Preface to Volume 13 B

The present volume contains the critical commentaries of the compositions published in Volume 13 of the Series A: Variations for Orchestra op. 31, the chamber orchestra version of Five Orchestra Pieces op. 16, which Schoenberg arranged for the Society for Private Musical Performances, both edited by Nikos Kokkinis, and Theme and Variations for Wind Band op. 43, edited by Jürgen Thym.

Furthermore, the volume contains an edition of the many sketches and drafts, with commentary, for op. 31 and op. 43. The sketches merit special attention, because they provide instructive insights into Schoenbergs compositionel technique; nearly one third of the sketches for op. 43 are related to Variation V, composed as a mirror canon, and to a discarded canonic fragment in G that belongs to the complex of sketches for the fifth variation as well.

The editors were supported in their source studies and preparation of the edition by a great number of people who deserve to be acknowledged here in gratitude. Some of the individuals who helped the editor of the band variations in the late 1970s are no longer alive: Clara Steuermann, the archivist of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute in Los Angeles, who died in January of 1982; Felix Greissle, Schoenbergs son-in-law, who for many years served as director of publications in the music publishing firm of G. Schirmer; and Richard Franko Goldman, conductor for many years of the Goldman Band founded by his father Edwin Franko Goldman. Their contributions should be singled out posthumously in a special way. In addition, the editors are indebted to the following individuals: Loren Anderson (Los Angeles), Frederick Fennell (Miami, Florida), Hans W. Heinsheimer (New York), Donald Hunsberger (Rochester, NY), Jerry McBride (formerly Los Angeles), William D. Revelli (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Klaus Roy (Cleveland, Ohio), R. Wayne Shoaf (Los Angeles), Susan Sloan (Los Angeles), Dr. Ivan Vojtĕch (Prague), as well as the staff of the Schoenberg Research Institute in Berlin.

In this context the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) and the Mellon Foundation need to be mentioned as well for their generosity in granting the editor Jürgen Thym a leave of absence during the spring semesters 1979 and 1986; these leaves freed him from teaching and administrative obligations and furthered, among other research projects, also the work at hand.

Berlin and Rochester, October 1992
Nikos Kokkinis and Jürgen Thym