Later, in his auto-biography, Prokofiev claimed to be the first interpreter of Schönberg’s piano music in Russia. A concert featuring Schönberg’s Second String Quartet op.10 with the Petersburg soprano Sandra Belling followed shortly thereafter. Wassily Kandinsky - who had been one of Schönberg’s most influential artistic adherents ever since the legendary New Year’s concert of 1911 in Munich, which had featured String Quartets I and II, the Three Piano Pieces op. 11 and several songs - was extremely instrumental in establishing interest for Schönberg’s music in Russia. Kandinsky’s recommendation of Schönberg to Nikolai Kulbin and his ARS society, which sought to synthesize the various artistic tendencies, came as a direct result of personal conversations that Kandinsky had had with Schönberg and Franz Marc in anticipation of the Munich exhibition “The Blue Rider” in the autumn of 1911, as well as Kandinsky’s preoccupation with the composer’s theoretical writings. In February, 1911, he had translated into Russian a selection from Schönberg’s “Theory of Harmony” which had appeared in the journal “Die Musik.” Kandinsky wrote Schönberg on 16 January 1912: “I have already taken steps for concerts for you in Moscow and Petersburg. Perhaps it will finally be of help. The new society ‘ARS’ also wants to arrange concerts. I wrote them about your music early last fall, and they really are very interested in you.”
The head of a Berlin concert agency, Luise Wolff, provided Schönberg with a direct contact to the Ukrainian pianist, conductor and Tschaikowsky pupil, Alexander Siloti, who invited Schönberg to St. Petersburg to conduct his music as a part of his concert series. The actual organization of the orchestra concert was arranged by the concert bureau of Emil Gutman: “Mr. Gutman wrote me that you need 3 rehearsals. I think that you will not need so many rehearsals with our orchestra, which is more flexible than the Berliner Philharmonic. I am certain that with my court theater orchestra you will not need more than one full and two halves." (Siloti to Schönberg, 12/25 October 1912) From Odessa, Wassily Kandinsky provided Schönberg with travel information: “Two years ago I stayed at the Hotel d’Angleterre. Old-style Pet, without 2000 liftboys and similarly disgusting extras of high style. The tone is one of simple elegance. Very well-liked by serious English people, not ostentatious! Americans. The location is very elegant and at the same time very quiet.”
Arnold Schönberg set out from Berlin on December 15th, but did not heed Kandinsky’s advice concerning the hotel and stayed at the “Hotel Dagmar” in the vicinity of the Philharmonic. The first of three rehearsals for “Pelleas and Melisande” took place on 17 December. Also featured on the 21 December program in the prospectus forthe 1912/13 Siloti concert season were a new composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff to be played by the composer himself, the Violin concerto in B minor by Camille Saint-Saëns, as well as a Concerto of Jean Philippe Rameau edited by Felix Mottl. However there were changes according to Karatygin’s critique: in addition to a Bach Cantata revised by Maximilian Steinberg two songs by Anatol Ljadov (instead of the Rameau and Rachmaninoff) were performed. “Pelleas and Melisande” was enthusiastically received by the audience. Wiatscheslaw G. Karatygin, who had reviewed the concert for several newspapers, remarked not without some irony that “yesterday there had been no cat calls, but quite the contrary, there had been not a little applause.”
A few days later the reviewer received a letter from Igor Strawinsky: “I have just read your review of the Siloti concert where Schönberg conducted his ‘Pelleas.’ [...] It might be of interest for you to familiarize yourself with his latest work which reflects in a most intense manner the unusual character of his creative genius. I am speaking of ‘Pierrot lunaire’ [...].” (13/26 December 1912)
Soon after Schönberg’s return to Berlin, Schönberg corresponded with Siloti about further projects in St. Petersburg. After a performance of “Pierrot lunaire” had been postponed for a longer period, presumably on account of the singer Albertine Zehme, who owned the performance rights, the plans for the Chamber Symphony op. 9 were set for January 1915. The outbreak of World War I, however, thwarted Schönberg’s second guest tour to St. Petersburg. Schönberg moved from Berlin to Vienna, Kandinsky from Munich to Moscow, Siloti fled from the Russian revolution to England and then to New York. At least a part of the Petersburg music world was aware of the importance of Schönberg’s visit: “I can confirm with the highest conviction that since the time of Wagner’s visit at the beginning of 1863, that is, about a half-century before the present events, there has been nothing equal to it here.” (Venturus)

Iris Pfeiffer
© Arnold Schönberg Center