Happy Birthday, Arnold Schönberg!

We also paid a visit to Schönberg in Mödling. I had been there for the first time the year before. It had then been quite a job to penetrate into the presence of the great man, as he was very suspicious of unknown visitors. When it had occurred to my mind that I might profit from a conversation with Schönberg, a lot of telephoning had to be done through middlemen, members of his inner circle and bodyguard. When I finally was admitted, I found him alone in his studio in a modest suburban apartment, and he was obviously trying to make it a short visit, claiming that he had a terrible toothache. I was however not so easily to be disposed of and made a remark to the effect that I thought of Schubert as a composer more highly than of Beethoven. This might not have been exactly my opinion, but it was consistent enough with my line of thinking in order to serve as a challenge, and it worked so. Schönberg soon forgot his toothache and tried to demolish my judgment […]. We had a discussion of about two hours. Without remembering any more details of it, I gained of Schönberg the impression that he had a quite extraordinary mind which would constantly emanate highly stimulating and frequently startling matter of thought, but that he also was considerably opinionated and rigid in his manner of thinking […].