Alfred Schlee's long and interesting letter, sent from Vienna on the 8th of this month, ends with the words: ‘Unfortunately I also have some extremely sad news for you. Webern has died in a tragic accident, just when his works are at last about to establish themselves firmly among us.’

Prague, 5 September 1935

(I.S.C.M. Festival)

This evening Heinrich Jalowetz directed the world première of Anton Webern's Concerto op.24, a composition of unbelievable brevity (scarcely six minutes of music) and truly extraordinary concentration. Every decorative element is eliminated. Nine instruments are used: three wind, three brass and two strings plus piano.

The term ‘Second Viennese School’ arose as a convenient way of collectively referring to Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. It was at once adopted by writers on the music of these three composers, and is still widely current. In fact, it is only recently that the concept of a second Viennese school has been questioned: if there is such a ‘School’, where is its predecessor? Certainly, Mozart and Haydn became friends—they played in quartets together—and when two such geniuses meet, an interchange of ideas is inevitable. But both Mozart and Haydn were mature composers at the time of their first meeting, and there's no question of a master-pupil relationship between them. Beethoven did, it is true, take a few composition lessons from Haydn; but these were highly unsatisfactory to both teacher and student, and in fact nothing that Beethoven learnt from Haydn came from their meetings. As for Schubert, he was too shy ever to approach Beethoven.

1. The entry under your name in the 1954 edition of Grove's Dictionary gives the following biographical information: that you were born in 1906, of Austrian parentage, in Lwów, Poland; that you obtained a D.Phil at the University of Vienna; that you studied composition in Vienna with P. A. Pisk from 1926 to 1930, and then with Webern from 1935 to 1938; and that you settled in the United Kingdom in 1939.