Konzert für Streichquartett und Orchester nach dem Concerto grosso Opus 6 No. 7 von G.F. Händel in freier Umgestaltung von Arnold Schönberg- THE COPY OF MITROPOULOS

New York: G. Schirmer. ca. 1934. First Edition (1st issue; only known copy). Full score of the arrangement, in manuscript facsimile, from the Collection of Dimitri Mitropoulos. Oblong folio, spiral bound in textured green boards.  Photographic reproduction of autograph score by Presto Reproduction, New York (see hand stamp to final page).  No PN.  No title page; titling to first page of music.  46 pp.  From Mitropoulos's personal collection.  Stamp to lower margin of front page identifies the score as property of G. Schirmer, Inc., for rental only.  13.5 x 18.5 x inches (34.5 x 47 cm). Reproduction is excellent, but manuscript had defects before reproduction; most notably, last two measures are partly lacking. Light wear to edges, else in fine condition.

The partial loss of the final two measures allows us to identify this copy as the first edition (labeled D* in the complete edition of Schoenberg's works), from the manuscript which the website of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute declares "verschollen" (lost). The defect was duly noted; Schoenberg wrote out the final page again, and together with further corrections it made its way into two further facsimile editions like this (labeled E* and F* in the complete edition of Schoenberg's works), both also published by Schirmer. See website of Arnold Schoenberg Institute, Vienna.

The Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra was completed in the summer of 1933.  It took as its source material the Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 7 by George Frideric Handel.  As Schoenberg said in 1935, "From the standpoint of composition, I have gone further than Brahms or Mozart in the Handel arrangements.  I have not limited myself, as they did, to expunging sequences and uninteresting figure-work and to enriching the texture; instead, especially in the third and fourth movements, whose insufficiency with respect to thematic invention and development could satisfy no sincere contemporary of ours, I have acted quite freely and independently, and while employing what was usable, undertaken an entirely new structure.  I believe that such freedom will be found hardly more disturbing, stylistically, than the cadenzas which modern writers apply to classical concertos.  I do not venture much further than they do in matters of harmony.  Nor do I believe that I need yield to them as regards solidity of form and intensification of motival development, and their interrelating."  (Arnold Schönberg Center)

Dimitri Mitropoulos was Greece’s most prolific conductor and New York Philharmonic Music Director from 1949-1958.  Widely regarded as one of the most significant conductors of the twentieth century, he is best remembered for his significant recorded legacy and for his commitment in bringing new compositions to the stage of major symphony orchestras.  Indeed, it is thanks to his efforts that many of our current symphonic standards made their way into the repertory.  He gave World and American premiers of seminal works such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as other major works by Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and many others.  His personal collection has been held in private hands since his death in 1960, when it passed to conductor James Dixon, his student and protégé.  Mitropoulos came to consider Dixon his son, introducing him to conductors and performing arts institutions around the world, jumpstarting his career.  When Mitropoulos died in 1960 he left all his belongings, including his scores, to Dixon.  The bulk of the musical library has been subsequently gifted to the University of Iowa’s music library, but a selection of rare items have been selected to be offered for sale exclusively by Schubertiade Music & Arts.  These examples, many inscribed to the conductor from composers or associates, have only occasional markings from the conductor himself who committed all music to memory before his first rehearsal of the repertoire—a highly unusual method! (20141)

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