Preface to Volume 3 B

This volume contains the critical commentary of those compositions published in Volume 3 of Series A as well as the edition of all the known sketches; there are sketches of all six songs in Opus 8 and of the first song in Opus 22. In Opus 8 in particular the sketches together with the versions provided by earlier sources reveal the many-layered nature of the compositional process; there even exist relatively independent early versions of the first two songs “Natur” and “Das Wappenschild” which are also printed.

One of the peculiarities of Opus 22 is the form of the first publication as “Vereinfachte Studier- und Dirigierpartitur” (“Simplified Study and Conducting Score”). As the composition is published in score form in Series A, this variant of the short score is presented here in the form of the facsimile of the entire first print. Also made available is the extensive source material which was part of the process of producing this first print.

The appendix includes five shorter fragments or drafts from the same period as the genesis of the Orchestral Songs, as well as the first publication of the lengthy fragment “Gethsemane” composed in 1899.

The editor received a great amount of help in inspecting the sources. He wishes to thank in particular Franz Grasberger, the director of the Music Division of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothck, Marion von Hartlieb of Universal Edition, Vienna, and the collaborators in the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, Los Angeles, above all Clara Steuermann, the archivist of the Institute.

Christian Martin Schmidt
(translated by A.C. Howie)