Object #22
Solace and Enlightenment

Alban and Helene Berg to Arnold Schönberg
December 22, 1911

The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Two things were granted to me by reading this book [Richard Wagner: Mein Leben]: solace and enlightenment. Solace, because I once again experienced that it is part of the essence of greatness, indeed, that no true artist is without suffering; enlightenment, because it is self-evident that great inexplicableness, mystery, the phenomena of each artist’s soul as understood by the masses as “contradictions”, are preserved by – as described so elegantly by Karl Kraus – “having to meet somewhere on a higher level, even it is where God is found”.
Those of us who are lucky enough to play a part in your life, require this solace and this enlightenment. Although this book, and its contents, will be nothing new to you. But we hope that it will at least grant you a few happy hours!
Wishing you a very merry Christmas and enjoyable holidays, my dear and most venerated Herr Schönberg and your esteemed wife, and also the lovely children, with our greatest devotion and gratitude
Yours,
Alban and Helene Berg