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ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG
116 N. ROCKINGHAM AVE.
BRENTWOOD PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
TEL. W.L.A. 35077

23/XII. 38

Lieber Freund, 1

bitte glauben Sie nicht, dass es an mir liegt, dass Sie noch kein Affidavit haben. Ich habe einem Rabbi, den Sie vielleicht aus Hamburg kennen, Dr. Jakob Sonderling, 2 der mir 3‒4 Affidavits verschaffen sollte, eigens aus diesem Grunde ein Kol Nidre unentgeltlich für seine Jom Kippur-Feier komponiert. 3 Ich habe fast 6 Wochen darauf verwendet, aber er konnte sein Versprechen bisher nicht halten[.] Schliesslich habe ich meinen Anspruch auf ein einziges Affidavit reduziert ‒ das ich für Sie verwenden möchte. Aber nun sind es wieder fast drei Wochen, seit er mir neuerlich wenigstens dieses eine zugesagt hat.

Es ist allerdings gegenwärtig nicht mehr leicht. Alle Leute, die gerne geben wollten haben schon mehrere gegeben und indem hat Hollywood seine eigene Depression infolge einer {2} Stagnation in der Filmproduktion.

Aber ich bitte Sie, die Hoffnung nicht aufzugeben. 4 Ich will nächstens anderes versuchen.


Viele herzlichste Grüße
Ihr
[signed:] Arnold Schönberg

© Transcription Ian Bent & Arnold Whittall, 2011, 2020


ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
116 N. ROCKINGHAM AVE.
BRENTWOOD PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
TEL. W.L.A. 35077

December 23, 1938

Dear Friend, 1

Please do not think that it is on my account that you do not yet have an affidavit. For a rabbi, whom you may know from Hamburg – Dr. Jakob Sonderling 2 – and who is supposed to produce three or four affidavits for me, I have composed a Kol Nidrei for his Yom Kippur service for this very reason, and without payment. 3 This has taken up nearly six weeks of my time; and yet he has until now been unable to keep his promise. In the end, I reduced my request to a single affidavit, which I should like to use for you. But now it has been almost a further three weeks since he recently agreed to do this one.

At the present time things are no longer easy. Everyone who has been keen to give has already given many times, and the meantime Hollywood is suffering its own depression as a result of a {2} stagnation in the film industry.

But I ask you not to give up hope. 4 I shall try something else in the near future.


Most cordial greetings,
Your
[signed:] Arnold Schönberg

© Translation William Drabkin, 2020


ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG
116 N. ROCKINGHAM AVE.
BRENTWOOD PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
TEL. W.L.A. 35077

23/XII. 38

Lieber Freund, 1

bitte glauben Sie nicht, dass es an mir liegt, dass Sie noch kein Affidavit haben. Ich habe einem Rabbi, den Sie vielleicht aus Hamburg kennen, Dr. Jakob Sonderling, 2 der mir 3‒4 Affidavits verschaffen sollte, eigens aus diesem Grunde ein Kol Nidre unentgeltlich für seine Jom Kippur-Feier komponiert. 3 Ich habe fast 6 Wochen darauf verwendet, aber er konnte sein Versprechen bisher nicht halten[.] Schliesslich habe ich meinen Anspruch auf ein einziges Affidavit reduziert ‒ das ich für Sie verwenden möchte. Aber nun sind es wieder fast drei Wochen, seit er mir neuerlich wenigstens dieses eine zugesagt hat.

Es ist allerdings gegenwärtig nicht mehr leicht. Alle Leute, die gerne geben wollten haben schon mehrere gegeben und indem hat Hollywood seine eigene Depression infolge einer {2} Stagnation in der Filmproduktion.

Aber ich bitte Sie, die Hoffnung nicht aufzugeben. 4 Ich will nächstens anderes versuchen.


Viele herzlichste Grüße
Ihr
[signed:] Arnold Schönberg

© Transcription Ian Bent & Arnold Whittall, 2011, 2020


ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
116 N. ROCKINGHAM AVE.
BRENTWOOD PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
TEL. W.L.A. 35077

December 23, 1938

Dear Friend, 1

Please do not think that it is on my account that you do not yet have an affidavit. For a rabbi, whom you may know from Hamburg – Dr. Jakob Sonderling 2 – and who is supposed to produce three or four affidavits for me, I have composed a Kol Nidrei for his Yom Kippur service for this very reason, and without payment. 3 This has taken up nearly six weeks of my time; and yet he has until now been unable to keep his promise. In the end, I reduced my request to a single affidavit, which I should like to use for you. But now it has been almost a further three weeks since he recently agreed to do this one.

At the present time things are no longer easy. Everyone who has been keen to give has already given many times, and the meantime Hollywood is suffering its own depression as a result of a {2} stagnation in the film industry.

But I ask you not to give up hope. 4 I shall try something else in the near future.


Most cordial greetings,
Your
[signed:] Arnold Schönberg

© Translation William Drabkin, 2020

Footnotes

1 The document from which this edition was made is a photocopy; the whereabouts of the original is not known.

2 Jakob Sonderling (1878–1964) was rabbi of the Solomon Temple in Hamburg from 1907 to the end of World War I, in which he served in Russia. In 1923 he emigrated to the USA, becoming rabbi of the Society for Jewish Culture, Fairfax Temple, Los Angeles.

3 Schoenberg completed the score of his Kol Nidrei for speaker (rabbi), mixed chorus, and orchestra, Op. 39, on September 22, 1938, and conducted its first performance in Los Angeles on October 4.

4 Violin eventually emigrated to the USA in June 1939 (LC ASC 7/50, [4]), settling in San Francisco a month later (LC ASC 27/45, [11]).

Commentary

Format
2p letter, stamped sender address, holograph salutation, message, valediction, signature, and postscript
Rights Holder
Heirs of Arnold Schoenberg, reproduced here with kind permission
License
Permission to publish granted by author's son, Mr. Lawrence Schoenberg, July 16, 2013. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Documents Online, schenkercorrespondence@mus[dot]cam[dot]ac[dot]uk.
Provenance
Moriz Violin (document date-1956) – Eva Violin Windsor (1956–unknown) – Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection: Violin Papers (photocopies) (post-1956 –) [location of originals unknown]

Digital version created: 2020-08-24
Last updated: 2013-07-01