Preface to Volume 10 B

The present volume contains the Critical Notes to one of Schoenbergs orchestral works, the symphonic poem Pelleas and Melisande, Op. 5, published in Series A, Vol. 10. Additionally, the numerous sketches and drafts are presented together with a commentary as well as a detailed account of the genesis and history of the work – mainly based on letters and correspondence hitherto unpublished – and supplemented with a selection of documents with particular emphasis on the performance history.

This volume has been compiled in collaboration by Nikos Kokkinis (Description and Evaluation of Sources and also Critical Commentary) and by Ralf Kwasny (Transcription of and Commentary to the Sketches, Genesis and History, and Documents).

Particular gratitude is, as always, due to the staff of the Forschungsstelle of the Complete Edition: Ulrich Krämer and Ullrich Scheideler for their comprehensive support and final editing and proof-reading and Andrea Hanft for her help with the compilation and checking of the copy-text.

Last, but not least, we would like to express our thanks to all those individuals and institutions who have assisted and in some cases lent substantial support to the editorial research: Dorothee Schubel (Arlington, Virginia), who prepared the description of sources for the estate and checked the transcription of the sketches against the originals, Therese Muxeneder and Iris Pfeiffer (Arnold Schönberg Center, Private Foundation, Vienna), who helped with individual queries, Wayne Shirley (Library of Congress, Washington) and Universal Edition (Vienna). As the preparatory work for this volume had started prior to the transfer of the estate to Vienna, we would also like to thank R. Wayne Shoaf of the former Arnold Schoenberg Institute (Los Angeles).

Berlin, September 1999
Nikos Kokkinis and Ralf Kwasny