Arnold Schönberg - Franz Xaver Setzer’s photo studio

Arnold Schönberg Estate.

Franz Xaver Setzer’s photo studio was one of Vienna’s most renowned addresses around 1920 (Hofstallstraße, now Museumstraße).

He took portraits of personalities from social circles, important artists such as Stefan Zweig and Arthur Schnitzler and musicians passing through in transit, including Giacomo Puccini and Maurice Ravel.

Arnold Schönberg visited the studio with his pupil Alban Berg in February/March 1922. However, they were not photographed together; we know they went together from an entry in the list of photographic plates (which still survives today, along with the studio’s complete equipment and glass plate negatives).
Schönberg was very satisfied with his portraits: “Dear Mr. Setzer, my most sincere thanks for the photographs. They are very fine and I will be completely satisfied if I succeed in looking as good as these pictures, which are entirely suitable as paragons.” (Arnold Schönberg to Franz Xaver Setzer, 16 March 1923).

The Arnold Schönberg Estate contains the records of Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951), a composer, painter, teacher, theoretician, and innovator who is ranked amongst the prominent artistic figures in the history of western culture. His writings, apart from his compositions, are valuable documents for the musical, intellectual, and cultural history of the first half of the 20th century, as well as for exile studies, and thus for contemporary history. They are evidence of the multifaceted interests of an eminent artistic personality, and also address questions of aesthetics, Jewish affairs, politics, and religion.