Special Exhibition
Arnold Schönberg - Who I Am
18 February – 22 August 2008


Nuria Schoenberg Nono, Curator
Anthony G. Morris, Exhibition Director

Opening hours
Monday to Friday, 9 – 17 Uhr
Closed on legal holliday and
21 March 2008


In 2008 the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Schönberg’s heirs decided to move their father’s entire legacy from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to the city of the composer’s birth in 1998. Three City Officials expressed their great interest in the Schoenberg family’s decision: Mayor Michael Häupl and City Councellors for Culture, Ursula Pasterk and Peter Marboe. The Federal Government actively supported the project as well.

Since then, thanks to an ever-growing worldwide interest on the part of scholars and musicians for the works and the ideas of Arnold Schönberg, the Center’s holdings and output of scholarly works has increased significantly. In addition, the Center has welcomed numerous visitors at its concerts, conferences, and exhibitions.

Our new multimedia exhibition has a twofold purpose: to inform the general public about the life and works of Arnold Schönberg and to show the fruits of ten years of work in Vienna. Researchers, composers, musicians, and others who wish to delve more deeply into the life and works of Schönberg are encouraged to avail themselves of the Archive’s services. The collection contains approximately 20,000 pages of manuscripts, both musical and textual, 3,500 historical photos, as well as numerous personal documents, diaries, concert programmes, and his entire personal library (music, books and recordings).

The exhibition is divided into five different areas, each of which makes use of both new and traditional methods of exposition. The exhibition begins with a video of Schönberg’s daughter Nuria describing the contents of a replica of her father’s last study in Los Angeles.

The next room, the concert area, includes state-of-the-art technology for audio-visual reproduction. The archive’s materials are here presented in full high definition 1080p video and 24-bit digital audio resolution played on a 14.2 (16 channel) array of surround-sound speakers. A new video presenting the activities and functions of the Center is given in this area, as well as new and historical performance videos of Schönberg’s works.

In the adjacent room, visitors have the opportunity to browse through facsimile copies of concert programs taken from the archival holdings.

Further on, there is a room dedicated to biographical information, which includes a hands-on chronology of the composer’s daily life. Schönberg’s compositions, teaching materials, and personal ephemera are exhibited here; visitors can become acquainted with his novel ideas for music courses, by perusing folders with facsimiles of his writings. In addition, some of his hobbies and inventions will delight visitors, who are encouraged to browse through facsimiles of various interesting documents and inventions from the Archive’s vault.

A living room environment offers an area in which one can listen to Schönberg’s original voice recordings from as far back as 1930. These include older recordings in German as well as English recordings from his years in America.

A gallery area presents a selection of original paintings by Arnold Schönberg. Additionally, an electronic display will depict a much larger portion of his artwork.

Each room also includes some original documents from the Archive. Because these manuscripts and objects need special care and conservation, the curator has kept these to a minimum in the hopes of emphasising a physical and personal experience on the part of the visitor. We hope that the exhibition will provide visitors with a more intense experience of Schönberg through listening, looking, and touching the objects that are exhibited.

PLEASE SEE IMAGES ON MENU ABOVE