1. Ronald Jackson, "Schoenberg as performer of his own music," in Journal of Musicological Research 21 (2005): 68.

2. I would like to thank the Schönberg Center in Vienna and especially the archivist Therese Muxeneder for agreeing to transfer test pressings to CDs.

3. I would like to thank the University of London Central Research Fund for a grant towards a research trip to the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna where I conducted much of this study. All sound and notation examples were reproduced here with the kind permission of Belmont Music Publishers.

4. Arnold Schoenberg, conductor, Los Angeles, CA, (24-26 September 1940), CBS MPK 45695 mono ADD (1989) CD.

5. This information can be found on the first page of the conducting score: Schoenberg wrote in pencil "Records made/ September 24-26, 1940."

6. Dika Newlin, Schoenberg Remembered: Diaries and Recollections 1938-76 (New York: Pendragon Press, 1980), 258.

7. "Eine blasse Wäscherin" is one of three songs that have the largest number of test pressings and which contains arguably the most interesting features of pitch in relation to the other two.

8. Standen, "Schoenberg's Speech-Song" (see footnote 20); A. Hettergott, "Die Sprechgesangstimme ins Pierrot lunaire Op. 21 von Arnold Schoenberg," PhD dissertation (Wien, 1993); See also Hettergott, "Sprechgesang in Arnold Schoenberg 'Pierrot lunaire'," SMACS 93--Proc. Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference, Royal Swedish Academy of Music Publ. No. 79 (July 1993): 183-190; and Hettergott, "Sprechgesang-Vergleich individuell-interpretativer Unterschiede in Schoenberg's 'Pierrot lunaire'." Proc. DAGA "95 Saarbrücken (1995); Eliezer Rapoport "Schoenberg-Hartleben's Pierrot lunaire: Speech--Poem--Melody--Vocal Performance," Journal of New Music Research 33, no. 1 (March 2004); and Marinella Ramazzotti, "Klangfarbenverschmelzung von Stimme und Instrumenten in Pierrot lunaire," in Report of the Symposium: Arnold Schönberg in Berlin, 28.-30. September 2000, Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center (March 2001): 145-159.

9. David Hamilton, "Moonlighting," in From Pierrot to Marteau (Los Angeles, California: University of Southern California, Arnold Schoenberg Institute, 1987), 46, originally from The New Yorker, 8 April 1974, 46.

10. Bryan Simms, The Atonal Music of Arnold Schoenberg 1908-1923 (New York: Oxford, 2000), 132.

11. William W. Austin, Music in the 20th Century (New York, London: Norton, 1966), 196.

12. Pierre Boulez, "Speaking, Playing, Singing" in Jean-Jacques Nattiez (ed.), Orientations, Martin Cooper (trans.) (London, Boston: Faber and Faber, 1990), 330.

13. Lorraine Gorrell, "Performing the Sprechstimme in Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire, Op. 21," in Journal of the Singing 55, no. 2 (November/December 1998): 5-15.

14. Ibid.

15. Joan Allen Smith, Schoenberg and His Circle: A Viennese Portrait (New York, London: Schirmer Books, 1986), 99-100. I made minor corrections in the English of this quotation.

16. Sony Classical SMK 48466 stereo ADD (1993) CD.

17. For an example of a notated comparison of an expert by the singers Stiedry-Wagner, Semser, Howland and Pilarczyk (all performed before 1965), see Austin, Music in the 20th Century, 199.

18. Boulez, "Speaking, Playing, Singing," 330.

19. Ibid.

20. Peter Stadlen, "Schoenberg's Speech-Song," Music and Letters 62, no. 1 (January 1981).

21. See Schoenberg's letter to Berg dated 14 January 1913. Juliane Brand, Donald Harris, and Christopher Hailey (eds. and trans.) The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence: Selected Letters (New York: Norton, 1987), 143.

22. See Rudolf Stephan, "Zur jüngsten Geschichte des Melodrams," Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 17 (1960): 183-92. For the relation of Pierrot lunaire to the "old" Austrian theater of actors' recitation such as Sarah Bernhardt and Alexander Moissi (as well as that of journalist Karl Kraus) see Hartmut Krones, "'Wiener' Symbolik? Zu musiksemantischen Traditionen in den beiden Wiener Schulen" in Otto Kolleritsch (ed.) Beethoven und die Zweiten Wiener Schule, Studien zur Wertungsforschung 25 (Wien-Graz, 1992), 53.

23. Richard Kurth, "Pierrot's Cave: Representation, Reverberation, Radiance," in Schoenberg and Words: The Modernist Years, Charlotte M. Cross and Russell A. Berman (eds.) (New York: Garland Press, 2000), 211.

24. Schoenberg was influenced by her earlier performances of Pierrot from March 1911 in the way she selected the poems into three groups according to subject. He also preserved her notion of "crafting a poetic narrative out of Giraud's loosely organized verses" (Simms, The Atonal Music�, 124). Although he created his own new narrative from the poems, he did retain Zehme's "narrative progression from lightness, to darkness, to death" (ibid., 125).

25. Albertin Zehme, Die Grundlagen des künstlerischen Sprechens und Singens (Leipzig: Carl Merseburger, 1920).

26. Quoted in Bryan Simms, The Atonal Music�, 120-21. Original German text can be found at ibid. 235 note 21, and at Arnold Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Pierrot lunaire, Josef Rufer (ed.) (Wien: Universal Edition AG and Mainz: Schott Music International, 1995), Section 6, series B, 24/1, 307.

27. Stadlen, "Schoenberg's Speech-Song," 3.

28. The manuscript is called B in Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Pierrot lunaire. "Die Rezitation hat die Tonhöhe andeutungsweise zu bringen." The word "andeutungsweise" can be translated also to "allusively," "in outlines" and "suggestively."

29. Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Pierrot lunaire, 143, my translation.

30. The manuscript is called C in Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Pierrot lunaire.

31. This emphasis is mine.

32. "ist es Aufgabe des Ausführenden, den Rhythmus absolut genau wiederzu- / geben, die vorgezeichnete Melodie aber, was die Tonhöhen anbelangt, in / eine Sprechmelodie umzuwandelen, indem die Tonhöhen [deleted: zu] untereinander stets / das [before correction: im] vorgezeichneten [sic!] Verhältnis einhalten." The full text can be found at Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Pierrot lunaire, 24.

33. Erwin Stein to Arnold Schoenberg, 13 January 1921, Library of Congress, Washington DC. "Es ist ganz unglaublich, wie eindeutig der Ausdruck, auch seine Intensität, durch die Sprechintervalle fixiert ist. Man spricht das nach, was dort steht und hat den Ausdruck, auch wenn man ihn gar nicht empfunden hatte. Allerdings sind die Lagen-Unterschiede und die Größenunterschiede der Intervalle sehr wichtig." (Translation by Matthias Pasdzierny.)

34. Arnold Schoenberg to Josef Rufer, 8 July 1923, quoted as in: "Schönberg über Pierrot lunaire (Dokumente IV)" in Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Pierrot lunaire, 300. "Die Tonhöhen im Pierrot richten sich nach dem Umfang der Stimme. Sie sind 'gut' zu berücksichtigen aber nicht 'streng einzuhalten'. Man kann den Umfang der Stimme in soviele Teile teilen, als Halbtöne verwendet werden; vielleicht ist dann jeder Abstand nur ein 3/4-Ton. Das muß aber nicht so pedantisch ausgeführt werden, da ja die Tonhöhen keine harmonischen Verhältnisse eingehen. Die Sprechstimme reicht natürlich nicht aus. Die Dame muß eben lernen, mit 'Kopfstimme' zu sprechen; das hat jede Stimme... Das wichtigste ist es, die 'Sprechmelodie' zu erzielen." (Translation by Matthias Pasdzierny.)

35. Erwin Stein, "The treatment of the speaking voice in 'Pierrot Lunaire'," Hans Keller (trans.) in Erwin Stein, Orpheus in new guises (Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Press, 1979), 88. Originally published in Schoenberg-Issue of Pult und Taktstock (Vienna, March/April, 1927).

36. Arnold Schoenberg to Erwin Stein, 13 May 1927, Library of Congress, Washington DC. 'Das ist wieder ein ausgezeichneter Artikel, Voll Klarheit, Klugheit und Verständnis'. (Translation by Matthias Pasdzierny.)

37. Translation based on Simms, The Atonal Music�, 133-34. I preferred "taking well into consideration" to "careful rendition" when translating: 'Der Ausfuhrende hat die Aufgabe, sie unter gutter Berucksichtigung der vorgezeichneten Tonhohen in eine Sprechmelodie umzuwandeln.' Original text in German can be found in Schoenberg, Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire," Forward.

38. Stadlen, "Schoenberg's Speech-Song," 4.

39. See Friedrich Cerha, "Zur Interpretation der Sprechstimme in Schönbergs Pierrot lunaire," Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn (eds.), Musik-Konzepte, Schönberg und der Sprechgesang 112/113 (2001).

40. Kurth, "Pierrot's Cave," 223.

41. Klaus Kropfinger summarized some of them as follows: "While on the one hand Albertine Zehme's performance was characterized as fluctuating appropriately between 'pathos and parody,' thus avoiding the reproach of mannerism (National Zeitung, Oct. 11, 1912), from another point of view an absolute 'unculture of speaking' was ascribed to her (R. L-s., Müncher Neueste Nachrichten, Nov. 7, 1912). Marya Freund, who was the reciter in performances under Darius Milhaud in France and England and--according to Milhaud--tended all too much toward singing, was criticized for this in numerous reviews. Others, however, among then Vuillermoz (Le Temps, Jan. 27, 1922) and Koechlin (Le Monde Musical, Feb. 13, 1922), assessed her performance of the Sprechstimme positively. Koechlin even characterized the glissando which she produced thereby as 'souplesse singulière." (Klaus Kropfinger, "Pierrot lunaire: Some aspects of its reception," in From Pierrot to Marteau (Los Angeles, California: University of Southern California, Arnold Schoenberg Institute, 1987), 44.)

42. Arnold Schoenberg, Letters, Erwin Stein (ed.), Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser (trans.) (London: Faber and Faber, 1964), 74. Emphasis in original. "Ich möchte gerne über manches, die Aufführung meiner Werke betreffendes, mit Ihnen sprechen. Denn es liegt mir daran, Sie darüber aufzuklären, warum ich bei der Verwirklichung der von mir in Noten dargestellten musikalischen Gedanken keinen anderen Willen als den meinigen gelten lassen kann, und warum bei dieser Verwirklichung dieser blutige Ernst, diese nachsichtslose Strenge angewendet werden muß: weil mit ganz derselben komponiert wird." Arnold Schoenberg Center Web Site (correspondence), http://www.schoenberg.at/6_archiv/correspondence/letters_database_e.htm 

43. See for example Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea, Leonard Stein (ed.), Leo Black (trans.) (London: Faber and Faber, 1975), 342-343, 346.

44. "Der Musiker kann es oft nicht unterlassen, auch diese reine Sprech-stelle melodisch zu notieren. Aber auch dieses ist nicht zu singen. Beweis: sie steht außerhalb der 12 Töne! Vielleicht aber entnimmt ein Sänger aus der Linie, welcher Ausdruck mir vorschwebt." (T. 17ff) Schönberg, Sämtliche Werke, Moses und Aron, Reihe A, Band 8, Teil 1(1977), 4. Schmit quotes this at his "Das problem Sprechgesang bei Arnold Schönberg" in Pierrot lunaire: A collection of musicological and literary studies, Mark Delaere and Jan Herman (eds.) (Louvain, Paris, Dudley: Editions Peters, 2004), 83.

45. First appeared in Gunther Schuller, "A conversation with Steuermann," in Perspectives of New Music 3 (1964-65): 22-35. Quoted here from Edward Steuermann, The Not Quite Innocent Bystander: Writings of Edward Steuermann, Clara Steuermann, David Potter and Gunther Schuller (eds.); Richard Cantwell and Charles Messner (trans.) (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1989), 172-173.

46. Schmit, "Das problem Sprechgesang," 84.

47. Ibid., 85.

48. "Wir müssen auch die Sprechstimme gründlich auffrischen--mindestens, denn ich beabsichtige diesmal zu versuchen, ob ich nicht Vollkommen diesen leichten, ironisch-satirischen Ton herausbekommen kann, in welchem das Stück eigentlich konzipiert war. Dazu kommt, dass sich die Zeiten und mit ihnen die Auffassungen sehr geändert haben, so dass, was uns damals vielleicht als Wagnerisch, oder schlimmstenfalls als Tschaikovskyisch erschienen wäre, heute bestimmt Puccini, Lehar und darunter ist." Arnold Schoenberg Center Web Site (correspondence), http://www.schoenberg.at/6_archiv/correspondence/letters_database_e.htm.

49. Schoenberg, Style and Idea, 145-46.

50. Stadlen, "Schoenberg's Speech-Song," 7.

51. "keines dieser Gedichte zum Singen bestimmt ist, sondern ohne fixiermeasuree Tonhöhe gesprochen werden muss." Arnold Schoenberg Center Web Site (correspondence), http://www.schoenberg.at/6_archiv/correspondence/letters_database_e.htm.

52. See for example: Arnold Schoenberg, Documents of a Life: A Schoenberg Reader, Josef Auner (ed.) (New Haven and London: Yale University Press), 301-308; and Schoenberg Style and Idea, 320. The changing aspects of Schoenberg's performance aesthetics are discussed in Avior Byron, "Schoenberg as Performer: an Aesthetics in Practice," PhD dissertation (University of London, 2006).

53. "zum Unterschied vom Pierrot, handelt es sich hier in keiner Weise um Tonhöhen. Dass ich doch Noten geschrieben habe geschah nur, weil ich glaube so meine Phrasierung, Akzentuierung und Deklamation eindringlicher darzustellen. Also bitte keine Sprechmelodien." Arnold Schoenberg Center Web Site (correspondence), http://www.schoenberg.at/6_archiv/correspondence/letters_database_e.htm. 

54. A third possibility is that they may be "brought out" only in a partial manner--"hinted at," to use Schoenberg's own jargon.

55. Emphasis mine.

56. Arnold Schoenberg, "Der kleine Muck. The Concertgebouw Revisited," introduction by Leonard Stein, Jounal of Arnold Schoenberg Institute 2 (1977/1978): 105. See also Arnold Schönberg, Berliner Tagebuch, Josef Rufer (ed.) (Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 1974), 34. Passage translated by Jonathan Dunsby in Arnold Schoenberg, "Der kleine Muck," 106. I would like to thank Ethan Haimo for his comments on this issue.

57. A discussion concerning these stories and about Schoenberg's conducting technique in general can be found in Avior Byron, "Schoenberg as conductor," Min-Ad: Israel Studies in Musicology Online 1 (2006) http://www.biu.ac.il/HU/mu/min-ad/06/Byron_Schoenberg.pdf

58. For recent Performance Studies theory on this, see Nicholas Cook, "Prompting Performance: Text, Script, and Analysis in Bryn Harrison's etre-temps" in Music Theory Online 11.1 (March 2005): [14] http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.05.11.1/mto.05.11.1.cook_essay.html 

59. Ibid., [16].

60. Jane Manning, "A sixties 'Pierrot': a personal memoir," Tempo 59 (2005): 25.

61. "Theodor W. Adorno/Pierre Boulez, Gespräche über den Pierrot Lunaire," in Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn (eds.), Schönberg und der Sprechgesang, Musik-Konzepte 112/113 (July 2001): 85-86. The conversation was conducted on 26,27 November 1965, NDR.

62. "In the same way, Goehr's "perfect performance of music" and "perfect musical performance" might be seen not as opposed paradigms but rather as contrasted emphases, opposed but in the sense of occupying distinct positions within a continuum (with Stockhausenian elektronische Musik and free improvisation perhaps defining its limits)." Nicholas Cook, "Between Process and Product: Music and/as Performance," Music Theory Online 7.2 (April 2001): [20] http://societymusictheory.org/mto/issues/mto.01.7.2/toc.7.2.html 

63. Schoenberg's fascinating remark in a letter dated 25 December 1941 concerning Stiedry-Wagner never being in pitch is discussed in Avior Byron, "Schoenberg as Performer: an Aesthetics in Practice," PhD dissertation (University of London, 2006).