It was not until 1940, at the age of 50, that Frank Martin was invited to join Universal Edition. Emil Hertzka had died eight years before, Austria had been annexed by the Third Reich and the firm had been “aryanized”. It was now called “Universal Edition Johannes Petschull” after the new director. Among the employees, however, there were some who did their best to keep Hertzka’s spirit alive, first and foremost Alfred Schlee who – to cite just one example – had the courage to offer a contract to the Jewish composer Rolf Liebermann – “for the time after”.

Schlee also played a major role in Frank Martin’s decision to join the UE stable of composers. He visited [...]