Schoenberg, Arnold. (1874-1951) & Steuermann, Eduard. (1892-1964)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra op. 42 - ANNOTATED PRE-PUBLICATION PROOF
Vintage dyeline facsimile of the 2-piano score, which was arranged by Eduard Steuermann, the leading pianist of the Schoenberg school. Printed on one side per page; pages glued together by the blank versos to allow for turning of pages. Unpaginated, 99 pages of music. 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm). From the library of Fritz Jahoda (1909-2008), with his pencil signature to head of first page and markings throughout, either in his hand or that of Eduard Steuermann. Paper brittle. Edges of some pages frayed. First page stained to foot; final leaf of smaller format and heavily torn but without loss. Tape repairs to first and final pages.The first edition of the 2-piano score was published by G. Schirmer, New York, in 1944 (PN 40728), shortly after the first performance of the concert in a New York NBC broadcast on February 6, 1944, at the NBC Studio Radio City, New York, with Steuermann playing the solo part and Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) conducting. The present copy is a proof copy for the Schirmer edition. There are multiple corrections and annotations in pencil (some in red crayon). The corrections concern pitches, accidentals, clefs, dynamics, etc. A few corrections are accompanied by queries. Annotations include references to permutations of the tone row; apparently the proofreader compared the score to the tone row in all its permutations and counted the notes in search of incorrect pitches. Further annotations include extensive fingerings in both piano parts and (in the Piano II part) hints at the orchestration.
The corrections to the pitches and other obvious errors (e.g. missing clefs) in the present copy made their way into the published score. The other annotations, especially the fingerings, are performance-oriented and do not appear in the published score. As Steuermann was the only person who performed (or studied) the concerto prior to its publication and there would have been no reason to use a faulty proof copy after publication, it can be safely assumed that these latter annotations are his and date from his preparation of the first performance. Whether the corrections of the pitches and references to the tone row are also his (or Jahoda's) is open to debate. If they are Jahoda's, then the queries would be addressed to Steuermann. If they are Steuermann's, they are addressed directly to Schoenberg.
When the present copy was used in preparation for the performance under Stokowski, Jahoda played the second piano part (reduction of the orchestra). Steuermann played the work several times for the conductor in this version, as Steuermann wrote to the composer on December 15, 1943: "Monday night I played the Concerto for Stokowski (with Jahoda)." They also introduced the work to a composition class at the Juilliard school, and to the critic Olin Downes: "We played the Concerto (with Jahoda) in the class of Jacobi in the Juillard School. There were many guests, such as Rathaus, Fitelberg, and Brunswick and there was very much success. Today we played it for Olin Downes who asked for it, and he said to be profoundly impressed," (letter of January 31, 1944). (The letters cited here are accessible through the Arnold Schoenberg Center, http://archive.schoenberg.at/letters/letters.php?id_letters=17140&action=view&sortieren=Filing_Element&vonBis=0-19 and http://archive.schoenberg.at/letters/letters.php?id_letters=17140&action=view&sortieren=Filing_Element&vonBis=0-19.)
Fritz Jahoda, a pianist and conductor from Vienna, studied the piano with Steuermann and music theory with Josef Polnauer, another affiliate of the Schoenberg circle. In 1944 he taught at the Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, just north of New York City. Steuermann lived in New York City.
The Piano Concerto, Op. 42 is one of the composer's later works, written in America and initially the result of a commission from Oscar Levant. It consists of four interconnected movements: Andante (bars 1–175), Molto allegro (bars 176–263), Adagio (bars 264–329), and Giocoso (bars 330–492). (3071)
Printed Music Classical Music