The composer’s vast archive was destroyed in fires in LA

At least 100,000 scores by 20th-century pioneer Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg were destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires.

The sheet music was stored at the family’s music production company – which burned down in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood last week.

Although no original manuscripts have been lost, the music held by Belmont Music Publishing was the main collection of scores loaned to orchestras and musicians.

The director of the American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, said they were an “indispensable resource” for performing musicians.

Schoenberg’s son, Larry, 83, said the sheet music was stored in a building behind his house. Both buildings were gutted in last week’s fires.

Other Schoenberg memorabilia was also destroyed, including photographs, letters and posters.

“For a company that focuses exclusively on Schoenberg’s works, this loss represents not only a physical destruction of property, but also a profound cultural blow,” Larry said in a statement.

He described the collection as “essential” for musicians who rely on the “carefully selected editions” of his father’s back catalogue.

Arnold Schoenberg was born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1874. He achieved enormous success as a composer in Berlin before fleeing to the United States in 1933 to escape persecution by the Nazis.

He eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he continued his innovative compositions. He was known for atonality and his 12-tone technique, which deviated from conventional harmonies. He died in 1951. aged 76 in Los Angeles.

In a statement, Belmont said it hopes to create digital copies of the scores.

“We hope to be able to ‘rise from the ashes’ in a fully digital form in the near future,” the statement said.

Most of Schoenberg’s original manuscripts are kept in a museum in Vienna, Austria.

Firefighters are still struggling to contain the massive wildfires in Los Angeles that began in early January. So far, they have killed at least 24 people, destroyed thousands of buildings and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Two major fires are still raging in Los Angeles, including the largest fire in the Palisades, which has burned more than 24,000 acres.