Schenker Correspondence Project

Diary entry by Schenker, dated January 28, 1917

28. I. 17 – [...] An D^r. Stern¹ (Br.): beeile mich das Mißverständnis aufzuklären u. erzähle vom Parallelfall aus der jüngsten Vergangenheit, wie ich auch das Verleihungsrecht der Stipendien der Frau D.² vermutlich ablehnen werde ^vorhabe, ^blos weil ich nicht erwarte, jährlich zwei würdige Bewerber zu finden. „Nicht also an einer Jury liegt es, sondern an der komponierenden Jugend!³ Amerikanismus hat sich in die Kunst eingefressen: in 10 Stunden will der Kompo nist eine Art Musik-Vanderbilt|⁴ [...?] darnach wird gelehrt, gelernt, der Rest ist Jugend, Genie, Fortschritt als Sy[....] Ich kenne nur eine Richtung, u. zwar die der gut geschriebenen – Musik; schlecht gechriebene halte ich für keine Richtung. Schon Brahms hat, nach einer Mitteilu[ng] von Mahler, die Musik einfach für tot erklärt – man hat es ihm nicht geglaubt; wie könnte ^darf denn[corr] aber ich erwarten, daß man mir diese traurige Botschaft glaube?! Ich tue meine Pflicht – an der Regierung, an der Heimat liegt es, daß ich nicht weiter ausholen kann. –

© In the public domain.
© Transcription Ian Bent, 2006.

Diary entry by Schenker, dated January 28, 1917

January 28, 1917 – [...] To Dr. Stern¹ (letter): I hasten the clear up the misunderstanding, and I tell him of the parallel case from recent times, also how I will perhaps ^intend to decline the right to award Mrs. Deutsch’s stipendia,^{2 merely} because I do not expect to be able to find two worthy candidates every year. “Thus it is not up to a jury, but to the new generation of composers!³ Americanism has eaten its way into the art: the composer wants to [acquire?] a sort of Vanderbilt music|⁴ in ten lessons, and is taught, learns, accordingly; the rest is[??] youth, genius, progress as sy[...?]. I know one direction only, to wit that of well-written – music; I do not consider badly-written [music] to be a direction. According to a communication from Mahler, Brahms had already simply declared music dead. No one believed him. How, then, can I ^{ought I to} expect that anyone will believe this sad message from me? I do my duty. It is because of the government, because of the homeland, that I cannot strike out even more.–

© Translation Ian Bent, 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: diary entry

FOOTNOTES:

¹ Dr. Alfred Stern, President of the Rothschild Künstlerstiftung, who had written to S on December 3, 1916 inviting him to join the jury of the Foundation along with Guido Adler and Alfred Grünfeld (OJ 12/26, [2]). Schenker declined, not wishing to work with Adler. (A draft of a letter from S to Stern survives as OC 1B/2–3, said to date from c. 1916.) The letter recorded here probably relates to that matter, and the "parallel case" is that of designated sole arbiter of the Sofie Deutsch stipendia. (See Federhofer, Heinrich Schenker nach Tagebüchern ... (Hildesheim: Olms, 1985), p.54 = diary entry of August 6, 1917.) This history explains the reference to a "jury" later in the entry.

² Sofie Deutsch, pupil of Schenker’s for 15 years, died January 5, 1917, leaving money for a stipend in aid of “impecunious skilled composers and composition pupils” of which S was to be the sole arbiter (but which in 1924 was transferred to the Vienna Conservatory as the “Sophie Deutsch Musikerstipendium”), as well as a pension and a legacy.

³ No closing double-quotation-mark is visible, hence it is impossible to tell where the quotation ends.

⁴ Reference is either to the Vanderbilt “dynasty” as a whole and what it stood for, or to Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877), the American entrepreneur who at first built steamships then railways in the New York area, extending to Chicago, including New York’s Grand Central Station, and thus was in S’s eyes the paradigm both of the ruthless business man and of the purveyor of progress and technology. (source: Wikipaedia)

SUMMARY:
S clears up a misunderstanding [regarding his recent refusal to serve on the Rothschild Künstlerstiftung], and instances as "parallel" his intention to decline his appointment as sole arbiter of the Sofie Deutsch stipendia for impecunious composers because of the absence of suitable candidates year-on-year. Americanism has corroded the art [of music].

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian Bent 2006.

Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
Schenker, Heinrich; Deutsch, Sofie; Sophie; stipend; Americanism; Vanderbilt; Brahms; Mahler
Diary entry by Schenker, dated January 28, 1917
OJ 1/16, p. 577
1917-01-28
2006-11-25
Schenker diary
Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence@mus.cam.ac.uk.
Schenker, Heinrich (1917-1935)--Schenker, Jeanette (1935-c.1942)--Ratz, Erwin (c.1942-c.1955)--Jonas, Oswald (c.1955-1978)--University of California, Riverside (1978--)
IPR: in public domain; Image: University of California, Riverside; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian Bent.
Vienna
1917