Zemlinsky writes to an unidentified doctor regarding the details of a lecture he is to give on Schoenberg's oratorio Die Jakobsleiter and asks how he is allowed to use the work's text as part of his presentation. The letter includes several handwritten emendations by Zemlinsky; an unknown hand has added Magistratsrat Seifert in the lower left corner.

Alexander Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer and conductor closely associated with the Second Viennese School but not quite revolutionary enough to be included in it. The lecture subject he notes in this letter, Die Jakobsleiter, was among the first pieces with which Schoenberg advanced serial technique.