Revival of the Verein

The Sirius Ensemble's latest project presents a unique series of concerts and an interactive exhibition based on Arnold Schoenberg's pioneering Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performance).

Central to the philosophy of Schoenberg's Society, and to the ambitions of the Sirius Ensemble, is a determination to break down the barriers between music and audiences. Formed in Vienna in 1918, the Society not only presented hundreds of performances of new works but also aimed to create more intimacy and understanding between contemporary composers and their audience, a relationship that they believed was 'bedevilled by the lack of real and accurate knowledge'. The ethos of the Society, the philosophy behind the approach to each work and, above all, the music itself still has an enormous artistic, educational and historic significance.

Our concert series and education programme will recreate both the sound and the spirit of the Verein in the 21st Century, enriching and enlightening the concert experience for audiences both new and established. More…

Project Overview

The Sirius Ensemble is an exciting new chamber group formed in 2000 and dedicated to taking classical music to new audiences and new venues. This project brings the Ensemble's work to a new level by recreating both the music and philosophy of Schoenberg's 'Society for Private Musical Performances'.

The original Society achieved this through a number of unique initiatives: Schoenberg and his fellow composers created arrangements of large contemporary works, transferring the orchestrally conceived work into the medium of chamber music. These arrangements for piano or small ensemble retained every note of the original but resulted in a greater transparency of texture. This fulfilled the Society's aim by revealing the characteristics of all good music - for example melodic invention, harmonic wealth, polyphony and architecture. In order to realise the composer's intentions in full, there were an almost unlimited number of rehearsals to ensure the highest degree of clarity. If this could not be achieved with a given work, it was not performed. The Society often held open rehearsals, sometimes without any actual public performance, and frequent repetition of new works was a matter of policy. Details of new works to be performed were often not publicised in advance, only one class of audience seating was available and a printed a 'prospectus', written by Alban Berg, outlined the Society's philosophy. There was an emphasis on quality musicianship and a preference for young and lesser-known artists who were prepared to serve music and music alone. Critics were banned, and members paid for performances according to their means. Schoenberg's Society wasn't confined to post-war Vienna. The format was later adopted in Prague (1921) and Hamburg (1923) before ultimately paving the way for the ICSM, still active today.

By combining a concert series with an innovative interactive exhibition and outreach programme the Sirius Ensemble aims to recreate the Verein in the 21st Century. These initiatives will provide a fascinating window on the past and translate the spirit and principles of the Society into the present day, including:

• Renewed performance of the arrangements by Schoenberg and his contemporaries over several concerts, including Debussy's Prélude à l'Aprés-midi d'un Faune, Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Das Lied von der Erde. Many of the arrangements have not been published or recorded and several have never been performed in the UK.
• High quality performance of the original chamber works performed by the Society such as Schoenberg's own Pierrot Lunaire together with other original works written for chamber ensemble.
• Newly commissioned compositions and arrangements in the style of the Society. Schoenberg and his contemporaries planned a number of arrangements that were never completed, including a request for Bartok to arrange his Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra.
• Greater access to music for everyone through open rehearsals, accessible ticket prices and our schools and community outreach programme.
• A new exhibition depicting the Society's history, principles and activities. Accessible explanations and illustrations of how the arrangements were made and how they compare to the originals, together with detailed programme notes to complement the concert series.
• Interactive learning tools based on the Society's arrangements to illustrate basic rudiments and concepts of music in conjunction with the live performances.
• Economy of scale: the use of chamber arrangements allows the Sirius Ensemble to take large scale symphonic repertoire to new audiences and new venues, further exploiting the 'virtue of necessity' of which the Verein was so proud.
• Lasting legacies: previously under-researched and unpublished music will become standard repertoire; permanent online versions of the exhibition and learning tools will be accessible to all; concert or studio recordings will be possible.

The Concerts

Each of the concerts presented by the Sirius Ensemble as part of the Verein series aims to combine performances of the very highest quality with the unique principles of the Society's philosophy. The Sirius Ensemble, formed from some of the finest young players, has always based its very existence on the principles of the Society and already incorporates the majority of its ideals. During this project we aim to recapture the very essence of the Society's existence through yet further initiatives including:

• Clear and well prepared performances with imaginative programming, comprising:
  • Existing arrangements by Schoenberg and his contemporaries.
  • Original works for similar sized ensembles.
  • Newly commissioned arrangements, including those planned or left incomplete by the Society.
  • Newly commissioned works from promising young composers.
• A prospectus, similar to Berg's original, containing further information and articles and designed to complement the series as a whole. Extensive programme notes available at the performance and in advance online.
• Pre concert talks by composers of featured new works.
• Continued principle of repetition of new or lesser-known works.
• One class of ticket for which listeners pay according to their means through our innovative ticket policy...

Exhibition & Interactive Learning Tools

Our Exhibition and Learning Tools are designed be resident for the entire duration of the concert series, in or near the venue. They aim to enrich the concert experience for all audience members, but equally will give an educational and interactive experience to anyone who visits the performance space between the concerts. Highlights include:

An exhibition featuring the background and history of the Society

• Detailed description of the formation of the Society, its principles and its activities.
• Copies of original manuscripts and literature.
• How it became the roots of today's ISCM.

Interactive learning tools demonstrating:

• How the arrangements were created, using exploded scores and interactive media.
• How they compare to the original works, both aurally and visually.
• Basic musical concepts, including:
• Structure
• Chords
• Homophonic and contrapuntal writing
• Variations
• Musical motifs such as leitmotifs and spelled themes (B-A-C-H/D-S-C-H etc)
• Musical techniques such as fugue and passacaglia
• Devices such as canons, rounds, inversions and transposition
• Fundamental principles such as key signatures, time signatures, scales and modes

Education Outreach

The original objective of the Society was to inform its members by offering them various opportunities to discover music. By adopting many of its original methods and adding new initiatives for today's community, the Sirius Ensemble continually strives to take music, of all eras, to new audiences and new venues. Our comprehensive outreach programme features many exciting opportunities:

• A series of workshops based around open rehearsals designed to introduce new audiences to different aspects and features of classical music. In particular, special workshops based on and around set works from the GCSE & A Level Syllabus would allow students to become familiar with works they may not otherwise be able to see or hear live. The Sirius Ensemble already has strong links with several London schools, many of which have a history of underprivilege and underachievement. By targeting these schools, our outreach programme will create new opportunities to benefit young people.

• A series of open rehearsals providing people of all ages with an invaluable opportunity to explore some of the fascinating works featured in the Verein series.

• Comprehensive programme notes and related articles available online well in advance of each performance and workshop.

Project Legacy

The Verein project will have a lasting impact, continuing well beyond the initial concert series:

• Both the Society's arrangements and the original works, once rehearsed and performed, can be presented by the Sirius Ensemble in other venues across the UK.

  • New Venues: the economy of scale which became the 'virtue of necessity' of the Society allows repertoire to be taken to new venues normally unable to present music of this kind.

  • New audiences: the same economy of scale will allow performances of music previously unavailable to communities without a professional symphony orchestra.

• Arrangements that have never been published or performed in the UK will become more accessible to the public and other ensembles.

• The concerts present the opportunity for either live or studio recordings of the arrangements and other featured works.

• The exhibition of the Society's history will be available for display at other venues and future occasions.

• The interactive learning tools can also be transported and displayed at concerts and education events across the UK.

• The online counterparts of both the exhibition and interactive learning tools will be available to schools, teachers, students and everyone with access to the internet.

Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen

In 1904 Arnold Schoenberg, together with his brother-in-law Alexander von Zemlinsky, launched an ambitious concert organisation, the Vereinigung Schaffender Tonkünstler (Society of Contemporary Musicians.) for the propagation of new music. During its single season Schoenberg gave the première of his Pelleas und Melisande, and Mahler, the honorary president, conducted his Kindertotenlieder for the first time. Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and works such as Richard Strauss' Sinfonia Domestica were also given their first performances by the Society, which was an important precursor of things to come.

During the early post-war years the Schoenberg circle cut a lower profile on Vienna's cultural horizon. The great pre-war scandals and controversies were a thing of the past. Now the sporadic public performances of their music were greeted with respect by a self-selected audience of the new-music enthusiasts and with equanimity from the public at large. The end of the war coincided with a musical event, which for the following three years was to be of great practical importance for the whole Schoenberg circle. The Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performances) was founded in November 1918 under the presidency of Schoenberg, thereby realising a novel and original plan that had been simmering in his mind for some time.

Schoenberg's plan sprang from his deeply felt need to narrow the ever-widening gap between the contemporary composer and the public by creating a closer, more intimate relationship between the two. This relationship, as stated in the prospectus written by the Society's Secretary, Alban Berg and published in February 1919, had in the past been bedevilled by the lack of 'real and accurate' knowledge of modern music on the part of the public. This was due to the unclear, vague impression the public received from performances in the normal run of concerts, which suffered from insufficient preparation. In order to change this and make the listener more familiar with the 'purpose, direction, intention, method of expression, value and nature' of the new music, three things were necessary:

• Clear and well-prepared performances.
• Frequent repetitions of the same works.
• The exclusion of corrupting publicity from the concerts, such as competition, applause, expression of disapproval, and critics.

The object of the society was to give properly rehearsed performances of modern works to a genuinely interested membership. There were an almost unlimited number of rehearsals to ensure the highest degree of clarity in order to realise the composer's intentions in full. If this could not be achieved with a given work, it was not performed. Schoenberg nominated five so-called Vortragsmeister or directors of performance, including Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Erwin Stein.

In order to exclude the spirit of competition, the choice of performers was in most cases made from young and lesser-known artists who were prepared to serve music and music alone, avoiding all self-seeking virtuosity and display of their personalities. Moreover, it was not the object of the Society to promote particular composers and their works - on the contrary, all modern music was to be performed, from Mahler and Strauss to the most recent composers who received little or no hearing. Details of programmes were not available in advance and many works were repeated as a point of policy. Attendance at concerts was restricted to members of the Society, which gave weekly concerts on Sunday mornings or Monday evenings. For the one class of seat members paid only according to their means; critics were excluded and applause was forbidden.

The programmes included (in the first instance) songs, piano pieces, chamber music and works for small chorus. Since the Society's financial resources were inadequate for the performance of orchestral works, these were presented as arrangements for piano (four or eight hands) or chamber ensemble. For example, Debussy's Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un Faune was arranged for flute, oboe, clarinet, string quartet, double bass, harmonium, piano and antique cymbals (completed 27 October 1920 by Benno Sachs under the auspices of Schoenberg). The arrangements for chamber ensemble transfer the orchestrally conceived work into the medium of chamber music. Every note of the original is heard, although naturally without the doublings of notes or at the octave. The flute, oboe and clarinet parts remain unaltered wherever they play a melodic motive whilst the horn and bassoon motives are taken over by the clarinet, piano or harmonium. The remaining parts and sustained notes of all the wind instruments are played by the harmonium, which is capable of producing changes of dynamic level. The string parts remain unaltered though at one point a tremolo on the piano is added where the string quintet cannot produce the necessary effect. The pianist plays the characteristic features of the two harp parts written by Debussy. The instrumental colouring of the melodies is preserved, while at the same time, as the tutti sound lacks the original nuances of tone, the goal of the Society is attained: transparency of the musical texture. This made, as the prospectus remarked, a virtue of necessity. Stripped down to their essentials these compositions showed the characteristics of all good music - melodic invention, harmonic wealth, polyphony and architecture for example. The aims of the Society represented a real breakthrough in Vienna's musical life, both in the choice of programmes and the method of preparation.

There were two promotional evenings, a concert of works by Ravel, who came especially from Paris for the occasion, and several performances of Pierrot Lunaire, which also featured in the programme of the final concert. One notable evening (27 May 1921) saw the performance of four Strauss waltzes in transcriptions for string quintet, piano and harmonium arranged by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. Schoenberg played first violin together with Rudolf Kolisch, Karl Rankl second violin, Steinbauer the viola, Webern the cello, Steuermann the piano and Berg the harmonium. There were five rehearsals each lasting five hours! After the concert the manuscripts of the various arrangements were put up for auction to raise funds for a chamber orchestra.

The inaugural concert took place on 29 December 1918 and the last on 5 December 1921 when, owing to the catastrophic depreciation of the Austrian currency, the Society was compelled to cease its activities. During its three years of existence it gave a total of 117 concerts, with no fewer than 353 performances of 154 contemporary works in the programmes. Amongst the composers whose music was played were Berg, Webern, Reger, Mahler, Stravinsky, Scriabin, Debussy, Strauss, Bartok, Ravel and Suk. It was not until the spring of 1920 that Schoenberg permitted the inclusion of his own works in these concerts, although he did allow them to be used for educational purposes as part of the Society's activities. Early in 1919, for example, his first Chamber Symphony was studied in ten open rehearsals, without any actual public performance, in order that people might be given the opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with the artistic construction of the composition.

Vienna's cultural community scarcely noticed the decline of the Society but the format was soon adopted elsewhere. Zemlinsky became chairman of the Prague Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen founded in 1921 with programmes organised and players provided by the Vienna Society. Zemlinsky asked Schoenberg to become honorary president of the Prague Society, which he accepted on the grounds that he and his brother-in-law were joint honorary presidents. Schoenberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke and his arrangement of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen were prepared together with Webern's Orchesterstücke for an invitation performance in Prague. In the summer of 1923 Max Temming established a very similar Society in Hamburg, Germany.

The Society established links with new-music circles abroad and served as a model for the Viennese chapter of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Founded after the Internationale Kammermusikaufführungen Salzburg (part of the Salzburg Festival.), the ISCM initiated a regular series of events enabling contemporary composers to maintain the contacts made in Salzburg. The ISCM outlined its purpose as being a means of breaking down national barriers and personal interests and publicising and promoting contemporary music 'regardless of aesthetic trends or the nationality, race, religion or political views of the composer'. The Viennese ISCM, the Verein fur Neue Musik, essentially resurrected the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen, mixing familiar faces with the as yet unknown, such as Schoenberg's brother-in-law Rudolf Kolisch, whose quartet became an international champion for new music.

Ticket Policy

Schoenberg's original Society of 1918 offered only one class of seat for which audiences paid 'according to their means'. This ensured the Society was accessible to all who were genuinely interested in the music itself and helped to eliminate any sense of competition. It also encouraged audiences to focus on the music rather than any elitist or social aspects of concert going.

The Sirius Ensemble has developed this ethos into a ticket policy for today's society. The Verein concerts will specifically target new audiences, whilst encouraging established concertgoers, by making one class of seating affordable for all. We have also taken inspiration from the off-Broadway theatre the Circle in the Square, who developed a committed and ethnically diverse audience for their productions in the 1990s.

The Circle in the Square patrons purchased 'memberships' for $38.50, which enabled them to buy any seat at any show for just $10. To draw in new and younger audiences, the theatre created a special promotion that suspended the 'membership' fee altogether.

The Verein series will offer every seat at each of the concerts for one reasonable price. Additionally, 'subscriptions' will be available to everyone to encourage people to attend more than one concert in the series. Furthermore we will carefully tailor the subscription costs and requirements to target potential new audiences such as school children, teachers, students, the unemployed, and those from ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds who often wouldn't consider attending classical concerts for social or financial reasons. As a member, our patrons will have access to significantly reduced ticket prices.

Organisations that support the Sirius Ensemble's work with new audiences can contribute to the scheme by subsidising ticket prices even further for any particular membership groups that they wish to target. The Sirius Ensemble will match pound for pound any subsidy pledged.

With this policy, those who can afford to pay full price can do so, while new audiences will be encouraged to experience the concerts of the Verein series at a significantly lower cost or potentially for free.

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