Arnold Schoenberg Says There Would Have Been Jazz Regardless of War
Refugee from Germany
Jewish Composer to Lecture and Teach in New York and Boston

“Chaotic world conditions cannot influence music any more than they can the game of chess.” Arnold Schoenberg said today upon his arrival from Germany. Mr. Schoenberg has the title of professor but refuses to use it.
“Modest?” he was asked.
“Quite the contrary,” he replied. “I am Schoenberg.”
As a German-Jewish refugee from Berlin, Mr. Schoenberg was astonished by the friendly atmosphere he found in America.
“I came here for rest and teach advanced harmony and composition at the Malkin Conservatory of Music in Boston,” he said. “In Europe there is so much unrest in the air that it is tiring to the brain.”

Doesn’t Look Musical

Mr. Schoenberg does not look the part of a composer and one of the most highly respected instructors in contemporary music fields. A deeply tanned, rather baldish little man, nervous, with an undertone of quietness, he is a model of the typically American “John Public.”
Only the subject of music brings him out.
“There are cycles within music which are modes,” he says. “There would have been jazz had there been no war. We had the cakewalk and the tango before a gun was fired in the world conflict. Before that we had gypsy music and Negro spirituals. But real music goes on and on without noticeably feeling the little eternal eruptions within.”

Will Lecture Here

He will leave New York next week to live in Boston. However, he will lecture to classes here at Steinway Hall 57th St. and 5th Ave., every Friday.
For eight years he was on the faculty of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. Although his contract with the academy still is in force he is non-committal about returning. His wife and two-year-old daughter are with him.

New York World-Telegraph (November 1, 1933)