Schönberg in America

"It is true that I have accepted the separation from the old world, but not without having felt it right into my bones. And yet I was not prepared for the fact that it would not only make me homeless but also speechless so that I can only say it in English if anyone wants to know it at all - with the exception of my old friends. But on the other hand, here you enjoy a more pleasant life than God himself would have in France - who would find it even harder to get a work permit there than here. For here I am appreciated as one of the most important modern composers."
That is what Schönberg wrote to his friends in a "thank you" letter in September 1934, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Arnold Schönberg