Signed original photograph of the composer, inscribed to one of the conductors most closely associated with his music, "To Dimitri Mitropoulos: many cordial season greetings. I was not well enough to play the records oftener than once. I hope I can do it soon, to write you thoroughly about them. Sincerely yours Arnold Schoenberg 1950." Signed to the lower right mount by the photographer, Richard Fish. 8.5 x 6.5 inches (21.6 x 16.5 cm), in the original frame. Light staining to the lower mount edge, not affecting writing and otherwise fine. 

The music of Schoenberg was particularly dear to Mitropoulos' heart, and he performed it extensively throughout his lifetime, including the first American performance of Erwartung. Many regard his recordings of Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht and of the Violin Concerto (with Louis Krasner) as the finest ever recorded. An important association. 

In summer 1948, photographer Richard Fish met composer Arnold Schönberg at his Brentwood Park house, having been commissioned to contribute some photos to an article which, however, was never published. Nevertheless, Fish visited Schönberg many more times, leaving posterity with a particularly coherent documentation of the composer, teacher and father in his later years.  His photographs of the composer have been exhibited in Paris at the Chatelet Theater, in Vienna at the Schoenberg Center and were featured in the Los Angeles Philharmonic "Schoenberg Prism" series brochure presented in 2001-2002.

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.