The great composer Dimitri Mitropoulos said in 1951: "I was deeply shocked when I read about Arnold Schoenberg's death. He was one of the greatest geniuses of our time. He did for music in the twentieth century what Einstein did for science. He created a new musical system and a new mode of expression that influenced half of the younger generation of composers. Arnold Schoenberg believed in his own fate. With his death, that belief will be fulfilled."
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Arnold Schoenberg in Brentwood, LA[/caption]
Arnold Schoenberg was born on 13 September 1874 and died on Friday 13 July 1951. The number 13 became for him a powerful, all-pervading obsession that influenced not only his personal life but also his professional conduct. For his birthday in 1939 – coincidentally a multiple of 13 – Schoenberg had the astrologer Dane Rudhyar draw up a horoscope. Schoenberg was told that "the year was dangerous, but not fatal." In a letter dated 4 March 1939, he wrote: "Indeed, I'm not feeling so well at the moment. I am in my 65th year of life, and you know that 5 times 13 is 65, and 13 is my unlucky number."
In August 1946, Schoenberg became seriously ill and received injections for severe chest pain. He fainted and stopped breathing; only an injection directly into the heart brought him back to consciousness. "I arose from a real death and now feel well again," he wrote to his wife Gertrud. Later he told Thomas Mann: "My String Trio Op. 45 describes my illness and medical treatment." He showed Hannes Eisler some chords that were meant to represent the injections.
Arnold Schoenberg: String Trio, Op. 45
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On 2 August 1950, Schoenberg wrote a report on the history of his illness. At the end, he wrote: "My asthma has changed somewhat. I do not often have severe attacks, but the shortness of breath is more or less chronic. I feel free from it only four or five hours a day, and every night I wake up from lack of breath... For months now I no longer dare to sleep in my bed, but sleep in a chair."
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From this report we gain detailed insight into the various treatments the composer underwent: "I was treated for diabetes, pneumonia, kidney disease, hernia and dropsy." Due to his poor health, his 76th birthday on 13 September 1950 was celebrated without the usual festivities. Schoenberg felt that his time on earth was running out, and in October 1950 he wrote two wills.
Schoenberg approached 13 July 1951 with great fear. His wife told: "He suffered from his foot and then an indescribable nervousness in his whole body and mind. His fear of death had finally turned into resignation. He was tired and wanted to die." When Friday the 13th of July actually arrived, Schoenberg was severely depressed and anxious. He remained in bed all day. "Arnold slept restlessly, but he slept. At a quarter to twelve, I looked at the clock and thought: another quarter of an hour and then the worst is over. Arnold's throat rattled twice, his heart beat one powerful beat, and that was the end."
Alma Mahler-Werfel arrived with her daughter, sculptor Anna Mahler, who made a death mask of Schoenberg. Gertrud remembered: "In the house that had lost his soul, all was silent. The study with its many books and scores, the writing desk – made by Schoenberg himself – covered with paper, pencils, notes and magnifying glasses, was no longer needed."
According to his wife, "his last word had been harmony." The funeral took place on 17 July 1951 at the Wayside Chapel in West Los Angeles. "Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin led the ceremony, which was attended by 80 mourners." Schoenberg's urn remained in the family home until he and his wife's ashes were taken to Vienna in 1974. They were buried in a tomb of honour at the Central Cemetery in Vienna, where the Arnold Schoenberg Choir performed De Profundis Op. 50b. Schoenberg's son Ronald spoke of "a symbol of posthumous recognition," and his brother-in-law Rudolf Kolisch said: "Much of the injustice done to Schoenberg in his native country is now buried."
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