Lot 16: BERG, ALBAN.

GOOD AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TWICE ("BERG"), TO PAUL KÖNIGER, ABOUT WEBERN, SCHOENBERG, SCHREKER, HIS OWN PRESENT LIFE AND COMPOSITIONS
referring to an essay of his, which interests him enormously, expressing pleasure that he is reading Dostoyevsky, noting that he has begun to read The Idiot and intends soon to start on Rosegger, a writer Webern cannot recommend highly enough and whom he compares, with some reservation, to Strindberg, stating that he corresponds with Webern a great, every three to four days; Berg also discusses Schoenberg, with whom he says he corresponds mainly on musical matters ("...Mit ihm stehe ich hauptsächlich in sachlicher Correspondenz..."), stating that he will ask Webern if Schoenberg has any pupils or intends to take any; in addition, Berg discusses his own compositions, informing him that he as at last begun to compose again after a long pause, referring to the Fünf Orchesterlieder Op.4, which he intends to finish here, and also to his piano score of the last two movements of Schoenberg's String Quartet no.2, which he has just finished, commenting on Hertzka's criticism of his arrangement; Berg refers to current musical trends, admitting that he knows which way the wind is blowing, namely towards Schreker, observing that they can expect in this regard many unpleasant things; concerning non-musical matters, Berg describes the wonderful countryside, his walks, and notes that he intends to stay there till the end of September; finally, in an extended postscript, Berg requests charmingly that he refrain from addressing him so formally; 6 pages, plus blanks, 8vo, stamped address ("Alban Berg p.A. Nahowski Trahütten in Steiermark..."), Trahütten, 6 September 1912, horizontal fold

Berg's addressee in this wide-ranging and sympathetic letter is Paul Königer (1882-1943), a student of Schoenberg's between 1911 and 1912. Emil Hertzka, who had criticized Berg's arrangement of Schoenberg's second quartet, was at that time director of Universal Edition.