Schenker Correspondence Project

Handwritten letter from Cube to Schenker, dated April 29, 1934

Hamburg 13, Mittelweg 126, Haus Ia/^II.
29.IV.34

Lieber, hochverehrter Meister!

Ich habe lange geschwiegen, denn ich musste schweigend kämpfen. Nun bin ich, glaube ich, unterlegen. Ich haben Ihnen und der Wahrheit die Treue gehalten, solange meine Kräfte reichten. Nun fürchte ich, bricht das Unheil auch über mich herein. Der beilegende Brief meiner derzeitigen Brotherren¹ erübrigt jeden Kommentar!² Ich werde nicht kampflos weichen. In diesen Tagen versuche ich durch Furtwängler Unterstützung von oben her zu erhalten.³ Doch glaube ich nicht sehr an Erfolg, da mein letzter Brief an ihm (mit Bitte um Empfehlungsschreiben) unbeantwortet blieb. Ebenso erhoffe ich mir wenig Hilfe von alteingesessenen Verehrern Ihrer Lehre (Prof. Spengel⁴ und Th. Kaufmann⁵), da dieselben gegen jene, die es in der Hand haben, nichts vermögen. Ich bin nun mal bekannt als “der” Schenkerianer, und habe alles auszubaden, wenngleich andere schon zwanzig Jahre vor mir hier dasselbe lehrten; ihnen wird man nichts tun, den sie haben sich gehütet[,] Ihren Namen zu nennen, als es brenzlich wurde! Ich hoffe immer noch, dass mein Fall nicht sÿmptomatisch für Deutschland ist, sondern eine lokale kleine Machtprobe einiger anonÿm (naturlich!) arbeitender “Kollegen”, die mich auf diese Weise erledigen, und sich damit noch Verdienste erwerben. Furtwängler muss sich nun entscheiden! Hic Rhodus, hic salta!⁶ Ich glaube das Ergebnis vorauszuwissen! Und aus diesem Grunde frage ich erstmalig informatorisch bei Ihnen an, ob Sie für mich eine Mögligkeit sehen, mit meiner Familie (im August werden wir selbdritt sein) der sicheren Vernichtung zu entgehen? A propos: Noch ist die Gafahr latent, doch muss ich beizeiten Vorkehrungen treffen. Inwieweit Verwandtenhilfe und Furtwänglers Macht in- (oder ausserhalb) des Reiches in Frage kommen, will ich Ihnen mitteilen, sobald ich sondiert habe.⁷

Zur beiliegenden Tafel: Das letzte Dritteil gefällt mir selber noch nicht!⁸ Aber ich wollte den Brief abschicken, und allzuweit werde ich wohl nicht vorbeigeschossen haben. Auch plagt mich heute Rheumatismus[,] dass ich nicht viel schreiben kann.⁹

Noch dies: Ich hatte vor einem halben Jahr eine Unterredung mit Furtwängler, in der er Sie sehr überzeugt verteidigte – allerdings unter vier Augen. –

Mit herzlichsten Grüssen von Haus zu Haus
Ihr
[ sign’d: ] Cube.

P.S. 1) mein Bekenntnis zum neuen Deutschland wird an sich dadurch nicht berührt! –¹⁰

[sideways in left margin:]
P.S. 2) Für einen etwaigen Domizilwechsel kommt nur etwas ganz Sicheres wenn auch noch so bescheiden in Frage!

© Heirs of the Felix-Eberhard von Cube, published with kind permission.
© Transcription William Drabkin, 2006.

Handwritten letter from Cube to Schenker, dated April 29, 1934

Hamburg 13, Mittelweg 126, Ia/^II.
April 29, 1934,

Dear, most honoured master!

I have remained silent for a long time, for I had to struggle in silence. Now I am, I believe, defeated. I remained faithful to you and to the truth, so long as my powers were sufficient. Now I fear that disaster will befall me, too. The enclosed letter from those who at present employ me¹ requires no explanation!² I shall not give way without a struggle. In the next few days I shall seek to gain support from above, from Furtwängler.³. Yet I have little expectation of success, as my last letter to him (with a request for a letter of recommendation) went unanswered. I can look forward to as little help from old established admirers of your theory (Professor Spengel⁴ and Theodor Kaufmann⁵), since they can do nothing against those who are in power. I am now generally known as the Schenkerian and have to take the consequences for all of that, even though others were teaching the same thing twenty years before me; nothing will happen to them, because they have protected themselves by not mentioning your name when things began to heat up. I am still always hopeful that my case is not symptomatic for Germany, but rather a small, local test of power on the part of a few “colleagues” who are working anonymously (naturally!) to bring me down in this way and thereby gain some merits. Furtwängler must now make up his mind! Hic Rhodus, hic salta!|⁶ I believe that I can predict the result. And for this reason I am asking you for the first time for information as to whether you see a possibility in your vicinity for me and my family (in August there will be three of us), to avoid certain destruction. A propos: The danger is still only latent, yet I must take precautions in good time. The extent to which the help of relatives and Furtwängler’s power inside (or outside) the state will be useful is something I shall let you know as soon as I have taken soundings.⁷

Regarding the enclosed graph: I am myself still not satisfied with the last third,⁸ but I wanted to send the letter, and I don’t believe I am so far off the mark. Also, rheumatism is plaguing me today, so I cannot write much.⁹

Just one other thing: half a year ago I had a talk with Furtwängler in which he defended you with great conviction, at any rate privately.

Cordial greetings from my family to yours.
Your
[ sign’d: ] Cube

P.S. 1) My faith in the new Germany has not in itself been affected by this!¹⁰

[sideways in left margin:]
P.S. 2) For a possible change of domicile, only something quite definite will do, even if it is only very modest!

© Translation William Drabkin, 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: 1p letter, holograph address, message, and signature
Sender address: Hamburg 13, Mittelweg 126, Ia/^II.
Recipient address: --

FOOTNOTES:

¹ Brotherren = employers, but literally “the gentlemen who provide bread”.

² This letter does not appear to have survived in either OJ or OC.

³ Furtwängler [create biogfile and link] did write to Cube, around August 9, 1934. Cube copied this letter at the start of a very long letter to Schenker, dated October 4, 1934.

⁴ Professor Spengel [identify].

⁵ Theodor Kaufmann: unidentified ( a piano teacher of this name was working in Hamburg in the early 1950s). He wrote two letters to Schenker, OC 44/26 and 25, August 25 and October 2, 1934—possibly as a consequence of this letter.

⁶ Hic Rhodus, hic salta, a Latinized form of the punch-line of Aesop’s fable of the athlete who boasted of feats he never actually performed: “Here is Rhodes, here is where you [must] jump.” Cube is using it to imply that Furtwängler must summon his moral courage and publicly proclaim Schenker, a Jew, to be also a great German.

⁷ No paragraph-break in original.

⁸ Probably a voice-leading graph of the D major prelude from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Schenker’s brief response (postcard of May 8, 1934) is followed by a letter from Cube (June 2, 1934) in which a revised Ursatz is written into the body of the text.

⁹ No paragraph-break in original.

¹⁰ See Cube’s letter, OJ 9/34, [37], May 11, 1933, in which he proclaims his allegiance to the new Germany for the first time.

SUMMARY:
C has broken his silence; believes he is defeated: encloses letter from his employer; will try to enlist Furtwängler's support. He is known as "the" Schenkerian; others now avoid S's name to protect themselves. Does S know of any possibility for him and his family in Austria? —Encloses graph.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary William Drabkin 2006

Drabkin, William
Cube, Felix-Eberhard von
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
Cube, Felix-Eberhard von; Schenker, Heinrich; employers; dismissal; Furtwängler, Wilhelm; Spengel, Prof.; Kaufmann, Theodor; Germany; graph
Handwritten letter from Cube to Schenker, dated April 29, 1934
OJ 9/34, [39]
1934-04-29
2006-10-09
Cube
This document is published with the permission of the heirs of Felix-Eberhard von Cube, March 2006.
Schenker, Heinrich (1934-1935)--Schenker, Jeanette (1935-c.1942)--Ratz, Erwin (c.1942-c.1955)--Jonas, Oswald (c.1955-1978)--University of California, Riverside (1978--)
IPR: The heirs of Felix-Eberhard von Cube; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: William Drabkin.
Hamburg
1934