Preface to Volume 6, 1 B

The present volume contains Arnold Schönberg’s own piano arrangement of the monodrama Erwartung, which made in the autumn of 1909. Schönberg had begun composing the work in the late summer of 1909, completing the Erste Niederschrift (continuity draft in short score) on 12 September and the fair copy of the score on 4 October. Two autograph sources of the piano arrangement survive: a working copy and a fair copy. Only the former is dated; it car-ries the completion date of 22 October 1909. Exactly when Schönberg worked on the fair copy of the piano arrangement cannot be established with certainty. However, given that by late 1909 he was already making preparations with Artur Bodanzky for the first performance in Mannheim planned for the spring of 1910 (in fact, the performance did not materialize and the premiere was not given until 1924 in Prague), and given also that in late 1909 and early 1910 he was urging publishers – first Dreililien Verlag and then Universal-Edition – to publish the piano arrangement, it is clear that he must have completed the fair copy by the end of 1909. With die collapse of plans for the first performance, though, hopes of publication now temporarily lapsed too. Nevertheless, during the years up to the outbreak of the First World War the piano arrangement remained of great importance, since every time Schönberg made a new attempt to secure the work’s first performance he sent the text and the piano arrangement to the potentially interested parties. A piano arrangement of the work was finally published by Universal-Edition in January 1923, almost six years later than the score. Schönberg’s version, however, was not now used. Instead, a significantly easier version by Eduard Steuermann appeared. Schönberg’s fair copy of his own piano arrangement was subsequently long believed to be lost. In 1995, however, it resurfaced in a private collection, and in 1998 was sold by auction at Sotheby’s in London; it is now again in private hands.

The edition of the piano arrangement in the present volume is based on the fair copy, in conformance with die principles of the Inhaltsedition. Details of editorial standardizations, additions and corrections of obvious errors, as well as of readings differing from those in the working copy of the piano arrangement and in the score, are given in lists included in Volume 6,2 of Series B. Descriptions of the sources and further information on the history of the work are also given in that volume.

The editor wishes to thank Wolfgang G. P. Heinsch for providing the opportunity to examine Schönberg’s autograph and for making copies available, and James Dack for resolving several queries with regard to the manuscript.

Berlin, December 2001
Ullrich Scheideler
(Translated by Richard Deveson)