Arnold Schoenberg Letters

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

281

text excerpt

The first information would be that the Stokowsky records, which you perhaps know (made by RCA Victor) are in some respects very good, but in others a little poor. Stokowsky is generally a little too free with violent changes of tempi, and some of the tempi he takes do not agree with my music. The orchestra plays very fine, but almost all of the soloists are rather poor. / Let me fist speak about the two which are the worst: this is the singer of Klaus Narr, who does not sing but speaks, and if he sings, he usually sings a melody of his own. This is terrible to me. This piece must be, for every second, every fraction of a second, sung at the right pitch, in the right time and right rhythm, because in most cases the melody upon which the whole piece is based appears only in the voice. The second, who is almost as bad as this, is the speaker. This speaker makes the opposite mistake: he sings all the time, and he sings his own melodies, and these melodies are, of course, not shaped so that they fit to the harmony, and did not want to have melodies. I was able to write melodies myself when I wanted them. I do not need the assistance of a Mr So-and-So. This must be avoided entirely.

 The first information would be that the Stokowsky records, which you perhaps know (made by RCA Victor) are in some respects very good, but in others a little poor. Stokowsky is generally a little too free with violent changes of tempi, and some of the tempi he takes do not agree with my music. The orchestra plays very fine, but almost all of the soloists are rather poor. / Let me fist speak about the two which are the worst: this is the singer of Klaus Narr, who does not sing but speaks, and if he sings, he usually sings a melody of his own. This is terrible to me. This piece must be, for every second, every fraction of a second, sung at the right pitch, in the right time and right rhythm, because in most cases the melody upon which the whole piece is based appears only in the voice. The second, who is almost as bad as this, is the speaker. This speaker makes the opposite mistake: he sings all the time, and he sings his own melodies, and these melodies are, of course, not shaped so that they fit to the harmony, and did not want to have melodies. I was able to write melodies myself when I wanted them. I do not need the assistance of a Mr So-and-So. This must be avoided entirely.

excerpt from 'Arnold Schoenberg Letters' pp. 281 (228 words)

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