[Op. 22]. Vier Lieder [Short score]

Wien-Leipzig: Universal-Edition [PN U.E. 6060], 1920. Oblong folio (264 x 337 mm). Original publisher's light green printed wrappers. 16 pp.

Schoenberg's preface, "Die vereinfachte Studier- und Dirigier-Partitur," explains the experimental layout of the score.

Wrappers slightly worn and soiled; spine repaired with blue cloth tape. First Edition, second issue of the complete cycle. Rufer (E), pp. 40-41. GA B/3, pp. 189-90.
The first issue of 1917 was printed on thinner and slightly smaller paper.

The Four Songs of op. 22 were Schoenberg's last composition before his seven-year hiatus as a composer, which ended only with his development of dodecaphony. They are set to texts by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900), in German translation by Stefan George (1868-1933) and Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). The title does not specify a register for the vocal part, but a soprano is implied.

"Schoenberg's 'simplified score for study and conducting' is supposed to resemble, in its appearance, a piano reduction for two or four-if necessary, also for six or eight-hands... The simplified notation of an orchestral score, however, is not the result of a [similar] simplification of the orchestra... The fact that similar sonorities are written in completely different ways makes reading more difficult, and Schoenberg never reverted to this manner of notation." Agnes Grond © Arnold Schönberg Center.