Schenker Correspondence Project

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Halm, dated October 6, 1924

Lieber, verehrter Herr Professor Halm!

Wollen Sie die Freundlichkeit haben, die Stimmen zu Ihrem Adur-Streichquartett an H. Prof. Rudolf Pollak, Wien, VI, Theobaldgasse, 7|¹ einzusenden, auch die Vl.-Solo Kompositionen u. die andere Kammermusik beizulegen. Er ist Leiter der „Meisterklasse“ hier, ehemals (in Genf) Vertreter von Marteau[?]² gewesen ^hat viel in Ausland gespielt, wird in Engl., Frank, Spanien, Rußl. sogar sehr gefeiert. Seit Herbst d. J. hat er in Wien ein Quartett mit Prof. Buxbaum.³ Wir unterhalten gute Beziehungen. Gestern besuchte er mich u. ich zeigte ihm Ihr Quartett. Die Herren wollen es zunächst durchprobieren. Sie machen sodann ihre großen Auslandsreisen, zum erstenmal in der neuen Zusammensetzung. Prof. Pollak hat sofort Angenehmes über den Satz geäußert u. so wäre es möglich, daß er Ihre Sachen für sich, oder die Klasse {2} oder das Quartett (hier ist freilich Prof. Buxbaum, der ehemals Rose’s Cellist war, maßgebender als der Primarius; das hat eine persönliche Geschichte.) aneignen. Möglich, daß er Ihre Sachen an seinen Vertreter, Prof. Pullmann,⁴ leitet, der im Konservatorium die eigentliche Kammermusikklasse innehat.

In der gewissen anderen Angelegenheit habe ich noch zu berichten: Zu meiner Überraschung hat ^{sich der Verein},⁵ der eigentliche Erbe nach meiner langjährigen Schülerin, sich aufgelöst u. das gewisse Geld an die hiesige Akademie als Stiftung unter dem ^ihrem Namen übertragen mit dem ausdrücklichen Zusatz, daß ich bis an mein Lebensende allein über die Versendung zu entscheiden habe.⁶ Entweder aber ließ es der Verein oder sein Anwalt an der nötigen Genauigkeit fehlen, kurz, es wurde mir ein Brief von Hofrat Marx,⁷ dem Direktor der Akademie, vorgelegt, worin er sich verpflichtet, mir jährlich einen Terna-Vorschlag⁸ zu erstatten u. die endgültige Entscheidung zu überlassen. Das ist gewiß nicht das, was die Erblasserin meinte. Ich schrieb dem Anwalt aus Galtür, er aber verwies {3} mich auf eine persönliche Austragung mit Marx.⁹ (Woraus ich schließen muß, daß letzterer in völliger Unschuld die Idee vom Terna. Vorschlag hineinbrachte.) Da augenblicklich der Direktor gewiß viel zu tun hat – erste Wochen eines neuen Schuljahres –, so will ich gegen Mitte oder Ende d. M. die Angelegenheit bereinigen.¹⁰ Wenn er auf den Vorschlag verzichtet, dann verfüge ich allein über die Zinsen, ohne Jemand Rechenschaft zu legen (so war es gemeint). Ich kann dann auch in Anbetracht dessen, daß der Wert des Geldes gesunken ist, an denselben Künstler mehrere Jahre hintereinander die Zinsen schicken, ohne daß dies Jemand zu wissen braucht. Überhaupt bestand die Erblasserin auf äußersten discretion, da sie wußte, was ich vorhabe. Das Ergebnis meiner Unterredung will ich dann mitteilen.

Wie geht es Ihnen?

Ich mache schwere Wochen, Monate durch. Es gilt die “U.E.“ zu verlassen u. einen anderen Verlag zu beziehen.¹¹ Der Betrug hatte widerliche[corr] Formen angenommen, dazu eine bewußte Schädigung der „TW.“ Dieses ewige {4} Geraufe um Bogen u. Zeilen, das Herausgeworfenwerden[?] aus fertigen Arbeiten u. gewählten Stoffen[?], die Unsicherheit des jeweilig nächsten Heftes – Alles aus der Absicht auf Sabotage|¹² –, das ertrug ich länger nicht u. erklärte, mit der „U.E.“ blos bis Heft 10 zu gehen. (Letztes Heft: Brahms’ Händel-Var. u.s.w. dann S. Bach, Matthäusp. erste Choralphantasie, Haydn Volkshymne, Schubert: 2 Stücke, Mendelssohn: 2 Stücke, Schumann 2 Stücke.¹³) Über die Schwierigkeiten des Zusammengehens der „U.E.“ machen Sie sich gewiß keine Vorstellung. Nun, bald, bald bin ich frei.

Sommers hatte ich viel Besuch, Vriesl.¹⁴ mit Frau usw. Plötzlich tauchte auf Prof. W. Altmann, Berlin, auf (Direktor der Pr. Staatsbibl.).¹⁵ Wir konnten so manches besprechen, vereinbaren.

Lassen Sie bald etwas von sich hören!

Von Oppel kamen schöne Sachen (Sonaten, Bläserwerk).¹⁶ Leider ist seine Frau schwer krank gewesen, muß nach Italien, der Ärmste ist gar heimgesucht u. dennoch läßt er sich nicht beugen, – ein ganz aufrechter Mann.

Viele herzlichste Grüße
Ihrer
[ sign’d: ] H Schenker
6. Okt. 1928

© In the public domain.
© Transcription Ian Bent & Lee Rothfarb 2006.

Handwritten letter from Schenker to Halm, dated October 6, 1924

Dear Professor Halm,

Would you be so kind as to send the parts for your A-major string quartet to Professor Rudolf Pollak, Vienna, VI, Theobaldgasse, 7,¹ and to include the compositions for solo violin and the other chamber music. He is the director of the “master class” here, was formerly (in Geneva) assistant of Marteau[?],^{2 has} played a lot internationally, is actually highly renowned in England, France, Spain, Russia. Since fall of this year he has a quartet in Vienna with Professor Buxbaum.³ We maintain good relations; he visited me yesterday and I showed him your quartet. The men want to play it through soon. Thereafter they will be going on their big international tours, for the first time with the new membership. Professor Pollak expressed nice things straightaway about the movement, and so it would be possible that he, the [master]class {2} or the Quartet adopt your pieces (of course Professor Buxbaum previously the Rose’s cellist, is the authority, as the leader; there’s a personal story behind that.) It is possible that he will direct your pieces to his assistant, Professor Pullmann[?],⁴ who is in charge of the actual chamber-music class at the Conservatory.

I have yet to report about a certain other matter. To my surprise, the ^Association,⁵ the actual heir according to my student of many years, has been dissolved, and the specified money has been transferred to the local Academy as an endowment in ^her name with the explicit rider that I alone decide all disbursement until my death.⁶ However, either the Association or its attorney failed to provide the necessary precision. In short, a letter from Hofrat Marx,⁷ the Director of the Academy, was conveyed to me, in which he commits to provide me annually with a slate of three candidates,⁸ and to leave the final decision to me. That is surely not what the deceased intended. I wrote the attorney from Galtür, but he directed {3} me to negotiate personally with Marx.⁹ (From which I must conclude that the latter introduced the idea of a slate of three candidates in total innocence.) Since the Director surely has so much to do at the moment—first weeks of a new academic year—I will clear up the matter at the middle or end of the month.¹⁰ If he abandons the [idea of a] slate, then I alone have authority over the interest without having to be accountable to anyone (that is how it was intended). Then, considering that the value of the money has declined, I can send the interest to the same artist several years in a row, without anyone having to know it. The deceased insisted in general on extreme discretion, because she knew what I am planning. I will report the outcome of my meeting.

How are you?

I am going through some difficult weeks, months. The plan is to leave Universal Edition and to secure another publisher.¹¹ The deception had taken on disgusting forms, additionally intentional damage to Tonwille. This constant {4} fighting about sheets of paper and lines, discarding things from completed projects and selected materials, the precariousness of each new volume. Everything for the purpose of sabotage¹²—I could not tolerate that any longer and declared to continue with Universal Edition only up to volume 10. (Final volume: Brahms’s Handel Variations, etc., then J. S. Bach, St. Matthew Passion, first choral fantasy, Haydn’s Folk Hymn, Schubert, two pieces, Mendelssohn, two pieces, Schumann, two pieces.¹³) You surely have no idea of the difficulties of dealing with Universal Edition. Now, soon, soon I will be free.

In the summer I had many visits, Vrieslander¹⁴ with his wife, etc. Suddenly, Professor W. Altmann, from Berlin, showed up (director of the Prussian State Library).¹⁵ We were able to discuss and arrange various things.

Let’s hear something from you soon!

Some nice things arrived from Oppel (sonatas, wind pieces).¹⁶ Unfortunately, his wife was very sick, has to go to Italy. The poor thing is obsessed and still he doesn’t allow himself to buckle—a wholly upstanding man.

Many cordial greetings
Your
[ sign'd: ] H. Schenker

© Translation Lee Rothfarb & Ian Bent, 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: 4p letter, oblong format, holograph message and signature
Sender address: --
Recipient address: --

FOOTNOTES:

¹ S must mean Robert Pollak (1880–1962), Austrian violinist, who taught violin in Geneva and Lausanne (1905–14), Moscow (1919), and Vienna (1919–24), before moving to San Francisco in 1926 then Japan, finally settling in the USA in 1937. S is presumably implying that he was director of the violin Meisterklasse, or Meisterschule, at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (= Vienna Conservatory); however, he is not listed among there at any time.

² Marteau—??

³ Friedrich Buxbaum, Professor of cello at the Vienna Conservatory 1903–38; he had been a member of the Rosé Quartet, as S states later in this letter, from 1905 to 1920.

⁴ Pullmann, or Pallmann, or Pollmann: a St. Pollmann taught the pedagogical seminar at the Vienna Akademie in 1931, but is an unlikely candidate.

⁵ Click on Verein zur Speisung und Bekleidung hungernder Schulkinder in Wien, the charity to which S’s erstwhile pupil and benefactor Sofie Deutsch had left a sum of money of which a portion of the interest was to be sent annually to S for stipendia to „impecunious skilled composers and composition pupils”, the recipients to be selected exclusively by S; see OJ 12/52, Fritz Mendel to S, January 12, 1917; OJ 12/31, [1], Ernst Lamberg to S, December 7, 1923.

⁶ See OJ 12/31, [2], Ernst Lamberg to S, July 1, 1924, the court decision being that a quarter of the capital of the money willed to the Verein should now be transferred to the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (i.e. the Vienna Conservatory) for it to administer; the Director of latter proposed that the Akademie should send S a slate of three candidates for each of two stipendia per year from which he should choose. The stipendia were to be named „Sophie[sic] Deutsch-Musiker-Stipendium.“

⁷ Josef Marx, teacher of theory and composition intermittently at the Vienna Conservatory 1914–52, Director of the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst 1922–25, Rector of the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst 1925–27. (Later, in 1932, Marx wished to teach harmony from Schenker’s Harmonielehre, and asked for a “school edition” to be made in which Otto Vrieslander was involved, but the project came to nothing.)

⁸ Terna-Vorschlag: presumably a then-common-practice term in selection of candidates for professional positions, which does not appear in current dictionaries. The first known use of the term in the Schenker correspondence is that by Josef Marx in a letter on behalf of the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst quoted to Ernst Lamberg, quoted in Lamberg's letter to S of July 1, 1924 (OJ 12/31, [2]): “... die Verleihung der Stipendien auf Grund von der Musikakademie ihm übermittelter Ternavorschläge für jedes Stipendium zu überlassen.“ („... [to leave] the awarding of the stipends to him on the basis of slates of three candidates per stipend supplied to him by the Music Academy.“).

⁹ S’s letter of July 8, 1924, of which only a draft survives, OJ 5/24; Lamberg’s reply of July 11, OJ 12/31, [3].

¹⁰ Only a draft of S’s letter to Marx survives, OJ 5/25, [1], undated; Marx’s reply is OJ 12/51, December 13, 1924.

¹¹ For an outline of the breakdown of relations between S and UE, see the General Prefaces to Der Tonwille: Pamphlets/Quarterly Publication in Witness of the Immutable Laws of Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004–05), I, v–viii; II, v–xii.

¹² “sabotage”: the term seems to date back to September 19, 1922, when S’s diary reports: “Furtwängler ... expresses the opinion that Hertzka is ‘sabotaging’ [sabotiere] me ...” (Federhofer, Heinrich Schenker nach Tagebüchern ... (Hildesheim: Olms, 1985), p. 113).

¹³ The essay “Brahms: Variationen und Fuge über ein Thema von Händel, op. 24“ occupied most of Heft 8/9 [= Jg. IV, Heft 2/3] (April/September 1924), pp. 3–46 and Tafeln; the other works mentioned constituted all the work-studies of Heft 10 [= Jg. IV, Heft 4] (October 1924), pp. 1–39 and Tafeln (Eng. trans., vol. II, pp. 77–114, 127–58). Neither Heft had yet been released at the time of writing.

¹⁴ Click on Otto Vrieslander.

¹⁵ Wilhelm Altmann (1862–1951), Director of the Music Division of the Prussian State Library (1915–27) in Berlin. The editor of many miniature scores. Altmann was also a keen supporter of the Erläuterungsausgabe, and wrote a favorable review of the first Tonwille pamphlet.

¹⁶ Reinhard Oppel [create biogfile and link].

SUMMARY:
Asks H to send some of his chamber music to Rudolf Pollak, with prospect of performance of the A major string quartet. —Deplores current situation over Sofie Deutsch stipends. —Reports difficulties with UE and intention to change publisher.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Lee Rothfarb, 2006.

Rothfarb, Lee
Bent, Ian
Schenker, Heinrich
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
IPR: in public domain; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian Bent & Lee Rothfarb, 2006.
Schenker, Heinrich; Halm, August; Deutsch, Sofie; Sophie; Pollak, Rudolf; Marteau; Buxbaum, Friedrich; Rosé, Arnold; Rosé Quartet; Pullmann; Verein zur Speisung und Bekleidung hungernder Schulkinder in Wien; Association for Feeding and Clothing Hungry Schoolchildren in Vienna; Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst; Academy for Music and Representational Art; Vienna Conservatory; Marx, Josef; Terna-Vorschlag; Universal Edition; UE; Tonwille; sabotage; Brahms; Handel; Haydn; Schubert; Mendelssohn; Schumann; Vrieslander, Otto; Altmann, Wilhelm; Oppel, Reinhard
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Halm, dated October 6, 1924
DLA 69.930/13
1924-10-26
2006-09-12
Halm
This document is deemed to be in the public domain as of January 1, 2006. Any claim to intellectual rights should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence@mus.cam.ac.uk.
August Halm (1924-1929)—Deutsches Literaturarchiv(19??-)
IPR: In the public domain, published with the kind permission of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv; Image: Deutsches Literaturarchiv; Transcription Ian Bent & Lee Rothfarb, 2006; Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary Lee Rothfarb, 2006.
Vienna
1924