The publishing house of composer Arnold Schönberg’s works was destroyed in the Los Angeles fires

The music one of the central names of modernism in the 20th century Arnold Schoenbergin The premises of Belmont Music Publishers, which focused on works, have been destroyed in the Los Angeles fires. The composer’s grandson tells about it E. Randol Schoenberg published on Facebook in the bulletinwhich has also been reported on Slipped Disc – news site.

Belmont’s premises were located in Pacific Palisades, which was badly affected by the fires, and the publishing house’s entire catalog was destroyed.

The publishing house was founded in 1965 to preserve and promote Arnold Schönberg’s musical legacy. Schönberg (1874–1951) had settled in Los Angeles in 1934, after fleeing the Nazi regime in Germany first to the cities of the East Coast of the United States. Born in Vienna, Schönberg previously lived in Austria and Germany.

Belmont In the fire at Music’s premises, all of the company’s sales and rental notes were destroyed. Schoenberg’s son Larry Schoenberg says in the publishing company’s announcement that some manuscripts and original scores were also destroyed in the fire.

Unique materials such as sketches and manuscripts are central to cultural history, but so far there is no exact information on how much of such original materials were destroyed in the fire. In practice, of course, the destruction of already printed sheet music slows down and complicates music performance and research. In the future, the publishing house will therefore aim to focus its activities on digital publications.

Schönbergin the availability of works is facilitated by the fact that key works have been published, for example, by big names in the publishing world Universal Edition and Schott.

Significant some of Schönberg’s original materials are located in Vienna to the Arnold Schönberg Center. It opened in 1998, and the collection was transferred there from their previous location, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where Schoenberg had worked as a teacher.

In August 2015, a fire broke out in Vienna’s Arnold Schönberg Center firedue to which the archives had to be moved to safety, but there was no permanent damage to them, although the property itself suffered significant damage from the extinguishing water.

Schoenberg long lived in Brentwood, east of Pacific Palisades. The New York Timesin according to the Pacific Palisades fire is currently only 11 percent contained. However, the fire has not spread as far as Brentwood, so Schönberg’s home too is known to still exist. Likewise, another great émigré composer of the 20th century Igor Stravinsky Los Angeles years two house in West Hollywood are known to have been spared from the flames.

Instead, many other culturally valuable sites have been destroyed in the fire areas. The New York Times told on Thursday, for example, a comedian Will Rogersille about the destruction of a historic ranch in Pacific Palisades. The same fate was the architect Ray Captain designed by Keeler House, which was completed in 1991.

In the Eaton fire raging northeast of the city center, for example, a western writer has been destroyed Zane Grey household.

The future of many other cultural sites is also at risk. For example, located near the Pacific Palisades fire area Eero Saarinen designed by Entenza House.