!Experiences!of!a!European!Scholar!in!America,”!as! reprinted!in!Fleming!and!Bailyn,!The$Intellectual$Migration,!366ff.!For!a!broader!assessment! of!the!psychological!affects!of!exile!on!the!artists,!intellectuals!and!writers!of!interwar! Europe!see!Jean!Michel!Palmier,!Weimar$in$Exile:$The$Antifascist$Emigration$in$Europe$and$ America,!trans.!David!Fernbach!(New!York:!Verso,!2006),!247J66.! 25!For!a!wideJangle!view!of!the!musical!migration!to!Southern!California,!see!Dorothy!L.! Crawford,!A$Windfall$of$Musicians:$Hitler's$Èmigrès$and$Exiles$in$Southern$California!(New! Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!2009).!! 26!See!Brigid!Maureen!Cohen,!Stefan$Wolpe$and$the$AvantFGarde$Diaspora!(Cambridge,!UK:! Cambridge!University!Press,!2012),!20.!And!Feisst,!Schoenberg's$New$World.!As!Lydia!Goehr! has!also!pointed!out,!some!composers!even!placed!value!on!their!experiences!of!exile! precisely!for!the!ways!in!which!they!brought!them!closer!to!their!inner!creative!lives.!See!

! 17! war!years,!I!attempt!to!bring!to!the!fore!a!personal!dimension!strangely!absent!from! many!discussions!of!Schoenberg’s!exile!period:!the!family!members!trapped!in!

Austria,!which!included!his!son!and!daughter!from!his!first!marriage,!and!those!who! perished!at!the!hands!of!the!Third!Reich,!which!included!his!brother!Heinrich,!his! niece!Inge!Blumauer,!and!her!husband!Werner!Hofmann.!

!

The(Measure(of(a(Monument(

Chapter!4!focuses!on!Survivor$itself,!and!by!this!point!in!our!introduction!we! are!overdue!for!at!least!a!brief!sketch!of!the!work!under!consideration.!Written!in!

1947,!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!is!a!sevenJminute!cantata!for!narrator,!orchestra,!and! male!chorus.!The!dramatic!narrative!of!the!first!part!of!the!work!centers!on!the! narrator,!who!recites!a!text!written!by!Schoenberg!to!be!delivered!in!the!speechJ song!hybrid!known!as!Sprechstimme.!He!describes!a!scene!he!has!witnessed!in!a! concentration!camp.27!Speaking!at!first!in!English,!he!recalls!a!time!of!living!“in!the! sewers!of!Warsaw,”!then!tells!of!a!group!of!prisoners!who!are!awoken!by!the!

Reveille,!ordered!to!“Get!out!”!and!then!brutally!beaten!by!a!German!sergeant.!The! tense!English!narration!is!punctuated!with!angry!bursts!of!the!sergeant's!orders,! delivered!by!the!narrator!in!German.!He!orders!the!prisoners!to!count!off!for!the!gas! chambers.!The!counting!begins!and!speeds!up!forming!a!dramatic!climax,!at!which! point!the!men's!choir!enters!singing!Schoenberg’s!own!setting!of!the!Hebrew!words!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goehr’s!essay!“Music!and!Musicians!in!Exile:!The!Romantic!Legacy!of!a!Double!Life”!in! Brinkmann!and!Wolff,!Driven$into$Paradise,!71.! 27!For!a!full!version!of!the!text!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw,$please!see!chapter!4,!page!130.!

! 18! of!the!Shema$Yisrael$prayer.!The!text!refers!to!the!Shema$as!“the!old!prayer!they!had! neglected!for!so!many!years—the!forgotten!creed!”!!

In!the!nearly!seven!decades!since!the!work's!premiere,!Survivor!has!not! ceased!to!make!a!strong!impression!on!its!listeners,!though!the!nature!of!that! impression!has!been!anything!but!uniform.!In!fact,!Survivor!may!be!said!to!occupy!a! uniquely!contested!space!in!Schoenberg's!oeuvre,!with!no!other!piece!having!drawn! such!a!wide!range!of!praise!and!criticism,!much!of!it!at!a!heightened!pitch.28!Early! commentators!hailed!the!work!as!“destined!to!be!one!of!the!very!few!survivors!from! our!warJworn!musical!age,”29!or!even!as!“the!aesthetic!and!musical!manifesto!of!our! epoch”!(the!phase!is!from!the!composer!Luigi!Nono).30!But!it!was!also!assailed!as!

“poor!and!empty!music,”31!its!text!criticized!for!making!“the!immense!tragedy!

[begin]!to!sound!stale!and!melodramatic.”32!

More!recently,!Robert!Craft!has!described!its!ending!as!providing!“one!of!the! most!moving!moments!in!20thJcentury!music,”33!and!a!prominent!British!critic!has! characterized!it!as!“one!of!the!most!miraculously!compressed!and!emotionally! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 28!Beyond!the!pro!and!contra!camps,!there!is!also!a!third!group!of!interpreters!who!have! tended!to!take!Survivor$altogether!less!seriously,!as!an!example!of!engagierte$Musik,!therein! reflecting!longstanding!historiographic!biases,!some!of!which!run!across!much!of!the!field!of! exile!studies!while!others!are!particular!to!the!reception!of!Schoenberg’s!émigré!period.!For! more!on!the!biases!in!traditional!Exilforschung,!see!Stephen!Hinton,!"Emigration!as!SelfJ Discovery,"!HindemithFJahrbuch$27!(1998).!See!also!Reinhold!Brinkmann’s!“Reading!a! Letter,”!in!Brinkmann!and!Wolff,!Driven$into$Paradise,!3J20.!For!a!discussion!of!the!biases!at! play!in!assessments!of!Schoenberg’s!exile!period!more!broadly,!see!Feisst,!Schoenberg's$New$ World,!3J14.! 29!Hans!Keller’s!assessment!is!from!1951,!reprinted!as!“A!Survivor!from!Warsaw”!in!Hans! Keller,!Essays$on$Music,!ed.!Christopher!Wintle!(Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,! 1994),!80J82.! 30!Nono’s!assessment!is!conveyed!by!Nuria!SchoenbergJNono!in!her!introduction!to!a!2014! LaaberJVerlag!facsimile!edition!of!the!score.!! 31!Olin!Downes,!“Schoenberg!Work!is!Presented!Here,”!New$York$Times,!14!April!1950.!! 32!Kurt!List,!“Schoenberg’s!New!Cantata,”!Commentary,$November!1948.!! 33!Robert!Craft,!Down$a$Path$of$Wonder!(Norfolk,!UK!Naxos!Books,!2006),!36.!

! 19! direct!of!all!Schoenberg's!masterpieces.”34!From!the!opposing!camp,!Richard!

Taruskin!has!ridiculed!the!work!as!bombastic!“Hollywood!kitsch”!and!other! critiques!have!raised!not!just!aesthetic!but!also!ethical!concerns!about!Schoenberg’s! approach!to!memorializing!victims’!suffering.35!Abetting!both!the!defense!and$the! prosecution!over!the!years!have!been!the!oracular!pronouncements!on!Survivor$by!

Adorno!himself.!He!was!one!of!the!work’s!staunchest!and!most!articulate!early! champions,!writing!that!Survivor!demonstrated!one!of!the!only!appropriate! responses!to!the!Holocaust!in!art.!Yet!in!a!later!essay!on!committed!art,!he!revised! his!opinion!out!of!concern!that!even!a!work!that!so!clearly!articulated!the!barbarism! of!its!subject!might!still!hold!a!capacity!to!provide!some!sort!of!aesthetic!reward!for! its!listeners.!(At!different!points!in!the!chapters!that!follow!we!will!return!to!

Adorno’s!views!on!Survivor,!and!on!the!cultural!significance!or!“function”!of!

Schoenberg’s!music!more!broadly.)!!

! What!to!make!of!this!enormous!range!or!response?!Part!of!it!may!be! explained!with!reference!to!the!concepts!explored!in!Chapter!2,!and!in!particular,!

Survivor's!status!as!one!of!the!very!first!highJprofile!works!of!postJHolocaust! memoryJart,!one!that!pushed!the!limits!of!postwar!memory!itself!during!its!earliest! years.!There!is!also!a!noted!absence!of!any!consensus!on!criteria!for!judging! memorials,!musical!or!otherwise.!To!the!extent!that!their!range!of!meanings!quite! obviously!extends!beyond!the!realm!of!the!aesthetic,!so!too!must!our!evaluative! criteria.!As!James!Young!has!written,!“we!cannot!separate!the!monument!from!its! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 34!Andrew!Clements,!“LPO/Jurowski,”!The$Guardian,!29!November!2012.! 35!See!Richard!Taruskin!“A!Sturdy!Musical!Bridge!to!the!21st!Century,”!New$York$Times,$24! August!1997!and!Klára!Móricz,!Jewish$Identities:$Nationalism,$Racism,$and$Utopianism$in$ TwentiethFCentury$Music!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!2008),!255J99.!!

! 20! public!life…!the!social!function!of!such!art!is!its!aesthetic!performance.”36!From!its! earliest!days,!indeed,!from!the!night!of!its!premiere,!as!we!will!see,!Survivor$had!a! public!life,!a!social!function,!that!must!be!considered!independently!from!its!fidelity! to—or!distance!from—changing!norms!of!taste!or!style.!!

As!we!will!see,!Survivor$is!a!work!that!is!easily!misunderstood!today,!a!score! that!rewards!the!attention!of!both!historians!of!memory,!and!historians!of!GermanJ

Jewish!modernism.!The!claims!of!the!work’s!harshest!critics!are!in!truth!not!hard!to! understand.!Approached!out!of!context!Survivor!can—and!more!than!occasionally,! does—come!across!as!kitsch.!What’s!more,!if!one!reads!its!powerful!ending!as!a! triumphalist!statement,!then!the!work!instantly!slides!into!a!kind!of!ethical! quicksand,!raising!difficult!questions!about!how!redemptive!meaning!can!possibly! be!ascribed!to!a!scene!of!Nazi!atrocity.37!!

In!Chapter!4,!I!examine!the!work!in!detail!and!present!a!set!of!readings! through!which!I!attempt!to!restore!Survivor’s$force!as!a!memorial!in!part!by! restoring!its!authenticity!as!a!response!to!its!own!historical!moment;!by!drawing!out! the!web!of!connections!that!link!it!deeply!to!Schoenberg’s!own!musical,!political,! and!spiritual!journeys!through!1945;!and!by!demonstrating!its!ending!not!only! supports!nonJtriumphalist!interpretations!but!calls!for!being!read!against!the!grain.!

Survivor,$as!I!demonstrate,!should!be!viewed!as!part!of!a!tradition!of!memorial!art! that!resists!closure!and!false!consolation!in!the!wake!of!catastrophe!precisely!in!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36!James!Edward!Young,!The$Texture$of$Memory:$Holocaust$Memorials$and$Meaning!(New! Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!1993),!13.!Emphasis!original.!! 37!For!an!incisive!critique!of!the!commonly!recurring!trope!of!music!as!a!form!of!spiritual! resistance!in!the!concentration!camps,!see!Shirli!Gilbert,!Music$in$the$Holocaust:$Confronting$ Life$in$the$Nazi$Ghettos$and$Camps!(New!York:!Oxford!University!Press,!2005).!!

! 21! order!to!grapple!with!the!reality!of!the!conditions!that!made!the!tragedy!possible!in! the!first!place.!As!Adorno!wrote,!Survivor$“confronts!the!utter!negativity,!the!most! extreme,!by!which!the!entire!complexion!of!reality!is!made!manifest.”!

!

MemoryFArt(and(Reception(

In!Chapter!5,!after!having!both!historicized!the!work’s!creation!and! interpreted!it!on!its!own!terms,!I!follow!Survivor$into!the!midday!sun!of!its!own! public!reception.!Because!the!work!was!on!the!leading!edge!of!art!that!not!only! addressed!the!Holocaust!as!such!but!also!particularized!the!genocide!of!the!Jews,!I! suggest!that!the!work!may!in!fact!be!employed!as!a!kind!of!test!case!in!current! debates!over!chronologies!of!American!Holocaust!memory.!Challenging!both!the! wellJknown!theses!about!the!delayed!onset!of!American!Holocaust!memory!and!the! revisionist!scholarship!that!has!roundly!assailed!the!myth!of!a!latency!period,38!

Survivor!in!fact!illustrates!how$memory!moved!at!different!speeds!in!different! places.!!

Schoenberg!wrote!Survivor$to!fulfill!a!commission!from!the!music!director!of! the!Boston!Symphony!Orchestra,!Serge!Koussevitzky,!though!as!I!illustrate,!the! correspondence!preserved!in!the!archives!leaves!no!indication!that!Koussevitzky! actually!knew!of!Schoenberg’s!intentions!to!create!a!work!addressing!the!Holocaust.!

This!is!relevant!because,!while!the!conductor!routinely!premiered!his!commissioned! works!with!his!own!Boston!Symphony!Orchestra,!Koussevitzky!appears!to!have!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 38!The!latency!theory!is!most!closely!associated!with!the!work!of!Peter!Novick!and!was!most! directly!challenged!by!Hasia!Diner.!See!Novick,!The$Holocaust$in$American$Life!and!Diner,! We$Remember$with$Reverence$and$Love.!For!more!on!this!debate,!please!see!Chapter!2.!!

! 22! tacitly!declined!the!chance!to!premiere!Survivor.!In!fact,!it!became!one!of!the!only! works!he!commissioned!during!that!period!that!he!did!not$premiere.!With!archival! sources,!and!by!placing!the!choice!in!the!context!of!Koussevitzky’s!wartime!and! postwar!activities,!I!offer!the!fullest!exploration!to!date!of!the!mystery!of!Survivor’s! silence!in!Boston.!Indeed,!Koussevitzky’s!own!idealistic!vision!of!music’s!lofty!role!in! reasserting!humanistic!values!during!the!period!of!postwar!reconstruction!would! seem!to!have!made!a!Boston!premiere!of!A!Survivor$from$Warsaw,!with!its!musical! depiction!of!barbarism!and!its!resistance!to!closure,!a!complete!impossibility.!!

If!Survivor$drew!only!silence!from!Koussevitzky,!it!elicited!strong!support! from!those!with!more!invested!in!postwar!memory.!The!work’s!world!premiere!fell! to!a!VienneseJJewish!émigré!musician!named!Kurt!Frederick,!who!had!played!

Schoenberg’s!music!in!Vienna!and!served!as!music!director!of!the!city’s!Stadttempel.!

After!Frederick!fled!Austria!he!ended!up,!rather!improbably,!in!the!American!

Southwest.!It!was!there!that!he!led!the!world!premiere!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw,$ performing!the!work!with!amateur!forces—students,!ranch!hands,!a!florist,!railroad! engineers,!and!a!chemistry!professor—in!a!university!gymnasium!in!Albuquerque,!

New!Mexico.!This!must!surely!rank!as!the!most!fantastical!setting!for!a!major!

Schoenberg!premiere!over!the!course!of!the!composer’s!long!career.!Using!archival! sources!and!material!generously!made!available!by!Frederick’s!family,!I!bring!us! back!to!this!night!in!November!1948,!offering!a!fuller!portrait!of!Frederick!and!a! more!detailed!analysis!of!the!world!premiere!than!has!previously!been!offered.!!

In!a!striking!departure!from!the!pattern!of!antipathy!generated!by!so!many!

Schoenberg!premieres,!Survivor$was!a!resounding!success!with!its!first!American!

! 23! audiences,!both!in!Albuquerque!and!in!New!York,!where!it!was!premiered!by!the!

New!York!Philharmonic!under!Dimitri!Mitropoulos.!I!return!us!to!the!scene!of!the!

New!York!premiere!as!well,!and!attempt!to!parse!a!subsequent!controversy!that! broke!out!when,!following!its!two!live!performances!in!Carnegie!Hall,!the!New!York!

Philharmonic!dropped!Survivor$from!its!national!CBS!radio!broadcast.!!

By!devoting!significant!attention!to!both!the!work's!creation!and!its!public! reception,!I!hope!to!implicitly!address!one!historiographic!criticism!that!has!been! leveled!at!soJcalled!first!generation!memory!studies:!specifically,!“the!emphasis!on! cultural!representations!at!the!expense!of!social!relations,!mediation,!and! reception.”39!Indeed,!works!of!music!are!not!closed!objects!or!bound!by!their! creators'!intentions;!rather,!their!meanings!are!remapped!and!redefined!in!every! performance,!and!of!course!mediated!by!preJexisting!narratives,!be!they!individual!

(on!the!part!of!the!listener),!communal,!or!national.!In!fact,!the!study!of!the!musical! memorial—as!an!unusually!portable!lieu$de$mémoire—offers!an!advantage!to! scholars!of!public!memory!over!the!study!of!their!sibling!monuments!in!stone:! namely,!an!ability!to!compare!reception!in!very!distinct!national!contexts.!The!same! musical!memorial!will!be!received!differently!depending!on!where!it!is!performed,! and!on!the!specific!country's!own!proprietary!narratives!of!war!memory.!That!A$

Survivor$From$Warsaw!is!in!fact!a!work!ideally!suited!for!this!type!of!comparative! reception!history!has!been!persuasively!demonstrated!by!Joy!Calico,!in!a!recent!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 39!See!Alon!Confino!and!Peter!Fritzsche’s!“Introduction:!Noises!of!the!Past”!in!Alon!Confino! and!Peter!Fritzsche,!eds.,!The$Work$of$Memory:$New$Directions$in$the$Study$of$German$Society$ and$Culture!(Urbana:!University!of!Illinois!Press,!2002),!4.!

! 24! study!focusing!on!its!postwar!reception!in!six!different!European!countries.40!

Indeed,!in!this!sense,!musical!memorials!necessarily!occupy!a!transnational!context.!

As!Frances!Aparacio!and!Candida!Jáquez!have!summarized,!“music!migrates!across! national!borders!as!it!migrates!historically,!mediating!the!constructed!binaries! through!the!central!role!of!memory.”41!And!yet,!to!view!this!work!only!from!the! perspective!of!its!reception!would!be!to!miss!out!on!the!rich!and!variegated!ways!in! which!it!was!interwoven!not!only!with!Schoenberg’s!own!Lebensgeschichte$but!with! the!larger!history!of!GermanJJewish!modernism.!!!

Chapter!5!concludes!with!a!glimpse!of!the!work’s!later!reception,!its!afterlife! beyond!its!premiere.!I!reflect!on!the!ways!in!which!American!Holocaust!memory! eventually!caught!up!with,!and!in!many!ways!surpassed,!Survivor.!Indeed!the! scorching!heat!and!visceral!quality!of!this!work!also!serve!to!timeJstamp!the! historical!moment!of!its!origins.!These!qualities!place!it!at!odds!with!the!cooler! modes!of!reflection!and!abstraction!that!came!to!be!seen!as!the!preferred!aesthetic! tropes!for!commemoration!in!later!postwar!decades.!At!the!same!time,!I!argue!that! these!very!qualities!deserve!at!least!partial!credit!for!the!work’s!ultimate!longevity.!!

It!is!my!hope!in!this!chapter,!and!in!this!project!more!broadly,!to! demonstrate!that!our!understanding!of!memory!itself!is!enlarged!by!bringing!music! into!its!purview.!In!this!sense,!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!may!be!regarded!as!not!only! a!case!study!in!the!memorial!properties!of!music!but!also!in!the!musical$properties! of!memory:!that!is,!the!ways!in!which!it,!too,!functions!as!polysemic,!representing! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40!Calico’s!book!offers!a!European!reception!history!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!in!the! postwar!period,!focusing!on!West!Germany,!East!Germany,!Poland,!Austria,!Czechoslovakia,! and!Norway.!See!Calico,!Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor!from!Warsaw!in$Postwar$Europe.! 41!Quoted!in!Frühauf!and!Hirsch,!Dislocated$Memories,!4.!

! 25! without!delimiting,!and!articulating!the!past!in!modes!that!are!both!adjacent!to! history!and!prior!to!language.!!!

!

!

Narratives(of(Revolution,(Horizons(of(Memory((

In!addition!to!angling!this!study!toward!the!literature!on!postwar!memory,!I! also!hope!it!may!contribute!to!ongoing!efforts!within!the!literature!of!music!history! toward!revising!the!treatment!of!musical!modernism.!In!that!field,!the!modernist! revolution!has!most!often!been!defined!in!terms!of!its!harmonic!developments,! based!on!a!steady!march!of!increasing!levels!of!chromaticism!through!the!later! nineteenth!century,!cresting!with!Wagner!and!then!finding!its!fullest!fruit!in!the! atonal!and!serial!(12Jtone)!music!of!the!Second!Viennese!School!(Schoenberg,!Berg! and!Webern).42!This!narrative!is!itself!largely!an!extension!of!Schoenberg’s!own! interpretation!of!the!music!history!he!was!determined!to!one!day!join.!One!of!its! implications!has!been!a!narrowly!defined!teleology!of!musical!progress,!one!that! again!privileges!Schoenberg’s!own!serial!developments!in!music.43!Midcentury! mandarins!of!modernism!such!as!Clement!Greenberg!also!forcibly!argued!for!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 42!For!more!on!this!standard!narrative,!and!an!example!of!music!history!written! thoughtfully!against!its!grain,!see!Walter!Frisch,!German$Modernism:$Music$and$the$Arts! (Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!2005),!especially!4J5.! 43!Christopher!Hailey!has!persuasively!argued!for!the!need!to!“separate!Schoenberg’s! articulate!vision!of!himself!and!his!canon!from!his!works!and!allow!the!historical! connectedness!of!both!to!inform!our!vision!of!the!whole.!We!must!free!his!canon!from!being! a!preserve!of!timeless!truth!to!becoming!a!theater!of!present!possibilities.”!See!the!essay! “Schoenberg!and!the!Canon”!in!Juliane!Brand!and!Christopher!Hailey,!eds.,!Constructive$ Dissonance:$Arnold$Schoenberg$and$the$Transformations$of$TwentiethFCentury$Culture! (Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!1997),!163J78.!

! 26! modernism’s!emphasis!on!art’s!“purity,”!and!its!engagement!strictly!with!its!own! formal!concerns.!!

In!this!traditional!framing!of!the!historical!narrative—one!that!has!come!in! for!plenty!of!criticism!given!how!many!modern!composers!it!implicitly!excludes! from!normative!modernism—the!European!works!of!Schoenberg!and!his!students!

(especially!Berg!and!Webern)!are!granted!a!privileged!place.!But!what!happens! when!one!considers!not!just!Schoenberg's!European!works,!but!also!renews! attention!to!the!music!composed!during!his!American!chapter,!the!final!17!years!of! his!life?!The!import!of!the!exile!works!has!often!been!minimized!by!Schoenberg's! continental!champions!precisely!because!they!muddied!the!waters!of!his!European! reputation.!After!all,!among!his!American!works,!there!were!moments!of!

“backsliding”!into!tonal!waters!(as!in!the!Suite!in!G)!as!well!as!detours!into! landscapes!of!Jewish!faith!(“Kol!Nidre”),!modern!politics!(“Ode!to!Napoleon”),!and! memorialization!(“A!Survivor!From!Warsaw”).!In!exile,!we!might!say,!Schoenberg! himself!was!insufficiently!Schoenbergian.!

But!what!happens!if!we!consider!Schoenberg's!oeuvre!as!defined!not!only!by! the!“pure”!musical!works!but!also!the!handful!of!works!in!which!Schoenberg! stepped!(in!Adorno's!phrase)!beyond!the!aesthetic!to!address!matters!of!history!and! memory?!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!is!the!best!example!from!that!subgroup!of!soJ called!engagierte$Musik.!My!point!is!that!acknowledging!the!importance!of!Survivor$ in!fact!helps!challenge!and!enlarge!our!understanding!of!Schoenberg’s!musical! legacy!and!his!purchase!on!the!broader!cultural!life!of!his!times.!A!focus!on!Survivor,!

! 27! which!we!may!legitimately!call!both!a!late!work,44!and!the!rare!populist$12Jtone! work,!also!helps!complicate!the!dominant!modernist!narrative!itself,!while!at!the! same!time!presenting!a!fascinating!case!study!of!the!transformations!of!modernism! in!exile.45!

Meanwhile,!the!notion!of!Holocaust!memory!inscribed!in!art!appears!to!have! become!particularly!germane!now!of!all!times,!precisely!as!we!witness!the!final! passing!of!the!generation!of!survivors!that!has!carried!a!personal,!lived!memory!of! the!Holocaust.!Indeed!it!may!well!be!because!of!this!receding!horizon!of!lived! memory!that!we!are!witnessing!a!concomitant!surge!of!interest!in!forms!of!art!that! carry!their!own!authentic!inscription!of!the!catastrophe.!One!must!include!in!this! phenomenon!a!wave!of!scholarly!interest!in!what!is!often!termed!“suppressed! music”—works!by!composers!whose!art!suffered!at!the!hands!of!the!Third!Reich— as!well!as!a!heightened!engagement!on!the!part!of!recording!companies,!concert! presenting!organizations,!and!certain!popular!audiences.46!Part!of!the!extraJ

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 44!Leon!Botstein!has!specifically!argued!for!the!importance!of!:!“Too!often!discussions!of!the! Jewish!question!and!its!impact!on!key!figures!from!finJdeJsiècle!Vienna!end!with!the!advent! of!Nazism!…!Logical!as!the!focus!on!the!early!20th!century!may!be!in!the!cases!of!Krauss,! Freud,!Friedell!and!Zweig,!all!of!whom!died!before!1945,!in!Schoenberg’s!and!Wittgenstein’s! cases!the!late!work!and!its!genesis!and!impact!present!a!different!vantage!point!from!which! to!consider!the!relationship!between!issues!of!Jewishness!and!the!character!of!modernism.”! See!Botstein’s!essay!“Arnold!Schoenberg:!Language,!Modernism!and!Jewish!Identity”!in! Robert!S.!Wistrich,!ed.!Austrians$and$Jews$in$the$Twentieth$Century:$From$Franz$Joseph$to$ Waldheim!(New!York:!St.!Martin's!Press,!1992),!162J83.!!! 45!Erhard!Bahr!has!gone!as!far!as!articulating!the!qualities!of!a!kind!of!subgenre!he!calls! “exile!modernism,”!defined!in!part!by!the!willingness!of!exiled!artists!to!move!beyond! formal!concerns!to!directly!address!history!and!contemporary!events.!Bahr!also!addresses! Survivor$explicitly.!See!Ehrhard!Bahr,!Weimar$on$the$Pacific:$German$Exile$Culture$in$Los$ Angeles$and$the$Crisis$of$Modernism!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!2007),!8J10! and!265J88.! 46!This!amounts!to!a!veritable!boom!that!can!be!traced!from!many!angles.!In!addition!to!the! books!already!cited!in!this!introduction,!see!Michael!Haas,!Forbidden$Music:$The$Jewish$ Composers$Banned$by$the$Nazis!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!2013);!Jonathan!

! 28! aesthetic!appeal!of!this!suppressed!music!may!be!its!proximity!to!the!history!it! symbolizes.!This!of!course!is!in!contradistinction!to!the!ceaseless!stream!of!ersatz! memory,!the!reenactmentJcentered,!cinematic!representations!of!the!Holocaust!that! saturate!the!media,!numb!the!sensibilities,!and,!as!I!am!suggesting,!may!leave!a! hunger!for!actual!works!of!art!from!the!period!that!carry!with!them!an!aura!of! authenticity.47!!

In!this!context!Saul!Friedlander!has!raised!a!salient!question,!using!the! distinction!employed!by!Lawrence!Langer!in!his!analysis!of!survivor!testimony!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Petropoulos,!Artists$under$Hitler:$Collaboration$and$Survival$in$Nazi$Germany!(New!Haven:! Yale!University!Press,!2014);!Michael!H.!Kater,!Composers$of$the$Nazi$Era$:$Eight$Portraits! (New!York:!Oxford!University!Press,!2000);!The$Twisted$Muse$:$Musicians$and$Their$Music$in$ the$Third$Reich!(New!York:!Oxford!University!Press,!1997);!Joseph!Horowitz,!Artists$in$Exile:$ How$Refugees$from$TwentiethFCentury$War$and$Revolution$Transformed$the$American$ Performing$Arts!(New!York:!Harper!Collins,!2008);!Bahr,!Weimar$on$the$Pacific;!Crawford,!A$ Windfall$of$Musicians:$Hitler's$Èmigrès$and$Exiles$in$Southern$California;!and!Erik!Levi!and! Florian!Scheding,!eds.,!Music$and$Displacement:$Diasporas,$Mobilities,$and$Dislocations$in$ Europe$and$Beyond!(Lanham,!Md.:!Scarecrow!Press,!2010).!These!more!broadly!focused! accounts!may!be!placed!alongside!monographic!studies!of!individual!composers,!including! Christopher!Hailey,!Franz$Schreker:$His$Life,$Times,$and$Music!(Cambridge:!Cambridge! University!Press,!1993);!Cohen,!Stefan$Wolpe$and$the$AvantFGarde$Diaspora;!and!Feisst,! Schoenberg's$New$World.!Interest!from!the!recording!industry!has!been!most!notably! represented!by!Decca’s!“Entartete!Musik”!series.!We!may!also!note!the!surge!of!interest! generated!by!David!Pountney’s!production!of!Weinberg’s!opera!“The!Passenger,”!which!was! never!staged!in!his!lifetime!but!has!now!been!performed!in!many!cities!across!Europe!and! North!America.!Among!performers,!the!conductor!James!Conlon!has!initiated!a!“Recovered! Voices”!series!at!the!Los!Angeles!Opera!and!founded!the!Orel!Foundation,!dedicated!to!this! subject.!The!new!interest!is!also!a!transatlantic!phenomenon,!as!evidenced,!for!instance,!by! an!ambitious!initiative!at!the!at!the!University!of!Leeds!entitled!“Performing!the!Jewish! Archive.”!! 47!Music,!too,!has!unfortunately!also!been!at!times!recruited!to!the!service!of!this!kind!of! memory!kitsch,!its!aura!of!authenticity!manipulated!and!sensationalized.!The!unintended! effect!may!be!to!obscure!the!complex!lives!and!histories!of!the!musicians!actually!at!issue.! For!an!article!responding!to!this!trend,!see!James!Loeffler,!"'In!Memory!of!Our!Murdered! (Jewish)!Children':!Hearing!the!Holocaust!in!Soviet!Jewish!Culture,"!Slavic$Review!73,!no.!3! (2014).!On!other!occasions,!performances!of!music!by!suppressed!composers!in!Central! Europe!itself!have!received!an!overtly!political!and!expiatory!gloss,!as!when!the!Salzburg! Festival!opened!its!2005!festival!with!Franz!Schreker’s!opera!Die$Gezeichneten!and!referred! to!its!production!as!a!gesture!of!cultural!reparations.!See!Jeremy!Eichler,!“The!Sound!and! the!Fury,”!New$York$Times,!14!August!2005.!(

! 29! between!“common”!and!“deep”!memory.!(Langer!defines!“common”!memory!as!the! everyday,!integrated!memory!of!the!survivor’s!self!before!the!war;!“deep!memory”! refers!to!the!recollection!of!“the!Auschwitz!self,”!a!memory!marked!by!rupture!and!a! resistance!to!ascriptions!of!meaning.)!Friedlander!asks!“whether!at!the$collective$ level!…!an!event!such!as!the!Shoah!may,!after!all!the!survivors!have!disappeared,! leave!traces!of!a!deep!memory!beyond!individual!recall,!which!will!defy!any!attempt! to!give!it!meaning?”48!!

If!such!deep!memory!is!in!fact!carried!forward,!not!just!of!the!Shoah!itself!but! of!the!end!of!GermanJJewish!culture!in!Europe,!it!may!be!precisely!through!these! authentic!works!of!art!from!the!period,!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$among!them.!

Accordingly,!the!chapters!that!follow!are!each!directed,!from!different!points!of! origin,!toward!exploring!the!heart!of!this!intersection!of!music,!history!and!cultural! memory.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 48!See!Friedlander’s!essay!“Trauma,!Memory,!and!Transference”!in!Geoffrey!H.!Hartman,!ed.! Holocaust$Remembrance:$The$Shapes$of$Memory!(Oxford:!Blackwell,!1994),!252J64.!

! 30! Chapter(2!

Memorials(in(Sound(( ! ! “Only!history!itself,!real!history!with!all!its!suffering!and!all!its!contradiction,! constitutes!the!truth!of!music.”! ! –!Theodor!Adorno,!“On!the!Contemporary!Relationship!of! Philosophy!and!Music”! ! ! “Time!measures!! Nothing!but!itself”!! ! !!!–!W.G.!Sebald,!Across$the$Land$and$the$Water! ! ! $ ! The!contemporary!student!of!history!and!memory!faces!a!paradox!that!is! easily!sketched.!On!the!one!hand,!information!about!the!past!is!everJmore!abundant! and!accessible,!as!new!archives!open!up!in!the!former!Soviet!Union!and!elsewhere,! and!existing!archives!digitize!their!holdings!making!them!available!to!anyone!with! an!internet!connection.!The!archival!past,!in!short,!has!never!been!more!available!to! the!present.!And!yet!at!the!same!time,!as!Andreas!Huyssen!has!observed,!“the!more! memory!stored!on!data!banks!and!image!tracks,!the!less!of!our!culture's!willingness! and!ability!to!engage!in!active!remembrance.”1!Or!as!Pierre!Nora!has!stated:!“We! speak!so!much!of!memory!because!there!is!so!little!of!it!left.”2!In!a!similar!spirit,!

Hans!Meyerhoff!has!commented!that!“previous!generations!knew!much!less!about!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!Andreas!Huyssen,!“Monuments!and!Holocaust!Memory!in!a!Media!Age”!in!Andreas! Huyssen,!Twilight$Memories:$Marking$Time$in$a$Culture$of$Amnesia!(New!York:!Routledge,! 1995).! 2!Pierre!Nora,!"Between!Memory!and!History:!Les!Lieux!De!Mémoire,"!Representations,!no.! 26!(1989):!7.!

! 31! the!past!than!we!do,!but!perhaps!felt!a!much!greater!sense!of!identity!and!continuity! with!it.”3!!!!!

The!connections!between!music!and!memory!might!seem,!at!first!blush,!to!be! so!numerous!and!variegated!as!to!defy!easy!classification.!The!narrator!of!Proust's!A$ la$recherche$du$temps$perdu!is!greeted!with!a!flood!of!personal!memories!linked!to!a!

“little!phrase”!in!a!Violin!Sonata!by!the!novel's!fictional!composer!Vinteuil.!And! similarly,!most!listeners!can!attest!to!music's!ability!to!trigger!personal!reflections,! upwellings!of!what!Proust!and!Bergson!dubbed!memoire$involontaire.!!

The!role!of!concert!music!as!a!medium!for!personal!and!civic! commemoration!may!be!equally!accepted!on!an!intuitive!level.!Only!four!months! after!the!attacks!of!September!11,!2001,!the!New!York!Philharmonic!contacted!the!

American!composer!John!Adams!to!commission!a!memorial!work,!a!piece!that!was! subsequently!premiered!on!the!oneJyear!anniversary!of!the!attacks.!In!his!memoirs,!

Adams!describes!reacting!to!the!request!with!hesitation,!given!the!enormity!of!the! task,!but!also!with!a!full!understanding!of!music's!important!commemorative! function,!historically!and!in!the!present.4!Someone,!he!realized,!needed!to!write!such! a!work.!!

And!yet!despite,!our!widely!held!notions!of!the!linkages!between!music!and! memory!(both!public!and!personal)!as!well!as!those!between!music!and! commemoration,!the!subject!as!such!has!received!very!little!systematic!attention!in! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3!From!Meyerhoff’s!“Time!in!Literature,”!as!quoted!in!Yosef!Hayim!Yerushalmi,!Zakhor:$ Jewish$History$and$Jewish$Memory!(Seattle:!University!of!Washington!Press,!1982),!79.!Italics! original.!! 4!Adams!later!titled!his!memorial!work!“On!the!Transmigration!of!Souls.”!See!John!Adams,! Hallelujah$Junction:$Composing$an$American$Life!(New!York:!Farrar,!Straus!and!Giroux,! 2008),!259J67.!

! 32! either!the!musicological!or!historical!literature.!Indeed!while!studies!of!individual! composers!have!included!–!and!occasionally!highlighted!–!their!commemorative! works!written!in!response!to!the!First!World!War,5!the!Holocaust,6!and!the!Second!

World!War,7!the!memorial!works!themselves!have!very!rarely!been!considered!in!a! comparative!context,!nor!have!their!various!rhetorical!strategies!until!recently!been! scrutinized!as!such!by!many!musicologists.!Meanwhile,!cultural!historians!have! produced!a!substantial!literature!focusing!on!the!modes!of!mourning!and!rituals!of! commemoration!that!surfaced!in!response!to!the!First!and!Second!World!Wars.!Yet! this!historiographic!literature!almost!entirely!excludes!music!from!its!field!of! consideration.8!!

This!chapter!aims!to!locate!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!against!two!axes:!on!the! one!hand,!the!underJstudied!genre!of!the!musical!memorial!as!such,!and!on!the! other,!the!scholarship!on!early!postwar!memory.!Along!the!way!I!will!explore!and! enumerate!the!salient!properties!of!sonic!memorials—as!experiences!in!sound!more! generally,!and!as!musical!compositions!that!may!contain!within!them!what!I!have!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5!See!for!instance!Malcolm!MacDonald,!John$Foulds:$His$Life$in$Music$(Rickmansworth:!Triad! Press,!1975).! 6!Michael!Brim!Beckerman,!"Job,!Zeisl,!Exile,!and!the!Suffering!of!the!Ordinary,"!Music$&$ Politics!5,!no.!2!(2011);!Ben!Arnold,!"Art!Music!and!the!Holocaust,"!Holocaust$and$Genocide$ Studies!6,!no.!4!(1992);!and!Antonina!Klokova,!"‘Mein!Moralische!Pflicht,’!Mieczysław! Weinberg!Und!Der!Holocaust,"!Osteuropa!60,!no.!7!(2010).!Mention!should!also!be!made!of!a! newly!published!anthology!of!work,!Tina!Frühauf!and!Lily!Hirsch,!eds.,!Dislocated$Memories:$ Jews,$Music$and$Postwar$German$Culture$(New!York:!Oxford!University!Press,!2014).! 7!See!Heather!Wiebe,!Britten's$Unquiet$Pasts:$Sound$and$Memory$in$Postwar$Reconstruction! (Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,!2012).! 8!Paul!Fussell’s!pioneering!study,!The$Great$War$and$Modern$Memory,!focused!primarily!on! literary!production,!and!Jay!Winter’s!Sites$of$Memory,$Sites$of$Mourning!devoted!similarly! scant!attention!to!music.!For!notable!exceptions!see!Glenn!Watkins,!Proof$through$the$Night:$ Music$and$the$Great$War!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!2003),!and!James! Schmidt,!"Cenotaphs!in!Sound:!Catastrophe,!Memory,!and!Musical!Memorials,"!Proceedings$ of$the$European$Society$for$Aesthetics!2!(2010).!!

! 33! called!multiple!temporalities.!I!conclude!this!chapter!with!some!observations!about! the!politics!of!aesthetic!style!more!broadly,!and!the!cultural!meanings!of!dissonance.$!!!!

(

Sound(and(‘the(Memory(Landscape’(

With!so!few!models!for!approaching!the!musical!memorial!as!a!genre,!we! may!be!well!advised!to!look!elsewhere!on!the!horizon!of!what!Rudi!Koshar!has! called!“the!memory!landscape.”9!In!particular,!I!will!suggest!here!that!the!history! and!growing!scholarly!literature!around!the!subject!of!built!architectural!memorials! may!provide!some!grounds!for!comparison,!and!some!templates!for!analysis,!that! will!be!instructive!and!clarifying!in!the!case!of!the!musical!memorial.!Traditionally,! the!study!of!monuments!and!memorials!was!of!course!very!mediumJspecific:!sound! and!stone!were!considered!separately,!a!legacy!that!dates!back!to!the!birth!of! formalist!art!historical!writing.10!For!instance,!in!his!seminal!1903!article!Der$ modern$Denkmalkultus:$Sein$Wesen$und$seine$Entstehung!(“The!Modern!Cult!of!

Monuments:!Its!Essence!and!Its!Development”),!Alois!Riegl!(1858J1905)!goes!as!far! as!acknowledging!the!existence!of!“Die!hörbaren!Denkmale,”!or!“audible! monuments”!but!then!dismisses!them!from!consideration,!suggesting!that!they!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 9!See!Rudy!Koshar,!From$Monuments$to$Traces:$Artifacts$of$German$Memory,$1870F1990! (Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!2000),!xv.! 10!In!this!chapter!I!use!the!terms!“monument”!and!“memorial”!interchangeably,!though!as! Alexander!Rehding!has!noted,!the!former!term!can!sometimes!carry!a!negative!connotation! of!excessive!grandness.!See!Alexander!Rehding,!Music$and$Monumentality:$Commemoration$ and$Wonderment$in$NineteenthFCentury$Germany!(Oxford:!Oxford!University!Press,!2009),!3J 5.!

! 34! belong!to!the!same!category!as!written!monuments,!presumably!on!account!of!their! incorporeality.11!

! Modern!scholars!have!of!course!blurred!these!mediumJspecific!categories! and!focused!instead!on!the!social,!political,!and!national!uses!of!memory!–!often! defined!in!contradistinction!to!history.12!The!work!of!Pierre!Nora!has!been!at!the! forefront!of!these!efforts,!specifically!his!attempts!to!articulate!a!widening!gulf! between!regimes!of!history!and!of!memory,!and!his!work!to!define!the!notion!of! lieux$de$mémoire,!sites!of!memory.!For!Nora,!memory!was!originally!social!and! organic,!“retained!as!the!secret!of!soJcalled!primitive!or!archaic!societies,”!in! contrast!to!our!contemporary!bureaucratic!notions!of!history,!which!he!defines!as! the!ways!in!which!“our!hopelessly!forgetful!modern!societies,!propelled!by!change,! organize!the!past.”13!Because!we!no!longer!live!in!these!environments!saturated! with!organic!memory,!Nora!suggests,!we!fashion!lieux$de$mémoire,!preserves!of! memory!that!have!themselves!become!symbolic!and!auratic.!They!are,!he!writes,!

“embodiments!of!a!memorial!consciousness!that!has!survived!in!a!historical!age!that! calls!out!for!memory!because!it!has!abandoned!it.”14!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 11!Riegl!writes:!“Die!hörbaren!Denkmale!(der!Tonkunst)!dürfen!wir!in!diesem! Zusammenhange!aus!der!Betrachtung!von!vornherein!ausschalten,!da!sie,!soweit!sie!uns! hier!uberhaupt!interessieren,!einfach!unter!die!Schriftdenkmale!einzureihen!sind.”!See!Alois! Riegl,!Moderne$Denkmalkultus:$Sein$Wesen$Und$Seine$Entstehung!(Wien:!W.!Braumüller;!K.!K.! ZentralJKommision!für!Kunst!und!historische!Denkmale,!1903),!2.! 12!See,!for!instance,!Young,!The$Texture$of$Memory;!The$Art$of$Memory:$Holocaust$Memorials$ in$History!(New!York:!Prestel,!1994);!Svetlana!Boym,!The$Future$of$Nostalgia!(New!York:! Basic!Books,!2001);!Marc!Treib,!ed.!Spatial$Recall:$Memory$in$Architecture$and$Landscape! (New!York:!Routledge,!2009);!and!Eleni!Bastéa,!ed.!Memory$and$Architecture!(Albuquerque:! University!of!New!Mexico!Press,!2004).! 13!Nora,!"Between!Memory!and!History,"!8.!! 14!Ibid.,!page!12.!!

! 35! ! Architectural!monuments!and!memorials!are!in!some!ways!the!most!obvious! examples!of!lieux$de$mémoire,!and!the!ways!in!which!they!have!been!approached!by! historians!will!offer!helpful!guidance!in!theorizing!our!own!approach!to!the!genre!of! the!musical!memorial.!As!we!will!see,!some!of!the!key!distinctions!between!the! mediums!of!commemoration—stone!versus!sound—will!prove!as!instructive!as! their!similarities.!With!regard!to!built!architectural!monuments,!Nora!himself!has! described!them!as!ways!through!which!the!state!reifies!its!own!power!and!posits!a! kind!of!transhistorical!authority,!by!valorizing!its!leaders!and!war!heroes,!and!giving! material!objective!form!and!embodiment!to!nationalist!aspirations.15(

The!examples!collected!under!Nora’s!direction!are!mostly!drawn!from!the! nineteenth!century,!and!specifically!from!France's!relationship!to!its!own!national! past,16!but!George!Mosse's!politically!oriented!interpretation!of!the!commemoration! of!World!War!I!arrives!at!a!similar!conclusion,!especially!regarding!the!buttressing! of!state!power.!War!memorials,!Mosse!suggests,!helped!nations!to!obfuscate!and! transform!the!shocking!realities!of!death!–!the!gruesome!battlefield!carnage!and!the! horrors!of!the!trenches!–!into!something!more!palatable,!in!part!by!fashioning!for! them!a!new!narrative!that!he!labels!“the!Myth!of!the!War!Experience.”!This!narrative! emphasized!the!virtues!of!noble!sacrifice,!glory,!and!courage,!and!in!the!process!was! used!to!justify!the!horrendous!losses,!to!sanitize!them,!and!to!recast!war!memory!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 15!Nora’s!model!and!the!unidirectionality!it!ascribes!to!the!assignment!of!a!monument’s! political!meaning!have!been!credibly!questioned,!especially!in!the!context!of!Holocaust! memorials!and!the!diverse!and!complex!political!debate!they!are!capable!of!generating.!See,! for!instance,!Peter!Carrier,!Holocaust$Monuments$and$National$Memory$Cultures$in$France$ and$Germany$since$1989:$The$Origins$and$Political$Function$of$the$Vél'$D'hiv'$in$Paris$and$the$ Holocaust$Monument$in$Berlin!(New!York:!Berghahn!Books,!2005).! 16!Pierre!Nora!and!Lawrence!D.!Kritzman,!eds.,!Realms$of$Memory:$Rethinking$the$French$ Past!(New!York:!Columbia!University!Press,!1996).!!

! 36! “into!a!sacred!experience!which!provided!the!nation!with!a!new!depth!of!religious! feeling,!putting!at!its!disposal!everJpresent!saints!and!martyrs,!places!of!worship,! and!a!heritage!to!emulate.”17!!

Other!historians!have!taken!a!less!overtly!political!approach!to!analyzing!war! memorials.!Jay!Winter!in!his!classic!study!of!the!subject!emphasized!the!connection! between!memorials!and!various!modes!of!communal!and!individual!mourning.!He! insists!on!the!chronological!dimension!of!monumental!meaning:!

[H]owever! powerful! the! aesthetic! or! political! message! they! carried! or! attracted,! these! monuments! had! another! meaning! for! the! generation! that! passed!through!the!trauma!of!the!war.!That!meaning!was!as$much$existential$ as$artistic$or$political,!as!much!concerned!with!the!facts!of!individual!loss!and! bereavement! as! with! art! forms! or! with! collective! representations,! national! aspirations,!and!destinies.18!! !

It!will!also!be!important!to!recall!Winter's!perspective!on!what!we!might!call!the! timeJstamping!of!memorial!objects:!the!ways!in!which!their!meanings!and! significance!are!constructed!generationally,!or!by!nature!of!their!proximity!to!the! event!being!memorialized.!This!will!become!particularly!germane!at!a!later!point,!as! we!reckon!with!questions!of!the!“datedness”!of!Schoenberg's!A$Survivor$from$

Warsaw.! !!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 17!George!L.!Mosse,!Fallen$Soldiers$:$Reshaping$the$Memory$of$the$World$Wars!(New!York:! Oxford!University!Press,!1990),!7.!Andreas!Huyssen!has!written!a!more!modern!chapter!in! the!political!and!cultural!(over)uses!of!monuments!today.!Recalling!the!summer!of!1995,! fifty!years!after!the!conclusion!of!the!war,!he!writes!that!“Germany!is!in!the!grip!of!a! relentless!monument!mania,!which!may!not!subside!until!every!square!mile!has!its!own! monument!or!memorial!site….!In!today’s!Germany,!redemption!through!memory!is!the! goal.”!See!Andreas!Huyssen,!"Monumental!Seduction,"!New$German$Critique,!no.!69!(1996):! 182.!See!also!Huyssen,!“Monuments!and!Holocaust!Memory!in!a!Media!Age”!in!Twilight$ Memories,!249J61.! 18!See!Winter,!Sites$of$Memory,$Sites$of$Mourning,!79.!Italics!added.!

! 37! At!the!same!time,!the!growing!scholarship!on!architectural!monuments!is! also!instructive!in!its!points!of!divergence;!that!is,!what!it!clarifies!ex$negativo!about! the!musical!memorial!as!a!genre,!the!salient!differences!associated!the!medium!of! sound!as!such,!its!own!particular!materiality,!as!well!as!the!fleeting!and!contingent! nature!of!performance.!In!the!section!that!follows,!I!briefly!identify!and!enumerate! these!salient!differences!as:!immediacy,!portability,!authorship,!reception,!and! reconfigured!space.!!!!

!

Five(Properties(of(the(Musical(Memorial(

(

1.!Immediacy(

The!work!of!James!Young,!which!has!focused!on!built!(physical)!Holocaust! monuments,!suggests!helpful!approaches!to!contextualizing!the!study!of!their! musical!siblings.!Specifically,!in!the!introduction!to!his!book!The$Texture$of$Memory,!

Young!quotes!a!provocative!observation!by!Robert!Musil:!!

! There!is!nothing!in!this!world!as!invisible!as!a!monument.!They!are!no!doubt! erected! to! be! seen—indeed,!to!attract!attention.!But!at!the!same!time!they! are!impregnated!with!something!that!repels!attention,!causing!the!glance!to! roll!right!off,!like!water!droplets!off!an!oilcloth,!without!even!pausing!for!a! moment.19!! !

That!something,!the!quality!that!repels!attention!in!architectural!monuments! is,!according!to!Young,!their!“essential!stiffness,”!their!way!of!compacting!the!fluid!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 19!Robert!Musil,!Posthumous$Papers$of$a$Living$Author!(Hygiene,!Colo.:!Eridanos!Press,! 1987),!61.!Quoted!in!Young,!The$Texture$of$Memory,!13J14.!The!original!appears!in!Robert! Musil,!Nachlass$Zu$Lebzeiten!(Reinbek!bei!Hamburg:!Rowohlt,!1974),!480.!

! 38! stuff!of!memory!beneath!many!tons!of!granite!or!limestone.!This!same!“vitrifying”! quality,!their!polished!“finish,”!Young!observes,!tends!to!help!many!stone! monuments!fade!into!the!background!of!an!urban!landscape.!We!might,!as!Musil! suggests,!walk!past!them!day!after!day!without!noticing!them.20!

On!at!least!this!superficial!level,!musical!memorials!would!seem!buttressed! from!this!critique!of!their!architectural!siblings.!Sound!as!a!fluid!and!ephemeral! medium!lacks!the!“essential!stiffness”!of!stone.!Moreover,!a!memorial!work!can! hardly!blend!into!its!surrounding!aural!landscape,!as!it!is!erected!and!dissembled! each!time!it!is!performed.!And!this!realJtime!performance!aspect,!as!we!will!see,!is! also!crucial.!A!score!can!of!course!lie!fallow!for!decades!but!when!a!musical! memorial!is!actually!performed,!it!resists!being!passively!experienced—resists! becoming!invisible,!in!Musil's!phrase—because!of!the!intentionality!of!the!act!itself:! the!audience!arrives!precisely!to!experience!the!work!in!a!concert!setting,!to!

“perform”!the!work!of!remembrance!itself.!Musical!memorials,!in!this!sense,! convene!their!own!public!every!time!they!are!performed.!They!also!indicate!the! paradoxical!nature!of!sound!as!a!medium!of!memory,!or!more!precisely,!they!show! that!its!weakness!is!also!its!strength.!If!music!is!by!nature!the!most!ephemeral!of!the! arts,!its!very!immateriality!allows!it!to!sidestep!the!critiques!of!stone!monuments'!as! catalysts!for!reification!and!amnesia.!!

! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20!Andreas!Huyssen!has!suggested!an!interesting!response!to!this!modernist!critique!of!the! stone!monument!as!“a!medium!of!reification!and!forgetting”!by!placing!it!in!the!context!of! our!contemporary!media!age,!dominated!as!it!is!by!immaterial!images!on!screen.!Against! this!backdrop,!there!is!perhaps!a!new!potency!to!the!physicality!or!objectivity!of!a!built! monument!in!a!public!space,!speaking!in!new!ways!to!a!“public!dissatisfied!with! simulation.”!See!“Monuments!and!Holocaust!Memory!in!a!Media!Age,”!255.!!

! 39! 2.(Portability!((((

Architectural!monuments!are!by!their!nature!anchored!in!a!particular!place,! while!musical!works!are!obviously!portable,!with!clear!benefits!associated.!Studies! of!postwar!memory!have!been!generally!bounded!by!national!borders.!Most!studies! of!war!monuments!likewise!situate!each!structure!in!its!own!national!context.21!In! contrast,!no!such!geographic!limitations!exist!for!the!musical!monument,!allowing! for!fascinating!comparative!approaches!to!reception!history.!A!works!such!as!

Schoenberg's!Survivor$From$Warsaw!was,!for!instance,!received!quite!differently!in! the!United!States!of!the!lateJ1940s!and!in!postwar!West!Germany.22!Comparing! these!receptions!can!provide!valuable!insights!into!the!differing!nature!of!postwar! memory!in!each!country.!Indeed,!the!reception!history!of!musical!memorials!is,!by! its!very!nature,!a!transnational!history.!!!

!

3.(Authorship((

As!a!genre,!musical!memorials—typically!the!products!of!an!individual! composer,!possibly!working!in!tandem!with!a!discreet!number!of!collaborators— tend!to!be!less!subject!to!the!constraints!of!civic!bureaucracy!and!urban!or!national! planning.!An!instructive!example!may!be!found!in!the!case!of!what!was!to!be!the! first!Holocaust!monument!in!America,!to!be!located!on!the!Riverside!Park!mall!in!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!See!for!instance!Catherine!Merridale’s!“War,!Death!and!Remembrance!in!Soviet!Russia”!or! Emmanuel!Sivan’s!“Private!Pain!and!Public!Remembrance!in!Israel”!in!J.!M.!Winter!and! Emmanuel!Sivan,!eds.,!War$and$Remembrance$in$the$Twentieth$Century!(Cambridge:! University!of!Cambridge,!1999).! 22!See!Joy!H.!Calico,!"Schoenberg's!Symbolic!Remigration:!A!Survivor!from!Warsaw!in! Postwar!West!Germany,"!The$Journal$of$Musicology!26,!no.!1!(2009).!See!also!Calico’s! comparative!reception!history!of!Survivor$from$Warsaw!in!several!European!countries.! Calico,!Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor!from!Warsaw!in$Postwar$Europe.!!

! 40! New!York!City.!In!October!of!1947,!just!two!months!after!Schoenberg!had!completed!

A$Survivor$From$Warsaw,!New!York's!Mayor!William!O'Dwyer!presided!over!a!public! ceremony!to!dedicate!the!site!of!the!future!monument.!Tens!of!thousands!of!people! were!in!attendance!as!the!stone!slab!was!unveiled,!reading:!“This!is!the!site!for!the!

American!memorial!to!the!Heroes!of!the!Warsaw!Ghetto!Battle,!AprilJMay!1943!and! to!the!six!million!Jews!of!Europe!martyred!in!the!cause!of!human!liberty.”!!

But!the!monument!itself!was!never!erected,!due!to!controversies!over!the! aesthetic!design,!fundraising!difficulties,!and!bureaucratic!delays.23!!Other!such! delays!and!bureaucratic!wrangling!have!been!wellJdocumented!in!multiple!cases! where!architectural!or!sculptural!memorials!are!subjected!to!a!process!of! community!planning!that!necessarily!exposes!them!to!competing!interests!and! memory!narratives.!By!contrast,!musical!memorials!typically!represent!the!vision!of! their!sole!creator,!allowing!for!a!less!homogenized!and!bureaucratically!diffuse! vision,!a!more!personalized!perspective!on!the!act!of!remembrance.!

In!her!recent!dissertation!on!postwar!commemoration!in!the!GDR,!Martha!

Anne!Sprigge!applies!a!pertinent!distinction!by!the!Russian!historian!Alexander!

Etkind!between!soJcalled!“hard”!and!“soft”!artifacts!of!cultural!memory.!Hard! memory,!in!this!scheme,!consists!of!stateJsanctioned!monuments!and!museums— the!permanent!memory!landscape!with!which!a!public!interacts.!Soft!memory!in!this! context!includes!artistic!production,!the!writing!of!memoirs,!oral!testimony,!and,! presumably,!the!creations!of!musical!memorial.!Etkind!stresses!the!interaction!and!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 23!The!illJstarred!career!of!this!wouldJbe!monument!is!recounted!in!Young,!The$Texture$of$ Memory,!287J94.!

! 41! interdependence!between!these!two!types,!noting!that!“in!memory,!monuments! without!inscriptions!are!mute,!whereas!texts!without!monuments!are!ephemeral.”24!!

!!

((( 4.(Reception!!!

The!task!of!understanding!the!performance!of!musical!memorials!makes! specific!demands!of!the!student!of!reception!history,!precisely!because!these! musical!works!assert!claims!that!are!variously!aesthetic,!political,!and!social.!Their! premieres!and!subsequent!performance!are!not!“only”!musical!events!nor!are!they! exclusively!exercises!in!civic!commemoration.!This!point!is!easily!illustrated!with! even!a!cursory!look!at!the!reception!afforded!two!British!musical!memorials:!John!

Foulds's!A$World$Requiem!and!Britten's!War$Requiem.!!

!The!story!of!the!Foulds!Requiem!is!both!a!fascinating!and!cautionary!tale.!

The!fact!that!the!first!largeJscale!modern!musical!memorial!of!the!twentieth! century—a!work!that!caused!a!sensation!at!its!1923!premiere—has!almost!entirely! disappeared!from!the!repertoire!and!from!subsequent!historical!consideration! suggests!that!sonic!memorials!may!not!be!entirely!immune!to!Musil's!charge!of! invisibility.!Stone!memorials!have!at!least!their!physical!materiality!to!buttress!their! presence!on!the!memory!landscape.!The!musical!memorial,!in!a!way,!does!not!exist! unless!it!is!performed.!!

That!said,!it!is!interesting!to!note!that!the!Foulds!Requiem!attempted!to! borrow!from!the!prestige!of!one!particularly!successful!stone!predecessor:!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24!See!Alexander!Etkind,!"Hard!and!Soft!in!Cultural!Memory:!Political!Mourning!in!Russia! and!Germany,"!Grey$Room!(2004):!39J40,!and!Sprigge,!"Abilities!to!Mourn:!Musical! Commemoration!in!the!German!Democratic!Republic!(1945J1989)."!!!

! 42! Cenotaph!on!Whitehall,!in!the!heart!of!London,!built!by!Sir!Edwin!Lutyens.!The!

Cenotaph!was!initially!intended!as!a!shortJterm!monument!for!a!victory!parade!in!

1919,!but!an!outpouring!of!public!sentiment!made!it!impossible!to!remove!the! memorial!as!initially!planned,!and!a!permanent!version!was!installed!on!the!same! spot!in!1920,!where!the!Cenotaph!stands!to!this!day.25!!

Three!years!later!came!the!premiere!of!Foulds's!A$World$Requiem,!a!massive! work!scored!for!children's!chorus,!full!chorus,!vocal!soloists,!and!large!orchestra! with!organ.!It!was!premiered!in!Royal!Albert!Hall!at!the!inaugural!“Festival!of!

Remembrance”!on!Armistice!Night!in!1923,!its!program!bearing!a!solemn!cross!and! the!words!“A!Cenotaph!in!Sound”—unmistakably!linking!it!with!Lutyens's!Cenotaph.!

There!were!also!the!words:!“In!Memory:!1914J18.”!!

Foulds!and!his!wife!had!strong!connections!to!the!burgeoning!theosophist! movement!and!the!work!is!steeped!in!spiritualist!and!occult!associations.!A!page!in! the!concert!program!further!declared!it!was!a!“festival!commemoration!for!all!who! fell!in!the!Great!War.”!If!Lutyens's!Cenotaph!brought!healing!and!consolation! through!its!austere!and!abstract!geometric!forms!and!its!imposing!presence!in!the! heart!of!administrative!London,!this!“cenotaph!in!sound”!was!conceived!as!a!kind!of! balm!for!the!ears,!a!response!to!the!brutalizing!acoustic!environment!of!war.26!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 25!Winter,!Sites$of$Memory,$Sites$of$Mourning,!103J05.! 26!Foulds!had!close!links!to!the!theosophist!movement!primarily!through!his!wife,!the! violinist!Maud!MacCarthy,!and!the!Requiem’s!many!connections!to!theosophist!principles! have!been!established.!Most!germane!here!is!the!notion!of!the!link!between!an!individual’s! acoustic!surroundings!and!his!inner!state.!The!British!composer!Cyril!Scott,!among!others,! wrote!at!this!time!of!the!soldiers’!need!for!healing!through!sound!itself:!“The!jarring!sounds! of!motorJhorns,!whistles,!grinding!brakes,!and!so!forth!exercise!a!deleterious!effect!upon! the!entire!organism.!In!order!to!contradict!this,!certain!composers!will!be!used!to!evolve!a! type!of!music!calculated!to!heal!where!these!discordant!noises!have!destroyed.”!Quoted!in!

! 43! The!full!story!of!Foulds’s!Requiem!has!been!recounted!elsewhere,!and!it! received!its!first!recording!as!late!as!2006.27!The!reception!of!its!premiere!highlights! what!may!be!the!first!instance!of!a!recurring!trope!in!the!reception!of!modern! musical!memorials:!specifically,!a!heightened!positive!or!negative!response!that! reflects!what!we!might!call!the!sonic!memorial's!extraJmusicality.!The!memorial! agenda!of!these!works!makes!them!“about”!more!than!just!music.!They!reach! beyond!the!formal!boundaries!of!the!aesthetic!to!engage!with—and!at!times!collide! with—discourses!of!both!public!and!private!memory.!!

In!the!former!category,!that!of!public!memory,!this!collision!can!have!nearJ fatal!consequences!for!a!musical!memorial.!In!particular,!when!the!work!is!seen!as! threatening!stateJsponsored!narratives!of!a!war's!history,!its!victims!or!its! perpetrators,!then!the!memorial’s!performance—and!therefore!its!entire! realization—can!be!endangered.!(Even!a!cursory!look!at!musical!memorialization!of! the!Second!World!War!in!the!former!Soviet!Union!bears!out!this!point.28)!At!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! James!G.!Mansell,!"Musical!Modernity!and!Contested!Commemoration!at!the!Festival!of! Remembrance,!1923J1927,"!The$Historical$Journal!52,!no.!02!(2009):!439.!Mansell! addresses!the!work’s!theosophist!connections!at!length.!The!work!is!also!insightfully! addressed!by!James!Schmidt!in!one!of!the!exceedingly!rare!discussions!of!musical! memorials!in!a!comparative!context.!I!am!grateful!to!Professor!Schmidt!for!first!drawing!my! attention!to!this!Requiem!in!our!discussion!of!musical!memorials.!See!Schmidt,!"Cenotaphs! in!Sound:!Catastrophe,!Memory,!and!Musical!Memorials."!! 27!Leon!Botsein!made!the!first!recording!in!2008,!leading!the!BBC!Symphony!Orchestra!and! Chorus,!along!with!other!forces,!on!a!Chandos!CD,!CHSA!5058(2).! 28!Two!prime!examples!of!this!phenomenon!come!from!the!Soviet!Union!in!the!1940s.! Nathan!Rapoport’s!proposal!of!a!monument!to!the!Warsaw!Ghetto!uprising!was!rejected!by! Stalin’s!arts!committee!for!being,!essentially,!too!Jewish.!A!nearly!identical!fate!befell!Ilya! Ehrenberg’s!literary!memorial!The$Black$Book$of$Soviet$Jewry.!The!trend!continued!into!the! 1960s.!Under!threat!of!cancellation,!the!text!of!Shostakovich’s!“Babi!Yar”!Symphony!was! revised!to!bring!its!description!of!Jewish!victims!of!the!Second!World!War!into!conformity! with!tropes!of!Soviet!commemoration,!which!emphasized!the!war!losses!as!a!panJSoviet! phenomenon.!Mieczyslaw!Weinberg’s!opera,!The$Passenger,!which!the!composer!regarded! as!his!masterwork,!was!likewise!never!performed!during!his!lifetime,!though!it!entered!

! 44! same!time,!in!the!field!of!reception,!the!enlarged!semantic!and!rhetorical!terrain! occupied!by!a!musical!memorial!can!also!work!in!the!score's!favor,!especially!when! a!composition!is!seen!as!addressing,!to!expand!on!Winter's!thesis,!the!needs!of! mourning!or!private!memory,!whether!in!the!wake!of!the!trauma!of!war!or!even! years!later.!A!performance!in!that!category!can!take!on!enhanced!significance,!and! draw!a!heightened!public!response!precisely!because!of!the!score's!extraFmusical! resonance.29!!

Indeed,!as!we!will!see!in!Chapter!5,!this!enhancement!served!to!make!the! highly!unusual!premiere!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$into!an!enormous!success,!one! that!Schoenberg!hailed!as!unique!in!the!history!of!classical!music!performances.$I!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rehearsals!at!the!Bolshoi!Theatre.!It!may!be!plausibly!speculated!that!the!reason!for!its! cancellation!were!the!same!as!those!described!above.!On!the!Rapoport!and!Ehrenburg! examples,!see!James!Edward!Young,!"The!Biography!of!a!Memorial!Icon:!Nathan!Rapoport's! Warsaw!Ghetto!Monument,"!Representations,!no.!26!(1989).!For!more!on!Shostakovich’s! “Babi!Yar,”!see!Laurel!E.!Fay,!Shostakovich:$A$Life!(New!York:!Oxford!University!Press,! 2000),!235J36.!For!more!on!The$Passenger’s!production!history,$see$David!Fanning,! Mieczyslaw$Weinberg:$In$Search$of$Freedom!(Hofheim:!Wolke,!2010),!118J20.!! 29!The!status!of!“hidden”!musical!memorials!represents!a!fascinating!test!case!in!this!regard.! I!refer!here!to!abstract!instrumental!works!lacking!a!vocal!text!or!explicit!titles!to!publically! identify!the!work!as!a!memorial.!Precisely!because!such!works!do!not!come!semantically! preJinscribed!with!their!memorial!associations,!one!could!conceivably!perform!the!music!in! either!context!–!as!an!unfreighted!example!of!abstract!concert!music,!or!as!a!memorial!that! is!situated!as!such!through!program!notes!or!other!more!specific!contextualization!(preJ concert!lectures,!etc).!One!could!even!perform!it!both!ways!for!the!same!audience.!In!fact,! Michael!Beckerman!and!James!Loeffler!have!conducted!this!precise!experiment!with!regard! to!Mikhail!Gnesin’s!Piano!Trio,!presenting!the!work!unJintroduced,!and!then!presenting!it!a! second!time!with!a!full!explanation!of!its!memorial!context.!At!one!such!demonstration! reported!in!the!Los$Angeles$Times,!both!the!performers!and!the!audience!responded!quite! differently!during!the!second,!fully!contextualized,!performance,!with!the!musicians! adopting!slower!tempos!and!a!heightened!expressivity,!while!audience!members!reportedly! heard!the!work!differently!as!well.!The!distinctions!between!the!two!performances! illustrate!this!larger!point,!the!impact!of!a!work’s!extraJmusicality,!its!broadened!fields!of! meaning.!For!details!on!this!comparative!experiment!as!it!was!applied!with!one!California! audience,!see!Mark!Swed’s!report!“A!grim,!gray!silence;!‘Recovered!Voices’!initiative! examines!murderous!censorship!of!music!by!the!Nazis,”!Los$Angeles$Times,$12!August!2014,! Section!D,!Pg!1.$For!the!memorial!status!of!Gnesin’s!Piano!Trio,!see!Loeffler,!"'In!Memory!of! Our!Murdered!(Jewish)!Children':!Hearing!the!Holocaust!in!Soviet!Jewish!Culture."!!!!!

! 45! am!suggesting!that!this!response,!however,!was!partly!preconditioned!by!something! in!the!nature!of!musical!memorials!themselves.!We!may!note!in!the!case!of!Foulds’s!

Requiem!the!audience!response!to!the!premiere!was!nothing!short!of!electric.!!!

The!discerning!British!musicologist!Donald!Tovey!seemed!to!intuit!what!was! in!store!when!he!wrote!to!Foulds,!some!seven!months!before!the!1923!premiere,! stating!that!“I!shall!not!be!surprised!if!it!makes!an!immediate!impression!of!a!more! popular!kind!than!is!usual!with!works!of!such!caliber.”30!And!so!it!did.!Consider,!for! instance,!the!breathless!reaction!of!one!Labour!MP!who!attended!the!premiere:!“It! went!deeper!down!and!reached!higher!up,!it!was!bigger,!broader,!nobler!and! reached!out!more!into!the!eternal!than!music!as!it!is!commonly!understood!and! interpreted,!or!as!any!music!other!than!that!by!the!great!masters!has!ever!done.!It!is! indeed!a!world!heritage.”!It!was!further!noted!that!“the!demand!for!tickets!at!the! premiere!had!broken!all!previous!Albert!Hall!records”!and!that!“the!participants! received!a!tenJminute!ovation.”31!!

!!!!It!is!unclear!whether!Benjamin!Britten!knew!of!John!Foulds's!Requiem,!but!

Britten's!own!War$Requiem!has!been!cited!as!an!extension!of!its!lineage.!While! individual!critics!were!decidedly!mixed!in!their!responses!to!Foulds's!Requiem,!in! the!case!of!the!Britten,!popular!and!critical!sentiment!were!nearly!unanimous!in! their!praise!and!fervor.!Remarkably,!some!critics!did!not!even!wait!to!hear!the!work! in!public!performance!before!declaring!it!a!masterpiece.!The!following!notice,!for! instance,!appeared!in!The$Times$five!days!before!the!work's!1962!premiere:!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 30!Quoted!in!Malcolm!MacDonald’s!liner!notes!to!the!premiere!recording!of!Foulds’s! “Requiem,”!(Chandos,!CHSA!5058).!No!less!impressive!was!its!continuing!effect!on! performers.!See!“London!Letter,”!Western$Daily$Press,!Nov.!11,!1926,!p.!7.! 31!Quotations!are!from!MacDonald’s!liner!notes.!!

! 46! ! Any! new! Requiem! setting! has! to! compete! with! Verdi's! and! Fauré's! and! Mozart's!treatment!of!the!same!words.!Britten!has!approached!the!task!in!his! own!fresh!and!deeply!felt.!It!is!not!a!Requiem!to!console!the!living;!sometimes! it! does! not! even! help! the! dead! to! sleep! soundly.! It! can! only! disturb! every! living!soul,!for!it!denounces!the!barbarism!more!or!less!awake!in!mankind! with!all!the!authority!that!a!great!composer!can!muster.!There!is!no!doubt!at! all,! even! before! next! Wednesday's! performance,! that! it! is! Britten's! masterpiece.32!!! !

One!of!the!more!illuminating!responses!to!the!Britten!premiere!came!from!Igor!

Stravinsky.!He!admired!Britten's!score!but!clearly!detected!something!extraJmusical! at!work!in!the!greeting!it!received,!or!in!his!words:!“[t]he!reception!accorded!the! music!was$a$phenomenon$as$remarkable$as$the$music$itself.!In!fact!the!BattleJofJ

Britten!sentiment!was!so!thick!and!the!tide!of!applause!so!loud!that!I,!for!one,!was! not!always!able!to!hear!the!music.”33!

Stravinsky's!quip!hints!at!the!broader!question!of!how!a!musical!memorial! should!indeed!be!judged,!a!question!to!which!we!will!return.!Clearly!in!the!case!of! the!Requiems!by!Foulds!and!Britten,!the!works'!artistic!merits!and!their!ability!to! address!immediate!needs!of!postwar!audiences!were!difficult!to!separate.!We! should!not!forget!of!course!that!these!two!Requiems!were!written!in!response!to! two!very!different!world!wars.!Indeed,!Britten's!acclaimed!War$Requiem!remains! subject!to!the!criticism!that!it!fails!to!even!remotely!acknowledge!the!Holocaust,!an! event!whose!scale!and!nature!created!a!particular!set!of!challenges!for!the!memorial! artist!across!numerous!media,!challenges!that!will!be!explored!in!the!sections!that! follow.!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 32!William!Mann,!“Britten’s!Masterpiece!Denounces!War,”!The$Times,$25!May!1962,!quoted! in!Mervyn!Cooke,!Britten:$War$Requiem!(Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,!1996),!78.! 33!Quoted!in!ibid.,!84.!Italics!added.!!

! 47! !

5.(Reconfigured!Space!!

Before!leaving!behind!our!list!of!attributes!that!may!be!said!to!define!the! genre!of!the!musical!memorial,!it!is!worth!lingering!for!a!moment!on!some! properties!inherent!to!the!medium!of!music!as!such.!First,!since!the!era!of!the!

Romantics,!composers!and!writers!have!commented!on!music's!polysemy,!its!ability! to!suggest!or!indicate!multiple!meanings!simultaneously.!Even!relatively!stable! representations!of!meaning!may!be!destabilized!by!the!ephemeral!and!abstract! nature!of!sound!itself.!Thomas!Mann!described!this!quality!as!“the!spoken$unF spokenness!given!to!music!alone”34!while!Rilke!apostrophized!music!as!“language! where!languages!end.”35!It!is!worth!considering!whether!the!embrace!of!music,!the! imageless!art!par$excellence,!as!a!commemorative!medium!so!early!into!the!postJ

World!War!II!era!(as!represented!by!Survivor!and!other!works)—at!a!time!that! predates!many!visual,!architectural!or!cinematic!gestures!of!commemoration— owes!itself!at!least!partially!to!music's!ability!to!sidestep!certain!dilemmas!of! representation,!precisely!because!of!the!qualities!outlined!above.!!!!

Secondly,!as!part!of!an!explosion!of!interest!in!the!recently!emerging! interdisciplinary!field!of!sound!studies,!new!attention!has!been!paid!to!the!ability!of! music!and!sound!itself—as!opposed!to!visual!stimuli—to!reconfigure!both!personal! and!public!experiences!of!space.36!Steven!Connor,!for!instance,!has!contrasted!“the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 34!Thomas!Mann,!Doctor$Faustus:$The$Life$of$the$German$Composer$Adrian$Leverkühn$as$Told$ by$a$Friend,!trans.!John!E.!Woods!(New!York:!A.A.!Knopf,!1997),!515.!italics!added.! 35!The!quote!is!from!An$die$Musik!(“Du!Sprache!wo!Sprachen!enden.”)! !36!See,!for!instance,!Georgina!Born,!ed.!Music,$Sound$and$Space:$Transformations$of$Public$ and$Private$Experience!(Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,!2013).!For!an!influential!

! 48! rationalized!'Cartesian!grid'!of!the!visualist!imagination”!with!the!“plural,!permeated! space”!of!its!aural!counterpart.!“The!self!defined!in!terms!of!hearing!rather!than! sight,”!Connor!writes,!“is!a!self!imagined!not!as!a!point,!but!as!a!membrane…!a! channel!through!which!voices,!noises!and!musics!travel.”37!!!!

As!such,!it!is!my!contention!that!sound!as!a!memorial!medium!offers!the! possibility!of!a!unique!and!more!immersive!grappling!with!the!performance!of! memory,!one!that!fosters!a!more!porous!and!potentially!textured!relationship! between!a!listener's!individual!subjectivity!and!an!event!being!summoned!from!the! past.!Bakhtin!coined!the!term!“chronotope”!to!articulate!the!linkage!of!space!and! time!in!literature,!but!his!description!of!this!device!proves!equally!suggestive!in! pinpointing!these!elusive!qualities!of!the!musical!memorial:!“Time,!as!it!were,! thickens,!takes!on!flesh,!becomes!artistically!visible;!likewise,!space!becomes! charged!and!responsive!to!the!movements!of!time,!plot!and!history.”38!!

Indeed,!Nora!and!others!have!criticized!the!tendency!of!physical!monuments! to!passively!record!memory!without!requiring!any!active!reckoning!with!the!past!at! issue.!How!musical!memorials—and!specifically!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw—in!fact! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! example!of!historical!work!on!the!intersection!of!acoustic!environments!with!identity!and! cultural!memory,!see!Corbin,!Village$Bells.!! 37!Quoted!in!Born,!Music,$Sound$and$Space,!3.!See!also!Steven!Connor’s!“The!Modern! Auditory!I”!in!Roy!Porter,!ed.!Rewriting$the$Self:$Histories$from$the$Renaissance$to$the$Present! (London:!Routledge,!1997),!203.!See!also!Michael!P.!Steinberg,!Listening$to$Reason:$Culture,$ Subjectivity$and$NineteenthFCentury$Music!(Princeton,!N.J.:!Princeton!University!Press,! 2004).! 38!M.!M.!Bakhtin,!The$Dialogic$Imagination:$Four$Essays,!trans.!Caryl!Emerson!and!Michael! Holquist!(Austin:!University!of!Texas!Press,!1981),!84.!Michael!Rothberg!uses!Bakhtin’s! notion!of!the!chronotope!as!a!lens!through!which!to!read!Adorno’s!essays!on!culture!“after! Auschwitz”!in!Michael!Rothberg,!Traumatic$Realism:$The$Demands$of$Holocaust$ Representation!(Minneapolis:!University!of!Minnesota!Press,!2000),!25J58.!For!a!perceptive! application!of!the!chronotope!concept!to!music,!with!reference!to!the!European!Jewish! musical!legacy,!see!Mark!Slobin,!Fiddler$on$the$Move:$Exploring$the$Klezmer$World!(Oxford:! Oxford!University!Press,!2000),!72J91.!

! 49! encourage!a!more!active!and!engaged!grappling!with!the!events!of!the!past!will!be!a! topic!explored!in!the!chapters!that!follow.!As!we!will!see,!the!work's!firstJperson! framing!through!the!role!of!its!narrator!allows!at!least!vicariously!for!what!we!might! call,!adapting!a!phrase!from!Nora,!an!“experience!of!memory!from!the!inside.”39!!

!

( American(Holocaust(Remembrance:(Chronologies(and(Forms( $

! As!is!well!known,!the!Holocaust!introduced!new!problems!in! memorialization,!both!ethical!and!aesthetic.!Those!problems!evolved!as!the!distance! from!the!historical!moment!itself!grew,!and!the!dominance!of!living!memory!(that!of! survivors)!gradually!receded.!That!said,!for!an!enterprise!as!visible!as!public! remembrance!and!commemoration,!there!has!been!a!surprising!amount!of! disagreement!about!when!American!Jews!and!the!public!at!large!actually!began!to!

“remember”!the!Holocaust.!According!to!a!long!dominant!interpretation,!the! extermination!of!European!Jewry!was!“hardly!talked!about!for!the!first!twenty!years! or!so!after!World!War!II;!then,!from!the!1970s!on,![it!became]!ever!more!central!in!

American!public!discourse—particularly,!of!course,!among!Jews,!but!also!in!the! culture!at!large.”40!!!

The!explanations!offered!for!this!supposed!conspiracy!of!silence!have!ranged! from!Jewish!communal!insecurity,!to!collective!guilt,!to!the!shifting!allegiances!of!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 39!Nora,!"Between!Memory!and!History,"!13.! 40!Novick,!The$Holocaust$in$American$Life,!1J2.!A!similar!sentiment!has!been!voiced!by!many! other!scholars!of!American!Jewish!life.!See!for!instance!Alan!L.!Mintz,!Popular$Culture$and$ the$Shaping$of$Holocaust$Memory$in$America!(Seattle:!University!of!Washington!Press,! 2001).!

! 50! Cold!War!geopolitics!(with!West!Germany!suddenly!an!ally!in!the!struggle!against! the!Soviet!Union!and!its!satellites).41!!Along!with!this!dominant!interpretation!of! postwar!silence!came!a!series!of!largely!agreed!upon!events!that,!according!to!this! narrative,!brought!the!Holocaust!out!of!the!shadows!in!North!America.!They!are! often!said!to!include,!among!other!events,!the!Israeli!arrest!and!prosecution!of!Adolf!

Eichmann!in!1960J61;!Israel's!initially!embattled!state,!followed!by!its!sweeping! military!victory,!in!the!Six!Day!War!of!1967;!and!the!popular!NBC!television! miniseries!“The!Holocaust,”!broadcast!in!1978.!Peter!Novick!has!influentially!(and! tendentiously)!argued!that!the!subsequent!purported!rise!of!“Holocaust! consciousness”!in!America!was!also!due!to!a!cynical!manipulation!on!the!part!of!

Jewish!organizations!seeking!to!court!sympathetic!responses!to!Jewish!politics!in!

America!or!Israel.42!!!!

! This!widely!held!notion!of!the!delayed!onset!of!American!Holocaust!memory! was!first!roundly!challenged!by!Hasia!Diner,!who!assailed!it!as!a!myth!“built!on! slipshod!scholarship!that!put!ideology!over!evidence.”!Diner!argued!instead!that!

American!Jews!in!the!early!postwar!years!“wove!the!catastrophe!deeply!into!the! basic!fabric!of!community!life!and!that!they!considered!what!they!said!and!did!as! monuments!to!Europe's!destroyed!Jewish!world.”43!In!a!volume!titled!After$the$

Holocaust:$Challenging$the$Myth$of$Silence,!coJeditor!David!Cesarani!sought!to! further!debunk!the!notion!of!Holocaust!amnesia,!suggesting!it!may!have!stemmed!in!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 41!See!for!instance!Novick,!The$Holocaust$in$American$Life,!85J88.! 42!See!David!Cesarani!and!Eric!J.!Sundquist,!eds.,!After$the$Holocaust:$Challenging$the$Myth$of$ Silence!(London;!New!York:!Routledge,!2012),!2.! 43!Diner,!We$Remember$with$Reverence$and$Love,!9.!

! 51! part!from!a!perception!by!survivors,!which!was!later!relayed!to!researchers,!that! their!own!stories!were!not!“being!heard”!in!the!early!postwar!years.44!!

In!addition!to!the!multitude!of!commemorative!communal!events!that!Diner! documents!as!evidence!of!early!Holocaust!memory,!there!were!also!internal!Jewish! communal!efforts!to!document!Nazi!atrocities.!These!began!simultaneously!with!the! atrocities!themselves,!building,!as!David!Roskies!has!suggested,!on!positivistic! methods!grimly!honed!in!modern!Jewish!massacres!dating!back!to!the!Kishinev! pogrom!of!1903.45!!!!!

! And!yet,!while!clearly!the!most!recent!wave!of!revisionist!scholarship!on!this! issue!has!made!important!contributions!to!a!fuller!understanding!of!postwar!

American!Jewish!attitudes!toward!the!Holocaust,!we!must!be!careful!to!avoid! replacing!one!myth!with!what!may!be!quickly!amounting!to!its!mirror!image,!a! version!that!overstates!the!prevalence!of!early!Holocaust!consciousness.!Clearly,!as!

Diner!and!others!have!shown,!commemorative!rituals!were!not!uncommon!within! different!sectors!and!silos!of!the!American!Jewish!community.!But!the!extent!to! which!that!early!consciousness!was!dispersed!into!the!population!at!large!remains! largely!unstudied.!So!does!the!pace!at!which!the!Holocaust!became!particularized,! that!is,!the!ways!in!which!it!came!to!be!understood!as!a!campaign!of!extermination!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 44!Cesarani!and!Sundquist,!After$the$Holocaust,!2.! 45!See!Roskies’s!essay!“The!Library!of!Jewish!Catastrophe”!in!Hartman,!Holocaust$ Remembrance.!The!Oyneg!Shabes!archive!compiled!in!the!Warsaw!Ghetto!is!perhaps!the! best!chronicled!of!these!attempts!at!documentation.!See!Samuel!D.!Kassow,!Who$Will$Write$ Our$History?:$Emanuel$Ringelblum,$the$Warsaw$Ghetto,$and$the$Oyneg$Shabes$Archive! (Bloomington:!Indiana!University!Press,!2007).!For!more!on!the!work!of!early!Jewish! historical!commissions,!and!the!efforts!of!amateur!Jewish!historians!at!work!in!displaced! persons!camps,!see!Laura!Jockusch,!Collect$and$Record!:$Jewish$Holocaust$Documentation$in$ Early$Postwar$Europe!(Oxford:!Oxford!University!Press,!2012).!!

! 52! targeting!European!Jews!as$such.!As!has!been!shown,!the!early!postwar!years!saw! many!of!the!first!efforts!to!frame!postwar!memory!either!through!a!“universalist”! lens,!or!through!the!lens!of!particular!nationalist!narratives.46!Paradigmatic!of!this! early!trend!was!the!1947!declaration!by!the!Polish!parliament!that!AuschwitzJ

Birkenau!would!be!“forever!preserved!as!a!memorial!to!the!martyrdom!of!the$Polish$ nation$and$other$peoples.”47!!

! I!suggest!that!this!backdrop!of!the!debates!on!the!chronology!and! particularity!of!early!Holocaust!memory!brings!a!special!relevance!to!the!early! reception!accorded!Schoenberg's!unmistakably!Jewish!sonic!memorial,!both!the! chilly!silence!with!which!it!was!greeted!by!the!conductor!Serge!Koussevitzky,!who! had!commissioned!it,!and!the!ecstatic!response!it!generated!at!its!actual!premiere!in!

1948!in!a!gymnasium!at!the!University!of!Albuquerque.!Both!events,!as!well!as!

Survivor’s!status!as!a!kind!of!test!case!for!debates!on!chronologies!of!early!Holocaust! memory,!will!be!discussed!in!Chapter!5.!!

*!*!*!

! To!return!to!our!broader!overview,!we!must!also!distinguish!between!a!more! abstract!notion!of!Holocaust!consciousness,!and!the!specific!memory!art!and! artifacts!through!which!it!was!enacted!and!displayed.!It!is!worth!noting!that!while! memorial!compositions!have!received!scant!attention!from!historians!of!postwar!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 46!For!another!important!work!of!revisionist!scholarship!on!postwar!memory,!one!that! challenges!the!dominant!narrative!stated!above!through!the!specificity!of!its!geographic! focus,!and!by!spotlighting!a!catalyzing!cultural!event!outside!the!standard!narrative,!see! Samuel!Moyn,!A$Holocaust$Controversy:$The$Treblinka$Affair$in$Postwar$France!(Waltham,! Mass.:!Brandeis!University!Press,!2005).! 47!Young,!The$Texture$of$Memory,!130.!For!more!on!what!Moyn!summarizes!as!“the! decomposition!of!universalist!(and!especially!antifascist)!memory!and!the!rise!of!genocidal! memory,”!see!Moyn,!A$Holocaust$Controversy,!45J85.!!

! 53! memory,!music!written!by!actual!survivors!was!already!being!performed,!largely!for! fellow!survivors,!in!DP!camps.48!Even!during!the!war!itself,!large!musical!pageants! were!staged!in!North!America!to!raise!awareness!of!the!Jewish!catastrophe!in!

Europe,!the!best!known!of!which!was!“We!Will!Never!Die,”!a!collaboration!between!

Ben!Hecht!and!Kurt!Weill!that!was!performed!twice!to!enormous!crowds!in!Madison!

Square!Garden!and!later!traveled!to!several!American!cities.49!!!

! And!yet!I!suggest!a!separate!category!must!be!reserved!for!memorial!art! created!firmly!after!the!Holocaust!itself,!art!that!by!its!nature!must!grapple!with!the! problems!of!representation;!that!is,!summoning,!depicting,!or!refracting!events!at!a! temporal!and!geographic!remove!from!their!occurrence.50!In!the!early!postwar! years,!these!issues!were!particularly!freighted!as!artists,!writers,!historians,!and! others,!set!out!to!respond!to!the!demands!of!memory!and!representation!without! prior!reference!points!for!doing!so.!The!Holocaust,!in!the!oftenJquoted!metaphor!by!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 48!Leo!Spellman’s!Rhapsody,!for!instance,!was!performed!at!a!Bavarian!Displaced!Persons! Camp!at!Fürstenfeldbruck.!See!Bret!Werb’s!“Music”!in!Peter!Hayes!and!John!K.!Roth,!The$ Oxford$Handbook$of$Holocaust$Studies!(Oxford:!Oxford!University!Press,!2010).!Yet!the! dominant!type!of!music!heard!in!the!DP!camps!was!what!Werb!calls!‘nostalgia!music’! defined!as!“repertoire!remembered!from!before!the!war!that!was!connected!to!sentimental! constructions!of!the!DPs’!past.”!See!Werb’s!“‘Vu!ahin!zol!ikh!geyn?’:!Music!Culture!of!Jewish! Displaced!Persons”!in!Frühauf!and!Hirsch,!Dislocated$Memories,!75.! 49!The!work!was!performed!in!Los!Angeles!at!the!Hollywood!Bowl!in!1943,!though!it!is!not! known!whether!Schoenberg!may!have!heard!a!broadcast.!In!New!York,!the!performances! broke!attendance!records!at!Madison!Square!Garden,!with!each!of!two!performances! attracting!20,000!people.!The!pageant!featured!a!section!called!“Remember!Us,”!which! sought!to!shatter!the!complacency!of!its!viewers!by!confronting!them!with!details!of!Nazi! barbarism!in!progress.!The!organized!American!Jewish!community!however!showed!a! marked!ambivalence!about!the!pageant,!and!prominent!local!funders!withdrew!their! support,!forcing!the!pageant’s!closure!after!a!tour!of!just!six!cities.!For!more!details!of!its! brief!career,!see!Stephen!J.!Whitfield,!"The!Politics!of!Pageantry,!1936J1946,"!American$ Jewish$History!84,!no.!3!(1996).! 50!On!the!issue!of!the!temporal!blurring!between!Holocaust!era!and!postJHolocaust! commemoration,!see!Loeffler,!“‘In!Memory!of!our!Murdered!(Jewish)!Children,’”!610J11.!

! 54! JeanJFrancois!Lyotard,!was!an!earthquake!that!had!shattered!all!the!instruments! designed!to!measure!it,!including!art.51!!

Or!had!it?!Needless!to!say,!responses!to!and!studies!of!the!Holocaust!have! grown!into!a!vast!and!practically!unmasterable!literature!extending!across!many! academic!disciplines,!from!history,!to!literature,!to!religion,!to!cultural!studies.!

Complicating!matters!for!anyone!seeking!to!synthesize!the!insights!from!multiple! fields!is!the!fact!that!the!approaches!often!depend!on!seemingly!irreconcilable! epistemological!assumptions!about!the!Holocaust!itself.!!Michael!Rothberg!has! offered!a!helpful!typology!in!sorting!through!these!different!approaches,!dividing! them!initially!along!what!he!calls!“realist”!and!“antiJrealist”!lines.52!In!this!scheme,! realists!view!the!Holocaust!as!knowable!and!describable!through!a!“familiar! mimetic!universe.”!They!emphasize!the!possibility!of!mapping!the!event!as!an! extension!of!known!discourses!of!knowledge.!Classic!realists,!in!Rothberg's!view! would!include!Hannah!Arendt,!with!her!concept!of!the!“banality!of!evil,”!Zygmunt!

Bauman!and!his!theories!of!the!modern!bureaucratization!of!genocide,!Christopher!

Browning!and!his!notion!of!“ordinary!men,”!or!even!Daniel!Goldhagen!with!his! theory!of!Hitler's!“willing!executioners.”!Realist!thinkers,!in!this!scheme,!often!hail! from!the!disciplines!of!history,!sociology,!or!political!science.!!

! Across!the!epistemological!divide!lie!the!antiJrealists,!typically!hailing!from! disciplines!of!literary!theory,!psychoanalysis,!and!religion.!These!approaches,! according!to!Rothberg,!tend!to!emphasize!the!unknowable!nature!of!the!event!itself,!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 51!Jean!François!Lyotard,!The$Differend:$Phrases$in$Dispute!(Minneapolis:!University!of! Minnesota!Press,!1988),!56J58.! 52!Rothberg,!Traumatic$Realism,!3.!!

! 55! its!quasiJsacred!status,!its!position!beyond!the!powers!of!reason!to!comprehend,! and!of!language!to!communicate.!One!may!think!here!of!Primo!Levi's!writings!in! which!his!acute!quasiJscientific!rendering!of!the!details!of!camp!life!are!often! qualified!by!his!deep!reservations!about!language!itself.!Words!are!the!only!tools!at! his!disposal,!and!yet!words!cannot!convey!the!nature!of!the!experience.53!Rothberg! also!cites!Elie!Wiesel's!claim!that!“Auschwitz!cannot!be!explained!nor!can!it!be! visualized”!and!Claude!Lanzmann's!statement!that!attempting!to!actually! understand!the!events!of!the!Holocaust!is!“obscene.”54!

! Finally,!Rothberg!suggests!a!third!category—“traumatic!realism”—that! mediates!between!these!two!seemingly!irreconcilable!approaches,!and!“marks!the! necessity!of!considering!how!the!ordinary!and!extraordinary!aspects!of!genocide! intersect!and!coexist.”55!These!rather!overJgeneral!categories!nonetheless! ultimately!position!us!to!see!the!role!of!early!memory!art!such!as!Survivor!as!a!work! of!traumatic!realism,!one!that!likewise!mediates!between!discreet!epistemological! regimes,!between!different!ways!of!knowing!the!past.!As!we!will!see!in!Chapters!4! and!5,!claims!of!documentary!realism!(or!ersatz!realism)!are!central!to!Survivor’s!!

“performance”!as!a!memorial,!as!the!title!page!bore!Schoenberg’s!statement!that!

“this!text!is!based!partly!upon!reports!which!I!have!received!directly!or!indirectly.”!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 53!To!cite!just!two!examples!from!Levi’s!Survival$in$Auschwitz:!“Our!language!lacks!words!to! express!this!offence,!the!demolition!of!a!man.”!And:!“If!the!Lagers!had!lasted!longer,!a!new,! harsh!language!would!have!been!born;!and!only!this!language!could!express!what!it!means! to!toil!the!whole!day!in!the!wind,!with!the!temperature!below!freezing,!wearing!only!a!shirt,! underpants,!cloth!jacket!and!trousers,!and!in!one’s!body!nothing!but!weakness,!hunger!and! knowledge!of!the!end!drawing!nearer.”!Primo!Levi,!Survival$in$Auschwitz:$The$Nazi$Assault$ on$Humanity!(New!York:!Collier!Books,!1961),!33,!129.! 54!See!Rothberg,!Traumatic$Realism,!3J5.! 55!Ibid.,!9.!

! 56! At!the!same!time,!the!narrator's!text!opens!precisely!by!casting!doubt!on!the! capacity!of!individual!memory!to!hold!such!an!extreme!event!in!its!grasp.!The! narrator’s!very!first!line!is:!“I!cannot!remember!ev’rything.”!!!

! In!this!sense,!a!sonic!memorial!such!as!Survivor,!as!an!embodiment!of!a!kind! of!traumatic!realism,!resists!a!sense!of!closure.!Further,!it!suggests!qualities!that!

Saul!Friedlander!has!demanded!of!historical!writing!on!the!Holocaust:!that!such! writing,!even!if!positivistic!in!nature,!does!not!avoid!aspects!of!the!Holocaust!which! remain!“indeterminate,!elusive!and!opaque.”56!His!injunction!may!indeed!be! extended,!and!adapted,!for!anyone!writing!about!the!history!of!Holocaust!memory.57!

More!specifically,!we!must!remain!cognizant!of!a!tension!in!the!very!nature!of!this! enterprise.!Works!of!memory,!when!performed,!attempt!to!subvert!historicization! precisely!because!memory!itself!implies!the!continued!presence!of!a!past,!thereby! resisting!the!imposition!of!a!historian’s!critical!distance.!Scholars!must!therefore! find!routes!of!approach!to!such!works!that!do!not!a$priori!dismiss!but!rather! preserve!this!unique,!constitutive!tension:!by!viewing!the!memorial's!production!as! embedded!in!its!time!and!place!but!also!by!recognizing!that!its!power!resides! precisely!in!how!steadfastly!it!refuses!to!admit!the!pastness!of!the!past.!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 56!See!Friedlander’s!essay!“Trauma,!Memory,!and!Transference”!in!Hartman,!Holocaust$ Remembrance,!261.!See!also!the!insightful!reading!of!Friedlander’s!own!narrative!style!in! Alon!Confino,!“Narrative!Form!and!Historical!Sensation:!On!Saul!Friedländer’s!The!Years!of! Extermination,”!in!Christian!Wiese!and!Paul!Betts,!eds.,!Years$of$Persecution,$Years$of$ Extermination:$Saul$Friedlander$and$the$Future$of$Holocaust$Studies!(London:!Continuum,! 2010),!33J54.! 57!Christian!Meier,!in!an!obituary!of!historian!Martin!Broszat,!articulated!this!linkage!in!the! opposite!direction,!when!he!wrote!that!“The!mythical!quality!that![Broszat]!attributed!to! the!memory!of!the!victims!is!inherent!in!the!event!itself…!and!no!historical!analysis!will!be! able!to!solve!this.!All!historical!work!on!the!events!of!this!period!will!have!to!be!pursued!or! considered!in!its!relation!to!the!events!of!Auschwitz!(Zum$Grossen$Ganzen$von$Auschwitz)….$ Here,!all!historicization!reaches!its!limits!(Hier$stoesst$alle$Historisierung$an$ihre$Grenze.)! Quoted!in!ibid.,!253.!!

! 57! Here!we!may!submit!for!consideration!one!additional!mediumJspecific! quality!of!the!musical!memorial,!intimately!linked!to!this!particular!aspect!of! memoryJart.!Philosophers!of!music!have!debated!the!question!of!where— precisely—the!musical!art!resides.!Is!Beethoven's!Ninth!to!be!found!in!the!score!of!

Beethoven's!Ninth?!Is!it!located!in!a!particular!performance!of!this!symphony,!in!the! average!of!many!performances!over!time,!or!in!some!Platonic!idealized!version!of!its! score!as!realized!in!sound?58!!!

These!philosophical!questions!lie!outside!the!boundaries!of!the!present! study,!but!we!can!at!least!identify!that!this!creative/reJcreative!dynamic!is!a!unique! aspect!of!music,!one!that!represents!a!mediumJspecific!distinction!from,!for! instance,!painting!or!sculpture.!One!may!then!go!further!to!suggest!that!the!act!of! musical!performance—of!any!score—exposes!listeners!uniquely!to!an!enlarged! temporal!scheme,!a!dualJchronology!embedded!in!a!single!musical!moment:!that!is,! a!linkage!of!the!present!tense!of!the!listener,!experiencing!a!performance!in!the! concert!hall,!with!the!present!tense!of!the!music!at!the!time!of!its!composition.!!

It!is!in!this!sense!then,!too,!that!a!musical!monument!carries!in!it!a!memory!of! its!own!history.!And!a!performance!of!a!musical!memorial!as!such—a!work!whose! subject!is!also!memory—can!therefore!be!seen!as!a!kind!of!doubly!potent!refusal!“to! keep!the!past!in!the!past.”!The!result!of!this!refusal!is!perhaps!what!we!ultimately! mean!when!we!describe!the!experience!of!a!musical!memorial!with!bland!words! such!as!“moving”!or!“powerful.”!In!the!best!of!these!works,!the!performance!of! memory—as!articulated!through!the!performance!of!music!(the!realization!of!a! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 58!For!an!incisive!treatment!of!this!subject,!see!Lydia!Goehr,!The$Imaginary$Museum$of$ Musical$Works:$An$Essay$in$the$Philosophy$of$Music!(Oxford:!Oxford!University!Press,!1992).!

! 58! score)—helps!dispel!what!Walter!Benjamin,!in!his!Theses$on$the$Philosophy$of$

History,!described!as!the!expanse!of!“homogenous,!empty!time”!separating!the! present!from!the!past.!In!short,!this!final!mediumJspecific!claim!about!the!potential! of!the!musical!memorial!is!ultimately!connected!to!perceptions!of!time.!Instead!of! this!“homogenous,!empty!time”!separating!us!from!the!past,!the!best!memorial! works!have!the!potential!to!bring!us!closer!to!what!Benjamin!described!as!the!

Jetztzeit,!“time!filled!by!the!presence!of!the!now.”59!

!

( ( Memorialization(and(the(Politics(of(Aesthetic(Style( ! !

The!observations!in!this!chapter!have!thus!far!aimed!to!sketch!a!rough! anatomy!and!genealogy!of!the!musical!memorial,!to!identify!its!salient! distinguishing!features!from!the!other!types!of!memory!art,!and!to!focus!our! attention!on!aspects!of!the!sonic!memorial!as!such.!In!this!approach!I!build!on!the! insights!of!the!emerging!field!of!sound!studies,!a!field!that!has!attempted!to!treat! musical!phenomena!as!a!subset!of!sound!itself.!Subsequent!chapters!will!focus!on!

Schoenberg!and!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!in!detail,!but!this!present!chapter!will! conclude!by!pointing!this!generalized!discussion!of!the!musical!memorial!in!the! direction!of!Survivor$with!some!observations!about!the!particular!aesthetic!choices!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 59!Italics!mine.!See!“Theses!on!the!Philosophy!of!History”!in!Benjamin,!Illuminations,!251.! Michael!Rothberg!and!others!have!applied!Benjamin’s!“Theses”$to!discussions!of!the! problems!of!Holocaust!representation.!See,!for!instance,!Rothberg,!Traumatic$Realism,!10J 11.!Benjamin’s!work,!to!my!knowledge,!has!not!been!applied!to!discussions!of!the!musical! memorial!as!a!genre.!Following!the!widespread!trend!in!memory!studies,!Rothberg,!in!his! broader!treatment!of!“the!demands!of!Holocaust!representation,”!ignores!music!entirely.!!

! 59! involved.!!At!this!point,!we!may!look!more!specifically!at!the!musical!language!of!the! piece:!specifically,!Schoenberg's!choice!to!compose!his!memorial!using!the!12Jtone! method,!sometimes!also!referred!to!as!serial!or!dodecaphonic!music.!!

As!discussed!in!the!next!chapter,!Schoenberg!discovered!this!technique!in!the! early!1920s,!and!employed!it!as!a!means!of!structuring!his!music,!and!controlling! what!he!called!“the!emancipation!of!dissonance,”!or!atonality.!(Most!simply! described,!serialism!calls!for!the!use!of!a!tone!row—a!particular!ordering!of!the!12! notes!of!the!chromatic!scale—to!replace!tonality!as!the!organizing!principle!of!a! work!of!music.)!In!recent!years,!a!number!of!scholars!have!examined!the!various! political!implications!of!composers’!aesthetic!choices,!with!particular!regard!to!12J tone!music,!which!was!reviled!by!both!Nazi!and!Soviet!cultural!authorities.!Soviet! cultural!censors!saw!12Jtone!music!as!the!embodiment!of!Western!“formalism,”!and! as!the!style!most!distant!from!their!preferred!tenets!of!Socialist!Realism,!difficult!as! those!tenets!may!have!been!to!apply!to!music.60!Nazi!censors!branded!Jewish! composers!of!12Jtone!music!as!“degenerate”!artists.!!During!the!Cold!War!period,! due!in!part!to!this!very!opposition!of!its!enemies,!12Jtone!music!enjoyed!a!certain!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 60!The!cultural!commissar!responsible!for!enforcing!Soviet!musical!policy!for!over!four! decades!was!Tikhon!Khrennikov,!president!of!the!Composers’!Union.!Appointed!by!Stalin!in! 1948,!Khrennikov,!who!in!his!early!days!denounced!both!Shostakovich!and!Prokofiev,! improbably!held!his!post!until!the!end!of!the!Soviet!Union.!Even!after!its!fall,!he!remained! unrepentant,!and!lived!until!2007.!In!a!2001!interview!with!the!author,!Khrennikov,!of!all! people,!made!the!surprisingly!bald!admission!that!“Socialist!realism!had!nothing!to!do!with! music.!Maybe!in!literature!or!fine!arts,!it!was!applied!more!to!those!spheres.!But!to!music,!it! just!could!not!be!applied.!To!say!music!of!socialist!realism!is![to!say]!something!very! stupid.”!See!Jeremy!Eichler,!“The!Denouncer,”!The$Boston$Globe,!2!September!2007.!For!a! revisionist!take!on!Khrennikov,!see!Kiril!Tomoff,!Creative$Union:$The$Professional$ Organization$of$Soviet$Composers,$1939F1953!(Ithaca,!N.Y.:!Cornell!University!Press,!2006).!

! 60! prestige!in!both!the!United!States!and!West!Germany,!as!serialism!became! simplistically!coded!as!antiJSoviet.61!

And!yet,!a!close!consideration!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!invites!us!to! consider!not!just!Schoenberg's!own!stylistic!choices!but!also!the!way!these!choices! were!perceived!by!his!listeners!in!the!context!of!a!memorial!to!the!Holocaust.!To!this! day,!serial!music!often!encounters!the!hostility!of!the!general!public,!and!very!few! works!by!Schoenberg!have!entered!the!standard!orchestral!repertoire.!The!fact!that!

Survivor$has!done!so,!almost!uniquely!among!the!composer's!12Jtone!works,!should! not!be!explained!away!with!reference!to!the!score's!extraJmusical!status!(as! referenced!in!the!above!discussion!of!Britten's!War$Requiem).!Rather,!as!I!will! attempt!to!show,!this!work's!popular!reception!underscores!its!heretofore! unrecognized!status!as!a!landmark!in!the!history!of!listening.!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 61!See!Amy!C.!Beal,!New$Music,$New$Allies:$American$Experimental$Music$in$West$Germany$ from$the$Zero$Hour$to$Reunification!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!2006).!And! Laura!Silverberg,!"Between!Dissonance!and!Dissidence:!Socialist!Modernism!in!the!German! Democratic!Republic,"!The$Journal$of$Musicology!26,!no.!1!(2009).!Both!Copland!and! Stravinsky!adopted!12Jtone!techniques!during!the!Cold!War!period.!For!discussions!of!the! political!contexts!of!their!aesthetic!choices,!see!Anne!Shreffler’s!article!“Ideologies!of! Serialism:!Stravinsky’s!Threni!and!the!Congress!for!Cultural!Freedom”!in!Karol!Berger!and! Anthony!Newcomb,!eds.,!Music$and$the$Aesthetics$of$Modernity:$Essays!(Cambridge,!Mass.:! Harvard!University!Press,!2005).!See!also!Jennifer!DeLappJBirkett,!"Aaron!Copland!and!the! Politics!of!TwelveJTone!Composition!in!the!Early!Cold!War!United!States,"!Journal$of$ Musicological$Research!27,!no.!1!(2008).!On!the!Nazi!category!of!“degenerate!music,”!see! Albrecht!Dümling’s!“Target!of!racial!purity:!the!‘degenerate!music’!exhibition!in!Düsseldorf,! 1938”!in!Richard!A.!Etlin,!ed.!Art,$Culture,$and$Media$under$the$Third$Reich!(Chicago:! University!of!Chicago!Press,!2002).!It!has!been!observed!that!the!breadth!of!composers! whose!music!was!branded!“degenerate”!by!the!Nazis!makes!a!farce!out!of!the!notion!that! such!distinctions!were!based!on!aesthetic!rather!than!ethnicJracial!terms.!The!fact!that! Schoenberg!and!Korngold!both!fell!into!the!“degenerate”!camp!would!seem!a!case!in!point.! Schoenberg!himself!also!liked!to!point!to!a!12Jtone!opera!by!the!German!composer!Paul!von! Klenau,!written!in!Germany!and!accepted!as!legitimate!during!the!Nazi!period,!as!further! evidence!of!the!fact!that,!at!the!very!least,!Nazi!aesthetic!categories!were!not!uniformly! applied.!See!“Is!it!Fair?”!in!Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea,!249.!!!!!

! 61! Indeed,!in!recent!years,!historians!have!taken!an!expanded!interest!in!the! history!of!the!senses!more!broadly,!to!the!point!that,!as!Martin!Jay!has!written,!

“exploring!the!infinite!variety!of!sensual!experience!has!become!a!staple!of! contemporary!historical!analysis.”62!The!history!of!hearing!has!generated!its!own! burgeoning!body!of!historical!literature,63!including!works!which!have!documented! the!ways!in!which!listening!itself—not!the!auditory!faculty!as!such!but!the! assignment!of!meaning!to!sound—is!culturally!and!historically!mediated.!As!one! historian!has!summarized!the!insights!of!several!studies!in!this!area:!!

[the]!basic!auditory!perception,!as!well!as!the!kind!of!hearing!we!call!active! listening,!is!historically!variable;!it!depends!on!incidental!and!deliberate! changes!in!technology,!the!environment,!aesthetics,!and!social!relations!and! is!also!generative!of!those!changes.!Hearing!as!a!form!of!sense!perception!is,! in!this!literature,!a!cultural!effect!as!much!as!a!physiological!one.!Even!as! simple!a!question!as!what!rises!to!the!level!of!music!or!sinks!to!the!level!of! noise!turns!out!to!be!largely!socially!and!ideologically!determined,!a!question! of!prevailing!standards!of!taste!and!toleration!as!well!as!habits!of!attention.64! !

Returning!to!Survivor,!we!may!say!that!in!this!work,!the!“emancipated! dissonance”!of!Schoenberg's!serial!music!attained!for!its!early!listeners!an!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 62!Jay,!"In!the!Realm!of!the!Senses:!An!Introduction,"!307.! 63!For!a!wellJchosen!sampler!of!scholarship!in!this!area!see,!Smith,!Hearing$History:$A$ Reader.!See!also!Alain!Corbin,!Village$Bells.!Peter!Szendy,!Listen:$A$History$of$Our$Ears,!trans.! Charlotte!Mandell!(New!York:!Fordham!University!Press,!2008).!Johnson,!Listening$in$Paris:$ A$Cultural$History.!Matthew!Riley,!Musical$Listening$in$the$German$Enlightenment:$Attention,$ Wonder$and$Astonishment!(Aldershot,!Hants,!England:!Ashgate!Pub.!Co.,!2004).!And!Mark!M.! Smith,!Listening$to$NineteenthFCentury$America!(Chapel!Hill:!University!of!North!Carolina! Press,!2001).!For!the!German!cultural!context!see!Nora!M.!Alter!and!Lutz!P.!Koepnick,!eds.,! Sound$Matters:$Essays$on$the$Acoustics$of$Modern$German$Culture!(New!York:!Berghahn! Books,!2004).!On!the!shifting!definitions!of!noise,!the!pioneering!text!is!Jacques!Attali,!Noise:$ The$Political$Economy$of$Music!(Minneapolis:!University!of!Minnesota!Press,!1985).! 64!Rosenfeld,!"On!Being!Heard:!A!Case!for!Paying!Attention!to!the!Historical!Ear,"!318.!

! 62! unprecedented!level!of!narrative!legibility.!In!essence,!“noise”!became!“music.”65!

And!not!just!any!music!but!one!that!aspired!to!a!documentary!(if!“traumatic”)! realism.!Schoenberg's!use!of!dissonance!had!been!so!often!rejected!by!the!public!as! incomprehensible!when!it!applied!to!dark!and!unstable!psychic!states,!as!in!the!

1909!monodrama!Erwartung,!a!work!whose!expressionistic!gestures!are!often! compared!to!those!of!Survivor.!But!in!Survivor,!the!music’s!jagged!surfaces!and!

Schoenberg's!harshly!dissonant!language!“made!sense”!to!a!lay!public!through!the! introduction!of!a!historical!referent:!the!bald!violence!of!the!scene!he!depicts,!or! more!broadly,!the!social!dissonance!that!found!its!purest!expression!in!the!Final!

Solution.!!!

Another!approach!to!this!same!theme!may!be!offered!through!the!terms! developed!by!Peter!Bürger!in!his!Theory$of$the$AvantFGarde.!Bürger's!influential! study!positioned!the!nineteenthJcentury!project!of!l'art$pour$l'art!as!the!culmination! of!the!aestheticist!quest!to!create!an!autonomous!space!for!art!as!freed!from!the! influence!of!church!or!state.!For!Bürger,!the!twentieth!century's!highJmodernism! was!fundamentally!a!continuation!of!this!quest!to!define!an!autonomous!sphere!for! high!art.!This!valorization!of!artistic!autonomy,!however,!is!precisely!what!the! interwar!movements!such!as!Dada!and!surrealism!sought!to!criticize:!art's!hermetic! separation!from!politics!and!history.!Bürger!coined!the!term!“historical!avantJ

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 65!On!the!historical!distinction!between!“noise”!and!“music”!in!the!European!aural! imagination,!with!specific!reference!to!Schoenberg,!see!HaCohen,!The$Music$Libel$against$the$ Jews,!286J339.!

! 63! garde”!to!describe!these!critical!movements!that!sought!to!angle!the!modern! aesthetic!impulse!outward!to!grapple!with!its!times.66!

Bürger's!framework!provides!us!with!the!terminology!to!identify!the! significant!shift!represented!by!Survivor.!By!pivoting!to!address!the!horrors!of!the!

Holocaust!so!directly,!Schoenberg!reJoriented!his!art!from!its!position!of!highJ modernist!detachment!to!a!mode!much!closer!to!that!of!the!historical!avantJgarde.!

Indeed,!despite!his!own!sharp!critique!in!earlier!decades!of!soJcalled!politically! engaged!art—crystallized!in!his!break!with!his!former!student!Hanns!Eisler—

Schoenberg!here!(as!in!his!Ode$to$Napoleon,!also!a!product!of!the!1940s)!abandons! strictly!aesthetic!concerns!to!address!the!defining!political!and!historical!event!of! his!time.67!

Schoenberg!remained!rather!poignantly!oblivious!to!the!historicalJaesthetic! intersection!at!which!Survivor!was!uniquely!perched.!He!entertained!the!possibility! that!the!rave!reception!Survivor$received!at!its!world!premiere!(described!in!

Chapter!5)!might!mark!a!broader!change!in!American!attitudes!toward!his!music.! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 66!See!Peter!Bürger,!Theory$of$the$AvantFGarde,!trans.!Michael!Shaw!(Minneapolis:!University! of!Minnesota!Press,!1984).!See!also!Andreas!Huyssen,!After$the$Great$Divide:$Modernism,$ Mass$Culture,$Postmodernism!(Bloomington:!Indiana!University!Press,!1986).!Huyssen! helpfully!places!the!highJmodernist!commitment!to!autonomy!in!the!context!of!the!fascist! and!communist!threats!of!midJcentury!that!were,!from!the!right!and!from!the!left,!bent!on! the!appropriation!of!art!to!political!ends.!Against!this!backdrop,!insistence!on!art’s! independence!or,!in!Adorno’s!terms,!negative!relationship!with!culture,!can!be!seen!as!a! logical!defense.!! 67!In!his!survey!of!Southern!California’s!artistic!émigrés,!Erhard!Bahr!identifies!this!turning! toward!history!as!a!key!component!of!what!he!terms!“exile!modernism.”!See!Bahr,!Weimar$ on$the$Pacific.!It!is!also!worth!noting!that,!to!some!extent,!Schoenberg’s!image!as!a! revolutionary!isolated!from!history!and!politics!was!itself!a!caricature,!one!to!which!his!own! early!aphoristic!pronouncements!often!leant!credence.!Recent!scholarship!has!also!shown! the!extent!to!which!this!image!was!shaped!by!the!postwar!avantJgarde!to!suit!its!own! political!agenda.!See,!for!instance,!Richard!Toop’s!essay!“Schoenberg:!dead!or!alive?”!in! Joseph!Auner!and!Jennifer!Robin!Shaw,!eds.,!The$Cambridge$Companion$to$Schoenberg! (Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,!2010).!

! 64! But!others!grasped!the!uniqueness!of!this!score.!In!Survivor,$Adorno!wrote,!

Schoenberg!“suspends!the!aesthetic!sphere!through!the!recollection!of!experiences! which!are!inaccessible!to!art.!Anxiety,!Schoenberg's!expressive!core,!identifies!itself! with!the!terror!of!men!in!the!agonies!of!death,!under!total!domination.!The!sounds! of!Erwartung,$the!shocks!of!the!Music$for$the$Film,$of!'impending!danger,!anxiety,! catastrophe,'!finally$meet$what$they$had$always$prophesied….”!Adorno!concludes:!

“Horror!has!never!rung!as!true!in!music.”68!

!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 68!“Arnold!Schoenberg”!in!Theodor!W.!Adorno,!Prisms,!trans.!Samuel!and!Shierry!Weber! (Cambridge,!Mass.:!MIT!Press,!1981),!172.!Italics!added.!!

! 65! ! Chapter(3( ( Arnold(Schoenberg:(Between(Emancipation(and(Memory(( ! ! “I!have!made!a!discovery!thanks!to!which!the!supremacy!of!German! music!is!ensured!for!the!next!hundred!years.”!! ! –!Schoenberg!on!the!discovery!of!his!12Jtone!technique,!1921! ! “For!I!have!at!last!learnt!the!lesson!that!has!been!forced!upon!me!during! this!year,!and!I!shall!not!ever!forget!it.!It!is!that!I!am!not!a!German,!not!a! European,!indeed!perhaps!scarcely!even!a!human!being!…!but!I!am!a! Jew.”!! –!Schoenberg!to!Kandinsky,!April!1923! ! “Please!accept![the!dedication!of!my!opera!“Lulu”],!not!only!as!a!product! of!years!of!work!most!devoutly!consecrated!to!you,!but!also!as!an! outward!document:!the!whole!world—the!German!world,!too—is!to! recognize!in!the!dedication!that!this!German!opera—like!all!my! works—is!indigenous$to!the!realm!of!that$most$German$of$music,!which! will!bear!your!name!for!all!eternity.”! ! –!Berg!to!Schoenberg,!August!1934! ! ! !

Arnold!Schoenberg's!controversial!music!and!the!mythology!surrounding!his! artistic!revolution!have!long!overshadowed!the!actual!contours!of!his!biography,!a! geographic!journey!with!stops!in!three!iconic!centers!of!European!modernism:!finJ deJsiècle!Vienna,!interwar!Berlin,!and!finally,!Los!Angeles!of!the!1930s!and!1940s.!

Indeed,!Schoenberg's!own!contributions!to!musical!modernism,!and!those!of!his! disciples!Alban!Berg!and!Anton!Webern,!have!been!seen!as!so!archetypal—and!so! hegemonic—in!determining!the!definitions!of!progress!in!twentiethJcentury!music,! that!revisionist!scholars!have!found!it!necessary!to!argue!for!serious!consideration!

! 66! of!contemporary!composers!pushed!to!the!historical!margins!because!they!took! nonJSchoenbergian!approaches!to!envisioning!music’s!future.1!!!

! For!the!purposes!of!this!dissertation,!this!biographic!chapter!will!focus!on!the! currents!of!Schoenberg's!life!and!work!most!vital!to!understanding,!first,!his!role!as! creator!of!the!earliest!significant!musical!memorial!to!the!extermination!of!

European!Jewry,!and!secondly,!the!nature!and!meaning!of!A$Survivor$From$Warsaw.!

This!will!entail!an!exploration!of!the!rather!complex!evolution!of!Schoenberg’s!own! idiosyncratic!relationship!with!Judaism,!a!prism!through!which!an!increasing! number!of!scholars!in!recent!years!have!been!profitably!viewing!his!life!and!work.2!

Far!from!something!immutable!or!essential,!Schoenberg’s!identity!is!perhaps!most! accurately!understood—with!help!from!the!enormous!body!of!documentary! evidence!he!left!behind,!as!well!as!the!“texts”!of!his!musical!estate—as!an!ongoing! attempt!to!mediate!between!powerful!fields!of!Deutschtum$and!Judentum,!cultural!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!For!a!summary!of!the!dominant!narrative!prominent!in!writings!on!musical!modernism,! see!Frisch,!German$Modernism:$Music$and$the$Arts,!4.!For!examples!of!efforts!to!redress!the! imbalance!implied!therein,!see!both!Frisch’s!German$Modernism!as!well!as!Christopher! Hailey,!"Franz!Schreker!and!the!Pluralities!of!Modernism,"!Tempo!!(2002).! 2!For!the!first!major!attempt!to!address!Schoenberg’s!life!and!art!through!the!lens!of!his! Jewish!identity,!see!Alexander!Ringer,!Arnold$Schoenberg:$The$Composer$as$Jew!(New!York:! Oxford!University!Press,!1990).!Subsequent!studies!that!have!fruitfully!considered! Schoenberg’s!Judaism!include!Móricz,!Jewish$Identities;!David!Schiller,!Bloch,$Schoenberg,$ and$Bernstein:$Assimilating$Jewish$Music!(New!York:!Oxford!University!Press,!2003);!Brown,! Schoenberg$and$Redemption;!Leon!Botstein,!“Arnold!Schoenberg:!Language,!Modernism,!and! Jewish!Identity”!in!Wistrich,!Austrians$and$Jews$in$the$Twentieth$Century,!162J83;!Philip! Bohlman,!“The!transcendent!moment!of!Jewish!modernism”!and!“Beyond!Jewish! modernism,”!in!Philip!Bohlman,!ed.!Jewish$Musical$Modernism,$Old$and$New!(Chicago:! University!of!Chicago!Press,!2008),!1J29!and!153J77;!Charlotte!Cross!and!Russell!Berman,! eds.,!Political$and$Religious$Ideas$in$the$Works$of$Arnold$Schoenberg!(New!York:!Garland! Pub.,!2000);!Bluma!Goldstein,!“Word,!Image,!Idea:!Schoenberg!and!Moses!–!A!Tragic! Coexistence”!in!Bluma!Goldstein,!Reinscribing$Moses:$Heine,$Kafka,$Freud,$and$Schoenberg$in$ a$European$Wilderness!(Cambridge:!Harvard!University!Press,!1992),!192;!Ruth!HaCohen,! "Sounds!of!Revelation:!AestheticJPolitical!Theology!in!Schoenberg's!Moses!Und!Aron,"! Modernist$Cultures!1,!no.!2!(2005)!and!The$Music$Libel$against$the$Jews,!286J339.!

! 67! forces!that!he!experienced!with!great!intensity!across!a!period!of!two!world!wars! and!seismic!historical!disruption.!!

As!we!will!see,!Survivor’s$chronological!status!as!among!the!very!first!works! of!its!particular!subJgenre!must!be!understood!with!reference!to!Schoenberg’s!own! position!on!the!leading!edge!of!a!particular!cultural!curve,!one!that!dates!back!more! than!two!decades!before!the!work’s!composition.!He!was!one!of!the!first!prominent!

JewishJborn!artists!to!detect,!in!the!early!1920s,!a!shift!toward!a!newly!virulent!antiJ

Semitism,!and!one!of!the!first!to!intuit!the!direction!in!which!it!was!headed.3!At!that! point,!after!more!than!two!decades!of!what!he!later!described!as!a!“messianic”!belief! in!the!redemptive!promise!of!assimilation!into!German!culture,!Schoenberg! forcefully,!if!fitfully,!reclaimed!a!Jewish!identity.!Here,!however,!it!must!be!added! that!a!narrative!of!“reclamation”!is!highly!problematic!in!Schoenberg’s!case,!to!the! extent!that!it!implies!a!return!to!aspects!of!a!Jewish!identity!that!were!present!at!an! earlier!stage!in!his!life.!As!we!will!see,!little!is!known!of!what!positive!content!may! be!ascribed!to!Schoenberg’s!Jewish!identity!prior!to!(or!immediately!after)!his! conversion!to!Protestantism!in!1898,!about!which!more!will!of!course!follow!below.!!!

And!so!the!interpretation!offered!here!will!contrast!with!those!that!have! viewed!the!composer!as!possessing!a!latent!Jewishness!or!agonizing!selfJ

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3!In!a!frequently!quoted!letter!of!1923!to!Kandinsky,!Schoenberg!wrote!“Trotsky!and!Lenin! spilt!rivers!of!blood!(which,!by!the!way,!no!revolution!in!the!history!of!the!world!could!ever! avoid!doing!),!in!order!to!turn!a!theory…into!reality…!But!what!is!antiJSemitism!to!lead!to!if! not!to!acts!of!violence?!Is!it!so!difficult!to!imagine!that?”!See!Jelena!HahlJKoch,!ed.!Arnold$ Schoenberg,$Wassily$Kandinsky:$Letters,$Pictures,$and$Documents!(London!and!Boston:!Faber! &!Faber,!1984),!81J82.!

! 68! consciousness!running!from!his!childhood!to!maturity.4!But!it!will!also!depart!from! those!that!have!seen!him!as!a!wouldJbe!assimilated!Jew!shocked!into!a!radical! kneejerk!embrace!of!a!kind!of!militant!political!Jewishness!colored!paradoxically!by!

Nazi!antiJSemitic!propaganda!and!utopian!fascist!ideology.5!Rather,!I!suggest!in!this! chapter!that!the!version!of!Jewish!identity!Schoenberg!carried!into!his!American! exile!was!assembled!all!but!exJnihilo!during!the!1920s,!and!incorporated!a!kind!of! retrofitting!of!several!traits!and!tendencies!reflected!in!his!music!and!writing!of!the! previous!decades.!These!tendencies!may!be!enumerated!as,!firstly,!a!native!religious! or!spiritual!disposition!in!his!personality!and!reflected!in!his!music!as!early!as!his! unfinished!1914!oratorio!Die$Jakobsleiter.6!Secondly,!a!penchant!for!racialized! and/or!nationalistic!assertions!of!identity!that!was!very!much!of!a!piece!with!the! intellectual!currents!of!his!finJdeJsiècle!milieu.!(These!assertions!were!initially! linked!to!German!culture!when!he!saw!himself!as!one!of!its!torchbearers.!After!what! he!later!called!his!“ejection”!from!Deutschtum,!he!worked!with!equal!vehemence!on! behalf!of!what!he!called!“the!Jewish!national!cause.”)!And!thirdly,!a!certain!tendency! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4!André!Neher,!for!instance,!writes!that!“Converted!to!Christianity!in!1898,!Arnold! Schönberg!had!never!ceased!to!consider!himself,!to!conduct!himself,!and!to!create!his!work! as!a!Jew…”!See!André!Neher,!They$Made$Their$Souls$Anew,!trans.!David!Maisel!(Albany:!State! University!of!New!York!Press,!1990),!14.! 5!See,!for!instance,!Gabriel!Saul!Cooper,!"Fantasies!of!Jewish!Power:!Religion!and!State!in! German!Jewish!Writing!from!Mendelssohn!to!Schoenberg"!(Ph.D!Dissertation,!University!of! Virginia,!2013).!In!her!analysis!of!Schoenberg’s!political!writing!of!the!1930s,!Klara!Moricz! has!described!the!composer’s!“political!fantasy”!as!“an!eerie!copy!of!the!frightening!political! reality!of!his!time.”!See!Móricz,!Jewish$Identities,!221.!! 6!In!a!speech!delivered!as!the!Freud!Anniversary!Lecture!at!the!New!York!Academy!of! Medicine,!Yosef!Hayim!Yerushalmi!offered!an!extensive!comparison!between!Freud!and! Schoenberg’s!conception!of!Moses.!In!it!he!accentuates!the!salient!differences!between! Freud’s!atheism!(writing!about!Moses!as,!Freud!believed,!a!historian)!and!Schoenberg’s! nonJdogmatic!religiosity!(treating!Moses!“as!a!philosopherJtheologian”).!Yerushalmi!goes!as! far!as!describing!Schoenberg!as!the!“homo$religiosus.”!For!a!published!version!of!the! address,!see!Yerushalmi,!"The!Moses!of!Freud!and!the!Moses!of!Schoenberg:!On!Words,! Idolatry,!and!Psychoanalysis."!!

! 69! to!see!himself!as!“chosen”!or!destined!for!larger!leadership!roles!in!the!face!of!the! indifference!or!hostility!of!a!wider!public.!Again,!this!sense!of!self!was!honed! elsewhere—as!I!will!argue,!in!the!crucible!of!his!musical!revolution—but!it!was!then! applied!to!his!selfJappointed!role!as!a!savior!of!European!Jewry!on!the!eve!of!its! destruction.!At!that!point,!one!might!say,!the!Moses!of!modernism!set!out!to!become! the!modern!Moses!of!the!Jews.!In!this!context,!we!will!look!closely!at!the!defining! masterpiece!from!the!close!of!his!European!period,!the!biblical!opera!Moses$und$

Aron.!I!will!suggest!that!the!shape!and!thematic!content!of!this!work!was!very!much! overdetermined,!as!was!the!fact!that,!despite!his!best!efforts!to!complete!it,!

Schoenberg!left!the!opera!unfinished!at!the!time!of!his!death.!$

! For!both!practical!and!hermeneutical!purposes,!this!chapter!will!treat!

Schoenberg’s!life!in!three!larger!sections.!The!first!ranges!from!his!birth!until!the! notorious!Mattsee!incident!of!1921;!the!second!period!extends!through!his! expulsion!from!Germany!in!1933;!and!the!third!period!covers!his!life!in!the!United!

States,!with!a!focus!on!his!time!in!Los!Angeles.!What!appears!below!is!naturally!not! intended!as!a!comprehensive!portrait,!but!rather!as!a!selective!biographic! contextualization!and!interpretation,!one!that!is!necessary!for!a!“thicker”! description!of!his!Jewish!identity!as!well!as!his!creative!output!in!America!more! broadly,!and!of!Survivor$in!particular.$!

Over!the!course!of!this!chapter,!I!will!attempt!to!place!this!narrative!in!the! context!of!relevant!scholarship!from!the!both!the!study!of!GermanJJewish!history! and!the!study!of!modernism.!I!do!not!here!foreground!a!narrative!of!Schoenberg's!

! 70! compositional!development,!so!wellJcharted!elsewhere,!except!at!key!points!where! it!becomes!germane!to!the!biographic!interpretation!at!hand.!!!

! A!fourth!and!final!section!of!this!chapter!will!engage!with!a!trend!in!the! interpretation!of!Survivor!that!has!read!this!work!as!at!least!partly!autobiographical,! as!a!memorial!statement!informed!not!just!by!the!dimensions!of!the!Holocaust!in!the! abstract!but!by!the!particulars!of!Schoenberg's!own!loss.!This!section!will!prepare! us!to!answer!the!question!of!what—precisely—was!being!memorialized!in!this! work!by!examining!Schoenberg's!personal!and!familial!connections!to!the!

Holocaust.!As!at!least!one!commentator!has!suggested,!while!Schoenberg!had!no! direct!personal!contact!with!what!has!been!called!the!“concentrationary!universe,”! he!may!be!viewed!as,!in!George!Steiner's!phrase,!“a!kind!of!survivor.”7!If!this!is!so,! how!should!one!characterize!what!it!is!that!he!survived?!!

!

(

I.((‘Redemption(from(the(Disgrace’:(( Becoming(a(German(Modernist( !

!

Setting(the(framework(

! Few!topics!in!modern!Jewish!history!have!been!as!vexed!or!as!contentious!as! the!historiography!of!GermanJspeaking!Jewry!in!the!nineteenth!and!twentieth! centuries,!shaped!as!it!has!been!by!two!distinct!trends!that!have!been!aptly!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7!The!phrase!comes!from!an!essay!in!George!Steiner,!Language$and$Silence:$Essays$on$ Language,$Literature,$and$the$Inhuman!(New!York:!Atheneum,!1967).!It!was!first!applied!to! Schoenberg!by!David!Schiller.!See!Schiller,!Bloch,$Schoenberg,$and$Bernstein,!126.!

! 71! summarized!as!“the!Zionist!interpretation!of!modern!Jewish!history,!and!postJ

Holocaust!hindsight.”8!The!latter!trend!has!by!now!come!in!for!its!share!of!criticism:! namely,!that!understanding!the!history!of!German!Jews!in!this!formulation!becomes! a!search!for!root!causes!of!the!Holocaust,!and!in!so!doing!minimizes!much!of!the! complexity!and!contingency!of!decades!of!Jewish!life!prior!to!the!Second!World!War.!

The!omens!on!the!horizon,!as!we!will!see!illustrated!in!this!chapter,!in!fact!pointed! in!multiple!directions.!As!Peter!Gay!has!written,!“To!say!that!the!Third!Reich!was! grounded!in!the!German!past!is!true!enough;!to!say!that!it!was!the!inescapable! result!of!that!past,!the!only!fruit!that!the!German!tree!would!grow,!is!false.”9!

In!the!case!of!the!second!trend!cited!above—Zionist!or!nationalist!schools!of! historiography—Jewish!life!in!Central!Europe!during!the!last!decades!of!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8!Evyatar!Friesel,!"The!GermanJJewish!Encounter!as!a!Historical!Problem:!A! Reconsideration,"!The$Leo$Baeck$Institute$Yearbook!41,!no.!1!(1996).! 9!Peter!Gay,!Freud,$Jews,$and$Other$Germans:$Masters$and$Victims$in$Modernist$Culture!(New! York:!Oxford!University!Press,!1978),!9.!As!Gay!elaborates,!the!historian’s!“preoccupation! with!1933!and!later,!when!he!is!writing!about!1890!and!earlier,!has!served!to!limit!and!to! distort!his!vision.!By!treating!nineteenthJcentury!ideas!and!institutions!as!clues!of!crimes!to! come,!he!has!torn!them!from!their!living!context!and!concentrated!on!the!vertical! connections!of!passing!time!at!the!expense!of!the!horizontal!connections!of!lived! experience.”!See!also!Michael!André!Bernstein,!Foregone$Conclusions:$Against$Apocalyptic$ History!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!1994).!Among!musicologists,!Alexander! Ringer!shed!considerable!light!on!the!connections!between!Schoenberg’s!musical! innovations!and!his!religious!views,!but!he!appears!to!fall!victim!to!precisely!the!backJ shadowing!tendencies!against!which!Gay,!Bernstein!and!others!have!cautioned.!Indeed,!his! analyses!are!predicated!on!a!kind!of!teleology!of!tragedy,!which!Ringer!describes!thusly:! “[A]ny!objective,!comprehensive!appraisal!of!the!Schoenbergian!bequest…!must$proceed$ from$the$fundamental$premiss$that$this$composer$was$not$only$a$profoundly$religious$artist$ but$also$a$product$of$that$emancipated$Central$European$Jewry$which,$after$decades$of$overt$ popular$and$governmental$oppression,$suffered$virtually$complete$physical$extinction.”!The! phenomenon!of!backJshadowing!can!also!lead!to!a!tendency!toward!simplistic!or!reductive! judgments!of!artists!or!other!figures!invested!in!the!“mirage”!of!GermanJJewish!dialogue.! Ringer!in!this!spirit!chides!Jewish!artists!and!intellectuals!who!“nevertheless!eagerly!and! often!blindly!embraced!every!opportunity!to!identify!themselves!with!this![German]!culture! they!had!admired!so!long!from!afar.”!From!Ringer’s!perspective,!the!events!of!the!Shoah! appear!to!have!been!prescripted,!as!he!writes!that!“few!were!perceptive!enough!to!read!the! writing!on!the!wall….”!Ringer,!Arnold$Schoenberg,!vii,!15.!Italics!added.!!!!!

! 72! nineteenth!century!and!first!decades!of!the!twentieth!becomes!the!exemplar!par$ excellence!of!the!fundamental!incompatibility!of!Jewish!life!with!conditions!of!the! diaspora.!It!is!in!this!spirit!that!Gershom!Scholem!famously!attacked!the!very!notion! that!a!true!open!dialogue!between!Jews!and!Germans!had!ever!taken!place,10!though! the!trend!of!lacerating!critiques!by!Jewish!observers!of!both!the!physical!and!moral! conditions!of!Jews!in!Central!and!Eastern!Europe!of!course!long!predates!the!

Holocaust.11!!

More!recent!efforts!have!attempted!to!move!beyond!what!has!been!described! as!a!“dead!end”!in!these!two!dominant!historiographic!approaches,12!in!part!by! focusing!on!how!such!approaches!are!predicated!on!philosophically!and!historically! dubious!notions!of!Jewish!identity.!Such!notions!assume!that!categories!of!“Jew”!and!

“German”!are!fixed!and!immutable,!rather!than!constructed!anew!in!every!context,!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10!Scholem!wrote,!“I!deny!that!there!has!ever!been!such!a!GermanJJewish!dialogue!in!any! genuine!sense!whatsoever,!i.e.!as$a$historical$phenomenon.!It!takes!two!to!have!a!dialogue,! who!listen!to!each!other…!This!dialogue!died!at!is!very!start!and!never!took!place…!The! allegedly!indestructible!community!of!the!German!essence!with!the!Jewish!essence! consisted,!so!long!as!these!two!essences!really!lived!with!each!other,!only!of!a!chorus!of! Jewish!voices...”!See!“Against!the!Myth!of!the!GermanJJewish!Dialogue”!in!Gershom!Gerhard! Scholem,!On$Jews$and$Judaism$in$Crisis:$Selected$Essays!(New!York:!Schocken!Books,!1976),! 61J64.!See!also!Klaus!L.!Berghahn,!ed.!The$GermanFJewish$Dialogue$Reconsidered!(New!York:! Peter!Lang,!1996).! 11!See!Arthur!Hertzberg,!ed.!The$Zionist$Idea:$A$Historical$Analysis$and$Reader!(Philadelphia:! Jewish!Publication!Society,!1997).!And!Jonathan!Frankel,!Prophecy$and$Politics:$Socialism,$ Nationalism,$and$the$Russian$Jews,$1862F1917!(Cambridge![Eng.]:!Cambridge!University! Press,!1981).!In!this!category!one!may!also!mention!the!numerous!internal!and!in$situ! critiques!of!the!Jewish!drive!for!participation!in!German!culture,!most!famously! emblematized!by!“The!GermanJJewish!Parnassus,”!the!controversial!1912!article!by!Moritz! Goldstein,!with!its!lapidary!pronouncement!that!“[w]e!Jews!are!administering!the!spiritual! property!of!a!nation!which!denies!our!right!and!ability!to!do!so.”!See!“Assimilation!and!Its! Impossible!Discontents”!in!Steven!E.!Aschheim,!In$Times$of$Crisis:$Essays$on$European$ Culture,$Germans,$and$Jews!(Madison,!Wis.:!University!of!Wisconsin!Press,!2001),!64J85.!!! 12!See!Shulamit!Volkov,!"Reflections!on!GermanJJewish!Historiography:!Dead!End!or!New! Beginning?,"!Leo$Baeck$Institute$Yearbook!XLI!(1995).!

! 73! based!on!individual!and!collective!definitions!of!identity!that!are!themselves!far! more!porous!and!fluidly!negotiated!than!has!often!been!assumed.13!!

This!newer!approach!implicitly!calls!into!question!historians’!use!of!terms! such!as!“acculturation”!and!“assimilation.”!It!also!has!further!implications!that!are! relevant!for!the!current!study,!as!it!casts!doubt!on!the!validity!of!attempts!to!assess! subjects!defined!through!these!more!traditional!essentializing!categories.!Even!the! most!common!of!phrases!–!“the!contributions!of!Jews!to!German!culture”!–!betrays! under!closer!examination!the!presence!of!older!paradigms!that!regarded!a!static!and! dominant!center!to!German!life!and!a!monolithic!periphery.!Further,!as!Michael!

Steinberg!has!pointed!out,!it!reifies!the!year!of!1871,!or!more!specifically,!it!suggests! an!imperial!German!statist!framework!for!defining!Germanness.14!In!its!stead!this! dissertation!seeks!to!build!on!approaches!to!GermanJJewish!history!that,!to!an! extent,!relativize!both!sides!of!this!hyphenate!adjective!in!the!other's!image;!that!is! to!say,!as!Stephen!Aschheim!has!summarized,!“the!role!of!the!Jews!(whether!or!not! they!identified!as!such)!is!conceived!not!simply!as!contributory![to!German!culture]! but!wellJnigh!coFconstitutive.”15!This!point!is!particularly!salient!in!considering!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 13!See,!for!instance,!Samuel!!Moyn,!"German!Jewry!and!the!Question!of!Identity:! Historiography!and!Theory,"!Leo$Baeck$Institute$Yearbook$41!(1996).!Moyn!draws!attention! to!the!unspoken!assumptions!of!“ethnic!absolutism”!that!underlie!much!of!the!older! historiography,!and!argues!instead!for!an!approach!to!Jewish!identity!“not!as!a! transhistorical!constant!but!as!a!historical!construct,!always!interactive!with!his!or!her! contexts,!defined!and!selfJdefined!in,!through,!and!sometimes!against!them.”! 14!“In!this!context,”!writes!Steinberg,!“the!distinction!too!regularly!elided!is!that!between! German!culture!and!German!national!culture….!Thus!the!Germanness!of!the!Jews!is! rendered!indistinguishable!from!the!German!nationalism!of!the!Jews,!and!hence!an! investment!which!was!always!problematic!from!an!ideological!point!of!view.”!See! Steinberg’s!essay!“Grounds!Zero:!History,!Memory,!and!the!New!Sacredness!in!Berlin!and! Beyond,”!especially!pages!184J189,!in!Michael!P.!Steinberg,!Judaism$Musical$and$Unmusical! (Chicago:!University!of!Chicago!Press,!2007).! 15!See!“German!History!and!Germany!Jewry”!in!Aschheim,!In$Times$of$Crisis,!87.!

! 74! idiosyncratic!case!of!Schoenberg's!identity,!since—as!demonstrated!by!the! quotations!at!the!head!of!this!chapter—he!often!emphasized,!with!great!rhetorical! flair,!precisely!the!essentialized!definitions!of!identity!that!are!here!being!brought! under!critical!scrutiny.!Indeed,!despite!his!assertions!to!the!contrary,!Schoenberg! himself!was!never!exclusively!or!essentially!“German”!or!“Jewish”!any!more!than!his!

12Jtone!method!of!composition!“belonged”!to!German!or!Jewish!culture.16!As!we! will!see,!the!very!terms!themselves—”German,”!“Jewish”—were!far!from!static!for! the!composer;!rather,!they!were!being!continuously!renegotiated!throughout!

Schoenberg's!long!and!turbulent!life.!!

This!study!instead!demonstrates!a!need!for!the!application!of!newer! approaches!to!these!categories,!approaches!that!avoid!essentializing!tendencies!and! the!troublesome!determinism!that!can!flow!from!them.17!In!this!goal!we!will!be!best! served!by!employing!an!interpretive!concept!that!the!historian!Till!van!Rahden,!in! his!study!of!the!Jews!of!Breslau,!has!termed!“situational!ethnicity.”!This!framework! suggests!that!“while!an!individual's!membership!in!an!ethnic!group!can!play!an! important!role!in!specific!situations,!such!as!in!family!life!or!in!participation!in! ethnic!associations,!in!different!contexts!ethnicity!becomes!less!significant,!and!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 16!Some!interpreters!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw,!whether!implicitly!or!explicitly,!have!made! use!of!Schoenberg’s!own!essentialized!definitions!in!understanding!the!work.!David!Isadore! Lieberman,!for!instance,!views!Survivor$as!an!attempt!to!withdraw!“from!German!music!the! right!to!inherit!that!which![Schoenberg]!considered!his!most!enduring!legacy,!and!which!he! had!developed!specifically!for!the!benefit!of!German!music:!the!method!of!composing!with! twelve!tones!related!only!to!one!another.”!See!“Schoenberg!Rewrites!His!Will”!in!Cross!and! Berman,!Political$and$Religious$Ideas$in$the$Works$of$Arnold$Schoenberg,!193J229.!!! 17!Michael!Steinberg!has!likewise!cautioned!against!celebratory!accounts!of!the!“Jewish”!finJ deJsiècle!Vienna!that!share!the!same!terms!of!analysis!as!antiJSemitic!accounts!while!simply! inverting!their!valuation!of!Jewishness.!See!Michael!P.!Steinberg,!"Jewish!Identity!and! Intellectuality!in!FinJDeJSiècle!Austria:!Suggestions!for!a!Historical!Discourse,"!New$German$ Critique,!no.!43!(1988):!10J13.!

! 75! other!feelings!of!belonging!predominate.”18!Van!Rahden!ultimately!aims!for!a!more! profound!integration!of!the!history!of!Jews!into!a!multicultural!history!of!

Germany—a!larger!story,!he!suggests!(following!Peter!Gay)!that!cannot!be!told! without!the!story!of!its!Jews.!

Van!Rahden's!methodology!will!be!helpful!for!our!purposes,!though!of!course! it!is!important!to!stress!from!the!outset!the!profound!differences!between!the! history!of!the!Jews!of!Germany!and!those!of!AustriaJHungary.19!That!said,!in!her! study!of!Austrian!Jews,!Marsha!Rozenblit!has!similarly!emphasized!the!fluidity!of! categories!of!ethnic!identity,!building,!as!does!Van!Rahden,!on!the!work!of!Frederick!

Barth.!Most!recently,!Lisa!Silverman!has!brought!this!perspective!to!bear!in!her! study!of!Jewish!participation!in!interwar!Austrian!culture.20!As!we!shall!see,!

“situational!ethnicity”!becomes!a!particularly!helpful!interpretive!framework!in!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 18!Rahden,!Jews$and$Other$Germans,!9.!Similar!interpretive!paradigms!have!been!proposed! with!regard!to!the!study!of!Schoenberg!in!particular.!William!Kangas,!for!instance,!has! argued!for!the!importance!of!the!distinction!between!Schoenberg’s!identity!–!as!it!was! publically!constructed!by!himself!and!others!–!and!Schoenberg’s!own!private!or!“selfJ identity.”!The!two,!Kangas!has!suggested,!stood!in!a!dialectical!relationship.!See!William! Kangas,!"The!Ethics!and!Aesthetics!of!(Self)Representation:!Arnold!Schoenberg!and!Jewish! Identity,"!Leo$Baeck$Institute$Yearbook!135J70!(2000).!! 19!For!an!attempt!at!disentangling!these!two!histories,!see!Marsha!L.!Rozenblit’s!“The!Jews! of!Germany!and!Austria:!A!Comparative!Perspective”!in!Wistrich,!Austrians$and$Jews$in$the$ Twentieth$Century,!1J18.! 2020!See!Lisa!Silverman,!Becoming$Austrians:$Jews$and$Culture$between$the$World$Wars! (Oxford:!Oxford!University!Press,!2012),!5.!Silverman!argues!against!seeing!Jews’! participation!in!Austrian!cultural!life!as!peaking!in!the!finJdeJsiècle!and!then!declining! steadily!all!the!way!to!the!Anschluss.!See!also!Marsha!L.!Rozenblit,!Reconstructing$a$National$ Identity:$The$Jews$of$Habsburg$Austria$During$World$War$I!(Oxford:!Oxford!University!Press,! 2001),!4.!And!Fredrik!Barth,!ed.!Ethnic$Groups$and$Boundaries:$The$Social$Organization$of$ Culture$Difference!(Boston:!Little,!Brown,!1969).!Rozenblit!suggests!a!similarly!fluid! “tripartite”!model!of!VienneseJJewish!identity,!in!which!Habsburg!Jews!could! simultaneously!pledge!allegiance!to!the!Emperor,!to!Jewish!ethnicity,!and!to!the!German! Kulturnation.!Steven!J.!Cahn!argues!this!is!particularly!applicable!to!Schoenberg.!See!Cahn’s! “The!VienneseJJewish!Experience”!in!Auner!and!Shaw,!The$Cambridge$Companion$to$ Schoenberg,!196J7.!!!!

! 76! case!of!Schoenberg,!who!was,!as!one!scholar!summarized,!“at!different!times!and!for! different!reasons,!a!German,!a!Jew,!a!Germanic!Jew!and!a!Jewish!German.”21!We!will! also!have!to!further!append!to!this!list!a!national!category—he!was!a!subject!of!

AustriaJHungary—and,!I!will!suggest,!a!final!category!of!identity:!Schoenberg!as! modernist.!Each!of!these!aspects!of!Schoenberg's!identity!has!received!attention! from!scholars,!though!there!have!been!very!few!attempts!to!explain!their! interrelationship!or!to!sketch!the!dynamics!out!of!which!grew!the!productive! tensions!that!framed!his!life!and!art.!!!!!

!

Roots(and(Reroutes(

Schoenberg!came!of!age!during!a!pair!of!tumultuous!decades!in!the!career!of!

Austrian!liberalism.!On!the!one!hand,!the!pressures!on!Austrian!Jews!toward! acculturation!were!less!sharply!defined!than!they!were!for!German!Jews,!precisely! because!the!dual!monarchy!of!AustriaJHungary!presided!over!a!multiJethnic!empire! whose!very!diversity!helped!guarantee!that,!as!far!as!the!state!was!concerned,!there! would!be!little!conflict!between!confessional!affiliations!and!loyalty!to!the!empire.!

On!the!other!hand,!by!the!1880s!mass!parties!were!rising!up!and!challenging!the! fragile!period!of!liberal!dominance,!a!period!that!had!seen!the!enshrinement!of! middleclass!values,!the!rise!of!a!new!urbanism,!and!a!faithful!devotion!to!the! performing!arts.22!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!Kangas,!"The!Ethics!and!Aesthetics!of!(Self)Representation,"!137.! 22!Carl!Schorske!has!famously!described!the!city’s!Ringstrasse!as!“an!iconographic!index!to! the!mind!of!ascendant!Austrian!liberalism.”!Carl!E.!Schorske,!FinFDeFSiècle$Vienna:$Politics$ and$Culture!(New!York:!Vintage!Books,!1981),!3J8!and!24J27.!

! 77! Schoenberg's!family!lived!in!Leopoldstadt,!the!region!of!Vienna's!second! district!that!became!home!to!a!sizable!Jewish!community!in!the!wake!of!the!

Revolution!of!1848!and!the!emancipation!of!1867.23!His!father,!Samuel!Schönberg!

(1838J1890),!had!moved!as!a!teenager!to!Vienna!from!Szécheny!(via!Bratislava).!In!

Vienna,!Samuel!met!Pauline!Nachod!(1848J1921),!born!in!Prague!into!a!wellJ established!Orthodox!Jewish!family,!with!connections!to!the!city's!Altneuschul! dating!back!several!generations.24!!

The!family!belonged!to!the!lower!middle!class!of!acculturated!Viennese!Jews,! somewhere!in!between,!as!it!has!been!described,!the!YiddishJspeaking!Eastern!

European!Jews!pouring!into!the!city!at!that!time!and!the!more!established!and! wealthier!Viennese!Jewish!families.25!In!1874,!Arnold!Schoenberg!(original!spelling:!

Schönberg)!was!born!and!entered!into!the!register!of!Vienna's!Jewish!

Kultusgemeinde.26!There!is!little!evidence!of!any!traditional!religious!practice!in!his! home!but!Schoenberg!seems!to!have!absorbed!both!the!freeJthinking!attitudes!of!his! father!as!well!as!a!sense!of!reverence!for!the!Bible!and!biblical!authority!that!was! presumably!indebted!to!his!devout!mother!as!well!as!an!absence!of!other!influences!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 23!For!a!wideJangle!view!of!this!history,!see!“The!Creation!of!Viennese!Jewry:!Jewish! Migration!to!Vienna,!1867J1914”!in!Marsha!L.!Rozenblit,!The$Jews$of$Vienna,$1867F1914:$ Assimilation$and$Identity!(Albany,!N.Y.:!State!University!of!New!York!Press,!1983),!13J46.! 24!Hans!Heinz!Stuckenschmidt,!Schoenberg:$His$Life,$World$and$Work!(New!York:!Schirmer! Books,!1978),!15J16.!Her!roots!have!in!fact!been!traced!back!to!the!legendary!16th!century! rabbi!and!mystic!Judah!Löw,!also!known!as!the!Maharal!of!Prague.!See!Steven!J.!Cahn’s! “Schoenberg,!the!VienneseJJewish!experience!and!its!aftermath”!in!Auner!and!Shaw,!The$ Cambridge$Companion$to$Schoenberg,!193.! 25!See!Leon!Botstein’s!“Arnold!Schoenberg:!Language,!Modernism!and!Jewish!Identity”!in! Wistrich,!Austrians$and$Jews$in$the$Twentieth$Century.! 26!Schoenberg!adopted!the!anglicized!“oe”!spelling!of!his!name!only!upon!leaving!Germany! in!1933.!See!also!Stuckenschmidt,!Schoenberg,$16.!

! 78! in!his!schooling.27!Schoenberg!attended!a!Realschule$rather!than!a!Gymnasium,$an! education!that,!as!Kangas!has!pointed!out,!!“was!missing!that!infusion!of!Greek!and!

Roman!classical!mythos!that!were!so!integral!a!part!of!German!(high)!culture.”28!

Biblical!history!appears!to!have!filled!the!gap.!Writing!to!his!cousin!at!age!16,!

Schoenberg!described!himself!as!an!“unbeliever”!but!went!on!to!declare!that!“in![the!

Bible]!all!the!most!difficult!questions!concerning!Morals,!LawJmaking,!Industry!and!

Medical!Science!are!resolved!in!the!most!simple!way,!often!treated!from!a! contemporary!point!of!view;!in!general!the!Bible!really!gives!us!the!foundation!of!all! our!state!institutions!(except!the!telephone!and!the!railway).”29!

The!composer's!decision!to!formally!convert!to!Protestantism!in!1898!is!one! that!biographers!and!scholars!have!speculatively!interpreted!in!a!number!of! different!ways,!most!of!which!are!not!mutually!exclusive.30!Rarely!however!has!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27!Ibid.,!18.!Many!commentators!have!noted!the!absence!of!evidence!of!specific!religious! observance!in!Schoenberg’s!home,!but!it!may!be!noted!that!the!text!of!his!agitprop!play!Der$ biblische$Weg$(in!Act!1,!Scene!10),!contains!language!that!clearly!references!the!traditional! Haggadah.!While!this!play,!further!discussed!below,!was!begun!in!1926,!it!seems!unlikely! that!Schoenberg!acquired!such!knowledge!during!his!period!as!a!proud!apostate.!This! leaves!open!the!possibility!that!he!was!familiar!with!Seder!rituals!from!his!youth!or!young! adulthood,!prior!to!his!conversion!in!1898.!For!the!passage!under!consideration,!see!Arnold! Schoenberg,!"Der!Biblische!Weg,"!Journal$of$the$Arnold$Schoenberg$Institute!XVII,!no.!1&2! (1994):!229J31.!!! 28!Kangas,!"The!Ethics!and!Aesthetics!of!(Self)Representation,"!143.!The!Realschule$in! Leopoldstadt!was!between!twoJfifths!and!twoJthirds!Jewish!during!the!years!that! Schoenberg!attended.!For!this!figure,!and!more!on!the!Gymnasium/Realschule$distinction,! see!Rozenblit,!The$Jews$of$Vienna,!99J126.!!! 29!Schoenberg!to!Malvina!Goldschmied,!May!25,!1891,!reprinted!in!Joseph!Auner,!A$ Schoenberg$Reader:$Documents$of$a$Life!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!2003),!15.! 30!Steven!J.!Cahn,!among!others,!has!pointed!to!the!fact!that,!while!conversion!was!not! statistically!common!among!Viennese!Jews!of!his!generation,!it!was!frequent!to!a!degree! among!Jewish!artists!and!intellectuals!of!the!time,!among!them!Gustav!Mahler!and!Karl! Kraus.!He!helpfully!situates!the!decision!against!the!backdrop!of,!among!other!factors,!the! evolving!nature!of!Jewish!identity!from!1867!onward,!including!the!movement!away!from! collective!notions!of!Jewish!peoplehood!and!toward!Christianized!models!of!personal!faith.!! Stuckenschmidt!and!others!have!focused!on!the!influence!of!his!Protestant!friend!Walter!

! 79! Schoenberg's!choice!been!placed!in!the!larger!context!of!Viennese!and!panJ

European!current!events,!including!the!Dreyfus!affair!and!the!election!of!the!antiJ

Semitic!politician!Karl!Lueger!as!mayor!of!Vienna!(over!and!above!efforts!by!

Emperor!Franz!Joseph!to!forestall!his!ascendance).!It!may!not!be!insignificant,!in! other!words,!that!it!was!at!precisely!this!moment!in!which!Austrian!liberal!pieties! took!another!decisive!blow,!and!as!a!younger!generation!shifted!toward!the!domain! of!art!as!an!alternative!to!a!blocked!politics,!that!Schoenberg!chose!to!secure!his!

“ticket!of!admission!to!European!culture.”31!Jewish!conversion!rates!in!Vienna!at!this! time!were!in!fact!higher!than!anywhere!else!in!AustriaJHungary.32!!!

Unfortunately,!there!are!no!surviving!documents!from!the!time!of!his! conversion!that!might!shed!light!on!its!particulars,!or!on!the!broader!social,!cultural! or!intellectual!dynamics!at!play!in!his!milieu!during!this!period.!Nevertheless,! scholars!have!recently!been!devoting!fresh!attention!to!the!influence!of!both!

Wagnerism!and!the!writings!of!Otto!Weininger!on!Schoenberg!during!this!stage!of! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pieau.!Botstein!speculates!it!may!have!been!“the!first!of!many!attempts!by!the!outspoken! and!arrogant!Schoenberg!to!invent…!a!new!rival!social!aristocracy!for!himself!and!his! followers.”!Ringer!reads!the!choice!paradoxically!as!the!composer’s!attempt!not!to! assimilate!into!a!dominant!culture!but!“to!quench!his!spiritual!thirst”!after!lacking!the! knowledge!and!means!to!do!so!via!traditional!Jewish!channels.!He!also!suggests!the!choice! of!Protestantism!above!Catholicism!might!have!been!due!to!antiJestablishment!views! Schoenberg!absorbed!while!conducting!workers’!choruses.!William!Kangas!has!shown!that! the!conversion!represented!the!first!of!many!attempts!to!actively!curate!his!own!identity!as! distinct!from!the!various!ways!in!which!identity!was!subsequently!imposed!on!him!from!the! outside.!See!Auner!and!Shaw,!The$Cambridge$Companion$to$Schoenberg,!195;!Wistrich,! Austrians$and$Jews$in$the$Twentieth$Century,!163;!Stuckenschmidt,!Schoenberg,!34.;!Ringer,! Arnold$Schoenberg,!7,!26;!and!Kangas,!"The!Ethics!and!Aesthetics!of!(Self)Representation,"! 145.! 31!The!phrase!is!Heinrich!Heine’s!description!of!conversion.!See!Paul!R.!MendesJFlohr!and! Jehuda!Reinharz,!eds.,!The$Jew$in$the$Modern$World:$A$Documentary$History!(New!York:! Oxford!University!Press,!1995),!223.!See!also!Schorske,!FinFDeFSiècle$Vienna,!8J9;!and! Schorske,!“Generational!Tension!and!Cultural!Change”!in!Thinking$with$History:$Explorations$ in$the$Passage$to$Modernism!(Princeton:!Princeton!University!Press,!1998),!141J56.!! 32!Rozenblit,!The$Jews$of$Vienna,!128.!

! 80! his!intellectual!and!spiritual!development.33!That!attention!is!in!part!made!possible! by!the!survival!of!later!writings!unpublished!during!his!lifetime,!in!particular!a!littleJ known!personal!essay!entitled!“Jeder!jünge!Jude”!or!“Every!Young!Jew,”!dating!from!

1934.!It!is!worth!examining!this!essay!here!because!it!offers!a!rare!(if!retrospective)! glimpse!into!Schoenberg's!understanding!of!the!formation!of!his!own!identity!in!the! two!decades!on!either!side!of!the!turn!of!the!twentieth!century.!

It!was!a!period,!as!Schoenberg!describes!in!this!essay,!when!“the! religiousness!of!the!Jews…!had!receded!in!so!frightening!a!manner!that!not!even!the! rabbis!could!muster!the!verve!and!enthusiasm!which!could!have!won!over!young! people!to!the!religion!into!which!they!had!been!born.”34!Why?!Because,!as!

Schoenberg!elaborates:!!

[F]or!the!Western!Jews!and!the!Westernized!Eastern!Jews!the!movement!for! assimilation!became!a!substitute!for!the!belief!in!the!Messiah.!It!cannot!be! denied!that!one!imagined!oneself!to!have!been!redeemed!from!thousands!of! years!of!humiliation,!shame!and!disgrace,!if!one!thought!one!had!been! accepted!into!the!community!of!the!foreign!people…[H]e!strove!for! redemption!from!the!disgrace!and!shame!which!had!been!oppressing!him…! to!be!redeemed!from!being!held!in!a!state!of!contempt!for!which!he!was!not! to!blame.! ! !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 33!See,!for!instance,!Brown,!Schoenberg$and$Redemption.! 34!The!essay!itself!dates!from!early!1934,!not!long!after!Schoenberg!had!been!effectively! expelled!from!Germany.!The!previous!year!he!had!reconverted!to!Judaism,!and!settled!in!the! United!States.!Writing!this!essay!he!was!clearly!revisiting!the!allegiances!of!his!youth!and! his!commitment!to!escaping!his!origins,!in!the!painful!light!of!the!year!1934!–!a!fact!that! should!be!kept!in!mind!as!one!determines!how!to!read!Schoenberg’s!confessions!of!his! youthful!infatuations!with!German!culture.!The!text!of!this!essay!was!not!published!until!six! decades!later,!when!it!appeared!in!its!German!original,!in!the!Journal$of$the$Arnold$ Schoenberg$Institute.!Julie!Brown!uses!the!essay!as!a!central!exhibit!at!the!heart!of!her! recent!book!Schoenberg$and$Redemption,!in!which!the!essay!has!been!republished!as!an! appendix.!It!is!in!Brown’s!translation!that!this!quote!appears.!See!ibid.,!197J201.!For!the! original!German!text,!see!Arnold!Schoenberg,!"Jeder!Junge!Jude,"!Journal$of$the$Arnold$ Schoenberg$Institute!XVII!(1994).!!!!

! 81! As!Brown!has!observed,!the!tone!of!this!essay!differs!from!many!other! published!and!unpublished!writings!from!this!period!in!Schoenberg’s!life,!in!that!it! is!more!confessional!and!seemingly!unmarked!by!the!aggressive!or!defensive! rhetoric!so!common!in!his!writing.!Further,!as!we!will!see!in!subsequent!quotations,! it!displays!a!level!of!remorse!or!shame!on!Schoenberg’s!part!for!what!he!regards!as! his!gravely!mistaken!(postJ1933)!belief!in!the!redemptive!potential!of!German! culture.!It’s!also!worth!drawing!attention!to!his!curious!use!here!of!the!first!person! plural,!especially!when!many!of!his!observations!about!the!attitudes!of!“Western!

Jews!and!Westernized!Eastern!Jews”!may!be!regarded!as!nothing!more!than! sweeping!generalizations.!Clearly!we!are!dealing!with!a!highly!personalized! statement!on!Schoenberg’s!part,!a!recollection!of!his$own!experiences!and!attitudes.!

In!this!case,!Schoenberg!may!have!chosen!to!collectivize!his!observations!for!the! sake!of!inducing!a!reader’s!sympathy!or!leniency!in!judgment.!Indeed,!from!the! essay’s!opening,!it!is!clear!that!the!composer!has,!at!least!implicitly,!an!exculpatory! agenda.!The!first!line!in!fact!reads!as!a!poignant!plea!against!what!we!have!already! discussed!as!backJshadowing!and!the!associated!tendency!towards!moral!judgment.!

“Every!young!Jew,”!Schoenberg!writes,!“has!to!bear!in!mind!how!we!Jews!of!the!19th! century!thought!our!lives!would!pan!out:!Then!he!will!know!what!to!make!of!it![i.e.! that!life’s!path].”35!

Schoenberg!goes!on!to!explain!quite!straightforwardly!that!while!coming!of! age,!one!(he)!strove!for!acceptance!“into!the!community!of!the!foreign!people”!by! seeking!to!eliminate!all!that!was!conspicuously!different!about!one's!appearance,! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 35!“Every!Young!Jew,”!as!translated!and!reprinted!in!the!appendix!of!Brown,!Schoenberg$and$ Redemption,!197.!

! 82! including!dress,!facial!expressions,!“use!of!language,”!“change!of!religion,”!and!

“marrying!a!Christian!woman.”!!!!

Needless!to!say,!this!eagerness!to!eliminate!conspicuous!difference—or!

Jewish!“selfJhatred”!as!it!is!often!somewhat!crudely!termed—was!hardly!unique!for! secular!GermanJspeaking!Jews!of!Schoenberg’s!generation.!Indeed,!in!1897,!just!one! year!prior!to!Schoenberg’s!conversion,!Walter!Rathenau,!future!foreign!minister!of!

Germany,!harshly!criticized!his!Jewish!coJreligionists!in!an!essay!that!ran!in!

Maximilian!Harden’s!journal!Zukunft!under!the!freighted!title!“Hear,!O!Israel!”!In!it! he!called!for!“the!conscious!selfJeducation!and!adaptation!of!the!Jews!to!the! expectations!of!the!Gentiles,”!and!for!the!“shedding!of!tribal!attributes!which,! whether!they!be!good!or!bad!in!themselves,!are!known!to!be!odious!to!our! countrymen.”36!Likewise,!this!period!saw!the!surging!popularity!of!Weininger’s! writings,!especially!his!1903!book!Geschlecht$und$Charakter!(Sex$and$Character),! with!its!highly!influential!typology!not!only!of!Man!and!Woman!as!Platonic!forms! but!also!of!patterns!of!thinking!he!ascribed!to!Judaism,!and!subjected!to!severe! critique.!Schoenberg!owned!a!copy!of!Geschlecht$und$Charakter!and!Weininger’s! writing!may!have!been!influential!on!his!circle!of!students!and!followers,!perhaps! aided!by!its!dissemination!through!Kraus’s!journal!Die$Fackel,!itself!revered!by!this! group!of!artists.37!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36!Excerpts!of!Rathenau’s!essay!are!translated!and!reprinted!in!MendesJFlohr!and!Reinharz,! The$Jew$in$the$Modern$World:$A$Documentary$History,!231J33.! 37!It!was!not!only!Weininger’s!highly!publicized!choice!to!stage!his!1903!suicide!in!the!home! where!Beethoven!had!died!that!underscored!the!connections!of!his!thought!to!German! musical!culture.!Brown!argues!for!the!underJappreciated!influence!of!Weininger’s!thought! on!musical!Vienna!more!broadly,!on!its!own!terms!and!as!a!conduit!for!an!updated! Wagnerian!Weltanschauung.!She!has!also!detailed!some!connections!between!Weininger!

! 83! !As!the!composer!stated!in!another!piece!of!memoiristic!writing!dating!from! his!early!exile!period,!his!own!feelings!of!“shame!and!disgrace”!as!a!Jew,!his! perception!of!a!burning!need!for!“redemption”!from!his!past,!was!very!much! inseparable!from!the!environment!of!ideological!Wagnerism!in!which!he!came!of! age.!As!he!explained!in!a!speech!of!1935:!!

When!we!young!AustrianJJewish!artists!grew!up!our!selfJesteem!suffered! very!much!from!the!pressure!of!certain!circumstances.!It!was!the!time!when! Richard!Wagner's!work!started!its!victorious!career,!and!the!success!of!his! music!and!poems!was!followed!by!an!infiltration!of!his!Weltanschauung,!of! his!philosophy.!You!were!no!true!Wagnerian!if!you!did!not!believe!in!his! philosophy,!in!the!ideas!of!Erlösung$durch$Liebe,$salvation!by!love;!you!were! not!a!true!Wagnerian!if!you!did!not!believe!in!Deutschtum,!in!teutonism;!and! you!could!not!be!a!true!Wagnerian!without!being!a!follower!of!his!antiJ Semitic!essay,!Das$Judentum$in$der$Musik,!Judaism$in$Music.38! ! ! Interestingly,!far!from!denouncing!Wagner’s!notorious!essay,!or!his!antiJ

Semitism!in!general,!Schoenberg,!even!looking!back!from!exile,!distinguished!

Wagner’s!attitudes!from!what!he!called!“the!newJstarting!racial!antiJSemitism”!of! the!1920s,!the!sentiments!which,!as!he!put!it!elsewhere,!“ejected”!him!from!

Germanness.39!In!his!youth,!Schoenberg!claimed,!Wagner’s!original!critique!of!Jews! and!music!had!in!fact!served!as!a!motivating!factor!toward!embracing!Deutschtum.!

“Wagner,”!Schoenberg!stated,!“gave!Jewry!a!chance:!‘Out!of!the!ghetto!’!he! proclaimed,!and!asked!Jews!to!become!true!humans,!which!included!the!promise!of!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and!Schoenberg’s!specific!circle,!citing!for!instance!a!letter!from!Webern!in!which!he! explicitly!compares!Schoenberg!and!Weininger.!Berg!also!kept!a!scrapbook!devoted!to! Weininger’s!writing.!See!Brown,!Schoenberg$and$Redemption,!56J77.!! 38!The!text!comes!from!a!speech!Schoenberg!gave!in!1935!to!Mailamm!organization,! reprinted!in!Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea,!502J3.!! 39!“the!newJstarting!racial!antiJSemitism”!comes!from!Ibid.!Emphasis!added.!The!phrase! about!Schoenberg’s!“ejection!from!Germanness”!is!taken!from!a!1932!fragment!entitled! “Ruhe,”!as!published!in!Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,!236.!!

! 84! having!the!same!rights!on!German!mental!culture,!the!promise!of!being!considered! like!true!citizens.”40!!!!

This!was!of!course!a!very!selfJserving!reading!of!Wagner’s!views,!as!the! racialist!turn!was!already!present!in!Wagner’s!own!writing;!it!was!not!(only)!a! product!of!some!backward!attribution!from!a!later!period!in!Viennese!life.!But! nevertheless,!however!idiosyncratically!he!defined!the!terms!of!this!equation,!it’s! clear!that!Schoenberg’s!early!embrace!of!Wagnerism!and!of!Deutschtum$was! complete,!as!was!his!adoption!of!the!methods!he!later!described!as!available!to!help! young!Jews!“redeem”!themselves!of!their!origins.(In!1899,!a!year!after!his! conversion,!he!composed!Verklärte$Nacht,$his!first!significant!Wagnerian!work!with! a!mystical!subtext!inspired!by!a!Richard!Dehmel!poem.!In!1901!he!married!Mathilde!

Zemlinksy,!the!sister!of!his!composition!teacher,!Alexander!von!Zemlinsky.!The! ceremony!took!place!in!a!Lutheran!church!in!Vienna,!with!Mathilde!converting!to!

Christianity!on!the!day!of!the!marriage.!They!later!had!two!children,!Gertrud!and!

Georg.!Schoenberg’s!first!key!musical!breakthrough!came!in!1908,!when!he!allowed! his!music!to!drift!free!of!tonality!in!the!final!movement!of!his!Second!String!Quartet,! which!featured!a!soprano!singing!the!words!from!a!Stefan!George!poem:!“Ich!fühle! luft!von!anderen!planeten”!(“I!feel!air!of!another!planet”).41!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40!Ibid.!For!more!on!the!effect!of!Wagner’s!essay!on!Jewish!musicians!of!the!nineteenth! century,!see!James!Loeffler,!"Richard!Wagner's!'Jewish!Music':!Antisemitism!and!Aesthetics! in!Modern!Jewish!Culture,"!Jewish$Social$Studies!15,!no.!2!(2009).! 41!George’s!poetry!featured!nonJstandard!German!capitalization,!hence!“luft”!and!“planeten”! rather!than!“Luft”!and!“Planeten,”!an!orthographic!scheme!that!Schoenberg!preserved!in!his! own!score!to!his!Quartet!No.!2!(Op.!10).!!I!am!grateful!to!Walter!Frisch!for!his!consultation! on!this!point,!and!on!Georgeschrift!more!broadly.!See!also!Walter!Frisch,!The$Early$Works$of$ Arnold$Schoenberg,$1893F1908!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!1993),!248ff.$!!

! 85! In!many!later!essays,!when!characterizing!this!early!breakthrough—later! mythologized!by!many!as!a!defining!moment!in!the!origins!of!twentiethJcentury! music—Schoenberg!tended!to!favor!two!outwardly!contrasting!rhetorical!tropes.!On! the!one!hand!he!claimed!to!be!merely!an!executor,!heeding!the!call!of!larger!forces! beyond!his!control!(“I!knew!I!had!to!fulfill!a!task:!I!had!to!express!what!was! necessary!to!be!expressed!and!I!knew!I!had!the!duty!of!developing!my!ideas!for!the! sake!of!progress!in!music,!whether!I!liked!it!or!not”42).!On!the!other!hand,! particularly!in!the!period!from!roughly!1900J1921,!he!privileged!a!notion!of!music! as!giving!direct!expression!to!interior!experience!in!an!unmediated!sense.!(In!1912,! for!instance,!with!the!composition!of!his!landmark!Pierrot$lunaire,!Schoenberg! celebrated!in!his!diary!that!he!had!achieved!an!“animalistically!direct!expression!of! sensual!and!psychological!emotions.”43)!!

In!may!be!noted!that!in!both!cases—whether!his!art!was!simply!thrust! forward!by!the!pistons!of!musical!progress,!or!whether!his!breakthrough!involved!a! kind!of!direct!stenography!of!the!soul—these!explanatory!tropes!can!both!be!seen! as!implicitly!responding!to!Wagner’s!damning!prescription!that!Jews!as!a!group! were!not!a!natively!musical!people.!!!!!!!

By!the!time!of!Pierrot$lunaire,!Schoenberg!had!moved!(for!a!second!time)!to!

Berlin,!noting!that!it!“has!what!Vienna!lacked:!respect!for!honest!work!and!the!selfJ

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 42!This!sentence!appears!in!Schoenberg’s!suggestively!titled!essay!“How!One!Becomes! Lonely.”!See!Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea,!30J53.! 43!On!12!March!1912,!Schoenberg!wrote!in!his!diary:!“Und!ich!gehe!unbedingt,!das!spüre!ich,! einem!neuen!Ausdruck!entgegen.!Die!Klänge!warden!hier!ein!geradezu!tierisch! unmittelbarer!Ausdruck!sinnlicher!und!seelischer!Bewegungen.”!Berliner$Tagebuch!(Wien:! PropyläenJVerlag,!1974),!34.!

! 86! assurance!of!those!who!are!genuinely!and!seriously!interested!in!the!new.”44!The! outbreak!of!the!First!World!War!occasioned!an!upwelling!of!Schoenberg's!pride!in!

German!culture,!and!his!correspondence!reflects!both!this!surge!of!patriotism,!and! the!extent!of!his!own!identification!with!Deutschtum$and!German!nationalism!more! broadly.!In!this!sense!it!signals!the!high!water!mark!in!one!vector!of!Schoenberg's! situational!ethnicity.!Accordingly,!a!particular!letter!of!1914!to!Alma!Mahler!merits! quoting!at!length:!!

Meanwhile,!you!have!certainly!already!heard!of!the!glorious!victory!of!the! Germans!against!France,!England,!and!Belgium.!It!is!among!the!most! wonderful!things!that!have!happened.!But!it!does!not!surprise!me…!I'm! certain!our!Austria!is!approaching!a!new,!more!beautiful!future!as!well,!if!the! auspicious!start!of!the!first!battle!against!the!Russians!meets!with!an!equally! auspicious!continuation.!Then!we!shall!possess!what!we!have!fundamentally! lacked:!selfJconfidence,!and!with!it!the!ability!to!value!the!seriousness!and! dignity!of!our!achievements;!and!also!to!defend!them!!One!hopes!all!will! continue!to!go!well….[M]y!eyes!are!open!about!so!many!of!my!earlier!feelings! that!I!had!against!foreigners.!My!friends!know!it,!I!have!also!said!to!them,!I! never!had!any!use!for!all!foreign!music.!It!always!seemed!to!me!stale,!empty,! disgusting,!cloying,!false,!and!awkward.!Without!exception.!Now!I!know!who! the!French,!English,!Russians,!Belgians,!Americans,!and!Serbians!are:! barbarians!!The!music!said!that!to!me!long!ago…!For!a!long!time!this!music! has!been!a!declaration!of!war,!an!attack!on!Germany…!But!now!comes!the! reckoning.!Now!we!shall!send!these!mediocre!purveyors!of!kitsch!back!into! slavery,!and!they!shall!learn!to!honor!the!German!spirit!and!to!worship!the! German!God.45! ! !!!! Schoenberg!was!of!course!not!alone!in!succumbing!to!the!outbreak!of!war! fever!to!which!many!central!European!artists!and!intellectuals!proved!surprisingly! susceptible.46!One!does!however!also!note!the!conjoined!quality!to!his!personal!and!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 44!Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,!100.! 45!Schoenberg!to!Alma!Mahler,!August!28,!1914.!Italics!in!original.!Ibid.,!125.! 46!Even!Sigmund!Freud,!who!later!claimed!the!First!World!War!as!validating!the!deepest! insights!of!psychoanalysis,!was!swept!up!in!the!initial!outbreak!of!war!fever,!writing!to!Karl! Abraham!that!“for!the!first!time!in!thirty!years!I!feel!myself!to!be!an!Austrian!and!feel!like!

! 87! national!aspirations,!when!Schoenberg!suggests!that!victory!in!war!will!provide!selfJ confidence!and!the!ability!to!value!and!defend!achievements.!His!letters!and!diary! entries!from!around!this!time!betray!a!grappling!with!private!doubts!about!his!own! artistic!capacities.!That!the!composer!would!interweave!tropes!of!personal!struggle! with!those!of!national!struggle!hints!at!just!how!fully!his!identity!during!this!period! was!invested!in!the!cause!of!German!culture.!!

Moreover,!the!disturbing!vehemence!of!Schoenberg's!denunciation!of!all!nonF

German!music!and!the!implied!violence!of!his!rhetoric!in!the!letter's!closing!lines! also!bears!further!comment,!even!as!it!underscores!this!point.!Schoenberg's! language!here!suggests!a!full!internalization!of!older!Wagnerian!discourse!around!

“Die!heilige!deutsche!Kunst”;!it!also!ironically!anticipates!the!rhetoric!that!would!be! used!only!a!few!years!later!by!ultraJconservative!composers!such!as!Hans!Pfitzner!in! their!attempts!to!silence!the!freeJthinkers!of!early!German!musical!modernism,! including!(by!extension)!Schoenberg!himself.47!Finally,!the!letter!of!1914!also!sheds! light!on!Schoenberg's!later!defense!of!Furtwängler!and!Strauss!after!the!Second!

World!War.!Despite!all!he!had!endured,!Schoenberg!defended!these!German!artists,! arguing!that!they!were!not!Nazis!but!rather!“DeutschJNationale—Nationalistic! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! giving!this!not!very!hopeful!Empire!another!chance.”!He!was!even!more!direct!with!his! brother!Alexander,!writing!that!“All!my!libido!is!given!to!AustroJHungary.”!Quoted!in!Max! Schur,!Freud:$Living$and$Dying!(London:!Hogarth!Press!and!the!Institute!of!PsychoJAnalysis,! 1972),!289.!And!Ernest!Jones,!The$Life$and$Work$of$Sigmund$Freud!(New!York:!Basic!Books,! 1953),!(II),!171.! 47!The!prime!example!of!Pfitzner’s!rhetoric!comes!from!his!debate!with!Busoni,!and! specifically!his!attack!on!the!latter’s!Entwurf$einer$neuen$Asthetik$der$Tonkunst.!Pfitzner! responded!to!Busoni!with!a!pamphlet!entitled!Futuristengefahr!(“The!Danger!of!Futurism”),! in!which!he!vociferously!defended!German!music!and!the!necessity!of!revering!the!past! masters.!They!should!be!addressed!with!proper!piety,!he!wrote,!as!“Prince”!or!“Father.”!For! more!on!this!interwar!debate,!see!Marc!A.!Weiner,!Undertones$of$Insurrection:$Music,$Politics$ &$the$Social$Sphere$in$the$Modern$German$Narrative!(Lincoln:!University!of!Nebraska!Press,! 1993),!33J72.!

! 88! Germans![who]!both!loved!Germany,!German!culture,!and!art,!landscape,!language! and!its!citizens,!their!coJnationals.”48!This!letter!of!1914!to!Alma!Mahler!suggests!

Schoenberg!knew!from!where!he!spoke.!!

!

!

II.((Deutschtum!and(its(Discontents:( (The(path(toward(Moses!und!Aron( !

By!most!accounts,!a!critical!turning!point!in!the!evolution!of!Schoenberg's! identity!came!in!June!1921,!when!the!composer!was!summering!with!his!family!and! his!students!in!the!Austrian!resort!town!of!Mattsee.!After!receiving!a!postcard!from!

“an!Aryan!vacationer,”!Schoenberg!was!informed!that!the!resort!did!not!permit!

Jews;!rather!than!provide!documentation!of!his!conversion,!he!left!the!resort!and! made!alternate!plans!in!Traunkirchen.49!!

For!reasons!about!which!scholars!can!only!speculate,!this!became!a! transformative!moment!for!Schoenberg,!one!that!led!to!an!anguished!reexamination! of!closely!held—in!his!later!description,!religiously!held—beliefs!in!the!redemptive! promise!of!German!culture.50!Interestingly,!earlier!generations!of!Schoenberg!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 48!Stuckenschmidt,!Schoenberg,!544J45.! 49!This!incident!has!become!an!oftJcited!turning!point!in!Schoenberg’s!individual!biography,! but!is!rarely!placed!in!the!context!of!its!times.!For!a!discussion!of!soJcalled!“spa!antiJ Semitism,”!see!Mirjam!TriendlJZadoff,!Next$Year$in$Marienbad:$The$Lost$Worlds$of$Jewish$Spa$ Culture!(Philadelphia:!University!of!Pennsylvania!Press,!2012),!157J78,!and!Frank!Bajohr,! “Unser$Hotel$ist$Judenfrei,”!BaderFAntisemitismus$im$19.$und$20.$Jahrhundert$(Frankfurt!am! Main:!Fischer!Taschenbuch!Verlag,$2003).$ 50!The!seemingly!blackJandJwhite!nature!of!the!standard!narrative!about!Schoenberg’s! moment!of!Jewish!awakening—the!relatively!minor!Mattsee!incident!arriving!like!a!bolt! from!the!blue,!shattering!the!composer’s!Teutonic!idyll—does!beg!closer!scrutiny.!While!an! actual!deconstructing!of!this!narrative!exceeds!the!scope!of!this!chapter,!it!is!worth!at!least! posing!the!question!of!whether!(or!to!what!extent)!this!narrative!bears!the!imprint!of!a!

! 89! biographers!did!not!focus!on!the!importance!of!the!Mattsee!incident,!with!

Stuckenschmidt!devoting!to!it!one!paragraph,!and!Reich!scarcely!more.51!This!may! be!in!part!due!to!the!fact!that!Schoenberg!does!not!dwell!on!it!in!his!own! correspondence!from!that!year.!He!did!however!make!one!statement!in!a!letter!to!

Berg!that!is!suggestive:!!

Toward!the!end!it!got!very!ugly!in!Mattsee.!The!people!there!seemed!to! despise!me!as!much!as!if!they!knew!my!music.!Nothing!happened!to!us! beyond!that.!But!it’s!just!as!unpleasant!outside!of!one’s!profession!as!within! it—only!there!one!has!to!accept!it.52!! ( Schoenberg’s!quip!is!often!interpreted!as!ironic!but!it!also!may!be!seen!as!offering! an!early!glimpse!of!what!I!have!suggested!will!become!a!kind!of!transposition!of! response!patterns,!where!internalized!scripts!of!twinned!pride!and!defensiveness! about!his!musical!accomplishments!become!at!least!a!partial!template!for!his! invention!of!a!new!Jewish!identity!in!the!1920s.!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! retrospective!shaping!hand?!Certainly!it!provides!a!dramatic!story!of!origin!for! Schoenberg’s!return!to!Judaism.!It!may!also!be!said!to!inoculate!the!period!from!1898!to! 1921,!allowing!those!years!of!modernist!innovation!to!remain!largely!unshadowed!by!the! turbulent!cultural!and!ethnic!politics!of!the!time.! 51!Willi!Reich,!Schoenberg:$A$Critical$Biography!(New!York:!Da!Capo!Press,!1981),!124;! Stuckenschmidt,!Schoenberg,!274.!The!latter!reference!does,!perhaps!unintentionally,! underscore!what!may!have!been!the!shock!of!this!event!for!Schoenberg!by!describing!the! context!for!the!trip!to!Mattsee!in!a!level!of!detail!that!is!often!omitted!in!other!accounts.!The! Schoenbergs,!it!turns!out,!were!vacationing!with!the!family!of!his!brother!Heinrich,!and!they! chose!Mattsee!because!of!its!proximity!to!Salzburg.!Heinrich!had!married!Bertel!Ott,!the! daughter!of!the!mayor!of!Salzburg,!only!four!years!earlier.!It!would!be!hard,!in!short,!to! think!of!a!greater!symbolic!token!of!the!broader!Schoenberg!family’s!integration!into! mainstream!Austrian!society!precisely!at!the!same!time!that!Schoenberg!endured!the!antiJ Semitic!slight!he!would!later!view!as!so!ominous.!Here!then!we!have!a!discreet!example!of! precisely!why!interwar!history!is!much!more!complex!when!attempts!are!made!to!avoid! narrating!events!through!the!prism!of!what!followed.!! 52!Schoenberg!to!Berg,!16!July!1921,!as!reprinted!in!Juliane!Brand,!Christopher!Hailey,!and! Donald!Harris,!eds.,!The$BergFSchoenberg$Correspondence:$Selected$Letters!(New!York:!W.W.! Norton,!1987),!308.!

! 90! The!oftenJquoted!declaration!of!this!stillJinchoate!identity!came!two!years! later,!after!Schoenberg!had!heard!rumors!about!the!purported!antiJSemitism!of!his! erstwhile!friend!Kandinsky.!The!composer!responded!in!a!series!of!polemical!letters! in!which!he!declared,!“[f]or!I!have!at!last!learnt!the!lesson!that!has!been!forced!upon! me!during!this!year,!and!I!shall!not!ever!forget!it.!It!is!that!I!am!not!a!German,!not!a!

European,!indeed!perhaps!scarcely!even!a!human!being!…!but!I!am!a!Jew.”53!!

These!words!are!often!taken!at!face!value—as!if,!the!blinders!having!been! suddenly!lifted!in!Mattsee,!Schoenberg!had!finally!see!the!truth!about!himself,!and! had!summarily!chosen!to!reJembrace!an!ancient!Jewish!essence!that!had!be!hitherto! denied.!As!I!have!suggested,!such!an!interpretation!rests!on!shaky!biographic,! psychological,!and!historical!ground.!It!implicitly!distorts!the!seriousness!of!his! commitment!to!Deutschtum—and!may!even!be!seen!as!casting!implicit!doubt!on!the! validity!of!the!artistic!fruit!of!the!previous!period,!as!if!those!projects!were! predicated!on!a!core!falsehood.!As!we!will!also!see!shortly!in!a!letter!to!Berg,!it!is!far! from!clear!what!the!statement!“I!am!a!Jew”!might!have!meant!to!Schoenberg!in!

1923.!Indeed,!it!is!also!possible!to!read!Schoenberg's!declaration!as!a!statement!of! an!externally!imposed!identity!“forced!upon”!(in!Schoenberg's!words)!the!still!much! more!complexly!ambivalent!German!modernist!composer.!To!acknowledge!the! possibility!of!this!alternate!reading!is!also!to!admit!important!distinctions!in! patterns!of!identity!formation,!between!its!public!and!private!faces,!one's!selfJ perception!and!categories!that!are!socially!assigned.!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 53!HahlJKoch,!Arnold$Schoenberg,$Wassily$Kandinsky:$Letters,$Pictures,$and$Documents,!76,!78.!

! 91! Indeed,!Schoenberg’s!identity!in!the!1920s!remained!far!more!fluid!and!

“situational”!than!typical!readings!of!his!statement!to!Kandinsky!suggest.54!It!should! be!remembered!that!it!was!in!fact!the!very!same!year!as!the!notorious!Mattsee! incident!that!Schoenberg!made!his!breakthrough!discovery!of!the!12Jtone!method!of! composition,!the!second!historic!innovation!of!his!career.!On!that!occasion!he! famously!commented!to!his!student!Josef!Rufer!that!this!discovery!“would! guarantee!the!dominance!of!German!music!for!the!next!100!years.”!Interpreters! have!debated!whether!this!statement!was!meant!with!irony,55!or!with!heightened! tenacity!given!the!implied!attack!on!his!claim!to!that!very!musical!tradition,!but!it!is! also!possible!that!both!contentions!are!true.56!!

Similar!assertions!emphasizing!his!abiding!connections!to!German!culture! continued!throughout!the!1920s,!simultaneous!with!his!developing!Jewish! identity.57!It!was!a!period,!after!all,!in!which!Schoenberg!enjoyed!the!greatest! professional!success!he!was!to!experience!in!his!lifetime.!His!music!gained!in!its!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 54!Ringer,!for!instance,!writes!that!Schoenberg!“preferred!to!move!forward!rapidly!and!in!a! straight!line,!once!the!direction!was!firmly!laid!out.!And!so,!in!the!wake!of!the!courageous! reappraisal!of!his!Jewish!roots!that!speaks!from!the!exchange!of!letters!with!Wassily! Kandinsky…the!new!course!was!staked!out…”!Ringer,!Arnold$Schoenberg,!19.!! 55!This!is!Ringer’s!suggestion,!as!proposed!in!“Assimilation!and!the!Emancipation!of! Historical!Dissonance”!in!Brand!and!Hailey,!Constructive$Dissonance,!30.!! 56!Christopher!Hailey!has!offered!a!third!option,!glossing!Schoenberg’s!pronouncement!in! national!and!geoJpolitical!terms.!Hailey!writes!that!“[a]fter!1918!Austrians,!shorn!of!their! empire,!sought!to!compensate!their!loss!by!a!fatal!identification!with!German!culture.!It!was! this!crisis!of!identity!that!prompted!Schoenberg’s!triumphant!and!defiant!proclamation…”! Hailey,!"Franz!Schreker!and!the!Pluralities!of!Modernism."!! 57!To!cite!just!one!example,!the!musicologist!Hugo!Leichtentritt!attempted!to!enlist! Schoenberg’s!support!in!the!midJ1920s!for!a!new!International!Society!for!Jewish!Music.!In! his!recently!published!memoirs,!Leichtentritt!recounts!that!Schoenberg!“angrily!refused!to! collaborate!in!any!activities!for!Jewish!music.”!Leichtentritt!further!reports!being!“insulted! by!the!haughtiness!of![Schoenberg’s]!phraseology!and!the!utter!lack!of!sympathy!and! cooperation.”!See!Hugo!Leichtentritt,!A$Musical$Life$in$Two$Worlds,!ed.!Mark!DeVoto! (Cambridge:!Harvard!Musical!Association,!2014),!411.!!!

! 92! influence!and!stature!across!Europe,!and!in!one!tangible!reflection!of!his!new! prominence,!he!was!appointed!to!one!of!the!most!prestigious!musical!teaching!posts! in!GermanJspeaking!Europe,!succeeding!Ferruccio!Busoni!as!the!director!of!a!master! class!at!the!Prussian!Academy!of!the!Arts.!!

Accordingly,!upwellings!of!German!patriotism!could!still!be!found!eight!years! after!his!letter!to!Kandinsky,!in!1931,!when!he!posited!his!own!music!as!a!kind!of! authentic!German!art!capable!of!trumping!other!national!examples!in!the!arena!of! public!opinion.!“Nobody!has!yet!appreciated,”!he!wrote,!“that!my!music,!produced! on!German!soil,!without!foreign!influences,!is!a!living!example!of!an!art!able!most! effectively!to!oppose!Latin!and!Slav!hopes!of!hegemony!and!derived!through!and! through!from!the!traditions!of!German!music.”58!!

The!very!following!year,!he!wrote!to!Berg!from!Berlin!with!unusual!candor! about!the!fluidity!of!these!categories,!in!a!letter!that!reveals!with!uncommon!clarity! the!tensions!between!selfJdefinition!and!the!imposition!of!an!ethnic!or!racial! identity!as!branded!from!the!outside:!

More!and!more!I!am!forced!to!concern!myself!here!with!the!question! whether!and!to!what!extent!it!is!wise!to!count!myself!in!this!camp!or!that,! whether$it$depends$upon$my$volition,$determination,$inclination,$or$whether$it$ is$coercion.!Naturally,!even!without!the!nationalist!hints!of!the!last!few!years,! I!know!exactly!where!I!belong.!It's$just$that$it's$not$as$easy$to$switch$places$as$ one$would$imagine…$Today!it!is!with!pride!that!I!call!myself!a!Jew;!however,!I! am!aware!of!the!difficulties!of!really!being!one.59! !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 58!From!“National!Music,”!as!published!in!Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea,!173J74.!Also!quoted!in! Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,!160.! 59!Schoenberg!to!Berg,!23!September!1932,!collected!in!Brand,!Hailey,!and!Harris,!The$BergF Schoenberg$Correspondence,!435J6.!Emphasis!added.!

! 93! Despite!those!difficulties,!Schoenberg!continued!to!experiment!during! precisely!this!period!with!the!development!of!a!new!Jewish!identity.!This!may!be! seen!in!his!militant!“Position!on!Zionism”60!of!1924,!and!in!the!texts!he!wrote!for!the! first!two!of!his!Four!Pieces!for!Mixed!Chorus!(Op.!27)!from!1925.!The!second!of! these!texts!is!more!often!cited!in!the!literature!because!of!its!explicit!reference!to! the!Bilderverbot,!and!its!anticipation!of!the!themes!explored!in!key!later!works.!But! the!text!for!the!first!piece—entitled!“No!Escape”—also!merits!consideration,! especially!given!its!thinly!veiled!autobiographical!subtext:!

Brave!are!they!who!accomplish!deeds! beyond!the!limits!of!their!courage.! They!possess!the!strength!to!conceive!of!their!mission,!! and!the!character!not!to!be!able!to!refuse.! If!a!God!was!so!unkind!as!to!grant!them!insight!into!their!condition,!! they!are!hardly!to!be!envied.!! And!that!is!why!they!suffer!envy.!! !

It!appears!that!after!having!reluctantly!accepted!his!selfJassigned!anointment! as!the!composer!“chosen”!to!lead!German!music!out!its!lateJRomantic!(postJ

Wagnerian)!wilderness,!Schoenberg!here!in!1925!is!repositioning!himself!for! another!turn!in!his!role!as!reluctant!prophet,!this!time!for!a!very!different!cause.!The! following!year,!he!took!up!this!mantle!more!explicitly!by!beginning!work!on!Der$

Biblische$Weg,!a!Zionist!agitprop!play!through!which!he!hoped!to!inspire!the!mass! migration!of!German!Jews!to!a!new!homeland,!even!a!temporary!one!if!necessary.!Its! principal!character,!Max!Aruns,!is!a!figure!combining!elements!of!Moses!and! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 60!In!1924,!Schoenberg!wrote:!“The!reJestablishment!of!a!Jewish!state!could!come!into!being! only!in!the!way!similar!events!have!always!occurred!in!history:!not!through!words!and! morality,!but!through!successful!military!might!and!a!fortunate!commonality!of!interests.”! Quoted!in!Moshe!Lazar,!"Arnold!Schoenberg!and!His!Doubles:!A!Psychodramatic!Journey!to! His!Roots,"!Journal$of$the$Arnold$Schoenberg$Institute!17,!no.!1J2!(1994):!54.!

! 94! Theodor!Herzl,!intent!on!saving!his!fellow!Jews!from!their!degraded!state!in!

Europe.61!Schoenberg!took!the!play!extremely!seriously.!He!hoped!it!might!be! staged!by!Max!Reinhardt!or!a!director!of!similar!stature,!and!went!as!far!as!creating! sketches!for!scenery.!But!it!was!in!fact!never!produced!or!even!published!until!

1994.62!!!!

Der$Biblische$Weg!remained!significant!however!as!a!kind!of!primer!for!

Schoenberg’s!opera!Moses$und$Aron,!the!culminating!work!of!his!European!period,! written!(though!never!completed)!between!1928!and!1932.!This!latter!work!centers! on!the!aesthetical,!theological,!and!metaphysical!dilemma!of!the!tension!between! pure!thought!and!expression,!between!religious!faith!and!historical!action,!between! a!truth!recognized!in!the!inner!precincts!of!the!self!and!the!ability!to!communicate! that!truth!through!outward!representations,!be!they!linguistic,!musical!or!otherwise.!

In!the!opera!these!concepts!are!associated,!respectively,!with!the!biblical!characters! of!Moses!and!Aron,63!through!a!core!distinction!already!introduced!in!Der$Biblische$

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 61!Later!commentators!have!naturally!seen!Max!Aruns!as!a!projection!of!Schoenberg’s!own! selfJunderstanding!in!the!midJ1920s!“as!a!composer!and!musical!activist!who!had!struggled! in!the!wilderness!and!who!had!succeeded!in!leading!a!regenerated!music!to!its!promised! land,!and!who!now!felt!ready!to!sacrifice!his!art!to!a!new!relentless!dream—that!of! becoming!a!visionary!political!leader!who!would!deliver!his!rediscovered!Jewish!brethren! from!the!bondage!of!a!degrading!diaspora!and!an!antiJSemitic!Europe.”!See!ibid.,!11.!On!a! related!note,!the!play!is!often!dated!to!1926J27,!the!years!of!its!completion.!Yet! Schoenberg’s!correspondence!with!Alban!Berg!suggests!it!was!conceived!as!early!as!1922!or! 1923,!which!would!place!it!in!much!closer!proximity!to!the!event!at!Mattsee.!See! Schoenberg!to!Berg,!16!October!1933,!in!Brand,!Hailey,!and!Harris,!The$BergFSchoenberg$ Correspondence,!446.!!! 62!In!one!letter!Schoenberg!introduced!the!play!as!“a!very!upJtoJdate!treatment…!of!the! story!of!how!the!Jews!became!a!people.”!Schoenberg!to!Jakob!Klatzkin,!26!May!1933,!as! reprinted!in!Arnold!Schoenberg,!Letters,!ed.!Erwin!Stein,!trans.!Eithne!Wilkins!and!Ernst! Kaiser!(Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!1987),!181.!For!the!original!German!texts!of! the!play,!alongside!an!English!translation,!see!"Der!Biblische!Weg."! 63!There!are!two!schools!of!opinion!on!why!Schoenberg!dropped!the!second!‘a’!in!Aaron:! either!to!ensure!that!his!title!has!12!letters,!thereby!according!with!his!nearJmystical!

! 95! Weg,!where!the!characters!are!described!as:!“Moses,!to!whom!God!granted!the!Idea! but!from!whom!He!withheld!the!gift!of!speech;!and!Aron,!who!could!not!grasp!the!

Idea!but!had!the!ability!to!communicate!it!and!move!the!masses.”64!!

In!the!opera,!for!which!Schoenberg!wrote!the!libretto!very!loosely!based!on! sections!of!the!Book!of!Exodus,!Aron’s!communicative!gifts!are!represented!by!the! fact!that!he!sings!in!a!mellifluous!tenor!while!Moses,!with!the!exception!of!a!single! line,!only!speaks,!using!the!pitched!declamation!style!known!as!Sprechstimme.!The! second!act!crests!in!the!wild,!orgiastic!Dance!around!the!Golden!Calf.!When!Moses! returns!with!the!tablets,!the!calf!instantly!disappears.!He!is!furious!that!even!his!ally!

Aron,!described!in!the!libretto!as!his!“mouthpiece,”!has!betrayed!him,!but!Aron’s! eloquent!rebuttals!confound!Moses’s!attempts!to!reprimand!him!about!the!purity!of! the!Idea.!Moses’s!final!anguished!line!at!the!conclusion!of!Act!II,!before!he!collapses! to!the!ground,!is!“O!Wort,!du!Wort,!das!mir!fehlt!”!(“Word,!O!Word,!that!I!lack!”)!!

Schoenberg!wrote!the!libretto!for!the!opera’s!concluding!third!act!but,! despite!his!oftenJprofessed!desire!to!complete!the!work,!he!never!composed!music! for!Act!III!beyond!initial!sketches.!The!work!was!never!performed!during!his! lifetime!with!the!exception!of!one!scene—the!Dance!Around!the!Golden!Calf—which! made!a!seismic!impression!on!its!first!audience!when!performed!in!Darmstadt!in!

1951!under!the!baton!of!Hermann!Scherchen,!less!than!two!weeks!before!

Schoenberg’s!death.!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! preoccupation!with!the!number!12,!or!to!form!an!anagram!with!the!first!four!letters!of!his! own!first!name.!See!Joseph!Auner,!"Schoenberg!as!Moses!and!Aron,"!The$Opera$Quarterly!23,! no.!4!(2007):!374.! 64!Schoenberg,!"Der!Biblische!Weg,"!303.!

! 96! The!interpretive!literature!on!Moses$und$Aron$is!vast65!and!a!close!reading!of! the!opera!would!exceed!the!parameters!of!the!current!chapter.!I!will!instead!focus! on!positioning!the!work!more!broadly!in!the!narrative!arc!that!we!have!been!tracing! up!to!this!point.!As!a!work!on!a!quintessential!Jewish!subject!written!in!the!strictly!

12Jtone!language!Schoenberg!had!dedicated!to!securing!the!supremacy!of!German! music,!Moses$und$Aron,!I!suggest,!may!be!seen!as!a!final!herculean!attempt!by!

Schoenberg!to!defend—by!articulating—his!own!sui!generis!artistic!reconciliation! of!Deutschtum$and!Judentum.$Its!subject!matter!reflects!the!extent!to!which!

Schoenberg!had!in!fact!internalized!a!new!Jewish!identity,!positioning!himself!as!an! interpreter!of!one!of!Judaism’s!most!canonical!texts,!much!in!the!same!way!that!

Freud!did!at!almost!precisely!the!same!time!in!Moses$and$Monotheism.66!Yet!here!

Schoenberg!had!not!given!up!on!the!process!of!trying!to!overtly!reconcile!his!

Judaism!with!his!hardJwon!position!at!the!forefront!of!German!musical!life,!with!his! investment!in!the!notion!of!his!own!role!as!an!innovator!who!had!revolutionized!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 65!Some!of!the!most!significant!responses!to!the!opera!include!that!of!Adorno,!who! positioned!it!as!a!“Sacred!Fragment”!in!a!secular!age,!one!whose!incomplete!status!reflected! a!sense!of!Schoenberg’s!ultimate!awareness!of!its!metaphysical!impossibility;!and!that!of! George!Steiner,!who!situates!it!powerfully!against!the!backdrop!of!the!emerging!fascist! threat.!He!also!identified!it!as!“one!of!the!most!moving,!overwhelmingly!dramatic!moments! in!the!history!of!opera!and!of!the!modern!theatre.”!See!“Sacred!Fragment”!in!Theodor!W.! Adorno,!Quasi$Una$Fantasia:$Essays$on$Modern$Music!(London:!Verso,!1992),!225J48.!And! George!Steiner,!"Schoenberg's!'Moses!and!Aaron',"!Encounter,!no.!24!(1965).!See!also!the! perceptive!chapter!on!the!opera!in!Goldstein,!Reinscribing$Moses.! 66!It!is!not!known!whether!Schoenberg!was!familiar!with!Freud’s!book,!but!reading!Freud’s! work!in!conjunction!with!the!narratives!that!comprise!Schoenberg’s!own!biography!and! artistic!production!would!itself!be!a!suggestive!exercise.!Among!the!many!points!of!note,! given!Schoenberg’s!own!earlier!psychological!investment!in!the!idea!of!redemption!through! Deutschtum,!is!the!fact!that,!in!Freud’s!account!of!Biblical!“history,”!the!original!Moses!was! in!fact!a!member!of!the!host!nation.!Moses—in!Freud’s!interpretation—was!Egyptian.$For!a! classic!interpretation!of!Moses$and$Monotheism,$see!Yosef!Hayim!Yerushalmi,!Freud's$Moses:$ Judaism$Terminable$and$Interminable!(New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!1991).!

! 97! German!musical!traditions!not$as!a!guest!within!the!temple!of!heilige$deutsche$Kunst,! but!as!a!legitimate!member!of!its!own!spiritual!congregation.!!

It!is!against!this!backdrop!that!we!may!profitably!contextualize!Schoenberg’s! emphasis!in!the!opera!on!two!specific!concepts!capable!of!mediating!between!these! fields!of!his!identity!in!the!late!1920s!as!described!above.!First!among!these! conveniently!multivalent!concepts!must!be!the!notion!of!chosenness,!a!trope!that!as! we!have!seen!Schoenberg!had!applied!to!his!own!status!as!a!musical!innovator,! borne!forward!by!some!power!greater!than!himself,!having!been!almost!mystically! selected!to!pursue!his!lonely!path!by!the!forces!of!musical!progress.!In!purely! aesthetic!terms,!the!stunning!compositional!achievement!represented!by!this!opera! de$facto$restates!Schoenberg’s!claim!to!leadership!of!German!music’s!modern!wing.!

Describing,!for!instance,!the!aural!impact!of!the!extraordinary!music!of!the!final! scene!of!Act!II—the!last!music!that!Schoenberg!wrote!for!the!opera—Adorno! conveyed!his!own!astonishment!through!a!metaphor!perhaps!more!apt!than!he!even! intended.!He!wrote!of!the!vertiginous!mastery!of!this!passage:!“[t]he!attentive!ear! must!behave!much!like!someone!entering!a!church!who!finds!his!gaze!jerked! upwards!towards!the!roof.”67!Schoenberg,!in!other!words,!has!here!created!a! veritable!cathedral!of!echtJmodern!German!sound.!!

And!yet!“chosenness”!of!course!has!also!been!furnished!with!an!entirely! separate!meaning!in!this!opera!connected!to!God’s!covenantal!relationship!with!his! chosen!people,!and!with!Moses!as!his!chosen!prophet.!The!notion!of!chosenness!also! remained!central!to!Schoenberg’s!idiosyncratic!Judaism!for!the!remainder!of!his!life.! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 67!From!the!“Sacred!Fragment”!essay,!as!published!in!Adorno,!Quasi$Una$Fantasia,!244.! Adorno’s!observation!is!also!quoted!in!Auner,!"Schoenberg!as!Moses!and!Aron,"!381.!!

! 98! As!we!will!see,!when!he!set!out!to!create!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw,$it!was!the!Jews’! collective!recollection!of!this!covenantal!relationship!that!became!the!narrative!crux! of!the!memorial!as!a!whole.!!

A!second!multivalent!concept!through!which!Schoenberg!achieves!what!I! have!suggested!is!a!kind!of!intellectual!retrofitting!of!an!earlier!identity!for!the! reality!he!faced!in!the!1920s,!is!the!notion!of!the!Idea!(Gedanke).!This!term!appears! repeatedly!in!Schoenberg’s!work!as!a!central!concept!over!the!course!of!several! decades,!though!its!precise!meaning!(in!Schoenberg’s!usage)!remained!at!least! somewhat!elusive.!In!musical!contexts,!“Idea”!related!to!the!global!vision!and! inspiration!behind!a!particular!work.!At!one!point!Schoenberg!wrote!that!“[a]! musical!idea…!though!consisting!of!melody,!rhythm,!and!harmony,!is!neither!the!one! nor!the!other!alone,!but!all!three!together.”68!At!the!time!of!his!death,!he!left!behind! hundreds!of!pages!now!referred!to!as!the!Gedanke!manuscripts—writing! undertaken!for!a!book!on!the!subject!that!he!never!completed.69!!

In!Moses$und$Aron,$however,!the!term!Gedanke$takes!on!an!overwhelmingly! theological!orientation.!It!is!used!to!represent!Moses’s!divine!belief,!his!conception! of!God!in!its!purest!form,!which,!in!keeping!with!the!Second!Commandment,!must! remain!“invisible,”!“unrepresentable,”!“immeasurable.”!It!is!what!Moses!cannot! express!in!his!words,!but!what!Aron,!as!his!eloquent!mouthpiece,!attempts!to! communicate!to!the!masses.!The!word!Gedanke!appears,!in!its!grammatical!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 68!This!definition!appears!in!his!essay!“Composition!with!Twelve!Tones,”!as!published!in! Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea,!220.!! 69!Many!of!those!manuscripts!were!later!collected!and!published!in!a!single!volume.!See!The$ Musical$Idea$and$the$Logic,$Technique,$and$Art$of$Its$Presentation,!trans.!Patricia!Carpenter! and!Severine!Neff!(New!York:!Columbia!University!Press,!1995).!!

! 99! variations,!no!less!than!27!times!in!the!libretto.!In!Act!II,!scene!5,!Aron!states!“Ich! liebe!dieses!Volk,!ich!lebe!für!es”!(“I!love!this!people,!I!live!for!them”)!to!which!

Moses!replies!“Ich!liebe!meinen!Gendanken!und!lebe!für!ihn.”!(“I!love!my!Idea!and! live!just!for!it.”)!!

!In!his!insightful!discussion!of!the!opera’s!musical!and!biographic!contexts,!

Joseph!Auner!suggests!that!“the!religious!connotations!of!the!Idea!were!themselves! only!a!means!to!think!about!something!that!was!still!more!inherently!musical!and! aesthetic.”70!I!am!suggesting!here,!however,!that!the!notion!of!the!Idea!may!also!be! read!in!far!broader!terms!than!those!bounded!by!the!strictly!musical!or!aesthetic.!

Like!the!notion!of!chosenness,!it!may!be!seen!as!another!nodal!point!around!which!

Schoenberg!attempts!to!reconcile!earlier!(preJMattsee)!configurations!of!his! religious!and!cultural!identity!with!those!taking!shape!in!the!late!1920s.!And!it!may! not!be!fanciful!to!go!even!further;!that!is,!to!link!the!content!of!the!Idea,!at!this! juncture,!with!this!very!attempt!at!reconciliation.!Indeed,!returning!to!the!earlier! musical!definition!of!the!Idea,!if!one!considers!the!“total!vision”!behind!Moses$und$

Aron—the!“Idea”!of$this$opera!as!such—in!the!terms!that!have!been!laid!out!here,!we! realize!there!may!be!more!than!one!“inexpressible”!truth!at!issue.!For!Schoenberg’s!

Moses!it!is!the!monotheistic!“Gottesgedanken”—the!pure!and!undiluted!belief!in!the! one!God!of!Israel.!For!Schoenberg’s!Aron!it!may!be!the!political!and!social! implications!of!that!belief.!For!the!composer!himself,!whether!consciously!or!not,! the!most!“inexpressible”!total!vision!behind!this!opera!was!the!simultaneous,!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 70!Auner,!"Schoenberg!as!Moses!and!Aron,"!378.!

! 100! coexistent,!coFconstitutive!relationship!of!Judentum$and!Deutschtum—a!relationship! most!extraordinarily!distilled!by!the!opera!itself.!!

By!redefining!the!notion!of!the!Idea!in!this!way,!at!least!in!the!context!of!this! opera,!we!are!positioned!to!grasp!anew!the!poignancy!behind!Moses’s!ultimate! failure!and!collapse!at!the!end!of!Act!II.!He!could!not,!finally,!hold!the!threads! together.!Neither!he!nor!Schoenberg!(for!whom!Moses!is!a!mouthpiece,!just!as!Aron! is!to!Moses),!could!communicate!the!truth!of!the!unity!they!sensed.!Moses’s! anguished!cry!of!defeat!(“O!Wort,!du!Wort,!das!mir!fehlt”)!speaks!powerfully!in!this! context.!It!also!suggests!a!clear,!if!probably!unconscious,!reason!why!Schoenberg! could!not!bring!himself!to!complete!the!music!for!the!third!act!of!Moses$und$Aron$ after!his!expulsion!from!Germany—his!“ejection”!from!Deutschtum—in!1933.!The! reconciliatory!impulse—the!subterranean!Idea!of!Moses$und$Aron!as!I!have!sketched! it!here—had!by!that!point!collided!with!history.!$

Of!the!two!acts!of!Moses$und$Aron$that!were!written!in!the!early!1930s,!it!may! be!said!that!they!represent!at!once!a!kind!of!high!point!and!terminus.!Schoenberg! composed!much!of!this!score!away!from!Berlin,!which!he!had!already!come!to!view! as!teeming!with!“swastikaJswaggerers!and!pogromists.”71!By!that!point,! demonstrations!by!brownshirts!outside!centers!of!modern!music!such!as!the!

Krolloper!were!already!a!routine!occurrence,!and!the!innovations!at!the!heart!of!his! work!were!being!increasingly!cast!as!“alien”!and!“degenerate”!elements,!a!blight!on! the!corpus!of!postJWagnerian!music.!All!the!more!reason!why!it!is!worth! momentarily!pausing!here!to!acknowledge!what!Schoenberg!nonetheless!managed!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 71!Schoenberg!to!Joseph!Asch,!24!May!1932,!in!Schoenberg,!Letters,!164.!

! 101! to!achieve!in!the!two!acts!he!composed.!Indeed,!one!might!summarize!by!saying!that! the!power!and!extraordinary!tension!in!the!music!of!Moses$und$Aron$was!ultimately! generated!by!the!ferocious!intensity!of!Schoenberg’s!individual!attempt!to!hold! together!the!disparate!elements!that!comprised!the!vaunted!GermanJJewish! modernism!of!the!Weimar!Republic—as!both!an!aesthetic!phenomenon!and$as!a! historical!chapter!in!the!postJEmancipation!career!of!central!European!Jewry—at! the!precise!moment!of!its!insipient!dissolution.!!!

!

!

III.(From(Schönberg(to(Schoenberg:( The(Composer(in(Migration( !

In!May!1933,!following!Hitler's!rise!to!power!and!Schoenberg’s!de!facto! expulsion!from!the!Prussian!Academy!of!the!Arts,!the!composer!fled!Berlin!for!

France,!with!his!second!wife!Gertrud!and!his!young!daughter!from!his!second! marriage,!Nuria.!In!Paris,!on!14!July!1933,!he!took!part!in!an!adJhoc!ceremony!at!the!

Union$libérale$israëlite$on!rue!Copernic,!under!the!supervision!of!Rabbi!LouisJ

Germain!Lévy,!declaring!his!return!to!Judaism.!Though!as!the!preceding!discussion! has!hopefully!demonstrated,!this!was!not!a!spontaneous!protest!against!his!exile!but! merely!a!ratification!of!a!shift!that!had!been!long!in!gestation.72!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 72!Though!he!does!not!address!Schoenberg’s!particular!case,!Todd!M.!Endelman!offers!a! helpful!context!for!thinking!about!the!broader!phenomenon!of!the!“return”!of!Jewish! converts.!See!“Memories!of!Jewishness:!Jewish!Converts!and!Their!Jewish!Pasts”!in!Elisheva! Carlebach,!John!M.!Efron,!and!David!N.!Myers,!eds.,!Jewish$History$and$Jewish$Memory:$Essays$ in$Honor$of$Yosef$Hayim$Yerushalmi!(Waltham,!Mass.:!Brandeis!University!Press!1998),!311J 29.!James!Loeffler!addresses!the!most!famous!case!of!a!musical!convert!in!the!nineteenth! century,!that!of!Russian!Jewish!composer!and!pianist!Anton!Rubinstein!(1829J1894),!in!

! 102! A!window!into!Schoenberg’s!thinking!at!roughly!the!time!of!the!conversion! may!be!gleaned!again!from!his!essay!“Every!Young!Jew.”!Schoenberg!here!writes!of!a! painful!process!of!selfJevaluation!whereby!he!had!determined!that!“the!hope!for!

'redemption'![through!German!culture]!was!cruelly!disappointed.”!He!had!by!then! apprehended!“how!little!assimilation!equates!with!redemption.”!To!have!believed!in! this!false!God,!Schoenberg!continued,!was!not!only!a!grave!mistake!but!one!that! required!both!acknowledgment!and!a!kind!of!expiation:!!

! Many!of!us!have!become!conscious!of!our!guilt!only!through!our!misery,!and! only!few!among!us!can!bring!ourselves!to!recognize!it!completely,!to!confess! to!it!fully,!and!to!attempt!to!exonerate!ourselves!by$endeavoring$to$reverse$ everything.”! ! ! By!reversing!everything![alles$rückgängig$zu$machen],!Schoenberg!seemed!to! have!in!mind!nothing!less!than!a!kind!of!personal!and!collective!campaign!of!deJ

Germanicization,!a!process!of!separation!in!a!way!parallel!(as!Schoenberg! acknowledges!in!the!following!passage)!to!Nazi!attempts!to!make!German!culture! judenfrei.$In!the!composer's!words:!!

! Yes,!all!achievements!must!be!reversed!!We!do!not!want!any!human!rights,! for!they!only!inflame!the!fury!of!suppressed!bestiality…!We!do!not!want!any! civil!rights,!which!only!provide!the!totally!superfluous!proof!that!they!were! not!ours!to!have….!We!do!not!wish!to!have!a!part!in!Western!culture….!We!no! longer!want!their![the!Germans']!knowledge,!their!arts,!their!manners;!we! want!to!free!ourselves!from!them!and,!like!the!fox!–!isn't!he!clever!–!who! tears!out!his!leg!if!he!has!been!caught!in!a!trap,!we!want!to!have!everything! torn!out!which!they!want!to!retain!–!if!only!we!become!free!of!them!!What!do! we!care!about!their!culture!which!they!are!now!forced!to!reverse,! painstakingly!but!artificially,!in!order!to!clean!out!of!it!the!Jewish!element! which!they!have!wrested!from!us.!Rather!lose!one's!legs,!rather!be!unable!to! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! James!Loeffler,!The$Most$Musical$Nation:$Jews$and$Culture$in$the$Late$Russian$Empire!(New! Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!2010),!1J55.!!

! 103! ever!move!again,!rather!lie!mutilated!in!a!dark!and!hidden!place,!than!to! continue!being!connected!to!them!through!their!traps.73!!!!! ! ! Schoenberg's!comments!in!this!essay!provide!a!context!for!the!more!famous! and!oftenJquoted!letter,!written!in!August!1933!shortly!after!his!conversion,!to!his! former!student!Anton!Webern.!In!it!he!not!only!declares!the!supposed!realignment! of!his!loyalties,!but!also!his!intention!to!translate!this!belief!into!a!new!campaign!of! political!activism.!In!his!words:!

! For!fourteen!years!I!have!been!prepared!for!what!has!now!happened.!During! this!long!time!I!have!been!able!to!prepare!myself!for!it!thoroughly,!and!have! finally!cut!myself!off!for!good…!from!all!that!has!tied!me!to!the!Occident.!I! have!long!been!resolved!to!be!a!Jew…!And!now,!as!from!a!week!ago,!I!have! also!returned!officially!to!the!Jewish!religious!community…![I]!am! determined—if!I!am!suited!to!such!activities—to!do!nothing!in!the!future!but! work!for!the!Jewish!national!cause.74!! ! In!the!same!letter,!Schoenberg!states!that!he!viewed!working!for!“the!Jewish! national!cause”!as!“more!important!than!my!art.”!He!planned!to!devote!himself! entirely!to!organizing!attempts!to!save!endangered!German!Jewry,!essentially! translating!onto!a!vast!scale!the!decisions!he!had!already!come!to!in!his!own!private! life.!“The!time!will!come,”!he!wrote!one!month!later,!“when!we!shall!demand!from! the!Jews!in!every!land!that!they!renounce!the!emancipation,!that!they!put!aside!their! citizenship,!and!they!be!only!Jews.”75!(It!was!also!around!this!time!that!Schoenberg! changed!the!spelling!of!his!last!name,!eliminating!the!German!umlaut!in!favor!of!the!

“oe”!spelling,!which!may!of!course!be!read!as!both!a!practical!step!in!preparing!to! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 73!“Every!Young!Jew,”!as!reprinted!and!translated!in!Brown,!Schoenberg$and$Redemption,! 200J01.! 74!Schoenberg!to!Webern,!4!August!1933,!Quoted!in!Reich,!Schoenberg,!189.! 75!Fragment!dated!September!2,!1933,!collected!in!“Notes!on!Jewish!Politics,”!published!in! Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,!247.!

! 104! live!in!an!EnglishJspeaking!land,!as!well!as!a!kind!of!orthographic!renunciation!of!

German!identity,!however!patently!aspirational!it!would!always!remain.)!

Indeed,!at!the!same!time,!Schoenberg's!closest,!nonJJewish!European! supporters!continued!to!argue!on!behalf!of!the!constitutive!and!essential!German! elements!of!his!identity!and!his!music.!In!a!touching!letter!less!than!a!year!after!

Schoenberg's!migration,!Berg!wrote!to!him!to!announce!his!own!dedication!of!his! opera!Lulu!to!his!teacher!Schoenberg.!“Please!accept!it,!not!only!as!a!product!of! years!of!work!most!devoutly!consecrated!to!you,!but!also!as!an!outward!document:! the!whole!world—the!German!world,!too—is!to!recognize!in!the!dedication!that!this!

German!opera—like!all!my!works—is!indigenous$to$the$realm!of$that$most$German$ of$music,!which$will$bear$your$name$for$all$eternity.”76!

After!the!summer!in!France,!Schoenberg!and!his!family!moved!to!the!United!

States,!arriving!at!the!end!of!October!1933.!His!first!destination!was!Boston,!where! he!accepted!a!position!to!teach!at!the!Malkin!Conservatory,!an!institution!that!could! offer!nothing!of!the!prestige!or!financial!compensation!commensurate!with!what!he! had!enjoyed!in!Berlin,!yet!secure!enough!to!enable!him!to!relocate.!The!choice!to! accept!Malkin's!rather!modest!terms!of!employment!can!also!be!understood!against! the!backdrop!of!Schoenberg's!private!determination!to!shift!the!focus!of!his!work!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 76!Berg!to!Schoenberg,!28!August!1934,!published!in!Brand,!Hailey,!and!Harris,!The$BergF Schoenberg$Correspondence,!452.!Emphasis!added.!As!if!seeking!to!ease!the!starkness!of!his! former!teacher’s!radical!rupture!with!his!own!past,!Berg!also!sent!Schoenberg!a!300Jpage! special!issue!of!Kraus’s!Die$Fackel,!a!journal!to!which,!as!previously!mentioned,!both!men! had!been!extremely!dedicated.!!

! 105! and!to!dedicate!himself!to!extraJmusical!tasks!on!behalf!of!world!Jewry!(a!subject!to! which!we!will!shortly!return).77!!

To!his!surprise,!Schoenberg's!teaching!appointment!in!Boston!also!came!with! adjunct!responsibilities!in!New!York,!but!the!harshness!of!the!New!England!winter! threatened!his!health!and!exacerbated!his!chronic!asthma.!In!1934,!he!moved!to!Los!

Angeles,!where!he!spent!the!remaining!17!years!of!his!life.!Over!the!course!of!the! next!decade,!Schoenberg!found!himself!joined!by!a!large!number!of!refugees! displaced!from!Europe.!Estimates!of!the!Southern!California!German!refugee! population!during!this!period!have!in!fact!ranged!as!high!as!10,000!and!15,000.78!

Among!the!new!Californians!was!an!improbably!high!proportion!of!Europe's! artistic!and!intellectual!elite,!including!Thomas!Mann!and!his!brother!Heinrich!

Mann,!Bertolt!Brecht,!Theodor!Adorno,!Max!Horkheimer,!Leon!Feuchtwanger,!Max!

Reinhardt,!Franz!Werfel,!Aldous!Huxley,!and!Christopher!Isherwood.79!Beyond!these! literary!and!intellectual!figures,!many!musicians!and!composers!in!particular!ended! up!in!Southern!California!thanks!to!the!agreeable!climate,!the!promise!of!work!in!the! film!studios,!and,!in!later!stages!of!the!migration,!the!existence!of!a!large!émigré! community.!Beyond!Schoenberg,!the!prominent!musical!émigrés!in!Los!Angeles! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 77!The!correspondence!with!Malkin!leading!to!Schoenberg’s!appointment!has!been! published!in!its!entirety.!See!R.!Wayne!Shoaf,!"The!SchoenbergJMalkin!Correspondence,"! Journal$of$the$Arnold$Schoenberg$Institute!XIII,!no.!2!(1990).!For!an!overview!of! Schoenberg’s!brief!stay!in!Boston,!see!Jeremy!Eichler,!“Revolutionary!on!Beacon!Street:! Recalling!Arnold!Schoenberg’s!Time!as!a!Bostonian,”!The$Boston$Globe,!1!November!2009.! For!a!description!of!Schoenberg’s!lack!of!diplomacy!upon!arrival,!and!his!disconnection! from!a!Boston!musical!public!initially!eager!to!receive!him,!see!Leichtentritt,!A$Musical$Life$ in$Two$Worlds,!408J10.! 78!Estimates!vary!widely.!See!Alexander!Stephan,!Die$Deutsche$Exilliteratur$1933F1945:$Eine$ Einführung!(München:!Beck,!1979),!7.!See!also!Bahr,!Weimar$on$the$Pacific,!3.! 79!For!a!broader!survey!of!this!unprecedented!cultural!ingathering,!one!which!does!not$ focus!on!Los!Angeles!per!se,!see!Heilbut,!Exiled$in$Paradise:$German$Refugee$Artists$and$ Intellectuals$in$America.!

! 106! included!the!composers!Igor!Stravinsky,!Sergei!Rachmaninoff,!Hanns!Eisler!and!

Erich!Korngold,!the!conductors!Bruno!Walter!and!Otto!Klemperer,!and!the! instrumentalists!Jascha!Heifetz!and!Gregor!Piatigorsky.80!There!were!also!two!prime! social!mediators!among!the!various!émigré!groups:!Salka!Viertel,!the!Austrian! actress!who!became!a!scriptwriter!for!Greta!Garbo!and!hosted!a!fabled!salon,!and!

Alma!Mahler,!who!lived!next!door!to!Bruno!Walter,!and!seemed!to!supply!all!with!a! healthy!diet!of!gossip!and!dinner!parties.!!

Traditional!characterizations!of!Schoenberg’s!émigré!period!have!been! largely!negative,!emphasizing!his!artistic!isolation,!his!financial!struggles,!and!the! lack!of!interest!in!his!music!from!American!concert!organizations.!The!coloring!of! these!views!owes!something!to!broader!trends!in!German!Exilforschung!(outlined!in!

Chapter!I)!and!to!the!zealous!efforts!of!some!of!Schoenberg's!European!students,! who!sought!to!emphasize!the!primacy!of!the!European!career!at!times!implicitly!at! the!expense!of!the!composer's!American!coda.!A!more!nuanced!portrait!of!

Schoenberg's!Los!Angeles!period!has!begun!to!emerge,!however,!through!the!work! of!revisionist!scholars.!In!Schoenberg's$New$World,!for!instance,!Sabine!Feisst! debunks!many!of!the!most!pervasive!myths!about!Schoenberg's!rejection!of!(and! from)!America,!including!those!surrounding!his!finances,!the!publication!and! performance!of!his!work,!and!even!his!broader!personal!embrace!of!American! culture.!As!Feisst!and!others!have!suggested,!America!was!where!Schoenberg's! various!jostling!identities,!as!German,!Jew,!12Jtone!and!tonal!composer,!could! coexist.!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 80!For!a!wideJangle!portrait!of!the!musical!migration!to!Southern!California,!see!Crawford,!A$ Windfall$of$Musicians:$Hitler's$Èmigrès$and$Exiles$in$Southern$California.!

! 107! Indeed,!as!I!will!seek!to!sketch!in!the!following!section,!during!his!period!in!

America,!Schoenberg!softened!his!puritanism!regarding!the!historical!imperative!of!

12Jtone!music;!he!tempered!his!elitism,!as!he!found!himself!yearning!for!a!broader! and!more!popular!acceptance!of!his!music;81!and!he!repositioned!his!art!outward.!

On!this!last!point,!Schoenberg!(and!others)!had!often!emphasized!the!importance!of! his!music's!autonomy!from!the!surrounding!social!forces,!be!they!commercial! pressures,!the!responses!of!a!philistine!public,!or!of!a!hostile!press.82!As!we!have! seen,!in!the!development!of!his!own!musical!language!before!his!exile,!he!had!linked! his!own!innovations!with!a!teleology!of!music's!own!internal!logical!evolution,!or! with!the!burning!needs!of!the!psyche!for!unmediated!expression.!Yet!in!Los!Angeles,! he!implicitly!called!that!autonomy!into!question!by!writing!engagé$works,!music! responding!directly!to!the!European!catastrophe.!!

Many!émigrés!had!taken!refuge!elsewhere!before!arriving!in!California,!or!as!

Brecht!put!it,!they!had!been!“changing!countries!more!often!than!our!shoes.”83!When! they!did!arrive,!the!émigrés!naturally!saw!their!new!California!home!through!the! eyes!of!their!past!experience.!Thomas!Mann!described!“a!hilly!landscape!strikingly! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 81!In!just!one!small!illustration!of!this!point,!when!the!Los!Angeles!Chamber!Music!Society! scheduled!his!Second!String!Quartet!for!a!performance!in!December!1934,!a!newspaper! preview!stated!that!Schoenberg!was!seeking!to!have!the!German!poems!by!Stefan!George! translated!into!English,!a!surprising!gesture!given!his!tendency!to!treat!the!details!of!his! original!scores!as!quasiJsacred!texts.!Even!Pierrot$was!performed!on!another!occasion!in!an! English!translation!by!Ingolf!Dahl.!See!“Chamber!Music!Society!to!Give!Concert!Series,”!4! November!1934,!Los$Angeles$Times.! 82!Reflecting!these!sensitivities,!Schoenberg!had!founded!in!Vienna!in!1918!the!Verein$für$ musikalische$Privataufführungen,!“to!give!artists!and!music!lovers!a!real!and!exact! knowledge!of!modern!music”!(according!to!Alban!Berg’s!prospectus!for!the!society).!Auner,! A$Schoenberg$Reader,!151.!See!also!Christopher!Hailey’s!“Musical!Expressionism:!The! Search!for!Autonomy”!in!Shulamith!Behr,!David!Fanning,!and!Douglas!Jarman,!eds.,! Expressionism$Reassessed!(Manchester:!Manchester!University!Press,!1993).! 83!Bertolt!Brecht,!“An!die!Nachgeborenen”.!For!full!English!translation!see!Bertolt!Brecht,! Poems,$1913F1956,!ed.!John!Willett!and!Ralph!Manheim!(New!York:!Methuen,!1979),!320.!

! 108! similar!to!Tuscany;”84!and!Brecht!confessed!in!one!of!his!first!letters!from!California,!

“I!feel!here!as!I!if!were!in!Tahiti.”85!Schoenberg!described!his!new!Hollywood! neighborhood!as!resembling!Mödling,!a!suburb!of!Vienna!where!he!lived!for!several! years!after!World!War!I.86!!

The!composer!did!not!deny!“feeling!the!wrench!in!my!very!bones”87!upon!his! departure!from!Europe,!but!scarcely!one!month!after!he!arrived!in!California,!he! was!already!breathing!easier.!In!one!letter,!as!he!describes!it:!“I!am!sitting!by!the! open!window,!writing,!and!my!room!is!full!of!sunshine!”88!The!same!month!of!his! arrival,!he!was!honored!at!a!reception!in!Los!Angeles;!his!speech!on!that!occasion! reflected!a!deep!gratefulness.!“I!came!from!one!country!into!another!country!where! neither!dust!nor!better!food!is!rationed!and!where!I!am!allowed!to!go!on!my!feet,! where!my!head!can!be!erect,!where!kindness!and!cheerfulness!is!dominating!and! where!to!live!is!a!joy!where!to!be!an!expatriated!of!another!country!is!the!grace!of!

God.$I!was!driven!into!paradise!”89!!

Gratefulness!was!soon!tempered!by!frustration,!as!Schoenberg!quickly! discovered!how!difficult!it!was!to!secure!performances!of!his!music.!Part!of!the! difficulty!can!be!attributed!to!his!arrival!without!institutional!support!or!public! fanfare.!Before!he!had!come!to!Boston,!Joseph!Malkin!had!conducted!a!successful!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 84!Thomas!Mann,!Letters$of$Thomas$Mann,$1889F1955,!trans.!Richard!and!Clara!Winston! (Berkeley:!University!of!California!Press,!1990),!269.! 85!Bertolt!Brecht,!Letters,!ed.!John!Willett,!trans.!Ralph!Manheim!(London:!Methuen,!1990),! 336.! 86!Schoenberg,!“Circular!to!my!Friends!on!my!Sixtieth!Birthday,”!as!published!in!Schoenberg,! Style$and$Idea,!28.!!! 87!Schoenberg,!“Thanks!for!Birthday!Wishes,”!Letters,!191J92.!! 88!Style$and$Idea,!29.! 89!Reprinted!in!Walter!Frisch,!ed.!Schoenberg$and$His$World!(Princeton:!Princeton! University!Press,!1999),!298.!

! 109! public!relations!campaign!which!placed!prominent!articles!in!both!the!national!and! local!press.90!But!no!similar!effort!was!made!in!Los!Angeles.91!Adding!to!the! difficulty,!there!was!not!the!same!history!of!commitment!to!contemporary!classical! music!in!Southern!California.92!What's!more,!Schoenberg!also!seemed!to!lack!the! diplomacy!skills!necessary!to!build!new!alliances,!or!to!take!advantage!of!ones!that! he!might!naturally!have!built!upon.93!!

From!the!beginning!of!his!Los!Angeles!period,!teaching!took!on!an!expanded! role!in!his!life.!His!first!summer!in!California,!Schoenberg!taught!a!course!at!USC,! and!from!1936!to!1942,!he!taught!at!UCLA.!He!also!gave!courses!at!the!Music!

Academy!of!the!West!in!Santa!Barbara.!He!was!not!impressed!by!the!overall!level!of! the!American!students,!whose!backgrounds!he!compared!to!Swiss!cheese!in!their! number!of!holes,!but!he!praised!their!eagerness!to!learn.!In!the!early!years,!the! courses!pressed!his!English!to!its!limits,!and!tested!his!ability!to!function!in!the!less! hierarchical!pedagogic!environment!of!the!United!States.!!

At!UCLA,!he!recruited!two!young!musicians,!Gerald!Strang!and!later!Leonard!

Stein,!to!be!his!teaching!assistants,!with!Strang!beginning!as!early!as!1935.!As!Strang! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 90!See,!for!example,!“Schoenberg,!Exile,!to!Teach!in!Boston,”!8!September!1933,!New$York$ Times;!“The!Enigma!of!Modern!Music!Arrives,”!10!November!1933,!Musical$America.$See! also!Joseph!Malkin!to!Schoenberg,!7!September!1933,!in!Shoaf,!"The!SchoenbergJMalkin! Correspondence."! 91!See!Dorothy!Lamb!Crawford,!"Arnold!Schoenberg!in!Los!Angeles,"!Musical$Quarterly!86,! no.!1!(2002):!7.!The!first!mention!of!Schoenberg’s!arrival!in!the!Los$Angeles$Times$appears! as!an!aside!in!a!column!by!Isabel!Morse!Jones!on!14!October!1934.!! 92!Henry!Cowell’s!New$Music!moved!from!Los!Angeles!to!San!Francisco!in!1926J27.!See!ibid.! 93!For!example,!he!had!been!in!Los!Angeles!scarcely!one!month!when!he!rejected!an!offer!to! attend!a!reception!in!Otto!Klemperer’s!honor!at!the!Los!Angeles!Philharmonic!because!he! felt!the!orchestra!had!not!done!enough!for!his!music!in!the!past,!and!it!did!not!deserve!his! endorsement!without!first!making!an!attempt!to!reconcile!him.!See!Schoenberg!to! Klemperer,!8!November!1934,!in!Letters,$192J93.!The!same!sentiment!made!it!into!print!less! than!a!month!after!his!arrival;!see!“Composer!and!Wife!to!be!Guests!of!Pro!Musica,”!28! October!1934,!Los$Angeles$Times.$For!more!on!this!point,!see!ibid.!

! 110! once!described,!his!duties!went!far!beyond!pedagogic!and!included!helping!

Schoenberg!navigate!a!culture!entirely!foreign!to!him.!According!to!Strang,!

Schoenberg!was!prone!to!feeling!personally!slighted.!If!a!student!or!colleague!did! not!come!to!shake!hands,!the!composer!would!be!concerned!that!he!had!offended! him,!or!even!that!an!offence!was!intended!by!the!student.94!

Despite!the!varying!levels!of!his!students,!many!of!whom!were!not!even! music!majors,!Schoenberg!committed!himself!to!his!teaching!with!great!seriousness,! according!to!Stein95!and!many!others!who!encountered!him!in!that!context.!He! devoted!large!portions!of!his!time!to!producing!four!different!text!books!specifically! designed!to!address!the!needs!of!his!own!students.96!His!pedagogic!approach!called! for!a!deep!immersion!in!the!work!of!the!AustroJGerman!masters,!such!as!Bach,!

Beethoven,!Brahms,!and!Mozart,97!and!he!actively!discouraged!students!from! writing!in!more!modern!styles!before!earlier!techniques!had!been!mastered.!As!his! students!progressed,!he!took!great!pride!in!their!accomplishments,!and!he!would! showcase!their!work!at!regular!Sunday!afternoon!parties!at!his!home!in!

Brentwood.98!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 94!Oral!history,!Gerald!Strang!interviewed!by!Vivian!Perlis.!Special!Collections,!Arnold! Schönberg!Center,!Vienna.!!! 95!Leonard!Stein,!interview!by!author,!13!May!2003,!Los!Angeles,!Calif.!! 96!Structural$Functions$of$Harmony;!Preliminary$Exercises$in$Counterpoint;!Models$for$ Beginners$in$Composition;!and!Fundamentals$of$Musical$Composition.!! 97!See!“First!California!Broadcast”!selected!and!introduced!by!Sabine!Feisst,!in!Frisch,! Schoenberg$and$His$World,!285.!Feisst’s!introduction!to!this!transcription!of!a!radio! interview!appears!to!misdate!the!interview!as!occurring!in!the!fall!of!1934.!Schoenberg’s! interviewer,!Max!van!Leuwen!Swarthout,!refers!to!Schoenberg’s!having!taught!at!the!recent! summer!session!at!USC,!which!he!did!not!do!until!1935.!He!also!refers!to!Schoenberg!as! having!been!in!America!for!two!years.!The!likely!date!of!this!interview!is!fall!1935.! 98!Dika!Newlin,!Schoenberg$Remembered:$Diaries$and$Recollections$(1938F1976)!(New!York:! Pendragon!Press,!1980),!173.!

! 111! For!much!of!his!American!period,!Schoenberg!struggled!financially.!He!was! forced!to!retire!from!UCLA!when!he!reached!the!age!of!70,!and!his!pension! amounted!to!just!$38!dollars!a!month.!He!applied!in!1945!to!the!Guggenheim!

Foundation!for!funding!that!he!thought!would!allow!him!to!complete!his!unfinished! opera!Moses$und$Aron,!among!other!works,!but!his!request!was!rejected.99!He!came! to!believe!that!the!war!years!had!amplified!a!particularly!xenophobic!brand!of!

American!cultural!nationalism,!one!that!had!also!crept!into!the!minds!of!the!concert! music!world.!He!described!himself!as!“the!first!victim!of!the!nationalistic! movement.”100!!

Schoenberg!initially!supplemented!his!income!by!giving!private!lessons!to! film!composers.101!He!even!had!his!own!memorable!encounter!with!the!film! industry!in!1936.!The!renowned!MGM!producer!Irving!Thalberg,!having!heard!one! of!his!early!tonal!works,!invited!the!composer!to!write!the!score!for!the!screen!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 99!Schoenberg!to!Henry!Allen!Moe,!22!January!1945,!in!Schoenberg,!Letters,!231.! 100!Schoenberg!to!K.!Aram,!15!November!1947.!Quoted!in!Alan!Lessem’s!“The!Émigré! Experience:!Schoenberg!in!America”!in!Brand!and!Hailey,!Constructive$Dissonance,!60.!As! Lessem!and!others!have!emphasized,!the!issue!was!not!only!a!kind!of!populist!antiJTeutonic! sentiment!of!a!public!at!war,!but!also!a!conscious!effort!to!cultivate!an!American!national! identity!in!music,!a!project!that!had!begun!as!early!as!the!1890s!with!Dvorak’s!presence!in! New!York.!And!indeed,!the!American!search!for!a!usable!musical!past!led!a!younger! generation!of!composers!to!explore!sources!far!from!Schoenberg’s!valorized!AustroJGerman! canon.!This!cultural!climate!may!indeed!have!temporarily!dimmed!the!American!interest!in! Schoenberg’s!music,!but!it!is!to!Schoenberg’s!credit!as!a!teacher!that!he!was!nonetheless! able!to!influentially!instruct!American!composers!in!search!of!their!own!new!directions.!The! two!most!natural!examples!to!list!here!would!be!the!future!American!mavericks!John!Cage! and!Lou!Harrison,!both!of!whom!studied!with!Schoenberg.!Harrison!later!thanked!his! teacher!thusly:!“No!person!has!given!me!so!much!confidence!in!myself,!and!I!have!had!much! need!since!then,!in!the!face!of!fads!and!fashions,!of!just!that!intense!and!real!belief!in!the! importance!of!honesty!towards!oneself!and!honesty!towards!the!art!which!I!profess!that! you!seemed!to!give!me.”!From!a!letter!–!Harrison!to!Schoenberg,!4!November!1944!–!quoted! in!Lessem,!“The!Émigré!Experience”!in!ibid.,!66.!!! 101!Some!were!surprised!and!disappointed!to!learn!that!Schoenberg!would!not!teach!them! his!12Jtone!method.!See!Oscar!Levant,!A$Smattering$of$Ignorance!(New!York:!Doubleday! Doran!&!Co.,!1940),!125.!

! 112! adaptation!of!Pearl!S.!Buck's!“The!Good!Earth.”!The!actress!Salka!Viertel!helped!to! broker!the!meeting!and!recalled!it!vividly!in!her!memoirs.102!Thalberg!apparently! invited!Schoenberg!into!his!office!and!began!by!complimenting!the!composer!on!his! lovely!music.!“I!don't!write!'lovely'!music,”!Schoenberg!replied,!and!proceeded!to! inform!Thalberg!that!the!music!in!most!films!was!abysmal,!and!that!if!he!were!to! write!the!score,!he!would!need!full!control!of!not!only!the!music!but!the!actors!as! well.!But!even!with!all!of!Schoenberg's!demands,!Thalberg!apparently!did!not!balk! until!the!composer!doubled!his!$25,000!dollar!fee.!“If!I!do!commit!suicide,”!

Schoenberg!told!Alma!MahlerJWerfel!at!the!time,!“I!want!to!at!least!live!well!on! it.”103!

The!nearJmiss!with!MGM!hints!at!the!broader!ways!in!which!Schoenberg! grew!increasingly!enmeshed!in!the!culture!of!Los!Angeles!and!America!more! generally.!He!purchased!a!home!off!of!Sunset!Boulevard,!on!the!same!street!as!

Shirley!Temple.!He!became!a!U.S.!citizen!in!1941.!He!and!Gertrude!had!two!more! children:!Ronald,!whose!name!is!an!anagram!of!his!own,!and!Lawrence.!And!far!from! making!their!home!into!an!island!of!European!culture,!Schoenberg!seemed!to! embrace!his!surroundings,!especially!in!regard!to!his!children.!He!was!a!devoted!fan! of!Ronald's!tennis!career,!and!devised!a!special!notational!method!for!recording!the! progress!of!games!point!by!point.!Lawrence!Schoenberg!recalled!going!out!to!dinner! as!a!family!to!the!Thrifty!Drugstore!on!Wilshire!Boulevard!and!Fourth!Street!in!

Santa!Monica:!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 102!Salka!!Viertel,!The$Kindness$of$Strangers!(New!York:!Holt,!Rinehart,!and!Winston,!1969),! 206J08.! 103!As!recounted!by!Alma!Mahler!in!her!memoir.!See!Alma!Mahler,!And$the$Bridge$Is$Love! (New!York:!Harcourt,!Brace,!1958),!280.!

! 113! We!would!get!the!fortyJniner…!a!fortyJnine!cent!meal.!It!was!probably! chicken!and!mashed!potatoes!and!a!coke!and!hot!fudge!Sundae.!We!would!sit! at!the!counter….!I!think!he!really!wanted!us!to!grow!up!being!Americans,! although!I!was!not!allowed!to!be!in!the!cub!scouts,!because!he!obviously! associated!little!kids!wearing!uniforms!with!Hitler!Youth…!So!I!couldn't!do! that.!But!he!did!want!us!to!grow!up!and!be!part!of!the!culture,!which!we!did.! I'm!a!little!disappointed.!I!wish!I!had!had!more!European!culture!growing! up.104!! ! In!1950,!Schoenberg!was!contacted!by!the!writer!Albert!Goldberg,!who!was! preparing!a!column!for!the!Los$Angeles$Times!on!how!the!different!émigré! composers!felt!that!America!had!changed!them.!Schoenberg's!response!has!often! been!quoted!in!the!secondary!literature!and!largely!taken!at!face!value.!In!

Schoenberg's!words:!“If!immigration!to!America!has!changed!me—I!am!not!aware!of! it…!Maybe!I!would!have!written!more!when!remaining!in!Europe,!but!I!think:! nothing!comes!out,!what!was!not!in.!And!two!times!two!equals!four!in!every!climate.!

Maybe!I!had!four!times!four!times![sic]!harder!to!work!for!a!living.!But!I!made!no! concessions!to!the!market.”105!!!

! If!it!is!true!that!Schoenberg!did!not!go!as!far!as!Stravinsky,!who!showed!few! scruples!in,!for!example,!accepting!a!commission!from!the!circus!to!write!a!“Polka! for!a!Young!Elephant,”!but!Schoenberg's!nearJmiss!with!Thalberg!and!MGM!simply! suggests!that!the!composer!had!a!higher!price!for!concessions.!But!it!is!Schoenberg's! line!“two!times!two!equals!four!in!every!climate”!that!bears!more!scrutiny.!It!follows! from!an!earlier!passage!in!Schoenberg's!remarks!to!Goldberg,!where!the!composer! sarcastically!wonders!whether!“I!would!be!expected!to!write!another!style!as!often!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 104!Lawrence!Schoenberg,!interview!with!the!author,!16!May!2003,!Pacific!Palisades,!Calif.!! 105!“The!Transplanted!Composer,”!14!May!1950,!Los$Angeles$Times.!!

! 114! as!I!live!in!a!different!country:!extremely!cold!in!Alaska!or!Siberia,!very!hot!near!the! equator,!damp!in!the!jungles!and!so!forth.”!!

! This!reductio$ad$absurdum!approach!to!Goldberg's!question!belies!the!more! complex!reality!of!Schoenberg's!exile!experience.!His!commitment!to!the!historical! imperative!of!12Jtone!music!did!in!fact!soften!and!grow!more!flexible!in!America;!he! confessed!to!often!feeling!“an!upsurge!of!desire!for!tonality,”106!an!urge!he!obeyed!in! works!such!as!the!Second!Chamber!Symphony,!the!Suite!for!String!Orchestra,!and! several!others!composed!in!this!country.107!Even!in!his!strictly!12Jtone!pieces,!he! suddenly!seemed!to!care!about!the!music!finding!an!audience!far!beyond!a!small! circle!of!connoisseurs.!Schoenberg!had!in!earlier!years!penned!the!prickly!epigram:!

“If!it!is!art!it!is!not!for!everyone,!and!if!it!is!for!everyone!it!is!not!art.”!The!same! composer!wrote!from!Los!Angeles,!“there!is!nothing!I!long!for!more!intensely!than! to!be!taken!for!a!better!sort!of!Tchaikovsky!–!for!heaven's!sake,!a!bit!better!but! really!that's!all….!People!should!know!my!tunes!and!whistle!them.”108!

$

The(War(Years(

! As!the!size!of!the!émigré!community!in!Southern!California!swelled!during! the!war!years,!many!artists!registered!the!extreme!disjunction!between!the!daily! events!taking!place!on!the!continent!of!Europe!and!the!landscapes!of!natural!(and! artificial)!beauty!in!which!they!lived.!!Carl!Zuckmayer,!for!instance,!wrote:!!

Never!have!I!been!so!wrapped!in!the!mists!of!depression!as!in!this!land!of! eternal!spring,!in!whose!irrigated!gardens,!with!their!chlorinated!swimming! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 106!Schoenberg!to!Josef!Rufer,!May!25,!1948!as!reprinted!in!Schoenberg,!Letters,!254J55.! 107!See!also!“On!Revient!Toujours”!(1948)!in!Style$and$Idea,!108J9.! 108!Schoenberg!to!Hans!Rosbaud,!12!May!1947.!Letters,!243.!

! 115! pools!and!dream!castles!perched!on!the!slopes!of!canyons,!shortJlived! pleasure!is!at!home,!while!in!the!depths!sprawls!a!dreary,!murderous! wasteland:!the!city!of!Los!Angeles,!one!of!the!ugliest!and!most!brutal! metropolises!in!the!world.109!! ! The!home!of!Lion!and!Marta!Feuchtwanger!became!a!gathering!place!in!those!years.!

When!interviewed!in!1976,!Marta!Feuchtwanger!recalled!“[e]verybody!was!in!a!way! homesick,!not!for!going!back,!but!homesick!for!what!was,!what!we!left,!what!was! before!and!what!we!thought!would!never!come!again.”110!

! !The!specific!postwar!circumstances!that!led!to!the!composition!of$Survivor! from!Warsaw,!which!Schoenberg!wrote!in!the!summer!of!1947,!will!be!examined!in! detail!in!Chapter!IV,!but!it!is!important!at!this!point!to!situate!this!early!Holocaust! memorial!in!the!context!of!Schoenberg's!experience!during!the!war!years!and!his! relationship!to!the!Holocaust!itself.!!

Returning!momentarily!to!Der$Biblische$Weg,$we!may!recall!a!crucial!line! from!the!play’s!final!act,!in!which!the!protagonist,!Max!Aruns,!rejects!the!necessity!of! dividing!the!archetypal!qualities!associated!with!Moses!and!those!of!Aron!across!the! personalities!of!two!different!people.!As!Aruns!states:!

To!me,!Moses!and!Aron!represent!two!activities!of!one$man—a!statesman,! whose!two!souls!ignore!each!other’s!existence.!The!purity!of!his!Idea!is!not! blurred!by!his!public!actions;!and!these!actions!are!not!weakened!by!his! thoughtful!consideration!of!yet!unsolved!problems!that!the!Idea!presents.111!! !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 109!Mark!M.!Anderson,!ed.!Hitler's$Exiles:$Personal$Stories$of$the$Flight$from$Nazi$Germany$to$ America!(New!York:!New!Press,!1998),!276.!In!his!chronicle!of!what!he!terms!“exile! modernism,”!Ehrhard!Bahr!observes!that!“the!idyllic!landscape!functioned!like!a!Hollywood! movie!set!that!produced!alienation!because!of!its!apparent!perfection.”!Bahr,!Weimar$on$the$ Pacific,!11.! 110!Marta!Feuchtwanger!was!interviewed!by!Lawrence!Weschler!for!an!extensive!oral! history.!See!M.!Feuchtwanger,!An$Emigre$Life:$Munich,$Berlin,$Sanary,$Pacific$Palisades!(UCLA! Library!Center!for!Oral!History,!1976),!1319.!! 111!Schoenberg,!"Der!Biblische!Weg,"!305.!

! 116! ! From!1933!through!the!end!of!the!war,!Schoenberg!enacted!his!commitment!to!this! dual!Moses/AronJstyle!statesmanship.!As!detailed!by!Feisst,!his!activism!was! tireless!and!extensive,!though!it!was!also!rather!quixotic!and!poorly!received.112!The! reasons!for!this!reception!are!not!difficult!to!surmise!after!spending!even!a!brief! amount!of!time!surveying!Schoenberg’s!political!writing!from!this!period.!Much!of!it! betrays!an!aggressive!style!of!argumentation!and!a!tendency!toward!militaristic! thinking,!as!well!as!at!times!a!disturbing!inclination!to!blame!Jewish!victims!or,! worse!still,!to!suggest!a!kind!of!perverse!divine!logic!in!the!persistence!of!antiJ

Semitism.!In!“A!FourJPoint!Program!for!Jewry,”!for!instance,!Schoenberg!writes:!!

What!makes!us!a!nation!is!not!so!much!our!race,!as!our!religion...!This! imposes!upon!us!the!duty!of!selfJpreservation.!Larger!minorities!than!ours! among!dominating!people!have!been!absorbed.!Assimilation!was!never! successful!with!us,!and!when!many!of!us!were!ready!to!assimilate,! persecution!arose!to!preserve!the!nation,!as$if$it$were$a$tool$of$God!to! stimulate!us!when!we!were!in!danger!of!forgetting!our!inherited!belief.113!! ! ! Elsewhere,!in!1935,!he!wrote!that!“when!Jewry!was!endangered!by!assimilation,!

Providence…!made!the!newJstarting!racial!antiJSemitism!her!instrument.”114!The! extent!to!which!Schoenberg's!diagnosis!of!the!problems!facing!European!Jewry!track! with!his!own!personal!biography!is!striking.115!Further!contributing!to!the!reception! of!his!ideas!was!no!doubt!his!disinclination!to!take!any!kind!of!supporting!role!in!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 112!Feisst,!Schoenberg's$New$World,!85J90.! 113!“A!FourJPoint!Program!for!Jewry,”!further!addressed!below,!was!published!for!the!first! time!by!Alexander!Ringer,!appearing!as!an!appendix!in!his!book.!See!Ringer,!Arnold$ Schoenberg,!230J44.! 114!Schoenberg,!Style$and$Idea,!503.! 115!These!overlaps!will!be!further!explored!in!Chapter!4.!!

! 117! campaign!to!save!world!Jewry;!as!a!MosesJandJAronJstyle!statesman,!Schoenberg! saw!himself!as!uniquely,!if!reluctantly,!prepared!for!the!mantle!of!leadership.!

With!that!mindset,!the!composer!approached!many!Jewish!leaders!in!

America!and!Europe,!including!Einstein,!who!did!not!reply!to!Schoenberg’s!attempt! to!engage!him!on!his!views!of!Zionism,!and!Stephen!Wise,!with!whom!Schoenberg! tried!to!earn!credibility!by!listing!numerous!previous!occasions!on!which!he!had! displayed!his!foresight!in!political!matters.!(He!stated,!for!instance,!that!he!had! foreseen!the!embattled!state!of!democracy!in!Europe!in!the!1920s.!Displaying!less!

AronJlike!political!savvy,!however,!he!also!attempted!to!persuade!Wise!of!his!own! capacities!for!political!leadership!by!stating!that!he!had!once!appointed!himself!as! the!dictator!of!an!artistic!group,!adding!“I!called!myself!then!the!first!dictator!in!

Europe!”)116!

! Schoenberg’s!claims!to!foresight,!however,!turned!out!to!be!more!than!just!a! rhetorical!strategy!for!persuading!Jewish!leaders.!In!this!context,!one!is!almost! obligated!to!quote!from!the!striking!first!paragraph!of!the!“FourJPoint!Program!for!

Jewry,”!which!was!written!prior!to!November!1938,!and!has!been!described!by! many!commentators!as!a!uniquely!prescient!document:!

500,000!Jews!from!Germany,!300,000!from!Austria,!400,000!from! Czechoslovakia,!500,000!from!Hungary,!60,000!from!Italy—more!than!one! million!and!eight!hundred!thousand!Jews!will!have!to!migrate!in!how!short!a! time,!one!does!not!know.!May!God!provide!there!will!not!be!an!additional! 3,500,000!from!Poland,!900,000!from!Rumania,!240,000!from!Lithuania!and! 160,000!from!Latvia—almost!5,000,000;!and!Yugoslavia!with!64,000,! Bulgaria!with!40,000!and!Greece!with!80,000!might!follow!at!once,!not!to! speak!of!other!countries,!which!are!at!present!less!active.!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 116!Schoenberg’s!correspondence!with!Wise!and!Einstein!appears!in!E.!Randol!Schoenberg,! "Arnold!Schoenberg!and!Albert!Einstein:!Their!Relationship!and!Views!on!Zionism,"!Journal$ of$the$Arnold$Schoenberg$Institute!X,!no.!2!(1987).!

! 118! !!!!Is!there!room!in!the!world!for!almost!7,000,000!people?! !!!!Are!they!condemned!to!doom?!Will!they!become!extinct?!Famished?! Butchered?117!! ! ! As!the!war!began,!Schoenberg!seemed!to!experience!the!fate!of!world!Jewry! on!his!own!shoulders,!but!his!lack!of!political!skills!and!seeming!inability!or! disinclination!to!alter!his!tone!for!the!sake!of!broadcasting!his!message,!left!him! unable!to!publish!his!warnings.!According!to!Feisst,!as!he!became!increasingly! desperate,!Schoenberg!contemplated!starting!his!own!newspaper,!radio!station,!or! even!renting!an!airplane!to!disseminate!his!views.!He!dreamed!of!a!plan!whereby!he! was!“President!of!the!Gov[ernment]!in!Exile!of!the!Jewish!Nation,”!located!on!a!ship! provided!by!President!Truman.118!On!a!more!practical!level,!he!approached!Thomas!

Mann!for!help!in!publishing!his!“FourJPoint!Program”!but!Mann!was!taken!aback!by! some!of!authoritarian!qualities!in!his!writing!described!above.!After!the!war,!

Schoenberg!claimed,!perhaps!revising!the!record!somewhat,!that!he!had!exercised! restraint!in!his!political!activism!in!the!United!States,!out!of!deference!to!his!status! as!a!naturalized!citizen.119!!

Returning!to!our!agenda!of!placing!A$Survivor$From$Warsaw!in!its! appropriate!context!as!a!memorial!work,!we!must!also!understand!the!nature!of!

Schoenberg's!personal!losses!during!the!war!years.120!Indeed,!discussions!of!this!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 117!“A!FourJPoint!Program!for!Jewry,”!as!published!in!Ringer,!Arnold$Schoenberg,!230.$ 118!See!Feisst,!Schoenberg's$New$World,!87J89.! 119!See!for!instance!“My!Attitude!Toward!Politics,”!from!February!1950,!in!Schoenberg,!Style$ and$Idea,!506.!! 120!Jay!Winter’s!cautionary!words!would!seem!pertinent!here:!“[h]ow!healing!occurs,!and! what!quietens!embitterment!and!alleviates!despair!can!never!be!fully!known.!But!not!to!ask! the!question,!not!to!try!to!place!the!history!of!war!memorials!within!the!history!of! bereavement,!a!history!we!all!share!in!our!private!lives,!is!both!to!impoverish!the!study!of!

! 119! work!are!often!oddly!separated!from!Schoenberg's!own!experiences,!which!must! have!included!mourning!the!death!of!his!own!brother!Heinrich.!As!one!might!recall,! it!was!Heinrich!who!had!married!the!daughter!of!the!mayor!of!Salzburg.!He!was! arrested!by!the!Gestapo!in!that!city!in!1941.!Schoenberg’s!niece!Inge!Blumauer!was! also!gunned!down!with!her!husband!in!the!forests!outside!of!Dresden.!Schoenberg! learned!of!their!fate!in!gruesome!detail!in!a!letter!from!Heinrich's!wife,!Bertel!Ott!

Schoenberg.!An!excerpt!from!the!letter!reads!as!follows:!!

On!the!day!before,!four!SS!or!SA!men!came!to!their!home!and!said!they! should!both!come!with!them,!promising!that!nothing!would!happen!to!them.! Trusting!them,!the!pair!followed!and!were!driven!in!the!car!about!an!hour!to! a!stony!brook.!There!the!SA!men,!without!saying!another!word,!shot!down! Inge!and!her!husband.!Werner!was!dead!immediately,!and!Inge!was!left!to!lie! with!two!lung!wounds,!one!stomach!wound,!an!arm!shot!through!from!11!pm! until!8!am!the!next!morning,!when!she!could!drag!herself!to!the!street!and! then!was!found!and!brought!to!the!Dresden!hospital.121!! ! ! Schoenberg!also!corresponded!with!his!daughter!from!his!first!marriage,!

Getrud!Greissle,!and!her!husband!Felix!Greissle,!both!of!whom!were!desperately! attempting!to!flee!Vienna!following!the!Anschluss.!Interestingly,!these!letters!convey! a!certain!lack!of!understanding!from!Schoenberg,!or!an!inability!to!grasp!the!reality! of!the!violent!and!precarious!situation!facing!Austrian!Jews.!These!blind!spots!may! seem!surprising!given!Schoenberg's!foresight!regarding!European!antiJSemitism,!as! previously!discussed.!But!they!may!also!underscore!the!extent!to!which!the! composer's!deep!fears!about!a!future!for!Jews!in!Europe!coexisted!with!a!residual!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! history!and!to!evade!our!responsibility!as!historians.”!Winter,!Sites$of$Memory,$Sites$of$ Mourning,!116.! 121!Bertel!Ott!Schönberg!to!Arnold!and!Gertrud!Schoenberg,!9!June!1946.!Quoted!in! Crittenden’s!“Texts!and!Contexts!of!‘A!Survivor!from!Warsaw,’!Op.!46”!in!Cross!and!Berman,! Political$and$Religious$Ideas$in$the$Works$of$Arnold$Schoenberg,!238.!

! 120! humanistic!belief!in!the!basic!functioning!of!the!core!institutions!underpinning!

Austrian!civil!society.!When!faced!with!Schoenberg's!persistent!anger!and! bafflement!that!his!daughter!and!sonJinJlaw!had!not!waited!in!occupied!Vienna!for! the!arrival!of!an!affidavit!he!had!sent,!Felix!Greissle!eventually!replied!to!the! composer:!“Surely!you!cannot!understand!everything!because!you!did!not!go! through!it!yourself,!and!your!personal!sense!of!justice!certainly!rebels!against! believing!such!a!thing,!but!these!things!can!be!explained!with!one!sentence:!

Germany!is!no!longer!a!republic.”122!!

This!portrait!of!personal!loss!is!an!important!corrective!to!certain!tendencies! to!romanticize!the!Southern!California!exile,!a!tendency!that!began!with!comments! by!the!exiles!themselves.!Thomas!Mann!for!instance,!who!was!regarded!in!the!words! of!one!acquaintance!as!“the!uncrowned!emperor!of!the!refugees,”123!could!at!times! elide!distinctions!between!those!in!exile!for!their!political!views!as!liberals!like! himself,!and!those!in!exile!on!account!of!exterminationist!antiJSemitism!in!

Europe.124!!!

It!is!against!this!full!backdrop!that!A$Survivor$From$Warsaw!can!be!most! fruitfully!viewed.!Indeed,!the!next!chapter!will!look!closely!at!the!work!itself,!but!it!is!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 122!Felix!Greissle!to!Schoenberg,!11!June!1938.!Quoted!in!Camille!Crittenden’s!“Texts!and! Contexts”!in!ibid.,!236.!Crittenden!was!the!first!scholar,!to!my!knowledge,!to!note!these! paradoxical!aspects!of!Schoenberg’s!relationship!to!the!developing!facts!on!the!ground!after! the!Anschluss.!!! 123!The!phrase!comes!from!Konrad!Kellen,!Mann’s!former!secretary,!interviewed!by!the! author!on!2!November!2003.!! 124!“Exile!creates!a!special!form!of!life,”!Mann!observed,!“and!the!various!reasons!for! banishment!or!flight!make!little!difference.!Whether!the!cause!is!leftism!or!the!opposite!–! the!sharing!of!a!common!fate!and!class!solidarity!are!more!fundamental!than!such!nuances! of!opinion,!and!people!find!their!way!to!one!another.”!See!Thomas!Mann,!The$Story$of$a$ Novel:$The$Genesis$of$Doctor$Faustus,!trans.!Richard!and!Clara!Winston!(New!York:!Knopf,! 1961),!149J50.!

! 121! hoped!that!the!preceding!sketch!of!Schoenberg's!biographic!and!musical!journey! will!suffice!to!rule!out!more!circumscribed!readings!of!this!piece!that!have!sought!to! limit!its!fields!of!references.!Camille!Crittenden,!for!instance,!has!cautioned!against! overstating!the!connection!between!Survivor!and!Schoenberg's!Jewish!faith,!by! pointing!out!ways!in!which,!even!in!Los!Angeles,!his!affiliation!with!the!organized!

Jewish!community!remained!marginal!and!his!personal!religious!praxis!may!have! also!been!minimal.125!She!further!cites!an!exchange!of!letters!from!1962!between!

Getrud!Schoenberg!and!George!Rochberg,!in!which!the!importance!of!Schoenberg's!

1933!conversion!is!discussed.!Getrud,!who!was!Catholic!and!was!allowed!by!

Schoenberg!to!raise!their!three!children!in!the!Catholic!faith,!suggests!her!husband's! reconversion!deserves!nothing!more!than!“a!short!footJnote.”!Crittenden!writes!that! the!exchange!“suggests!Schoenberg's!Judaism!was!less!important!to!him!than!some! scholars!have!hoped!and!implied.”126!

And!yet,!to!describe!it!in!this!manner!misses!several!larger!contexts!I!have! tried!to!illuminate!in!this!chapter.!Firstly,!Schoenberg's!religious!and!cultural! affiliations!and!investments!over!the!course!of!his!long!life!were!not!always!the! product!of!elective!choices.!Indeed,!the!historical!and!political!forces!that!drove!

Schoenberg!from!Vienna!to!Berlin!to!Los!Angeles,!had!a!power!that!was!based!only! partially!on!selfJdefinitions!of!identity.!Secondly,!we!must!be!careful!not!to!approach! these!broader!questions!of!identity!in!a!reductive!manner.!It!has!been!suggested!in! this!chapter!that!Schoenberg’s!Jewish!identity!was!not!some!kind!of!transhistorical! constant,!an!essential!quality!present!with!him!from!his!birth,!dormant!during!his! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 125!Cross!and!Berman,!Political$and$Religious$Ideas$in$the$Works$of$Arnold$Schoenberg,!246.! 126!ibid.!!

! 122! Protestant!period,!then!defiantly!recrudescent!in!the!wake!of!his!encounters!with! antiJSemitism.!Instead!I!have!attempted!to!sketch!a!portrait!of!an!independentJ minded!composer!who!was!nonetheless!very!much!a!product!of!his!times,!an!artist! with!a!complex!situational!identity!forged!in!the!crucible!of!the!racialialized! ideology!of!Wagnerism.!!I!have!suggested!ways!that!his!new!Jewish!identity!in!the!

1920s!was!just!that—not!a!“return”!but!a!creation!essentially!ex$nihilo—based!on! tropes!of!selfJdefinition!that!he!had!honed!in!earlier!decades!as!a!modernist! revolutionary.!I!have!attempted!to!point!out!echoes!of!these!processes!in!

Schoenberg’s!musical!works,!most!critically,!in!his!opera!Moses$und$Aron,!which!I! have!suggested!can!be!interpreted!as!a!site!of!centripetal!negotiation!between!

Judentum$and!Deutschtum!precisely!at!a!point!when!this!dyad,!so!central!to!Weimar! modernism,!was!being!subjected!to!its!greatest!centrifugal!pressures.!!$!

Indeed,!given!all!of!this,!how!well!Schoenberg!knew!Hebrew,!even!by!the!end! of!his!life,!or!whether!he!permitted!his!children!to!be!raised!in!the!Catholic!faith!or! any!other,!is!in!this!sense!immaterial.!As!we!will!see,!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$may! be!viewed!as!less!of!a!statement!about!what!Schoenberg!believed!in!a!dogmatic! sense,!than!as!an!assertion!of,!simply!put,!who!he!was!and!what!he!had!experienced.!

We!may!indeed!flip!the!question!around!ask!whether!anyone!else!could!have! created!this!work?!I!would!contend!that!the!piece!could!scarcely!have!been! conceived!without!the!full!historical!arc!that!no!doubt!began!at!least!one!generation! before!Schoenberg!was!born:!from!the!emancipation!of!Austrian!Jews,!to!the!

“emancipation!of!dissonance,”!to!the!emancipation!of!memory.!Indeed,!it!is!this! work's!ability!to!encapsulate!and!synthesize!these!multiple!historical,!ethnic,!

! 123! religious,!and!musical!journeys!that!comprises!its!power!as!a!personal!artistic! statement!and!as!a!memorial.!With!this!background!behind!us,!we!are!now!equipped! to!proceed!to!a!closer!study!of$Survivor$itself.!To!adapt!a!comment!by!Maurice!

MerleauJPonty!from!a!very!a!different!context,127!it!is!not!(only)!the!artist's!life!that! can!illuminate!his!work;!but!(also)!the!work!that!will!illuminate!the!life.!!

!

!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 127!See!the!essay!“Cezanne’s!Doubt”!in!Maurice!MerleauJPonty,!Sense$and$NonFSense,!trans.! Hubert!and!Patricia!Dreyfus!(Evanston,!Ill.:!Northwestern!University!Press,!1971).!

! 124! Chapter(4(( ( Night(Transfigured:((A!Survivor!from!Warsaw(in(focus( ( ( !! “The!effect!of!the!Survivor$from$Warsaw!is!no!less!powerful—a!companion! piece!to!Picasso’s!Guernica—in!which!Schoenberg!made!the!impossible! possible,!standing!up!to!the!contemporary!horror!in!its!most!extreme!form,! the!murder!of!the!Jews,!in!art.!This!alone!would!be!enough!to!earn!him!every! right!to!the!thanks!of!a!generation!that!scorns!him,!not!least!because!in!his! music!that!inexpressible!thing!quivers!that!no!one!any!longer!wants!to!know! about.!If!music!is!to!escape!from!the!nullity!that!threatens!it,!the!very!loss!of! [its]!raison!d'être…!then!it!can!only!hope!to!do!so!if!it!accomplishes!what! Schoenberg!accomplished!in!the!Survivor$from$Warsaw—if!it!confronts!the! utter!negativity,!the!most!extreme,!by!which!the!entire!complexion!of!reality! is!made!manifest.”! ! –!Theodor!Adorno,!“On!the!Contemporary!Relationship! of!Philosophy!and!Music”! ! ! “The!historian!is!a!prophet!turned!backwards.”!! ! –!Friedrich!von!Schlegel,!Philosophical$Fragments! ! ! ! When!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!appears!on!concert!programs!today,!it!is!often! regarded!as!a!“universal”!and!emblematic!twentiethJcentury!Holocaust!monument! in!sound.!Since!it!is!only!approximately!seven!minutes!long,!conductors!are!often!in! the!position!of!selecting!repertoire!to!be!heard!alongside!Schoenberg’s!memorial! work,!an!exercise!that!can!itself!be!revealing.!Typically,!one!of!two!routes!is!taken:!! placing!the!work!in!dialogue!with!other!works!of!mourning,1!or!still!more! frequently,!connecting!it!with!canonical!works!of!nineteenthJcentury!music!such!as!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!For!a!performance!with!Boston!University!forces!in!2011,!for!instance,!conductor!David! Hoose!paired!Survivor!with!the!Verdi!Requiem.!!

! 125! Beethoven’s!Ninth!Symphony.2!Whether!this!strategy!of!pairing!Survivor$with!

Beethoven!is!used!to!qualify!the!latter’s!fullJthroated!paean!to!Enlightenment!ideals,! or,!more!problematically,!to!link!both!works!as!“triumphs!of!the!spirit”!varies!from! case!to!case.3!!

Both!approaches,!however,!have!the!unavoidable!effect!of!lifting!the!work! from!its!context!and!obscuring!the!extent!to!which!it!was!deeply!bound!up!in!

Schoenberg's!personal!history,!his!political!dreams!and!failures,!and!his!sweeping! biographic!journey.!In!this!chapter,!I!will!attempt!to!contribute!new!readings!of!A$

Survivor$from$Warsaw,!in!part!by!bringing!to!bear!the!contexts!missing!from!live! performances!yet!here!presented!in!the!previous!two!chapters.!!

Indeed,!despite!its!champions’!attempts!to!emblematize!its!meanings,!or!its! detractors’!attempts!to!criticize!this!memorial!for!any!number!of!aesthetic!or!ethical! sins,!Survivor$is!most!fully!understood!when!restored!to!its!own!earlier!moment!in! the!asJyetJunmastered!cultural!memory!of!catastrophe,!and!when!placed!in!the! context!of!Schoenberg’s!own!complex!American!odyssey.!Paradoxically,!our!efforts! to!place!the!work!back!in!its!times!will!ultimately!revitalize!it!for!our!own.!!

As!we!are!now!finally!ready!to!engage!with!the!music!and!text!in!detail,!this! introductory!section!will!conclude!by!briefly!reJintroducing!A$Survivor$from$

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2!This!was!the!program!chosen!for!the!work’s!belated!Boston!Symphony!Orchestra!premiere! on!18!April!1969!under!the!baton!of!Erich!Leinsdorf.!! 3!On!the!former!use,!see!Applegate,!"Saving!Music."!For!examples!of!the!latter!use,!we!may! quote!for!instance!the!conductor!Vladimir!Jurowski’s!comments!explaining!his!decision!to! program!Survivor!on!a!concert!with!music!from!Beethoven’s!Fidelio.!Both,!according!to! Jurowki,!are!“connected!with!the!ideas!of!freedom,!and!the!strength!of!the!human!spirit….”! (Quote!taken!from!an!interview!uploaded!by!the!London!Philharmonic!Orchestra.!See! http://tinyurl.com/lr3jg97.!Last!accessed!20!December!2014.)!See!also!Calico’s!discussion! of!performances!by!Daniel!Barenboim,!Jurowski!and!other!conductors,!Arnold$Schoenberg's$ A!Survivor!from!Warsaw!in$Postwar$Europe,!3J4.!

! 126! Warsaw,!summarizing!its!narrative!and!quoting!its!text!in!full.!The!first!section!of! this!chapter!will!then!discuss!the!circumstances!of!its!commission!from!the!

Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation,!and!attempt!to!situate!the!precise!dates!of!its! composition!in!the!context!of!Schoenberg’s!other!activities!during!the!summer!of!

1947,!as!far!as!they!can!be!surmised!from!correspondence!preserved!in!the! archives.!In!the!following!section,!I!will!introduce!the!first!in!a!series!of!interpretive! strategies!for!engaging!with!this!memorial!work.!First,!I!suggest!that,!although!

Schoenberg!had!no!direct!contact!with!what!has!been!called!“the!concentrationary! universe,”!the!dominance!of!the!narrator's!role!and!the!nature!of!the!firstJperson! text!he!recites!allows!us!to!view!it!as,!adapting!George!Steiner’s!phrase,!“a!kind!of! survivor!testimony.”!In!this!spirit!I!then!draw!from!the!analytic!literature!pertaining! to!survivor!testimony,!and!suggest!it!does!in!fact!offer!a!helpful!lens.!!

In!the!Section!III,!entitled!“Survivor!as!Double,”!I!will!explore!the!work’s! autobiographical!resonances,!which!as!I!endeavor!to!illustrate,!are!even!more! numerous!than!has!often!been!acknowledged.!!In!Section!IV,!I!take!a!step!back!from! biographic!contexts!and!engage!with!the!work!as!such,!its!narrative!structure!and!its! implicit!treatment!of!ideas!of!history!and!memory.!This!section!also!includes!an! attempt!to!bring!concepts!from!Walter!Benjamin’s!writings!on!memory!and! experience!into!dialogue!with!Schoenberg’s!work,!and!to!more!cogently!position!

Survivor$in!a!tradition!of!memoryJart!that!is!activist!and!critical!of!false!resolution!or! false!consolation.!Doing!so!also!prepares!us!to!revisit!the!question!of!the!work’s! ending,!which!is!the!aspect!of!the!piece!that!has!received!the!most!trenchant! criticism,!in!particular!for!its!purported!triumphalism,!a!mode!deemed!ethically!

! 127! questionable!in!a!piece!of!Holocaust!art,!or!worse,!as!exploitative!of!victims’! memories.4!I!offer!a!new!interpretation!of!this!ending,!one!that!reexamines!the! work's!dramaturgy!and!draws!to!the!surface!the!existence!of!multiple!temporalities! within!Schoenberg's!work.!Overall,!my!readings!are!premised!on!the!notion!that!any! work's!significance!should!not!be!considered!without!regard!to!authorial!intention,! but!that!such!intention!cannot!delimit!the!range!of!the!work's!potential!meanings.!

With!that!said,!we!may!proceed!to!reacquainting!ourselves!with!the!musical!and! narrative!contours!of!the!work!itself.! !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4!For!the!most!trenchant!and!rigorously!argued!critique!of!Survivor!as!a!whole,!and!of!the! ending!in!particular,!see!Móricz,!Jewish$Identities,!255J99.!!

! 128! !

!

Fig.!1.!!Manuscript!page!from!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$with!dedication!(“For!the! Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation”)!and!the!statement!“this!text!is!based!partly!upon! reports!which!I!have!received!directly!or!indirectly.”!Image!courtesy!of!the!Library! of!Congress,!used!by!permission.! !

A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$is!scored!for!narrator,!men's!chorus,!and!orchestra,! and!while!the!work!lasts!only!seven!minutes,!it!has!an!intensity!and!accumulated! power!in!live!performance!that!belies!its!length.5!In!capsule!form,!to!be!further! explored!below,!the!piece!consists!of!two!sections.!In!the!first,!the!narrator!relates!a!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5!The!AustrianJborn!music!critic!and!broadcaster!Hans!Keller,!himself!a!refugee!who!had! been!imprisoned!and!interrogated!by!the!Nazis,!conveyed!this!quality!when!he!wrote!that! “the!music!itself…!is!so!condensed!and!compressed!that!it!would!be!liable!to!burst!if!the! pressure!of!the!form!upon!the!content!were!not!just!as!strong!as!the!content’s!pressure! upon!the!form.”!Keller,!Essays$on$Music,!81.!

! 129! dramatic!scene!of!Jewish!prisoners!in!a!camp!being!awoken,!beaten,!and!ordered!by! a!German!sergeant!to!count!off!before!being!sent!to!the!gas!chambers.!In!the!second! section,!in!momentary!defiance!of!their!fate,!the!prisoners!rise!up!and!sing!the! central!prayer!of!Judaism,!the!Shema$Yisrael.$!

! Schoenberg!wrote!the!text!himself,!though!it!should!be!noted!that!this!fact!in! itself!does!not!distinguish!the!work,!in!that!Schoenberg!penned!texts!for!a!number!of! his!pieces!including!several!with!autobiographical!valences,!as!in!Modern$Psalms!and!

Moses$und$Aron.!What!is!unique!is!that!the!Survivor$text!contains!three!different! languages:!the!English!of!the!narrator,!the!German!of!the!sergeant,!and!the!Hebrew! of!the!choir!at!the!end,!singing!the!Shema.$The!text!of!the!work!is!as!follows:!!

!

I!cannot!remember!ev'rything.! I!must!have!been!unconscious!most!of!the!time.! I!remember!only!the!grandiose!moment! when!they!all!started!to!sing!as!if!prearranged,! the!old!prayer!they!had!neglected!for!so!many!years! the!forgotten!creed!!! ! But!I!have!no!recollection!how!I!got!underground! to!live!in!the!sewers!of!Warsaw!for!so!long!a!time.!! ! The!day!began!as!usual:!Reveille!when!it!was!still!dark.!! Get!out!!Whether!you!slept!or!whether!worries!kept!you!awake!the!whole! night.! You!had!been!separated!from!your!children,!from!your!wife,!from!your! parents;!! you!don't!know!what!happened!to!them…!how!could!you!sleep?! ! The!trumpets!again—! Get!out!!The!sergeant!will!be!furious!! They!came!out;!some!very!slow:!the!old!ones,!the!sick!ones;!some!with! nervous!agility.! They!fear!the!sergeant.!They!hurry!as!much!as!they!can.! !

! 130! In!vain!!Much!too!much!noise;!much!too!much!commotion—and!not!fast! enough!! The!sergeant!shouts:!“Achtung!!Stilljestanden!!Na!wirds!mal?!Oder!soll!ich! mit!dem!Jewehrkolben!nachhelfen?!Na!jutt;!wenn!ihrs!durchaus!haben! wollt!”![“Stand!at!attention!!Hurry!up!!Or!do!you!want!to!feel!the!butt!of!my! gun?!Okay,!then!you've!ask!for!it!”]! ! The!sergeant!and!his!subordinate!hit!everybody:! young!or!old,!quiet!or!nervous,!guilty!or!innocent.! It!was!painful!to!hear!them!groaning!and!moaning.! ! I!heard!it!though!I!had!been!hit!very!hard,!! So!hard!that!I!could!not!help!falling!down.!! We!all!on!the!ground!who!could!not!stand!up!were!then!beaten!over!the! head.!! ! I!must!have!been!unconscious.!The!next!thing!I!knew!was!a!soldier!saying:! “They!are!all!dead,”!! whereupon!the!sergeant!ordered!to!do!away!with!us.! There!I!lay!aside—halfJconscious.! It!had!become!very!still—fear!and!pain.!! ! Then!I!heard!the!sergeant!shouting:!“Abzählen!”![“Count!off!”]! They!started!slowly!and!irregularly:!one,!two,!three,!four! “Achtung!”!the!sergeant!shouted!again,! “Rascher!!Nochmal!von!vorn!anfangen!! In!einer!Minute!will!ich!wissen,! Wieviele!ich!zur!Gaskammer!abliefere!! Abzählen!”! [Quicker!!Again!from!the!beginning!!In!one!minute!I!want!to!know!how!many! I'm!going!to!deliver!to!the!gas!chamber!!Count!off!”]! ! They!began!again,!first!slowly:!one,!two,!three,!four,! became!faster!and!faster,!so!fast! that!it!finally!sounded!like!a!stampede!of!wild!horses,!! and!all!of!a!sudden,!in!the!middle!of!it,! they!began!singing!the!Shema$Yisrael.! ! The!Chorus!then!enters!with!selections!from!the!Shema!(Deuteronomy!6:!4J7)!sung! in!Hebrew:! ! Hear!Israel:!The!Lord!our!God!is!one!Lord,! And!you!should!love!the!Lord,!your!God,! With!all!your!heart!and!with!all!your!soul! And!with!all!your!might.! And!these!words,!which!I!command!you!today,!!

! 131! Shall!be!in!all!your!heart;!! And!you!shall!teach!them!diligently!to!your!children!and!talk!of!them! When!you!sit!in!your!house! And!when!you!walk!along!your!way,!! When!you!lie!down!and!when!you!rise.6! ! ! ! !! The!above!text—until!the!entrance!of!the!chorus—is!recited!by!the!narrator! in!Sprechstimme,!the!hybrid!speechJsong!style!that!Schoenberg!had!used!in!several! works!including!Gurrelieder$and!Moses$und$Aron.!The!musical!language!Schoenberg! adopted!for!Survivor!harkens!back!to!the!fractured!and!violent!expressionistic! gestures!first!heard!in!the!composer's!Erwartung!monodrama!of!1909.!Survivor's$ musical!score!has!been!extensively!and!microscopically!analyzed!by!musicologists,7! with!special!attention!paid!to!the!contour!and!permutations!of!its!row—(FG!C!AE!

EBDA!D!F!B)—as!well!as!its!use!for!the!melodic!material!of!the!Shema!section.!

The!row!includes!an!augmented!triad!(AJC!J!E)!that!recurs!frequently!in!the!piece! and!has!been!described!as!the!“God!motif.”8!This!triad!has!also!been!interpreted!as! representing!a!concept!of!localized!memory!that!links!both!text!and!music.9!!

!

Origins(of(a(Commission( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6!This!version!of!the!text!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw,!with!slightly!adapted!translations!of! the!German!and!Hebrew!portions,!is!taken!from!Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,!319J20.!! 7!See,!for!instance,!Christian!Martin!Schmidt,!"Schönbergs!Kantate!'Ein!Überlebender!Aus! Warschau'!Op.!46,"!Archiv$für$Musikwissenschaft!xxxiii!(1976);!Beat!A.!Föllmi,!"'I!Cannot! Remember!Ev'rything':!Eine!Narratologische!Analyse!Von!Arnold!Schönbergs!Kantate!'a! Survivor!from!Warsaw'!Op.!46,"!ibid.55,!no.!1!(1998);!Schiller,!Bloch,$Schoenberg,$and$ Bernstein,!73J126.!Several!of!the!earliest!responses!to!the!work,!including!that!of!Adorno,! noted!the!similarities!to!Erwartung$mentioned!above.!! 8!See!Bloch,$Schoenberg,$and$Bernstein,!103J04.!! 9!See!Amy!Lynn!Wlodarski,!"An!Idea!Can!Never!Perish:!Memory,!the!Musical!Idea,!and! Schoenberg's!'a!Survivor!from!Warsaw'!(1947),"!The$Journal$of$Musicology!24,!no.!4!(2007):! 601J04.!!

! 132! The!piece's!origins!date!back!to!Schoenberg's!contact!with!the!AmericanJ based!RussianJJewish!dancer!Corinne!Chochem,!who!in!April!1947!attempted!to! commission!a!work!that!would!commemorate!Jewish!suffering!at!the!hands!of!the!

Nazis,!sending!Schoenberg!the!text!of!a!partisan!song!she!claimed!had!been!sung!by! those!interned!in!the!Vilna!Ghetto.10!Schoenberg!replied!to!accept!the!commission,! stating!“I!plan!to!make!it!this!scene—which!you!described—in!the!Warsaw!ghetto,! how!the!doomed!Jews!started!singing,!before!gooing![sic]!to!die.”!In!the!same!letter,! however,!he!also!stated!that!his!fee!for!the!project!would!be!$1000.11!Chochem! replied!that!she!could!not!afford!this!amount,!pleading!for!a!reduction.12!Schoenberg! still!declined!to!lower!his!fee,!replying!“I!have!done!throughout!my!life!so!much!for! idealistic!ends!(and!so!little!has![been]!returned!to!me!in!kind)!that!I!have!done!my! duty.”13!His!statement!may!easily!be!read!as!a!reference!to!his!failed!political! activism!on!behalf!of!world!Jewry,!though!by!age!72,!Schoenberg!had!accumulated! enough!grievances!that!we!cannot!be!sure.!Whatever!the!case,!Chochem's! involvement!with!the!project!appears!to!have!ended!there.!!

Coincidentally,!a!few!months!later,!the!Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation! approached!Schoenberg!to!renew!its!offer!of!a!commission!for!“a!composition!for!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10!Corinne!Chochem!to!Arnold!Schoenberg,!2!April!1947.!Library!of!Congress,!image!scan!at! Arnold!Schönberg!Center.!The!Chochem!connection!was!first!documented!by!Michael! Strasser!in!"'A!Survivor!from!Warsaw'!as!Personal!Parable,"!Music$&$Letters!76,!no.!1! (1995).!Strasser!also!published!the!first!detailed!account!of!the!correspondence!with! Koussevitzky!surrounding!the!commission,!in!ibid.!! 11!Schoenberg!to!Chochem,!20!April!1947.!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),!image!scan!at! Arnold!Schönberg!Center! 12!Chochem!to!Schoenberg,!22!April!1947.!Library!of!Congress,!image!scan!at!Arnold! Schönberg!Center! 13!Schoenberg!to!Chochem,!23!April!1947.!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),!image!scan!at! Arnold!Schönberg!Center!

! 133! symphony!orchestra,”!an!offer!it!had!originally!extended!in!194414.!Schoenberg! could!not!fulfill!the!commission!at!that!earlier!time—with!his!stated!reason!being! that!he!did!not!want!to!deviate!from!his!plans!to!complete!two!longstanding!and! significant!projects!both!dating!back!to!the!interwar!period:!the!oratorio!Die$

Jakobskeiter!and!the!opera!Moses$und$Aron.!But!in!July!of!1947,!responding!to!the!

Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation's!renewed!invitation,!Schoenberg!was!ready!to! accept!at!once.!He!stated!he!had!in!mind!a!work!“for!a!small!group!of!about!24! musicians,!one!or!two!'speakers'!and!a!mens![sic]!chorus!of!adequate!size”!but!that! he!could!conceivably!write!instead!a!“symphonic!poem”!for!instrumental!forces! alone,!if!doing!so!would!be!a!requirement!of!the!commission.15!Koussevitzky's! secretary!replied!that!Koussevitzky!felt!it!was!important!for!the!composer!to!have!

“complete!liberty!to!choose”!the!format!of!the!new!piece.!

With!that!license!granted,!Schoenberg!set!out!to!work!realizing!a!version!of! the!scenario!he!had!originally!conceived!with$Chochem.!It!is!worth!noting!here!that! nowhere!in!the!existing!archival!record!is!there!any!indication!that!Schoenberg!had! informed!Koussevitzky!about!the!memorial!nature!of!his!work,!or!the!Holocaust! scenario!he!was!considering.!Whether!this!absence!of!clarity!was!a!fluke!of! circumstance,!or!a!strategically!diplomatic!decision!on!Schoenberg’s!part!given!the! lessons!he!may!have!belatedly!learned!through!his!failed!career!as!a!political! activist,!we!do!not!know.!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 14!Serge!Koussevitzky!to!Schoenberg,!27!March!1944.!Library!of!Congress,!image!scan!at! Arnold!Schönberg!Center! 15!Unlike!the!other!correspondence!(quoted!above)!surrounding!the!commission,!the!text!of! this!letter!from!Schoenberg!is!not!found!in!the!archives!of!the!Arnold!Schönberg!Center.!It!is! reprinted!however!in!Strasser,!"'A!Survivor!from!Warsaw'!as!Personal!Parable,"!54.!

! 134! But!this!absence!of!declared!intentions!about!his!work—an!absence!which!to! my!knowledge!has!not!been!noted!in!other!discussions!of!the!commission— becomes!germane!when!trying!to!understand!the!longstanding!mystery!of!

Koussevitzky's!response!to!the!work!once!it!was!finally!submitted.!Specifically,!in!a! departure!from!the!pattern!he!had!established!with!his!other!commissions,!

Koussevitzky!declined!to!give!the!premiere!of!Survivor!with!his!own!Boston!

Symphony!Orchestra,!a!decision!we!will!examine!more!closely!in!Chapter!5.!(Sabine!

Feisst!provides!the!relevant!context,!writing!that!“between!1942!and!1947!all!the! other!Koussevitzky!orchestral!commissions!received!premieres!in!Boston,!except!

Burrill!Phillips's!overture!Tom$Paine.”16)!We!may!plausibly!speculate!that!the! finished!work—in!its!subject!matter,!if!not!in!its!style—came!as!a!complete!surprise! to!Koussevitzky.!Indeed,!while!its!title!page!(see!Figure!1)!states!it!was!“For!the!

Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation,”!nowhere!in!the!existing!documentation!around! this!commission!do!we!have!any!evidence!to!suggest!Koussevitzky!thought!he!was! actually!commissioning!a!memorial!to!the!Holocaust.!$

According!to!the!dates!Schoenberg!inscribed!on!the!manuscript,!the! composition!of!Survivor$took!place!the!following!month,!between!August!11!and!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 16!Feisst!also!however!reports!that!the!Foundation!did!not!acknowledge!receipt!of! Schoenberg’s!condensed!autograph!score.!They!did!in!fact!do!so,!in!correspondence!dated! Sept.!2!and!Oct.!4,!1947.!The!latter!date!appears!on!a!telegram!sent!by!Koussevitzky!himself! to!Schoenberg.!The!maestro!was!in!Europe!at!the!time!that!Schoenberg!first!sent!the!work,! and!he!replied!only!stating!“Just!arrived.!Thank!you!manuscript.!Forwarding!honorarium! next!week.”!See!Feisst,!Schoenberg's$New$World,!289J90.!See!also!Betty!Randolph!Bean!to! Arnold!Schoenberg,!2!September!1947.!Library!of!Congress,!image!scan!at!Arnold! Schönberg!Center.!!

! 135! August!23,!1947.17!As!described!in!Chapter!1,!there!have!been!many!contrary!and!at! times!ideologically!freighted!assessments!of!Schoenberg's!broader!period!of!exile,! and!whether!it!should!be!understood!as!one!of!gloomy!isolation!and!neglect!or!as!a! period!of!richer!and!more!diverse!possibilities.!While!the!overall!characterizations! are!important,!we!would!do!well!to!situate!the!composition!of!Survivor$more! precisely!in!the!immediate!period!of!its!birth.!A!brief!look!at!Schoenberg's! correspondence!from!the!month!of!August!1947!provides!one!avenue!for!doing!so,! and!offers!several!suggestive!windows!onto!the!composer's!personal!circumstances,! his!state!of!mind,!and!the!contemporaneous!postwar!events!playing!out!in!Germany! at!precisely!the!time!that!this!memorial!was!created.!!!!

Notable!in!the!first!category!is!a!letter!present!in!the!archives!that!

Schoenberg!wrote!on!6!August!1947,!just!five!days!before!he!would!begin!to! composer$Survivor.$It!is!a!formal!notice!addressed!to!one!Jacob!Zeitlin!in!Los!

Angeles,!granting!Zeitlin!exclusive!license!to!sell!the!original!manuscript!score!of!

Moses$und$Aron!as!well!as!the!manuscript!of!the!opera's!libretto.!In!this!letter!

Schoenberg!states!his!asking!price!of!$2500!for!each.!Considering!how!large!this! opera!loomed!in!Schoenberg's!own!conception!of!his!life's!work,!and!how!fervently! he!had!pleaded!for!time!to!complete!this!work!during!his!years!in!America,18!this!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 17!The!manuscript!is!housed!at!the!Library!of!Congress,!but!it!was!also!recently!published!in! facsimile!form.!See!Arnold!Schoenberg,!"A!Survivor!from!Warsaw,!Opus!46,"!(Laaber:! LaaberJVerlag,!2014).! 18!See,!most!famously,!Schoenberg’s!letter!to!the!secretary!general!of!the!Guggenheim! Foundation,!written!in!1945!to!request!a!grant.!He!states,!“I!feel,!as!long!as!I!am!living!I!must! try!to!complete!at!least!some!of!the!works!which!for!a!number!of!years!wait!for!that.!I!feel:! my!task!would!be!fulfilled!only!fragmentarily!if!I!failed!to!complete!at!least!those!two!largest! of!my!musical,!and!two,!or!perhaps!three!of!my!theoretical!works.”!Schoenberg!goes!on!to! list!his!uncompleted!works,!the!first!being!Moses$und$Aron.!Letters,!232.!!!

! 136! decision!to!part!with!the!opera's!original!manuscripts!cannot!have!been!taken! lightly.!At!a!minimum,!this!act!signals!the!composer's!dire!financial!straits!at!the! time,!though!it!is!of!course!possible!to!read!further!into!this!decision.!!

Despite!his!own!insistence!that!it!was!a!compositional!priority!during!his!

American!years,!Schoenberg,!as!discussed!in!Chapter!3,!never!completed!the!third! act!of!Moses$und$Aron,!and!the!opera's!status!as!a!torso!has!provoked!numerous! musicological!and!critical!responses!over!the!years,!as!the!unwritten!music!has! come!to!stand!in,!by!turns,!for!all!of!the!'lost'!music!of!a!career!riven!by!exile,!or!for! the!impossibility!of!resolving!the!themes!of!this!Biblical!opera!in!the!wake!of!the!

Nazi!rise!to!power!and!the!Final!Solution.19!Speculative!responses!to!this! uncompleted!work!have!even!ranged!beyond!the!domain!of!music!into!the!domain! of!architecture.20!I!offered!my!own!reading!of!the!work’s!incomplete!status!in!the! previous!chapter.!

All!of!this!is!worth!noting!to!contextualize!a!line!of!interpretation!that!has! come!to!view!Survivor$itself!as$the!metaphorical!completion!of!Moses$und$Aron,!a! view!first!hinted!at!by!Adorno!in!his!essay!“Arnold!Schoenberg”!and!later!espoused! by!the!composer!Luigi!Nono,!according!to!his!wife!(and!Schoenberg's!daughter),!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 19!George!Steiner!has!been!the!most!forceful!exponent!of!this!view,!noting!that!“[T]he!words! Volk$and!Führer$figure!prominently!in!the!opera;$they!designate!its!supreme!historical! values,!Israel!and!Moses.!Now!they!were!wrested!out!of!Schoenberg’s!grasp!by!the!million! voices!bawling!them!at!Nuremberg.”!He!also!reads!the!famous!conclusion!of!Act!II!as!a!kind! of!Adornian!“after!Auschwitz”!prohibition!avant!la!lettre:!“Moses’!despairing!cry,!his! collapse!into!silence,!is!a!recognition…that!words!have!failed!us,!that!art!can!neither!stem! barbarism!nor!convey!experience!when!experience!grows!unspeakable.”!Steiner,! "Schoenberg's!'Moses!and!Aaron',"!46.! 20!The!architect!Daniel!Libeskind!has!stated!that!his!design!for!the!Jewish!Museum!of!Berlin! was!in!fact!his!own!attempt!to!complete!the!third!act!of!Moses$und$Aron.!See!“Director!Takes! Flight!With!St.!Francis’s!Birds,”!10!July!2002,!New$York$Times!

! 137! Nuria!Schoenberg!Nono.21!One!might!add!to!this!speculative/interpretive!line!that!

Moses$und$Aron!and!Survivor$were!also!de!facto!linked!by!the!Koussevitzky!Music!

Foundation's!commission!offers!described!above,!the!first!time!being!declined!so! that!Schoenberg!could!try!to!complete!his!opera,!and!the!second!being!accepted,!so! that!he!could!in!fact!write!A$Survivor$From$Warsaw.!In!this!same!vein,!Schoenberg's! attempt!to!sell!the!Moses$und$Aron!manuscript!immediately!prior!to!embarking!on!

Survivor$may!also!be!seen!as!overdetermined,!providing!evidence!not!just!of! financial!hardship!but!also!perhaps!of!a!kind!of!symbolic!leaveJtaking!from!this! grand!operatic!project$in!its!original!form,!or!at!the!very!least,!a!psychological! distancing!sufficient!to!allow!such!a!concession!to!financial!exigencies.22$I!will!return! to!this!subject!when!further!exploring!below!the!thematic!linkage!between!the!two! scores.!!

A!second!item!of!note!from!Schoenberg's!correspondence!in!the!month!of!

August!1947!is!a!letter!from!the!chief!of!the!education!and!religious!affairs!branch!of! the!U.S.!Office!of!the!Military!Government.!He!writes!Schoenberg!to!inform!him!of! his!successful!if!belated!efforts!to!deJNazify!the!family!of!one!of!Schoenberg's! students,!Josef!Rufer.!In!this!same!period,!a!second!Schoenberg!student—Hanns!

Eisler—was!being!summoned!before!the!House!Committee!on!UnJAmerican!

Activities!and!later!deported.!These!details!help!to!place!the!precise!period!of!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!For!Nuria!Schoenberg!Nono’s!comments,!see!the!preface!to!Schoenberg,!"A!Survivor!from! Warsaw,!Opus!46.".!For!Adorno’s!observations!casually!linking!the!two!works,!see!Adorno,! Prisms,!171.! 22In!case!more!speculative!evidence!is!sought!for!metaphorical!links!between!the!two! compositions,!it!may!be!noted!that,!in!his!early!correspondence!with!Koussevitzky,! Schoenberg!on!two!occasions!refers!to!the!fact!that!he!was!considering!casting!his!new! work!for!two!“speakers,”!chorus!and!orchestra,!a!configuration!that!would!of!course!have! made!Survivor!still!more!continuous!(in!format)!with!the!unfinished!opera.!!

! 138! composition!in!the!context!of!both!the!stillJheated!aftermath!of!World!War!II!and! the!onset!of!the!Cold!War.23!Meanwhile!Schoenberg's!sense!of!personal!wellbeing!in! the!United!States!seemed!to!have!fallen!to!a!temporary!low.!On!August!19,!during! the!extremely!brief!period!in!which!he!was!actually!at!work!on!Survivor,!he!wrote!to! his!daughter!from!his!first!marriage,!Gertrud,!“I!believe!that!not!in!more!than!30! years!have!I!suffered!as!many!humiliations!as!I!have!suffered!here!over!the!last!five! or!six!years.”24!

!Five!days!later,!in!apparent!ill!health,!Schoenberg!sent!the!completed!score! of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$to!the!Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation.!In!his!cover!letter! he!explained!his!habit,!due!to!his!failing!eyesight,!of!writing!in!short!score!on! enlarged!music!paper.!He!assured!the!conductor,!however,!that!“these!manuscripts! always!contain—except!for!possible!errores![sic]—all!I!can!say,!in!music!at!least.”25!!!

!

$

Survivor!as(Testimony((

(

Who!was!the!'survivor'!in!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw?!A!clarifying!note!on!the! title!page!of!the!score!(see!Figure!1)!would!seem!to!only!deepen!the!mystery,!as!it! reads:!“this!text!is!based!partly!on!reports!which!I!have!received!directly$or$

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 23!For!an!insightful!discussion!of!how!the!reception!of!early!European!performances!was! itself!shaped!by!the!dynamics!of!the!Cold!War,!see!Calico,!Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor! from!Warsaw!in$Postwar$Europe,!99J100,!34J35.!! 24!Schoenberg!to!Gertrud!Greissle,!19!August!1947.!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),! image!scan!at!Arnold!Schönberg!Center.!(“Ich!glaube!seit!mehr!als!dreissig!Jahren!habe!ich! nicht!soviele!Demutigungen!erliebt,!wie!hier!in!den!letzten!fünf!oder!sechs!Jahren.”)! 25!Schoenberg!to!Koussevitzky,!24!August!1947,!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),!image! scan!at!Arnold!Schönberg!Center!

! 139! indirectly.”26!Scholarly!efforts!to!locate!the!origins!of!the!dramatic!scenario!depicted! in!Survivor$have!been!inconclusive,!raising!source!possibilities!that!range!from!a! novel!the!composer!had!read!around!the!time,!to!a!screenplay!by!his!wife,!to!a!letter! he!had!received!“in!which!a!survivor!of!a!Nazi!concentration!camp!related!the! moment!in!which!prisoners!facing!death!began!to!sing!a!Jewish!prayer.”27!Whatever! the!original!source!of!the!“direct!or!indirect”!reports!that!Schoenberg!dramatized!in! his!score,!the!purportedly!documentary!aspect!of!this!work,!as!we!will!see!in!the! chapter!5,!proved!enormously!important!in!its!early!reception.!!

The!notion!of!Survivor!as!a!kind!of!12Jtone!documentary—an!aural!snapshot! of!something!that!actually!occurred!in!the!camps—found!its!purest!expression!in!an! account!written!for!a!German!newspaper!in!1949!by!the!conductor!René!Leibowitz,! who!gave!the!work's!European!premiere.!In!that!article!Leibowitz!stated!that!

Schoenberg!“was!prompted!by!the!story!of!a!real!survivor!from!the!Warsaw!Ghetto;! a!few!years!later,!he”—the!survivor—“came!to!Schoenberg!and!told!him!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 26!Italics!mine.!! 27!The!letter!theory!(and!quotation)!comes!from!Nuria!SchoenbergJNono’s!personal! recollections!written!for!the!preface!to!the!facsimile!edition.!See!Schoenberg,!"A!Survivor! from!Warsaw,!Opus!46."!Camille!Crittenden!has!offered!the!broadest!and!most!thorough! consideration!of!the!range!of!possible!sources,!deeming!none!of!them!“entirely!satisfactory”! and!stating!“it!seems!far!more!likely!that!Schoenberg!assembled!his!various!impressions!of! the!ghettos,!Nazi!occupation,!and!the!concentration!camps!to!arrive!at!his!own!dramatic! synthesis!of!the!experience.”!She!also!emphasizes!the!connection!to!a!screenplay!by!Gertrud! Schoenberg!written!in!1943.!See!Camille!Crittenden’s!“Texts!and!contexts!of!‘A!Survivor! from!Warsaw,’!op.!46”!in!Cross!and!Berman,!Political$and$Religious$Ideas$in$the$Works$of$ Arnold$Schoenberg,!231J241.!See!also!Therese!Muxeneder’s!article!“‘I!saw!it!in!my! imagination’:!zur!Textwerdung!von!Arnold!Schönbergs!A!Survivor!from!Warsaw”!in! Hartmut!Krones,!ed.!Arnold$Schönberg$in$Seinen$Schriften:$Verzeichnis,$Fragen,$Editorisches! (Wien:!Böhlau,!2011).!

! 140! following!story…!Schoenberg!used!the!story!verbatim.”28!!Indeed,!in!this!telling,!

Schoenberg!was!not!only!memorializing!the!past;!he!was!transcribing!it.!!

A!report!in!Time$magazine!at!the!time!of!the!premiere!offered!still!another! scenario!for!the!background!of!the!work,!again!presumably!building!off!of!

Schoenberg’s!masterfully!vague!statement!of!attribution.!The!Time$report!stated! that!Schoenberg!!

had!heard!a!story!('partly!true')!of!a!group!of!Jews!marked!to!die!in!a!Nazi!gas! chamber,!who,!with!their!powerful!singing!of!the!Shema$Jisroel…!had! unnerved,!then!frenzied,!their!executioners!into!bludgeoning!them!to!death.! Schoenberg!fashioned!a!text,!with!a!sole!survivor!as!narrator,!then!poured! out!the!music!in!three!weeks.29!! ! The!composer!never!exactly!showed!his!cards!on!this!matter,!but!he!came! very!close!to!doing!so!in!a!letter!to!the!composer!Kurt!List,!who!had!questioned!him! about!the!dramatic!scenario.!Schoenberg!replied:!“Even!if!such!things!have!not!been! done!in!the!manner!in!which!I!describe!in!the!Survivor,!this!does!not!matter.!The!main! thing!is,!that!I!saw!it!in!my!imagination.”30!But!Schoenberg's!obfuscation,!if!we!may! describe!it!thusly,!was!a!highly!productive!one,!whether!intentionally!or!accidentally! so.!Almost!all!program!notes!still!underscore!the!work’s!reportorial!relationship!to! an!event!in!either!the!Warsaw!Ghetto!or!a!death!camp!(we!will!return!shortly!to!this! additional!geographic!ambiguity).!Indeed,!Schoenberg’s!statement,!as!later! amplified!with!liberties!taken!by!Leibowitz!and!others,!allowed!the!work!to!make!a! claim!to!both!artistic!representation!and$documentary!realism.!It!allowed!Survivor! to!function!simultaneously!as!memorial!art!and!as!a!kind!of!stylized!oral!testimony.!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 28!Quoted!in!Reich,!Schoenberg,!222J23.!Italics!in!original.!! 29!“Destiny!and!Digestion,”!Time,!15!November!1948.! 30!Arnold!Schoenberg!to!Kurt!List,!1!November!1948,!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),! image!scan!at!Arnold!Schönberg!Center!

! 141! The!significance!of!this!dualJfunctioning!in!establishing!the!work’s!early! prominence!would!be!hard!to!understate.!The!work's!testimonial!cast!is! underscored!by!Schoenberg's!use!of!a!narrator!speaking!in!the!firstJperson.!To!put!it! in!the!simplest!of!terms,!many!of!the!work’s!first!audiences!were!being!confronted! by!a!figure!who,!within!the!narrative!framing!of!the!work,!had!survived!the! atrocities!of!the!Shoah!and!was!standing!before!them!to!relate!his!story.!At!the!time! of!its!creation,!in!1947,!it!is!important!to!recall!that!survivor!testimony!as!a!whole! was!still!a!completely!unestablished!genre,!its!rawness!and!power!undimmed!by! overexposure!or!the!appearance!of!repetition.!Indeed,!David!P.!Boder's!book!of! interviews!with!survivors,!entitled!I$Could$Not$Interview$the$Dead,!was,!according!to!

Geoffrey!Hartman,!the!very!first!EnglishJlanguage!book!of!survivor!testimony,!yet!it! did!not!appear!until!1948.31!!

In!later!years!historians!would,!as!we!know,!bring!more!critical!perspectives! to!bear!on!survivor!testimony!as!a!form!of!“mythic!memory,”!but!in!the!early! postwar!years,!as!Annette!Wieviorka!has!written,!“[t]estimony!had!the!status!of!an! archival!document.”32!!More!to!the!point,!for!its!earliest!American!viewers,!Survivor,$ with!Schoenberg's!testimonial!gloss,!offered!a!simulacrum!of!direct!access!to!a! moment!in!a!geographically!distant!catastrophe.!Even!if!the!work’s!earliest!audience! members!had!seen!televised!news!footage!of!the!liberated!camps,!such!images!can! be!consigned!to!a!distant!temporal!sphere;!they!can,!in!Hartman’s!words,!“induce!us! to!create!a!defense!by!thinking!of!all!this!as!‘events!in!the!past.’”!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 31!Geoffrey!H.!Hartman,!The$Longest$Shadow:$In$the$Aftermath$of$the$Holocaust! (Bloomington:!Indiana!University!Press,!1996),!139.! 32!See!Wieviorka’s!essay!“On!Testimony”!in!Holocaust$Remembrance,!24.!!

! 142! By!contrast,!Survivor’s!testimonial!framing!had!the!potential!to!eliminate! such!distance!with!its!bald!directness!of!statement,!a!directness!only!heightened!by! the!music’s!unrelenting!intensity.!Early!listeners!were!thus!able!to!confront!the! events!depicted!much!more!directly!than!would!have!been!possible!at!that!time! through!reportage!delivered!by!other!media.!During!the!work’s!first!few!decades!of! performance,!these!linkages!were!underscored!by!a!tendency!to!cast!an!actual!

Holocaust!survivor!in!the!role!of!the!narrator.33!!

The!place!of!survivor!testimony!as!a!genre!in!the!constellation!of!Holocaust! memory!has!obviously!evolved!over!time,!but!the!directness!of!this!work’s! narration—when!experienced!in!live!performance—still!holds!the!possibility!of! burning!through!what!Jean!Amery!has!called!“the!cold!storage!of!history.”34!The! same!directness!of!expression,!however,!has!exposed!the!work!to!criticism!of!a!kind! leveled!at!other!explicitly!representational!early!Holocaust!memory!art.!Survivor$ lacks!the!cooler!distance!from!its!subject!reflected!in,!for!instance,!Steve!Reich’s! memorial!work!Different$Trains.$Perhaps!Survivor’s!closest!memorial!sibling,!both! temporally!and!in!its!naturalistic!representations,!is!in!fact!a!sculptural!memorial:!

Nathan!Rapoport's!famous!!“Warsaw!Ghetto!Monument,”!unveiled!in!April!1948,! less!than!a!year!after!the!composition!of!Survivor!and!before!its!world!premiere.35$

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 33!The!first!performances!of!Survivor!in!Czechoslovakia,!in!the!1960s,!featured!two!actual! survivors!–!Josef!Cervinka!and,!later,!Karel!Berman!–!in!the!role!of!the!narrator.!See!Calico,! Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor!from!Warsaw$in$Postwar$Europe,!136J60.!! 34!Quoted!in!Hartman,!The$Longest$Shadow,!137.! 35!The!two!works!were!even!visually!linked!in!a!film!for!Polish!television!by!Jan!Kulma.!In! interviews,!Rapoport!also!attested!to!the!pressures!on!early!postwar!artists!to!adopt!clear! figurative!imagery!rather!than!abstract!treatments!of!their!subjects.!In!his!words:!“Could!I! have!made!a!stone!with!a!hole!in!it!and!said!‘Voila!!The!Greatness!of!the!Jewish!People’?!No,! I!needed!to!show!the!heroism,!to!illustrate!it!literally!in!figures!everyone,!not!just!artists,!

! 143! The!monument’s!career!among!public!memorials!has!also!run!similarly!parallel!to! that!of!Survivor,$with!much!public!renown,!a!mixed!critical!reception,!and!a! figurative!scheme!that!has!been!likewise!attacked!as!kitsch.36!I!have!suggested!in! this!dissertation!that!memorials!of!this!nature,!however,!face!special!aesthetic!and! ethical!challenges!unique!to!their!task,!and!thereby!deserve!a!separate!metric!for! judgment,!one!that!does!not!import!wholesale!a!set!of!aesthetic!criteria!developed! for!judging!art!unburdened!by!the!weight!of!this!explicit!grappling!with!history!and! memory.!!!!

$

A(Survivor!as(Double(

“Everything!I!have!written!has!a!certain!inner!likeness!to!myself.”!

JJ!Schoenberg!to!Berg,!5!August!1930!

!

In!her!scholarship!on!the!literature!of!trauma,!Cathy!Caruth!has!written!that! it!is!“the!inextricability!of!the!story!of!one's!life!from!the!story!of!a!death,!an! impossible!and!necessary!double!telling,!that!constitutes!their!historical!witness.”37!!

A!second!answer!to!the!question!of!who!is!the!'Survivor'!comes!from!the! tradition!of!identifying!the!composer!himself!behind!the!mask!of!his!doubles,!an!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! would!respond!to.!This!was!to!be!a!public!monument!after!all.!And!what!do!human!beings! respond!to?!Faces,!figures,!the!human!form.!I!did!not!want!to!represent!resistance!in!the! abstract:!it!was!not!an!abstract!uprising.!It!was!real.”!!Quoted!in!Young,!"The!Biography!of!a! Memorial!Icon:!Nathan!Rapoport's!Warsaw!Ghetto!Monument,"!82.!See!also!Calico’s! discussion!of!the!two!monuments!in!Calico,!Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor!from!Warsaw$in$ Postwar$Europe,!161J63.! 36!Young,!"The!Biography!of!a!Memorial!Icon:!Nathan!Rapoport's!Warsaw!Ghetto! Monument,"!2.! 37!Cathy!Caruth,!Unclaimed$Experience$:$Trauma,$Narrative,$and$History!(Baltimore:!Johns! Hopkins!University!Press,!1996),!7.!

! 144! interpretive!approach!that!has!found!Schoenberg's!own!ideas!deeply!embedded!in! the!protagonists!of!his!dramas,!including!Max!Aruns!(of!Schoenberg's!agitJprop!play!

Der$Biblische$Weg)!and!both!title!characters!of!his!Biblical!opera!Moses$und$Aron.38$

Michael!Strasser!has!likewise!offered!an!important!reading!of!Survivor$from$Warsaw! as!a!“personal!parable,”!one!in!which!“Schoenberg!saw!in!this!tragic!and!inspiring! story!a!parallel!to!the!events!of!his!own!personal!struggle.”39!!But!the!work's!links!to!

Schoenberg's!political!ideas!and!personal!biography!in!fact!run!even!deeper!than! has!been!previously!articulated!in!the!scholarly!literature,!and!date!back!further! than!the!Mattsee!incident!typically!marked!as!the!beginning!of!the!reemergence!of!

Schoenberg's!Jewish!identity.!!

Indeed,!the!narrator!of!Survivor,$in!the!work's!earliest!moments,!prepares!the! listener!by!previewing!what!will!become!the!score's!dramatic!climax—the!choral! setting!of!the!Shema—when!he!states:!“I!remember!only!the!grandiose!moment! when!they!all!started!to!sing!as!if!prearranged,!the$old$prayer$they$had$neglected$for$ so$many$years,!the$forgotten$creed!”!Here!we!may!do!well!to!recall!that,!long!before! his!own!reJconversion!to!Judaism,!or!even!before!his!embrace!of!an!idiosyncratic! brand!of!Zionist!politics!in!the!1920s,!Schoenberg!had!articulated!a!similar!narrative! in!more!universalized!terms.!!

His!vision!took!the!form!of!an!idea!for!an!oratorio!to!which!he!once!attached! the!title!“Modern!Man's!Prayer.”!In!1912,!Schoenberg!wrote!to!Richard!Dehmel,!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 38!See,!most!importantly,!Lazar,!"Arnold!Schoenberg!and!His!Doubles:!A!Psychodramatic! Journey!to!His!Roots."! 39!Strasser,!"'A!Survivor!from!Warsaw'!as!Personal!Parable,"!58.!

! 145! whose!poem!had!inspired!his!sextet,!Verklärte$Nacht,!beseeching!Dehmel!to!write! the!text!for!this!new!work.!As!Schoenberg!described!it:!!

! For!a!long!time!I!have!been!wanting!to!write!an!oratorio!on!the!following! subject:!modern!man,!having!passed!through!materialism,!socialism,!and! anarchy!and,!despite!having!been!an!atheist,!still$having!in$him$some$residue$ of$ancient$faith!(in!the!form!of!superstition),!wrestles!with!God…!and!finally! succeeds!in!finding!God!and!becoming!religious.!Learning!to!pray!!It$is$not$ through$any$action,$any$blows$of$fate,$least$of$all$through$any$love$of$woman,$ that$this$change$of$heart$is$to$come$about…!Originally!I!intended!to!write!the! words!myself.!But!I!no!longer!think!myself!equal!to!it.40!!!! ! ! This!striking!letter!could!bear!interpretation!as!another!emblematic!text!in!a! generational!struggle,!that!of!Viennese!artists—the!children!of!emancipated!Jewish! families—and!their!negotiation!between!the!ideals!of!Judentum!(present!here!as!a! kind!of!invisible!residue)!Deutschtum,!and!Bildung.!Yet!for!the!purposes!of!the! present!chapter,!we!may!focus!on!what!appears!to!be!an!early!kernel!of!the!religious! dramaturgy!of!Survivor:!the!notion!of!modern!man$“learning!to!pray.”!Here!we!have! it$presented!by!Schoenberg!at!a!time!when!he!was!living!in!Berlin!as!a!converted!

Protestant,!before!the!First!World!War,!a!period!that!produced!some!of!his!most! fervent!declarations!of!allegiance!to!German!culture.!(As!such!this!letter!is!also!a! cautionary!example!for!interpreters!who!have!framed!Survivor$exclusively!as!a! paean!to!Schoenberg's!own!Jewish!identity!as!rekindled!in!exile.41)!As!a!whole!the! letter!clearly!reflects!the!composer's!inchoate!spiritual!yearnings,!but!at!a!time! when!they!were!still!seeking!an!appropriate!outlet.!!In!the!timeless!manner!of! universalizing!from!one's!own!personal!experience,!Schoenberg!writes!of!secular! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40!Schoenberg!to!Richard!Dehmel,!13!December!1912,!as!reprinted!in!Auner,!A$Schoenberg$ Reader,!118J19.!Italics!added.! 41!See,!for!instance,!Ringer,!Arnold$Schoenberg,!203.!!

! 146! “modern!man”!still!possessing!“the!residue!of!ancient!faith,”!though!he!is!far!more! vague!on!precisely!how!modern!man's!religious!awakening!is!to!take!place.!He!does! go!as!far!as!stipulating!the!move!must!be!innerJdirected:!“not!through!any!action,! any!blows!of!fate.”!!

It!was,!however,!precisely!one!of!those!blows!that!prompted!the!next!stage!in!

Schoenberg's!own!religious!awakening:!the!antiJSemitic!incident!at!Mattsee,! discussed!at!length!in!the!previous!chapter.!As!also!previously!discussed,!after!the! rise!of!Hitler,!Schoenberg's!political!work!on!behalf!of!German!Jewry!became!his! guiding!obsession!and!raison$d'être,!a!cause!he!determined!as!“more!important!than! my!art.”!Schoenberg's!efforts!between!1926!and!1946!encompassed!both!practical! measures!such!as!assisting!with!the!migration!and!settlement!of!Jewish!refugees,! and!quixotic!plans!undertaken!in!a!kind!of!radical!isolation!from!the!efforts!of!the! organized!Jewish!community.!There!is!a!desperation!to!some!of!these!efforts,!as! previously!discussed,!and!on!more!than!one!occasion,!a!troubling!willingness!to! suggest!that!persecution!itself!had!a!kind!of!divine!sanction,!and!that!it!might! produce!a!return!to!faith.42!The!latter!aspect!was!of!course!an!abstraction!from!

Schoenberg’s!own!personal!experience,!as!outlined!above.!We!find!the!same! notion—of!renewed!belief!prompted!by!radical!adversity—at!the!center!of!the! dramatic!narrative!reflected!in!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw.$!

On!an!individual!level,!Schoenberg's!advocacy!for!friends!and!family!in!

Europe!was!intermittently!successful.!But!on!the!larger!public!level,!his!two!decades! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 42!Two!such!instances!from!Schoenberg’s!writing!were!quoted!in!the!previous!chapter.! Contemporary!readers!may!also!be!struck!by!a!reference!in!the!Survivor$text!to!the! prisoners!being!beaten!regardless!of!whether!they!were!“young!or!old,!quiet!or!nervous,! guilty$or!innocent.”!Italics!mine.!!!

! 147! of!fervent!political!agitation!ultimately!proved!spectacularly!ineffective.!As!noted!in! the!previous!chapter,!he!lacked!the!diplomacy—the!willingness!or!ability!to! modulate!the!stridency!of!his!tone—necessary!to!secure!the!publication!of!his!most! prescient!writing!on!the!future!of!European!Jewry.!Yet!in!the!immediate!postwar! years,!Schoenberg!seemed!eager!to!distance!himself!from!his!own!failed!career!in!

Jewish!activism,!and!his!correspondence!accordingly!reveals!a!marked!disavowal!of! politics.!Indeed,!he!bitterly!attacks!artists!with!what!the!temerity!or!stupidity!to! stray!beyond!their!own!artistic!corridors.43!Survivor!in!this!sense!may!be!seen!as,!in! part,!a!kind!of!working!through!of!Schoenberg’s!own!failures,!and!as!a!transposition! his!own!accumulated!beliefs—about!the!hydraulics!of!identity!formation!through! adversity,!and!about!the!covenantal!status!of!the!Jewish!people—back$into!the!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 43!Two!striking!letters!merit!quoting!to!illustrate!the!extent!of!Schoenberg’s!postwar! reversal,!his!renunciation—even!condemnation—of!political!involvement.!To!his!former! student!Josef!Rufer,!he!wrote!in!May!1948,!less!than!a!year!after!completing!Survivor:! “[H]aving!a!general!view!of!it!all!as!I!now!have,!I!should!really!like!to!say!to!this!to!you:!It!is! absolutely!pointless!associating!oneself!with!the!political!ideals!of!any!of!the!existing! parties.!None!of!these!ideals,!of!whatever!colour,!will!stand!up!to!a!closer!examination.! Suitable!though!they!may!be!for!publicity!purposes,!as!a!pretext,!a!masquerade,!ideals!have! no!vital!force!of!their!own,!for!they!are!nonJmaterial.!I!am!convinced!that!every!adept! politician!knows!this!and!turns!it!to!his!own!account.!We$who$live$in$music$have$no$place$in$ politics$and$must$regard$them$as$something$essentially$alien$to$us.!We!are!aJpolitical!and!the! most!we!can!do!is!endeavor!to!stay!quietly!in!the!background.”!Only!a!few!months!earlier,! Schoenberg!again!wrote!to!Rufer,!this!time!regarding!Hanns!Eisler’s!progressive!political! sympathies.!This!letter,!one!of!his!more!bitter!and!ungenerous!statements!about!a!former! student,!reads!in!part:!“[I]t’s!really!too!stupid!of!grownJup!men,!musicians,!artists,!who! honestly!ought!to!have!something!better!to!do,!to!go!in!for!theories!about!reforming!the! world,!especially!when!one!can!see!from!history!where!it!all!leads….!If!I!had!any!say!in!the! matter!I’d!turn![Eisler]!over!my!knee!like!a!silly!boy!and!give!him!25!of!the!best!and!make! him!promise!never!to!open!his!mouth!again!but!to!stick!to!scribbling!music.”!Schoenberg,! Letters,!252,!55.!!

! 148! domain!of!art.!One!may!recall!here!Schoenberg’s!aphorism!of!1912:!“the!portrait! need!not!resemble!the!model,!only!the!artist.”44!!!

Indeed,!the!narrator!figure!of!Survivor$can!in!this!sense!be!read!as!another!

Schoenbergian!double.!He!is!witness!to!an!unimaginable!crime,!another!Idea!that! cannot!be!expressed!in!words!nor!even!remembered!in!full!(the!narrator’s!very!first! line,!to!be!further!discussed!below,!is!“I!cannot!remember!ev'rything”).!!Yet!in!this! work,!the!witness!now!seeks!his!own!witness!for!what!he!has!experienced,!as!

Schoenberg!himself!appeared!to!be!seeking!in!so!much!of!his!own!personal!writing! and!testimony!from!this!period.45!The!narrator!is!a!figure!who,!in!this!scenario,! belongs!to!the!group!and!is!subjected!to!its!fate,!to!the!blows!of!the!German! sergeant,!and!yet!he!stands!apart!from!them.!They!move!as!a!herd.!He!moves!as!an! individual.!We!are!given!precious!few!details!about!this!narrator,!but!they!are! suggestive.!Chiefly:!he!is!from!Warsaw,!and!has!lived!in!its!sewers,!like!the!fighters! of!the!uprising.!!As!many!commentators!have!noted,!the!title!A$Survivor$from$

Warsaw!appears!to!be!misleading,!as!the!events!described!in!the!narration—the! selection!of!prisoners!and!the!reference!to!the!gas!chambers—would!not!have!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 44!This!aphorism!is!collected!and!reprinted!in!Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,!105.!I!am! grateful!to!Joseph!Auner!for!bringing!it!to!my!attention.!! 45!Many!documents!could!be!cited!here,!but!the!most!pertinent!is!perhaps!the!famous! “boiling!water!speech,”!of!May!1947!(only!months!before!composing!Survivor),!in!which!he! stated,!“I!had!fallen!into!an!ocean,!into!an!ocean!of!overheated!water,!and!it!burned!not!only! my!skin,!it!burned!also!internally.!And!I!could!not!swim.”!This!speech!is!an!enigmatic! document!with!a!peculiar!mixture!of!heavily!ironic!language!with!confessions!like!the!one! quoted!here.!It!also!may!be!read!as!containing!a!kind!of!postJtraumatic!undertone.! Specifically,!Schoenberg!appears!to!make!the!implicit!point!that!he!acted!better!toward!the! “enemies”!of!his!music!than!did!the!Nazis!toward!the!Jews.!The!speech!is!reprinted!in!full!in! ibid.,!245J46.!

! 149! occurred!in!the!Warsaw!ghetto.46!The!text!instead!would!seem!to!be!describing!a! scene!from!an!extermination!camp.!!

Yet!it!is!also!possible!that!this!scene!does!in!fact!take!place!in!a!camp,!but!that! the!opening!paragraph!of!the!narrator's!text!applies!to!the!narrator!alone,!situating! him!as!being!“from!Warsaw”—a!statement!of!not!only!geographic!but!also!spiritual! origins.!Clearly!“Warsaw”!here!functions!as!a!metonym!for!Jewish!resistance;!it!is! the!place!where!Jews!embraced!the!politics!of!militant!selfJdetermination!that!

Schoenberg!had!been!so!fruitlessly!espousing.47!One!may!also!note,!parenthetically,! that!by!creating!a!memorial!that!linked!tropes!of!Jewish!heroism!and!resistance!with! those!of!Jewish!martyrdom,!Schoenberg!in!fact!here!anticipated!the!choreography! and!narrative!arc!of!the!official!rituals!of!remembrance!later!enacted!in!the!State!of!

Israel.48!!

If!the!narrator,!in!my!reading!here,!may!be!seen!as!Schoenberg’s!double,!the! prisoners!in!Survivor!may!be!seen!as!representatives!of!the!heedless!European!

Jewry!to!which!Schoenberg!attempted!to!preach.!Here,!in!their!last!moments!of!life,! they!finally!absorb!the!idea—or!in!Schoenbergian!parlance,!the!Idea!(see!Chapter!

3)—of!national!politicalJreligious!awakening,!one!which!Schoenberg!had!attempted! to!spread!through!both!his!musical!life!and!his!activist!work!for!the!previous!two!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 46!Michael!Strasser,!for!instance,!discusses!it!in!Strasser,!"'A!Survivor!from!Warsaw'!as! Personal!Parable,"!58J59.!Lieberman!also!addresses!it!in!Cross!and!Berman,!Political$and$ Religious$Ideas$in$the$Works$of$Arnold$Schoenberg,!212J213.! 47!According!to!Diner,!the!freighted!symbolism!around!the!Warsaw!ghetto!spread!early!and! quickly!through!the!rituals!of!American!Jewish!communal!remembrance.!See!Diner,!We$ Remember$with$Reverence$and$Love,!73J76.!! 48!On!this!subject,!see!Yael!Zerubavel,!Recovered$Roots:$Collective$Memory$and$the$Making$of$ Israeli$National$Tradition!(Chicago:!University!of!Chicago!Press,!1995).!And!Tom!Segev,!The$ Seventh$Million:$The$Israelis$and$the$Holocaust,!trans.!Haim!Watzman!(New!York:!Hill!and! Wang,!1993).!

! 150! decades.!This!acknowledgment!prompts!their!spontaneous!recitation!of!the!Shema,$

“the!forgotten!creed”!as!the!narrator’s!text!describes!it,!or!as!Schoenberg!put!it!three! decades!earlier,!in!the!situationally!specific!language!tailored!to!an!earlier!era,!the!

“residue!of!an!ancient!faith.”!!

Survivor$in!this!sense,!even!while!it!has!come!to!assume!a!status!as!a!

“universal”!memorial!in!sound,!contains!within!its!layers!an!extremely!personalized! statement,!born!of!Schoenberg’s!own!biographic!journey,!and!reflecting!a!kind!of! fantasy!or!counterJnarrative!of!collective!awakening.!In!a!letter!to!the!composer!

Kurt!List!in!1948,!Schoenberg!affirms!these!essential!components!of!the!work's! personal!significance:!

! Now,!what!the!text!of!the!Survivor!means!to!me:!it!means!at!first!a!warning!to! all!Jews,!never!to!forget!what!has!been!done!to!us—never!to!forget!that!even! people!who!did!not!do!it!themselves,!agreed!with!them!and!many!of!them! found!it!necessary!to!treat!us!this!way.!We!should!never!forget!this….!The! Shema!Jisroel!at!the!end!has!a!special!meaning!to!me.!I!think,!the!Shema! Jisroel!is!the!“Glaubensbekenntnis,”!the!confession!of!the!Jews.!It!is!our! thinking!of!the!one,!eternal,!God!who!is!invisible,!who!forbids!imitations,!who! forbids!to!make!a!picture!and!all!these!things,!which!you!perhaps!have! realized!when!you!read!my!Moses!und!Aron!and!Der!biblische!Weg.!The$ miracle$is,$to$me,$that$all$these$people$who$might$have$forgotten,$for$years,$that$ they$are$Jews,$suddenly$facing$death,$remember$who$they$are.!And!this!seems! to!me!a!great!thing.49! ! !

This!revealing!letter!to!List!also!lays!bare!some!of!the!most!potentially!problematic! aspects!of!Survivor,$its!instrumentalization!of!the!victims’!memory,!their!example! used!to!serve!as!“a!warning!to!all!Jews”!for!the!future,!rather!than!being!simply! honored!on!its!own!terms.!This!aspect—together!with!the!personalized!connections! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 49!Schoenberg!to!Kurt!List,!1!November!1948,!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),!image!scan! at!Arnold!Schönberg!Center!

! 151! explored!in!this!section—illustrates!why!the!work’s!later!recruitment!as!a!universal! sonic!memorial!to!the!Holocaust,!a!purpose!Schoenberg!never!stated!was!his!goal,!is! not!a!seamless!fit.!Indeed!it!is!Survivor’s!simultaneous!status!as!memorial,!religioJ political!counterJnarrative,!and!metaphorical!autobiography!that!both!contributes! to!its!power!and!generates!the!unresolved!tensions!that!remain!within!the!work!to! this!day.!!

!

History(and(Memory(in!A!Survivor!From!Warsaw((

! !

! The!biographically!contextual!readings!of!Survivor$take!us!only!so!far!toward! a!full!understanding!the!work,!not!only!for!reasons!of!general!interpretive! principle—the!creator's!life!and!artistic!intentions!cannot!exhaust!the!meanings!of!a! work—but!also!because!Schoenberg's!own!conceptions!of!the!larger!cultural! signification!of!his!own!art!was!always!limited.!Even!during!his!own!lifetime,! contemporaries!such!as!Thomas!Mann!and!Adorno!heard!in!his!music!and!found!in! his!ideas!profound!statements!on!the!crisis!of!modernity,!and!on!the!nature!of!the! society!that!permitted!two!world!wars—statements!toward!which!Schoenberg! remained!by!turns!oddly!detached,!ignorant,!or!at!times!even!hostile.!Adorno! himself!summarized!this!disjunction:!“In!Schoenberg!different!historical!moments! collide.!The!composer!who,!in!immanentJmusical!terms,!was!lightJyears!ahead!of!his! epoch,!remained!a!child!of!the!nineteenth!century!where!its!terminus$ad$quem,!its! function,!was!concerned.”50!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 50!Adorno,!Prisms,!161.!

! 152! ! With!that!said,!this!section!now!proceeds!to!examine!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw! in!terms!of!its!“function.”!Specifically,!I!will!examine!this!work!as!a!kind!of!anatomy! of!memory,!drawing!attention!to!the!different!aspects!of!recollection!at!play,!and! mapping!those!aspects!onto!the!twoJpart!structure!of!the!work.!I!will!suggest!that! the!conceptions!of!memory!embedded!in!each!part!of!Survivor!may!be!seen!as! standing!in!a!productive!dialectical!relationship.!This!process!will!involve!a!new! reading!of!the!work's!ending,!one!that!hopefully!addresses!the!criticism!of!its! purported!triumphalism.!Through!this!process,!I!seek!to!identify!some!of!the!roots! of!this!work's!longevity!and!its!evident!effectiveness!as!a!musical!memorial!when! performed!today.!

! The!crucial!role!of!memory!in!the!narrator's!text!is!both!signaled!and! problematized!in!its!very!opening!sentences:!“I!cannot!remember!ev'rything.!I!must! have!been!unconscious!most!of!the!time.!I!remember!only!the!grandiose!moment! when!they!all!started!to!sing…!But!I!have!no!recollection!how!I!got!underground!to! live!in!the!sewers!of!Warsaw!for!so!long!a!time.”!!Schoenberg!here!conveys!the! instability!of!memory!in!the!wake!of!trauma.!We!may!in!fact!borrow!from!Lawrence!

Langer's!helpful!distinction!in!survivor!testimonies!between!“common!memory,”! defined!as!the!ordered!narrating!of!the!past!from!the!perspective!of!the!present,!and!

“deep!memory,”!a!kind!of!visceral!and!immersive!remembering!of!“the!Auschwitz! self!as!it!was!then.”51!In!these!terms,!we!might!say!that!the!integrity!of!the!narrator's!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 51!Langer!draws!his!terms!from!Charlotte!Delbo’s!notion!of!“mémoire$profonde”!and! “mémoire$ordinaire.”!See!Lawrence!L.!Langer,!Holocaust$Testimonies:$The$Ruins$of$Memory! (New!Haven:!Yale!University!Press,!1991),!5J6.!!

! 153! common!memory!has!been!fractured!by!what!he!has!endured.!His!deep!memory,! however,!remains!acute.!

!The!subtle,!complex,!and!evolving!interaction!of!music!and!text!suggests!yet! additional!layers!of!memory!in!Survivor,!which!I!will!try!to!sketch!here.$The! orchestra!itself,!it!may!be!said,!serves!as!another!witness.$Before!the!narrator's! initial!entrance!in!measure!12,!Schoenberg!sketches!the!scene!with!many!telling! musical!details,!including!an!opening!jagged!trumpet!fanfare;!acid!dissonances;!a! military!drum!roll,!figures!that!begin!sharply!but!then!trail!off!suggesting! disorientation;!woodwind!fragments!and!trills!suggesting!broken!shards!of! marches;!and!tremolo!growls!from!the!cellos!and!basses.!These!introductory!details! are!not!descriptive!in!a!direct!naturalistic!sense—this!is!not!an!aural!snapshot!of! camp!life—but!rather!evoke!the!place!itself!as!recollected!through!the!prism!of!an! unstable!memory,!one!that!has!been!stamped!with!the!marks!of!trauma!and!fear.!!!

When!the!opening!trumpet!motif!recurs,!the!narrator!names!it!as!the!

“Reveille”!heard!in!the!camp!every!morning.!Thus!we!may!retroactively!understand! the!very!first!bracing!measures!of!the!score!as!a!call!to!awaken.52!Interestingly! while,!as!previously!stated,!Schoenberg!had!no!personal!experience!in!a!camp,!he! intuited!some!of!the!most!salient!features!of!its!auditory!topography.!Primo!Levi! wrote!of!the!reveille!at!Auschwitz,!and!more!generally,!of!the!music!of!the!camp!that! had!seared!itself!into!his!own!deep!memory!at!a!profound!level:!!

The!tunes!are!few,!a!dozen,!the!same!ones!every!day,!morning!and!evening:! marches!and!popular!songs!dear!to!every!German.!They!lie!engraven!on!our! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 52!Amy!Wlodarski!examines!this!and!other!examples!of!“motivic!recapitulation”!in! Wlodarski,!"An!Idea!Can!Never!Perish:!Memory,!the!Musical!Idea,!and!Schoenberg's!'a! Survivor!from!Warsaw'!(1947)."!

! 154! minds!and!will!be!the!last!thing!in!Lager!that!we!shall!forget:!they!are!the! voice!of!the!Lager,!the!perceptible!expression!of!its!geometrical!madness,!of! the!resolution!of!others!to!annihilate!us!men!in!order!to!kill!us!more!slowly! afterwards.53! !

! In!addition!to!the!common!and!deep!layers!of!memory!reflected!in!the!first! portion!of!Survivor,!and!the!accompanying!“witness”!of!the!orchestra,!we!have!of! course!the!climactic!entrance!of!the!male!chorus!singing!the!Shema,!the!revitalized! memory!of!what!the!narrator!calls!(and!thereby!once!more!suggests!himself!as!

Schoenberg's!double)!“the!forgotten!creed.”!Structurally,!Schoenberg!placed!great! emphasis!on!the!division!between!these!two!portions!of!the!work.!While!the!pitch! material!for!the!first!half!is!derived!from!the!tone!row!mentioned!earlier!in!this! chapter,!it!is!only!in!the!choral!setting!of!the!Shema!that!we!hear!the!row!in!its!prime! form.54!The!two!portions!of!the!work!are!also!strictly!demarcated!by!the!nature!of! the!vocal!delivery!permitted!in!each!half.!The!narrator's!part,!as!previously! mentioned,!is!to!be!delivered!only$in!Sprechstimme!while!the!choral!section!is!only! sung.!In!a!letter!to!René!Leibowitz,!who!was!preparing!the!work's!European! premiere,!Schoenberg!placed!uncommon!emphasis!on!the!importance!of!this! division.55!

! The!division!itself,!however,!may!mark!more!than!simply!the!transition!point! between!the!two!different!musical!styles.!It!may!also!be!seen!as!signaling!the!break!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 53!Levi,!Survival$in$Auschwitz:$The$Nazi$Assault$on$Humanity,!51.!! 54!For!more!on!the!significance!of!these!musical!relationships,!see!Schiller,!Bloch,$ Schoenberg,$and$Bernstein,!103J15,!and!Wlodarski,!"An!Idea!Can!Never!Perish:!Memory,!the! Musical!Idea,!and!Schoenberg's!'a!Survivor!from!Warsaw'!(1947)."!! 55!He!wrote!to!Leibowitz!that!“[the!narrator’s!part]!must!never!be!made!so!musical!as!other! strict!compositions!of!mine.!This!never!has!to!be!sung,!never!should!there!be!a!real!pitch….! This!is!very!important,!because!singing!produces!motives!and!motives!must!be!carried!out.”! Schoenberg,!Letters,!257.!

! 155! between!what!we!might!call!two!different!temporalities!in!this!work,!two!different! approaches!toward!measuring!the!past,!each!existing!on!opposite!sides!of!what!

David!N.!Myers!has!called!“the!yawning!chasm…!between!history!and!faith.”56!Myers! draws!on!the!classic!distinction,!as!articulated!by!Yosef!Yerushalmi!in!Zakhor,! between!the!modern,!positivistic!enterprise!of!Jewish!historiography!and!the! cyclical,!organic,!communallyJembedded!tropes!of!Jewish!memory.!!!

As!Yerushalmi!and!others!have!shown,!the!latter!tradition!of!Jewish!collective! memory!tended!to!recast!episodes!of!religious!persecution!and!even!massacre! through!ancient!narrative!archetypes.!These!included!the!Akedah$(the!binding!of!

Isaac),!Hurban!(the!urJcatastrophes!of!the!destructions!of!the!Temples)!and!Kiddush$

Hashem$(martyrdom).57!David!Roskies!has!also!illustrated!that!while!the!earliest!in$ situ!Jewish!chroniclers!of!catastrophe!in!the!twentieth!century!set!out!to!document! violence!and!suffering!with!modern!positivistic!methods,!they!nonetheless!fell!back! on!these!ancient!tropes.58!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 56!David!N.!Myers,!Resisting$History:$Historicism$and$Its$Discontents$in$GermanFJewish$ Thought,!Jews,!Christians,!and!Muslims!from!the!Ancient!to!the!Modern!World!(Princeton,! N.J.:!Princeton!University!Press,!2003),!4.! 57!See!Gabrielle!Spiegel,!“Memory!and!History:!Liturgical!Time!and!Historical!Time.”!History$ and$Theory!41!(2009);!David!G.!Roskies,!Against$the$Apocalypse:$Responses$to$Catastrophe$in$ Modern$Jewish$Culture!(Cambridge,!Mass.:!Harvard!University!Press,!1984),!15J52;!and!The$ Literature$of$Destruction:$Jewish$Responses$to$Catastrophe!(Philadelphia:!Jewish!Publication! Society,!1988).!! 58!Roskies!has!charted!the!growth!of!such!efforts,!beginning!with!the!documentation!of!the! Kishinev!pogrom!and!S.!Ansky’s!assembled!sixJvolume!chronicle!on!the!First!World!War!in! Galicia.!These!efforts!extended!into!the!Second!World!War,!most!famously!with!the!Oneg! Shabbes!archive!in!Warsaw.!See!“The!Library!of!Jewish!Catastrophe”!in!Hartman,!Holocaust$ Remembrance,!33J41.!See!also!Yael!Feldman’s!exploration!of!the!particular!trope!of!sacrifice! in!Yael!S.!Feldman,!Glory$and$Agony:$Isaac’s$Sacrifice$and$National$Narrative$(Stanford,!Calif.:! Stanford!University!Press,!2010).!!

! 156! Marking!these!distinctions!between!the!two!modes!of!approaching!the!past! allows!us!to!better!understand!the!two!sections!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw.59$The! first!section!falls!under!the!regime!of!testimony!and!“history,”!with!the!narrator! presenting!the!shocking!scene!in!descriptive,!naturalistic!language.!His!voice,! through!Schoenberg’s!notated!Sprechstimme$strains!toward$music,!but!the! composer!strictly!forbids!the!narrator!to!actually!cross!the!line!into!song.!That!mode! of!expression!is!reserved!for!the!second!section,!which,!in!echo!of!the!scribes!of!

Jewish!catastrophes!past,!places!the!Holocaust!on!the!plane!of!collective!Jewish! memory.!The!chorus,!in$the$narrator’s$recollection,$sings!the!Shema.!In!this!sense,!the! ending!can!in!fact!be!read!as!Schoenberg's!sui!generis!attempt!to!bring!meaning!not! to!the!catastrophe!itself,!which!would!thereby!suggest!a!false!redemptive!narrative,! a!higher!significance!to!be!found!in!their!extermination.!Rather,!the!meaning!is! derived!from$the!memory!of!the!catastrophe,!as!recollected!by!one!who!witnessed!it,! and!by!its!link!with!millennial!tropes!of!Jewish!prayer!and!Jewish!identity.!!

In!this!discussion!of!the!ending,!however,!it!is!important!to!note!that!A$

Survivor$from$Warsaw!still!nonetheless!resists!the!temptations!of!consolation!or! false!closure;!I!would!suggest!that!the!Shema$section!is!not,!in!the!negative!sense,!a! facile!escape!to!the!plane!of!myth.!Schoenberg!in!fact!cuts!short!his!chorus,! preventing!the!singing!of!the!full!Shema,!or!even!the!conclusion!of!its!first! paragraph.!Rather,!he!ends!the!choral!setting!prematurely!with!the!word!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 59!My!reading!here!builds!on!an!observation!made!by!Steven!Cahn!that!Schoenberg!“does! not!give!up!the!distinction”!between!history!and!memory!in!Survivor.!To!illustrate!his!point,! Cahn!quotes!from!Spiegel’s!“Memory!and!History.”!See!Steven!J.!Cahn,!“On!the! Representation!of!Jewish!Identity!and!Historical!Consciousness!in!Schönberg’s!Religious! Thought.”!Journal$of$the$Arnold$Schönberg$Center$5!(2003):!105.!!

! 157! “uv'kumekha”!(“and!when!you!rise!up”).!The!orchestra!then!continues!with!two! additional!–!highly!dissonant!–!wordless!measures!of!music!before!the!work!ends!in! one!final!piercing!sforzando!blast.!This!ending!has!been!heard!in!many!different! ways.!To!my!ears,!the!final!two!bars!do!not!suggest!a!triumphant!spiritual! apotheosis!but!something!much!darker,!more!complex,!and!resistant!to!mythic! appropriation,!as!I!will!explore!in!the!following!section.!!!

!

Resisting(Closure:(Schoenberg(and(Benjamin(

!

! The!preceding!discussion!of!Survivor!also!prepares!us!to!place!the!work!in! dialogue!with!Walter!Benjamin's!increasingly!influential!writings!on!memory.!

Benjamin!in!his!way!was!keenly!attuned!to!the!distinctions!between!history!and! memory!articulated!above,!though!he!understood!them!through!the!lens!of!what!he! perceived!to!be!a!deeper!crisis!in!the!nature!of!experience![Erfahrung],!and!its! organic!communicability,!in!the!wake!of!the!First!World!War.!A!famous!passage!in! his!essay!The$Storyteller!distills!his!insights:!!

With!the![First]!World!War!a!process!began!to!become!apparent!which!has! not!halted!since!then.!Was!it!not!noticeable!at!the!end!of!the!war!that!men! returned!from!the!battlefield!grown!silent!–!not!richer,!but!poorer!in! communicable!experience?!What!ten!years!later!was!poured!out!in!the!flood! of!war!books!was!anything!but!experience!that!goes!from!mouth!to!mouth.! And!there!was!nothing!remarkable!about!that.!For!never!has!experience!been! contradicted!more!thoroughly!than!strategic!experience!by!tactical!warfare,! economic!experience!by!inflation,!bodily!experience!by!mechanical!warfare,! moral!experience!by!those!in!power.!A!generation!that!had!gone!to!school!on! a!horseJdrawn!streetcar!now!stood!under!the!open!sky!in!a!countryside!in! which!nothing!remained!unchanged!but!the!clouds,!and!beneath!those!

! 158! clouds,!in!a!field!of!force!of!destructive!torrents!and!explosions,!was!the!tiny,! fragile!human!body.60!!!! !

! After!the!war,!in!other!words,!positivistic!historical!knowledge!of!the!conflict!

(“war!books”)!proliferated!but!the!connections!with!organic!communal!memory! were!ruptured,!the!speaker!or!storyteller!rendered!mute.!One!may!think!here!of!the! despair!of!Schoenberg’s!Moses!falling!silent!at!the!end!of!Act!I!of!Moses$und$Aron,!or! the!elisions!present!in!the!text!recited!by!the!narrator!of!Schoenberg’s!Survivor.!He! cannot!remember!everything.!!

As!Martin!Jay!has!shown,!Benjamin's!writing!in!the!postJWorld!War!I!era!put! him!at!odds!with!the!culture!of!public!commemoration!and!consolation,!discussed!in!

Chapter!2,!with!its!ritualized!choreography!of!civic!mourning.!Against!such!practices! designed!to!heal!social!rupture!and!numb!private!pain!(or!in!George!Mosse's! interpretation,!to!reconsolidate!state!power),!Benjamin!sought!to!preserve!the! unreconciled!loss!as!a!reminder!of!its!roots!not!only!in!war!but$in$the$contradictions$ of$a$society$that$created$the$war$in$the$first$place.61!By!not!papering!over!or! distorting!the!past,!its!buried!sparks!of!emancipatory!potential,!its!power!to! influence!the!present,!remained!intact.!As!John!McCole!has!summarized!Benjamin’s! view,!“for!a!life!(or!a!society)!whose!future!has!not!been!foreclosed,!the!past!can! never!become!a!closed!book.”62!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 60!Benjamin,!Illuminations,!84.!Also!quoted!in!Martin!Jay’s!essay!“Against!consolation:! Walter!Benjamin!and!the!refusal!to!mourn”!in!Winter!and!Sivan,!War$and$Remembrance$in$ the$Twentieth$Century.! 61!See!War$and$Remembrance$in$the$Twentieth$Century,!226.! 62!John!McCole,!Walter$Benjamin$and$the$Antinomies$of$Tradition!(Ithaca,!N.Y.:!Cornell! University!Press,!1993),!263.!

! 159! ! With!this!in!mind,!the!two!halves!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$when! considered!as!a!unity,!offer!what!we!might!call!a!kind!of!stereoscopic!memory,!with! regimes!of!history!and!faith!placed!in!dialectical!tension.!In!the!first!part,!the! narrator's!pained!recollection,!his!recitation!italicized!by!Schoenberg's!music!of! teeming!anxiety,!functions!in!a!way!that!reJsensitizes!a!numbed!audience,!breaks! down!protective!defenses,!and!“burns!through”!(Amery’s!phrase)!the!frozen!image! of!the!Holocaust!as!a!distant!historical!occurrence.!One!may!recall!here!

Schoenberg’s!rather!Benjaminian!statement:!“Reject!all!comfort:!it!wants!only!to!rob!! you!of!what!is!worth!preserving.”63!The!first!part!reinforces!this!sentiment!by! recasting!the!traumatic!scene!not!as!a!closed!event!to!be!objectified!and!then! forgotten!but!as!an!Erfahrung!to!be!grappled!with!in!the!realJtime!process!of! recollection.!As!Angelika!Rauch!has!distilled!Benjamin's!thinking!on!the!subject,!

“[t]he!mission!of!tradition”!–!and!here!I!would!add!also,!the!mission!of!the!work!of! memoryJart!“is!precisely!not$to!make!experience!into!an!event!or!an!object!because! only!the!power!of!feeling!humbles!us,!sensitizes!us!to!an!other,!and!teaches!us!to!live! with!what!Kant!had!identified!as!the!monstrosity!of!the!sublime.”64!!

Benjamin's!writing!on!memory!and!against!mourning!also!provides!a!route! toward!bridging!the!score’s!first!part!with!its!conclusion,!what!the!narrator!calls!

“the!grandiose!moment”!when!the!prisoners!recall!“the!forgotten!creed”!and!begin! to!sing.!Indeed,!elsewhere!in!his!writing!Benjamin!articulates!what!we!might!call!an!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 63!The!line!appears!in!a!Requiem$text!Schoenberg!composed!in!1923!in!response!to!the! death!of!his!first!wife,!Mathilde.!It!is!excerpted!and!reprinted!in!Auner,!A$Schoenberg$Reader,! 181.! 64!Angelika!Rauch,!"The!Broken!Vessel!of!Tradition,"!Representations,!no.!53!(1996):!90.! Quoted!in!Winter!and!Sivan,!War$and$Remembrance$in$the$Twentieth$Century.!

! 160! epistemology!of!danger—a!notion!that!the!nature!of!the!world!that!has!produced! this!abyss!may!be!fully!grasped!only!when!staring!directly!into!it.!Or!in!his!oftenJ quoted!line!from!the!Theses!on!the!Philosophy!of!History,!“[t]o!articulate!the!past! historically…!means!to!seize!hold!of!a!memory!as!it!flashes!up!at!a!moment!of! danger.”65!!

The!singing!of!the!Shema$in!this!account!becomes!not!some!contrived!or! sentimental!appendage!to!the!narrator's!harrowing!descriptions,!but!a!kind!of! radical!insight!that!“flashes!up”!from!the!murderous!moment!in!which,!as!

Schoenberg!viewed!it,!the!profound!lie!of!the!GermanJJewish!symbiosis!was!finally! laid!bare.!In!sympathy!with!this!reading,!and!apropos!what!I!have!called!Benjamin's! epistemology!of!danger,!we!may!here!also!recall!Benjamin’s!statement!about!Kafka! in!a!letter!from!1938!to!Gershom!Scholem.!“The!experience!that!corresponds!to!that! of!Kafka!as!a!private!individual,”!Benjamin!wrote,!“will!probably!first!become! accessible!to!the!masses!at!such!time!as!they!are!about!to!be!annihilated.”66!!

Schoenberg!too!seems!to!have!believed,!at!least!retrospectively,!in!an! epistemology!of!danger.!Insights!about!his!own!identity!came!to!him!after! experiences!of!antiJSemitism!in!which!he!saw!the!possibilities!of!darker!and!more! criminal!deeds.!Likewise!in!this!score,!it!is!not!in!the!prisoners’!deaths,!but!in!their! own!collective!act!of!memory—recollecting!their!identities!as!Jews—that!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 65!This!statement!appears!in!the!sixth!of!Benjamin’s!Theses$on$the$Philosophy$of$History,$as! translated!in!Benjamin,!Illuminations,!255.!Amy!Wlodarski!also!quotes!it!as!an!epigraph!in! Wlodarski,!The$Sounds$of$Memory,!29.!!! 66 Walter Benjamin to Gershon Scholem, 12 June 1938. As translated and reprinted in Gershom Scholem, ed. The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 1932-1940 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992), 220. !

! 161! Schoenberg!may!be!said!to!locate!sparks!of!what!Benjamin!called!simply!“hope!in! the!past.”!!

None!of!that!has!diminished!its!enduring!power!as!a!memorial!in!sound—for! all!the!reasons!I!have!suggested!above,!and!also!sketched!in!Chapter!2—its!ability!to! speak!far!beyond!the!circumstances!of!its!birth.!“His!is!a!supreme!case!of$applied$ music$becoming$absolute,”!wrote!the!critic!and!broadcaster!Hans!Keller,!who!was! himself!interned!by!the!Nazis.!And!here!we!may!extend!Keller’s!“applied!music”!to! its!broadest!possible!definition,!that!is!to!include!both$the!depictions!of!the!violent! scene!described!in!Survivor$but!also,!as!discussed,!the!encompassing!of!so!many!of! the!composer’s!own!autobiographical!narratives.!Keller!continued!his!insightful! response!to!the!work:!!

feeling!himself!fully,!with!uncanny!depthJknowledge,!into!the!dramatic,!still! topical!situation,![Schoenberg]!offers!an!immanent!solution!which!only!music! can!offer!and!which,!to!the!musical!mind,!is!all!the!more!inevitable!for! that….[W]hat!higher!praise!can!the!Survivor$receive!than!a!musicianJ survivor’s!confession!that!never!since!his!escape!from!the!Nazis!did!he!feel,!at! the!same!time,!so!terrifyingly!near!and!so!redeemingly!far!from!the!memory! of!his!experiences?67!!!! ! ! Responses!such!as!Keller’s!are!made!possible!by!the!fact!that!in!Survivor,! perhaps!for!the!first!time,!culture!and$barbarism!are!not!shone!as!naively!opposing! forces!but!wrenched!into!the!frame!of!a!single!explosive!work!of!art.!Its! incorporation!of!horror!and!suffering!is!what!provided!its!truth!content,!in!Adorno’s! terms,!a!kind!of!klieg!light!“by!which!the!entire!complexion!of!reality!is!made!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 67!From!a!1951!essay,!“Schoenberg:!‘A!Survivor!from!Warsaw,’”!as!collected!in!Keller,!Essays$ on$Music,!81.!!!

! 162! manifest.”!It!is!also!what!allowed!the!work’s!dissonant!musical!language!to!be! understood!by!audiences!with!a!newfound!clarity.!!

At!the!same!time,!as!I!have!attempted!to!show,!the!work!also!carries!a! different!kind!of!truth!content,!one!of!a!profound!biographic!valence.!It!can!indeed! be!said!that!Moses,!after!falling!silent!in!1932!at!the!end!of!Act!II,!does!speak!again!as!

Survivor’s!narrator.!The!language!of!his!utterance—his!Sprechstimme—has!evolved! from!German!to!English.!He!has!dreamed!many!AronJlike!dreams!of!political! leadership,!and!he!has!foresworn!the!world!of!politics.!And!in!this!work,!it!is!now! memory!itself—rather!than!language—that!is!called!to!the!impossible!task!of! representing!the!unrepresentable.!Indeed,!the!larger!arc!is!clear.!To!adapt!the!

Schlegel!aphorism!with!which!we!began!this!chapter:!the!prophet!becomes!a! memorialist!by!turning!backwards.!!!!

!

! 163! Chapter(5( ! Monument(Unveiled:(( Two(premieres(for(A!Survivor!from!Warsaw! ! ! “The!audience!of!over!1600!was!shaken!by!the!composition!and! applauded!until!we!repeated!the!performance.!This!happened!in!a! town,!which!a!few!years!ago!was!considered!to!be!a!small!'Rail!road! Town.’”! ! –!Kurt!Frederick!to!Arnold!Schoenberg!on!the!world!premiere!of!A$ Survivor$from$Warsaw1! ! “It!was!the!extraordinary!newness!of!the!work!that!so!gripped!my! audience.!Many!of!them!came!to!me!with!tears!in!their!eyes,!others! were!so!shocked!that!they!could!not!even!speak,!and!only!talked!to!me! about!their!impressions!much!later.!But!not!only!the!audience!were! impressed!in!this!way;!from!the!first!rehearsal!onward,!the!entire! orchestra!and!chorus!were!so!moved!that!there!was!none!of!the!usual! resistance!one!tends!to!meet!in!rehearsing!a!new!work!of!such! difficulty.!Rehearsals!proceeded!in!the!greatest!calm,!and!with!a! seriousness!I!have!but!rarely!met.”! ! –!Rene!Leibowitz,!on!the!European!premiere!of!A$Survivor$from$ Warsaw2! ! ! ! ! ! In!the!previous!chapter,!we!have!attempted!to!interpret!Survivor!both!on!its! own!terms!and!as!a!work!that!reflects!and!refracts!the!events!and!subterranean! themes!that!comprise!Schoenberg’s!own!biography.!At!this!point!it!is!time!to!bring! the!work,!finally,!into!the!noonday!sun!of!its!own!public!reception,!to!chart!the! beginning!of!its!career!as!a!public!musical!memorial!and,!more!broadly,!as!a!lieu$de$

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!Kurt!Frederick!to!Schoenberg,!4!November!1948.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!Houghton! Library,!Harvard!University$ 2!From!Leibowitz’s!article!originally!published!as!“Schoenberg!und!die!Tragödie!unserer! Zeit,”!Der!Mittag,!15!November!1949.!This!article!was!excerpted!in!Reich,!Schoenberg,!222J 23.!

! 164! memoire.$Nora!himself!has!written!about!how!such!sites!of!memory!can!be!at!once! unchanging!in!their!memorial!make!up!and!at!the!same!time,!completely!protean! and!understood!anew!in!each!encounter.!Or!in!Nora’s!words:!“if!we!accept!that!the! most!fundamental!purpose!of!lieux$de$mémoire$is!to!stop!time,!to!block!the!worst!of! forgetting,!to!establish!a!state!of!things,!to!immortalize!death,!to!materialize!the! immaterial...!it!is!also!clear!that!lieux$de$mémoire$only!exist!because!of!their!capacity! for!metamorphosis,!an!endless!recycling!of!their!meaning!and!unpredictable! proliferation!of!their!ramifications.”3!

! !By!their!very!nature,!commemorative!works!of!concert!music,!as!discussed! in!chapter!2,!offer!unique!opportunities!for!scholars!engaged!in!the!study!of!postwar! memory.!Unlike!a!novel,!for!instance,!musical!performances!require!the! coordination!of!dozens!of!individual!musical!actors!and!their!institutions,!the!critical! engagement!of!the!press,!and!of!course!the!audiences!themselves.!They!offer! opportunities,!in!this!sense,!to!observe!reception!with!both!a!breadth!and! granularity!not!often!available!with!other!forms!of!memoryJart.!!!

The!full!reception!history!of!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$would!of!course!include! not!only!its!complete!geographic!itinerary!but,!in!Nora’s!phrase,!its!endless!“capacity! for!metamorphosis.”!Joy!Calico!has!in!this!vein!recently!written!the!first!study!of!

Survivor!performances!across!Europe!in!the!early!postwar!period,!a!revelatory! account!that!shows!how!the!work’s!meanings!were!interpreted!anew!in!each! country,!and!how!the!work’s!own!memorial!agenda!was!refracted!through!the! postwar!narratives!at!play!in!each!location.!Calico!is!particularly!interested!in!what!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3!Nora,!"Between!Memory!and!History,"!19.!

! 165! she!calls!Schoenberg’s!own!“symbolic!remigration”!through!the!presence!of!

Survivor,!and!the!way!its!European!performances!offered!an!early!test!case!of!each! country’s!responses!to!a!whole!litany!of!freighted!issues,!from!lingering!antiJ

Semitism,!to!postwar!guilt,!to!aesthetic!and!political!questions!connected!to! modernism.!But!Survivor’s!story!is!incomplete!without!a!fuller!study!of!the!work’s! reception!in!America,!not!only!as!a!kind!of!prehistory!to!its!European!career,!but! also!as!a!way!of!drawing!out!the!nature!of!the!brief!transatlantic!moment!of!its!birth,! a!time!when!the!meanings!of!American!and!European!cultural!memory!were!still! fluid!and,!at!least!through!Survivor,!interconnected.!As!we!will!see,!the!PolishJFrench! conductor!René!Leibowitz!proved!to!be!the!key!mediating!figure,!assisting!

Schoenberg!in!California!with!the!preparation!of!the!score,!declaring!it!a! masterpiece!in!what!was!its!first!mention!in!the!American!press,!and!then! conducting!the!European!premiere!in!Paris.!!!

This!current!chapter!will!focus!on!the!work’s!earliest!American!contexts,! returning!us!to!the!scene!of!two!key!first!performances:!Survivor’s!improbable! world!premiere!in!university!gymnasium!in!Albuquerque,!New!Mexico!in!1948,! conducted!by!Kurt!Frederick,!and!its!first!New!York!performance!in!1950,! conducted!by!Dimitri!Mitropoulos!leading!the!New!York!Philharmonic.!!

! Yet!the!story!of!this!work’s!early!American!career!has!also!been!marked!by! the!mystery!of!its!absence!in!the!place!where,!as!mentioned,!it!should!have!naturally$ been!premiered:!with!Serge!Koussevitzky!and!the!Boston!Symphony!Orchestra,! given!the!fact!that!Koussevitzky!premiered!almost!all!of!the!other!works! commissioned!by!his!foundation!during!this!period.!I!will!examine!in!detail!this!

! 166! strange!turn!of!events,!and!will!suggest!that!Survivor’s!silence!in!Boston—and,! possibly,!the!decision!to!exclude!it!from!a!national!New!York!Philharmonic!radio! broadcast!in!1950—signals!the!extent!to!which!Schoenberg!was!ahead!of!the!curve! of!postwar!memory!in!the!United!States.!As!I!have!stated,!the!score!was!pioneering! both!in!its!unflinching!address!of!the!Holocaust!as!such,!and!in!its!unmistakable! particularization!of!the!genocide!of!the!Jews.!Perhaps!not!surprisingly,!it!was! precisely!these!nonconformist!aspects!of!Survivor!that!defined!the!memorial’s!early! career,!both!in!the!ways!it!was!presented!(or!not)!by!conductors!and!their! orchestras,!and!in!the!responses!it!drew!from!audiences!and!the!musical!press.!!

These!background!circumstances!inform!our!story!of!how!a!score!by!one!of! the!century’s!most!important!composers!came!to!be!premiered!under! circumstances!that!almost!strain!belief!today,!as!they!did!at!the!time.!That!this!score! itself!was!written!by!an!émigré!composer,!and!owed!its!world!premiere!to!the! heroic!efforts!of!another!émigré!musician,!also!points!to!an!underJexamined! dimension!of!the!musical!migration!to!America:!the!contributions!of!émigrés!to!the! broader!culture!of!postwar!memory!in!their!adoptive!country.!!

At!the!same!time,!the!relegation!of!Survivor’s!world!premiere!to!the! periphery!of!American!musical!life!offers!an!interesting!test!case!for!the!debate! about!the!chronologies!of!Holocaust!awareness!in!America,!suggesting!caution!is!in! order!that!we!must!avoid!replacing!one!myth!(that!of!a!prolonged!latency!period)! with!its!revisionist!mirror!image!(that!Holocaust!memory!came!early!to!the!United!

! 167! States!and!was!uniformly!widespread).4!As!we!will!see,!many!factors!were!at!play!in! shaping!how,!where,!and!to!what!effect,!this!early!memorial!came!into!the!world.!!

More!broadly,!that!Schoenberg’s!12Jtone!music!in!Survivor$spoke!as!clearly! as!it!did!to!its!first!audiences!underscores!the!point!I!have!made!about!the!newfound! legibility!of!dissonance!in!this!context.!History!had!caught!up!with!the!violence,! anxiety,!and!fear!that!had!for!decades!been!a!part!of!Schoenberg’s!idiom.!In!Survivor,$ his!modernist!innovations!were!unambiguously!attached!to!a!concrete!subject! matter!that!allowed!them!to!resonate!with!firstJtime!listeners!with!a!new!clarity.!

And!this!was!true!for!not!just!newcomers!to!his!music.!The!composer!Hanns!Eisler,! for!instance,!had!studied!closely!with!Schoenberg!and!could!hardly!have!been!better! acquainted!with!his!approach.!Nonetheless,!he!now!found!a!powerful!new! explanatory!framework!for!his!former!teacher's!music,!one!that!could!even!be! extended!backward!to!confer!meaning!retroactively!on!the!earlier!works.!As!Eisler! wrote!in!1948:!

One!could!almost!say!that!the!characteristic!feature!of!Schoenberg's!music!is! fear.!Long!before!airplanes!were!invented!he!anticipated!the!horrors!of! bombing!attacks!on!people!in!air!raid!shelters.!He!is!the!lyric!composer!of!the! gas!chambers!of!Auschwitz,!of!Dachau!concentration!camp,!of!the!complete! despair!of!the!man!in!the!street!under!the!heel!of!fascism.!That!is!his! humanity.!It!is!proof!of!Schoenberg's!genius!and!instinct!that!he!gave! expression!to!all!these!emotions!at!a!time!when!the!world!seemed!safe!for! the!ordinary!man!in!the!street.!Whatever!one!may!say!against!him,!he!never! lied.5!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4!See!Chapter!2,!where!this!debate!is!reviewed.!The!case!of!Survivor$would!seem!to! underscore!the!call!for!a!middle!ground,!or!as!Samuel!Moyn!observed!in!a!recent!review! article:!“memory,!and!especially!the!collective!memory!of!societies,!is!not!like!a!light!switch:! on!or!off.”!Silence$and$the$Shoah,$7!August!2013,!Times$Literary$Supplement.$ 5!“Basic!Social!Questions!in!Music,”!a!lecture!Eisler!delivered!in!May!1948!at!the!Second! International!Congress!of!Composers!and!Music!Critics!in!Prague.!Reprinted!in!Hanns!Eisler,! A$Rebel$in$Music:$Selected$Writings,!ed.!Manfred!Grabs,!trans.!Marjorie!Meyer!(New!York:! International!Publishers,!1978),!161.!

! 168! ! ! ! In!this!sense,!just!as!Schoenberg!created!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw,$it!may!also!be!said! that!Survivor!helped!create!our!modern!image!of!Schoenberg.!!

Following!the!present!introductory!section,!this!chapter!begins!with!a!sketch! of!the!life!and!career!of!Kurt!Frederick!himself,!a!VienneseJJewish!émigré!musician! who,!by!a!quirk!of!circumstance,!ended!up!not!in!New!York!or!Los!Angeles!but!in!the!

American!Southwest!of!the!1940s.!Drawing!from!archival!materials!and!other!new! sources,!I!present!a!fuller!portrait!of!Frederick’s!life!and!career!than!has!been! previously!published!to!date,!and!a!fuller!account!of!the!Albuquerque!premiere.6!!

The!second!section!of!this!chapter!returns!to!the!mystery!of!Koussevitzky’s! response!to!Survivor!and!offers!new!interpretations.!A!third!section!focuses!on!what!

Schoenberg!called!“a!miracle”!in!Albuquerque,!the!night!of!the!premiere!itself.!And!a! fourth!section,!finally,!will!examine!the!work’s!first!New!York!performance,!with! attention!paid!to!its!critical!reception,!an!incident!that!broke!out!around!liberties!in! staging!taken!by!Mitropoulos,!and!a!stillJmore!significant!protest!that!ensued!after! the!New!York!Philharmonic!declined!to!include!Survivor$in!its!national!radio! broadcast.!As!this!chapter!seeks!to!demonstrate,!premieres!such!as!these,!while! contingent!on!so!many!extraJmusical!factors,!nonetheless!set!in!motion!the!patterns! of!interpretation!and!reception!that!can!define!a!work’s!trajectory!for!years!into!its! future.!! !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6!Frederick!is!not!mentioned!in!most!music!history!texts,!and!typically!receives!no!more! than!a!few!sentences!in!accounts!referencing!the!premiere!of!Survivor.!This!chapter!draws! from!unpublished!documents!and!correspondence!present!in!the!Kurt!Frederick!Collection! at!Harvard!University’s!Houghton!Library.!I!am!also!very!grateful!to!the!family!of!Kurt! Frederick!for!making!additional!biographic!materials!available!for!the!first!time.!!!!

! 169! ! !“A!real!Viennese!musician!of!the!best!tradition”! ! ! !

! ! Fig.!2:!Kurt!Frederick!in!a!photo!from!1951.!Used!by!permission.! ! ! !

During!the!period!of!Schoenberg’s!youth,!the!Stadttempel!at!

Seitenstettengasse!4!of!Vienna’s!Innere!Stadt!was!a!central!point!of!reference!the! city’s!acculturated!Jews,!those!interested!in!a!confessionalization!of!Judaism!and!a! harmonization!of!the!values!of!Bildung,!Deutschtum!and!Judentum.!Emblematic!of! these!aspirations!was!the!attempt!by!the!Stadttempel's!founders!to!celebrate!the! consecration!of!their!new!building!by!commissioning!an!oratorio!from!Beethoven!in!

1825.!(The!composer!declined.)!Also!emblematic!was!its!famous!“Vienna!Rite,”!the! synagogue's!own!modernized!service!designed!by!the!cantor!Salomon!Sulzer!

(together!with!Isaak!Noah!Mannheimer),!with!sermons!in!German,!a!somewhat!

! 170! shortened!liturgy,!and!an!emphasis!on!what!they!viewed!as!“greater!decorum!and! aesthetically!pleasing!music.”7!!

$ Sulzer!was!a!fascinating!figure,!a!singer!who!also!performed!classical!art! music!and!achieved!great!renown!as!a!tenor,!drawing!figures!such!as!Liszt!and!

Schumann!to!the!Stadttempel!to!hear!him!sing.!After!his!death!in!1890,!the!Vienna!

Rite!was!continued!at!the!Stadttempel,!the!tradition!carried!forward!by!a!series!of! musical!figures!including!a!conductor!named!Kurt!Fuchsgelb,!a!VienneseJJewish! musician!(born!in!1907),!whose!father!had!been!the!administrative!director!of!the!

Jewish!Kultusgemeinde.8!As!music!director!of!the!Stadttempel,$Fuchsgelb!presided! over!the!synagogue's!musical!affairs!into!the!1930s.!While!also!performing!in!the! orchestra!of!the!Vienna!State!Opera!and!participating!in!many!aspects!of!Vienna’s! musical!life,!Fuchsgelb!was!custodian!of!the!Vienna!Rite!all!the!way!until!

Kristallnacht,!after!which!escaped!the!city!and!fled!to!the!United!States.!$

! Upon!arriving!in!the!U.S.,!Fuchsgelb!changed!his!named!to!Kurt!Frederick!and! continued!his!musical!career!mostly!in!the!sphere!of!secular!concert!music,! performing!with!New!YorkJbased!ensembles!and!serving!a!brief!tenure!(as!violist)! in!the!famed!Kolisch!Quartet,!before!ultimately!settling!in!the!American!southwest.9!

In!the!1950s!he!earned!a!doctorate!in!music!theory!at!the!Eastman!School!of!Music!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7!See!Tina!Frühauf,!Salomon$Sulzer:$Reformer,$Kantor,$Kultfigur!(Berlin:!Hentrich!&!Hentrich,! 2012),!15.! 8!This!and!other!biographic!details!on!the!life!of!Kurt!Frederick!(né!Fuchsgelb),!unless! otherwise!noted,!come!from!the!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!held!at!Houghton!Library,! Harvard!University.!! 9!Frederick!and!his!wife!were!en!route!to!settling!on!the!West!Coast!when!fear!of!a!Japanese! attack,!as!well!as!complications!following!childbirth,!led!the!couple!to!settle!temporarily!in! Albuquerque,!where!they!eventually!laid!down!roots.!“Reticent!Historian!Tells!of!Building! City’s!Music,”!Albuquerque$Journal,!7!June!1987.!

! 171! and!was!eventually!appointed!Professor!of!Music!at!the!University!of!New!Mexico!in!

Albuquerque.!!

! Schoenberg!later!praised!Frederick!as!“a!real!Viennese!musician!of!the!best! tradition,!but!simultaneously!with!modernistic!spirit,”!qualities!which!persuaded! the!composer!to!take!this!unprecedented!leap!of!faith.10!Schoenberg!was!correct! about!Frederick’s!background,!and!Frederick!was!well!acquainted!with!

Schoenberg's!music!from!Vienna,!as!he!was!with!that!of!Alban!Berg!and!Anton!

Webern.!Not!only!was!the!Kolisch!Quartet!one!of!the!foremost!exponents!of!the! music!of!the!Second!Viennese!School,!but!Frederick!while!in!Austria!had!in!fact! participated!in!the!performances!of!the!International!Society!of!Contemporary!

Music,!through!which!he!had!come!into!direct!contact!with!Webern.!In!the!late!

1920s,!as!a!student!of!Franz!Schmidt!at!Vienna’s!Imperial!Academy!of!Music!and!the!

Performing!Arts,!Frederick!had!also!participated!in!a!rare!student!performance!of!

Pierrot$lunaire.11!Interestingly,!historical!accounts!often!give!the!impression!of!a! wide!gulf!between!Jewish!musicians!active!in!liturgical!settings,!and!those! participating!in!the!broader!concert!life!of!the!city.!Frederick’s!European!career! suggests!these!boundaries!were!more!fluid.!!

Once!settled!in!Albuquerque,!Frederick!maintained!his!interest!in! championing!contemporary!music,!and!the!Viennese!modern!masters!in!particular.!

He!first!initiated!correspondence!with!Schoenberg!in!1947,!trying!unsuccessfully!to!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10!Schoenberg!to!Frederick,!12!November!1948.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!Houghton! Library.!! 11!These!details!of!Frederick’s!European!career!are!taken!from!an!extended!interview!with! Frederick,!conducted!on!9!November!1979!and!broadcast!the!following!day!on!the! Albuquerque!radio!station!KHFM.!!

! 172! obtain!music!for!a!local!performance!of!Pierrot.12$Frederick!renewed!their! correspondence!in!March!of!1948,!after!having!read!a!note!in!the!New!York!press! stating!that!Schoenberg!had!composed!a!new!work!entitled!A$Survivor$from$

Warsaw.13!He!expressed!his!interest!in!seeing!a!score!for!the!new!composition,!and! if!it!did!not!prove!too!difficult,!Frederick!wondered,!might!he!perform!it!with!his! own!ensemble?14!Schoenberg's!assistant,!Richard!Hoffmann,!replied!that!he!could! indeed!send!a!copy!of!the!score!but!that!neither!the!parts!nor!the!score!had!yet!been! published.!Instead!of!a!performance!fee,!Hoffmann!proposed,!perhaps!Frederick! could!produce!the!parts!himself,!and!send!them!to!Schoenberg!after!the! performance.15!$

“You!may!imagine!my!astonishment,”!Frederick!later!recalled,!“to!learn!in! this!way”—because!no!parts!existed—“that!our!performance!should!be!a! premiere.”16!He!wrote!to!Hoffmann!to!confirm!this!fact,!adding!“this!would!be,!of! course,!a!tremendous!boost!for!our!young!orchestra,!and!would!make!my!work!in! behalf!of!contemporary!good!music!much!easier.!I!also!have!no!doubt!that!in!this! case!I!could!meet!our!board's!opposition!against!performances!of!modern!music!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12!See!Schoenberg!to!Kurt!Frederick,!14!June!1947.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection.!! 13!Not!long!after!the!premiere,!Frederick!received!a!request!for!details!of!the!event!from!the! New!YorkJbased!music!writer!H.W.!Heinsheimer.!A!heavily!edited!draft!of!his!reply!can!be! found!in!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!and!it!is!in!this!draft!that!he!states!the!source!for!his! initial!information!about!the!work’s!title!as!the!New$York$Times.!The!newspaper’s!own! database,!however,!reflects!no!such!early!notice.!It’s!possible!that!Frederick!had!in!fact!seen! it!mentioned!in!the!Partisan$Review,$in!an!article!by!Leibowitz!referenced!later!in!this! chapter.! 14!Kurt!Frederick!to!Arnold!Schoenberg,!12!March!1948,!Library!of!Congress.!! 15!Richard!Hoffman!to!Kurt!Frederick,!23!March!1948,!Kurt!Frederick!Collection.! 16!Frederick!to!Heinsheimer,!undated!draft.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection.!!!

! 173! easily.”)17!By!late!summer,!Frederick!and!his!forces!had!begun!their!rehearsals.!We! will!return!to!them!shortly.!!

! ! Memory(Unsung:(Serge(Koussevitzky(and(Survivor! ! ! !! !

“It!is!easy!to!foresee,”!wrote!Aaron!Copland!in!1944,!“that!the!story!of!Serge!

Koussevitzky!and!the!American!composer!will!some!day!take!on!the!character!of!a! legend.”18!And!so!it!has.!During!his!25Jyear!tenure!with!the!Boston!Symphony!

Orchestra,!Koussevitzky!leveraged!his!considerable!prestige!to!champion!the!works! of!living!composers!in!unprecedented!numbers.!The!conductor,!born!in!1874!in!

VyshnyJVolochyok,!some!190!miles!northwest!of!Moscow,!railed!against!the! conservatism!already!well!established!in!classical!concert!canons,!and!advocated!for! the!importance!of!concert!music!as!a!generative!art!form,!not!simply!a!culture!of!reJ creation.!(Or!as!distilled!in!one!of!his!most!famous!remarks:!“Dee!next!Beethoven! vill!from!Colorado!come!”19)!!He!took!his!case!to!the!popular!press,20!he!presented! his!viewpoints!forcefully!through!the!programming!of!the!Boston!Symphony!

Orchestra,!and!he!enacted!his!beliefs!through!the!commissions!he!made!with!the!

Koussevitzky!Music!Foundation.!!

! As!previously!mentioned,!almost!all!of!those!commissions!ended!up!as! premieres!with!the!Boston!Symphony,!but!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$did!not!receive! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 17!Kurt!Frederick!to!Richard!Hoffman,!26!March!1948,!Library!of!Congress.! 18!Aaron!Copland,!"Serge!Koussevitzky!and!the!American!Composer,"!The$Musical$Quarterly! 30,!no.!3!(1944):!255.! 19!The!remark!has!been!frequently!quoted.!See,!for!instance,!Howard!Pollack,!Aaron$ Copland:$The$Life$and$Work$of$an$Uncommon$Man!(New!York:!Henry!Holt,!1999),!122.! 20!See!Serge!Koussevitzky,!“American!Composers,”!Life$Magazine,!24!April!1944.!!

! 174! this!enviable!introduction.!What!really$transpired!between!Koussevitzky!and!A$

Survivor$from$Warsaw?$Unless!new!evidence!turns!up!we!may!never!know!for! certain,!but!several!possibilities!may!be!explored.!The!first!is!that!Koussevitzky!did! not!actually!pass!over!the!work!at!all,!but!had!simply!not!had!the!opportunity!to! program!it!before!Schoenberg!preempted!him.!The!story!in!the!New$York$Times! mentions!that!word!of!the!Albuquerque!premiere!was!“a!surprise!even!to!Serge!

Koussevitzky.”!For!his!part!Schoenberg!had!been!embittered!at!the!delay!in!issuing! payment,21!and!even!anticipatorily!defensive!about!the!work's!brevity.!(He!wrote!to!

Koussevitzky:!“That!the!work!is!not!extremely!long!should!not!worry!you:!would!I! write!like!my!contemporaries,!repeating!every!little!bit!of!an!idea!four!to!eight!times!

–!the!piece!might!have!become!25!minutes!longer,!without!a!grater![sic.]!profusion! of!ideas.”22)!Perhaps!most!significantly!of!all,!Schoenberg!held!Koussevitzky’s!own! musicianship!in!particularly!low!regard.!Never!one!to!privilege!discretion!or!tact!in! his!correspondence,!Schoenberg!had!written!about!Koussevitzky!in!a!widely! circulated!group!letter!to!friends!and!colleagues!on!the!occasion!of!his!own!60th! birthday,!stating,!“In!my!firm!opinion![Koussevitzky]!is!so!uneducated!that!he! cannot!even!read!a!score.”23

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!See!Arnold!Schoenberg!to!Serge!Koussevitzky,!1!January!1948,!Library!of!Congress.!$ 22!Schoenberg!to!Koussevitzky,!1!January!1948.!Library!of!Congress.!! 23!See!“Circular!to!My!Friends!on!My!Sixtieth!Birthday,”!as!reprinted!in!Schoenberg,!Style$ and$Idea,!25J29.!That!Koussevitzky!was!also!a!known!champion!of!the!works!of! Schoenberg’s!rival,!Stravinsky,!probably!only!complicated!their!relationship.!Schoenberg’s! observation!about!Koussevitzky’s!scoreJreading!ability!was!clearly!exaggerated!but!not! completely!unfounded.!It!is!known!that!the!conductor!relied!on!repetitive!runJthroughs! with!BSO!pianists!(among!them!Lukas!Foss)!in!order!to!absorb!challenging!contemporary! scores.!!

! 175! When!no!news!of!Koussevitzky's!intentions!was!immediately!forthcoming,!

Schoenberg!may!well!have!simply!chosen!to!take!matters!into!his!own!hands,! despite!the!risks!entailed.!For!his!part,!Koussevitzky!was!not!indifferent!to!the! outcome!of!the!premiere;!his!foundation!initiated!direct!contact!with!Frederick!five! days!before!the!first!performance,!requesting!that!any!reviews!be!passed!along!to!its! offices!directly.24!

All!of!this!said,!even!if!this!hypothesis!is!correct,!that!Schoenberg!essentially! preJempted!Koussevitzky’s!decision!by!assigning!the!premiere!elsewhere,!there!is! no!mistaking!the!Russian!maestro’s!lack!of!initiation!in!moving!toward!a!first! performance.!Indeed,!taking!a!step!back,!we!might!well!wonder!how!Koussevitzky! would!have!privately!responded!in!1947!to!Schoenberg's!climactic!treatment!of!the!

Shema!in!Survivor,!and!to!his!unsparing!portrait!of!a!scene!of!Jewish!extermination,! not!to!mention!the!work's!clear!antiJassimilationist!message.!Like!Schoenberg,!

Koussevitzky!was!of!Jewish!descent.!Both!men!had!converted!along!the!paths!of! their!rising!careers.!Yet!while!Schoenberg's!American!chapter!had!been!marked!by!a! pained!reckoning!with!his!identity,!a!reJembrace!of!aspects!of!Judaism,!and!a!tireless! devotion!to!wartime!Jewish!causes,!Koussevitzky!largely!avoided!any!sectarian! association.!Or!to!summarize!the!contrast!in!a!single!pair!of!telling!details,!during!a! period!when!Schoenberg!was!drafting!speeches!calling!for!a!militant!vision!of!world!

Jewish!unity,!Koussevitzky!was!encouraging!his!own!protégé,!Leonard!Bernstein,!to!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24!Margaret!Grant!to!Kurt!Frederick,!30!October!1948,!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!Houghton! Library,!Harvard!University.!!!

! 176! change!his!name!to!something!less!problematic:!Leonard!S.!Burns.25!Perhaps!

Koussevitzky's!apparent!reluctance!to!perform!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!with!the! august!Boston!Symphony!Orchestra!is!less!of!an!abiding!mystery!than!it!first!seems.!

That!said,!we!should!remember!that!many!of!the!composers!most!closely! associated!with!Koussevitzky!were!in!fact!Jewish!(including!Aaron!Copland,!George!

Gershwin,!and!yes,!Bernstein,!whom!he!chose!as!his!own!successor!though!the!BSO! board!had!other!ideas)!and!he!also!championed!the!work!of!the!RussianJJewish! composer!Joseph!Achron!as!well!as!the!specifically!“Hebraic”Jthemed!music!of!

Ernest!Bloch.26!Indeed,!the!most!likely!possibility!is!that!it!was!not!(only)!the!overtly!

Jewish!content!as!such!in!Survivor$that!gave!Koussevitzky!pause!as!much!as!its! approach!to!memorialization.!As!explored!in!the!previous!chapter,!this!is!a!work! that!militates!against!consolation!and!closure.!Its!reach!“beyond!the!aesthetic”!to! acknowledge!barbarism!in!music!may!have!been!precisely!what!made!it!an! appropriate!postJHolocaust!work!in!Adorno’s!eyes,!but!it!is!likely!that!these!very! qualities!made!it!unplayable!for!Koussevitzky,!who!held!fast!to!an!older!belief!in! music’s!ennobling!role,!its!power!as!an!agent!of!spiritual!and!moral!uplift.!!!!

Those!beliefs!come!through!vividly!in!some!of!the!speeches!Koussevitzky! delivered!when!establishing!the!Berkshire!Music!Center!(the!Boston!Symphony’s! school!for!advanced!training!at!Tanglewood).!In!articulating!a!vision!for!the!school! in!1939,!the!conductor!spoke!of!“the!radiation!of!the!beams!of!high!culture!over!a!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 25!See!Allen!Shawn,!Leonard$Bernstein:$An$American$Musician!(New!Haven:!Yale!University! Press,!2014),!56.! 26!See!the!chapter!“Judaism!in!American!Music”!in!Hugo!Leichtentritt,!Serge$Koussevitzky,$the$ Boston$Symphony$Orchestra$and$the$New$American$Music!(Cambridge:!Harvard!University! Press,!1946),!77J87.!

! 177! nation!and!the!whole!world.”!When!the!BSO!trustees!tried!to!close!the!school!during!

World!War!Two,!he!accused!them!of!“an!act!of!vandalism”!and!chose!to!fund!the! school!for!two!summers!singlehandedly,!because!the!artistic!values!it!represented! had!never!been!more!desperately!needed.!The!Berkshire!Music!Center!did! eventually!go!dormant!during!the!later!years!of!the!war,!but!when!it!reJopened!in!

1946,!Koussevitzky!addressed!the!new!class!of!students!in!a!speech!that!conveys!his! highly!idealistic!vision!of!music’s!reconstructive!role!in!the!wake!of!catastrophe:!!

[I]n!the!light!of!music,!the!soul!beholds!the!good!and!the!beautiful;!the!heart! awakens!to!faith!in!man!and!in!his!better!future.!If!you!deprive!men!of! music—just!as!they!were!deprived!of!honor,!dignity,!human!rights,! conscience,!faith,!and!freedom—you!will!witness!the!decline!of!the!world!to!a! state!of!brutality!and!barbarism.!Music!alone!can!still!tame!the!beast!in! man—it!is!our!comfort!and!hope.27! ! ! Needless!to!say,!neither!“comfort”!nor!“the!good!and!the!beautiful”!were!to!be!found! in!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw.!It!would!in!fact!be!hard!to!envision!a!postwar!musical! work!more!distinctly!at!odds!with!Koussevitzky’s!vision.$!

Before!leaving!this!matter,!it!is!worth!briefly!putting!Koussevitzky’s! hesitancy!into!context.!While,!as!Diner!has!shown,!commemorative!activities!did! take!place!during!the!early!postwar!years!in!many!quarters!of!the!American!Jewish! community,!memory!clearly!moved!at!different!speeds!across!different!sectors!of!

American!society.!Moreover,!commemorating!the!victims!in!respectful!ceremonies! also!meant!something!different!than!engaging!with!the!details!of!the!extermination! camps.!Saul!Friedlander!has,!for!instance,!singled!out!the!reluctance!of!even! renowned!Jewish!historians!of!the!1940s!and!1950s!(Felix!Gilbert,!Lewis!Namier,! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27!This!speech!and!Koussevitzky’s!other!quotes!appear!in!Peggy!Daniel,!Tanglewood:$A$ Group$Memoir!(New!York:!Amadeus!Press,!2008).!

! 178! and!Hans!Rosenberg)!to!address!the!genocide!as!such!in!their!work,!and!further! points!to!the!instance!of!Franz!Neumann!at!Columbia!University!attempting!“to! dissuade!Raul!Hilberg!from!writing!his!dissertation!on!the!extermination!of!the!Jews! of!Europe.”!For!these!scholars!during!the!very!era!under!discussion,!Friedlander! summarizes:!“‘Auschwitz!as!such—not!other!facets!of!Nazism—seemed!out!of! bounds.”28!In!the!end,!it!took!until!1969!for!the!Boston!Symphony!Orchestra!to! perform!Survivor,!under!the!baton!of!its!thenJmusic!director,!the!VienneseJJewish! conductor!Erich!Leinsdorf,!who!had!settled!in!the!United!States!in!the!1930s!and! made!his!American!reputation!at!the!Metropolitan!Opera!conducting,!naturally,!the! works!of!Wagner!and!other!German!composers.!!

!

Mr.(Frederick's('Miracle'(

The!story!in!the!New$York$Times$ran!under!the!headline!“The!World!of!Music:!

Schoenberg!in!Albuquerque”!with!the!display!type!reading:!“Composer!Lets!

Orchestra!There!Have!Premiere!of!'A!Survivor!From!Warsaw.'“29!The!wording!was! surely!not!incidental—even!the!phrase!“Schoenberg!in!Albuquerque”!(used!for! headlines!by!both!the!New$York$Times$and!Newsweek)!reads!like!the!setJup!for!a! joke.!If!this!composer’s!art!form!was!associated!with!a!native!habitat,!it!was!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 28!Friedlander!emphasizes!that!early!postwar!activities!of!Salo!Baron,!Adorno,!and!Hannah! Arendt!must!be!regarded!as!“exceptions!within!the!wider$Jewish!intellectual!landscape,!as! were!the!specialists!at!YIVO!in!New!York,!those!working!in!Israel,!or!selfJtaught!historians! such!as!Leon!Poliakov!in!France!and!Gerald!Reitlinger!in!England.”!See!Friedlander’s!essay! “Trauma,!Memory,!and!Transference”!in!Hartman,!Holocaust$Remembrance,!258J59.! 29!Ross!Parmenter,!“The!World!of!Music:!Schoenberg!in!Albuquerque,”!New$York$Times,$31! October!1948.!Newsweek!also!underlined!the!disjunction!between!music!and!place:!“[t]he! Albuquerque!Civic!Symphony!Orchestra,!annual!budget!$15,000,!had!a!world!première!last! week!that!any!symphony!of!a!budget!of!half!a!million!or!more!might!have!envied.”!See! “Schönberg!in!Albuquerque,”!Newsweek,!15!November!1948.!

! 179! undoubtedly!the!refined!Viennese!settings!like!the!Society!for!Private!Musical!

Performances!which!he!had!founded!in!1918,!where!exacting!accounts!of!his!music! and!other!new!works!could!be!offered!by!the!most!accomplished!professionals!in!an! environment!viewed!as!shielded!from!the!barbs!of!Viennese!critics!and!the! bafflement!of!a!philistine!public.!He!was!also!not!a!composer!inclined!to! relinquishing!control!over!his!premieres,!as!one!senses,!for!instance,!in!this!example! from!his!correspondence!with!the!singer!Marya!Freund,!to!whom!he!wrote!in!1922:!!

I am anxious to explain to you why I cannot allow any will but mine to prevail in realising the musical thoughts that I have recorded on paper, and why realising them must be done in such deadly earnest, with such inexorable severity, because the composing was done just that way. I should very much like to do some thorough rehearsing with you.30 !

Schoenberg!was!not!healthy!enough!to!attend!the!Albuquerque!premiere!or! to!oversee!any!of!its!preparations,!but!Kurt!Frederick's!forces!approached!their!task! with!a!level!of!enthusiasm!and!commitment!that!seemed!at!the!time!unprecedented! for!a!12Jtone!work!by!Schoenberg.!(“I!played!in!rehearsals!of!modern!music!in!

Vienna!and!New!York,”!Frederick!noted,!“but!I!have!never!seen!as!much!cooperation! and!seriousness!as!in!this!group!of!our!small!town.”31)!In!the!year!of!1948,!the! nearby!farming!community!of!Estancia,!New!Mexico,!had!a!population!of!around!

1000!people.!In!the!fall!of!that!year,!a!group!of!14!amateur!singers!from!the!Estancia!

Choral!Association,!among!them!cowboys!and!ranchers,!began!joining!rehearsals!to! prepare!for!the!premiere.32!The!singers!traveled!a!mountainous!110!miles!roundJ

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 30!Schoenberg, Letters, 74.! 31!Frederick!to!Heinsheimer,!undated!draft.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection.!!! 32!For!two!key!descriptions!of!the!preparations!for!the!premiere,!and!the!event!itself,!see! Kurt!Frederick!to!Arnold!Schoenberg,!8!November!1948,!Library!of!Congress,!and!Isabel!

! 180! trip!for!rehearsals,!joining!the!amateur!forces!of!the!Albuquerque!Civic!Symphony!

Orchestra,!consisting!of!“lawyers,!doctors,!secretaries,!high!school!and!university! students![and]!railroad!engineers.”33!Frederick’s!chorus!was!prepared!by!a!graduate! of!Westminster!Choir!College!named!Edgle!Firlie.!The!allJimportant!role!of!the! narrator!was!taken!up!by!Sherman!Smith,!best!known!locally!as!the!head!of!the! university's!chemistry!department,!in!which!Frederick!had!in!fact!studied!during!an! earlier!interlude!in!his!professional!life!when!he!had!contemplated!leaving!music.34!

Frederick!himself!prepared!the!orchestral!parts,!working!from!the!unpublished! score.!!

The!work's!performance!was!initially!planned!for!the!first!program!of!the! orchestra's!season!in!early!October,!but!the!difficulty!of!the!music!forced!Frederick! to!postpone!it!until!November!4.!Throughout!that!period,!the!orchestra!needed!so! many!instrumental!rehearsals!that!the!conductor!lost!count.!The!singers,!as!

Frederick!later!recalled,!were!“struggling!with!Hebrew!text!and!the!difficult! intonation.”35!

The!premiere!ultimately!took!place!on!November!4,!1948!at!the!Carlisle!

Gymnasium!of!the!University!of!New!Mexico!campus.!Indeed,!despite!these!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grear!to!Arnold!Schoenberg,!8!November!1948,!Library!of!Congress.!See!also!Frederick’s! draft!to!H.W.!Heinsheimer.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!Houghton!Library,!Harvard!University.! Descriptions!of!the!premiere!that!follow!in!this!chapter!are,!unless!otherwise!noted,!based! on!information!in!these!documents.! 33!Kurt!Frederick!to!Arnold!Schoenberg,!8!November!1948.!The!press!fastened!onto!the! sheer!improbability!of!the!entire!affair,!with!Newsweek!further!describing!the!orchestra!as! containing!“a!doctor,!a!photographer,!a!tailor,!a!florist,!five!faculty!members!of!the! University!of!New!Mexico,!and!30Jodd!students.”!See!“Schönberg!in!Albuquerque,”! Newsweek,!15!November,!1948.!! 34!Frederick!briefly!references!this!crisis!of!faith!in!his!musical!career!as!part!of!the!1979! KHFM!interview!(see!footnote!11).! 35!Draft!of!letter!to!H.W.!Heinsheimer,!Kurt!Frederick!Collection!!

! 181! improbable—almost!unbelievable—background!circumstances,!the!event!was!a! resounding!success.!One!press!report!estimated!the!audience!number!at!1,500!and! other!estimates!were!higher.!Just!after!midnight!on!the!night!of!the!premiere,!

Frederick!fired!off!a!telegram!to!Schoenberg,!stating!“SURVIVOR!FROM!WARSAW!

MADE!TREMENDOUS!IMPRESSION!UPON!PERFORMERS!AND!AUDIENCE.”36!He! elaborated!in!a!letter!dated!that!same!night:!“The!audience!of!over!1600!was!shaken! by!the!composition!and!applauded!until!we!repeated!the!performance.!This! happened!in!a!town,!which!a!few!years!ago!was!considered!to!be!a!small!‘Rail!road!

Town.’”37!According!to!a!report!in!Time!magazine,!“applause!thundered!in!the! auditorium.”38!Newsweek!stated,!“[i]f!there!was!ever!any!worry!about!how!the!

Schönberg!dissonance!would!go!in!Albuquerque!it!was!dispelled!as!‘A!Survivor’! progressed.!The!production!was!so!impressive!that!the!audience!demanded,!and!got,! an!immediate!repeat!performance.”39!The$Albuquerque$Journal!reviewer!wrote!that!

“the!first!performance!left!the!audience!a!little!breathless!and!bewildered…![but!the]! second!playing!seemed!much!clearer!than!the!first,!and!the!thundering!applause! which!followed!was!altogether!sincere,!and!was!meant!as!much!for!the!composer!as! for!the!conductor,!musicians,!narrator,!and!chorus.”40!Schoenberg!was!thrilled!by! the!reports!he!received,!writing!back!to!Frederick:!“Your!enthusiasm!and!capacity!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36!Kurt!Frederick!Collection,!Houghton!Library,!Harvard!University.! 37!Kurt!Frederick!to!Schoenberg,!4!November!1948,!Library!of!Congress.!! 38!“Destiny!&!Digestion,”!Time,!15!November!1948.!! 39!“Schönberg!in!Albuquerque,”!Newsweek,!15!November!1948.! 40!“Civic!Symphony!Gives!First!Playing!of!Exciting!New!Schoenberg!Work,”!5!November! 1948,!Albuquerque$Journal.$!

! 182! seems!to!have!produced!a!miracle,!about!which!not!only!Albuquerque!but!probably! the!whole!of!Amerika!‘Kopfstehen!wird.’”41! !

All!of!this!said,!the!available!press!accounts!are!mostly!reportorial!in!nature,! and!while!it!is!possible!that!a!recording!of!the!first!performance!was!in!fact!made,42! nothing!has!yet!been!located.!!We!therefore!have!no!independent!means!of! evaluating!the!actual!quality!of!the!performance.!Even!Frederick!himself,!in!his! letter!to!Schoenberg,!stresses!the!remarkable!enthusiasm!of!his!amateur!forces.!We! might!take!a!step!back!and!wonder!what!the!audience!actually!heard!that!night!from! this!collection!of!farmers,!cowboys,!secretaries,!railroad!engineers,!high!school! students,!and!a!chemistry!teacher!performing!in!the!limited!acoustics!of!a!university! gymnasium.!Frederick!was!ideally!suited!to!his!task,!but!his!musicians!probably!less! so.!Given!the!difficulty!of!this!music,!so!complex!that!exacting!performances!by! professional!forces!are!rare!even!today,!and!given!what!we!might!surmise!about!the! standards!of!amateur!performance!in!the!American!Southwest!of!the!1940s,!we!may! speculate!that!not!many!subtleties!of!Schoenberg's!musical!score!could!have!been! delivered!let!alone!absorbed!by!an!audience!at!such!a!performance.!!

The!question!then!arises,!what!precisely!were!the!Albuquerque!listeners! responding!to!when!they!cheered!the!work!in!a!reaction!that!the!composer!later! referred!to!as!“a!significant!moment!in!the!history!of!performances”?43!Even!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 41!Schoenberg!to!Frederick,!12!November!1948.!The!letter!is!in!English!with!the!exception!of! the!one!German!phrase.!It’s!notable!that!Frederick!and!Schoenberg!corresponded! exclusively!in!English,!despite!their!common!Viennese!roots.!This!is!the!only!letter!in!which! Schoenberg!allowed!himself!momentary!recourse!to!their!shared!mother!tongue.!! 42!Frederick!left!behind!a!large!archive!of!recordings!of!concerts!through!the!years,!but!not! all!have!yet!been!identified.!! 43!Schoenberg!to!Isabel!Grear,!13!November!1948,!Kurt!Frederick!Collection.!!

! 183! Schoenberg!himself!was!aware!of!a!certain!improbability!to!it!all,!writing!that!

“everybody!whom!I!told!about!this!success!…!is!very!astonished!and!thrilled!by!it,! almost!as!much!as!I!am….[The!choral!sections!were]!a!very!difficult!part!to!study.!Of! course,!the!task!of!the!orchestra!was!a!very!difficult!one!and!it$is$astonishing$that$ people$who$have$probably$not$yet$played$a$work$of$this$difficulty$could$achieve$such$an$ excellent$performance.”44!!!

The!astonishment!also!came!because!Schoenberg!was!no!doubt!comparing! the!response!to!Survivor!with!the!icy!reception!more!typically!afforded!his!own! avantJgarde!works!since!1908.!But!if,!as!is!being!suggested!here!(based!on!an! approach!introduced!in!chapter!2),!this!work's!reception!had!more!in!common!with! that!of!early!Holocaust!memorials!than!with!other!abstract!12Jtone!works!of!

Schoenberg's!catalog,!then!it!becomes!easier!to!understand.!Under!Frederick's! expert!direction,!the!rendering!by!his!forces!was!likely!approximate!enough!to! capture!work's!atmosphere!of!terror.!But!the!highly!emotional!public!response!was! more!likely!generated!by!the!work's!shocking!text,!as!delivered!by!the!narrator.!As!it! turns!out,!the!audience!was!conditioned!to!hear!both!aspects!of!this!piece—its! music!and!its!text—in!very!particular!ways!thanks!to!how!A$Survivor$From$Warsaw! was!framed!on!the!program!that!night.!! !

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 44!Ibid.!Emphasis!added.!

! 184! !

!

Fig.!3:!A!page!from!the!program!produced!for!the!Albuquerque!world!premiere!of!A$ Survivor$ from$ Warsaw$ on! November! 4,! 1948! in! the! Carlisle! Gymnasium! of! the! University!of!New!Mexico.!Reproduced!by!permission.!!!

! 185! !

Frederick!was!the!first!conductor!to!face!the!difficult!question!of!how!to! situate!Schoenberg’s!memorial!work!in!the!context!of!other!music.!As!we!have!seen,! this!is!a!choice!with!implications!at!once!ethical/philosophical!(regarding!narrative! framings!around!the!Shoah!and!its!memory);!aesthetic!(a!question!of!what!musical! surroundings!sets!off!Schoenberg’s!memorial!to!best!effect);!and! pragmatic/psychological!(how!to!prevent!conservative!audience!members!from! leaving!before!their!dose!of!“modern!music,”!or!on!a!deeper!level,!how!to!overcome! internalized!resistance!against!confronting!Survivor’s!deeper!meanings,!however! they!are!defined,!particularly!in!a!setting!for!which!there!is!a!socially!conditioned! expectation!of!entertainment).!!

Frederick’s!own!choices!were!telling.!Among!the!archival!documentation!that! has!survived,!we!unfortunately!have!scant!record!of!the!conductor’s!private! response!to!this!work,!but!given!his!own!background!as!sketched!above,!it!seems! likely!that!his!relationship!to!Survivor!was!not!simple.!Most!of!Frederick’s!own! family!had!managed!to!escape!Vienna,!but!not!all!of!it.!His!mother!had!been!interned! in!Terezin!and!murdered!at!Auschwitz,!an!event!that!remained!too!painful!for!him!to! discuss.45!The!draft!of!one!particular!letter!in!the!archive!would!seem!to!bear!out! that!sense!of!reticence.46!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 45!Stated!by!Frederick’s!daughter,!Elizabeth!Young,!in!personal!communication!with!the! author.!According!to!Young,!there!were!visa!complications!due!to!his!mother’s!status!as!a! Czech!national.!Frederick!managed!to!secure!a!visa!for!her,!but,!according!to!Young,!“he! missed!getting!her!out!by!two!days.”!!! 46!In!the!draft!of!the!letter!to!Heinsheimer,!Frederick!mentions!his!prior!interest!in! Schoenberg’s!music!before!learning!about!the!existence!of!Survivor.!He!adds:!“For!this! reason—and!also!perhaps!for!some!personal!reasons—I!got!interested!in!this!composition.”!

! 186! We!will!likely!never!know!to!what!extent!Frederick’s!choices!of!the! surrounding!works!on!his!November!4!concert!were!colored!by!his!own!private! dialogue!with!a!stillJrecent!personal!past,!or!stemmed!instead!from!his!broader! pragmatic!considerations!for!what!his!own!audience!could!handle—considerations! of!what!we!have!called!the!memory!landscape,!such!as!it!was,!in!Albuquerque!of!

1948.!But!it!is!notable!that!he!chose!to!frame!Survivor$in!a!context!that!seemed! purposefully!designed!to!soften!its!blow.!(“I!was!afraid,”!Frederick!later!stated,!“the!

[audience]!would!be!shocked!by!the![illegible]!of!Survivor.”47)!The!program! accordingly!opened!with!a!choice!at!once!topical!yet!conciliatory:!Leopold!

Stokowski’s!warmly!cast!and!sumptuously!orchestrated!arrangement!of!Bach's!

“Come,!Sweet!Death.”!The!Bach!was!introduced!by!a!program!note!penned!by!the!

University!of!New!Mexico!music!professor!Hugh!M.!Miller.!The!note’s!opening!line! described!Bach’s!notion!of!“the!religious!concept!of!Death!as!a!glorious!reward!for!a! life!spent!in!the!service!of!God.”!The!same!brief!note!wrote!of!the!music’s!treatment! of!“[d]eath!in!terms!of!the!ultimate!sublimity!rather!than!as!a!dreaded!hereafter.”!A! framework!had!been!set.!!

Survivor!followed!the!Bach!directly,!and!we!will!return!shortly!to!examine!the! explanatory!text,!a!brief!note,!that!appeared!directly!below!the!title!of!Schoenberg’s! work!on!the!program!page!(see!figure!3).!After!Survivor,!Frederick!placed,$of!all! things,!another!new!work,!a!Concerto!for!Timpani!accompanied!by!an!ensemble!of! brass!instruments,!written!by!Jaromir!Weinberger,!a!CzechJJewish!émigré!composer! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The!sentence!also,!however,!contains!many!words!that!Frederick!later!covered!with!“x”s! making!them!illegible.!Presumably!the!deleted!words!are!an!elaboration!of!his!“personal! reasons”!for!wanting!to!perform!Survivor.$!!! 47!Frederick!to!Heinsheimer,!undated!draft.!Kurt!Frederick!Collection!!!

! 187! who!had!studied!in!Leipzig!under!Max!Reger.!A!survey!of!correspondence!in!the! archive!suggests!a!portrait!of!Frederick!as,!quite!obviously,!a!champion!of!modern! music,!but!at!the!same!time,!also!as!a!highly!pragmatic!musician.!It!is!striking!that!he! would!stack!a!second!unknown!work!on!top!of!Survivor,!and!one!suspects!it!was!not! simply!an!idealistic!desire!to!expose!his!listeners!to!still!more!music!by!living! composers.!Perhaps!the!effect!Frederick!instead!had!in!mind!was!a!further! contextualizing!of!Schoenberg’s!memorial!work,!presented!here!almost!as!just!one! exhibit!in!a!twoJpart!survey!of!European!émigré!composition!of!the!previous! decade.!!

Following!the!intermission,!Frederick!chose!to!close!the!concert!with!

Beethoven’s!exuberant!Eighth!Symphony.!Once!again,!the!language!of!Miller’s! program!note!seems!to!conspire!with!this!framing!narrative,!which!now!required!an! affirmative!ending!for!the!concert.!Miller!describes!the!work!as!“one!of!Beethoven’s! happier!symphonies,”!in!which!the!composer!“revert[s]!to!the!idiom!of!‘the!good!old! days’….”!Overall,!it!is!impossible!to!miss!the!care!but!also!the!caution!taken!in!the! preparation!and!curating!of!this!program,!as!if!Frederick!and!Miller!grasped!in!no! uncertain!terms!that!they!bore!responsibility!for!carrying!into!the!world!a!package! of!musical!dynamite,!one!whose!unpredictable!and!explosive!impact!they!clearly! sought!to!contain.!!

Returning!to!Miller’s!condensed!program!description!of!Survivor$itself,$we! find!that!it!in!fact!anticipates!and!signals!to!a!striking!degree,!the!later!patterns!of! reception!and!response!to!this!work.!For!that!reason!the!note!merits!a!closer!look! and!quotation!in!full.!As!Miller!wrote:!!!

! 188! ! This!is!a!story!depicting!the!great!spirit!of!a!people!in!the!face!of!brutality!and! horror.!It!was!told!to!Schoenberg!by!several!eye!witnesses.!The!setting,! written!in!1947,!for!narrator,!male!chorus!in!unison,!and!orchestra,!is!made! in!the!atonal!technique!originated!by!Schoenberg.!The!extreme!dissonance,! the!disjunct!linear!style,!the!quasi!Sprechtstimme!style!of!narration,!and!the! overall!severity!of!the!music!are!peculiarly!fitted!to!the!spirit!of!the!text.! ! !

Let!us!begin!with!the!note's!very!first!sentence:!“This$is$a$story$depicting$the$ great$spirit$of$a$people$in$the$face$of$brutality$and$horror.”$Here!we!find!a!neat! distillation!of!a!redemptive!narrative!for!Survivor,$an!interpretation!that!has,!as! mentioned,!both!no!doubt!contributed!to!its!longevity!and!also!attracted!some!of!its! harshest!critical!assessments.!Whether!or!not!this!is!an!accurate!interpretive! narrative,!or!the!only!one!this!music!will!support,!48!it!is!clear!that!this!reading!was! present!from!the!very!first!moments!of!the!memorial’s!public!unveiling.!As!works!of! memoryJart!go,!Survivor$arrived!preJframed!as!a!story!of!spiritual!victory.!

One!surprisingly!germane!question,!however,!is!precisely!whose!spiritual! victory!is!under!discussion?!As!we!have!discussed,!Survivor$was!on!the!leading!edge! of!not!just!postwar!memory!as!such,!but!also!of!the!particularization!of!the!Nazi! genocide!as!a!crime!against!the!Jews.!It!is!not!insignificant!that!nowhere!on!the! program!do!the!word!“Jew,”!“Jewish,”!or!“Judaism”!appear.!Miller’s!note!mentions!

“the!great!spirit!of!a!people”!without!getting!into!details.!The!text!that!Schoenberg’s! narrator!recites!is!printed!in!the!program,!with!the!choral!Shema!offered!in! translation!(“Hear,!O!Israel…”),!but!in!Albuquerque!of!1948,!none!of!the!above!was!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 48!For!a!discussion!of!whether!Survivor$in!fact!permits!other!readings!beyond!those!taken!to! be!problematically!triumphalist!or!redemptive,!please!see!Chapter!4.!

! 189! apparently!sufficient!to!alert!the!reviewer!from!the!Albuquerque$Journal!as!to!what! the!work!was!actually!about.!Presumably!confused!by!the!title!itself,!the!anonymous! reviewer!wrote!that!“[t]he!music,!and!the!spoken!words!which!accompany!it,! describes!the!terror!and!despair!of!Polish!prisoners!which!suddenly!give!way!to!a! spontaneous!prayer.”49!For!this!firstJtime!listener,!in!other!words,!the!work’s!actual! memoryJcontent,!as!softened!and!fuzzily!framed!by!the!program!itself,!remained!so! far!ahead!of!the!curve!as!to!remain!beyond!his!ken.!!

And!was!this!reviewer!alone!in!his!misunderstanding?!It!is!worth!keeping!in! mind!that!the!critic!experienced!the!program!surrounded!by!an!audience!of!some!

1500!people,!and!that!there!was!an!intermission!after!Survivor$during!which! presumably!the!work!was!discussed.!It!is!striking!that!the!reviewer!still!nonetheless! left!with!such!a!fundamental!misimpression!of!the!work.!We!may!by!extension! wonder!how!widely!this!misperception!was!in!fact!shared!on!the!night!of!its! premiere.!!

Returning!to!the!program,!and!its!signaling!of!themes!that!would!loom!large! in!Survivor’s!early!years,!the!next!line!states!that:!“[the$story]$was$told$to$Schoenberg$ by$several$eyeFwitnesses.”!Here!again!we!have!the!fruit!of!the!obfuscation!discussed! at!length!in!the!previous!chapter,!where!Schoenberg's!artfully!ambiguous!note!on! the!score!itself—“this!text!is!based!partly!upon!reports!which!I!have!received! directly!or!indirectly”—becomes!in!fact!sharpened!into!claims!for!actual! documentary!storytelling.!The!extent!to!which!the!work's!power!on!the!night!of!its!

Albuquerque!premiere!rested!on!this!supposed!documentary!aspect—the! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 49!Emphasis!added.!!

! 190! confrontation!it!forced!with!the!sheer!facticity!of!life!and!death!in!a!camp!setting— should!not!be!underestimated.!!

And!finally,!we!may!look!at!the!note’s!closely!two!sentences:!“The!setting…!is! made!in!the!atonal!technique!originated!by!Schoenberg.!The!extreme!dissonance,! the!disjunct!linear!style…!and!the!overall!severity!of!the!music!are!peculiarly$fitted$to$ the$spirit$of$the$text.”!!

Here!we!have!the!aboveJmentioned!linkage—between!musical!style!and! external!historical!referent,!between!social!dissonance!and!musical!dissonance— being!preJframed!for!a!general!audience!for!what!may!have!been!the!very!first!time.!

In!this!way,!Survivor!made!Schoenberg's!12Jtone!idiom!comprehensible!not!to! specialist!expert!listeners!but!to!the!good!citizens!of!Albuquerque.50!It!was!this!unity! of!medium!and!message!that!made!this!premiere!a!rare!departure!from!the!long! history!of!antipathy!shown!to!Schoenberg's!music!at!its!first!performances—a!fact! that!seemed!to!completely!elude!the!composer!himself,!who!hailed!“this!wonderful! attitude!toward!a!new!work,”!suggested!it!be!come!“a!model!to!many,!many!other! places,”!and!even!wondered!whether!America!might!finally!be!coming!around!to!his!

12Jtone!music.51!Notably,!our!anonymous!Journal$reviewer!did!pick!up!on!this! aspect!of!Survivor.!Or!in!his!words:!“[The!piece]!is!written!in!the!atonal!technique!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 50!In!France!at!precisely!this!time,!the!larger!question!of!progressive!music’s!availability!to! progressive!politics!became!an!intensely!debated!issue.!In!his!essay!“The!Artist!and!his! Conscience,”!Sartre!attacked!the!complexity!of!Schoenberg’s!aesthetic!more!generally,! stating!“Schoenberg!is!farther!removed!from!the!workers!than!Mozart!was!from!the! peasants.”!Sartre’s!opponent!in!this!debate!was!Leibowitz!himself.!Sartre!as!quoted!in!Mark! Carroll,!Music$and$Ideology$in$Cold$War$Europe!(Cambridge:!Cambridge!University!Press,! 2003),!113.!! 51!Quotes!are!taken!from!Schoenberg!to!Isabel!Grear,!13!November!1948,!Kurt!Frederick! Collection.!

! 191! originated!by!Schoenberg,!but!does$not$really$need$the$narration$to$make$its$story$ clear….”!!

!

A!Survivor!in(New(York!!

Word!had!been!out!on$Survivor,!at!least!in!New!York!intellectual!circles,!since! well!before!Frederick’s!premiere.!In!January!of!1948,!Partisan$Review!had!run!an! article!by!Leibowitz!based!on!his!visit!to!both!Schoenberg!and!Stravinsky!in!

California!a!few!months!earlier.!The!rivalry!between!the!two!composers!was!as! fierce!as!ever!among!their!devotees,!and!Leibowitz,!firmly!in!Schoenberg’s!camp,! painted!a!damning!image!of!Stravinsky,!suggesting!his!inspiration!was!limited!and! diminishing,!while!backhandedly!praising!Stravinsky’s!“ever!increasing!mastery!and! control!applied!to!less!and!less!significant!musical!problems.”!Schoenberg’s!work!by! contrast,!he!described!as!“dominated!by!passion,!boldness,!and!risk.!Like!a!gambler! who!puts!everything!he!owns!on!one,!final,!perhaps!fatal,!stake,!Schönberg! composes!every!work!with!his!entire!being.”!Leibowitz!went!on!to!report!on!

Schoenberg’s!newest!work,!sating!that!“the!wild!and!utterly!fresh!features!of!the!

Survivor$from$Warsaw…!demonstrate!a!vitality!and!creative!strength!which!are! almost!inconceivable:!it!is!frankly!a!masterpiece.”52!!

Some!two!years!after!its!initial!mention!by!Leibowitz,!who!went!on!to!lead! the!European!premiere!in!Paris!in!1949,!Survivor$made!its!way!to!New!York!for!two! performances!by!the!New!York!Philharmonic!in!Carnegie!Hall.!A!preview!article!by!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 52!See!Leibowitz,!“Two!Composers:!A!Letter!from!Hollywood,”!Partisan$Review$15,!3!(March! 1948),!365J65.!Leibowitz!had!occasion!to!examine!the!work!closely,!as!he!was!responsible! for!creating!the!full!orchestral!score,!based!on!Schoenberg’s!particell.!

! 192! Louis!Stanley!in!the!New$York$Times!appeared!the!week!of!its!two!performances,! running!under!the!reassuring!headline!“The!Warsaw!Ghetto:!Schoenberg!Score!

Recalls!Survivors.”!The!story!pointed!out!that!the!New!York!premiere!would! coincide!with!the!seventh!anniversary!of!“the!Battle!of!the!Warsaw!Ghetto,”!an!event! it!went!on!to!summarize,!adding!that!“Schoenberg!heard!from!the!lips!of!survivors! accounts!of!what!had!happened!to!Warsaw!Jews!during!the!Hitler!regime.!He!has! retold!one!episode!in!the!words!of!such!a!survivor.”!Stanley!went!on!to!mention!how! the!work!was!faring!abroad,!noting!that!a!performance!of!Survivor!was!scheduled! for!later!that!month!in!Melbourne!Australia,!and!that!the!Warsaw!Philharmonic!had! been!planning!one!as!well!“but!arrangements!could!not!be!carried!out!in!time.”!

Stanley!also!appends!notice!from!one!more!location:!“[m]ost!curious!is!a!report! from!a!trustworthy!source!that!even!one!of!the!radio!stations!in!Western!Germany! had!given!consideration!to!a!broadcast!but!had!decided!that!the!time!was! psychologically!unripe.”53!!!!

The!New!York!performances!of!Survivor!were!given!under!Mitropoulos’s! baton!on!April!13!and!14,!1950,!on!a!program!that!also!featured!Mendelssohn’s!“Ruy!

Blas”!Overture,!Schubert’s!youthful!Symphony!No.!2,!a!pair!of!selections!by!Chabrier,! and!the!New!York!premiere!of!yet!a!second!work,!Alan!Schulman’s!Cello!Concerto.!

This!program’s!overall!mix!does!not!suggest!as!clear!a!narrative!framing!as!did!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 53!“The!Warsaw!Ghetto:!Schoenberg!Score!Recalls!Survivors!of!Battle,”!9!April!1950,!New$ York$Times.$This!early!update!on!the!work’s!global!itinerary!underscores!the!transnational! and!comparative!nature!of!the!window!onto!postwar!memory!afforded!by!musical!works! such!as!Survivor.!In!the!end,!the!West!German!premiere!of!Schoenberg’s!score!took!place!on! 20!August!1950,!and!its!Polish!premiere!on!28!September!1958.!For!detailed!accounts!of! these!premieres,!see!Calico,!Arnold$Schoenberg's$A!Survivor!from!Warsaw$in$Postwar$ Europe,!20J40!and!112J35.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

! 193! Frederick’s,!though!Mitropoulos!did!give!Survivor$his!own!theatrical!interpretation,! about!which!more!in!a!moment.!!

From!the!composer!Henry!Cowell’s!report!in!Musical$Quarterly,!the! performance!appears!to!have!been!a!success!with!its!first!New!York!listeners.!

Cowell!wrote:!“In!spite!of!typically!extreme!dissonance!and!tonal!fragmentation,!the! regular!audience!of!the!PhilharmonicJSymphony!Orchestra!gave!the!work!a! vociferous!ovation.!The!decision!of!Mitropoulos!to!repeat!it!was!in!response!to!a!real! demand.”54!Cowell’s!reference!in!this!context!to!“the!regular!audience”!is!meant!to! signal!the!work’s!acceptability!even!to!mainstream!subscribers!often!reflexively! opposed!to!new!music.!Indeed,!a!folder!of!“Complaints!and!Compliments”!for!this! season!in!the!New!York!Philharmonic’s!archive!contains!a!startling!number!of! sharply!negative!and!even!openly!hostile!letters!from!audience!members! complaining!about!their!forced!servings!of!modern!music.!Indeed,!these!letters! suggest!an!oppositional!dynamic!between!the!orchestra’s!artistic!management!and!a! highly!vocal!portion!of!its!subscribership,!a!dynamic!probably!exacerbated!by!the! arrival!in!1949!of!Mitropoulos,!a!vigorous!champion!of!the!Second!Viennese!

School.55!If!Cowell’s!report!on!the!Survivor$premiere!was!an!accurate!rendering!of! the!response!from!“the!regular!audience”!at!the!performance!he!attended,!this!is! notable!indeed.!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 54!Henry!Cowell,!"Current!Chronicle,"!The$Musical$Quarterly!36!(1950).! 55!See!the!folder!marked!Complaints!and!Compliments,!September!13,!1949!–!June!14,!1950.! In!addition!to!protesting!the!heavy!dose!of!“modern!music,”!one!letter!writer!also! complained!about!the!musical!judgment!of!Leonard!Bernstein,!writing!that!he!should!be! “shot!or!burned!in!oil.”!For!access!to!these!documents!in!the!Philharmonic’s!digitized! archives,!see!http://tinyurl.com/l7z8ho7!(last!accessed!25!December!2014).!!!

! 194! Another!far!less!admiring!review!appeared!the!day!after!the!premiere!in!the!

New$York$Times,!penned!by!chief!critic!Olin!Downes.!He!wrote:!!

The!subject!is!so!moving,!the!imaginary!scene!so!tragical,!that!in!listening!to! Schoenberg’s!musical!investiture!one!could!easily!believe!it!to!be!much!more! significant!and!inspired!than!it!is.!For!the!plain!fact!is!that!it!is!poor!and! empty!music,!even!though!it!be!couched!in!the!most!learned!Schoenbergian! formulas!of!craftsmanship.!The!orchestra!makes!bogy!noises!which!have! been!heard!many!times!before!in!Schoenberg’s!scores.!These!sounds!are! neither!novel!nor!convincing.56!! !

! This!was!in!fact!a!line!of!attack!that!Downes!had!taken!with!other!Schoenberg! scores,!but!it!cannot!be!dismissed!on!those!grounds!alone!since!Downes’s!review! also!anticipated!a!debate!over!the!work’s!“musical”!merits!that!has!continued!to!this! day:!is!Survivor!a!late!masterpiece!or!a!work!about!which!Schoenberg!should!have! been!(and!we!should!be!today)!somewhat!embarrassed?!The!question!itself,!I!have! suggested!here,!rests!on!the!false!premise!that!the!work’s!musical!and!memorial! properties!can!be!evaluated!separately!from!each!other.!!

Schoenberg’s!response!to!Downes’s!view!of!the!piece’s!quality!is!not!known,! but!the!composer!was!enraged!by!something!else!in!this!review.!In!the!paragraph! following!the!one!quoted!above,!Downes!described!Mitropoulos’s!addition!of!certain! theatrical!staging!gestures!with!the!chorus,!presumably!prior!to!its!singing!of!the!

Shema:!!

A!melodramatic!concomitant!of!this!occasion!was!the!theatrical!device!by! which!members!of!the!chorus,!as!the!narrator!described!the!scene,!rose!to! their!feet,!first!one!by!one,!the!ranks!filling!more!and!more!rapidly,!until!they! stood,!coats!discarded,!in!the!white!shirts!of!the!condemned.!We!regret!to!say! that!the!effect!was!hammy,!and!regret!still!more!to!say!that!in!this!respect!it! was!not!incongruous!with!the!character!of!the!composition.! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 56!“Schoenberg!Work!is!Presented!Here,”!New$York$Times,$14!April!1950.!!!

! 195! An!irate!Schoenberg!wrote!to!Mitropoulos!to!confirm!whether!he!had!in!fact! committed!the!offence.!The!composer!added:!“It!seems!to!me!that!you!should!have! seen!that!I!did!not!compose!such!an!action,!not!only!because!of!higher!taste,!but!also! because!the!concert!stage!is!not!a!theatre.”57!Mitropoulos!replied!that!he!had!been! deeply!hurt!by!Schoenberg’s!letter,!and!that!“whatever!I!did!beyond!your!indications! in!the!score!was!done!purely!on!an!overJdevotion!basis!to!make!the!work!as! effective!as!possible,!and!believe!me,!I!don’t!think!that!I!harmed!your!spirit.”58!

! It!is!interesting!to!wonder!about!the!roots!of!Schoenberg’s!strenuous! objection!to!this!relatively!minor!gesture!of!theatrical!underlining!in!a!work!that! plenty!have!accused!precisely!of!the!sin!of!theatricality!or,!as!it!has!been!put!less! generously,!“Hollywood!kitsch.”!I!would!suggest!that!Schoenberg’s!objections!may! be!read!as!a!reaffirmation!of!the!actual!purity!of!his!intention,!of!his!desire!to!create! a!forceful!depiction!without!resorting!to!overtly!melodramatic!visual!devices!that! would!reduce!or!render conventional a crime whose monstrosity he sought to depict only in sound. The exchange may also be seen as harkening metaphorically back to the themes of Moses und Aron, suggesting memory itself as an Idea, one to be reckoned with in a pure form but equally one which should not become a source of false idolatry.

But!Mitropoulos’s!overzealous!theatrical!touch!was!only!one!incident!that! disturbed!Schoenberg!about!the!New!York!premiere.!When!the!program!was!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 57!Schoenberg!to!Mitropoulos,!26!April!1950,!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),!image!scan! at!Arnold!Schönberg!Center!! 58!Mitropoulos!to!Schoenberg,!27!June!1950,!Library!of!Congress,!image!scan!at!Arnold! Schönberg!Center!!

! 196! repeated!on!Sunday!afternoon!(April!16)!for!the!prestigious!national!CBS!radio! broadcast,!Survivor$was!omitted!altogether!and!a!substitution!was!made.!Any! listeners!tuning!in!nationwide!with!the!express!purpose!of!hearing!A$Survivor$from$

Warsaw$would!have!been!surprised!to!find,!in!a!bitterly!ironic!turn,!the!Overture!to!

Wagner’s!Tannhäuser.!!

Schoenberg!shifted!immediately!into!his!own!wellJpracticed!battle!footing,! circulating!a!letter!to!colleagues,!which!was!also!published!in!the!Los!Angeles!Times,! declaring!that!“CBS!excludes!my!music—as!controversial—from!their!broadcasts”! and!encouraging!anyone!opposed!to!such!a!policy!to!write!letters!to!the!board!of! directors!of!the!New!York!Philharmonic.59!When!the!Philharmonic!management! learned!of!Schoenberg’s!campaign,!it!wrote!to!Schoenberg!directly,!denying!the! music!was!excluded,!citing!other!Schoenberg!works!that!had!been!performed!on! previous!broadcasts,!and!explaining!that!in!this!case!the!substitution!was!solely!due! to!“practical!considerations.”!More!specifically,!the!letter!stated,!“it!happened!that! the!chorus!was!not!available!on!that!Sunday.”60!

Copies!of!correspondence!in!its!archive!indicate!that!the!Philharmonic! management!repeated!the!claim!about!the!chorus!being!unavailable!to!all!the!letter! writers!who,!heeding!Schoenberg’s!call!to!action,!had!written!to!protest!the!decision.!

This!institutional!alibi,!however,!seems!exceedingly!thin.!The!chorus!in!question!was! the!Princeton!University!Chapel!Choir.!Orchestral!programs!are!planned!months!if!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 59!“Music!Mail!Box,”!7!May!1950,!Los$Angeles$Times$$ 60!The!quote!and!summary!of!the!Philharmonic’s!reply!to!Schoenberg!is!taken!from!an! unsigned!letter!addressed!to!the!composer,!dated!16!May!1950,!a!copy!of!which!may!be! found!in!the!New!York!Philharmonic!archives!under!Complaints!and!Compliments,! September!13,!1949!–!June!14,!1950.!!!

! 197! not!years!in!advance.!Are!we!really!to!believe!that!a!collegiate!choir!offered!the! opportunity!to!perform!a!nationally!broadcast!premiere!with!the!New!York!

Philharmonic!would!conceivably!turn!down!the!opportunity!on!account!of!a!prior! engagement?!If!it!were!as!simple!as!that,!Mitropoulos,!who!was!Schoenberg’s! powerful!ally!and!often!addressed!the!composer!in!reverential!tones,!would!have! simply!stated!so!when!Schoenberg!wrote!to!him!indignantly!to!ask!about!being!cut! from!the!broadcast.61!Instead,!Mitropoulos,!in!his!reply,!quietly!ignored!the!subject! altogether.62!!

It!is!interesting!to!note!the!presence!of!one!particular!letter!of!protest!from!a! musicJlover,!written!to!Philharmonic’s!management,!with!a!moving!plea!for!the! importance!of!disseminating!contemporary!music!over!the!airwaves.!The!letter! began:!!!

I!feel!sure!that!I!am!expressing!the!thought!of!many!musicians!like!myself! who!are!living!in!isolated,!small!communities—doing!pioneer!work—and! who!do!not!have!much!opportunity!to!hear!important!musical!events.!A!short! time!ago!an!important!musical!event!was!announced!by!the!Philharmonic! concert—I!refer!to!the!playing!of!Schoenberg’s!Survivor$from$Warsaw.$You! can!imagine!my!dismay!when!this!composition!was!not!performed!on!your! radio!broadcast.!I!am!very!sure!that!many!of!your!listeners!would!prefer!your! omitting!some!compositions!which!are!available!on!recordings,!but!would! certainly!rather!that!you!would![broadcast]!first!performances…!even!though! it!may!be!disliked!by!part!of!your!audience.!! ! Compared!to!many!other!letters!in!the!Philharmonic’s!“Complaints!and!

Compliments”!folder!for!the!season,!this!missive!stands!out!for!its!gentle! persuasiveness!but!also!for!its!humility.!The!writer!does!not!mention!that,!while!he!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 61!Schoenberg!to!Mitropoulos,!26!April!1950,!Library!of!Congress!(carbon!copy),!image!scan! at!Arnold!Schönberg!Center! 62!Mitropoulos!to!Schoenberg,!27!June!1950.!Library!of!Congress,!image!scan!at!Arnold! Schönberg!Center!

! 198! had!been!denied!an!opportunity!to!hear!Survivor!on!the!national!broadcast,!he!did$in! fact!have!plenty!of!other!opportunities!to!acquaint!himself!with!the!score.!Nor!does! he!mention!that!Survivor’s!actual!world!premiere,!over!one!year!earlier,!took!place! in!precisely!one!of!those!“isolated,!small!communities”!which!he!describes,!in!a! performance!under!his!own!baton.!The!letter’s!author!was!Kurt!Frederick!himself.63!

To!Frederick’s!missive!the!Philharmonic!management!replied!with!its! standard!reference!to!the!unavailable!chorus,!but!then!went!slightly!further,!adding! that!“you!must!realize!also!that!it!is!not!possible!to!repeat![for!broadcast]!every! number!from!the!Thursday!and!Friday!programs!and!there!will!always!be!some!who! disagree!with!the!choice!that!is!made.”!Here,!at!least,!the!Philharmonic!strongly! hints!that!“a!choice”!was!actively!made.!!

!

Beyond(the(premieres(

!

The!full!story!for!why!Survivor$was!denied!its!national!broadcast!premiere! may!well!remain!unknown,!but,!as!with!the!absence!of!a!premiere!in!Boston,!it! seems!highly!likely!that!these!outcomes!resulted!from!the!ways!that!A$Survivor$from$

Warsaw$tested!the!limits!of!openness!to!art!addressing!the!Holocaust!in!the! immediate!postwar!years.!Survivor’s$early!American!career!indeed!suggests!

Holocaust!awareness!and!postwar!memory!did!not!advance!as!a!single!unified!field! but!rather!as!something!closer!to!a!patchwork!quilt.!In!this!sense,!we!might!say!that! elements!of!both!Diner’s!and!Novick’s!theses!may!be!correct!at!the!same!time,!and! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 63!Kurt!Frederick!to!Board!of!Directors,!Philharmonic!Society!of!N.Y.,!15!May!1950.! Complaints!and!Compliments,!New!York!Philharmonic!archive.!

! 199! more!to!the!point,!Survivor’s!reception!underscores!a!need!to!characterize!the! nature!of!postwar!Holocaust!memory!in!less!homogeneous!terms.!

In!the!case!of!Survivor,!there!were!different!factions,!stakeholders!and! gatekeepers!involved!in!defining!the!contours!of!its!early!American!career,!and!in! determining!the!work’s!field!of!meanings.!And!the!alliances!did!not!always!fall!as! expected.!Specifically,!the!émigré!or!European!register!(represented!by!Frederick! and!Leibowitz)!was!not!in!effect!a!separate!sphere!from!the!nonJelite!world!of! middle!American!musical!culture,!the!mainstream!Albuquerque!and!New!York! audiences!that!cheered!the!work,!possibly!as!no!other!Schoenberg$premiere!had! been!cheered!since!Gurrelieder!in!1913.!Both!the!émigrés!and!the!mainstream! concertgoers!proved!receptive!to!this!work,!perhaps!because!the!former!had!more$ invested!in!Holocaust!memory!and!the!latter!had!less$invested!in!particular! expectations!of!modernism.!As!we!have!seen,!the!union!of!music!and!text!made!

Schoenberg’s!dissonant!idiom!graspable!for!this!broader!audience.!Meanwhile!the! authoritative!and!institutional!gatekeepers!of!modern!music!(in!this!case,!Downes! and!Koussevitzky)!showed!a!marked!ambivalence,!one!that!would!shadow!this!work! for!many!years!into!its!future.!!!

The!irony!of!a!work!by!Arnold!Schoenberg,!who!was!accused!for!almost!his! entire!career!of!forsaking!the!needs!of!a!popular!audience,!being!attacked!for!being! too!“Hollywood,”!for!being!hammy,!or!in!essence!too$accessible,!should!not!go! unnoted.!Nor!can!it!be!a!coincidence!that!A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$is!in!fact!the!only! work!in!his!oeuvre$that!seems!to!attract!this!charge.!It!raises!questions!that!return! us!to!the!themes!of!Chapter!2,!and!to!what!I!have!called!the!extraJmusicality!of!

! 200! musical!memorials,!the!special!set!of!demands!and!expectations!that!are!placed!on! them!both!by!their!performers,!their!receiving!publics,!the!press,!and!by!the!creators! themselves.!Returning!to!the!Survivor$commission,!we!may!recall!that!Schoenberg! essentially!had!carte!blanche!from!Koussevitzky!to!write!whatever!kind!of!work!he! pleased.!And!even!as!a!creator!of!advanced!age,!he!still!had!the!full!range!of!his! capacities!to!draw!on;!indeed,!his!String!Trio,!a!respected!work!of!recondite! modernism—in!other!words!a!more!typically!“Schoenbergian”!composition—dates! from!this!same!period.!Yet!for!this!memorial!occasion,!Schoenberg!determined!that! something!entirely!different!was!called!for.!“In!the!midst!of!the!blindness!of! specialization,”!Adorno!wrote,!“his!music!suddenly!saw!the!light!that!shines!beyond! the!aesthetic!realm.”!For!Schoenberg,!some!needs!were!even!stronger!than!those!of! aesthetic!correctness.!Prior!to!the!war,!it!had!been!the!political!needs!of!European!

Jewry.!After!the!war,!it!was!the!needs!of!memory.!!!

The!performances!described!here!did!launch!Survivor$in!the!United!States,! though!its!early!American!career!was!not!exactly!triumphant.!Indeed,!

Survivor’s!!relationship!to!the!shifting!currents!of!American!Holocaust!memory! remained!sufficiently!oblique!that!there!were!surprisingly!few!performances!in!its! earliest!decades.!Exact!statistics!are!not!available!but!the!royalty!statements!sent! from!the!score’s!publisher!to!Schoenberg’s!widow!between!1951!and!1964!list!just! eight!American!performances,!while!indicating!significantly!more!across!Europe!

! 201! during!this!same!period,!a!fact!that!hints!at!the!vast!differences!across!memory! landscapes.64!

In!the!intervening!years!since!its!premiere,!American!Holocaust!memory!has! caught!up!with!Survivor!and!in!some!ways,!surpassed!it,!as!have!the!preferred! aesthetic!norms!for!memorial!art.!Particularly!celebrated!in!recent!years!has!been!

Different$Trains,!a!work!by!the!American!minimalist!composer!Steve!Reich,!which!is! encountered!in!concert!halls!far!more!often!than!Survivor!and!appears!to!suit!the! needs!of!the!Holocaust!memory!of!later!decades.$Indeed,!its!title!refers!to!the! contrast!between!the!trains!taken!by!the!composer!growing!up!in!America!in!the!

1940s,!and!the!“different!trains”!he!might!have!been!on!if!he!had!grown!up!in!

Europe!at!the!same!time.!This!framing!concept!captures!a!distinctly!American!sense! of!simultaneous!connection!to,!and!distance!from,!the!Holocaust!itself.!Younger! generations!of!listeners!may!also!transpose!the!geographic!distance!into!a!metaphor! of!temporal!distance!from!the!catastrophe;!they,!too,!ride!different!trains.!

The!defining!musical!gesture!of!Reich’s!score!is!the!transfer!of!actual! survivor!voices,!present!through!samples!taken!from!recorded!interviews,!into!the!

“voices”!of!the!instruments,!which!play!lines!transcribed!from!the!contours!of!the! survivors'!spoken!words.!Memory!here!is,!quite!literally,!inscribed!in!sound.!Yet!it!is! what!we!might!call!the!work’s!aesthetic!of!negation—the!voices!of!the!past!are! present!but!also!vanished!–!that!brings!Reich’s!masterwork!in!line!with!more! current!trends!in!memorial!art.!In!this!sense,!the!work’s!trope!of!absence!may!be!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 64!For!their!generous!assistance!with!these!royalty!statements,!and!other!correspondence! from!the!Gertrud!Schoenberg!Collection,!I!am!very!grateful!to!archivists!Eike!Fess!and! Therese!Muxeneder!of!the!Arnold!Schönberg!Center.!!!

! 202! compared!to!another!critically!lauded!memorial,!the!underground!room!designed!by!

Micha!Ullman!in!Berlin’s!Bebelplatz,!unveiled!in!1995!on!the!site!of!the!notorious! book!burning.!Ullman’s!room!is!visible!from!the!plaza!through!a!clear!glass!window.!

It!is!entirely!white,!its!walls!lined!with!empty!bookshelves.!!!

In!comparison!to!Survivor,$the!Reich!and!the!Ullman!memorials,!to!adapt! another!Schoenbergian!metaphor,!breathe!the!air!of!a!very!different!memory.!

Survivor$indeed!memorialized!its!subject!from!within$the!grand!nineteenthJcentury! tradition!of!German!music!that!Schoenberg!himself!continued!to!embody!through! the!end!of!his!life!in!1951.!In!approaching!Schoenberg’s!score$today!we!must!take! care!to!avoid!the!memorial!equivalent!of!backshadowing,!that!is,!judging!one!of!the! very!first!works!of!Holocaust!memoryJart!through!the!prism!of!our!own!postJ

Spielbergian!memory!culture.!Survivor$today!does!have!a!dated!quality,!which!this! chapter!has!sought!to!unpack!and!contextualize!by!returning!to!the!actual!moments! when!this!work!was!new!and,!in!so!many!ways,!ahead!of!its!time.!But!this!dated! quality!cuts!both!ways.!The!work’s!proximity!to!the!very!history!it!memorializes!is! precisely!what!lends!the!piece!its!scorching!heat.!Schoenberg!experienced!the! period!from!1933!to!1945!too!personally,!too!directly,!and!too!intensely!to!compose! a!memorial!of!a!cooler,!more!somber!and!reflective!mien.!As!a!result!his!work! retains!its!power!to!draw!strong!responses,!to!disturb,!and—in!ways!I!have! suggested!are!unique!to!musical!memorials!as!a!genre—to!connect!the!world!of!a! presentJday!listener!to!a!much!vaster!and!more!sweeping!history!that!remains! behind!its!notes.!

! 203! Conclusion:( ‘Art(as(its(Unconscious(Chronicle’( ! ! ! It!may!not!have!gone!unnoticed!that!we!have!arrived!at!the!conclusion!of!this! study!without!a!single!reference!to!Adorno’s!muchJquoted,!muchJabused!dictum! that!writing!poetry!after!Auschwitz!is!barbaric!(“Nach!Auschwitz!ein!Gedicht!zu! schreiben!ist!barbarisch”).!Historians!of!Holocaust!memorial!culture!have!parsed!its! meaning!without!end!because,!while!becoming!virtually!a!cliché,!it!still!may!serve!as! a!gateway!to!many!of!the!larger!questions.!!

Poetry!in!this!formulation,!or!“even!one!poem,”!to!be!more!precise!about!

Adorno’s!words,!becomes!a!standJin!for!all!art.!What!has!been!largely!forgotten,!by! contrast,!is!that!even!as!Adorno!deemed!it!not!only!immoral!but!“impossible!to!write! poetry!today,”!he!anointed!music!with!a!singular!promise!and!responsibility!as!the! appropriate!carrier!for!the!historical!experience!of!the!Holocaust.!He!also!appointed!

A$Survivor$from$Warsaw!as!this!new!memorial!culture’s!chief!representative.!!

This!dissertation!has!labored!to!recover!something!of!Adorno’s!insight!into! music’s!potential!role!as!a!medium!of!public!memory.!We!have!done!so!by!looking!at! sonic!memorials!as!a!genre,!and!by!examining!the!creation!and!reception!of!one!of! that!genre’s!earliest!and!most!important!postwar!exemplars.!!We!have!found!in!this! work!deep!resonances!with!its!composer’s!own!complex!journey!through!a!culture! framed!and!coJconstituted!by!the!forces!of!Deutschtum$and!Judentum!at!a!historical! point!of!maximum!reciprocal!tension—a!tension!both!generative!and!unstable—

! 204! when!modernism!was!emerging!alongside!the!volatile!modern!world!it!was! simultaneously!attempting!to!describe,!to!direct,!and!to!change.1!!!!!

In!later!years,!as!we!know,!Adorno!issued!various!qualifications!of!his! pronouncement!about!art!after!Auschwitz.!Perhaps!most!germane!at!this!juncture!is! the!following!variation!on!his!earlier!theme:$

$ The!concept!of!a!resurrection!of!culture!after!Auschwitz!is!illusory!and! senseless,!and!for!that!reason!every!work!of!art!that!does!come!into!being!is! forced!to!pay!a!bitter!price.!But!because!the!world!has!outlived!its!own! demise!it!needs!art!as!its!unconscious!chronicle.2!! ! ! A$Survivor$from$Warsaw$has,!as!Adorno!predicted,!“paid!a!bitter!price.”!Its!aesthetic! flaws,!in!particular!the!melodrama!of!its!text,!are!forgivable!for!those!inclined!to! view!this!work—and!perhaps!the!composer’s!oeuvre!as!a!whole—with!sympathy.!

For!those!opposed!to!his!aesthetic,!or!who!resent!its!hegemonic!role!in!forming!the! twentieth!century’s!musical!myths,!its!teleologies!of!progress,!Survivor!makes!an! easy!target,!as!a!postwar!work!in!which!Schoenberg!made!one!of!his!boldest! gestures!toward!reaching!a!wider!audience.!A!composer!who!had!once!received!the! uncharacteristically!rapturous!applause!of!a!1913!premiere!by!literally!turning!his! back!to!the!crowd,!now!in!1947!stood!facing!his!public!head!on.!True,!of!course,!a!lot! had!changed!in!the!intervening!years,!but!Survivor!also!had!something!different!at! stake.!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!I!am!referring!here!back!to!T.J.!Clark’s!definition!of!modernism,!first!discussed!in!Chapter! 1.!! 2!Quoted!by!Rolf!Tiedemann!in!his!introduction!to!his!collection!of!Adorno’s!essays.!See! Theodor!W.!Adorno,!Can$One$Live$after$Auschwitz?:$A$Philosophical$Reader,!ed.!Rolf! Tiedemann!(Stanford,!Calif.:!Stanford!University!Press,!2003),!xvi.!

! 205! We!have!looked!closely!at!the!many!types!of!memory!enfolded!in!this!work,! and!its!modes!of!transmitting!that!memory.!They!are!not!unproblematic.!Indeed,!

Survivor$was!ahead!of!its!time,!too,!in!crystallizing!ethical!questions!that!would! bedevil!memoryJart!for!years!to!come,!about!the!proper!relationship!between!a! work’s!aesthetic!and!memorial!functions.!Even!Adorno,!who!as!we!have!seen!was! one!of!Survivor’s!most!rigorously!forceful!early!champions,!later!questioned!its$ suitability!for!the!task.!In!his!1962!essay,!“Commitment,”!he!wrote:!!

! [E]ven!Schoenberg’s!Survivors$of$Warsaw$[sic]!remains!caught!in!the!aporia! in!which!it!has!involved!itself!as!an!autonomous!artistic!construction!of! heteronomy!intensified!to!the!point!where!it!becomes!hell.!!There!is! something!awkward!and!embarrassing!in!Schoenberg’s!composition—and!it! is!not!the!aspect!that!irritates!people!in!Germany!because!it!does!not!allow! them!to!repress!what!they!want!at!all!costs!to!repress.!When!it!is!turned!into! an!image,!however,!for!all!its!harshness!and!discordance!it!is!as!though!the! embarrassment!one!feels!before!the!victims!were!being!violated.!The$victims$ are$turned$into$works$of$art,$tossed$out$to$be$gobbled$up$by$the$world$that$did$ them$in.$The!soJcalled!artistic!rendering!of!the!naked!physical!pain!of!those! who!were!beaten!down!with!rifle!butts!contains,!however!distantly,!the! possibility!that!pleasure!can!be!squeezed!from!it…!The$aesthetic$stylistic$ principle,$and$even$the$chorus’s$solemn$prayer,$make$the$unthinkable$appear$to$ have$had$some$meaning;$it$becomes$transfigured,$something$of$its$horror$ removed.!By!this!alone!an!injustice!is!done!the!victims,!yet!no!art!that!avoided! the!victims!could!stand!up!to!the!demands!of!justice.3!! !! I!believe!that!the!readings!of!Survivor$I!have!proposed!in!Chapter!4!may!in!fact!parry! some!of!the!charges!Adorno!brings!in!this!passage.!But!the!larger!dilemma—what!

Adorno!calls!Survivor’s$$“aporia”—remains:!legitimate!art!after!Auschwitz!cannot! avoid!the!victims.!But!to!instrumentalize!or!aestheticize!their!memory!is!to!violate! it.!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3!See!“Commitment”!in!Ibid.,!252.!Italics!added.!

! 206! We!see!here,!with!granular!precision,!precisely!the!set!of!concerns!that! motivated!the!turn!toward!an!aesthetic!of!abstraction!in!later!Holocaust! memorialization,!an!aesthetic!that!sought!to!represent!without!depicting.!In!this! sense,!to!return!to!a!metaphor!I!introduced!in!Chapter!1,!memory!has!grown!more!

“musical”!in!its!qualities.4!It!has!also!grown!more!musical!in!the!straightforward! sense,!as!judged!by!the!vast!proliferation!of!projects!currently!being!undertaken!by! various!cultural!organizations,!scholars,!chamber!ensembles,!and!others,!to!recover! the!music!of!this!earlier!era,!the!sounds!that!bear!some!mark!of!an!authentic! relationship!to!this!past.!!!

In!Adorno’s!final!critical!assessment!of!Survivor,!we!find,!too,!that!we!have! come!full!circle!and!returned!to!the!paradox!outlined!in!chapter!2:!specifically,!the! mutually!exclusive!modes!of!comprehending!the!Shoah—as!an!event!assimilable! into!our!existing!regimes!of!knowledge,!or!as!an!event!that!must!remain!outside!of! them,!unknowable!and!sacred.!Survivor—and!all!Holocaust!memoryJart,!it!may!be! said—faces!the!nearJimpossible!task!of!holding!in!tension!these!two!modes!of! addressing!the!past.!The!work!must!represent,!translate!or!in!some!way!evoke!the! violence!done!to!victims!in!a!language!that!is!legible!to!those!who!stand!after!the! event.!And!at!the!same!time,!it!must!preserve!the!event’s!utter!inscrutability,!its! illegibility,!its!absolute!rejection!of!all!attempts!to!confer!redemptive!meaning.!

! As!we!have!seen,!the!constellation!of!traits!we!might!summarize!as!the!

“Moses”!in!Schoenberg,!was!no!stranger!to!ideas!that!must!remain!invisible,!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4!There!are,!however,!signs!that!the!trend!toward!highly!abstract!memorialization!may!have! run!its!course.!See,!for!instance,!Michael!Steinberg’s!essay!“Grounds!Zero:!History,!Memory,! and!the!New!Sacredness!in!Berlin!and!Beyond”!in!Steinberg,!Judaism$Musical$and$Unmusical.!

! 207! incommunicable,!unrepresentable.!At!the!same!time,!the!“Aron”!in!Schoenberg!had!a! desperate!will!to!communicate,!to!be!understood,!to!describe!the!reality!of!a! political!situation!that!could!not!be!kept!invisible.!Indeed,!it!is!tempting!to!suggest! that!Schoenberg’s!Aron!wrote!Survivor’s!text!while!his!Moses!composed!its!music.!

More!relevant!is!the!broader!point!that!Survivor$embodied!both!the!promise!and! peril!that!all!subsequent!postwar!memorial!art!would!later!face.!!

!

*!*!*!

!!

In!his!reflections!on!built!monuments!to!the!Holocaust,!Andreas!Huyssen!has! wisely!called!for!reintegrating!their!“public!dimension”!back!into!our!understanding,! rather!than!judging!the!monument!solely!as!“aesthetic!sculpture.”!He!adds:!“the! criterion!for!its!success!could!therefore!be!the!ways!in!which!it!allows!for!a!crossing! of!boundaries!toward!other!discourses!of!the!Holocaust,!the!ways!it!pushes!us! toward!reading!other!texts,!other!stories.”5!

It!is!my!hope!that!I!have!demonstrated,!at!least!by!this!criterion,!that!Survivor! could!hardly!be!a!more!successful!monument,!since!our!journey!into!this!work’s! true!content!has!opened!views!onto!many!other!texts,!many!stories,!and!indeed! many!discourses.!Perhaps!first!and!foremost,!it!has!led!to!some!new!ways!of! speaking!about!the!intersection!of!sound!and!memory,!music!and!history.!Indeed,!

Survivor,!which!is!also!to!say!Schoenberg!himself,!has!the!capacity!to!summon!all!of!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5!See!Huyssen,!Twilight$Memories,!258.!

! 208! the!above!when!we!restore!the!music!to!its!times.!And!in!so!doing,!renew!its!address! to!our!own.!$!

!

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