Object #56

Mathilde Schönberg
Traunkirchen
1922

Arnold Schönberg Center, Wien

Arnold Schönberg’s first wife Mathilde died on October 18, 1923 in Auersperg Sanatorium, in Vienna’s 8th district, following several months of illness. Four days later she was buried in the Protestant section of the Central Cemetery in Vienna’s 12th district (the grave is no longer in existence). The death of his wife plunged Schönberg into a mental crisis lasting several months: “In 1923/24 before I married my second wife I was drinking again and inhalating 60 cigarettes every day. In order to conquer the evil consequences I acted very foolish. I drank – besides liquor – every day 3 liters of strong coffee, took codein and pantopon. It helped me a little though basically it became worse.” (Arnold Schönberg to Harold Hayes, 1950)