Stein, Erwin

(b Vienna, 7 Nov 1885; d London, 17 July 1958). Austrian writer on music and editor. He studied with Schoenberg from 1906 to 1910 and became a close friend of Berg and Webern. During World War I he was repetiteur and conductor at various German opera houses. From 1920 to 1923 he was director of performances in Schoenberg's Verein fur Musikalische Privatauffuhrungen. He edited the periodical Pult und Taktstock from 1924 to 1930, and was until 1938 artistic adviser to Universal Edition in Vienna, making, among other things, a vocal score of the unfinished third act of Berg's Lulu. In 1938 he emigrated to England where his association with Universal Edition secured him a post with its English agents, Boosey & Hawkes. Stein was an ardent champion of Schoenberg and the 12-note school in general and wrote many articles analysing and explaining the technical aspects of this music. In England he also became interested in the work of Benjamin Britten.

WRITINGS
Orpheus in New Guises (London, 1953/R) [collection of articles]
ed.: Arnold Schoenberg: ausgewahlte Briefe (Mainz, 1958; Eng. trans., 1964, 1974)
Form and Performance (London and New York, 1962/R; Ger. trans., 1964)
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Obituaries: A. Gishford, Opera, ix (1958), 600; Earl of Harewood, Tempo, no.49 (1958), 35--6
 

MOSCO CARNER