[1] In the three years between February 1919 and 5 December 1921 (when the Verein had to cease its activities due to Austrian hyperinflation), the organization gave 353 performances of 154 works in 117 concerts that involved a total of 79 individuals and pre-existing ensembles.
During the Society's first two years, in fact, Schoenberg did not allow any of his own music to be performed; instead, the programmes included works by Bartók, Berg, Busoni, Debussy, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Mahler, Ravel, Reger, Satie, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Webern, and many others.
Clarity and comprehensibility of the musical presentation was the over-riding aim, with audiences sometimes being permitted to hear open rehearsals, and complex works sometimes being played more than once in the same concert (and as many as five or six times in total).
[5] Only those who had joined the organisation were admitted to the events: the intention was to prevent casual attendance by "sensation-seeking" members of the Viennese public (who would often attend concerts with the express intention of causing disruption, whistling derisively at modern works by whistling on their house-keys) as well as exclude hostile critics who would attack such music in their newspaper columns: a sign displayed on the door – in the manner of a police notice – would state that Kritikern ist der Eintritt verboten (Critics are forbidden entry).
[7] A successor Society under the leadership of Alexander von Zemlinsky, with Schoenberg as honorary president and Heinrich Jalowetz and Viktor Ullmann among the performance directors, operated in Prague from April 1922 to May 1924.