Schoenberg's Jabotinsky 'Music'

Found in "A Survivor From Warsaw As Personal Parable" by Michael Strasser in Music and Letters (1995) 76 (1): 52-63 -

The composer Schoenberg, who converted to Christianity, the Protestant version, was an admirer of Jabotinsky:-

As early as 1923, Schoenberg foresaw the importance of armed struggle when he wrote that the ultimate 're-establishment of a Jewish State can come about only in the manner that has characterized similar events throughout history: not through words and moralizing but through the success of arms and a happy combination of interests'. 27

And, a decade later, in a letter to Jakob Klatzkin dated 13 June 1933 he expressed this sentiment even more forcefully:

The timid will never be able to make the sacrifices required by courage and self-denial. Those unwilling to risk life and property won't be able to participate in our struggle for liberation. We must succeed in persuading Jewish youth of the necessity of this struggle completely and without qualifications. 28

These two passages illustrate Schoenberg's support for the affirmative, militant Zionism advocated by Vladimir Jabotinsky. He undoubtedly saw in the Warsaw uprising a useful example of what it would take for the Jews finally to acquire and maintain a land of their own. He may have been moved to include an oblique reference to the rebellion in his text, but again, I do not believe that he ever intended that this reference be taken as the central point of the work.

27 Pro Zion, ed. Rudolf Stein, Vienna, 1924, p. 34; quoted ibid., p. 124.
28 Quoted ibid., pp. 128-9.

Interesting.

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