Schenker Correspondence Project

Typed letter from Hertzka (UE) to Schenker, dated April 11, 1910

[UE letterhead]
Wien, 11. April 1910

Wohlgeboren [/] Herrn Professor Dr. Heinrich Schenker
W i e n.
------------

Sehr geehrter Herr Doktor !

Zu meinem aufrichtigen Bedauern kann ich Ihrem Wunsche¹ Ihnen das verlangte Exemplar zur Verfügung zu stellen,nicht entsprechen, nachdem ich mich auf Grund Ihres Schreibens von gestern entschlossen habe, das Erscheinen derart zu pressieren, dass wir, wenn irgend möglich, noch im April die Bürstenabzüge Ihnen zur Revision überlassen können.

IhrerAnsicht , dass ich Ihnen mein Ehrenwort² gegeben hätte, dass Ihre Bachbearbeitung im Frühlingstermin³ in Stich geht, muss ich aufs entschiedenste⁴ widersprechen; es scheint hier Ihrerseits ein grober Erinnerungsfehler vorzuliegen.

Damit jedoch Ihr Unterrichtsbetrieb keinen Schaden erleide, werde ich Ihnen ein Exemplar der Chromatischen Phantasie aus der Röntgen-Ausgabe in die Originalausgabe restituieren, resp. mit Ihren Eintragungen versehen lassen, so dass Sie dieselbe ehstens benützen können.⁵

{2} Ich werde mir erlauben , Ihnen das Heft morgen früh zugeben zu lassen, so dass Sie in Ihrer morgigen ^LehrStunde dieselbe bereits benützen können.

Hochachtungsvoll ergeben
[ sign’d: ] Emil Hertzka

© Universal Edition A.G., Wien, with kind permission.
© Transcription Ian D. Bent 2006.

Typed letter from Hertzka (UE) to Schenker, dated April 11, 1910

[UE letterhead]
Vienna, April 11, 1910

Professor Heinrich Schenker, Esq.
V i e n n a
---------------

Dear Doctor,

I sincerely regret that I am unable to comply with your wish¹ and place at your disposal the copy for which you ask, since on the strength of your letter of yesterday I resolved to speed up publication so that, if at all possible, we could still get the galley proofs to you for correction in April.

I must contradict most strenuously⁴ your impression that I had given you my word of honor² that your Bach edition was going to the engravers by the Spring deadline³. There seems to have been a grave lapse of memory here on your part.

Nevertheless, so that your teaching activities shall not suffer any hindrance, I will make restitution [by exchanging] with you a copy of the original edition of the Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue for the Röntgen edition, respectively marked up with your entries, so that you can use this at the earliest possible moment.⁵

{2} I will take the liberty of having the volume delivered to you early tomorrow, so that you can use it right away in your lesson tomorrow.

With kind regards,
Yours,
[ sign’d: ] Emil Hertzka

© Translation Ian D. Bent 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: 2-p letter, typed message, holograph signature
Sender address:
Recipient address: Vienna

FOOTNOTES:

¹ H is responding to two letters: WSLB 56, April 10, in which S accuses H of reneging on his undertaking to send CF&F to the printers expeditiously and reminds him of his Summer arrangements, and WSLB 57, April 11, in which S requests that his personal copy of the pages of the Bach Gesellschaft edition of the work, together with his MS realizations of the chords to be arpeggiated, be returned to him temporarily for teaching purposes.

² “Ehrenwort” underlined by S.

³ “im Frühlingstermin“: meaning not entirely clear; probably literally „by the last day of Spring”, or "in the course of the Spring." The term does not appear to have been used by H in letters during 1909 or early 1910, only by S ("Frühlingsterminus") in WSLB 56, April 10, 1910. According to an annotation on the Bach Gesellschaft copy (OC Scores/6), UE sent it for engraving on May 14, 1910: see Hedi Siegel, J. S. Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, critical edn with comm. (New York: Longman, 1984), p.71, fn1.

⁴ “entschiedenste“: underlined by S.

⁵ This sentence is convoluted. UE probably has a copy of the Bach Gesellschaft edition in its archive, in which case Hertzka perhaps is offering to lend this in exchange for the copy of the Röntgen edition with which he supplied Schenker at the latter’s request on around July 1–3, 1909 (WSLB 41), and to have all S’s markings transferred to this copy. Click on Julius Röntgen.

SUMMARY:
[J. S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue:] H rejects S's assertions in WSLB 56, is unable to return S's marked-up copy as requested in WSLB 57, but will try to get proofs to him by the end of April. He offers an alternative solution.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary Ian D. Bent 2006

Bent, Ian
Hertzka, Emil
UE
[J. S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue:] H rejects S's assertions in WSLB 56, is unable to return S's marked-up copy as requested in WSLB 57, but will try to get proofs to him by the end of April. He offers an alternative solution.
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
IPR: Universal Edition A.G., reproduced here by kind permission; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent 2006.
Hertzka, Emil; UE; Schenker, Heinrich; Bach, J. S.; Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue; CF&F; Bach Gesellschaft edition; Röntgen edn; April; Spring deadline; lesson
Typed letter from Hertzka (UE) to Schenker, dated April 11, 1910
letter
academic; musicology; music theory
OC 52/49
1910-04-11
2006-05-09
UE
Hertzka
email from Aygün Lausch (Universal Edition) to Ian Bent, 2004-09-09, confirming UE’s ownership of IPR and granting permission to post to pilot website.
UE letterhead; typed body of letter; holograph signature
Schenker, Heinrich (1910-1935)--Schenker, Jeanette (1935-1938)--Oster, Ernst (1938-c.1939)—New York Public Library (c.1939-)
IPR: Universal Edition, A.G.; Image: New York Public Library, New York; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: Ian D. Bent.
Vienna
1910