Schenker Correspondence Project

Handwritten postcard from Schenker to Jonas, dated January 26, 1933

{recto}
Postkarte

Absender:
[stamp:] Dr. HEINRICH SCHENKER
WIEN, III., Keilgasse 8

[An:] H D^r [/] Oswald Jonas
Berlin-Schöneberg
Mühlenstr. 2

[postmark:] || 3 WIEN 40 | 26. I. 33.20 | * 4h * ||

[for message-continuation, see below]

{verso}
26.1.33

Geehrter, lieber Herr D^r Jonas!

v. Hob.¹ hält sich derzeit „irgendwo” auf, ich glaube in Spanien, läßt nichts von sich hören. – Hofrat Dr Marx|² war kürzlich bei mir (wegen der Schulbearbeitung des Bd I³) u. erwog den Plan, über andre Stoffe von mir Vorlesungen in der Klasse zu halten. (Kürzlich hat Oppel in der Klasse meinen “Smetana”- Aufs. („Zukunft[”] 93)⁴ aus Anlaß einer Schulaufführung der “verkauften Braut” vorgelesen.) – Also wäre Zeit, daß Ihre ”Einführung”⁵ dem Hofr. M. vorliegt. Sie glauben aber nicht, wie nachlässig, ja dumm sich die Adressaten betragen, bald lesen sie „19 S.,” bald befürchten sie eine „exec. Mahnung”, {recto} ich werde noch weiter drängen, [da ich schreibe, fällt mir ein: Frau D^r Hedy Flandrak,⁶ XVIII, Alteggerstr. 37]⁷

Aus New-York kommt ein erst ernster (nun zweiter) Übersetzungsantrag.⁸ Ihr Band wird immer dringender, wäre nur Hob. schon da! Brahms’ Studie⁹ dürfte bald kommen. Haben Sie den “Saul”¹⁰ eingesehen?

Mit bestem Gruß

Ihr
[ sign’d: ] H Schenker

© In the public domain.
© Transcription John Rothgeb 2006.

Handwritten postcard from Schenker to Jonas, dated January 26, 1933

{recto}
Postcard

Sender:
[stamp:] Dr. HEINRICH SCHENKER
VIENNA III, Keilgasse 8

[To:] Dr. Oswald Jonas
Berlin-Schöneberg
Mühlenstraße 2

[postmark:] || 3 WIEN 40 | 26. I. 33.20 | * 4h * ||
[for message-continuation, see below]

{verso}
January 26, 1933

Dear Dr. Jonas,

Van Hoboken¹ is presently spending time “somewhere,” I believe in Spain, communicating nothing. Hofrat Dr. Marx² was with me a short time ago (regarding the school-edition of Vol. I³) and contemplated the plan to hold readings in the class on other materials by me. (Recently Oppel read in class my “Smetana” essay (Die Zukunft [18]93)⁴ on the occasion of a school-performance of The Bartered Bride.) Thus it would be high time to submit your Einführung|⁵ to Hofrat Marx. But you wouldn’t believe how carelessly, even stupidly, the addressees behave; sometimes they read “19 S.,” sometimes they fear an “executive admonition”, {recto} I will press further [as I write the following occurs to me: Dr. Hedy Flandrak,⁶ XVIII, Alteggerstraße 37].⁷

A serious translation-proposal (now the second) comes from New York.⁸ Your volume is ever more urgently needed; if only Hoboken were already there! The Brahms study⁹ should come out soon. Have you had a look at Saul?¹⁰

With best greetings,

Yours,
[ sign’d: ] H. Schenker

© Translation John Rothgeb 2006.

COMMENTARY:
Format: printed postcard, stamped and holograph addresses, message-continuation, and signature recto, message-beginning verso
Sender address: Vienna III, Keilgasse 8
Recipient address: Berlin-Schöneberg, Mühlenstraße 2

FOOTNOTES:

¹ Anthony van Hoboken [create biogfile and link].

² Click on: Joseph Marx.

³ i.e. NMTP, vol I = Harmonielehre.

⁴ “Friedrich Smetana,” in Die Zukunft 4 (1893), 37-40. Oppel’s letter is dated January 19, 1933: “The opera school is currently performing Smetana’s Bartered Bride. I am very fond of the work; I talked about it recently in my lecture and also read out your article about it in Die Zukunft of 1893.” (OJ 13/10).

⁵ Jonas’s Das Wesen des musikalischen Kunstwerks: Eine Einführung in die Lehre Heinrich Schenkers (Vienna: Saturn-Verlag, 1934).

⁶ People named Flandrak in Vienna at that time were: Alfred F. (b. 1895), Clara F. (b. 1872), Fritz F. (b. 1895) (website: http://www.nationalfonds.org/aef/deutsch/Files%201938,%20flachsieder%20-%20fr%C3%BCchtgott.doc), all on the holocaust list, and others on the list (residency unknown): Adolf F. (b. 1865), Ernst F. (b. 1873), Fritz F. (b. 1905), Fritz Israel F. (b. 1893), Gustav F. (b., 1863), Hermine F. (b. 1867), Moriz F. (b. 1871) (website: http://www.avotaynu.com/HolocaustList/f.mt.htm).

⁷ Square brackets in original.

⁸ According to Robert Wason, (1) Arthur Waldeck of New York had written to Schenker on August 27, 1929 and again on September 22, 1932 inquiring whether an English translation of Harmonielehre was planned, and if not asking permission to make one himself, which S gladly granted (information from Arthur Waldeck papers, Mannes College of Music, New York), and (2) on January 5, 1933, Frederick Auslander, a pupil of Weisse, wrote to Schenker from Brooklyn, New York, expressing an interest in translating "some of [Schenker's] works", and asking which Schenker would prefer him to start with (OC 18/29) (Wason: unpublished paper to Heinrich Schenker Symposium, March 2006, and information supplied by Hedi Siegel).

⁹ Schenker’s Johannes Brahms: Oktaven u. Quinten u. a. (Vienna: UE, 1933).

¹⁰ Brahms’s arrangement for performance of Handel’s Saul is among the autograph materials in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Schenker had transcribed and edited this document (mentioning it to Jonas first on March 24, 1932: OJ 12/16, [11]), which he subsequently gave to Furtwängler (see OJ 5/18, 9) who in turn made it available to Jonas (see OJ 5/18, 21) for study and the writing of a commentary. See also OJ 12/6 [18] and [20], and OJ 5/18 11, 19, and 24.

SUMMARY:
Josef Marx [professor of theory and composition at the Vienna Conservatory, formerly its Director/Rector] has expressed interest in class-use of the planned school-edition of S's Harmonielehre; S suggests J's Einfuhrung be placed before Marx; a second proposal for an English translation of Harmonielehre has come in.

© Commentary, Footnotes, Summary John Rothgeb 2006.

Rothgeb, John
Schenker, Heinrich
DE
Cambridge University Faculty of Music-Ian Bent
Schenker, Heinrich; Jonas, Oswald; Hoboken, Anthony van; Spain; Harmonielehre; school-edition; Marx, Hofrat Josef; Vienna Conservatory; Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst; Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst; Oppel, Reinhard; Die Zukunft; Smetana; Bartered Bride; Wesen des musikalischen Kunstwerks; Einführung in die Lehre Heinrich Schenkers ; Flandrak, Hedy; translation; New York; Brahms; Saul
Handwritten letter from Schenker to Jonas, dated January 26, 1933
OJ 5/18, 22
1933-01-26
2006-06-27
Jonas
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.
Oswald Jonas (1933-1978)—Special Collections, University of California, Riverside (1978-)
IPR: In the public domain; Image: Special Collections, University of California, Riverside; Transcription, Translation, Commentary, Footnotes, and Summary: John Rothgeb.
Vienna
1933