First stem

Mourning the loss of Schoenberg’s archives in the ongoing Los Angeles fires by weaving a word-corona—-

beginning with Enrique Vila-Matas’ introduction to Thomas Mann’s correspondence with Adorno over Schoenberg’s fury at Doctor Faustus and the questions of plagiarism.

Second stem

One of my favorite reads during pandemic was Richard Cavell’s Speechsong: The Gould-Schoenberg Dialogues (shout-out to the incredible publisher, Punctum Books), which continues to be a model for the sort of speculative nonfiction I adore, which coincides with the spirit of the manuscript on Scriabin I hope to finish.

Date: 10 April 1964. Schoenberg and Gould are talking in a room with Schoenberg’s portrait on the wall. GG is Glenn Gould and AS is Arnold Schoenberg. They are listening to Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2, op. 10, particularly that point in the fourth movement where the soprano begins singing the words of a poem by Stefan George.

Third stem

Notes on how “Uncle Arnold” treated students in composition class back when he was teaching in Vienna.

Fourth stem

I excerpt the conclusion of Pierre Boulez’s infamous elegy to Schoenberg below, and a link to the document itself will appear if you crave the sort of sorcery involved in clicking on images.

Fifth stem

Thinking of all those facing the loss of residences, homes, life, memories, archives, and so much more in Los Angeles… There are no words for what is ongoing. As for the small corona, five stems suffice to bind it, the final one being a two-minute visit to Schoenberg’s home in West L. A.

Postscript

Pious rapture, to quote Schoenberg quoting George.