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LC ASC 27/45, [2a] - Handwritten letter from Moriz Violin to Schoenberg, dated January 13, 1919


13. Jänner 19

Sehr verehrter Herr Schönberg, 1

Ich habe Sie in der Gloriettegasse (laut Lehmann 2 ) aufgesucht u. dort erfahren, daß Sie in Mödling wohnen. 3 Hoffentlich finden diese Zeilen zu Ihnen. Gar zu gerne hätte ich mit Ihnen in einer höchst wichtigen Angelegenheit, die Sie sicherlich auch interessieren müsste, einige Gedanken ausgetauscht. 4 Wie, wo u. wann wäre es möglich? Kann ich Sie in Mödling aufsuchen oder sind [Sie] einmal in Wien zu treffen? Mir ist eins so recht wie das andere. Bitte um eine freundliche Nachricht wie wir uns treffen können.

Empfehlen Sie mich, bitte, Ihrer Frau Gemalin.


In herzlichster Ergebenheit
Ihr
[signed:] M Violin

XIII. Sechshauserstrasse 126.

© Transcription Ian Bent, 2020

January 13, 1919

Greatly revered Mr. Schoenberg, 1

I looked for you in the Gloriettegasse (according to Lehmann 2 ) and learned there that you live in Mödling. 3 I hope that these lines will find their way to you. I should very much have like to exchange some ideas with you in a matter of utmost importance that is certainly bound to interest you, too. 4 How, when and where would be possible? Can I look you up in Mödling, or can we meet sometime in Vienna? Either is equally good for me. Please kindly send me word how we can get together.

Please remember me to your wife.


In most cordial devotion,
Your
[signed:] M. Violin

[Vienna] XIII, Sechshauserstrasse 126

© Translation Ian Bent, 2020

13. Jänner 19

Sehr verehrter Herr Schönberg, 1

Ich habe Sie in der Gloriettegasse (laut Lehmann 2 ) aufgesucht u. dort erfahren, daß Sie in Mödling wohnen. 3 Hoffentlich finden diese Zeilen zu Ihnen. Gar zu gerne hätte ich mit Ihnen in einer höchst wichtigen Angelegenheit, die Sie sicherlich auch interessieren müsste, einige Gedanken ausgetauscht. 4 Wie, wo u. wann wäre es möglich? Kann ich Sie in Mödling aufsuchen oder sind [Sie] einmal in Wien zu treffen? Mir ist eins so recht wie das andere. Bitte um eine freundliche Nachricht wie wir uns treffen können.

Empfehlen Sie mich, bitte, Ihrer Frau Gemalin.


In herzlichster Ergebenheit
Ihr
[signed:] M Violin

XIII. Sechshauserstrasse 126.

© Transcription Ian Bent, 2020

January 13, 1919

Greatly revered Mr. Schoenberg, 1

I looked for you in the Gloriettegasse (according to Lehmann 2 ) and learned there that you live in Mödling. 3 I hope that these lines will find their way to you. I should very much have like to exchange some ideas with you in a matter of utmost importance that is certainly bound to interest you, too. 4 How, when and where would be possible? Can I look you up in Mödling, or can we meet sometime in Vienna? Either is equally good for me. Please kindly send me word how we can get together.

Please remember me to your wife.


In most cordial devotion,
Your
[signed:] M. Violin

[Vienna] XIII, Sechshauserstrasse 126

© Translation Ian Bent, 2020

Footnotes

1 Note the formality of the mode of address, as well as that of the valediction. In the period 1902–04, Violin addressed Schoenberg usually as "Freund" ("friend"). No correspondence between them is known to survive from the years 1905–18.

2 The Vienna street directory, Lehmann's allgemeiner Wohnungs-Anzeiger 1859‒1942, which recorded Schoenberg as living in the Gloriettegasse in 1917 and 1918, and (incorrectly) the Rechte Bahngasse in 1919‒25.

3 Schoenberg is known to have moved to Mödling in the days leading up to March 21, 1918 his official residence there starting on April 1. He had had a disagreement with his landlady in the Gloriettegasse in 1917 and moved to the Rechte Bahngasse 32 in mid-November 1917, but found that location too noisy. (My thanks to Dr. Therese Muxaneder of the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna.)

4 The subject matter is unknown, but in March 1919 Violin was contemplating seeking a return to teaching at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (from which he had resigned in 1912), as its president Karl von Wiener was due to step down.