| Arnold Schoenberg
116 N. Rockingham Ave.
Los Angeles 49, California.
October 28, 1949.
Mr Walter Hinrichsen
President
C.F. Peters Corporation
1209 Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Avenue
New York 19, N.Y.
Dear Mr Hinrichsen:
I come back to the problem of the copyright--of the renewal of the copyright. I would of course have applied for a renewal if I would have known that Peters Edition does not do it itself. How should I know that you could not do it? I even had no idea that your family was jewish. I thought you were Aryan and I did not know that you firm had been confiscated. I think you should regress[!] yourself on the Germans, but not on me. It is certainly not my fault.
I am, in general ready to sign a contract on about the same points as you suugest[!]--with some alterations.
Firstly, if I should contribute to the expenses, then you must also consider my writing a new version as something which I bring in, in the company, and for which I have to be reembursed[!]. I think you should give me a credit (my part of the expenses:) of at least, let us say $400 or $500 for this new version, because it took really so much time.
The price of twenty dollars per page seems to be extremely excessive. I think that it's not possible for half of this amount, but I think for a little more than half of this one can get it engraved anew. I will inquire about this as soon as I receive the material.
Besides, it is quite impossible to publish a work of mine without having seen it and having it corrected before it is printed. This I must absolutely refuse to do. According to my experience it is really terribly difficult to have a piece corrected before one sees how it looks in print, and then I know that I always read at least three corrections and I was a very careful corrector. At present I cannot correct anyway, because my eyes do not allow me to do such work. I have to depend on other people and they are not as careful as I was. Now, this is quite impossible. I would rather prefer it in this case to have it written anew by a cal[l]igrapher who would ask about four or five dollars per page, and it can then be as beautiful as if it were engraved. Perhaps you can see my Transfigured Night, published by Associated Music Publishers who have made a new version which is beautifully written. Besides, Schirmers have also published my Ode to Napoleon in a written form (by hand) and this is really wonderfully written. It is the perfect substitute for engraving and I would be satisfied. I know here in Los Angeles excellent writers who might be less expensive than those in New York. I would also wish that you pay half of Mr Hoffmann's fee of $100 at your earliest convenience, the other half I am ready to pay myself, though I must tell you that, considering the circumstances it is extremely generous of me to contribute to the expenses.
Most cordially yorus,
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