Letters and Correspondence

The sections on this page highlight correspondence to, from, and about Anton Webern.

Correspondence With Webern

Find Webern's correspondence with others in several different places in the Music Division's collections. The locations reflect how the Music Division acquired that correspondence.

Rudolf Kolisch collection (finding aid)
Includes 27 letters from Webern to Kolisch that cover a variety of topics. For example, one letter from Webern to Kolisch (1921 July 25) discusses Webern's orchestration of Schoenberg's Die glückliche Hand for chamber orchestra. In another letter (1936 Nov. 7), Webern discusses the "Verein für neue Musik" and Schoenberg gala event that will feature his latest Quartet and "Waldtaube."
Arnold Schoenberg Collection of Correspondence (catalog record)
Webern is represented by a long series of letters dated 1907-1936 respectively, that contain significant information on his creative work and personal life. The Performing Arts Reading Room maintains an internal finding aid for the collection available to researchers for on-site use.

All of the correspondence in the Arnold Schoenberg Collection of Correspondence has also been scanned and made searchable through an online database maintained by the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna.

Arnold Schoenberg Center Correspondence Database External
More than 20,000 pieces of correspondence to and from Schoenberg, including his correspondence with Webern, have been identified from a large variety of sources. Though copies of most of these letters existed in the collections of the Arnold Schoenberg Center, the majority of the original letters are located in other collections.

Search for additional Webern correspondence in the following special collection finding aids:

Edward and Clara Steuermann collection
Some of the correspondence between Steuermann and Webern has been transcribed by Regina Busch and published in Anton Webern I (edited by Heinz Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn).
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation collection
Modern Music archives
Moldenhauer archives

One postcard from Webern to Else Cross has also been individually cataloged. This title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Autograph postcard from Anton Webern, Basel, to Else Cross, London by Anton Webern
Call Number: ML95 .W396
Published/Created: 1940 February 9

Search for additional correspondence using the Library's Finding Aids Tool, which searches across multiple finding aids.

Correspondence Concerning Webern

Correspondence not from nor to Webern, but centered on him, demonstrates the richness of research materials held in the Music Division. Some examples are:

Moldenhauer archives
Includes correspondence between many individuals who both knew Webern and discussed him in their letters. For example, in a letter from Francis Poulenc to René Koering (1961 Dec. 15), Poulenc discusses, amongst others, Webern, Berg, and Schoenberg. Similarly, a letter from Schoenberg to a Dr. Norbert Schwarzmann (1928 Oct. 31) discusses Webern's illness.
Leonard Bernstein collection
Includes a letter from Louis Krasner to Bernstein remembering Webern as a conductor
Paul Amadeus Pisk papers
Includes correspondence with the International Webern Society

Published Correspondence

Some of Webern's correspondence has been transcribed, annotated, and published. The following titles offer a representative sample and link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Briefe an Heinrich Jalowetz by Edited by Ernst Lichtenhahn
Call Number: ML410.W33 A4 1999
Published/Created: 1999
Correspondence between Webern and Jalowetz. The text includes discussion of themes and subject matters of the correspondence as well as facsimiles of both letters and postcards. Includes over 300 letters spanning 1905-1939.
Letters to Hildegard Jone and Josef Humplik by Edited by Josef Polnauer. Translated by Cornelius Cardew.
Call Number: ML410.W33 A44 1967
Published/Created: 1967
Translation of Briefe an Hildegard Jone und Josef Humplik. Jone was a lyric poetess who also worked in painting and sculpture and who maintained a close friendship with Anton Webern. Josef Humplik was a painter, sculptor, graphic artist and medalist.
Anton Webern 1883-1983 : eine Festschrift zum hundertsten Geburtstag by Edited by Ernst Hilmar
Call Number: ML410.W33 A79 1983
ISBN: 3702401687
Published/Created: 1983
Includes letters from Webern to Diez, Schoenberg, Berg, Hertzka, Adler, Heinsheimer, Polhauer, Jone, Humplik, Isler, Scherchen, Kolisch, Stein, Reich, Schlee, Webern's daughters, and the Freie Typographia Chorus spanning 1901-1949.
Briefwechsel mit Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg und Franz Schreker / Alexander Zemlinsky by Edited by Horst Weber
Call Number: ML410.Z43 A4 1995
ISBN: 3534125045
Published/Created: 1995
Includes sixteen letters from Webern to Zemlinsky dated 1912-1924.

Anton Webern: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Letters and Correspondence

Correspondence With Webern

Correspondence Concerning Webern

Published Correspondence