The facsimile edition – prepared 110 years after the work was composed – unites two autograph music manuscripts of the choral work that displays “the most artful polyphony, most wonderful tonal effect, and sublimest expression” (Anton Webern).

Peace on Earth, op. 13 by Arnold Schönberg is part of the traditional choral music repertoire. The text of this a-cappella chorus, composed in 1907 for a competition organized by the Steiermärkischer Musikverein, was taken from a Christmas poem written by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer.

The poem begins with the promising message of peace from the Christian Christmas story, and then depicts the history of the world after Christ’s birth as a time of war in which the belief in justice and peace had been retained, however; a peace that promises to become reality for future generations.

Arnold Schönberg: Peace on Earth, op. 13
Facsimile
Edited by Therese Muxeneder (Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien)
Soft cover, 27,2 x 35,5 cm, 52 pages, 22 tables, Text (german/english)
Vienna 2017 | ISBN 978-3-902012-20-3 | Bel-1013F $70.00